Cusco, Week 4

Week four?!

I actually started to freak out this week when I realized how little time I have left here in Cusco. This upcoming weekend was my last chance to explore Peru and to walk around the city before I leave the following Friday.

My week started about the same as usual. Although classes were a little different since we had a new group of students matriculate in and two new students were in my class on Monday. It was really fun to get to know some new faces and to practice Spanish with a different group because a lot of learning is done from learning from each other and with fresh minds come fresh topics and places to improve and learn more. I think that having a different set of faces in class really helped me avoid complete burnout this week as I was nearing the end of my time here.

This week was also a lot more interesting than others as we began to move forward and progress towards topics I was a lot less familiar with, like the more advanced subjunctive tenses. Although I had learned them in the past, having a more in-depth and detailed review really helped me to solidify what I already knew and to understand how to better use these tenses in conversation and in writing.

Each day this week, I really made sure to take advantage of what Cusco had to offer. I went to the market almost every day before class to buy fresh and cheap fruits and vegetables to eat, I revisited all of my favorite restaurants for lunch, and tried to hit up as many of the museums and cultural centers that I could around the city.

It wasn’t hard to find things to do since this week really kicked off the beginning of Cusco’s festival period leading up to Cusco day on June 24. Each day was full of parades and music and crazy events and dance groups in the Plaza de Armas and on Avenida el sol (Cusco’s longest road). Although I was leaving before Día de Cusco, all of the celebrations felt like a really good way to end my time in Cusco.

For the weekend however, I had one more adventure planned with my friends: La montaña de siete colores (Rainbow Mountain).