Blogs from Cusco, Cusco, Cusco, Peru, South America - page 8

Cuzco was alot nicer than we thought it was going to be. Gorgeous old buildings, beautiful old plaza and garden areas. We did a walking tour out if the Lonely Planet guide which was food but bloody hot. It took us up to a lookout point which had a view of the whole city. Cuzco is the largest and oldest city in Peru. There are ALOT of dogs around, and occasionally smell urine. There are water channels running down some streets and then later saw a guy peeing in one of them (so the smell was explained). One thing we were surprised with was the number of bakeries. Exquisite pastries, cakes, and slices set up on stunning window displays. Looked very out of place. Walking around the city was great. Got to see the locals and ... read more

I'm now nearing the end of my first of 2 weeks of Spanish lessons in Cusco. It's been a surprisingly enjoyable experience, if somewhat tiring. I don't think I fully estimated how tiring 6 hours a day of learning a language could be. Its definitely worth it however as my Spanish has gone from being non-existent to being at a level where I can order food & drink without pointing, unsuccessfully barter in shops and describe celebrities like Jennifer Lopez and Shakira to my teachers in Spanish. This is something they find particularly annoying when the exercise is to tell them in Spanish where I live or what my hobbies are. The school has a great atmosphere with lots of different nationalities who all seem to get on really well. We ended ... read more

We do need to report first for today’s start, that we did, indeed, conduct the scientific experiment with which way the water drains in the Southern Hemisphere, and yes, it does drain in the opposite direction! Job one today was to purchase Carol an Alpaca sweater, and complete our TUPAS purchases for the trip home, as our free time is getting limited. So we get to the front door to leave the hotel and are warmly greeted by (what we can only assume is) “The Bouncer.” This big dude, complete with a broken nose and Mafia suit, is right out of a God Father movie! Cuzco is sort of still a wild-west city and we have been warned many times about thievery, pick pockets and to leave the good cameras out of site. Most stores have ... read more

Well, we spent a nice few days in the beautiful, crowded and scenic city of Arequipa. The cabs seem to outnumber the people and they are absolutely flippin´crazy when it comes to spontaneous lane changing, ingnoring stop signs, incessant honking and completely ingnoring pedestrians. They have the right of way and that´s just a fact jack! We just got back from a 4 day jaunt into Colca Canyon and actually got to see a number of Andean Condors, but not at the famed Cruz del Condor vista area where the tour buses and minivans drop hundreds of tourons each day. Hell no, that place was shrouded in mist. Well actaully we took the locals bus up there from our hotel in Cabanaconde along with the farmer, their shovels, and the numerous local gals and their wares ... read more

Greetings from Cusco, Peru, the former capital of the Inca empire and the place where I did my TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) course. The quick update for those who prefer :) I finished my TEFL course at the end of October, then went wwoofing in the jungle for a while, yesterday I got back from hiking the Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu and tomorrow I´m off to Trujillo in northern Peru to teach English - it´s all happening! The loooong version... So a bit about life in Cusco… while doing my course I homestayed with Ana Maria, her son Jose, her dad Alexo, and Jess (from The States) one of my TEFL classmates, and Laura and Jaunita from Ottawa - Ottawatians :) Ana Maria is a Spanish teacher at Maximo Nivel (the place ... read more