Orientation and Day One of SIT

1-30-11

Today, unfortunately, I felt more disconnected from the city and the experiences I’ve had the last few days. The main factor in that is that I met the rest of the Americans from SIT today. Well, all minus the four whose plane from Miami was delayed due to bad weather on the East Coast. They are being picked up tomorrow and bused in to where we are spending our four days of orientation.

Just to review from yesterday after I posted, we met up with Jake and went to a restaurant called Los Perros, which is actually right next to the restaurant that Celia told me about, El Encuentro. I tried my first Pisco Sour, which is the national Peruvian drink. It tastes just like a margarita, only minus the salt and the lime. However, the salt and the lime are my favorite parts of a margarita! The pisco sour also has whipped egg whites on top, which might not be everyone’s cup of tea. A very noisy group of Brits sat next to us and got progressively drunker as the night went on, as well as louder. They loudly sang along to some of their favorite songs, or you’d think they were their favorites based on the gusto with which they sang. Then we came back to the hotel and learned that if we wanted to stay in our room until we had to meet the group at the airport at 11 instead of checking out at 9:30 that we would have to pay an extra 50 $. For Peru that amount of money is obscene. Actually, you know what, 50 dollars for an extra hour or so at a hotel is obscene no matter where you are.

So this morning we got up, showered, had breakfast downstairs (with delicious juice!), and packed up our rooms. We figured that if we couldn’t stay in the room itself, that we could still stay in the lobby. So we sat around and worked until 11 when we tried to hail a taxi for the airport. Many many taxis stopped, but most were far too small for three gringas and the luggage they carry! Finally we got one and made our way over to the airport. I was absolutely right when I guessed I’d been cheated last time I came from the airport. This taxi was a third of the price! And had two more people inside! We met Donaldo, who is a very kind and young Peruvian man from SIT. I don’t know what I expected, but he was not it. Evidently other people had arrived before us because Donaldo guided us to a bus already full of about 6 SIT kids. We made introductions and began to get to know each other as we commenced the two hour wait at the airport before deciding to leave and have Ursula wait in Cusco for the others to arrive tomorrow.

Then we began a very beautiful drive to Chichubamba, a small town next to Urubamba, which is sort of a base for people who want to go to Machu Picchu. We will be going their in a couple days toward the end of orientation. I hope it doesn’t rain! Apparently February is the worst time to go visit because of the rainy season. Last year at this time they had mudslides or something to that effect and people were stranded! I remember Marina said that she was in Cusco at the time and had to schedule another time to go to Machu Picchu since it was closed off. One thing I noticed on the drive was that Peru is extraordinarily green. Fields continue on and on. Then the mountains pierce the sky and the result is just a wonderful contrast.

We arrived, rested, ate lunch, got orientated and learned about health, money, safety, etc… ate dinner, and then watched this really interesting documentary (I think it was called De Ollas Y Sueños) about Peruvian cuisine. I, food nerd that I am, found it super interesting. I wanted to go check skype etc., but I just had to see it through! As I made my way back to my room, which smells very strongly of varnish and turpentine, it started to rain. Wifi is only in the main house so I don’t think I’ll make it onto the internet today. Sorry Nate, I didn’t feel like getting wet!

As we learned more about our host families and what to expect from this semester I started to get a bit nervous. I hope that I like my family! I feel like there is almost no way to know if it will go well or not. Some people just really don’t get along with host families or vice versa. I hope I do. I hope that I don’t feel overly uncomfortably while living in someone else’s home.

The group is still working itself out, but there are definitely some very nice people. I’m trying not to act on first impressions, but obviously I’m drawn to some people more than others. We’ll see how the dynamic of this lot turns out. I’d say, Spanish-wise, I’m in the middle or upper range. Not fluent like a couple people, but managing. I’m sure I’ll update more in a bit, but I’m on the upper bunk and my roommates are going to sleep and I cannot get up here in the dark!

