Tiny Adventures

Every tourist site

rachel_thomas — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 06:00:00 GMT

Since I last updated you on my travels I´ve met an American lady called Mary and I became her personal guide for a week or so. It was good fun but exhausting!! We bought a boleto de touristica each which was $30 and includes entry to loads of museums in Cusco (many of which aren´t worth going to) but also some ruins. So we went to Saqsaywaman one morning at 8.30, it was a stunningly warm day and we went to the ruins in Ollantaytambo last Sunday as part of a trip to the town and to Urambamba.

In May a few of us from the Crew Peru gang went to the ruins at Ollantaytambo but I think we only managed to see half of the ruins because of poor lights, but they are definitely worth a second visit. Also visited the Catcco Museum.

We also went to the La Catedral on the Plaza de Aramas and to Qorikancha on Ave de Sol which was really beautiful.

My lessons are going really well although I´ve had to send one pupil to the principle because he´s missed too many lessons. I made him cry! But he still doesn´t seem to understand and keeps disappearing, never mind its his problem if he doesn´t learn anything. But I have found out that although I teach on four-weekly cycles I only actually teach classes for 18 days, so that means at the end of every month I get a few days off. So once I´ve got all my paperwork in order next Thursday I´m going to get the bus to Bolivia and spend three nights in Copacabana and renew my visa for another 60 days on my return.

I´ve now got my third Spanish teacher in just over three weeks and she´s really good and I seem to be getting used to irregular Spanish verbs!!!

This is Mary´s last weekend in Peru so I think we are going to go for a massage tomorrow, should be interesting, I´ll let you know how that goes!!!

Tourist sites visited in Cusco:

Sacsayhuaman Fortress, La Catedral, Museo Inka, Koricancha - ruins and museum, Convent of Santa Catalina, Plaza San Francisco, Plaza Recocijo, Museo Historico Regional y Casa Garcilaso.

Teaching

rachel_thomas — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 05:26:00 GMT

This week I started teaching! I have two classes. A conversational class from 5.30pm until 7pm and another class from 7pm until 8.30pm. I teach them Monday to Friday and hopefully I´ll have another class to teach next month so I can earn some more money!

I hate to admit it however, teachers do do a lot of work and I only teach for three hours!!!

I´m also having Spanish lessons three times a week, two hours every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. My teacher is lovely and my lessons are going well so hopefully I´ll be quite good by the time Leo gets back here in three weeks.

I´ve been ill this week though. Think I´ve been overdoing it - too much alcohol, too much new food and not enough rest. So I took Thursday off work (yes in my first week) but I feel loads better for it now.

We´ve got a new lady living with us, Mary from the US so I think I´m going to take her to some sights this afternoon. It´s absolutely boiling here today and nothing like November in the UK. I´ve already gone a bit pink.

Think we are heading to Ollantaytambo and Urambamba tomorrow.

A Week of firsts

rachel_thomas — Sun, 4 Nov 2007 11:10:00 GMT

So after spending last week chilling out and getting used to the altitude, I was ready to start work this week.

On Monday I went to the San Pedro market again with Janice and her chef Jose when they bought some supplies for the restaurant. It was quite cool to actually see how local Cusco people go about their day to day lives rather than sticking to the tourist quarters!

On Tuesday I took it easy as I was meant to be starting work - yes meant to be. In the end it turned out that the headteacher wasn´t available (true Peruvian ways) so I had to go back for a few hours on Wednesday morning and then again on Wednesday evening.

Wednesday was Halloween and its massive over here! I had to fight my way back from the school to the restaurant, there were loads of kids around dressed up, some in traditional clothes and others in whatever they could find. Janice had dressed the restaurant for Halloween which was quite cool and we dressed as witches while children popped in and out for sweete (photos to follow).

Then we headed to La Roustica (minus our witches hats) with Lupe and her cousins Ericka and Egor. There was lots of salsa dancing (I think its time for my lessons to start) and beer drinking. Very amusing as Egor didn´t speak a word of English and my Spanish is at the most basic! Me and Janice staggered home and after making chips, I got to bed at 5.30am and slept until 2.30pm!

I had my first Spanish lesson on Friday morning, two hours long and lots of grammar. I also found out what classes I´ll be teaching during November. I´ve got two classes a day from 5.30pm until 8.30pm. I´ve done my lesson plans for the next two lessons, a lot more time consuming than I thought but I´m sure I´ll cut it down when I get used to doing them.

Heading to Calca again tomorrow (Sunday) to have a picnic with Lupe and to meet her family. They´ve very kindly offered to let me stay with them for Christmas as I haven´t got enough time off work to go to Argentina. But it should be really nice to experience another country´s Christmas celebrations.

Cusquena Times

rachel_thomas — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 20:30:00 GMT

I think I´ve finally got used to the altitude!! Spent a lot of time last week wondering around Cusco and taking it easy to avoid getting altitude sickness, had one bloody nose and feeling quite tired in the afternoons but thats about it. It was quite nice to chill out and read some books while watching the world go by.

Saturday I went shopping Peruvian style to a local market and also managed to order my lunch and a birthday cake in Spanish! In the evening I went to a concert at the Cusquena beer gardens with Janice (my landlady) and Chris originally from Australia but after living in England for 11 years he´s now moved here! The concert was great and cost 10soles to get in, which is about two pounds. Its quite humbling to think though that the thousands of Peruvians there had actually given up a days wages to go and see three big bands.

Headed to Pisac in the Sacred Valley on Sunday to a local market. (Crew Peru - it was similiar to what we went to in Chincero but better). Then we got in a combi (a small mini bus) to Calca where we had dinner. These two towns are stunning and made me realise why exactly I´ve come back here. I´ll post some photos once I´ve taken more.

The drive back to Cusco in the dark was great too and Sacsaywaman looked amazing!

I start work tomorrow evening and I´m going to a Halloween party on Wednesday dressed as a witch! I´ll keep you posted on my news.

xxx

My Cusco arrival!

rachel_thomas — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 23:15:00 GMT

Hi Everyone

I'm finally here!! After talking about virtually nothing else since last June I am now in Cusco, South America!

I arrived here on Tuesday after more than 30 hours of travelling; for those who have been to Peru before and want to come back again, my advice is to go via Europe as it was far easier than going to the States. Although you do have to endure a twelve hour flight!

I had a stop over in Lima and I think I've seen enough of that place to be honest - smelly, a bit like driving on the M4 past Port Talbot.

I've moved into a flat in San Blas, which is a beautiful residential area in Cusco, with few tourists and even less people trying to sell you stuff. I'm living with a woman originally from England who owns a bar here and is also a salsa teacher. She's lovely and has helped me out loads, we are going to Pisac on Sunday - there's a market there similar to the one Crew Peru went to in Chinchero in May. Plus we are going to a salsa concert on Saturday which should be fun.

I should start work next Tuesday evening, I'm looking forward to it but would prefer to be travelling around instead, guess I'll just have to wait until December when I go to Argentina!!

Hasta Pronto.

xxx