On my way.... some closing thoughts on my trip...

Wow. wowah. I could not have asked for a better situation in Peru. Such wonderful people with whom I had the chance to come in contact. I did not even have a chance to see all of the county that I would have like to visit. I will definitely return as soon as I can save up the money.... again.... It really renews my belief in the goodness of humanity when I meet the friends that I now have in Peru. And they are friends, not just passing acquaintances, I will hold them with me here in the states, and on my future travels, though distance separates us, the power of technology is the gift of proximity no matter where we are on the globe.

My last night in Peru I went with my backpack to meet Felipe, Andrea, and some other friends of theirs after University. We went to a bar that I will call typical college bar Peru style, and ate cow hearts roasted on on a stick by a man on the street and shared large bottles of cerveza. It was a perfect close to my stay in Peru, though my clothes smelled like smoke and I spilled beer on my backpack, I wouldn't trade those last laughs and dances for all the fresh smelling clothing in the world. Cleanliness is so overrated, plus they have those great Duty free shops in the airport where you can spash yourself with a little perfume before jumping on the plane! :o)

The last song we heard at the bar was in Spanish saying all good things must come to an end.... and it is true... Felipe, Andrea, and their friend whom they referred to as "Shaggy" (who introduced me to the real power of Lima slang and is all shades of funny and interesting) accompanied me to the airport, where we walked in, I checked my bags and they waited for me to come and say goodbye. It is impossible to not feel loved and welcomed when people take such care to see you off and you both exchange words hoping for a quick return to see them again.

So I was off... a little after midnight, home again... I had a window seat on the plane and could see all the stars out the window, the night was so dark and clear I'd never seen it like that before. This may sound con queso, but it was like flying through heaven... I fell asleep with my neck in that awkward "I'm sleeping on an airplane and this is bound to hurt later, but I'm just so dang tired" position... but with those stars, laughter and salsa music ringing in my ears... I couldn't help but slip into sleep with a smile.... Adios Peru. nos vamos....thanks to all the lovely touristas and peruvians who made this trip so increible!

Lima... and adios Peru...

This is a giant statue in the Park of Lovers, Parque de Amor. When I first arrived in Peru I was fascinated by a whole park dedicated to love complete with a giant statue and poems on the wall. You can see just how large the statue is if you see the couple sitting in the background. A few of my favorite quotes from the surrounding walls include- Adoro todo lo que no es mio, tu´por ejemplo. and also Besame amor que me estoy muriendo. All beautifully tiled along the water front. Really a romantic spot.

This is a picture of the lovely Carmen. Felipe´s mom who showed me such hospitality and love! She even made me a necklace and earrings and, like I have mentioned many times before, the best hot chocolate in the world.

This is Felipe. How lucky am I to have met randomly through couchsurfers this really charismatic and generous fellow. Without having met me, he and his family took me in, fed me, gave me a place to sleep and more than that, they treat me like family. Made me feel really at home here in Lima. I hope one day to be able to repay their kindness, and hope to visit Lima and their family again. I´m glad to have begun and ended my trip with such quality people. Gracias mis amigos...

Piñe, piñe, piñe

So... one of the things in Cusco, that always made me laugh were the fruit carts. People pushed these carts through the streets, downtown and through the neighborhoods announcing on the loud speaker, look toward the top of the photo, what fruits they were selling. The voice always came out with a bit of static like a robot was talking to you. If you would like I can impersonate it for you when I return home... haha. Along the same line, Katie and I were in a taxi one day and on the radio we hear a commercial for English language courses that was really funny because it started out with the robot voice of the fruit vendors saying ´piñe piñe piñe´then shifted to the person in the same voice saying ´pineapple, pineapple, apples, bananas´etc. SO FUNNY. Kind of illustrating what you can do after learning English, I guess. hmmm... maybe it is one of those you have to be there sort of things. But hey, some of you reading this were there, and if you weren´t believe me... really funny stuff.

