Better than Emma Watson

For those of you who do not know, I have frequently considered Emma Watson, the actress, to be one of the most beautiful sights on earth. For years this was my thinking, today though I have renounced that view and have instead realized that there is almost nothing I have ever seen as magical, fascinating, enthralling, and awe-inspiring as Cuzco and the Andean Mountains. Flying from Lima to Cuzco was absolutely amazing, at 35,000 ft it was as if you could roll out of the plane and land safely on a mountain top without harm. From peaks coated in snow, to rolling green mammoths, the entire Andean section of Peru is breathtaking. An easy hour flight to Cuzco was complimented by the best airplane cookie I've ever tasted and a friendly male Peruvian professional. He chatted with me in stellar English, something that for the past 2 days has been a constant. No matter how hard I try to converse in Spanish people always respond to me in English, broken or otherwise. I'm not quite sure why all of these Peruvians don't automatically take me for a native Spanish speaker, my theory is that it is a result of my height.

Landing in Cuzco at the "Some other famous Peruvian man" airport brought me immediately in touch with members of my program, all girls except for 3, possibly 4, as well as an hour walk around "los calles" (look it up) of the area with my new classmates/roommates/friends. By the time everyone had arrived we hit the road and headed towards Urumbamba and onto my current resting place of Chichubamba. Urumbamba is a small Andean style town nestled at about 9,000 ft in a valley surrounded on all sides by the looming Andes. From there we drove through numerous cramped streets, at one point having to stop to find the owner of an abandoned truck in the way, and stopped at what seemed to be a little mud-brick building in the middle of nowhere. As soon as we got off the bus a half-dozen little kids came running towards us to take all of our luggage to an eco-lodge down a small path nearby. In a few minutes we reached the eco-lodge and it was absolutely gorgeous. The three guys in the group were automatically asked to aid the little kids and their wheel barrows with the luggage so we trekked back and forth from the bus a few times.

Dropping off all the bags and getting settled brought us to hammocks and wooden chairs along with a mass amount of fruit which led to a two course dinner of beef, potatoes, peppers and rice formed into a heart. All of this ultimately led to everyone feeling really full and kind of sick which is how I find myself lounging and writing as a few of the SITers take a stab at the pan-flute with some of the chicos. Altitude sickness has not slowed me down and other than a fun encounter with some road donkeys and a ravine to pee in, everything is spectacular. I love it here already, love all the people and understand about 30% of what is going on. A great start to a great semester.

alpaCasey