new photos

flickr

these are not peru photos just some summer ones i uploaded

A trip to the south

Sooo it hasn't been as long as I thought it had been but a lot has happened in the past week! Last wednesday night four of us from the house took of on an overnight bus to Arequipa (about an 8 hour ride) and arrived at 6:00 am in time to meet Holly there, who was arriving from Puno. It definitely seemed like we weren't in Peru anymore, it is more like European city to me! We had some breakfast and then headed over to the Monasterio Santa Catalina, basically like this mini city within Arequipa. We paid the 30 soles to get in which was DEFINITELY worth it, it was huge and we looked around for about three hours, stopping for some delicious chocolate cake at a cafe in the middle. Lots of nice courtyards and such to explore. After the monasterio, we headed to a church to check it out, since it was the semana santa they were in the midst of preparing for the evening mass. Thursday was the 'last supper' day, so they ate 12 different dishes for the 12 disciples. Interesting! We were in there for a short while, we kinda felt as if we were intruding.. After the church we headed to a museum just beside it and had a sweet half hour tour for 5 soles each! Yeah! I guess it wasn't a museum well it was, it was a church that was now on exhibit as it is only used for classical concerts our guide told us? Because of the acoustics? Anyways we saw an old bedroom-turned-into-library and some replicas of the outfits people used to wear, among other things. We then headed out for lunch and charged our electronic items in the outlets of the restaurant YES. After lunch we went to the Plaza to chill out and found it was getting very busy as people were waiting for the churches to open for the evening mass. We ran into Barney, Spiderman, half bad half good Spiderman, a robot, and Elmo selling various items around the square!! We walked around and went through this really neat courtyard before it got too busy, and then walked around checking out the different churches around the Plaza (which were all absolutely packed!) After that we met up with some people from Mike's project who happened to be in Arequipa as well and went back to their hostel and chilled with thm for a bit before leaving to catch our 9:30 bus to Ica. We took Cruz Del Sur, a super nice bus company, complete with blankets and pillows, Rachel Holly and I all sat at the front of the second, so in front of a giatn window. It was so cool, tons of leg room, and a SAFETY VIDEO. It was nicer than a plane!! Man! We arrived in Ica at about 9:30 in the morning and caught a cab to Huacachina where we were staying for Friday night. We arrived at a hostel that Lonely Planet suggested and it was so perfect we came up with two rooms, one with three and one with two we had the top floor to ourselves and had our own bathrooms!! OH AND THERE WAS A POOL AND HAMMOCKS!!! Tell me about it. It was sweet. After a short walk around town, we went for a swim in the pool and went on a Pisco tasting tour. Some of it was super intense, but there was one called Cachina was actually pretty good!! I enjoyed it at least. We went to a second place to taste some more Pisco and it was like noooo thank you, it was so weird hahah it tasted like vinegar and also it looked like we were in someone's garage and there was like stuffed animals. I mean real animals, stuffed. Hmm yummy. After our Pisco.sweet wine tour we returned back to Ica to change and go DUNE BUGGYING AND SAND BOARDING!! It was sooo sweet. Sandboarding is hard though! Like a billion times harder than snowboarding!! Maybe the boards were a little ghetto maybe but it was still so hard hahha. We sand boarded for about an hour and a half and then went back to Huacachina, where we decided to climb this HUGE dune to see if we could see the sunset. We didn't quite make it, however I met someone from Calgary on the dune! She even went to high school at St. Mary's. It was so weird. First person I've met from Western Canada! Let alone Calgary.. Anyways we sat up there for a while it was so warm and so nice! Then we decided the fastest method to descend would be just to run straight down the hill. It was SO FUNNY I couldn't even handle it. I had to stop at one point because I was laughing so hard I actually couldn't breathe. It was also pitch dark and you get going so fast you can't even control it. SO fun. Anyways we descended from out dune and then it was about time for dinner. Needless to say I had the best sleep ever because we had done two overnight busses already. Next day we got up to catch a bus to Paracas, a coastal town about 45 minutes from Ica. We arrived and boarded a boat to go see the 'poor man's galapagos islands' also known as the Bollestas Islands. We saw some sea lions, pelicans, ravens, and peruvian boobies. Haha. They're the ones who poop everywhere and their poop is collected for natural fertilizer. There is even someone who has to live on the island to make sure no one steals the poop. That's valuable stuff. After our island tour we ate some lunch while being serenaded by a peruvian two man flute band. It was just awesome. Back to Ica to sit by the lagoon and chill out for a bit. Sebastien rented a personal quad for an hour and went and did that while the rest of us lounged and did some souvenir shopping. Once the sun cooled down, we climbed to the top of our favourite dune again in time to catch the sunset!! (And to run down it again.) After running down we went back to the hostel where they were kind enough to let us shower there!! Even though we weren't staying there that night! We headed into Ica around 8:30 to catch our bus back to Cusco, which was a helish 17 HOURS. We all felt like death afterwards, and its not that the bus was bad it was just so LONG!! We got back to Cusco and CRASHED! I had to move all my stuff to Fiona's apartment (where I stayed sunday as I am done at the Family House) However my planned trip to the jungle did not work out as there is an intensive strike from the farmers, who make their point by blocking all roads to and from Cusco and not allowing ANY cars through. And you're better off not trying, they got pretty vicious! They are protesting because, I think, something to do with the fact that the government wants to make them pay for their water? So the group I am with is going to attempt again tomorrow (after two failed attempts yesterday! (Yesterday was the worst case scenario day to the MAX) There were plenty of signs that the trip just wasn't going to fly haha. However I can't go tomorrow because I leave halfway through the trip :( I guess that just means I have to return!!!