Yo aprendia mas Español

We learned a ton at our school in Cusco, these are some of the students and teachers at the school. Some of the best times at school were during our break time, chatting with other students and teachers, a great time to free form practice my broken Spanish! From left to right: Holga, Lus, Ricardo, Patricia and John.
It was usually really cold during break time, so here is Flo demonstrating how to bear it with a smile. Though I have to admit the last week and a half of class Katy and I discovered the Panderia really close to school... Oh it was the death of me. Theses really delicious cheese breads, little pies with mango inside, doughnuts, apple tarts and all really cheap... oh man. So good. Put some of those pastries in my saddle bags to take back to the states... haha.
This is an action shot taken during one of my classes. Actually it is what Katie and I call a ´poised candid´of Mario looking pensive and intellectual. We learn tons in the school because most classes are one on one and go at our individual paces. Mario taught me verb tenses as well as the fact that sarcasm in Spanish can be just as, if not more fun than English. After his class I could toss out phrases like: Eso apesta, Que aburido, hola amargado and Los caderas no micaten. haha. No, but in all sincerity, Mario and the other teachers are pretty amazing and patient to teach this crazy North American who came to Peru with practically no Spanish knowledge, and on my last day of class I was able to use the Subjunctive tense to give advice and explain a possible scenario of a movie I might direct. I learned a lot of Spanish, but I also learned affective tactics for teaching a foreign language by virtual immersion. Que Lindo!
On Fridays we had special classes sometimes playing games and sometimes cooking delicious food. This is one of the students, Crystal sharing her recipe for chicken with the assistance of our school director. Lovely people, both of them.... and darn good chicken.
This was a very common sight for me during my study time in Cusco. There was one cafe in particular where I liked to go order a Chocolate Caliente and study overlooking Plaza de Armas. Though, for all my searching, the Chocolate Caliente that is the best in all of Peru, and possibly the world is to be found and my friend Felipe´s house in Lima made especially by his lovely mother, Carmen.

Going out on the town

There are several choices for places to go out in Cusco, especially for touristas. If you walk into Plaza de Armas, you will most likely be accosted by several people representing their respective bars offering you free drinks, entrance, whatever to get you to try out there place. Pretty funny. One of my favorite nights out in Cusco was with some other students from school to the infamous...MAMA AFRICA....
This is flo and I in Mama Africa, we were the solo chicas in our group. que lindo!
On the left is a picture of Simon and on the right is Eamon. Simon is a wonderful fellow from England traveling around South America. Eamon and his friend, Mark are on a trip around the world and hail from Dublin.
On the left is Mark from Dublin, and Peter from Germany. Soon after this picture was taken we were all dancing. Don´t let Peter´s serious face fool you, it was a really fun evening..
Plaza de Armas.So beautiful, I really could not get enough of this place.

Here comes the monkey out of the sleeve...

So that´s a rough translation of a saying to which Daniel introduced us. I love learning idioms in other languages and translating them. They always sound just a touch ridiculous. Or in this case, a lot ridiculous. Speaking of silly and ridiculous, one thing I will really miss about Peru is the little dogs on the toilet paper. For some reason, and I no longer have my camera so you´ll just have to imagine this in your heart. 90% of the toilet paper that they sell here have little puppies on them in various colors and designs. How magical. They really love there dogs in Peru, so it seems. It fact, Katie and I were talking one day of the idea of rounding up all the dogs and putting them in a pile and it would be as tall as Huaynu Picchu. I believe that in my heart. I don´t really have a desire to round up all the dogs, but it sure is a funny image for us.

My last day of classes will be tomorrow, so I thought that I would share with you a little bit of my poetic verse that I have composed in Spanish;

Poesia
Y fue a esa edad... Llegó la poesía
a buscarme. No sé, no sé de dónde
salió, de invierno o río.
No sé cómo ni cuándo,
no, no eran voces, no eran
palabras, ni silencio,
pero desde una calle me llamaba,
desde las ramas de la noche,
de pronto entre los otros,
entre fuegos violentos
o regresando solo,
allí estaba sin rostro
y me tocaba.

Yo no sabía qué decir, mi boca
no sabía
nombrar,
mis ojos eran ciegos,
y algo golpeaba en mi alma,
fiebre o alas perdidas,
y me fui haciendo solo,
descifrando
aquella quemadura,
y escribí la primera línea vaga,
vaga, sin cuerpo,
pura tontería,
pura sabiduría
del que no sabe nada,
y vi de pronto
el cielo
desgranado
y abierto,
planetas,
plantaciones palpitantes,
la sombra perforada,
acribillada
por flechas, fuego y flores,
la noche arrolladora, el universo.

Y yo, mínimo ser,
ebrio del gran vacío
constelado,
a semejanza, a imagen
del misterio,
me sentí parte pura
del abismo,
rodé con las estrellas,
mi corazón se desató en el viento.

