I realized this morning, I'm a month into my summer vacation, a month?! That can't be true, I feel like I just got out of school! I also just received my SAT score from June and I got a 2070, I'm very happy I didn't get below 2000, I was so sure I was going to get 1999 or something! However I still hope to retake it to see if I can improve a little.
The Jesus statue shining brightly. Almost as strong as the catholic faith here in Peru
I had to make my way to work by myself today which was an adventure. That's one thing about Cuzco, even the smallest things are exciting, drinking water requires you to boil it first, walking down the street requires fending off people selling things while simultaneously keeping an eye on your bag, crossing the road requires a sharp eye and a lot of faith, taking the bus to work gives you more adrenaline than a roller coaster! The busses barely stop at your station unless you wave them down, and even then they're practically still moving as you jump on! I really can't watch as they're driving! I spend the whole time constantly gasping and clutching the seat in front of me as the bus driver plays chicken with another bus for a spot in a lane, while everyone else on the bus is relaxing and practically drinking their morning tea! Needless to say I can't imagine having to drive here!
Incredibly I arrived safe and sound to the orphanage, and started off the day with helping Guiliana, who felt very sick, curl up on a doll's bed which was the cutest thing ever, and fall asleep for the majority of the rest of the day. Then Missyryan's ear piercing got extremely Infected so we had to deal with that as well.
Then story time. Which only required keeping 32 four year olds quiet and still for ten minutes, easier done than said... Between my complete lack of knowledge of useful commands, like sit down, or be quiet, and them being four this proved to be pretty difficult. Bianca and Guadilupe proved to be the most troubling, they are both very intelligent and very curious, which means they are never still, and they WILL take advantage of you if possible. For instance I'm pretty sure they were telling me the wrong names when I asked them to tell me the names of some of the other kids! However the good far outweighs the bad in these adorable kids! Most of the time they are the sweetest, nicest kids I've ever met! I still feel like this is not the experience I wanted but I know I also know this will be good in a different way, I will learn how to take care of kids and I will also learn a lot about the Carholic culture and the Quetcha culture which the kids are also learning about. I hope to do some more volunteering at a local high school teaching English to try and get the experience I wanted.
Gabriel (and company) after I caught them hiding under their desk during lesson time!
Fabiana, also playing under a desk!
Corali attached to my leg :)
In the afternoon I went out with María Elena to do some errands. In the Plaza de Armas, I asked her to take some pictures of me but she ended up taking three one second videos, haha! Although she has been nothing but extremely nice to me, today she annoyed me ever so slightly. The thing is he always has such a clear idea of what should be done, and how it should be done, and it's very hard to change her mind. I wanted to book a trip to Macchu Picchu and she was just so sure that I should book with Latino Tours, that she didn't even give me any other options, I guess the company is okay but I didn't really want a tour guide at all, but she wouldn't let me go otherwise, I also didn't really want to spend a whole day at this hot springs which I'm now doing, and I kind of wanted to hike up to Macchu Picchu, and also go check out some other ruins a bit above Macchu Picchu, which I'm now not doing. It was kind of annoying how set in her ways she was, I almost felt like she had some sort of deal with the agency to send all her volunteers through them and they would give her a commison. However I couldn't really argue with her because I am her responsibility for this month, and this is what she was comfortable with me doing. She's still amazingly nice, today was just a little frustrating.
A screenshot from one of the videos!
A screenshot from one of the videos!
Another screenshot!
You can see the flag of Cuzco flying high and proud atop this Carholic Church. Look familiar? Oh yeah that's because it's also the LGBT flag, pretty sure that's just the opposite of what this church believes in!
In the evening me met up with Jorge, Ana, and three of their friends to go out to dinner, we started out trying to find a restaurant that serves Quoi, a local delicacy of Guinea Pig (Thank you auto correct I had no idea Guinea was spelt like that!), but luckily the restaurant we ended up going to didn't have that! Phew, I still need to work up to eating something that cute a little more! However all adventurism was not lost as I ended up getting a local hamburger, with banana in it! It was so delicious, who would have thought? It was also huge! Only a few people could finish their meals!
It was twice as big as my mouth!
Dinner was also a good opportunity to get to know Hunter, a new volunteer that just arrived today.
Hunter: Beautiful, a little shy, but that could just be because she's only sixteen! I'm not the youngest one in the house any more, yay! She also has an adventurous side as she does rodeo! She barrel races horses, so we have that in common, horses not barrel racing!
After dinner Caroline (German), Hunter, and I went for a hike up to a church called San Cristobal, it was pretty high up the side of the valley so was a good workout! The night brought a whole new perspective to Cuzco! The cobblestone streets and old houses seemed even more magical, and the view from the church was amazing! The lights, the dark mountains, the huge statue of Jesus that was bright white in amongst the dark mountains! What an awesome night!
Hunter and Caorline walking the moonlit streets.
The view from the San Cristobal Church!
The Jesus statue shining brightly. Almost as strong as the catholic faith here in Peru