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I’ve been in Cusco for about two weeks now … there has been so much to see and do that I’ve let my the blog slide, but I’m trying to get back on track with this. Cusco is absolutely amazing. There is so much to see and do here, it’s ridiculous. We’ve been going out a lot, meeting a ton of amazing people, finding out what our favorite spots are, and just how much more I have left to explore. Here are a few random bits about the last couple weeks:
A typical day here, for me anyway, consists of about an hour walk to the CBC (Centro Bartolome de las Casas, Spanish class from nine to noon, a break for lunch and a descanso (rest), then catching a combi back to school for an afternoon seminar from three to five. The seminars vary from history lessons to documentaries on the music of the Q’eros people. The rest of the day is pretty open. Sometimes I’ll go out after class with a few friends to wander the city, go shopping, hit an internet café. Dinner is always late, between 7:30 and 8.
So far I’d have to say that my favorite place to hang out is a café/lounge combo up in the San Blas art district called La Hierba Buena. We had some delicious cuy crocante, which is guinea pig in little deep fried triangles of something. Not entirely sure… but very tasty! Also, I found my new favorite drink there: coca sour. It’s a type of pisco, the national drink, fermented with coca leaves and is quite yummy. The people there are very friendly and there seems to always be something new going on. Live reggae music by a group out of Colombia was the last.
We spent one afternoon wandering the city instead of sitting in a seminar. We visited the Qorikancha, which was once the Incan temple to the sun but during the conquest it was stripped and a Catholic church built on top of it. We then wandered to the Cathedral on the Plaza de Armas to see the amazing oil paintings and what seems like every form of religious art you could think of from gold work to panel painting to wooden sculpture. One of the pieces I liked most was a rendition of the Last Supper in which the last meal was a big cuy—not exactly kosher I’d say… but still very interesting seeing the mix of a classic Catholic scene with new world fine dining.
Emily also turned the group onto a lovely little place called El Molino. It’s an extremely creepy looking giant shed, or sheds since there is one on either side of the road. One holds a bunch of little stalls that make up the food side of the market. The other is like a mall or a Wal-Mart on steroids. There are stalls for everything—camping gear, school supplies, toys, North Face knockoffs, shoes of all kinds, pirated music and movies… Pirated discs go for around three soles or one dollar. Needless to say my free time has been occupied by TV series and Spanish movies.
Yesterday, Saturday, I spent the afternoon with Rosario and her homestay family. We had an amazing lunch and went off to their land in the countryside with her homestay father, two friends of the family and Dulce. It’s a little place just a bit south of Cusco. There are only about 20 buildings in the area, so it was very quiet. Great weather and a great place to hike. We wandered around their place, across a stream, and up through the trees and fields to high up on a hill. There was an amazing view of the area, gorgeous countryside and we watched as the sun set against the mountains around Cusco. It was the perfect, most relaxing way to spend an afternoon. Plus, I found/imagined the best place to live. I think it would be a perfect set up to live just outside of Cusco and work for one of the many nonprofit orgs in the area. The only downside being the few flights it would take me to get between here and the states…
Bye for now! I’ll work on keeping up with this much more regularly from now on. Best wishes from Cusco!
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