lunes, 28 de marzo 2011 – viernes, 1 de abril, 2011
(Well, I wrote some of this in Spanish, but considering that I'm a bit behind, I felt that I would never be able to catch up if I was writing in English and Spanish. Comments are always appreciated.)
The mornings of this week passed much the same as last. I woke up at 6am for my new routine, ate breakfast at 7am and walked to class with Sarah and Michael at 7:30. Since we hadn’t had eggs for breakfast since Thursday, I requested them again on Monday night and at school on Tuesday asked Jesus if I was being unreasonable to ask. He told me it was more than ok and that he would talk to Ally and Danny as well. The rest of the week, we had eggs for breakfast. I know it sounds like a silly thing to care about, but when you have breakfast at 7:30 in the morning then go to class for four hours and don’t eat again until 1pm you get really hungry.
Las mañanas de esta semana pasan lo mismo que la anterior. Me desperté a las 6 de la manana para mi nueva rutina, desayuné a las 7 y caminé a clases con Sarah y Michael a las siete y media. Yo pedí huevos a Ally el lunes en la noche porque no los habíamos tenido desde el jueves. En la escuela el martes le pedí a Jesus si seria ilógico pedir. El me dijo que no había problema y que el hablaria con Ally y Danny tambien. El resto de la semana, nosotros tuvimos huevos en el desayuno. Yo sé que suena tonto y algo sin importancia pero cuando tienes desayuno a las 7:30 de la manana luego vas a clases por cuatro horas y no comes nada hasta la una tienes mucha hambre.
On Monday, I said goodbye to Ally’s nieces, somewhat relieved that the numbers in the house were dwindling. Classes were mostly the same, same group of five, but this week we had Sandra as a teacher for the first two hours and another teacher, Jossie, for the second two.
El lunes, me despedí de las sobrinas de Ally, un tanto aliviada de que el numero de personas de la casa estuviera disminuyendo. Las clases en su mayor parte era lo mismo, el mismo grupo de cinco, pero esa semana nosotros tuvimos como profesora a Sandra por las dos primeras horas y otra profesora, Jossie, por las dos ultimas horas.
The big difference this week was the amount of times I ate out of the house. Mainly because there were unexpected visitors in Cusco. Oddly enough, my mom emailed Judy Katzburg and Stuart Gabriel to invite them for dinner last week. Judy wrote back saying that she and Stuart were going to Brazil and Peru. Of course my parents responded saying that I’m living in Cusco and asking where they would be. So, it turns out they were coming to Cusco from March 29 until April 2 and invited me to join them for their excursions.
La gran diferencia esta semana fue porcentaje de horas que yo comí fuera de la casa. Principalmente porque hubo unos visitantes inesperados en Cusco. Por extraño que parezca mi madre les envió a Judy Katzburg y Stuart Gabriel para invitarles a cenar la semena pasada. Judy respondió diciendo que ella y Stuart iban a ir a Brazil y Peru. Por supuesto mis padres respondieron que yo estoy viviendo en Cusco y les preguntaron donde estaria. Así que resulto que ellos iban a venir a Cusco desde el 29 de marzo hasta el 2 de abril y me invitaron a unirme a ellos para sus excursiones.
After class on Monday, Sarah, Michael and I went to Jack’s for lunch. I decided to try the burrito and had mint lemonade to drink. It was funny to be eating there again since I’d just been there the day before, but the food is really tasty, especially compared to the house. We walked uphill to Sacsaywaman, the Inca ruins closest to Cusco and decided to hire a guide for an hour. She had a lot of knowledge about the site and spoke to us in both English and Spanish so that we could practice our español. It started raining towards the end of our tour, so we skipped the other side of the ruins and returned to town.
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| Me, Sarah and Michael at Jack's |
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| Sacsaywaman |
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| Sacsaywaman |
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| Sarah, Michael and me with a view of Cusco |
We found a café and sat down, but it turned out they only served regular coffee or hot chocolate; we all ordered hot chocolate. It was the perfect spot to do our Spanish homework, but sadly some guys started smoking downstairs and the smell became unbearable. We started walking home, but Sarah really didn’t want to go back too early and we found a library to sit at. By the time we walked home, the rain had basically stopped. Dinner was a vegetable mixture with rice, same recipe we had last week.
Tuesday we came home for lunch, more meat and potatoes but a different kind than Sunday. After lunch, we walked into town since Sarah and Michael needed to go to Llama Path to pay for their Salkantay trek. I wandered off to find Judy and Stuart’s hotel since they were supposed to arrive at 2pm. It was almost 3 and they hadn’t checked in, so I decided to wait in the lobby. A few minutes later, in walked Judy and Stuart. I waved, smiled and went over to give them a hug. It was wonderful to see familiar faces but I didn’t want them to feel obligated to talk to me since they’d had a long day traveling. Sadly, Stuart was feeling a bit sick.
When they went to their room, I chatted with their guide a bit in Spanish. Eventually I told them I had to leave to meet Sarah and Michael and requested we meet at the museum shortly. I hurried to Tortamundos and found them sitting outside in the Plaza waiting for me. I apologized and we went to the museum. I checked a few times to see if Judy and Stuart had arrived and then asked the front desk to tell them I was inside. Judy popped in at 4:30 but the museum was closing at 5pm, so we agreed to meet at another museum instead. Sarah and Michael joined me and the five of us strolled around the museum, which was having some local event for the upcoming election.
Sarah was not keen on going home for dinner, so when Judy and Stuart suggested I join them, Sarah and Michael said they’d like to come too. We went to an organic restaurant called Greens that was recommended in the tour books. The food was fantastic. Judy, Stuart and I shared a trout and mango ceviche starter, then grilled trout, quinoa with vegetables, chickpea dish, and sweet potatoes. I had a pisco sour to drink since I hadn’t yet tried one in Peru. It was a fabulous evening and Judy and Stuart kindly picked up the tab. The rain had started so we tried to find Judy and Stuart a taxi to their hotel without luck and walked them back instead before finding a taxi for ourselves.
