El Dorado

Well, the streets and structures are not covered in gold anymore (thanks to the Spainards, of course) but Cusco still has quite a few treasures to offer. First, let me say that I freakin love the street food here. My favorite is the grilled meat you can find with a potato on top of the skew, especially the chicken and sausage together...YUM. And of course there is also the catus fruit that I recently learned I could not take home with me because I would get pricked with microscopic needles and therefore had to let the vedor peel it for me while I ate it right there on the street. In addition to the legitamate vendors there are tons of kids that sell anything from chicklets to tiny postcards (yes, I bought one) to the people who come out of the clubs at night. They are so convincing!

I also love how Cusco is like NYC. At any time during the day or night you can get a taxi, no problem. There are tiny taxi´s that are cheap (s/2.50 anywhere in the city) and larger ones that are like stationwagons for s/3.00 anywhere in the city. The city buses are more like big astro vans that people cram into and they have no particular route. You just have to know that if you get on the bus labeled ¨Batman¨ where you´ll end up next. There isn´t good coffee around like NYC but I did have cafe con helado (coffee and ice cream) a while ago and if was divine!

As well as food, a ride and tiny postcards they advertise massages on the street for s/20.00! I had to get one and was not totally disappointed. It wasn´t quite an hour like they promised but I would say that a 45 minute massage for $6.30 was well worth it. I´ve also gotten my nose pierece for s/50.00. Now, you may say, ¨Christa, whey in the heck would you wait to go to a third world country to get your nose pierced¨ but I look at it this way, I didn´t want one till I got here! So now I have a tiny little blue gem in my nose as a souvenir from Peru.

The people here are golden as well. For instance there are all those who I work with here at The Point. They are local and sweet as sugar. I guess it doesn´t hurt that they think I´m pretty sweet too. :) My colleauges at ICPNA are also really cool. I´m observing a new class with a teacher who is doing an exchange from Arizona. And I´m loving that I´m getting Spanish lessons from Nelida. She gave me a proper Spanish workbook to complete from a minor level. We´re meetin again this Sunday to catch up since we haven´t been able to meet prior. She´s got a busy schedule with teaching, school and work. I´m going to have to cram though because I´ve been beaten by this cold I have for the past couple days. I think I´m finally getting over it but I still have an aweful cough that sounds way worse than it is.