Same Same but Different - Life in Cusco

It was in this classroom four years ago that I first considered becoming an English teacher. Now, somehow, I'm back teaching at the same school. I applied to other schools when I arrived but after not hearing back from any of them I wandered over to Speak Easy language institute and ran into my old boss, Daniel. As it turned out he was looking for a teacher to help substitute some classes. So I told him I would be glad to help out.

Some of the classes I am now teaching are at Elin Orphanage. This is just after I finished teaching the boys class - they are rowdy but eager to learn.
My favorite part of class is when the students finish an assignment and they all push their notebooks into my face and say "Carita Feliz!!" Which means they want me to put a smiley face on their paper. Some boys request two and three smiley faces, sometimes they want a star, but when ten minutes passes and I am still drawing smiley faces I have to say enough is enough. :-)

The girls class is a little more calm, but there are more students so it can also get noisy. I only taught them for a week, though.
This is my last week with the kids and it's a mixture of sadness and relief. It's been fun but I'm ready to do some traveling and see more than just the city. When I was here before I was so proud of Cusco for not having any fast food chains. Apparently progression can't be stopped because there is now a McDonald's in Cusco. I was so disappointed that I went to eat there one night. It wasn't very good, and I found a hair in my sundae. Why did I go then? Sometimes I have to remind myself why I don't like something, I guess.
A couple weeks ago I just felt like I had to get out of the city so my friend Ruben and I took his nephew, Anderson to some hot springs in the Sacred Valley. He fell asleep in the bus so I took a picture.
When I saw the picture it reminded me of the last time I went to the Sacred Valley. He fell asleep in the bus then, too. This time at age three. Some things never change.
The hot springs were fun - I was definitely the only white person there and got stared at as I got in the water. It was fun to see Anderson gain more confidence in the water - he went from death grip in the beginning to jumping into my arms by the end.
It was nice to get out of the city and see some nature again.
The sunlight on the mountains in the afternoon was amazing.

It would have been better if I hadn't thought I was going to die (taxi driver who was driving too fast, cliffs, mountain passes, etc.) But we made it safely. Every now and then I see some cool views in Cusco, too. I liked this cobblestone street in the San Blas area. These colonial arched doorways looked cute, too.

I'm getting ready for Clay and Trista to come in March. On Sunday we got to talk by Skype and they even brought me to Clay's birthday/Sunday night dinner at Jed and Lisa's so I got to see my nieces and nephews. Obviously they had fun with the camera, too.
Clay and Trista won't be able to bring their dog, Bangkok on the trip, but don't worry, I found a dog that looks just like him wandering around on the streets. I wouldn't recommend letting him lick you, though.
Until next time!

I Made it Back to Cusco!

I made it to Cusco, Peru! But first, there might be some people who need some background to the story. Five years ago my friend Tammie and I came here to study Spanish. We fell in love with the city and the people and ended up staying 9 months. My cousin Nathan also joined us and we all shared an apartment and taught English. (Which eventually turned into my career - thanks to this experience.) We left a lot of friends behind and often talked about going back.

As those who read the blog know, about two years ago I got really tired of traveling so I bought a house in Salt Lake. I love the house and loved my jobs and being so close to family, but as an addict who can't just quit cold turkey, I started to think about travel again.

So I've rented out the house for a year and have three destinations planned: first back to Cusco, Peru (unfortunately without Tammie due to a growing family and also without Nate because he's on the other side of the world in India right now) and I plan to visit old friends, practice my Spanish, and try to do some teaching on the side.

My second destination will be back to Seward Alaska to work in the lodge where I worked in 2008 and earn the money to be able to cover my adventures this year. If I save enough there my last destination will be Africa - but I haven't fully planned that part, yet.

So for now I'm back here in the city of the Incas wandering the cobblestone streets and taking note of all the things that are the same, and all the things that are different. The first thing I noticed was the smell. I had forgotten that Cusco has a distinct smell of spices, almost like an incense, mixed with dirt and pollution, of course. The smell alone brought back tons of memories. It's the rainy season so there is a downpour every afternoon but it also means everything is greener. I noticed this when I walked through some of the big plazas.



My good friend Ruben was nice enough to pick me up at the airport. The next day We visited his sister, Charo and her son, Anderson who were also my good friends. When I was here last her son was only about 3 years old. Now he's turning 8 and I can't believe he still remembers me! He ran to me and gave me a big hug when I visited them which made me feel good. They helped me get a cell phone and later I went with Ruben to get his hair cut.
I've been doing a lot of wandering around reliving memories. One of the things I missed was the food. So each restaurant I get to eat another favorite dish. I can't forget to mention Porky's sandwiches. It's just a one dollar pork sandwich but after I got home in 2007 I actually had a dream about them and started having cravings but I didn't think I would ever get to eat one again.
Yum! I know, it's just a sandwich but there are a lot of things that I didn't think I would experience again.

I spent a lot of time each day looking for apartments in the classified ads, and realized that I can't speak Spanish on the phone. Well, I can speak, but I can't understand what people say back to me. It was a frustrating experience and then Ruben told me about his friend who worked for an agency that has a bunch of vacation rentals that are just sitting empty. The company gave me a good deal on a room since I'm staying three months. I chose the room on the top floor because it was the biggest and the nicest.
As you can see, there is enough space for people to visit and stay with me! My brother Clay and his wife Trista are coming in March and this will make things very easy.
I also have cable TV in my room so I can keep up to date with the BBC.
The internet and kitchen are on the bottom floor and so far I'm the only one here so it's been very quiet. I think that's all for now - I'm sorry I don't have more pictures. Sometimes I forget to take them because I've already seen most of the city before. Plus I don't want to look like a tourist. I'll do better next time.
As I say in Peru, Ciaocitos para todos! (little goodbyes for everyone)

Oh yeah, I have a blog . . .