Good night all.

xo Claire

Day Two

Today I woke up and showered. I’d been worried about it the night before because Maggie mentioned that all people might not have hot water with their host families and so of course I extrapolated that to mean that hot water might not be available in many places. However, I enjoyed a cozy hot shower and small breakfast. I talked to Nate for a bit and then packed up and took a taxi to go meet Lauren and Maggie at our hotel for the night. I was the last to arrive but wow let me tell you, taxis are super cheap! Four soles… which is barely more than a dollar. Lauren went straight to sleep, which is exactly what I did yesterday so I understand the impulse, while Maggie, her mom, and I left to walk around.

First we came upon this fabulous market with sweaters and hats galore, fabric piled eight feet high, grain, bread, coca leaves, fruits, fish, vegetables… almost anything you can imagine needing! I most certainly want to return, maybe later today. I think I need to buy another purse because my flap purse doesn’t seem secure enough to me. I’ve been pick-pocketed before and that experience does not qualify among my favorites, so I’ll do my very best to be careful and avoid a similar experience here. They’ll cook food right in front of you or prepare the most spectacular looking (and smelling) smoothies. Maggie and I kept remarking upon the multitude of smells here. Many are good- like fruit, cooking bread and meat, or flowers. But there’s also the diesel smell from all of the cars roaming around, various sewer smells, room-temperature meat smell, unwashed people smell… Good or bad, it’s interesting. Certainly a more thrilling olfactory experience than I’ve ever had in Connecticut. We stopped and got a snack and ate the most delicious peach, pineapple, and honeydew I think I’ve ever had. The food here, so far, is marvelous! The peach especially… wow!

We roamed some more, said goodbye to Maggie’s mom, then headed out once more. We came upon an older couple’s wedding or vow renewal and they’d begun a party outside the church! They had some mariachis playing the Mariachi classics like Cielito Lindo and Las Mañanitas. We people watched and roamed some more then decided we should head back and wake up Lauren. However, as we passed the market on the way to the hotel we saw that two men had begun to set up a street performance. They danced around and one even swallowed a sword! Maggie and I were mostly enamoured by all of the adorable children. Andean children are the absolute cutest! There was this one little girl in front of me who, when I waved, gave me the biggest smile! I don’t think she was too happy when Maggie took her picture though because the smile turned into a scowl for a split second.

What a cutie!!

I don’t know what we’ll do for the rest of today or tonight, but I’m sure we’ll have a good time!

xo Claire

En Route...And Arrived!

Well so far things have gone pretty smoothly. I’ve had some truly lengthy layovers today. I am now nearing 12 hours of travel and not even halfway there! Oh well, I guess that’s what you get when you buy tickets based on price, not convenience or speed. This situation simply means that I have ample opportunity to sit by myself and think about what I am about to go do. That and sleep. Yesterday I went to go deposit a check and to my dismay the ATM took my credit card. It held my card ransom and refused to return it! The bank, exceedingly unhelpful as they are, did very little to help me out and it took called the 1-800 number about 5 times for me to actually get through to a real live person willing to help me out. Anyway, now I’ve ordered a new ATM card and my parents will mail it to me later. I was annoyed about this mostly because it seems so exceedingly unlucky. My best hope is that my bad luck has run out with this incident and that I will only have good luck from now on!

…

So I left Albuquerque at 9 AM on the 27^th and I finally arrived in Cusco at 10 AM on the 28^th. That’s one long days travel. I don’t think it took that long getting to South America when I went to Argentina and Chile in 2007. I suppose Cusco is a more esoteric destination than say Buenos Aires, but based on the makeup of the city as I’ve observed it so far, perhaps not. There are gringos everywhere! I left my hotel in San Blas earlier to buy some minutes for the cell phone that Celia graciously gave me and there was an Australian couple trying, with difficulty, to get some stomachache medication. They didn’t seem to know much Spanish so I helped them out a bit. I haven’t come across too many Americans yet, mostly Australians and Brits, but then again I’ve barely begun exploring the city so I’m probably wrong.

