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.
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