Corpus Christi

I had another fun filled week here in Cusco that was very exciting because of many new experiences.

Tuesday, I started my tandem Spanish sessions. My partner’s name is Edward and he is 23. He has only been learning English for a year and he is practically fluent! It amazes me how much quicker Hispanics can learn English than we can learn Spanish. I guess it is out of necessity for them and they also have a lot more opportunities to practice especially in a tourist city like Cusco. Edward however lives 45 minutes from Cusco and takes a bus in everyday for lessons because there are no other language centers near him. His family owns a bakery so he has to wake up every day at 4 am to make the bread. He lives in a house with his parents and 5 younger siblings and they have to wash their clothes in the sink because they have no washing machines. What a different life huh? We will meet Monday through Friday at 3:00 pm for the rest of my time here in Cusco if it works out so that I can practice my Spanish with him and he can practice his English with me. It helps to have an hour everyday to speak strictly Spanish and Edward can correct my mistakes and teach me new words when I don’t know them.

Wednesday began the setting up and some small celebrations for Corpus Christi in the Plazas of Cusco. Corpus Christi means body of Christ and it is a huge festival celebrated in early June to worship the 15 Saints. There were huge constructions being set up in front of each church symbolizing them and music and dancing already starting Wednesday afternoon. After tandem Laura and I had a hard time making it to work because people were already starting to gather in the Plaza de Armas to see the festivities. The women dress up in elegant costumes and the men wear these weird and slightly creepy masks while they dance to flutes and drums in the streets. We finally made it through the crowd and I snapped some great pictures along the way and had another day at Colibri with our kids.

Afterwards, I had an hour to kill before meeting up with Michael, Claire and one of Claire’s friends from Florida for dinner downtown so Mario met me and we had a drink at an adorable little bar where you can sit out on a tiny balcony that overlooks San Blas. I get a lot of practice with Spanish when I am with Mario too because he knows absolutely ZERO English. I have taught him a few words and phrases but we speak only Spanish and it definitely challenges me to have to keep up conversations in a second language that I still am not fluent in. I met up with my roommates at a very nice restaurant in the Plaza called Inca Grill. It was the first time I wore a dress in Cusco because it is usually so cold at night I don’t bother. After dinner we met up with other volunteers for drinks and then went dancing at our usual favorite clubs for the whole night since Thursday was a holiday and no one had work or class.

Thursday morning we woke up early to have breakfast in Jack’s café and after spend the day at Corpus Christi. It was: INSANE! Every street in downtown was closed and the entire city was full of people. We made sure to hold on to our bags because you could barely walk without bumping into someone and anyone could have snatched a bag and been lost in the crowd in an instant. We found it really awkward and uncomfortable that random ladies came up and pinned flags to our chest without asking and then demanded money for them to support the holiday. At first I was reluctant because they were so pushy but they explained the proceeds go to poor children and so then I of course had to tip to buy the colorful Inca flag that resembles a rainbow.

We were trying to find a spot to watch the parade that was beginning a
nd ended up actually becoming part of the parade! We were in the street with the dancers, musicians, people carrying the Saints, soldiers, etc. and could not find a space to get out. We speed walked along with the parade until we were finally ahead of it and could make a break through to the outside. I’m sure all the people sitting around the Plaza watching the parade were not happy to see 4 tourists in their way when they were trying to see the beautiful dancing and their beloved Saints. It was embarrassing, yet quite hysterical.

We made our way to the Plaza de San Francisco on what was actually an extremely hot day for Cusco, probably 80 degrees and very sunny. We all had to take a break to grab water because of the heat and the hundreds of people making for some slight anxiety on my part. They must have killed over 1,000 guinea pigs for the holiday because everywhere you looked in San Francisco plaza there were piles of Cuy on different tables and tons of locals sitting down to eat the sacred meal. The poor race was completely wiped out for Corpus Christi in my opinion along with other random meats that were laid out on the tables and being cut up with no sense of sanitary measure whatsoever. The stray dogs were having a field day with all the food scraps from the day and the smell of all the food attracted flies as well. One of our roommates, Connor, decided to try Chicha and I had a sip just so I could say I did. It was the “girl” Chicha so it had more flavoring added to it and had a fruit punch and black licorice taste.

We decided to call it an early day and head back because the crowds were just too much to handle. We took a nap and relaxed the rest of the holiday off. We got a new roommate who is just staying for a week or so until she finds an apartment because she is working at Maximo Nivel for the next year and a half overseeing the language teachers. She is from St. Louis and is only 22.

Michael and I leave tonight, in about 2 hours actually, for Arequipa for the weekend. We are going to meet up with Ariana and Lindsey on Saturday to do some exploring of the city together. The girls have stopped there on their travels after spending last week in Puno and then they will continue on their way up to Lima after. Our bus ride to Arequipa is 12 hours over night and we will get back to Cusco early Tuesday morning after seeing some sites along the way in our tour package. I am going to Skype my parents before I leave and have an early dinner. I will write after the weekend and will be posting pictures on Facebook too. Adios!

-Hillary-