May 4, 2011

Update From The Dirty Bit

Hola dirtbags!! I am in love with Cusco! I don't even know where to start. The city is beautiful; despite all the poverty, hordes of dirty dogs, and crazy drivers who think that it's a good idea to almost kill people on a daily basis.

I feel like I can finally walk the streets without having the unsettling feeling I'm going to be raped and pillaged by a Peruvian monster. I'm glad I have conquered this. But I should tell you about the first day that I was here... I had my orientation at Maximo Nivel at 4pm, so I ended up walking there with another volunteer in my house. It was just a 20 minute walk down the main road. All was fine, until I had to walk home by myself. I went shopping for a bit, perusing Peru, if you will. Let me just say that every house looks pretty much the same, and it was horribly hard to find La Florida (my house). I ended up walking up and down alleyways thinking my house had a side-entrance (apparently I was drunk?). People were walking behind me, I thought I was going to die, I walked faster. 1 fucking hour later I found my stupid house. I hated my life. This was the only time, so far, that I've wanted to curl up in a ball and die. Oh nvm, I almost forgot about how I smashed the top of my head on a hobbit-sized door while running. I didn't know that concussions were included in the program fees...

On a lighter note, everyone in the volunteer house is pretty sick! There are a bunch of Canadians, and we segregate ourselves from the Americans by sitting at different tables for dinner. Jokes.. kind of. Anyways, some of the other Canadians and I have already thrown out plans to go travelling next summer, which would be pretty prime!

Today was my first 'real' day at my placement, and it's called Centro Comunitario Huayllarcocha. I work Monday-Fridays 830a-11a, but I'll probably end up staying longer, for example today I stayed till 1pm. I have to take a bus called a Combi, and I hate it with every cell in my body. It's like a minivan, except it doesn't seat 7 or so people. It fits enough people that sometimes you have to hold other people's babies, so I'm talking like about 15 people. Super stanky. Other than that, the community center is everything I hoped for! I'm not that helpful with trying to help the kids with their homework, since they don't speak English. But I have no problem connecting with the kids, playing games, getting them to read me books in Spanish, and playing chess. I ended up playing chess with two boys named Yojan and Paul for an hour. Of course they would own me at it, it's a board game! BAH!

But I won't be posting for awhile, I'm going drinking tomorrow night, bungee jumping on Friday, then to Machu Picchu for the weekend! Update when I get back!

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Ps- no photos today, I'm tired, sun-burnt, and just lazy as eff.


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