Its official: I'm an adopted Cusqena

Buenas noches!

I can’t decide what to write about next because there’s just so much.  I suppose I should start with the basics of my life as an adopted Cusquena.  My first days have been simply amazing.  

THE CITY:
This is such a cool city!  It is a million times better than Lima.  First, it is a whole lot smaller, which makes it more manageable, safer, and less intimidating.  I already feel comfortable walking to the main places on my own, such as La Plaza de Armas, my work, the ELAP/ISA office, etc.  Every street has little bodegas to buy your toiletries and other goods, panaderias to buy your fresh bread daily, and street vendors selling everything from the paper to Inca Cola, bananas to fried food.  The cars are all pretty worn down and small, and the most common way to get around (other than walking) is by taxi, bus, or combi (ie big vans that fit about 10 people comfortably, so about 17 people in reality - Peruvians don’t really care much for personal space).  There is usually a person hanging out of the side door of the bus or combi yelling the destination of the vehicle, collecting everyone’s soles (Peruvian currency) when they get on, and shouting “BAJA BAJA” when they get off.  It’s a much different public transportation experience than any I’ve had in the US or Europe.  The side streets of the city are usually fairly calm, although it seems that in every plaza there is some kind of festival or event, as this is the season of celebrations here in Peru.

Oh and did I mention that the city is surrounded by the gorgeous Andes?  It is UNREAL.  Everywhere I look I can see the mountains, most full of the colorful houses that lie on the outskirts of the city, but some of them left untouched.  Some are even covered in a beautiful white snow.  And at night, the mountains glow with the dull yellow lights of the houses.  The only downside of these beautiful mountains is that they hide the sun earlier so it’s dark by about 5:30pm, which probably explains why everyone is in bed by 9.

Viva El Peru

Plaza de Armas - the main square

One of the buildings I look out at, welcoming me to my new home

  
HOME:
I am absolutely IN LOVE with my family here (they’re gonna get their own post soon because they are so wonderful).  Earlier when I began writing this post, I was hanging out with mi hermanita, Lucia.  She was working on her geography homework and we were jamming to some music together (a healthy mix of my favorites like Reik and Juanes, and her favorites like Adele and Bruno Mars - seems backwards, no?) Now I am with her and her brother and his amigo, who are both playing Red Hot Chili Peppers on their guitars.

We live in a cute apartment that is overflowing with pictures of family members, little house plants, religious figurines and pictures, and other trinkets and decorations.  It is pretty cozy and already starting to feel like home.  I have my own room, which used to belong to one of my grandparents’ daughters before she moved to Lima.  It’s lime green, full of stuffed animals, and has a big window, allowing me to get lots of sun by day and, by night, a cool view of the lights on the mountains, including “Jesus Blanco” or “White Jesus”, a giant statue of Jesus that overlooks the city and lights up beautifully when it gets dark.  



Anyway, now that I know the trick to getting hot water in the shower, I have no complaints about my house, and absolutely none about my family.  They have definitely welcomed me with open arms and made true the statement “mi casa es tu casa”.

My view

Not the best quality pic, but the view from my room at night - Jesus Blanco all lit up!

A poster at work:)

Shauna in our new workplace!

One of the many beautiful Catholic churches of the city - this is where I went to mass with mis abuelos this weekend!

My beautiful new city

WORK:
My friend Shauna and I had our first day at APORVIDHA together last Thursday.  I wasn’t expecting to be working with another American, so it has been a nice surprise to have a friend there.  Together we can understand most of what goes on.  The people at the agency all seem extremely passionate about their work and the mission of the organization, and that is so promising, especially since their mission seems to match many of my social justice passions.  They are also very sweet and welcoming, even if they talk muy rapido.  Thursday was kind of like an orientation day for us, where they told us all about the organization and gave us a folder of materials to read.  We were able to help them edit some information too, and then we sat in on a meeting about an upcoming taller, which is like an all-day exposition/conference about a specific issue.  All day long, everyone was joking around with everyone else, they were all working hard, and the morale seemed really positive.  

Today, Shauna and I had our second day of work, in which we spent most of the day reading materials about various human rights cases that they are dealing with.  One was about the Sendero Luminoso, or the Shining Path, which was a political party/guerrilla group active mostly in the ‘80s and ‘90s.  There was a lot of internal conflict in Peru and both the Shining Path and the government killed a lot of innocent people in that era.  Currently there is still much to be resolved from this dangerous and scary time.  So this specific report we read was about a group of men in a small village who were killed years ago and the families are still fighting for justice.

There was another file all about a long-standing fight between the government and the people in a town in the Sacred Valley.  The government wants to build an international airport in this little town but the people are upset because it will take away land from the farmers there.  In addition, it’ll change the atmosphere of the town, as it is tiny, calm and peaceful (I was there Friday - it truly is beautiful and quaint) and adding an airport with create more noise, traffic and pollution.  Also, the people are frustrated simply because they don’t have a voice in any of the decisions about this airport.  The other side of the argument is that building the airport there will increase tourism (and thus boost the economy) in the area.  Tomorrow, we are having a taller about this whole issue, and I’m very excited to see APORVIDHA at work in the community!  I still have a LOT to learn about the agency and the work, and we don’t really know what we’ll be doing, but for now Shauna and I are happy to be learning and experiencing it all!  (Much better than being stuck in a classroom here all day, that’s for sure.)

FUN:
So last week I spent much of my down time with my family, usually eating, and we have begun to get to know each other.  I also had a few meetings with the others of ELAP/ISA, most just to check in and get our schedules, etc.  During one of the meetings we all bought cell phones together.  So my fears of going a whole summer without texting have been put to rest.  I am back to texting my friends, just not those on the northern side of the Equator...

We had a planned excursion to the Sacred Valley on Friday, which was AWESOME because it gave us a look at the rural side of the Andes in Peru (even though it was quite a touristy excursion).  Hopefully more details on the trip soon - and definitely pictures (llamas, mountains, weaving, oh my!).

On Saturday I went to a neighborhood barbeque with my family, which was a really fun taste of local life.  Then I had a meeting at ELAP, followed by salsa lessons!  All of us learned together...meaning there were 5 males (3 students, Andy and Kenner) to 20 something females...meaning the employees of ISA invited their Peruvian male friends to come dance with us.  It was a BLAST!  Turns out, when I have a strong lead, I can dance.  Who knew?  (I’m a lost cause without a good lead though. jaja)  After salsa, we all mingled with each other, had pizza, and made plans for the rest of the night...aka meeting up later in La Plaza de Armas to go to the discotecas and continue our dancing:)  What a fun first Saturday night in Cusco!

Apparently here they take their Sundays more seriously than we do in the States, meaning all I did was go to Church (twice - one Catholic, the other Pentecostal as there is a bit of both in my family) and spend time with my family.  It was perfect.  My mom, grandma, sister and brother and I all went to the store together, then had ice cream followed by lunch and a visit with some extended family members.  We took a little rest before making mini pizzas together (just the jovenes - us kids plus mom, which was fun because we were all being silly in the kitchen).  When I asked my brother, Alejandro, what he usually does on the weekends, he said that Saturdays are for sleeping, hanging out, friends etc and Sundays are for family.  How many teenage boys in the States devote their entire Sundays to family time?  Not many.  I like it here:)

Alright, this is probably long enough for now.  More soon!  I’m hoping to get all updated before my trip to Machu Picchu this weekend.

Chao!