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| Judy and Stuart! at Greens |
Wednesday, I met Judy and Stuart after class in the Plaza and decided to have lunch with them (had to call home to let Ally know) and return to Sacsaywaman with their guide. We ended up at Jack’s but the line was too long to wait. However, once the waitress saw me, she directed us to the table in the back where Sarah and Michael were sitting. She’d remembered me from Monday. We rushed lunch to get back to the Plaza. We visited Sacsaywaman with another family (from Colorado) who seemed very uninterested in the history of the place (or I guess the stories this particular guide shared). I’d left my camera at home since I hadn’t planned to stay out but borrowed Judy’s a few times to get some shots. We explored the other part of the ruins that I hadn’t visited on Monday; I even took my turn on the “slide”.
Isaiah dropped us off near the Plaza, where we had a quick cup of local coffee before going into the museum. The guide we decided to hire was very through and we were there for almost 1.5 hours before telling him it was enough. After much debate about dinner, and a stop at El Encuentra (the vegetarian place I ate at on Saturday), we ate at The Muse, a very stylish restaurant where we lounged on couches. Towards the end of the meal (I had the vegetarian lasagna), live music arrived, so we sat an enjoyed the atmosphere.
I skipped class on Thursday to meet Judy and Stuart at 7:30am at their hotel for a tour in the Sacred Valley. We had a wonderful day; the weather cooperated too. On the drive to Pisaq, we stopped at a few viewpoints with stunning landscapes of the valley. Before visiting the ruins, we made a quick stop in town for the loo. Isaiah gave us a bit of information about Pisaq before setting us off on our own. We took another hour to walk around, making sure to stop at the sun temple, and hurried back to the car. A very persistent local, selling flutes and CDs of his music, finally convinced Judy to make purchase.
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| Stuart, Judy and me in front of Sacsaywaman |
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| Ruins in Pisaq |
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| Pisaq |
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| Pisaq |
Back in the town of Pisaq, we wandered around the Thursday market. I bought a few plates (which Judy and Stuart kindly brought back for me) while they purchased various gifts for loved ones back home. We were almost finished when Judy decided to check out a shop with rugs. After 45 minutes of looking and bargaining, we left the store with a unique rug which they will use as a wall hanging. It was 1:15pm by the time we got on the road, and on the hour plus drive an unpleasant conversation about the guide for Machu Picchu ensued; it was pretty uncomfortable. We skipped lunch in Urubamba to have a quick bite in Ollantaytambo at Heart’s Café (delicious tuna sandwich) arriving at the ruins at 3pm, leaving us very little time to explore. Isaiah was busy parking (and getting over his anger) so he only guided us for about 20 minutes. At 3:40 we hurried out to the parking lot so that Judy and Stuart could catch their train to Aguas Calientes.
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| Girls in Pisaq town |
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| Lunch at Heart's Cafe |
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| Ollantaytambo |
Isaiah and I drove back speaking a bit of Spanish. The drive was gorgeous – the sun shining highlighting the snow on mountain peaks and illuminating the green fields and lakes. Having spent all my cash during the day, and literally having 2 soles to my name, I was desperate for an ATM, but when we got back to town, my card wasn’t working. So I had Isaiah drop me at Don Estaban (where I almost ordered something until I remembered I couldn’t pay) and used their wi-fi to call NatWest. Turned out my card had been switched off; they reset it but sadly I was still unable to get money. I met Sarah and Michael for a cultural show included on our Boleta Turista. The stage looked more like a high school theater but there were some ok dance and music numbers. We walked back home around 8:30 (I was lugging all the purchases of the day since Judy and Stuart didn’t want to bring them to Machu Picchu), where a dinner of fried egg with bananas and rice was waiting.
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| Drive back to Cusco |
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| Cultural show |
What happened after class on Friday was a bit upsetting. Since I couldn’t get cash last night, I walked with Sarah, Michael and Sarah’s father (Sandy, who arrived that morning) towards town. When we got to the place to split up, I chatted with them a bit about their plans for the afternoon. Michael eventually asked me what I was doing for lunch. I told him I was going home and he kind of invited me with them to Jack’s. However, Sarah was really standoffish and definitely didn’t make an effort to ask me to join. I could tell she didn’t want me there, so instead of being a social idiot, I went home. I know it was her first meal with her dad, but it was really hurtful after the fact that she’d made such a big deal about not liking the food at home (and then basically sending me home to eat it) and the fact that Judy and Stuart had paid for their entire meal at Greens the other night. In addition, the ATM still didn’t seem to be working, so the fact that I had no cash was upsetting. Luckily I found a place on the way home where I was able to withdraw a bit of cash. Since I was passing by Don Estaban, I stood outside to use their wi-fi to call mom.
The rest of Friday was pretty dull. Lunch was chicken with dried out yucca. I had planned on doing some sightseeing in the afternoon but it started raining and I spent the time on my laptop making photo albums for facebook. At some point, Ally and Danny’s grandchildren showed up and were making quite the racket downstairs. I think I was hyper-irritated because of the day’s earlier events. Michelle was online so we chatted on g-chat for a bit. I hardly ever talk to my sister since she’s so busy. Sarah, Michael and Sandy didn’t get home until almost 6 and then claimed they weren’t hungry for dinner. So it was just Ally, Danny and me and the same food as lunch. I went up to my room in a sour mood. And that’s how this past school week passed. Sad way to end the week, but overall it was fantastic and I’m meeting up with Judy and Stuart again tomorrow for some Cusco sightseeing.
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