food and dogs (aww yeah)

So there are lots of stray dogs here. They're often dirty, and some are sad, while some are happy, but all are super adorable. I think that by the end of this trip, I'll be able to have a slideshow of only stray dogs in Peru. They're everywhere, something would be amiss to walk a block and not see one or more strays. Like I said, they're all super cute (if you go "aww" when seeing a dog, this is the place for you)

A stray in Cuzco

Now onto food. OH my god the food. It's amazing, and well, incredible comes incredibly short of describing how good the food is here. Meals traditionally consist of a light breakfast, with tea (mate de coca leaves is the predominant tea here. It's sooooo good, especially with some brown sugar), light bread, and either jam or what's called jamonaba (I think, it's kinda like balogne, but made with pollo). Lunch and dinner are pretty similar, with lunch being the bigger meal. There's usually a starter dish, which can be soup (of mushrooms, chicken, kimwah) or an appetizer (like potatoes y queso). After the starter, there is the main entree, which can vary, but usually consists of a meat or vegetable dish that's accompanied by pasta or rice. After that, comes dessert, which is usually either a drink, or gelatin/flan. One of the different things here is that in restaurants, they serve drinks after the starter and entree. I'm starting to become accustomed to drinking mate tea after meals now.

Two of the most common things one can eat here will be chicken and potatoes. There are hundreds of  varieties of potatoes in Peru, and chickens are just about everywhere, so it's generally the predominant meat eaten here - there are lots of polerias (chicken restaurants) in the city. The potatoes are different too. Potatoes, corn (which has gigantic kernels here, think the size of a blueberry per kernel), and rice all have a starchier taste here, which is pretty interesting. Some of the potatoes are what we're accustomed to, but some have a more powdery and starchy kind of taste - I'm not sure if I'm a huge fan of that kind just yet. Everything here is just more fresh - the juice, the meat, the vegetables, etc. This morning, Chris and I were served plantain juice by our host mom, and it was maybe the best juice I've ever had. The chicken here is so fresh, since the people keep and kill them at home. There's basically a whole coop by my host casa, and that would explain why the chicken I had last night was absolutely delicious and fresh. If you like chicken, come to Peru.

Arroz con Pollo

#nom #gettingfat #sogood #dogsarecute

Customs and such (what to do in Peru)

Now that I've been in Peru for a few days, I feel like I can comment on a few customs here that differ from the US.

• In greetings, there are two different customs. When greeting guy to guy, you shake hands, as per usual. When greeting a woman, regardless of your gender, you kiss their right cheek. When entering a room full of people, it's customary to greet everyone in the room, otherwise it's rude. 
• In eating, if people are served before you, it's customary for them to start eating immediately, otherwise it's considered rude to the chef. 
• In using el baño, you have to put used toilet paper into the trashbin instead of the toilet - I don't think the septic system can handle it. 
• In speaking, I think that Peruvians drop their 's' quite a bit. For example, instead of "Buenas noches," it's pronounced more like "buena noche" It may be just me though
• In habits, at least what I've experienced from my host family, if there's a situation in which you can't really do much, you kinda shrug your shoulders and say "oof-e" 
• In traffic customs, you do not get the right of way. If you get in the way of a car, the car will accelerate, instead of slowing down. Thus, crossing the streets in Cuzco is kind of like frogger - cross the streets when it's clear, and hope no one will clip you. 

#queinteresante

Heyyyyyy Urubamba!

The Urubamba group arrived into the pueblo around 8 at night. It's much smaller than Cuzco, and you can traverse the length of the city in about 30 minutes, if not less. It's more rural than Cuzco - it's smaller, but still urban. The closest analog in my mind is Kaoshiung, Taiwan. The best part however, is being surrounded by mountains. Anywhere you go, you'll get a spectacular view, and the mountains are so close, it's gorgeous. Since light pollution is way less than in the cities, the stars are super clear, and la luna is bright as can be. The weather is warmer in my opinion - We're about 1000-2000 feet less than Cuzco, and maybe that accounts for the difference. I can enjoy this weather a lot - it's like San Francisco weather with hot & sunny in the daytime, and cool and crisp at night, but comfortable at all times.

