Winter Solstice starts today and lasts until Tuesday. Carnival in February is the biggest party in South America, and Winter Solstice in Cusco comes in second. Tonight there is a big party up on a hill somewhere so it´s outside, but there are going to be bonfires. I will probably still freeze! I´m not sure what´s happening over the next couple days except that Tuesday the 24th is a big festival in the plaza. If you don´t hear from me again it probably means I either put on some authentic peruvian ropas to tour with one of he dance groups, my head is ringing from all the trance music that they love here and I can´t see straight or I just got lost in the shuffle somewhere and I´m wandering the hills of Cusco. Whatever mess I get myself in, I´m sure it will be fantastic!I worked for a bit at the bar during the Friday the 13th party and have worked one more time since then. I keep offering Katie and Gadi a night off so I can work for them but they don´t seem to mind working (although, ´working´ is an overstatement since it´s hardly a job and more about hanging out). I am ´hanging out´ for Katie on Saturday night so I will feel l
ike I am sort of earning my free stay at the hostel. I leave next weekend and I don´t want to leave feeling like I didn´t help out at all. After the 13th party, my first night out was Monday. Ben, the owner of the hostel, wanted to take all the staff out to meet the bartenders at Uptown (a club in the plaza) so we would get free drinks whenever we go there. Another bonus! Once the bar at the hostel closed around 1am, a group from the hostel headed to Uptown. The nightlife here is on a totally different time frame than I´m used to. When they are getting ready to go out, I am thinking ´well that was good night, it´s going on 2am, I´m ready for bed.´ Too bad for me, it´s actually time to go out. Here is a picture of me, Katie, Gadi and his friend Alex (looking at something much more interesting than the camera). Another difference about the clubs here is that they are packed even on a Monday night. I bailed early compared to everyone else, but 3:30am was good enough for me! I took it easy Tuesday night because I was meeting with the Volunteer Coordinator at 9am Wednesday morning. My next night out involved Ben coming in around 11pm to get us all started on drinking games. There were a handful of new people, also on their own like me :) so Ben got everyone together for a game of killer pool. A non-drinking game turned into one. We played a couple card drinking games, and we were set for another night out, this time at Extrem. I think I met my soulmate. A peruvian man wearing a pancho, a cowboy hat, taking over the dance floor while holding a 40oz the whole time. He kept gra
bbing my hand to dance and would cheers me and say ´muy bonita!´ It wouldn´t have been as funny, but he did this probably ten times and we were there for less than an hour. I think my soulmate might have been a borderline alcohlic. Such a shame, I really think it could have worked out. I felt it was time to leave Extrem and my peruvian dancer behind so Ben took his little sheep herd back to Uptown. I will see more than 2 clubs while I´m here, but it was close so it worked. Walking around in a large group reminds me of freshman year of college when people would warn you not to go to IV in big groups because ´you will get water ballooned!´ Anyway, I had another smashing time at Uptown but the thought of waking up at 7:30am for volunteering was haunting me a bit. I did set my alarm before leaving the hostel though, because I am really smart :)
ike I am sort of earning my free stay at the hostel. I leave next weekend and I don´t want to leave feeling like I didn´t help out at all. After the 13th party, my first night out was Monday. Ben, the owner of the hostel, wanted to take all the staff out to meet the bartenders at Uptown (a club in the plaza) so we would get free drinks whenever we go there. Another bonus! Once the bar at the hostel closed around 1am, a group from the hostel headed to Uptown. The nightlife here is on a totally different time frame than I´m used to. When they are getting ready to go out, I am thinking ´well that was good night, it´s going on 2am, I´m ready for bed.´ Too bad for me, it´s actually time to go out. Here is a picture of me, Katie, Gadi and his friend Alex (looking at something much more interesting than the camera). Another difference about the clubs here is that they are packed even on a Monday night. I bailed early compared to everyone else, but 3:30am was good enough for me! I took it easy Tuesday night because I was meeting with the Volunteer Coordinator at 9am Wednesday morning. My next night out involved Ben coming in around 11pm to get us all started on drinking games. There were a handful of new people, also on their own like me :) so Ben got everyone together for a game of killer pool. A non-drinking game turned into one. We played a couple card drinking games, and we were set for another night out, this time at Extrem. I think I met my soulmate. A peruvian man wearing a pancho, a cowboy hat, taking over the dance floor while holding a 40oz the whole time. He kept gra