Nearing the end....

I can't believe how fast time is going, it seems to be speeding up on me lately!! I have been studying spanish and working with the kids at the project still during the week, we even went on a field trip to Tipon with Spanish class last Friday to try the local delivacy: cuy aka guinea pig. Yeah, not such a fan. It was not bad but I mean they serve it intact and it's a little distracting quite frankly.. I am now so glad I associate the sauce they cooked it in with guinea pig. Excellent. It was hilarious though (well maybe not for some people) but to begin the feasting it is necessary to split the cuy by its toes... HAHA I can't handle this. Anyways I snapped one of its paws off by accident hahahahah it was so funny. One of the other girls in the class could not handle it which made it even better. Haha it was an experience and I had no hesitation in trying it because it has to be done when in Peru!! Friday afternoon while at the cuy restaurant we found out that the VILLAGE PEOPLE CONCERT WAS CANCELLED!!! So on a whim I decided to go to Lake Titicaca that night. I threw the idea out there and three people ended up going with me!! So, four hours after deciding to go, we found ourselves on the most luxurious bus I have ever been on for our 7 hour trip to Puno. After watching some 24 (YES BEST THING EVER ON THE BUS) I managed to sleep some and we got to Puno at about 5:00am and booked an all day trip to Uros and Taquile, some floating islands and a natural island on the Lake. We ate some chocolate orange pancakes for breakfast which I ended up pouring my hot chocolate on because they were so dry. We headed out on the Lake at about 7am, it was GORGEUS (it was nice to get in so early because we saw the sunrise over the lake!) it was the nicest day ever. We stopped at Uros first, which were about half an hour out of Puno, were there for a couple of hours and then headed out on our two hour boat ride to Taquile. Uros was so cool, it was so weird that the islands were actually made out of reeds! It's so peaceful out there. We sat on the top of the boat all the way to Taquile because it was so nice out. Unfortunately I fell asleep and burnt my eyelids. Obviously who puts sunscreen on their eyelids. Taquile we made out way to the square at the centre of the community on the island. We chilled out there for a bit and took more photos and then headed up to our lunch spot. We had fish on fish shaped plates which was super cute and quinoa (?) soup. We then were shown some traditional dances by some people from the community, complete with their fancy dress and everything! It was really cool. After that we hiked down to the other side of Taquile, through the arch that most people would associate with the island. We hopped back on the boat for our 2 hour return to Puno, which was very relaxing. Once we got back to Puno at about 6:00, we said goodbye to our guide and made our way to a restaurant for some dinner. SO HUNGRY. I think it was cause we had the longest day ever. After dinner we walked around for a bit, went to see the Plaza de Armas and found our way through some pretty sketchy streets to the bus station, where we caught another night bus back home. We arrived home (delirious) at about 5am and CRASHED. It was so great though I am so glad we did it!! And we had the perfect day!! Sunday a bunch of guys who are doing construction went up to a football festival street thing I guess you could say. Holly and I headed up there to meet them and got s/.7 Pollo al Brassa which was THE best thing i have ever tasted it was fantastic. We watched a little soccer as Sebastien from the house was playing with Maximo. We decided to head to the Cusco soccer team after that, it was a soccer filled day!! This week, none of the kids have school all week and Maximo is closed all for two days this week because of 'la semana santa' preceding easter sunday. It is crazy! Yesterday afternoon there was this huge procession where Jesus was paraded around town for four hours then returned to the Plaza for the finale. It was so crazy!! There was so many people in the Plaza I think it was the whole of Cusco. I don't even think my feet were touching the ground. it took us a half hour to get from the Plaza to Avenida el Sol (usually takes 1.5 minutes walking) and discovered that it had been a little more intense than we had though as Holly's camera case got stolen, and Mike's bag got KNIFED. There was a giant rip down the side and they sliced through his sweatshirt too, which was actually lucky cause it served as padding for his camera and lenses!!! So Friday I think is the next big day in terms of public celebrations, but I will not be in Cusco! I am heading to Arequipa and Nasca and Ica to do some traveling, returning to Cusco for Easter sunday, then heading to the jungle before coming home! NOOOO I have so much more to see!!! I guess this just guarantees a return trip for me. :)

