Here are my stories thus far.

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HOla!

I loaded some photographs onto my blog but I am not sure whether it all worked so hopefully after 40 minutes of loading it did....

with that aside, Cusco is still just as cool as when I got here, I volunteer from 8 ' 12 and then work on organizing what I want to do with the kids the next day, etc. They are pretty limited in supplies so I usually end up having something to shop for, etc. The shopping here is really cool, there are local markets absolutely everywhere and you can really get some good deals. Some of the items are about what we would pay in Canada but they are handcrafted, good quality, etc.

In the past couple of days I have definately made my mark with the kids in the orphanage, they are always really excited to see me which is nice. There is only 1 staff person who speaks English but I am getting by on the Spanish I know and learning lots of new stuff. I guess there were lots of boxes of craft paper donated so they were telling me that they´d like me to do crafts with the kids. For whatever reason I am responsible for the 3-7 kids who are younger (varies depending on each child´s schedule for the day) and the rest of the boys are left to clean. It´s kind of sad because I can see they want to play with me too so I´ve asked for a translator to come tomorrow so I can ask if we could maybe include the older kids as well. I might just try to ask for an hour each afternoon to spend with them exclusively if they don´t go for it but anyhow, they really really do appreciate my help which is cool. I generally take just a few items each day to play with and eventually I won´t have anything to bring! I am saving more of the individual gifts and stuffies for next week as the MAXIMO staff said it is probably better to use them as prizes for participating, etc.

I have kept busy checking out the shops, getting supplies and trying to figure my way around the town. The weather here hasn´t been really great, mostly cool and rainy so there is no tanning happening so far! Oh, yesterday I had my first meal of alpaca meat. I didn´t know what I was eating until it was half gone but man, was it ever yummy! YOu probably didn´t want to know that tho, hmm. Well, the staff at the volunteer house (family house) are great, we get 3 meals a day and our beds are made too! We pay 5 sol which is almost $2 for 2 lbs of clothing to get washed, dried, folded and on our beds. I haven´t needed to do it yet but it´s a pretty handy service.

Well, I should get going now but hope you´ve enjoyed the stories so far. I am off to Lake Titicaca tomorrow night at 10 pm but I might be able to come and update this again before that time. Have a nice day and thanks for keeping up to date!

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Comments

[Donna]

Hey Chloe, I am watching your travels through your blog updates. Thanks for sharing! I'm totally envious! Keep up with your updates. Enjoy your travels, hug those children for me and stay safe!