Day 2. Welcome to Cusco.

Cusco prides itself as being the longest continually inhabited city in South America. First settled by the Killike peoples around 900 AD (but not really built up until 1100), Cusco definitely shows its age. Its streets are extremely narrow and the infrastructure was built for people who got around using llamas and alpacas... not toyotas. Despite these disadvantages that come with being over 1,000 years old, Cusco has an in-your-face attitude; They're here. They've been here awhile. They'll be here tomorrow.

Today was my orientation to life in Cusco. I awoke around 8, grabbed some breakfast and headed out to Avenida El Sol, the main drag in town to meet up with my sponsoring organization, Máximo Nivel. It's about a 20 minute walk from my house (La Casa San Pedro), up Calle San Pedro to La Plaza de Armas and then down El Sol. On the way I stopped and grabbed a SIM card for my cellephono so that I can dial within the country for insanely cheap rates.

Walking through the streets, that Cusco hits you really hard. For all the stuff I heard about how touristy Cusco is, I can tell you that in my 20 minute walk I rarely see another white person. English is non-existent, which I couldn't be happier for (I'm sure that may change). It's a really cool experience walking among the locals by myself... looking around at the people and the thousand-year-old architecture I keep asking myself "where the hell am I?"

At Máximo Nivel I had a 2-hour long orientation to everything Peruvian. We talked about everything from how to recognize a legitimate taxi to what Cuy (guinea pig) tastes like. I also found out that I will be volunteering at a place called El Centro de Salud de Manco Copac (Health Center of Manco Copac, which is a part of town about 20 minutes away). Tomorrow morning bright and early I will go to the clinic for the first time and learn about what volunteering will be like. Andrea, who led our orientation this morning told us to take things slowly for awhile. In her words, the first few days volunteering will be chaotic, disorganized and at times a bit frightening, but usually after a few days things begin to settle down as you get used to it. I keep imagining the hectic halls of the ER back home and imagining the same thing... except Peruvian. Oy vey.

After all the talk about what we can and cannot eat and drink, I took a Spanish placement exam that consisted of reading, writing, listening and grammer. I also had a quick conversation in spanish with one of the teachers. After all was said and done they decided to put me in an intermediate-advanced level (Señora Muñoz would be so proud). Luckily, there was only one other girl- who happened to start on the same day as me- who placed into that level, so she and I will be taking a group Spanish lesson each day for two hours from 2-4 with one of the teachers at Máximo. The best part is, after that's done, from 4-5 I will be meeting up with a Peruvian guy/gal who is trying to learn to speak english... so the idea is we can each help each other while getting to know one another. I'm so extremely excited for all of this.

One more thing before I go: I had the most epic showering experience last night on the roof of my house. The water literally changed from boiling to freezing and back again in about 10 second cycles. After analyzing for a minute or two, I decided that while the "hot" was too hot and the "cold" was too cold, the periods in which the water changed from one to the other were perrrrrrfect. So, if you can imagine, I stood outside the shower, timing my jumps in and out to avoid being burned or froze to death. I think I was laughing out loud the entire time. When I explained the story to my house-mates, they all agreed that this was a pretty typical experience- and the people from other houses in my orientation had similar experiences as well.

It's going to be a fun month.

Talk to you tomorrow after my first experience en la clinica. I can't wait.

DAY ONE. Viva El Peru. Without Oxygen.

I'm here.

What a crazy day of transportation. After two mechanical delays in two consecutive flights and 16 hours in planes and airports, I have arrived in the beautiful city of Cuzco and gotten settled in my new home for the next month.

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Flying into Miami the flight attendant on the American Airlines flight welcomed us to "Miami, El puerto de Sudamérica," literally the gateway to South America. It was apparent at once; one glance at the departures board showed hundreds of flights departing to places like Buenos Aires, La Paz, Caraccas, Rio and Cordoba. After a nice fried rice dish from one of the restaurants in the international terminal, I made my way to the gate where my flight to Lima left from. After a hectic boarding process that involved a fight between a

disgruntled passenger and a boarding agent that ended with an AA manager firing the boarding agent (seriously), I finally found my seat on board.

The flight left after midnight and while I was definitely tired, I was excited to speak in Spanish, and began conversing with the two passengers next to me, a mother and a daughter traveling home to Lima. They became extremely friendly (even waking me up mid-flight to point out "las luces, " the lights, outside the airplane window...), but they finally got the point. I was surprised and excited to find that that I was still quite able to converse in Spanish, but as I found out more than a few times, my vocabulary has diminished significantly.

I awoke after a hour-or-so-long nap to hear we were descending into the Lima area. It was still dark out and the lights of the city began to appear all around the airplane. When we finally landed, the woman next to me grabbed me quite forcefully and told me with a smile "Bienvenidos a mi País," and then repeated in broken english "welcome to my country." Her face conveyed an enormous sense of pride to be able to welcome me to her home. It was a great moment for both her and I, and I was glad to share it with her. 3 hours and a early morning chicken empenada later I was on board my last plane headed toward Cuzco.