New Photos

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/36010211@N05/

the past few weeks

I don't even know where to start. Since I got home from the Inca Trail the time has gone by soooo fast!! We got back on a Sunday night, I had a shower and was in bed SO fast, probably the best sleep I've had since I've been here! That week was a pretty standard week with the project and Spanish lessons. The 21st of March all the volunteers from my project (3 of us in the morning and 2 in the afternoon) went on a day hike with some of the older boys from the community. We started at 4:30 IN THE MORNING yeah I am serious. Well we probably started walking at about 5 because then there was a little bit of light to see by.. We hiked from about 3600 m above sea (where Cusco is ) to about 4800 m. We took a back way where there wasn't really a trail... so also that meant no tourists! It was free too which was sweet. We hiked for about 8 hours and ended up at Huchuy Qosqo which is Quechua for 'little Cusco', some ruins that are about 5 kilometres above a little town called Lamay in the Urubamba valley. It was a very long hike down to the town, we got to Lamay at about 3 o'clock and caught an hour long bus back to Cusco. As soon as I got home I CRASHED and tried to get in as much sleep as possible because alas it obviously was the same night as the TEFL graduation party at Maximo. Holy I don't know if I've ever been so tired in my life. A few hours before we left I honestly just laid on the floor with my leg up on the wall HAHA it was great. We headed out to Maximo to see Kareema, Sonja and Jay (from the house) graduate! (Also there was free drinks...) It was a very fun night as EVERYONE went. The next Sunday we headed to Jack's for some western food lunch where I ate the best BLT ever. Too bad it wasn't a BLCheese that would have been so perfect. Last week at the project was a busy one as 9 of the kids, one other volunteer, and the director of the project were heading to Lima on Wednesday for first international Futbol Calle Festivale, basically a conference for organizations similar to the one I am working with from all over Peru. They are there from Wednesday the 25 until this evening. So for the past three days Phil and I have been holding down the fort at the project, Friday was crazy, like every single kid came, it was really good though. They had so much energy at the end of the day still we honestly had them running races back and forth. 

Yesterday Holly Mike Elaina and I headed out to Ollantaytambo, we met Kareema and some other English teachers out there. We had some hot chocolate and decided to climb the free ruins to have a fabulous view of the pay-for-entry ruins. It was great. We were basically the only ones up there, and someone even had an iPod with speakers and EVERYTHING it was sweet we just hung out up there for a while. It is a super cute town with really nice places to eat and little cobblestone streets. We had a good view of the town from up there too and got to explore the ruins on our own. We headed down after the sun set due to the fact it was getting dark and we did not want to be stranded up there in the dark. We caught a bus back to Cusco that ended up going to Cusco via Pisac (which is not on the way) so it took a little longer than expected, but we made it!! Plans for Lake Titicaca next weekend and Nasca the week after that! ALSO the Village People are coming to Cusco... might have to go to that for s/20 tickets?!?!

Inca Trail!!

Thursday March 12 2009

SO the story begins on a rainy thursday morning last week. (March 12) We were picked up at 6:30 at the house by this bus that was like an airplane it was sweet, it had pneumatic doors and this cool stair and everything... Anyway I realized 4 seconds after we got on the bus that I had filled up my water bottles and definitely left them sitting on the counter. Of course I would do that right. At least it wasn't anything important. So we drove around Cusco for a bit picking up people from different places (we were picked up first). We then drove about an hour to Ollantaytambo which is near Km 82, the start of the Inca Trail. We stopped here to pick up last minute things such as water for me, walking sticks for some, snacks, ponchos etc. We continued to drive to the trail head where we checked in with our tickets to the trail and our passports (yes i got a stamp!!) and then began our walk. The first day was leisurely compared to the rest, it was just nice scenery and such, on dirt paths not quite the stone paths like the rest of the trail. We stopped after a couple of hours for a lunch of soup and tea and a rice dish with chicken or some sort of meat I can't quite remember. We had soup every lunch and dinner which was actually quite nice, it was great to have something warm to start off. We continued to walk after lunch, and now started to ascend a little bit. It was a beautiful day, we stopped at our first ruins, Llactapata, just after lunch and it was a perfect day. Before the end of our day we definitely passed a little shop that clearly specified its acceptance of Visa and Mastercard. I thought it was hilarious. We reached camp at about 5 or 6 I would say, it was just getting dark. We then had 'happy time' hahaahahah which basically was appetizers of tea and popcorn. It was so great after a day of hiking. A few hours later after we had settled into our tents and such we had our dinner which consisted of soup and another rice slash some sort of protein and veggies dish. That night we all were partiers and headed to bed about 8:30 or 9:00, I mean man what can you do when it gets dark? It just hits you. Plus we were getting up at 6 the next morning.

Friday March 13 2009

Believe me I had no trouble waking up, with about 5 roosters wandering around the campsite and loudly announcing sunrise. So funny. We had a breakfast of some pancakes with this like maple spread stuff on it and some tea, and set off for a grueling 3.5-4 hour hike. And by hike I mean it was all climbing. All an ascent. It started off pretty gradual, meaning they didn't find the necessity for stairs yet. We took 2 different breaks and two campsites along the way. Our campsite that we started at was at an elevation of 3000m above sea level and our highest elevation, at the top of Dead Women's Pass or Warmiwanusca, was 4215m. So a lot of vertical that day. I think it was over 6 or 7 km that we climbed 1215m. It was a very interesting process, we went relatively slow but you just had to keep going. Stopping was like not a good idea you don't want your heart rate to go down. It was a strange feeling I never knew I could go that long while breathing that hard. But it was different from like cardiovascular exertion where you can feel it in your lungs you know, it was just like.... taking more breaths. It was strange. Anyways we started our hike at about 7:30 and got to the top shortly after 11. After resting for a bit and talking some pictures for proof, we started down toward our campsite for the day. This was in terms of hours the shortest day, we got to the camp at about 1pm and had lunch at 2. Between lunch and dinner we basically got our tents ready and rested some, we couldn't do that much exploring because it was raining. After happy time and dinner, we walked out of the dining tent to see a completely clear sky above us, and clouds in the valley below. It was very cool to be above the clouds. The stars where incredible but I was so disoriented because everything is flipped around down here!! 

