protests, hiking and scrabble!

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Hi everyone!

We've had a couple cool adventures since the last entry. About a week and a half ago (or two and a half weeks... keeping time is not my strong suit) Peru had a taxi/transportation strike. In terms of teaching, this resulted in massive drop in attendance... I sat waiting for two classes their entire hour (the day before the quiz... not impressed.) But, during my mid-day break, Mike and I went to the Plaza to see all the hullaballoo! It was really crazy. Because the strike was a really desruptive one (there are smaller strikes all the time) Cusco declared itself on holiday - there was vast quantities of ice cream and treats to be had, most shops were closed, and as I mentioned, no one attended my classes! They also chose that day to vehemently protest something about gas - A lot of the gas supply in countries as far as Mexico (according to some of my students) gets gas from a place called Killabamba, which is in the Cusco region. Cusquenians are really frustrated because since the gas is used as an export good, people in other countries get Cusco's gas for almost 1/6th the price it costs in Cusco! That's totally nuts. Anyway, it made for quite a show in the plaza - here are a couple pictures.

Next bit of pictures are from a cool adventure Mike and I had on the weekend. We went hiking above the city, up past Qenko and down through Sacsayhuaman and then home. We had a blast.... the best thing about going for a walk around here is stumbling across non-monitered Inca ruins - huge walls, underground caves - picturesquely surrounded by forests and picnicking families! it's really cool.

And here's a photo of our scrabble group - heh heh, I should apply for retirement, I have a scrabble group! - we get together on Sundays and give each other a hard time for not knowing solfege syllables or hebrew letters - whatever's your forte. That's Margaret and Ray, and Mike's taking the photo.

Finally, here's mike's latest artwork - it's pretty neat as a photo, and even cooler in real life where you can see the texture of the paint and stuff. I'm really impressed. He's begun another one today - those of you who've seen his art know that it's a bit different style than he's done before. He's a pretty talented guy, it appears! He's got more to show, but it takes too long to upload them on this site - this is my favorite.

Love to everyone - keep on emailing and staying in touch - Cusco is awesome but I get a bit homesick now and again.

love Christy

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Photos

protest in the main square
These people weren't the loudest, but were the most colourful - holding an enormous Cusco flag!

avenida sol thronged with people
this was so wierd - if you stood on a meridian, you saw this crowd stretch down the whole of avenida sol, chanting and waving banners!

large un-touristy inca wall
un-touristy with the exception of us, of course... very impressive and much in the middle of nowhere.

stairway to heaven
though walking up it felt like death!

Comments

[Val]

Great artwork!
Hey Mike, thanks for sharing your talent with us all. Christy, sorry honey, you have some years to go before a Scrabble group makes you eligible for retirement. Thanks for updating the blog!