It’s nice being on the same time zone as Conn. When I first got to the hotel this morning I got on the wireless and to my surprise had a nice fb chat with Julie! All the way in Spain! It was a lovely surprise especially because I felt a little lonely and perplexed as to what to do with this free time. It’s strange to go from the highly structured time necessary when traveling and catching plane after plane to such unplanned time. I was also able to talk to Nate, Norah, and Celia. I don’t know how often I’ll get to talk to them once the program starts, but hearing from such good friends early on was very encouraging. Celia recommended this restaurant called El Encuentro that I will definitely check out once I have this place figured out a little better, although she gave me some instructions.

All the Peruvians I’ve talked to so far have been very kind and very helpful. Only one so far has addressed me in English and, oddly enough, it’s a relief to not have to reassert the fact that I can speak Spanish. In addition it’s a relief to know that although my higher level Spanish might be a tad rusty, my conversational and simple Spanish is just fine.

So what have I done today? Slept mostly. I set an alarm so I’d only sleep an hour, but I must have shut it off because I woke up four hours later. After that I got out, walked down a block or so on a steep hill with rather slippery cobblestones. The sidewalks have stairs, just like that one street in San Francisco, but these streets are old and narrow. This part of the city is old and colonial and San Blas has buildings with the Incan stonework on the bottom. So old! After helping the Australians and putting minutes on my phone I crossed the street and ate some delicious roasted pumpkin soup and coca tea. My kind and chatty taxi driver from the airport recommended that I eat light things and, in the end, even that soup was too much. I could only eat about half! He also said that cuy, guinea pig, was his favorite food and that I just had to try it. I might leave it for another day. As I walked back to my hotel to check if Maggie had emailed me back about dinner I felt more and more lightheaded, and a little nauseous. I think that perhaps the altitude is getting to me after all, even though I felt fine all the rest of the day…. Granted I spent most of that day sleeping.

A bit later I heard back from Maggie and I met her, her mom, and her aunt for dinner. They were all super nice and it’s wonderful to have found people to talk to already! They’d just returned from the Inca Trail, which was apparently very rainy, but they said it had been a fantastic experience nonetheless. The Plaza de Armas is great! It’s smaller that I thought it would be but it has a totally unique vibe. Very colonial and very beautiful. I wasn’t aware that Cusco had a San Salvador perched on a hillside like they have in Brazil, but when I went to the Plaza at night there it was, all lit up from below.

I think I made a good decision in coming to Peru. I had not idea what to expect coming in, and it didn’t help that SIT was a little sparse with the information giving, but I’m really excited about this semester.

Xo Claire

The Day Before

I leave tomorrow. Tomorrow! I can't believe that the time has come already. In some ways I feel woefully unprepared, for example I have not yet begun packing, but in other ways I think it's time to leave. This has been a very long (and quite enjoyable!) winter break, but January is nearly over, Conn people are back in school, and the time has come to leave for this next big adventure. I sincerely hope that it is an amazing adventure.

So tomorrow I leave from Albuquerque in the morning then have a long series of flights and layovers that take me to Dallas, Miami, Lima, and then finally Cusco. I imagine that when I arrive at 9 AM two days from now I will be exhausted and lonely. But I plan to find my hostel, dump my bags, and go exploring.

Some people have warned me about altitude sickness and I know that I will certainly not be immune. Marina, for example, suffered some pretty awful symptoms when she went to Bolivia. That proves it to me that we Solomons are not immune! However, I live at 6,000 ft. and might take it better than people from sea level. I hope my layover in Lima doesn't ruin it for me by acclimatizing me to sea level! Oh well, only time will tell.

I've been thinking about the people I'm leaving behind this semester and feeling sad, as well as excited. I truly do not know what to expect. However, I'm glad that I have great memories, such as my goodbye to Joanna in which my necklace broke and a deluge of beads cascaded down to the ground as we hugged. I was so surprised! Julie compared it to someone's water breaking. In which case I suppose I gave birth to some beads. It is the most hilarious goodbye that I can remember and I will not forget my friends at Conn and beyond when I'm gone. That's why I have this blog, so that you can know what I'm up to!

Anyway, I've put it off too long and I must go pack.

Until next time!

xo Claire