Saturday March 14 2009

Day three was the longest day. We started hiking at about 7:30 or 8, and got to camp about 4:30. We saw a bunch of ruins that day too. Shortly after leaving camp, we reached the second big ruin of the trip, Runkuracay. Here we were instructed to pick up a small pebble to carry to the top of the second highest pass, Runkuracay Pass. It took us probably about 45 minutes to get to the tope of this second one, it was teensy compared to day two. We had quite a lengthy break up top and then continued down toward our lunch spot after briefly visiting another ruin, Sayaqmarca, which was basically a resting place for people traveling on the Inca Trail back in the day. We got to our lunch place at about two and had some fantastic noodle soup and CHOCOLATE PUDDING which I was extremely stoked about. The rest of our walk that day was basically all going downstairs which was actually pretty tough!! My calves were definitely feeling it. The scenery was beautiful, day 3 was definitely the nicest scenery. We passed some more ruins on our way to the last campsite, Winaywayna. At this campsite there is a building with a restaurant type thing and bathrooms with hot showers. I did not shower because I didn't feel like hauling my towel and shower stuff around the entire trip. We had our happy time and dinner as per usual and tucked in at an appalling 10:30 pm as we were getting up at 3:45 the next morning! We also spread Audrey's space blanket over our mattresses because they were damp from the rain that day. It was the greatest thing ever but very crinkly. (I need to get myself one of them!) 

Sunday 15 March 2009

It was definitely an early morning and the night's sleep felt more like a nap than a real sleep. We woke up to a semi cloudy sky but the sunrise was s pretty!! We headed down to the building to use the bathrooms and fill up on water and such and then waited in line for the actual gate to the Machu Picchu part of the trail to open, which opens at 5:30 am. After the gate opened we literally power walked for about an hour and scrambled up staircases to make it to Intipunku, the Sun Gate, for when the sun was rising. I am pretty sure that's impossible unless you actually run. So we got to the sun gate at about 7 am, saw Machu Picchu from a distance, which was amazing, and then continued our descent from the Sun Gate to the actual ruins. Intipunku is actually about a 45 minute walk from actual Machu Picchu. We raced down to the gate and checked our bags (no bags allowed in the ruins) to run to get a ticket to climb Huaynapicchu. Only 400 people are allowed per day to climb it, and you have to check in and check out so they can make sure you make it out alive. We got our tickets (YAY MORE CLIMBING) and then got a couple hour tour of the ruins. It was incredible! I just can't even believe how long it would take. And it's not like it's built near ressources such as a river, where normal people build establishments. It is because they worshipped the mountains and the sun and wanted to be as close as possible. After our tour we decided to climb huaynapicchu... man that was so steep it was insane. You had to like cling on to cables attached to the mountain side and crab walk down the stairs as to not fall off the mountain. I understand why they have people sign in and out! The view was amazing from up there though, a great view of Machu Picchu and then also a 360 view of the mountains and countryside surrounding. After taking some pics and hanging out up there for a bit we climbed down and headed down to Aguas Calientes, the town just below Machu Picchu. We met our guides there around 2 where we were given our train tickets to return to Cusco: 6 pm. With some time to kill, we checked out the actual 'aguas calientes' or hot springs after which the town is named. I didn't bring my bathing suit because once again I did not feel like trekking with it, so I just went and stuck my legs in. It was heaven after hiking for four days. We caught our train back to Ollantaytambo, on which everyone pretty much passed out, it being 6 pm but we had already been up for 14 hours! At Ollantaytambo we transfered to a bus to Cusco, which is apparently faster than just staying on the train. We finally got home at about 10 on Sunday night, absolutely exhausted, but I managed to fit a shower in before crashing :) Overall a fantastic weekend and I am so glad I had the opportunity to do it!!

Moray 

Salineras - near Moray

Sacsayhuaman - just above Cusco

Puka Pukara - about a 5 minute walk to where I volunteer. We actually ran into some kids we knew here!!

Tambomachay: the water drainage and irrigation system!!

Daylight savings has brought us closer

Wow what a great blog entry title. I'm so glad I chose that. Anyway, it has been almost a week since March 4th and apparently I have been keeping busy. The end of last week was pretty standard, played some soccer in the morning, did some drawing (now in colouring books because two of the other volunteer's parents sent them colourig books not suitable for their project so they gave them to us!) and some english. It's really good, the english. They are so keen and really want to learn. Yesterday Fiona and I had a verb race against our studnets Yaneth, Evelin and Jhon (yes its spelt like that with the j and h together...) we had to translate english verbs to spanish as they had to transfer spanish verbs to english. It was hilarious. We tied. 

