After an extremely hectic, long, and confusing day of travel I finally arrived in Cusco at around 6:30 am. A taxi driver (sent by Maximo Nivel, my language school) took me directly to my host family, a woman named Tuca and her brother, Victor. They don’t speak any English but luckily my Spanish is enough to communicate and converse with them. After sleeping for a couple hours, my host mother showed me the way to Maximo Nivel, where I had language testing and orientation for my Spanish program (a combination of four hours of group classes and two additional hours of private lessons).
After my testing I went on a short city tour of the nearby area and got to know some of the more popular restaurants and cafes.
The next day, I started my classes. My teacher’s name is Roy and he is originally from Lima, but has been living in Cusco for over 10 years. In my group class there is just one other person, a girl named Mikayla from Toronto, Canada. The classes are simultaneously really overwhelming as well as a little tedious and slow. Each day I learn an incredible amount of vocabulary, but at the same time I haven’t learned much grammatically. In this first week of class we focused only on the present and preterit tenses which was a little frustrating at times but I also feel that the practice has made me more confident in my speaking abilities. Even though I haven’t learned any new grammar, I can talk much more quickly and fluidly than before.
However, despite all of my progress, by the end of the week I was completely burnt out. Constantly thinking and talking in Spanish is EXHAUSTING. Luckily, each day I have a three hour break between my group classes and private lessons that I use to explore new restaurants and explore different areas of the city. My favorite dish so far is a famous Peruvian dish called Lomo Saltado, which has beef, onions, some other vegetables, french fries, and rice.
And on Fridays, Maximo offers cooking classes and this week the dish that we learned to make happened to be Lomo Saltado. I learned a lot more about the history of the dish and that while it is a Peruvian favorite, it is actually inspired by Chinese immigrants. Throughout Peru there is a large mix between Peruvian and Chinese cultures and throughout the streets of Cusco you can always spot various “chifas” which are Peruvian-Chinese fusion restaurants. Peru is a really fascinating country because of all of the different cultural mixings. It’s interesting because aside from my clearly American clothing, I actually blend in around the streets of Cusco pretty well.
Aside from all the Spanish classes, another snag along the road have come from the sharp slap in the face and reality check regarding my privileges in America. I don’t think that I ever really understood how blessed I am to always be able to rely on hot water, clean tap water, and conveniences like Walmart (where I can find everything I need in one place). Luckily, my host family has been doing everything in their power to make me comfortable here and I am incredibly grateful for all their help.
On the weekend I had a lot of free time to explore the city. I ended up going to Sacsayhuaman, a famous Incan site right next to Cusco, it was close enough for me to walk (which was a HIKE, the streets of Cusco are steep and narrow). It was incredible to see how advanced Inca society was and to see their engineering with my own eyes. I couldn’t believe how strong and sturdy their buildings and walls were without having modern-tools.
And on Sunday, I went on a hike with a couple of other students from Maximo. We went to Humantay Lake which is about a three hour drive away from Cusco. The drive was both beautiful AND terrifying. The scenery around Peru is like something out of a dream BUT the roads are really different from what we are used to in the US. In a lot of places they can get a little bumpy and people here drive a lot more aggressively.
But despite the long and bumpy drive, the hike was definitely worth all of it. I had a ton of fun getting to spend time with others my age who were traveling from various parts of the US as well as from Canada and Brazil and I had a blast climbing up to the lake with all of them. However, the hike was more difficult than I was expecting because of the altitude. Humantay Lake is approximately 13,000 feet (South Bend is approximately 700 feet). It took me much longer than I was expecting and I had to take a ton of breaks along the way.
Although my first week was exhausting and overwhelming, I can’t wait to see what the rest of my time here has in store for me. 4 weeks left!
