Cusco (more to come)

We arrived in Cusco about a week and a half ago. This is our second week of classes, and our last before we head to Argentina. Cusco is a really nice city. I love everything about it, except for the weather! Here I am in South America, but I´m still wearing jeans and a jacket everyday. It rains pretty much everyday too. But there still have been some really nice sunny days (but it´s not as cold as Oregon!).

Classes are going good, the school is kind of a let down because they are in the middle of construction, and don´t offer any kind of facilities except for the cold class rooms! There are four of us in my class, and we have had two different instructors. I like the instructors and my classmates so far. It is nice being in a class with only three other students, it is much easier to learn Spanish that way! The classes are from 8:30am-1:pm. It is nice waking up early and having the whole day to do things. Almost all of the students at our school are from Holland, because it turns out that the director of the school is Dutch. Ruby and I were the only American students last week, so it has been a little bit confusing hearing Dutch everywhere! They are very nice and fun to hang out with...there is a bar called Indigo (yes, very much different than Indigo in Eugene!), where students from my school get a discount on wednesday nights. So the only time Ruby and I have gone out to get some drinks in Cusco has been there (we are going there again tonight)...it is fun because almost half of the students from our language school go there.

Cusco is the capitol of the Incan Empire, and is full of museums, ruins, and interesting history. I enjoy being in this city more than any of the others we have visited. It is smaller than Lima and Arequipa (we can walk almost anywhere we need to go from the Plaza de Armas). Although Ruby and I are looking forward to visiting smaller towns where we can get away from the crowds! In the main plaza, it is impossible to get away from the local women and children hasseling you to buy their arts and crafts everwhere you go, they even follow you begging. I think that my most used phrase since I have gotten here is ¨no gracias!¨We went on a city tour on monday, which took us to five of the famous Incan ruins in and around the city. The Inca civilization is fascinating. We also went to Machu Picchu last weekend, it was definately an experience I will never forget! (I will be posting the Machu Picchu entry next time I get a chance).

I am living with a host family here in Cusco. They are a very friendly family, but I don´feel like I am learning much Spanish from them as they are not usually around. They also live a far distance from the school and the main plaza (about a forty five minute walk, and a 3 soles taxi ride), so I have become accustomed to staying around the downtown area all day without going back home until late night. The main meal of the day here is almuerza (lunch) which is usually eaten around 1 or 2, then dinner is a lighter meal. I don´t usually go home for my almuerza, because I can easily buy a good meal near the main plaza for less than it would cost to take a taxi to the house and back. It is amazing how easy it is to be entertained in Cusco...I usually spend some time at the internet cafe after school, then meet back up with Ruby to go exploring the city. Without feeling like much time has gone by it´s already nine at night!
There are tons cobblestone narrow streets lined with shops and restaurants, it is impossible pick a place to go eat! My favorite thing to buy here are the juices....every shop and restaurant has jugos of all different kinds, I don´t know what I´m going to do when I go back to Oregon and have to spend more than five dollars on a smoothie! Here delicious tripical juices and smoothies cost about a dollar.
The nightlife in Cusco is amazing...the streets become more packed in the night than in the day. The bars and discotecas are crowded everynight until about five in the morning! Ruby and I havn´t been to a discoteca yet because we have to wake up so early...I am looking forward to going to one in Argentina. We decided that we are going to cut our trip to Cusco short, because we have friends that we are meeting in Argentina at the end of the month. On friday we begin our long bus ride to Buenos Aires (it´s going to take about three or four days). Then we are going to spend some weeks travling the Argentina coast and finally getting some beach time in!