So I think three weeks of Spanish class has really paid off. ´Just kidding guys, that´s a beautiful poem by Pablo Neruda, however when I read it in Spanish now I kind of understand most of it, and that is a damn good feeling. But here is something that I wrote for me class for real, much less beautiful and less interesting, but its mine! A little story in Español:

El Sabado, en mi casa, Katie y yo estabamos aburridos. Entones yo sugeri para que nosotras perparemos galletas para cumpleaños nuestros amigos. Despue's yo fui caminar a la Mega mientras ella iba a la internet. Yo compre´ los ingredientes y regrese´a mi casa. Despues nosotros hicimos galletas. Pero, yo no recrde´ compre los huevos. Mientras yo mezclaba los ingredientes Katy buscaba los huevos. Yo estuve frustrada no tenia todos los ingredientes que yo necesitiba. Pero, Katie regreso´con huevoes, y yo estuve feliz. Nosotros llebemos nuestra masa de galletas al horno cercano mi casa. Mientras nosotras esperabamos por nuestra galletas, yo hablaba con una mujeres alla´. Ella mi preguto sobre los ingredientes, y ella estaba feliz porque ella mi dijo, ¨todos mis dias yo quice probar galletas de Estado Unidos.¨

That is the story I retold for my Spanish homework, based on actual events. It is no Pablo Neruda, but what is really? I have some pictures of my wonderful little school here, but they ar eon a cd and the computers at the internet cafe have no CD drive, so those will just have to wait. ciau!

This weekend....

My last weekend in Cusco, and I have to say it was quite an adventure. I thought I would just make a little listy poo of things that transpired over the last 48 hours. Some of them might surprise you, some of them surprised me, and some you may find extremely dull, but I thought was important enough to mention and it is my blog. haha. :)

1. Saturday afternoon I suddenly had this strong desire to bake something. So I decided upon peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips in them Que rico! Katy was my sou chef and we ventured upon creating this American comfort food. Little did we know that Katy would be running around town for eggs, I would accidentally buy potato starch instead of baking soda ( I realized it before it was added) and that our baking adventure would lead us to the very Peruvian experience with what I call ¨the over room¨ because that is what it is. Literally. We asked out host sister if we could use the oven in the kitchen in our house and she said we could but it is easier if we go to the over room near the park with our baked goods. Of course, why didn´t we think to go to another room near the park to bake our cookies in a giant oven because it will taste better? So we headed out with our cookie batter to this room that contained an oven at least 30 ft by 20 ft run by two kids 8 and 10 years old. Awesome. So we dished out our cookies onto these large kind of clean trays the kids slid them into the back of the oven with a large wooden spatula looking thing. There we were. Our cookies baking with the neighborhood´s cakes, casseroles and biscuits. It smelled like ceder, meat and bread, and our cookies came out perfectly, what a hit! I wish I could explain to you the craziness of this 24 hour oven room... but it is just beyond words or pictures. Good news is I conquered altitude cooking! They were such a hit that we gave some to our host sister´s son and his friends on the way home and he came inside later to ask for the recipe for himself and his friends. Now I just have to figure out how to explain how to make them... I really need to start writing down what I put in my cooking...

2. Good news, Friday afternoon I burned all my pictures that I took thus far in my trip on to a CD so that I could clear my memory card. Bad news... my camera was stolen out of a bag check at the Discotheque on Friday night. boo. Good news, I thought my journal was also stolen, but was just at the bottom of my bag... more good news, I was more upset about the idea of losing my journal than losing a camera....

3. After futbal and pool on Friday night we went to a Peruvian disco where I was the only female gringo, so thus being so conspicuous I was chosen, though I didn´t fully understand what was going on, to participate in a contest. So I went up on stage and turns out it was a beer drinking contest. Thank goodness I had not drank much at that point. Guess what folks? I represented the gringos well and totally won. haha. I won a beer drinking contest. That´s hilarious. Mom and Dad would be so proud of their classy daughter.

4. On Friday between the pool hall and the disco I was really hungry so we stopped to have some food on the street. I ate pieces of steak and a potato roasted on a stick. That´s right, you read correctly. I ate meat off of a stick in the streets of Cusco. Again... what a classy dame.