This weekend was pretty intense, did A LOT of walking around ruins and such. Saturday Fiona, Allie and I went to Tambomachay, Puka Pukara, Q'enqo and Sacsayhuaman, the four ruins super within 8 km of Cusco. We took the bus to Tambomachay, the furthest one out there, and made our way back along the highway. It was THE perfect weekend for doing stuff like that it was so so so nice out. Tambomachay was not as big as I thought it would be, but was still very cool, featuring water drainage and irrigation systems that were used, and had fantastic views!!! Puka Pukara was super cool, it was easy to see how it was used as a place of residence. There were different rooms visible and places that they used to store food during times of drought (hard to believe there was drought...) Plus a little cave we found where they stored food throughout the year. We then walked about 8 km to the next site; Sacsayhuaman was HUGE well like relatively huge compared to the other ones we saw that day. There were three parts: the labyrinth, the cemetery and the temples. The labyrinth was sweet we actually walked through pitch black tunnels that people used to believe led all over the world. AKA you would enter one and end up like China. We didn't end up anywhere cool, just the cemetery part which was this open space surrounded by circular wall and structure where all of the tombs faced the middle. We then got to slide down the rainbow rocks, ridiculous, we actually climbed to the top and slid down like on those crazy carpet things at the stampede. So funny. The landing wasn't all that soft though. After the slides we walked over to the big rock step things that are probably associated with sacsayhuaman by most. The rocks were gigantic! We walked to the top and had a fantastic view of Cusco and saw the three sites of the former temples: Temple of the Sun, Temple of the Moon and Temple of the Stars. We had a short visit to Q'enqo because by this time it was like 5:30. Basically Q'enqo was a mummy-making site. We saw the tables on which the procedures were carried out, knida creepy. We definitely went home and devoured dinner, then attempted to watch 'The Kingdom' during which I fell asleep. THAT NEVER HAPPENS. And there was like bombs going off in the movie and everything!!! I can't believe I slept through it. Jees. 

Sunday I woke up at about 8 because I had a nice long sleep including my doze during the movie. At about 10 seven of us headed out to Moray, another pretty well known ruin about an hour from Cusco by bus. It's the one that kinda looks like crop circles. We caught the bus no problem and got seats thank goodness. After an hour of bussing we got off at a stop that had an arrow and 'Visit Moray! 14km this way' WOOOOOOO 14km. We began walking along the road and cut off a few hundred metre by clmbing pretty much vertically between the switchbacks the highway made. Very efficient! We arrived at Maras, the town close to Moray, after about 3 km of walking. We stopped here to have lunch and as soon as we took our brown paper bags out (yes grade 2) there was like 4 dogs at our feet, begging. I felt so bad. One was so so skinny you could see every rib and it was just awful. We planned to catch a taxi the rest of the 9 km (I know distances change apparently) to Moray, but found out the walking path was onlt 6 km so we decided to tackle that. That was quite the ordeal. We went through I think three valleys where the path led down down down and then had to climb up up up again. Training for the Inca Trail! We got to Moray at about 3pm after almost 2 hours of hiking, so not that bad. It was super cool. Apparently it was used for agricultral experiments, to see at which altitude crops would grow best at. Very interesting. And also it was just like this giant hole in the ground where all of the water would've ended up if it rained. Those stairs were killer cause they were made for like 7 foot tall people. We the took a 25 minute cab from Moray to Salineras, the salt plains. Those were super cool!! The water that flowed through was very warm and extremely salty. We took a cab back to Cusco after busses just kept driving past us and honking like HEY GUYS WHAT'S UP SEE YA! Got home just in time for dinner and then we watched HOME ALONE hhahahaha it was great. 

Today at the project not many kids were there cause of the start of school. For real this time. We went around the community and took pictures to promote their problems and needs; there is some sort of conference in Lima at the end of March so we're making a presentation for it. I am meeting tonight with my guides for the Inca Trail which I start on Thursday so that is very exciting!!! Hopefully I have everything I need...

"I'm writing you to catch you up on places I've been"

Sooooo this weekend was a success I would say, after rafting on Saturday, we tucked in relatively early and woke up with one side of our bodies being sore. Hahah very interesting that is. On Sunday I went to a 'gringo' (their word for white people basically) cafe and got French toast with strawberries and bananas for breakfast and it was just so good I can't even tell you (however the maple syrup they have there is not REAL maple syrup, to be expected) After which we proceeded to walk pretty much across the city back to the house (all the while getting bombarded with water balloons because it was the last day of carnival which conveniently lasted all of February). We took a little pit stop at the house while I changed into shorts because I was roasting, had some water, and then set out again. We made it to the Plaza de Tupac (it is actually tupac-something or other but I can't remember the rest of it HAHA) where the majority of the celebrations were being held. This also meant the majority of the water fight. We watched some of a mini parade type thing that went around the outside of the square where I saw a legit Peruvian flute band! My picture of it is not that good because I was trying to not get sprayed in the face while I was taking it. Just to clear things up, the most popular weapons used in this giant water fight are water balloons and cans of spray foam.. kinda looks like shaving cream slash sill string... if that makes any sense at all. Taking refuge from the attackers (especially since we were not armed with any water balloons or anything) we checked out the Mega, basically their version of Safeway, just a giant supermarket. I walked with Fiona a little towards her house as she was going home and I was meeting people at the square. I decided to go with her for a bit to take a break from getting attacked. However when we were walking we saw a bunch of boys across the road with a stash of water balloons, so we jeered at them when their shots missed us. Unfortunately for us there was a break in traffic and they took advantage, running across the road to get us from about a meter away. Luckily it was a gorgeous sunny day so it took no time to dry off.

THE FOOTBALL GAME. WAS INSANE. Well not entirely the game itself but more that there was about twice as many people as there were seats. Everyone was extremely friendly with each other to avoid tumbling down the bleachers. I once tried to sit in the middle of one of the stairwells leading up to the seats but got YELLED at by these 3 ladies I was like AH SORRY I GUESS THATS NOT A GOOD IDEA. People got to the stadium and began to enter the stadium about 3 hours ahead of time. Now know that this is not usual. This game was especially intense because it was Cusco vs. Lima. They sure do not get along. There was singing on both ends the ENTIRE game, shirts waving, firework things that did end up on the field sometimes and no one put them out.. I was a little worried about a fire but hahaha did not happen. It was a good epxerience all in all everyone was so into it. This woman behind me yelled the entire game at the ref, who clearly could hear her, like YELLED. It was great. After the game we just headed back to the house and watched... I don't even remember what movie. Wow. It was possibly Donnie Darko.

