Sidestreets

I have so much to say I can't type fast enough!

Ok, First, I arrived in Cusco yesterday afternoon and I am staying in the same house I was in before. Although, the house is full of new people. Fun and different.

Play by Play for today: I am starting to understand (a little bit) why foreigners fall in love with this city and want to live here…

1. Today my roommate was leaving (after being here for 3 months) so there was a lot of last minute packing and shopping to do! In true Duffy fashion I tagged along and made a list of things I liked and scoped out prices. Always searching for the best deal.
2. Experiencing a little packing drama has made me very eager to leave lots of my stuff here- then maybe I will have enough space for presents!
3. I took Laura to the airport to see her off. On the way back from the airport I shared a cab with a friend of Laura’s who is Peruvian. Her name is Karla and she was super nice. I just got dropped off where she needed to go and figured I would walk the rest of the way home.
4. This is the first Saturday that I have had totally free since I arrived (I think) and I decided to take side streets that I have never explored and I found a gold mine! I happened to stumble upon the “Arts” district! (most of the city is arranged by type of store. For instance, if you needed to buy a mattress you would go to one street that is lined with mattress stores) I was surrounded by bolts of fabric, ribbon, paint, bead stores, you name it. Seriously, heaven. This was perfect timing because I saw a dream catcher in the Jungle and decided that I could make some to take home with me. My last day in the jungle I cut roots to make the frames and collected river stones to go in the center. So, needless to say, I bought a ridiculous amount of string, wire, and a pair of pliers and I will soon get to work!
5. Then I ventured through a market (that I have walked by at least 4 times a day, every day I have been in Cusco) and found fresh fruit, fresh flowers, handmade wooden spoons! It had everything! I also saw a shop that had live frogs next to a tray of TOTALLY gutted frogs. Maybe gutted is not the right word… the skin was missing from these particular frogs and just their bodies and guts were out on display- it was fascinating … and gross. The lady behind the counter was not happy that I wanted to take a picture and thus you will not have the honor (or maybe you will be spared) from experiencing this with me. At least for now, have no doubt, I will go back and do my best to get photos. There was a large section of the market full of butchers… who also would not let me photograph them.
6. I am currently watching a Spanish soap opera (novella) and it is quite distracting. Not my cup of tea.

I am having an internal struggle against the structure, commitment, and responsibility that will accompany Monday. There is still so much exploring I want to do here! I have yet to see any of the ruins that are close to Cusco or visit any of the museums and historical sites!

I will write more/post pictures of Salkentay and the Jungle soon!

In the Jungle, the mighty Jungle...

Hi Hi Hi

Ok, scratch the title of that last post... I now have 2 more ¨New Favortie Places¨. The last 2 weeks have been totally amazing.

First, hiking throught the Andes and camping was a blast. I was hard work but totally worth it. We ending the trip by hiking to Machu Picchu, which for the record, it super cool. Overall, I think I was there for around 14 hours, hiking and looking around. There is so much to see!

Now I am in the Jungle, reaching 2 weeks on Friday doing jungle conservation. Basically just planting and measuring trees. In the afternoon we nap, read, play cards, chat. All the food is vegetarian, there is no electricity, no hot water... no walls... and it is really great!!!! We have 2 pet monkeys and a parott but I have not seen much other wild life. Thousands of butterflies, one snake, a jaguar kill... yep, that covers it. The closest town with internet/phone access is a 2 hour walk away... and my computer time is up (please excuse the grammer/spelling errors!).

Love to all!,

C

A new favorite place

Yesterday, I went on a "self-guided (aka by Lonely Planet)" tour of Cusco and in the process was introduced to many new areas of the city that I had not be exposed to yet. So totally awesome! I went with a group (Brittney- Niagra Falls, Kali- NYC, Andrew- Pittsburg, Brendan and Chantell- Canada) from a differnt home-stay (our house has traveled with them a bit before.) We had yesterday off from volunteering (as well as today) because of strikes. The majority of cusquenians are participating in the strike and not going to work because the government wants to mine and export oil and natural gas from Peru... so, the people here won't benefit from lower prices... ? This is what I have understood from broken spanish/english conversations... It gave us time to explore but also caused for modification of our tour because of safety. The police asked us (very kindly and sternly) to stay near the main square because it wasn't safe for us to venture out into less touristy areas. I think it would have been totally fine but a group of gringos does stick out quite a bit. However, we discovered the San Blas area of Cusco (you can look it up if you like, it's pretty well known) and like many other tourists, I loved it! It is all small cobblestone streets (more similar to alleyways) with resturants, pubs, and shops tucked into every bit of free space. I am still amazed when I duck under a door expecting to enter a teeny space and low and behold a whole courtyard emerges! We spend lots of time just walking around and shopping! My spanish is improving a little and I am having more success with bartering! Yay! Last night I also went over to their house to watch the Lakers and Celtics play... of course, I really wanted to just see what another house/part of town looked like. I was nervous to take a taxi by myself, but my fears were pretty much totally unfounded. On the way there (I had to cross the city, ha which took maybe... 7 minutes) I had the cutest taxi driver. He was about 70 years old and was very patient with my spanish. : ) I think I should seek out more elderly and young people to attempt conversation with, they are much more forgiving. The childern at my placement are so funny when I try to have converations with them, however it is becoming much easier to talk to as well as understand them.

Tomorrow at 4:30am I am leaving for Salkentay, a 5-day hiking adventure around Machu Picchu. All in all, about 35+ hours of hiking in 5 days plus hiking around Machu Picchu itself and climing Huayna Picchu. It will be hard work but I am super excited!

More pictures to come soon!

Love to all!

C

Looks appetizing right...? It's holiday season... so Cuy (yes, guinnea pig) is everywhere. Yum, Yum!

Me and my roomie, Laura (Australia).

The Andes.

Me at Moray. We picnicked right in the center.