After a sad goodbye to our tour group, we made our way to the suburbs of cusco to meet the peruvian family we were going to be living with for the next week. we had no idea what to expect and were a little anxious as to whether anyone would turn up to meet us.

ten minutes later than scheduled (peruvian time) two family members (gabby and andrea) and their dog (jacko) arrived. they were extremely welcoming and showed us to our room, which was comfortable and very very pink. ben loved it!

soon after we arrived, we met other students who would be staying with the same family as us. they were two canadians named john and michelle. we were a little relieved as there were some people we could speak english to.

at dinner, we met the rest of the family: rolando (el padre), guadalupe (la madre), gabby, andrea y camila (sus niños). we attempted to speak in broken spanish but luckily the canadians kept the spanish flowing a bit better than us.

the next afternoon we had our first class of spanish. little did we know that it would be an extremely intensive 4 hours of pure spanish and then when we went back to our family we'd have to speak more spanish! complete brain ache!

we had 2 teachers (andrea and jesus) ben liked andrea because she was a lot more laid back. however he wasn't a huge fan of jesus for multiple reasons:

1) he liked sarah and kept giving sarah lots of points (you known how competitive ben is)
2) his lessons were very quick paced.
3) let's just say that jesus was very flamboyant and dramatic- if you know what i mean.
4) he likes his bread buttered on the other side.

so anyway, we had, in total 20 hours of intensive spanish plus many hours of talking spanish with our family. we definitely have a better understanding of the language but are by no means fluent. perhaps by the end of our travels. :-)

hasta luego nuestro amigos! a sad goodbye to our tour group, we made our way to the suburbs of Cusco to meet the Peruvian family we were going to be living with for the next week. We had no idea what to expect and were a little anxious as to whether anyone would turn up to meet us.

Ten minutes later than scheduled (Peruvian time) two family members (Gabby and Andrea) and their dog (Jacko) arrived. They were extremely welcoming and showed us to our room, which was comfortable and very very pink. Ben loved it!

Soon after we arrived, we met other students who would be staying with the same family as us. They were two Canadians named John and Michelle. We were a little relieved as there were some people we could speak English to.

At dinner, we met the rest of the family: Rolando (el padre), Guadalupe (la madre), Gabby, Andrea y Camila (sus niños). We attempted to speak in broken Spanish but luckily the Canadians kept the Spanish flowing a bit better than us.

The next afternoon we had our first class of Spanish. Little did we know that it would be an extremely intensive 4 hours of pure Spanish and then when we went back to our family we'd have to speak more Spanish! Complete brain ache!

We had 2 teachers (Andrea and Jesus) Ben liked Andrea because she was a lot more laid back. However he wasn't a huge fan of Jesus for multiple reasons:

1) He liked Sarah and kept giving Sarah lots of points (you known how competitive Ben is)
2) His lessons were very quick paced.
3) Let's just say that Jesus was very flamboyant and dramatic- if you know what I mean.
4) He likes his bread buttered on the other side.

So anyway, we had, in total 20 hours of intensive Spanish plus many hours of talking Spanish with our family. We definitely have a better understanding of the language but are by no means fluent. Perhaps by the end of our travels. :-)

Hasta luego nuestro amigos!