Spanish Lessons

Adam and I decided to take Spanish lessons in Cusco and they have certainly paid off.  We signed up for quite the intense schedule with FairPlay - a non-profit organization that trains single mothers to teach Spanish and improves their standard of living.  We just finished a week long 6 hour per day Spanish course which consisted of 3 hours grammer in the mornings, and 3 hours practice in the afternoon out in markets, museums, on hikes, etc.  Our teachers were excellent and very patient with us at times...especially during hours of trying to remember how to conjugate irregular verbs...We also stayed at a homestay and were able to practice more Spanish outside of our schooling. Some of the highlights from the homestay include: having one pillow for an entire week for the two of us, the rooster that woke us up every morning at 6, needing 5 blankets at night and still being cold and of course the lovable dog Toto who licks your pants and stains them forever.

Our cooking class at FairPlay 

The results of our lesson. Lomo Saltado

We feel quite confident with our Spanish now, and although we are not by any means fluent, we have a good  understanding of the language and are able to get around easier.

Cusco is a very interesting city and we have been happy that we were able to spend more time here.  Although the streets may be a bit dirty and there is some pollution, the city has a lot of character and we have met some great people here.  There are also so many interesting things to see in and around the city.

 A few of our favorite sights have been the Museo de los Incas, Templo de la luna, Cristo Blanco, and Mercado San Pedro.  We also went to a museum called irq´i yachay where a non-profit went out to various mountain villages and taught children how to paint, draw, create masks..etc.  It was very interesting to see because these kids had never had the opportunity to express themselves through art before and could only draw or paint what they knew (mountains, condors, family..etc).

We are leaving for a 4 day jungle trek to Machu Picchu tomorrow and I am sure we will have more stories from our trek.  Wish us luck - the high altidude may affect our hiking ability!