The Cusco Cold and Cuy

I am just now writing another entry because I have been sick all week! I felt miserable Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and had to stay home in bed from work. I had what the Maximo Nivel staff call the “Cusco Cold” that many travelers get after being here for a week or so. I had a terrible headache, stomach ache, sore throat, congestion and a cough that is still lingering on. On Thursday I was finally able to get out of bed and return to work and it felt good to leave the house for once in 3 days because I felt like I was missing out on my time here in Peru. I missed the kids and I could tell they missed me too because as soon as I walked in 3 of them ran up and gave me a big hug and asked where I was. Yesterday Laura from Australia and I decided that we wanted to do more volunteering because we were bored with just Colibri in the afternoons, so we are going to sign up to teach English in the mornings at a girl’s school too. We also have tandem Spanish in the afternoons starting Tuesday where we spend a half hour practicing Spanish with a Peruvian and then spend another half hour helping them practice English.

I did go out to dinner with everyone Tuesday night as planned when they ordered Cuy. I had intended to order it as well, but I figured on an upset stomach it probably wasn’t the best idea. I was happy I made that decision because when they brought out the poor guinea pig on the plate I was immediately turned off at its little fried legs and teeth stuck into a bell pepper. I did have a small taste just to say I did it. It was similar to pulled pork in texture but had a much different taste that was slightly sour. There really wasn’t much meat on such a small animal and the boys that ordered it had trouble getting around the small bones to get to the meat.
Since I was sick, we did not go rafting on Wednesday was planned, and have postponed it to next weekend with a much bigger group of volunteers which should be a lot of fun.

Four of my housemates left today: Lindsay and Ariana from Canada who I became very close to and would like to visit and remain friends with, Xian who I will probably stay friends with now since we go to USC together and Shirin. We went out for their last night here last night to our usual spot, Cross Keys and then for some dancing at Mama Africa and Ukukus. Mario came with us with some of his friends and it was a very fun night out with the big group for the last time. It is sad to see them go but it will be exciting to get new housemates next week, although one of those will be a new roommate which I am nervous for!

This is supposed to be the dry season, but it has rained basically everyday for the past week and thunder stormed even the past couple days.

This is my first weekend without any plans so I really don’t know what to do with myself! The girls are gone, Claire is in the jungle for the weekend and the boys aren’t as fun and don’t want to do things that I do, altough we might try to go paragliding together today if we figure out where it is. I might go do some more shopping or exploring on my own… don’t worry mom and dad I will go during daylight! I noticed that the streets are much busier on the weekends when the children are not in school and are roaming the streets in packs for make money and the vendors set up shop just about anywhere to sell their products. Laura told me that they have pirated movies in the markets here that are still in theaters in the US for 3 soles, which is like a dollar American! My house mom owns the Peruvian movie “La Teta Asustada” which was nominated for best foreign film at this year’s Oscars but it does not have subtitles so I would like to find that movie as well in the market. Sunday night we are going to a soccer game which will be cool because it is so popular here. I am still looking into when I will go to Puno and Lake Titicaca and since I am here for so long I might even make it a longer weekend and check out La Paz, Bolivia while I am over that way. I will have to find other volunteers who want to do this trip with me. So for now, that is all I have to update on. Next week should be more eventful since I won’t have to waste half of it in bed. Hope you are all enjoying summer back home… it is COLD here! No sun tan for me :-( Adios amigos!

-Hillary-