Monday was a pretty standard day, went to the project and whoops I forgot no it was not standard, NO ONE CAME because it was the first day of school, or so we thought, for the schools. (Remember they just finished their summer break) However the next day we found out that the state schools were not so into it and decided that next week would be a better time to start. I wish that happened at home!!! Man!!! Monday night we went to Trivia at the Real McCoy, a british pub here that hosts the trivia nights. The trivia nights are basically fundraisers (its s/5 to play) for different organizations, and mondays are Maximo Nivel, who I am here with. It is basically trivial pursuit team style, its very entertaining. We did not win this time unfortunately. Tuesday was same as usual, project in the morning, come home for lunch, Spanish in the aft (I forgot my homework sheet at home so I had to sing for the class... couldn't think of anything so I sang oh canada. shoot me) And then yesterday went out for a coffee with this girl from Edmonton who was in my Spanish class. It was her last day in Cusco, she left for Machu Picchu this morning and is going to the jungle and then Bolivia following. Last night we went out for a tiny bit with some guys from Oklahoma we met rafting, as it was also their last day. We decided that coming home and watching Eagle vs. Shark was a great idea, it was the randomest movie ever ever, Jemaine (no there is no 'r' i guess they don't need it with their accent) from Flight of the Conchords is in it... SO random and so ridiculous. I also have not mentioned that I have the best sleeps ever here because I am in the room aptly named 'The Cave' because it is tucked in a corner with no windows. I love it. It is so dark and glorious. Anyways this morning headed up to the project and played football with the older boys, probably about 15-19, and they totally ganged up on me, we were playing everyone for himself, everyone protecting their own goal. I am apparently not good at that game hahahaha. Also was sweaaating by the end. We did a great activity in drawing where they had to draw a picture containing a certain 7 things and incorporate them somehow into the picture, and then explain it to us. We also help them with their English at that time if they wish, helping them translate their description and English words for certain things in their picture. Spanish today was good, I graduate from Basico 1 this week!!! WOOOOO! Next week I tackle Basico 2 hahaha YES. I also booked my Machu Picchu trek!! I am doing the traditional Inka Trail beginning March 12 and ending March 15. Thats so soon I am so excited however I might be out of commission for a while after. I hope you enjoy this entry it is a marathon entry I will hopefully post soon again!

p.s. I have a list of items I will send out that my project is looking for!! Thanks everyone for the offers to help out :)

February is way too short

Last day of February was a good one!! Four other girls and I (two from the family house and two I knew from the other house) went rafting about an hour out of Cusco and it was so fun. Actually met two girls from Winnipeg who were doing it too! We did a two hour raft in rapids class 3-5, so like there were some pretty big guys. A couple people bailed HAHA but I am glad to say I did not. However I still got absolutely soaked. We were then served lunch when returned to like 'base camp' haha I guess you could say. Such a good lunch and it was a beautiful day out too. We were lucky! Needless to say it was a complete gong show and I am sore from paddling on one side. The protests on wednesday ended up being pretty intense but very controlled. Basically it was a mountain community that stopped all transportation into Cusco and then also the main street in Cusco. They wanted to bring to everyone's attention the fact that they don't get enough support from the government. It was completely fine they stayed where they were supposed to stay and everything and it was like pre planned... there is another one on monday too apparently haha something to do with the fact that trains will not run.  So some unlucky travellers might get stuck at Machu Picchu for an extra day.. SHOOT. 

At the project we are trying to do more constructive stuff with the kids, like the other day everyone's drawing had to incorporate their hand in some way... so some kids made their hand into animals or just drew them normal, etc. and we also played a little bit of american football on friday too. Well by 'played' I mean passed around and played duck duck goose with the little guys. They are just so funny. One mini tried to steal my gum out of my mouth the other day. 

Tomoorrow is some other kind of carnavale with dancing and music and outfits and such so I am meeting a girl from my project and this Norwegian girl I met last night for breakfast and then we are going to check it out. AND we are going to attempt to go to the soccer game tomorrow afternoon! It is a big one, Cusco vs Lima, a big rivalry. I am pretty excited about that. Who knows if we'll get tickets though its supposed to be pretty big!!

Some Photos

 This is a shot of the Market San Pedro.. the big one near the Plaza de Armas. It has absolutely everything imaginable!!
 The three musketeers... these little guys are so adorable and just run around causing trouble.
 Little minis playing with practice cones while the older kids had a scrimmage.
 The community where I volunteer! The is the view looking north from the soccer field.

