Peru Host Family:
Beginning Life in Cuzco

Friday, October 6: 9 a.m. came early. The maid in my new Peru host family, Benita made it better with scrambled eggs, bread, and some sort of banana jugo (juice). No sign of life, other than Benita and me, so I spent the next few hours cleaning out my Yahoo inbox.

Catherine, the mother of my Peru host family, got home just in time for lunch. We ate together and she shared her passions with me. She is the Cuzco chapter president of an international garden club. Her club builds and restores gardens around the city. Her husband owns a construction business, and a Coca Cola bottling company.

Catherine and I shared a taxi to pick her kids up from school, and I went on to Maximo. My first hour was a one-on-one session with Silvia. We spoke in English until we got to the classroom, then suddenly, she only knew Spanish. She drilled me on greetings and grammar.

I joined two Kiwis, who are about my age, for our two-hour group class. We mainly went over grammar, and I left with a headache! I felt like I had never heard the language before.

After dinner, around ten, Alle—who’s staying at Sonja’s, my parents’ Peru host family—and I shared a cab to the school’s hostel, where we met up with the other fifteen or so students our age. They are from New Zealand, Asia, NY, Canada, the Midwest, and a few from CA. As a group, we had drinks at a hookah bar and then danced at one of the many Discos in Cuzco until 3 a.m. The musica bumped on well after we left. Most of the group are going rafting in the morning. I feel sorry for their stomachs!

I felt I would get more out of this stay if I moved into Sonja’s, so Saturday morning, I did just that. I get my own private entry suite, like the one my folks are staying in. I get to have meals with the Peru host family and I can come and go as I please, without waking everyone. I think it’s going to work out much better this way.

We toured 16th century Inca ruins, so perfect in construction that no mortar was used to hold them up. The ruins were even designed to withstand earthquakes, which they have. Two 7.5+ earthquakes since they were built, and the ruins still stand. (They are ruins only because the Spanish conquistadores tore them down.) Next, we saw the city from a bird’s eye view, atop the highest point in Cuzco. We then toured a still-functioning Inka village, and drank from a natural spring that is said to restore youth.

While sipping cappuccinos in the Plaza Square after the five-hour tour, we struck up a conversation with the only other guests in the café. As it turns out, they too were from San Diego! What a small world this really is.

--Posted by Shawn, October 6


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