The First 48

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Hola!

We´ve made it safely. At least Nic, Robbie and I have. We´re still waiting on Zach & Tony. We traveled around 30 hours in total. Our 12 hour layover in Miami was very nice. Super hot, but we spent it with Nic´s sister and on South Beach, so no complaints. We had awesome Colombian food for lunch and debated just staying there until June but decided to continue on to Peru. I definitely want to spend more time there someday.

Lima was nice, it was more European that I thought it would be. Also more diverse than I expected. We had a 4 hour layover there and finally got a flight to Cusco on Peruvian Airlines which was by far the best plane ride of the trip.

After arriving in Cusco we went to meet John, our host/guide for the trip. He´s from Belgium and is married to a lovely Peruvian woman, Feni. The Fairplay organization is very very nice. After learning a little more about what our program had to offer we headed to our homestay.

Our house is like a treefort. It´s unreal. Our family is very nice and welcoming. Maji and Armando are the grandparents in the house. Maji makes all of our meals. Feni, Mimi and Ruth are their daughters who also live in the house. Lali and Maruja are daughters of Ruth who are both 16. Carlos and Gabriel are twins and are the sons of Feni & John. They are great. They also have a dog, Toto, who is so ugly he´s cute. He has the wrinkliest (is that a word) face I´ve ever seen. Additionally, there is a boy from Germany, a boy from Canada, a woman from Australia and a family of 6 from Utah staying in the house. I still managed to get my own room and bathroom. Pretty nice. We also have hot water, which is a plus since it isn´t that common in our neighborhood.

We´re only an hour ahead here, so the time difference isn´t bad at all (i.e. for skype, gchat etc.). Also, I thought the altitude would make a huge difference but so far we´ve all been pretty fine. Worn out from traveling and tingly hands/feet but nothing serious. Today we´re going to explore more of the center of the city. We´ll be taking it easy the first week and then start our volunteering the following week. I just found out about a new opportunity for volunteering that will be helping to set up a new school in the area with a focus on the enviornment. There will be a garden and the children will learn more about healthy eating, gardening, and enviornmental resources. I´m excited to get started on that.

There are no street signs here so I´m expecting to get lost sooner than later. Lots of hills, and we´re surronded by mountains. It´s beautiful. There aren´t many bugs, thankfully. Spiders, yes. TONS of stray dogs. Lots of people. I´m excited to get more comfortable, explore and learn more about the city. We´ll be figuring out our travels outside of Cusco soon, so I´ll keep you all posted on those. I´ll add picutres when I get the chance.

Hope all is well back in America.

Besos,

Jennifer

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Comments

[Chris]

Awesome! You all are going to have a Blast!

[Mikki]

YYYAAAAAYYY im so happy youre arrived and settling in. I think the best part is that theres a dog named Toto... i vote you take it home for casey... it makes me think of that episode of roseannne where DJ sneaks in that ugly ass dog and had been raising it for a few days before anyone noticed it... simply because it was so ugly and looked like a nasty rag... yes! Have fun exploring friend and dont let any beautiful peruvians kidnap you... although maybe let them take you for a few days muahah. Love you my little shiny star! MIIIIIIIIKKKKKKKKIIIII

[Kate]

Mi amiga!
Jen, everything sounds great! I'm so happy for you and I cannot wait to see pictures, especially of this tree house you get to live in. I'm totally jealous about that! Keep us updated, and keep exploring! Love you!

[auntypotty]

spiders AND digging a garden..what have you gotten yourself into?