Hey everyone. It’s been a while, so I’ll do my best to briefly catch you up. As the title suggests, things really do keep getting better, although of course everything has a catch to it. Antony and I got to the point where we felt good about me going places on my own. As I said before, I hope to develop a friendship with him that goes beyond an exclusively helping relationship, because he’s cool. We could talk for hours about soccer, pre-Hispanic South America, and Peru in general. It is so rewarding when what I have learned as to how to learn about and travel around new places without special intervention pays off. One of the reasons I am doing this blog is because I want to be a resource to other would-be travelers, especially those who are visually impaired. Of course, I am still quite new, but I can completely agree with what others have said: There’s nothing special you have to learn concerning the basics of navigation when you go to a new area; aside from certain ins and outs of that place, it’s all about problem-solving and doing the things that everyone does when visiting any new place. It might take some tie to get used to it, and that’s okay. You do what you must.
So now that I’m showing up to work alone every day, everyone is talking to me more, and I am respected as a part of the learning community, not as an extra item. Because I like structure, I am having difficulties adjusting to the more freeform environment, but I am figuring it out. I am learning that, as long as I am not in full management of a classroom of twenty to thirty little kids, chaos is inevitable and that I can work with it instead of fight it, and everyone will get more out of it.
As far as school, I kind of feel like a freshman in college all over again: Until now, I believed I was an exceptional student and that studying was never a real issue for me. I’m coming to see that this is because I have never lived with roommates who also happened to be more than acquaintances. While it’s been great for not allowing things in Cuzco to completely stagnate, I haven’t quite figured out how to work that in with homework. I want to figure it out soon, though, because I am planning on working into my daily routine little solo outings during the day before our evening excursions.
So our second Saturday here, we visited the Museo de la Historia Regional. I could go back to that place a few times, because ancient American history fascinates me–it’s one of the lesser known aspects of history. I will have pictures when I figure out our shared photo album.
We also visited a six-story building dedicated to the statue and the legacy of Pachakutec, whose name means “returner of the lands,” and who fortunately lived well before the Spanish came. He was legendary for the conquests he did for the Inca Empire, and he did more for the overall advancement of Inca society than anyone before or since. Each story of the building had something to say about Peru’s various environments or, more prominently, about Pachakutec. Once we reached the roof, we took some pictures near his statue and looked down on the city.
Between these visits, we ate at this excellent place called Green Point, a vegetarian/vegan restaurant. What I ate didn’t agree with me, but I would go back a hundred times.
The next Saturday, we went on a road trip through the Sacred Valley. Our first stop was Pisaac, where we ate empanadas and visited what looked like a military fortress on the outskirts of town. Further on we hiked some terraces, and we ended at a place called Muray. This is where there are terraced rings within rings, to facilitate microclimates in which former peoples planted various things before sending them far and wide. We went on a good day, because we didn’t encounter a lot of tourists, which was why we decided to road trip in the first place. Again, there will be a photo dump when I figure out our shared album.
Because I didn’t plan this weekend very well, I am writing to you from Cuzco and not from another city. This was good because I needed a reset: I had a decent exam and gave a horrible presentation in class. As a group, we’re all in agreement that, as great as Cuzco has been, it’s time to branch out. I will be going alone to Lima in a couple of weeks, and I have other ideas for travel, but we’ll see where things go.
So things are definitely getting better, but there is a catch to things. One of my classmates aggravated an old injury while salsa dancing and had to go home for surgery and physical therapy. We’re hoping she can come back; she seemed to think that she would be able to.
With that, I will catch you next time with some more quality stuff. Ciau.
Traveling in Peru 