One Week in Cusco Already!

Wow! One week in Cusco is over already! I know some streets here already inside out, and touristy wise I´ve done barely anything. Oh, and my spanish is still crap! The photos are of La Catedral in the Plaza de Armas in Cusco, some of the cobbled streets that are all around the center, and well, my big head with a view of all the roofs of Cusco.

I´m in a bit of a dilemma. I´m impatient learning spanish and just want to throw in the whole plan of learning spanish and staying with a family for 4 weeks in total and just go and be a tourist but then, I won´t be able to do the volunteer thing because the little kids won´t understand me... I DON¨T KNOW WHAT TO DOOOOOOO.

Another girl arrived yesterday at our house and was meant to be staying the night but she´s chosen to move to an hostel in the centre. It was all too much for her. No hot water, no water after 2:30pm at all (nothing in taps, need to flush the toilet with a bucket of water from tubs outside).... a dog on heat and all the dogs in the neighbourhood wanting... well... a piece of her... oooooooooooooh.... And that´s not to mention living with a family where everybody knows everyone´s business and breakfast is served at 7am, lunch at 1pm and dinner at 7pm and you´re expected to be there or you have to give a reason why you´re not. I moved out of home when I was 18!!! I´m not used to having to have to tell people what my plans are every minute of the day!!! ARGH!!! If I didn´t get the room with a shower that has semi warm water for at least half the day, I wouldn´t have lasted a week either!


oh, and the photos are the dead guinea pig that the husband pulled out of the cage on my first morning (yes, the guinea pigs aren´t pets... they´re food for later!) and then there is a view from above of some of the spanish teachers and John, the co-ordinator of FairPlay (the spanish school) and also the husband of one of the daughters of the Señora that is the head of the house....

Other than that, Cusco is charming. I love it. I went to Pisac markets last weekend (and am going again tomorrow because I didn´t have enough money for everything I wanted to buy AND to actually see some ruins). While the stuff there is more expensive than in Cusco there is more variety and it´s more ´merry´ I guess. There are lots of little kids, especially girls, getting around with little animals and the Quechua outfits asking for money for photos. I paid for this one!!!

For the last 3 days all the ´Saints´ have been returning from the Catedral to their respective churches and there have been parades of little kids, big kids, adults, music and everything. These were some of the kids from this morning.