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I made it to Peru after a short little break from travelling
spent at home with my family. It went by
way too quickly due to college applications and the actual shortness of the
break (It was less than 3 weeks). Well,
now I am semi-recuperated and completely ready for my next placement, which is
a teaching project in Cusco, Peru in which I will be helping teachers learn
stronger English so they can teach their students better.
Located in the
mountains, Cusco is at an elevation of around 3,400 meters or 11,200 feet, and
altitude sickness is very real here.
When I first arrived my whole body ached, I had killer headaches and
stomach aches, and was just so tired.
But most of this has worn off as I have been here a few days now. Now all I feel is the drowsiness and
sometimes a rogue stomach ache. I do a
lot of walking here, and I get tired a lot more easily. I even get shortness of breath from walking
up the 15 or so stairs in the apartment I live in. It’s quite pathetic. Some of my friends live near gyms, but I
don’t have that luxury. My apartment
complex is surrounded by glass shops, a car dealership, and an inflatable water
toy store. Pretty useful for an American
tourist, eh? I don’t understand what the
deal is with the glass shops. There are
like 4 competing Vidrierias all on the same block, just sitting there, waiting
for business, which may or may not come due to the competition and excess of
supply and lack of demand (yay, econ).
Anyway, I live in a home with a family that also hosts a
couple other volunteers/students. There
is the mother (Nimia), the father (Hayul), the little girl of 10 (Luciana), the
little boy of 8 (Dede), a volunteer from Costa Rica who is 17 (Daisy), and a
Brazilian girl learning Spanish who is 29 (Ana Paula). And then there is me. Being able to communicate in Spanish has been
so helpful, but there have been some language barriers. For the first few days I was here, only Nimia
was at home, and she doesn’t speak English and speaks very quickly. Sometimes I pretend like I understand when I
don’t and hope what she said was not important.
Whoops. But usually, I comprehend
what is happening, and eventually, Hayul returned. He has great English as he works in tourism. This is also why he is not home
frequently. Daisy and Ana Paula have
become fast friends of mine. We
communicate in English mostly because it is easier for Ana Paula to understand
Daisy’s slower English instead of her incredibly fast Spanish. I very much appreciate that. The family is so kind. Nimia is always saying “Con toda mi
confianza” which means “with all my trust” that she will do anything to make me
comfortable and happy. Luciana and Dede
have so much energy and always want to play.
I have painted Luciana’s nails, played soccer with Dede, and have taught
them both how to do funky little feet dance moves. Eventually I will teach them how to tap
dance. ;)
The food is awesome.
Nimia is a great cook. The meals
always feel very authentic and of course are delicious. Some of our meals have included a noodle soup
with beef, chicken with rice, pasta with what I think was hot dog, and mini
steaks with mashed potatoes and an apple salad.
TEA. SO MUCH TEA. I never drank tea, or anything hot for that matter,
at home, but here tea is a necessity.
Not only are the Peruvians obsessed with the vast possibilities of flavors,
but also, the heat of the drink helps with your digestion, which slows a lot in
the high altitude. I am not used to
repeatedly burning my mouth on something I am supposed to be enjoying. It will come though.
It was a slow start with this home stay. In my other experiences with a host family,
all was laid out for me to understand and situate myself. But here, not much was explained to me. How to get clean water (because the tap water
is no good) and how to work the shower were the two major issues. But I figured it all out with time and
patience. Now I am comfortable and
excited to spend the next couple of months here.
OMG AS I TYPE THIS LUCIANA IS SINGING LET IT GO IN SPANISH “LIBRE
SOY, LIBRE SOY”
Anyway, my Volunteer Coordinator (Hugo) gave us a few tricks
to survive in Cusco. One of which is (as
I mentioned before) to not drink the tap water.
The families boil their water to make it safe to drink (but gross stuff
still floats in it and pools at the bottom so I don’t like to drink it; I buy my
own bottled water). Next is to never
flush the toilet paper down the toilet as the pipes in Peru are very small and
will immediately clog if you try to flush paper down. I have yet to mess this one up. But I’m sure there will be a day when I throw
the paper into the bowl and I will have to retrieve it before flushing. This, I dread. The next trick is to be careful with the dogs
roaming the streets. There are a lot of
them and although rabies is not common here, they can still hurt you and get
you sick with a bite, or give you ticks or lice. They all are awfully mangy but are pretty
darn cute. I do foster a slight fear of
dogs, but the only one that has given me an issue so far was someone’s pet that
lives in my apartment complex. I was waiting
to be let into my building, and this yappy little turd dog starts barking at me
and following me and growling and basically just terrifying me. But luckily I hid behind a pole and the dog
gave up and then I was let inside the building.
It was really quite pathetic. Anna
versus small yappy dog. Spoiler. We both lose.
So yeah, I think that’s all I have for you guys at the
moment. Sorry I don’t have any pictures
yet, but next post will be filled with some of my home, my host family, and the
area I live in. I am alive and
well. And as always, thanks for reading!
