Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Cusco – My City!

January 14, 2015

I am finally here and able to post. At least I hope it works this time. I've written other posts, but they somehow get lost in the saving and posting of them.  Connectivity is an ongoing problem for me.

The first couple of days for me were rough. I was not able to sleep and the altitude was affecting me a little bit. I haven't had to take the medicine, but I have to take it slowly.  I have walked a lot around the city.  I live off of a street called Avenida Agustin Gamarra in the section called Huancaro.  My apartment is small, but has the essentials I need.  The kitchen has a 2-burner gas stove and a refrigerator and sink.  There is no hot water in the apartment except in the shower. The shower is a "suicide" shower, meaning that electricity is connected to the showerhead to heat the water as it comes out. The faucet handle is wrapped in electrical tape.  I'm not sure if that is because it was broken or if it's to insulate you against shock when operating the shower!

Each morning I walk 20 minutes to get to school. I am currently taking Spanish class from 9-11 each morning. Then I meet in the afternoon with someone to practice speaking with for an hour.  The rest of the time is free to see the city sites.

Yesterday, I got better acquainted with a classmate of mine, Sarah.  She helped me to get a local cell phone so it will be easier to communicate with my classmates, the school and my cousin in Lima. It's a simple phone so if I text, I'm back to counting instead of spelling!

Sarah and I went to a great restaurant yesterday that was recommended called Yola. We both had the Lomo Salteada, which are beef tenderloin pieces cooked with wine, onions, and tomatoes and served over French fries.  It was a fabulous dish and reminded me of the Spanish Carne en Salsa.  There are many great restaurants in the city, so I hope that we get to try a lot of them.

Every Tuesday night at school is Salsa lessons.  They start with the basic steps and then move on to putting it to music and then with partners.  It was great fun, but I could not keep up with the speed after they went through the basic steps and were bringing it up to speed.  It is a very popular event and the room was very crowded.


1 comment: