I think I have fleas.

This is a serious statement. I might have fleas or more realistically, flea bites. All the dogs that roam around here have fleas and it eventually becomes unavoidable that you touch them or they touch you. Although, on Friday evening on two separate occasions I had dogs coming at me & barking. Good thing I carry rocks for protection. I have yet to be seriously threatened by them.

Friday evening we had a pizza, painting & cerveza party at the new office / volunteer house. I walked home with my flashlight & rocks (& oreos!!) and found my family drinking since Jesus was home from Cusco for the weekend. They usually share 1 liter of beer and pass the cup around. But for whatever reason, they always give me my own cup and every time the cup is passed, I'm filled up as well. So, I end up drinking a lot more until 2 am.

Saturday, we had Ceviche & Pisco Sours for lunch. Pisco Sours are a traditional Peruvian alcoholic beverage made of whipped egg whites and Pisco (an alcohol). They sound gross but they're actually quite delicious. After lunch the entire family went to the next town over to a very small cemetery where they have family buried. We literally sat on the grave and drank 12 liters of Cusquena (a Peruvian beer) until 5 pm. Later in the evening I went to a local hostel owned by an American & drank on the roof top with everyone from Awamaki. It was fun & a gorgeous view of the mountains in the dark & stars which are quite brilliant out here.

Today is Palm Sunday and the start of Semana Santa aka Holy Week. This week would have been our first week of teaching but there is no school this week. I think there might drinking this week for the occasion & added free time. Silly me for thinking I would abstain from alcohol for 3 months.

Enjoy the pictures of Ollantaytambo. Caio.

Black Out!

Today is Viernes. Friday. Yesterday & the evening before it rained quite a bit which is apparently a problem in the small town of Ollantaytambo because we had no power all day yesterday. And when there is no power & rain, there is very little to do. So, I hung out at the Awamaki office in the morning and did some lesson planning for our first week of classes with Julie. Then I returned home around noon to tune my guitar which I completed successfully & study up on my spanish a bit. Had some lunch & went off to Spanish classes which ended around 6:15 pm & the town was REALLY CLOSE to being pitch black. The power finally returned at 7:30 after we had a candelit dinner.

Spanish lessons are coming along...I guess. 3 hours a day, 5 days a week = a lot of information. So, I think I´m going to try and sit down for a couple hours this weekend and get some vocab & all that jazz under my belt. I can understand a lot in conversations but I am not comfortable speaking it.

Bad news- I found more puppies to feed at the same house as Skinny Dog. I fed Skinny Dog an entire pack of crackers yesterday, she seemed to enjoy them.

I might be going to Urabamba today which is the next town over with my house mom to the market. If not, I will be helping painting at the new Awamaki Office in town & hopefully running. There is a pizza & painting party at the new office tonight with some CERVEZA. Mmm.

Caio for now.

Buenos Dias!

Each day is getting better and better! I´m really starting to like it here. My ridiculious sunburn is still extremely red and inflamated. My forearms were the most burnt and swollen to the point that you couldn´t see my wrist bones which is unusual. And I´m not exaggerating at all - this is by far the worst sunburn I have ever experienced in my life. I guess my lesson was learned with the Peruvian sun & high altitudes. I showed my host family my birth mark arm and although my birthmark did look a little odd they thought that it was some adverse reaction to the sun. So I had to quickly look up Mole in my English/Spanish dictionary. And say, ¨No, esta un lunar!¨.

I went running this morning for the first time which wasn´t easy. I´m obviously in higher altitudes that I am not accustomed to as well as the hills/mountainous terrain. There are a lot of dogs around here just wandering and they appear to be strays but are most commony owned by a family & are friendly. On the outskirts of town there was a mother dog with two little puppies and the mom was horrendously skinny. So I walked back later with my breakfast that consisted of a flat piece of bread with some steak and fed it to the dog since I didn´t want it. I´m guessing this will become somewhat regular for me as I have a soft spot for animals.

I started Spanish classes yesterday which have been good. I´ll definitely have to do some studying on my free time but being submersed in the language and culture will help me pick up the language quickly. I found out yesterday afternoon that I will be teaching English & Environmental Ed with another volunteer at one of the schools. Neither of us have teaching experience but Julia is relatively fluent in the language which tends to make me feel dumb.

Tonight we have a volunteers meeting and & quiz night at the pub. My computer crashed last night which really sucks so I am going to see if one of the volunteers can fix it. We´ll see. Keep the e-mails coming, I would love to be updated on everyone´s lives....wait I guess I haven´t been gone that long, ha :).

Hola

Hola! Today has been better as was the end of yesterday. Yesterday afternoon, I hiked up to the ruins called Pika Una - I think my spelling is way off but that's how it's pronounced - with a girl from Awamaki. And then we walked around town a bit and checked some stuff out. We found some cute looking restaurants that I plan to eat at during my stay here (some that serve roast guinea pig - a common Peruvian delicacy). After that, I arrived at my house & they had built 2 small plywood walls in the common room and got INTERNET. Then had dinner & went over to my host mom's mom's house (aka my "grandma") where the entire family was -- my host mom's two brothers, the one's wife & 3 year old daughter, and the grandparents. They were drinking 1 liters of Pilsen and passing it around. Every time Suzanne (the grandma) got the liter she made sure to fill my cup up. So I drank quite a bit of beer since we consumed 12 liters between about 5 people. Oy.