  First day of painting with the kids! I am helping Mijael paint he is like 3 so his motor control is still a work in progress... Luis on the left is just hilarious.

day number 10

Can´t believe I´ve been here for ten days.. seems like it´s been WAAAY longer! Yesterday at volunteering basically we cleaned up from the carnavale on Sunday, and then did some painting. I am so choked because I got paint on my raincoat and if it doesn´t come out I will throw something. I am going through clothes like no tomorrow because I wear either one and a half or two outfits a day, depending on how muddy the field is. Ridiculous. I totally don´t mind though as I founf out that laundry can be done at the family house!! SCORE. The kids were absolutely ridiculous yesterday throwing paint and chalk dust instead of water, I was like IT WAS OVER YESTERDAY STOP IT!! I wish I knew how to scold in Spanish cause like I am pretty useless in a stiuation like that if I can´t hahaha its kinda funny actually. Today was a normal day at the school, played some soccer, tried to salvage the last of my white shirts but ended up getting kicked with the muddy ball so no dice. I also got my pants SOAKED when I was sitting on the ground because Wilbert started crying (by the was that´s the first time I´ve seen anyone of them upset so far), he was playing with lego and there weren´t any sets of wheels left for his constrcution. I basically didn´t know how to say anything in Spanish so I built a lego bridge over his leg and then he was like SWEET!! And all was solved. THAT is problem solving right there. However the person who sat on my wet seat on the bus cause my butt was so muddy must´ve been like UM WHAT HAPPENED HERE? Ah well tough luck for them. I hope it was a dentist in white scrubs or something. After soccer we just did some puzzles and then were told not to come to volunteering tomorrow because there is going to be a protest and it will be ´dangerous´. Well WHY´D you tell me that. Now I want to see. So we are meeting at Maximo Nivel, the school where I take Spanish, in the morning to create a PowerPoint about the project!! For a number of reasons!! But basically to promote their needs and see if they can get some support! (Ormies and Dad, and anyone else who is interested, I am going to talk to the coordinator today to see what I can organize. Cause I can´t just do it on my own) Hopefully I´ll have more news later this week! Anyways things are still good, food is really good, I am still not brave enough to try ´cuy´which is cooked guinea pig. Local delicacy. Don´t even talk to me about it. Maybe if someone blindfolded me and told me it was an alpaca steak or something...

first week down

Week one has been a success. I feel as if I have been here for about a month already though. It's hard to believe that I left calgary last weekend! It has been good, something different everyday. Today was the last day of the carnavale. Basically celebrating today consisted of a day long water fight between males and females. I got attacked at the bus stop personally but was strategically wearing shorts and my rain coat. HAHA I must've looked so ridiculous about five boys just came and poured water on me. I was also wet from walking to the bus stop, were us pedestrians got bombarded with water balloons. Friday was a typical day at the project, played some football, went and did some painting, english, and puzzles with the really little guys. We went to the market "Supermercato San Pedro" for Spanish class to learn the names of fruits and vegetaable. I am hopeless with that. For example, apples and mansanas. LIKE WHAT IS THAT? And plums are some ridiculous long word but I don't remember it. Walked around the market for about an hour, they have absolutely everything there, including full pigs right next the baby toques. The pig and meat section was a little tough to get through. Don't think I'd ever buy meat from there. They also had cheese at the market, but it's not like real cheese. I don't know what it is but it has no taste. I am going to eat an entire block of swiss when I get home. On the way home from school I hit up the movie store once again. I just love it. Saturday I woke up at 9:30 hooray for a sleep in! Had a nice breakfast, took my laundry in, walked to the market and bought some things (then ran out of money). Bumped into Phil at the market (it is really strange running into someone you know here... he called me name three times before I actually turned around) So we walked around for a couple of hours just looking at the different parts of Cusco. Ww climbed up pretty high and got some nice views of the city. We looked through the tourist area, where you HAD to keep walking otherwise you were attacked by salespeople. Headed home after we sat down in the Plaza de Armas for a rest, and then ran into FIONA! It was so weird. Went and bought a mirror with her because her apartment has no mirror. After that I ran home to drop my stuff off and change, then we met back at school and headed to a restaurant called Jack's Cafe for dinner, Basically a break from peruvian food. I had a BLT and it was probably the best thing in the world. It was fantastic. There were 10 year old boys in the cafe trying to sell paintings, and had definitely mastered their sales strategies. He came to our table and was like "Hey where you from? Canada? Capital is Ottawa, Prime Minister Stephen Harper..." AND then "Oh Australia? Capital Canberra, lots of Kangaroos, fires right now.." haha it was hilarious. I did not buy anything however. Definitely Jack's was a good place to go for a break from exotic foods. THEY HAD HUMMUS!!!! I was so excited. And French Toast!! Breakfast will have to be there sometime! Today I went up to the community I volunteer in to see what was going on in terms of celebration. I couldn't find anyone except some kids so I just played with them for a while. Came back to the new house that I moved to today in time for dinner and possibly a game of scattergories this evening :)

festivale de los compadres

Thursday number one in Peru and I have some time on the internet since we were asked to stay out of the house until after 5:30 because my house mother teaches a cooking class at the house, and is only allowed to have one person staying at a time, and she has 4! HAHA so basically I am an illegal refugee/tenant. No worries though a bunch of people are leaving this weekend so I am being moved into the volunteer house where I perhaps will make some friends? Maybe? Too bad cause I do like the people I am staying with now! Anyways, today was day number 4 volunteering, and it happened to be the 'festivale de los compadres' which basically is the festival of the godfathers. Very interesting,

 everyone is honored here. There are so manbrations and I was definitely woken up by fireworks (yes fireworks) at 5 t

his morning. Like WOW. There is another 'carnavale' on sunday that Fiona fom my project and I are going to attend. Basically consists of a giant water fight males vs females. Totally wearing my rain pants SUIT. Volunteering is really good, the kids are soooooo soooo cute and so funny. They just love everything. And my Spanish.. well that's another story h