I'm really bad at posting when life feels routine instead of adventurous. But I guess enough time has gone by that I have some things to post about. First, in February I bought my dream car - a Subaru Outback. I finally fit in with everyone else downtown!

My first road trip with the car was with my new Korean student, Yoon Jung and her two friends, TaeWan and Joe. We went to Las Vegas, Zion, and Bryce Canyon and had lots of fun even though it was still snowy.In March we celebrated the coming of spring by going to the Holi Festival at the Spanish Fork Krishna temple. I had never been before and enjoyed throwing colored powder at complete strangers (and at my friends, too.)Soon after Yoon Jung started showing interest in the church. We attended the baptism of her friend TaeWan, and Yoon Jung said she would like to hear the missionary discussions. I was excited and made an extra effort to get conference tickets. Her Korean headphones didn't work, but she listened in English and seemed to like it.When she completed the discussions she wasn't sure if she wanted to be baptized but after some careful thought and prayer she decided she wanted to do it. I was really happy to see and be a part of her spiritual growth and she felt really good about the decision. She flew home a few days after her baptism and I got a new student - Selenge from Mongolia. I took her, Keiko (a Japanese student), and Luis (a Venezuelan student) up to Silver Lake for a short hike. Even in June it was still snowy so we just went around the boardwalk. We had fun but Selenge was only here a few weeks before she went back to Mongolia. In order to more fully enjoy the mountains here I've started my own hiking club. The name of the club is the "Mosey Mountain Club." Of course I'm the President so I get to make all the rules. I've also appointed my sister-in-law, Trista as Vice-President, and Bangkok is an honorary member for staying and protecting me instead of running to Clay and Trista on a hike when it got dark faster than expected.

Clay is also a member, but he's been working off a yellow card that I gave him on the first official Mosey Mountain Club kick-off hike. You see, my club has rules.

Rule #1 All members and visitors must mosey up the mountain, and not run like it's a competition to the top.

Rule #2 All members and visitors must stop and smell the wildflowers (or if they don't smell, just enjoy them).

Rule #3 No member or visitor may encourage, in any way, another member or visitor to hike a different pace than they are already going. (That's how Clay got the yellow card.)

Rule #4 Any amount of time can be spent taking beautiful pictures (or silly pictures - see picture below).

Rule # 5 Dog Lake will not be included on the itinerary because it's the hike forever known in my mind as "the hike that never ends" and for not having a proper lake at the end, only a mosquito infested pond.

Rule # 6 Preserve and Protect the wilderness area by staying on the trail and packing out your dog poop (except under extraordinary circumstances like when Bangkok eats Flamin Hot Cheatos for breakfast)

Rule # 7 The President of the club can make up rules whenever she wants.

So even though my club only has two and a half members (Rule #7 might make some people hesitate to join) we celebrated by taking a trip to the Olympic Penninsula in Washington. I kept hearing things about the rainforest there so after getting work off Clay, Trista, and I drove up for a week. After a night in the Tri-Cities area with Trista's sister we made it up to Sol Duc where there are some hot springs, hikes, and a beautiful waterfall.

I think I was made to live in the forest because I had so much fun playing in the big trees (like, literally IN the trees).I also loved the mossy rocks. This place looked like what you find on somebody's screensaver.

Then Trista and I had fun (and embarassed Clay) by playing "Giggling Ferns." This is a fun game where you hide in the ferns and when other tourists walk by you shake the fern and giggle.It was so much fun wandering through the moss-covered everything and I really enjoyed not being in a desert climate. As I was planning the trip I looked for what would be the nearest town for when we would need to stock up on camping and food supplies. I was surprised to see that the nearest town was called "Forks" and sure enough, it's the same Forks in the Twilight books (I had only read them once so I didn't remember where it took place). Of course we had to stop in and gawk at the Twihards. The city sign is the only part of the town that is in the movie, since it was actually filmed in Vancouver. But the town still capitalizes on the vampire/werewolf frenzy. This was a corner of the supermarket and outdoor store where Bella supposedly works. The only campground in the area was just outside the Quilleute Reservation so of course we spent some time at First Beach. People had carved their undying love for various vampires and werewolves all over the driftwood on the beach. Is that a werewolf in the distance?

On the way out of town we stopped at Bella's truck. I'm pretty sure that in the book she didn't have her name on the license plate.After more of the rainforest we moved down the penninsula to a very cool but very busy campground that overlooked the ocean. We were lucky to get a spot since it wasn't the weekend. Even though it was freezing we went swimming because it's been so long since I've been in the ocean. The wind blows so much off the ocean that the trees just grow in that direction.Then we were planning to drive down to Mount St. Helen's but at the last minute decided to see Mount Rainier National Park instead. It was foggy when we arrived so we were trying to guess which peak was Mount Rainier but the next morning it was obvious because it just towered over everything. It was fun doing little hikes to various waterfalls and bridges and through the canyons.

We had to get one last fill of trees before heading back to the dry desert.

Did I tell you I liked the trees? It was a little bit hard coming back home and sometimes I felt like an alcoholic taking a small sip after 11 months of sobriety. This trip made me miss traveling again. We'll see if I can stay on the wagon. (Except if you were a travel-holic wouldn't you have to get OFF the wagon?)