This morning I woke up and went hiking at 8 am with two other volunteers - Hayden & Kaitlyn. We went up to these huge stone quarries at the near-top of a mountain. It took about 4 hours to get there. They stopped to eat and were planning on going to the Sunshine Gate at the very top in the clouds which was another 2 hours beyond where we stopped. So, I turned around and it took me two hours to get down and I encountered quite a few cows on the path. I had to pick up a rock and hit it on a rock wall so they would move. I was quite parched and exhausted by the time I even got down near town and was having to take breaks just walking up a small incline. So sad. But I got very burnt on my back, chest, back of my calves and forearms. I need to watch out for that next time.

Tomorrow is my first day of helping with English classes in the elementary school & taking Spanish classes (mucho importante). Wish me luck.

PS - I'll try and post some pictures soon but right now blogspot is being volatile.

Ollantaytambo

Well, I've been a bit overwhelmed to say the least. I left Lima yesterday morning and flew to Cusco where I met an American who hitched a ride with me to Ollantaytambo. And a few seconds before we found my ride he tells me he's a missionary. I was OK with this until he preached to me the ENTIRE 2 hour drive to Ollantaytambo (which was extraordinarily beautiful by the way). Even got into the discussion of the Big Bang Theory v. Evolution and I couldn't help but sit there and think that the majority of the crap that came out of his mouth was ludicrous. But it was comforting to be able to speak to someone fluently.

I got to Ollantaytambo and Hallie (a volunteer coordinator) picked me up to meet me host family and go to their house. I'm staying with a 33 year old woman, Janet - pronounced Yanet, and her 6 year old daughter Mikaela who is adorable. They speak very little English and I speak very little Spanish so we speak a mixture of the two together with some added sounds and motions.

The standard of living here is substantially lower than what we're used to. My house is about 4 rooms - the common area, the two bedrooms and a bathroom. They have very little furniture because they just renovated the inside of their house. So in the "kitchen" area is a range, a table and a couple side tables to put things on, and a computer table. My room has a bed & a night stand. And the bathroom has an electric shower (yikes), a toilet and a sink. However, you can't flush toilet paper here because their plumbing system is basic. On a positive note, my house mom mentioned this morning that she might be getting WiFi. YIPPEE.

I had a bit of a breakdown this morning. I had breakfast and then my dad called and the second I picked up the phone and heard his voice I started crying. It's become quite difficult to think about home, family, friends and my cat. At this point in time, it's hard to imagine being here for 2-3 months. I just hope I adjust relatively quickly and start to enjoy it. It is truly a beautiful area.

On a positive note - the other volunteers are great. There are 19 of us and 3 other new ones that came in yesterday at different times than me (one named Forest). We had a pizza dinner last night with drinks and then did a little salsa dancing. I've gotten the impression that I have not been the only one who has been overwhelmed but that everyone ends up loving it. And it is a step above Lima without a doubt.

Send this lonely girl e-mails. Muchos Gracias.

Lima

OK, so here I am in Lima. I'm experiencing a bit of culture shock. I'm currently sitting in the hostel on a hard board, also known as a bed. Granted I've only been in Lima for no more than 2 hours but there are a lot of smells, traffic, & grimy aspects in my travel from the airport to the hostel. It also didn't help that I started feeling car sick on the way here.

I'm looking forward to less traffic in Cuzco & Ollantaytambo tomorrow but I'm not going to assume or hope that the accommodations are any better (I am only paying $8 so I really shouldn't complain).

I killed a spider in my room. I'm just glad it wasn't a gigantore spider.

A Little Letter to A------- Airlines

March 18, 2010

Dear A------- Airlines (I’m not naming names on this one):

How could you possibly call that “dinner” you just served me actual food? The mashed potatoes were the same consistency and shape as a cylinder of goat cheese. The salad was a few pieces of soggy iceberg lettuce, an equally soggy slice of tomato and a couple shreds of parmesan cheese. Not to mention the chicken that I refused to even look at. Sub-par.

What happened to the soggy McDonald’s Happy Meals you used to serve when I was a kid? Or the meal that my dad cleverly coined “Crap in a Sack”? Those were still terrible but at least a step above what I just nibbled on. Not to mention the smell that was highly offensive and infiltrated the entire plane. I welcome you to do the cooking up in first class.

One last note: Is there anything that can be done about the horrifying noise when you flush the toilet? It hurts my ears and makes me feel like I am about to get sucked out of the plane with other people’s doo-doo.

A safe arrival in Lima would be appreciated.

Sincerely,

Cynical Me

Day Prior to Departure

Well, here I am blogging. I'll have to admit, it's a little bit weird. It's kind of like the internet has a special password to the thoughts in my head which could not be a good thing.

I'm leaving for Peru for three months tomorrow morning. I'm starting to get pretty excited about everything. I'm really looking forward to being surrounded by amazing views and a new culture. However, I'm apprehensive about my inability to speak Spanish but there isn't much I can do about that at this point. I'll just deal with it as it comes.

This is my itinerary for the next couple of days:

-Fly to Miami & then Lima and arrive tomorrow around 9 pm.
-Pick up by youth hostel taxi.
-Fly from Lima to Cusco the following day & arrive at Cusco around 1 pm.
-Pick up by private taxi for trip from Cusco to Ollantaytambo.

The rest is an adventure. I'm still not positive where I'll be placed to volunteer and I know nothing about the family I will be staying with. This is a perfect example of the fact that I am not a planner. I simply don't care and look forward to the experience. I do know that I will be taking an intensive 40 hour Spanish class when I get there.

I bought a guitar! It's a black acoustic Fender (my mom still doesn't know....I imagine she'll find out tomorrow morning when I walk out of the house with it). It was relatively cheap and nothing special but I'm planning to teach myself over the next three months since I won't have a piano to play with anymore. Now everyone can anxiously wait for my inevitable fame (kidding).

I'm going to miss my cat. Whether this makes me a cat lady or not, it is a true statement.

More to come in a few days.