5. Saturday night we went to our friend, Simon´s birthday party. My first experience with Peruvian birthdays. Pretty interesting. Things started rolling around 10Pm when we were served several drinks and played a random game where you have to do whatever is given to you on a piece of paper. The directions could be dancing sexy around a bottle, or drinking all your drink in one shot. hmmm... not sure if it is a common Peruvian game, but our host and her friends seemed to really enjoy it. Then we were served food after a few hours of drinking. My theory is maybe they think people loosen up a lot more quickly when playing games and drinking on an empty stomach, but don´t want to send people home to thrashed, so they feed you late at night to ease waking up the next morning.... just a theory.

6. After the birthday party, Katy, Daniel and I went out dancing to a few clubs and then to a place with a live reggae band. The band was awesome, but the dance floor was crowded. I think the most interesting part of the evening, aside from the music, was when I engaged in a conversation with a few Italians, a German and an American where our common language was Spanish. It was my first time being in a group so diverse where the common language was not English... and I understood! and participated! pretty dang cool I think.

7. This morning, Daniel, Katy and I walked up to the Sachsay Woman ruins for what we heard was a ¨coming of age ceremony¨it was incredible. The colors, the people. Very few other touristas, hundreds and hundreds of Peruvians. There was a giant playing field area, and these teenage boys were in 4 different teams with costumes in 4 different colors, green, blue, red and black. They were doing things like jumping through flaming hoops then climbing up logs balanced by other boys over more fire. When they fell into the fire they were carried off the field. The fires were small, but still. I think my favorite was when they had to start from two different sides of a log with rings attached to it. They were about 20 ft off the ground and when the opponents would meet in the middle, they would lock legs to make the other fall into the fire below. amazing.


So I think that is most of the highlights for the weekend. 7 is a good holy number, I read that somewhere...I am heading out of Cusco, I believe on Thursday, back to Lima for a few days before flying back to the states. Ciao for now!

So I discovered a song that I really love here in Peru. It is by a group called Grupo5 and it is called ´te vas´ So when I return to the states, you will all listen to it and love it too. I´m sure. Yesterday we had an impromptu dance party with myself, Katy and my host mom in their living room to this CD that I purchased. Fantastic! We danced Salsa and we just danced around and when Marlena´s sister and niece and daughter arrived, they all danced too. Marlane gave me a pretty big compliment, she said I had a bit of Latina in me when I danced. Yeah! Made me smile.

More pictures....

Flor and I decided and Machu Picchu would be one of the best places for hide and seek in the world. yup. That must the purpose for which they built the city, and maybe we can't find the people who lived here because they are just that good.

Flor took this picture, that's the back of my head and a ton of agricultural area of the ruins.

Another great photo by Flor, this was just after we hiked down Huaynu Picchu... sat to relax a bit in the shade, talk to some herbal life representatives that were everywhere, and then soon got our second wind...
Picture of ruins by Flor

Some of the ruins around Machu Picchu.
Another view of this amazing place.
Florentine and I overlooking Machu Picchu. A little shout out to Flo, she is the fine photographer on this trip, any picture of just me was most likely taken by her. So thanks Flo. You rock.

Huayna Picchu

So we thought, hey we climbed this far, what a few more hours straight up some slippery stone stairs to the top of another mountain? These are the most mild of the stairs that you climb up for Huayna Picchu... They are pretty incredible and old, and, toward the top especially, steep... For part of the hike we even had a chance to climb through a cave... which scared me quite a bit... low ceilings, slippery rocks... I think I almost flew through it.. You can't tell maybe, but the cave was dark and I did not love it... but I made it!

So here I am at one of the look out points at the top of Huayna Picchu. It´s a pretty incredible view, but I really liked being close to the ruins, so for me that was more fun. But this face is also fun. We felt really strong.

I´m not going to lie, that climb was scary. Look at Flo´s face ... that´s fear.

Here we are at the edge of a cliff of Huayna Picchu, overlooking Machu Picchu. Can you see how far up we are based on how small the ruins are in the background?

We arrive! Que Lekker!

Probably one of the most beautiful places I have seen. I may have mentioned that already, but it was really a magical day. I loved it. I loved it. We walked around the ruins and took it easy for most of the morning, had our snack around 11AM and I think the pictures can tell the story better than I could in words. By the time I reached the top of the trail to Machu Picchu, Flo and John were already inside, but Flo was there at the gate when I entered and we celebrated our arrival. I made it just in time to see the sunrise over the hills. My legs were kind of tired and I was really sweaty, but that solitude time climbing up the hills through this jungle area, just me and my God... it was amazing.