aha. I can understand it ok I just can't think of words on my own. I'm totally tied up in French! Hopefully another week will help. This weekend I am stayi

ng in Cusco, going to do a little exploring

 here, there is a half day city tour. Then on Sunday, the festivale. Then week number two. I hope to go to Puno next weekend and then maybe Lima for a couple days, then Machupicchu some time.. I have to book some things!! I am working with three other volunteers (one leaves this week it was kind of a crossover) Fiona from Sydney, Phil from Colorado, Stephanie from France. They are all super nice, its too bad Stephanie leaves this week! Both her and Phil are very proficient at Spanish and can sometimes translate for me ! ALSO found a movie store where dvd's are sold for 4 soles which is basically 1.50.. I totally bought slumdog millionaire, yeah tell me about it. There is every movie imaginable. If you have any requests, let me know and I'll see what I can do :)

FUTBOL with the peruvians

Started the week off with my orientation yesterday morning at a beautiful 10:15am, which was basically a powerpoint about Maximo Nivel (the organization down here) and some facts and tips about living in Cusco. Met the other volunteers who started the same time as me, met Christina and Abdul from Toronto, they're actually on reading week from Ryerson and came all the way down here for ONE WEEK! Wow. There is another Canadian as well, from Edmonton, she is in my Spanish class with me because we are both basic 1 meaning no idea what's going on. Except it is so similar to french, for example today I went to the market (aka grocery store) with a girl from my project, Fiona, and i bought corn nuts and chocolate (YES HUGE PURCHASE)  and the cashier said 'tres y caurenta' which is 3.40 but i gave her 14 because tres=treize.. you know. Great. I also found out the WiFi password from Paula and Paul who were still at the school. (They are tow other students at maximo) I also yesterday met Meryl from Holland (also living with us) who has been here for one month and is here for four more! Walked home from school, stopped at one of the many markets on the way home and did a little shopping! Everything is so colourful it’s amazing!! Last night Paul and I went to play soccer however it started to rain on our way there… and the ‘field’ which is basically pavement in a mini stadium, was closed, so we came home. Definitely watched high school musical on a black market dvd with Meryl and her two friends Meryl and Sophie (they are Dutch and holy the language is so interesting)! 

This morning was an eraly one, we visited our 

project at 8 so we had to meet at school at 7:45am! Fiona, Phil and I are working at a little school/community centre in a little community above Cusco. It's called 'futbol project' because basically soccer is integrated into their curriculum. Right now it's kinda extra schooling because their school yaer doesn't start until March. IT WAS SO FUN! The kids are so adorable, we played soccer for like 2 hours, it was so slippery cause it rained last night and of course I don't have my cleats so I slipped everywhere, and needless to say my jeans are SOOO muddy!! We play soccer from 8:3

0-9:30, have 'juegos' (basically just life skills.. manners..) from 10-11, and then have English/Drawing and Painting from 11-12. Then it's back home for lunch, then to school for Spanish!! Busy busy! I am definitely going to sleep well tonight!! I did not bring my camera today but I will have to and show you pictures of the 

kids!!! Also these pictures are just from my first day in Cusco. Enjoy :)

Dos Cerveza, Por Favor

Sooo that is basically all I know in Spanish so far, besides NO GRACIAS because when i went for a walk in Cusco this afternoon i got hassled by SO many people selling things and it was hard not to buy. Revesible toques, paintings, sweet bags, carvings, among other things. Anyways, I arrived in Cusco this morning at about 930, was met by someone who accompied me to my accomidation which was great. The taxis are insane, actually all drivers are insane, its like there is not lanes people just weave all over the place. Also i have seen multiple member families on TINY little scooters, like dad driving, mom on the back holding a kid and another kid on her back WOW THAT´S SAFE!!! I am staying in a house wiht this woman named Marina and two young adults who may or may not be her children, I have no idea. She speaks minimal English and I speak very minimal Spanish. So lots of gesturing. She wrote out a route on my map for me to the main square, the Plaza de Armas, so I walked there today and saw some sights. I took a few side roads to a sweet vantage point over the city and took lots os pictures already! Also there are dogs everywhere! they are cute and I feel bad! I´m sorry about the grammar in here the shift button is sticking kinda like my space bar. Oh someone brought a dog into the internet cafe. I am heading back to my ´house´ because it is kinda getting dark! Dinner time soon! Then some research on trips for me! Orientation tomorrow, wish me luck!!

Travel day almost over!

Finally! I have almost arrived at my destination (Cuzco) after 19 and a half hours travel time. Phew! My flight from Calgary to New York was easy peasy, a nice four and a half hour jaunt. I arrived in New York with plenty of time to take the AirTrain the wrong direction, get off one stop later, and turn right back around. Finding the check in counter for my LAN flight to Lima was quite the challenge, however I was still in the U.S. so the signs were in English, thank goodness. My LAN flight from New York was GREAT it somehow went by super fast (it was 8 hours) there was movies, video games, tv, TWO meals, huge leg room, however everyone spoke spanish. I luckily was sitting beside a girl from New York who was visiting family in Lima, so she was very fluent in both languages and translated for me :) Arriving in Lima was quite something. it was extremely foggy so we couldn't see the ground until about four seconds before we landed. As soon as I stepped off the plane I started SWEATING. It is so humid and about 20 degrees compared to minus 14 when I left Calgary! I am okay now that I am sitting and don't have all my bags though. One more flight, almost there!!!