bbing my hand to dance and would cheers me and say ´muy bonita!´ It wouldn´t have been as funny, but he did this probably ten times and we were there for less than an hour. I think my soulmate might have been a borderline alcohlic. Such a shame, I really think it could have worked out. I felt it was time to leave Extrem and my peruvian dancer behind so Ben took his little sheep herd back to Uptown. I will see more than 2 clubs while I´m here, but it was close so it worked. Walking around in a large group reminds me of freshman year of college when people would warn you not to go to IV in big groups because ´you will get water ballooned!´ Anyway, I had another smashing time at Uptown but the thought of waking up at 7:30am for volunteering was haunting me a bit. I did set my alarm before leaving the hostel though, because I am really smart :)So! Volunteering. The volunteer coordinator took me to the school the first day and explained a little bit about what they were doing there. There are 3 other volunteers, 2 girls from New York and one guy from Holland. They have been there about a month and have another month because they came to Cusco specifically for volunteering. Puts my two weeks to shame, but that´s okay. When I showed up the kids flocked to me, giving me hugs and fighting off other kids to hold my hand. They love new faces and they love the camera. I hadn´t even
gotten it out yet and they were asking me to take pictures of them. The other voluneers have been working on a playground and a garden for the kids. I helped out in one of the classrooms the first day, there are only 3, and was amazed (although somewhat expected) at how un-organized it was. These kids were equivelent to second grade, but their ages ranged from about 7 to 12 years old. The teacher took 15 minutes to write a song on the board while the kids kicked each other, threw paper at each other, and ran out of the classroom to go swing. Some of the kids were so sweet, but clearly some were not. There is just no discipline. After they sang the song on the board, I helped them with the days of the week in English. Then I cut colored strips of paper so they
could glue them together to make the Inca flag, which is a rainbow, so we did the colors in English too. The next two days they needed help in the garden. Sounds lovely right? Well, it´s a pile of dirt right now so we had to put up a small fence, move rather large rocks, dig a trench for a wall and shovel lots and lots of dirt. Here are the New Yorkers, Regan and Caroline, who are volunteering for their senior project for college. I have really enjoyed being up in the mountains with great views and working out in the sun. I love being warm. I have been getting back into town by noonish, when everyone else is just waking up, so I´m not missing anything!
gotten it out yet and they were asking me to take pictures of them. The other voluneers have been working on a playground and a garden for the kids. I helped out in one of the classrooms the first day, there are only 3, and was amazed (although somewhat expected) at how un-organized it was. These kids were equivelent to second grade, but their ages ranged from about 7 to 12 years old. The teacher took 15 minutes to write a song on the board while the kids kicked each other, threw paper at each other, and ran out of the classroom to go swing. Some of the kids were so sweet, but clearly some were not. There is just no discipline. After they sang the song on the board, I helped them with the days of the week in English. Then I cut colored strips of paper so they
could glue them together to make the Inca flag, which is a rainbow, so we did the colors in English too. The next two days they needed help in the garden. Sounds lovely right? Well, it´s a pile of dirt right now so we had to put up a small fence, move rather large rocks, dig a trench for a wall and shovel lots and lots of dirt. Here are the New Yorkers, Regan and Caroline, who are volunteering for their senior project for college. I have really enjoyed being up in the mountains with great views and working out in the sun. I love being warm. I have been getting back into town by noonish, when everyone else is just waking up, so I´m not missing anything! I don´t know 100% what to expect over these next few days but I will report back as soon as I can function again :)
1 comment:
Teach the kids the Cusco Cuscooo song. It didn't do so great in Peru, but its taking Bolivia by storm!
Post a Comment