Strike?

Today, Anne and I will be spending time with our family. Not going to
the main square. Not going to spanish classes. Not going to the
orphanage. Why? Oh, just a national strike that makes it dangerous
for us to come near the riots, which just happen to be everywhere we
normally go, haha.

Good thing this morning was the day I decided to go out for a run. No
big. (Dont worry, mom, this was BEFORE I knew about the strike. There
were just lots of policemen) Oh, but I did get chased by a dog.
Oops. But the run was so nice because I got out there before everyone
had set up for the day, so I saw street vendors preparing their stands
and shops opening... it´s completely different world, which is why I
love running in the places we´ve visited. It´s like I get to see a
whole different world.

Besides that, though, Cusco is INCREDIBLE. Definitely one of my
favorites. Thanks to Grace for updating my blog, by the way!
Internet is hard to get here, but because of the strike... we have
nothing else to do today haha. But back to Cusco. It´s heavenly.
Mystical and beautiful, like a little South American town with a
Western twist. The night view from the Plaza is my favorite. There
are all these little yellow streetlamps lining the cobblestone streets
and the fountain and churches are all lit up. And if you look up at
the mountains, all the tiny houses are lit up, dotting the mountains
with little specks of light. It reminds me of a scene from a story
book. Cusco´s really cool because even though there are a lot of
tourists, it´s a different kind of tourist... the rugged, backpacking,
granola eating tourists. But we do all tend to congregate at the
McDonalds, haha.

Claire, Rachel, Ryan, and Haylee are all here in Cusco, too, so it´s
been really wonderful to be reunited with everyone! This week, the
girls are all taking ceramics lessons... we´re all quite talented.
Ha. But it´s very very fun all the same! Next week we´ll be taking
cooking classes, so soon Anne and I will be able to amaze everyone
with not only our Ghanaian but also our PERUVIAN cooking skills.

Well, my internet time is about to run out (story of my life) but I
love you all and I hope everyone is safe and sound, wherever you are!

Hello Peru

We have barely any time to ourselves so interent is hard to get! Also, I don´t have texting here for some reason, but I am safe and comfortable and not being force fed at all! haha. Anne and I love love LOVE Cusco, it reminds me a lot of San Miguel, except a little bit bigger. Its pretty calm and quaint and mystical, especially at night when the mountainside is lit up with the lights from the houses. There are a lot of tourist here which is weird after being alone in Africa. We´ve been able to see Ryan and Rachel and Claire the past two days which has been really really nice, it´s fun to all be back together again. It´s really REALLY cold here, I´ll probably end up buying some more coats and mittens and hats. The food is pretty good, lots of bread and coca tea, which is from the same plant as cocaine haha. Our Peru family is great, they really let us do our own thing, which is wonderful. Lunch is the big meal that we eat all together, but we do breakfast and dinner on our own, usually just bread and tea which is goo because the altitude makes it hard to digest food at night. Cusco really is a cool city, and we feel really safe. I´m glad we did africa first because it was definitely more out there and on our own, and this is much more modern with hot water and mcdonalds and stuff like that. So even though we´re a lot busier, it´s kind of like a vacation. This weekend we´re going to go to Lake Titicaca, and stay in Puno, and then next week we´ll take a day off of spanish lessons and volunteering to go to the Sacred Valley. Our whole day is booked, though, with lessions from 9 till 1 and working at the orphanage from after lunch until 5 or 5 30! This week, all the girls are doing ceramics lessons from 6 to 8 and next week we plan on doing cooking lessons. My spanish is picking back up, which is good, and talking to the boys at the orphanage is especially helpful because i´m less afraid of messing up, haha.

Geales