Needless to say, at 10,912 feet above sea level, flying to Cuzco is an experience. When we finally descended into the area we flew through clouds that revealed sweeping mountain ranges and wide open green valleys. It was truly a sight to be seen as we weaved our way through the mountains. As we made our last turn I got my first glimpse of Cuzco, a red-tinged city that is situated in a valley cut between the green, rolling mountains. Beautiful.

I was met at the airport and toured around Maximo Nivél, the organization that is hosting me for the month. Quickly thereafter, I was taken to my home, La Casa San Pedro, which is located a few blocks off of the main drag and the huge Plaza de Armas. I quickly found my way around the volunteer house and met some of the other young people that have been here for varying amounts of time. The house is beautiful and has a fully functioning kitchen that serves 3 meals a day. If lunch and dinner are any indication, I am in for some amazing food. A fun fact, the shower is on the roof deck on the fourth floor which looks out over the AMAZING view of Cusco. (See pics below).

So far, I have met some amazing people in the volunteer house. They are from Australia, Sweeden, Canada and the US. It's a pretty cool dynamic because some people have been here for months and some have only been here a week. In the same respect, some are leaving as early as tomorrow to fly home, and two girls are here for another 3 months. Everybody is exceptionally nice. An Australian guy actually took me out for a walk around the city from the hostel after I took a nice nap. He showed me how to get to La Plaza and where everything is located. Some people traveled here with one other person, but a few are solos like me. It's been quiet around the house today because since it's Sunday many of the other volunteers are out exploring other parts of the country before the week begins tomorrow... so I'm very excited to meet everyone else tomorrow.

Tomorrow is also my orientation with Maximo Nivél @ 1015 where I suppose I will learn more about my month here!

So far my only concern is the fact that I can't go more than 4 or 5 breaths without becoming winded. Because of the high altitude of Cuzco this is a common occurrence and I'm told that over the next few days I will become acclimatized. I had some trouble falling asleep earlier due to the altitude, here's hoping that it will get easier tonight.

Enjoy the pictures and I will talk to you tomorrow!

Taken from the roof deck on top of my house

Cuzco from Roof Deck facing East

Love from Peru,

Greg

On the plane

Sitting on the plane. Already yapping in Spanish with my Peruvian seatmates. Talk to ya from Peru and sunny South America!

¡Hasta luego!

Game Time

So, as I sit here in the Atlanta airport, 3 flights ahead of me, I have a bunch of familiar emotions pouring through me. I am extremely excited (of course) but also curious, nervous as well. Jen and I had a great few days doing last minute shopping for my trip, we even went on a 5.5 mile hike to test my new shoes (they're awesome). All the while, it was hard to believe that the trip was really only days away.

Tonight I'll be flying to Miami international where I'll connect on the red-eye to Lima. Once there I'll wait a few hours and take flight number 3 to Cuzco!!!

In Transit. Again.

Two years ago, when I boarded the ship MV Explorer and sailed around the world on Semester at Sea, I fell in love with a phrase I had heard only rarely before: "In Transit."

Over the course of those 3-and-a-half months, I had the good fortune of visiting 14 countries by ship. As you may (or may not) imagine, I became quite adept at filling out customs and immigrations forms required by each and every country we entered. I had every number, from my passport number to my expiration date memorized; I could fill these forms out in my sleep. Still, my favorite part of each form was usually found near the bottom, under a heading that generally read "Purpose of Visit." Below this heading listed the various reasons one might find themselves in, say, Morocco, or Thailand. Always at the bottom of the list, somewhere south of "Tourism" was a single phrase I grew to love: "In Transit."

I would always check off this box with pride. To me, it represented the continuous and circular nature of my journey around the globe. No matter how far into the semester I got, every time I saw this phrase I was reminded that my current destination was not final, I was still moving, I was still learning, I was still alive. It is a powerful thing, to be able to say that you have not arrived at your destination, but instead keep moving on to your next stop, to your next destination. Because of these two little words, I began to view travel in general as a circle of destinations, one in which I arrived only to depart again, one in which I returned home only fleetingly, eyes set on the horizon of my next great adventure. Since my experience on SAS, I have never truly arrived at any one destination, that would be too final for me. Instead, I have revelled in the excitement of continuously moving, of living a life In Transit.

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And here we are! Finally, after months of planning, tomorrow I head out to an amazing new destination with a new purpose. I will fly from Atlanta to Miami, FL and then catch the red-eye flight to Lima, Peru and then connect to my home for the next month: Cuzco, Peru! In Cuzco, I will be volunteering in a small medical clinic that serves locals. Over the course of the next 4 weeks, I hope to learn first hand about the unique Peruvian culture and history (and food!) that I have heard so much about. Having spent virtually no time in South America before, I could not be more excited to get going!

So come along with me!! Starting tomorrow I'll be updating this blog more or less daily and will be able to reply to any comments posted to the blog!

Day one starts tomorrow!