I really loved the morning at Machu Picchu before the large tour groups arrived in the afternoon. Including a very large and strange Herbal life convention. yup.
Sunrise from Machu Picchu.


This picture is funny because it was taken by a Dutch couple we met. John and Flo were speaking to them and I just laughed when they laughed and nodded and said ¨Yah¨ a few times. But before they took this picture they said in Dutch ¨look to the left¨ Yup. That´s when the gig was up. I am actually not from Holland, and they knew it. Pretty hilarious.

The hike up early morning

Thank you Jamie and Katy for the advice to spend the night in Aquas and hike up early in the morning. It was so so worth it! I am not sure how to explain how steep those steps were that morning. On an empty stomach and still a little sick from the day before I wasn´t doing so hot. Eventually I let Flo and John hike ahead of me, sat and had a snickers (so PERFECT!) and felt better and hiked on up the trail. Arriving at Machu Picchu just after 6AM. To the right is a picture of the beginning of our journey through the ghost town and to the trail at 4:30AM... que lekker!

Aquas Calientes

After arriving Aquas CAlientes, John, Flo and I managed to find a really cheap hostel and were all set. I did not feel up to eating quite yet, or at all, so I mostly slept all day, but that was fine with me. Aquas is kind of a strange little town with only touristas moving in and out and not a lot of people at any one time. Seemed like at every restaurant all the tables were set and no one was eating... but boy did they like to invite you in to happy hour when walking down the street! Anyway, we had a pretty quiet Sunday. Then on Monday we set our alarms (well John´s alarm) for 4 in the morning!! So we could start our hike up to Machu Picchu by 4:30AM So we hydrated, grabbed what we needed for the day, and a flash light and headed out!

The train ride begins....

This is a picture of Flo and I on the train, if I look a little sick, it is because I was. Awesome timing.awesome. Great timing I think.I woke up, a term I use loosely because I didn´t really sleep the night before. Okay.. more details.. before I continue., you should probably be aware of the fact that I do not have a watch or an alarm clock here in Peru. Our train was scheduled to leave Sunday morning at 7AM. Flo and I decided to meet at 6:15AM to share a taxi to the station. The Sunday morning we were to meet and go, I woke up with amazing projectile vomit. So I was doing that for awhile, and my host mom comes into the bathroom, makes sure I am okay and then says it is time to go... of course I have no idea what time it is so I grab all my things together and rush out to a taxi and then to meet Flo at the corner. But she is not there!! So I continue on to the train station and hope that she is there, rush to the entrance, thinking I have but minutes until this train departs. Well my friends, turns out my host mother lived in a different time zone that morning, because it is not 6:30, not 6:45... no no... but a nice early 5:30AM and my train does not leave for an hour and a half.

Luckily! Another friend from school, John, arrived around 6:45AM and because he had a cellphone was able to contact Flo (who was at that point looking for me and wondering where I was) relay the whole message and then the three of us jumped on a train to Machu Picchu just in time.Phew... it was all very hectic that morning, but worked out for the best. I was on my way to one of the great wonders of the world with two wonderful Dutchies. In addition to my sightseeing, I also received an immersion experience in Dutch this past weekend. Quite fun. I also decided that I think all people from Holland are delightful. I´ll pretend to be Dutch any day.

The journey to Machu Picchu begins...

Oh what an amazing place! Machu Picchu is worth all the hype! So let me begin... at the beginning. Upon arriving in Cusco, I thought of how I wanted to spend my time, and one of the options was to go no a 6 day trek to Machu Picchu with my friend Katy. I chose, in interest of saving time, energy and learning more Spanish, to take a two day trip instead. So that is where our story begins....This is Florentine. She is awesome. She hails from Holland, likes chips, wears pretty earrings and is a friend of mine here in Cusco. in addition to being an all around lovely person with a big heart, she also is ridicuously fun. This is a picture of us on the field trip to Señor Huanca. After deciding that I wanted to take the train up to Machu Picchu instead of hiking, the next step was to find someone with which to travel. I lucked out, and started planning my trip with Flo. We originally planned a 3 day trip with a travel agency Puma Trek. But after paying for our trip they then explained all the things that were not included. So after a long day of waiting a train station and waiting for information from this disorganized (I´m being nice here) people, we decided to get a refund and plan a trip on our own. Of course then we had to wait for 4 hours one afternoon for the specific woman who runs the finances of this crappy company to return from who knows where to process our refund. Awesome. Good news is we now had freedom o plan our adventure as we pleased! hoorah for freedom!

