Apparently today the entire nation of Peru is on strike. Something about the government stealing from the people - but isn't that always an issue in strikes? We were warned that taxis would be unavailable, and if we DID choose to take a rare taxi that was out and about, we should consider ourselves forewarned because a local out working doesn't sit well with the strikers.
Fortunately this morning was very tame - on strike days, kids do not go to school and most people stay home because they can't get to work (it is rare for people to own cars here, and if they do, they are a little psycho about it - for example, I swear my neighbor washes his minivan two times a day, it's like a family bonding experience right in front of my room twice a day). Anyways, four of my friends were jubilant to see taxis even running this morning, so we took our chances and got in and arrived at school on time. On our way home this afternoon, the entire Plaza de Armas (the central spot in Cusco) was brimming with people chanting, waving signs and flags, groups of police were stationed around wearing full on riot-gear and looking totally sexy in their military berets. Quite honestly, this was the tamest strike crowd I have ever seen (not that I have seen many). My friends and I walked right behind the main speakers, and a woman wearing traditional clothing came up to us, plopped a baby lamb in my arms, and asked for money for us to take her picture with me holding the lamb. Business as usual in El Centro. Two soles less, we walked home.
This is my typical day: I get up at 7, shower if I dare but generally the water is freezing because I am probably one of the last of about 12 people in my house to use hot water in the morning. I run downstairs, eat my breakfast of bread (we have an old-school bakery behind our house - adobe oven I am sure), coffee, smoothie, and either cooked plantains or eggs. I meet 3 of my friends and we flag down a taxi about the size of a SmartCar. 15 minutes of sheer terror (I think because the taxis are so small they think it is okay to turn a two-lane road into a 3-lane road) and we arrive in once piece at the Plaza. We then climb a horrendously steep hill to school and nearly die of heart attacks by the time we get up all the stairs to class. We have one teacher for the early morning session and different teacher for the late morning session - it is about 5 hours of Spanish in total. Yesterday we learned two different past tenses, and of course each form has about 50 irregular verbs, which means we really learned about 300 words. Spanish has 6 different tenses of verbs. We don't have that many in English, trust me. Then it is a long walk back home, dodging all the kids getting out of school and the taxis who don't pay attention to the street lights. Lunch is a giant affair - the biggest meal of the day here. Lots of meat, lots of soup and rice. I can´t honestly tell you what animal I ate at lunch today. Then the afternoons are for sleeping, studying, going for coffee and pastries. Dinner is small and late. Bedtime is very early for us students since we are burning so many more calories studying and translating translating translating. But most Cusquenas stay up until around midnight at least, it seems.
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OMG! Is your Mother reading your blogs? She'd have a fit if she knew you were hanging out in riots in a foreign country. Oh well, you're learning lots, meeting new friends and having the time of your life. Can't wait to have you back home and bring you to our favorite Mexican restaurant so we can do some verbal damage there. Hugs from up north!
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