I'm all right

(Updated...)

Apparently some people have been enquiring as to my well-being since I haven't posted here for some time. Thanks for asking. I'm all right!

This trip has been a bit different from the last one since I've been staying in one place longer and not having an adventure every day, hence less to write about. Right now I'm in Cusco and in my second week of Spanishing school.

Cusco is in the sierra at an altitude of about 3300 metres, and hence is now in the rainy season. I knew that before I came here, and checked the climate chart on Wikipedia which said there would be about 13 rainy days in February--I figured that was no worse than St. John´s in certain months. Well, blame global warming or what have you, but I think it´s rained every day since I´ve been here. The rain is usually off and on--if it would rain for a couple of hours and get it over with that would be better. When it rains it tends to be chilly too--at this altitude no sun means no warmth, and of course buildings don´t have heating--though there are some gas heaters at the school. If you think I´m complaining unduly, well the locals are doing it too.

There are a lot of Spanish schools in Cusco: I chose this one, Amauta, because it appeared to be a little bit more social than the others and had a number of extracurricular activities (for example, films! -- something I've been starving for). They also organize volunteer activities but they all seem to involve working with kids, which is not really my thing. No offence to kids (or people with kids) -- I just know my comfort zones.

I'm in a group of five students (all chicas except for me): one American, one Dutch, one Swedish, and one Australian. There is a preponderance of Dutch and German students in the school as a whole. 20 hours of classes costs about $120. I find it hard to guage my progress, but I guess every bit helps.

While studying I've been staying with a Peruvian family for extra language immersion; the food is generally pretty good too and the arrangement is a little cheaper ($112 a week) than staying at a hotel. The meals follow the standard Peruvian pattern: breakfast, a big lunch at around 1.30--consisting of soup, a main dish, and a small dessert such as jelly or fruit. In between the soup and the main dish there might be corn on the cob (choclo). I´m generally stuffed by the time I´m finished. I´ve discovered that it´s not just Peruvian restaurant meals that are heavy on the starch--it applies to home cooking too. I´m not sure this is good for me--on the other hand, Peru has far fewer overweight people than Canada.

The bus that I take from home to school and back is called Liebre (hare) but it doesn´t seem to be any faster than other bus. As far as I know there´s no Tortuga line, but there is one called El Dorado that my ladylady said is full of thieves! The ride costs 0.60 soles or about 21 cents.