Some of the crazy kids that went on the trip with us today. That´s me in the back with the orange pants.

Again, I know this is like a where´s waldo game, guess which one is me?

Señior Huancas

This morning we went on a field trip with some teachers and students from the school to a beautiful pilgrimage desition a called: Señior Huancas. The big pilgrimage to see this holy site where Jesus´s face once appeared in the rocks takes place on September 14Th, but we went today because it is really really crowded that day, it was such a beautiful way to spend a Saturday in the mountains.

Plaza de Armes

Plaza de Armes! By far one of the most bustling places in Cuzco... in the downtown area. Home of beautiful cathedrals, lots of touristas and high prices! But I still love it! When the clouds float over the hills and the cathedrals on a clear afternoon. You swear you were in heaven. This picture on top is taken from one of my favorite Little cafes that over looks the plaza. There are many of these from which to choose, but I stumbled upon this one when waiting for my refund from a very unorganized waste of time that calls themselves a travel agency. It all worked out in the end! My friend Floretine and I will be traveling to Maccu Picchu tomorrow!


This is a shot from the same spot at night. It is quite lovely, a great place to buy a hot chocolate and study some spanish verbs! The other day we saw a parade around the plaza. I'm not entirely sure of the premise of a fore mentioned parade, but there was a giant thumbs up strapped to the front of a truck that said something along the lines of 'Jesus is #1' There seem to be quite a few parades and festivals. I feel very lucky to share in all that festive energy! This plaza is really magical.

These are a few candid shots of a very common phenomenon around Cuzco. Women carry these blankets strapped to their backs carrying anything you can imagine. It is a little unnerving at times because you have to be so careful not to run into them. They could be carrying anything from goats, to babies, to corn, whatever. It seems to me that woman start carrying things around in this manner from a fairly young age. I don't know about you, but that seat strapped to someones back seems like a great way to see the town!

The death shower

I would like to introduce you to what Katy and I call, ¨the death shower¨
This is the switch you flip on after the water is running... nice.
And this is a close up shot at our shower head. Be careful not to stretch. I am blessed because I like to shower in the afternoon and then I can usually get a few minutes of trickling scalding water, which I much prefer to a shower of cold... I've learned..If you shower in the morning, tepid is your best bet, and that is just not a smiley way to start the day. What I like most is how carefully the hot water is wired here. lovely. don't´worry mom, its totally safe. The gals that lived here before me considered making a sign that was equivalent to the such and such days safe on the job, except it would be how many showers survived without electrocution... lovely!

Dogs everywhere

So a little update from down south... things are going well... everyday something absolutely crazy happens. The family that I am living with kicked out there dog, you can see its picture if you scroll down... now the dog sort of follows us around on the street and wants to get back inside. There are an amazingly large amount of dogs in Cuzco. They all seem to be just ¨kickin it¨and me, opting not to get my rabies shot, am always a little worried about running into one in a dark alley... of which there are plenty.

On a completely different note, for the first few nights I was here I kept hearing this crazy sound outside in the street, just this periodical outburst that sounded to me like someone just stepped on a crazy monkey. turns out, it is security. They are all over the place, which is nice, and extremely helpful, which is also nice and able to make this strange sound with their mouth, I think they are calling to each other.... who knows... not this gringa.

Speaking of gringas... one of the best parts of my time here, so far, is all the incredible folks with which I am now acquainted. I was a little worried that I was past my prime, feeling the pressure to jump into that career, settle down, etc etc... But I have been blessed with a friend group that is almost exclusively, independent women in their mid 20s to mid 30s traveling around the world, working abroad, studying, taking time for themselves. I don´t have time to tell all their stories in detail, but each has been inspiring and uplifting. What luck I have!

Cuzco is a beautiful city, and I love seeing the architecture, museums and ruins in and around it, but the people are what make this place so magical! Although... I am a little tired of being offered massages, manicures, finger puppets and postcards while walking around the plaza. You´d have to be there....

I´m learning how to Salsa... This is my host brother, Mijail, he (and his whole family, as I mentioned) are wonderful people! I am pretty sure that we all stayed out dancing... well... very very late. I can´t even guess the time...Que Lindo!

This is a picture of my fantastic host sister and her boyfriend here in Cusco. Her name is Mabel, and she is a great dancer!

I learned, and practiced the phrase ¨let´s dance!¨a lot on Friday night... it was a blast.