Chris and I met our host family yesterday. There's Ana, la madre, who teaches 4-6 year olds at a school near urubamba, and there's Agosto, el padre, who teaches literature in secondary school (think high school, but 11-17 year olds). They're great to talk to, and I think we talked about just about everything from politics, to music, films, and our lives. They don't speak much English, but I'm finding that my Spanish is better than I thought, and for the most part, I can understand what they're saying pretty well. They're so nice, and so great (they told us that we're a part of their familia now) and I think that the next two months will be amazing. Ana y Agosto's son, Andre (5 years old), is just about the cutest thing ever. While writing this post, he tried to take my computer and write "porque puedo escribe mayor." He's adorable, and will probably be one of the highlights here. Overall, I love my host family, and I love Urubamba.

#megusta #excited #sosowonderful

aaaand we're back!

It looks like blogger's been down for the past few days, and kinda erased all of my formatting. Oh well...

Since I haven't had much internet access over the past few days, there will be a quadruple post coming up. (whoa there)  So upon arriving to Cuzco by plane, I awoke to see mountains everywhere. To paraphrase Neil, one of the Dukies, "walking from the plane was one of the coolest experiences I've had." We soon arrived to the hotel, and explored the city - the architecture is amazing, and the city as a whole is simply breathtaking. I'll do my best to upload a slideshow of Cuzco when I have better internet access (y más tiempo). The city is fairly large, pretty urban, maybe like a smaller city in China. Every 5 meters in one of the main plazas, you can find people selling postcards, paintings, dolls, knockoff ray-bans, etc. It's not uncommon to some cities outside of los EEUU I guess.

A building near the main plaza in Cuzco

As always, exploring a new city is exciting, and Cuzco is just excellent - there's so much to do! ProPeru took us on a trolley ride that went around the outskirts of Cuzco, and we ended up at the Cristo Blanco - a giant white statue of Christ that overlooks Cuzco. From the top, the view is breathtaking. Also, there are llamas. everywhere. It's awesome. Then this past Friday, we went to go explore ruins close to Cuzco, like Saqsaywaman. Calling it one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen cannot do this place justice. The highest point of the ruins were at about 3800 meters, so these sights were literally breathtaking. The mountains, the sky, the sun, the moon - all are so visible and crisp!

Inca Ruins near Cuzco

 

Speaking of the sun, it's incredibly strong here - sunscreen is just about a must. Since we're at 10,000+ feet above sea level, the sun is closer by a significant amount. The high altitude is not that problematic, except when you're exerting yourself. There's less oxygen at this altitude, and you definitely notice it when climbing stairs - you get out of breath much faster and can feel light-headed at times. The weather in Cuzco is kinda cold - it is winter here after all, and if you think of Durham in the fall, that's about accurate. It's about 60+ in the daytime, but can get pretty cold at night (50s and below). Hopefully this gives a general idea of what the Cuzco experience is, and there's definitely a lot that I glossed over, but I'll come to it later.

#isthisreallife #perurocks

Live, from New York!

So here I am, sitting in JFK airport for eight whole hours, waiting to get onto a flight to Lima, Peru!  I think all of us at JFK are all excited to see what's going to happen, and to just experience Peruvian life and culture!  Personally, I'm a little nervous about the work we're going to do with ProPeru, and what the community's reception to us will be.  As part of the environmental education group in Urubamba, I wonder if the community will accept the knowledge that we are trying to impart on them, or just reject it in favor of pre-existing customs.  Regardless, I think that it's going to be a great experience, and from what I've heard, the community is pretty warm and accepting to Americans (I'm somewhat interested to see what the response to Asians will be).  Since this is just a pre-Peru post, I'll keep it short, and in the future, I'll be focusing on my experiences with the culture, the people, and the food of Peru.  I currently plan to photo-document just about everything I can, and there will be a slideshow going up on the site once I start taking pictures.  For now, that's it!  Peru in 10 hours.

#excited #wowthisishappening #sickofairports

(For those of you that aren't familiar with the twitter "hashtag" (or the '#' symbol) convention, it's a way to mark the theme of a post, so I'll be doing this for the rest of my posts to mark my current mood at the time)