Update from Peru/Last Day in Cuzco

It is 12:57am here and I have to get up at 5:30am tomorrow as we are going to depart the amazing city of Cuzco in order to travel to Chijnaya, the village I will be staying in for the next six weeks, so this entry might be a little short. Hopefully, in the next entry pictures will be included. I have been having lots of fun hanging around the city of Cuzco. It is such a historic city and has so many sites to see. Yesterday we went to Incan ruins called Sawaksyroman (sorry if my Quechuan spelling is not perfect) and took a tour to this other ruin and got to see how amazing of a civilization the Incans were. It was an awesome experience. Cuzco is such a fun city I could spend weeks here seeing everything. I am in great health and great spirits as I leave Cuzco for a four plus hour bus ride to Chijnaya where I will meet my host family and have celebrations and start my work on Tuesday. I will be teaching english and also trying to get a tourist project off the ground (something that could really go a long way for the self-sufficient goal of this community.) I am excited to actually get down to business, although being a tourist in Cuzco is hard to beat. The city is filled with amazing cathedrals, monuments, ruins and has yet a modern aspect to it as well. I have so much more to tell but I really need to get some sleep so I can be ready for tomorrow. I am sorry that I have not individually emailed some of you but if you send me an email first I will be sure to get back to you as soon as I can. The internet in the village I am staying at is currently out of service but hopefully will be up and running soon. Therefore, my messages might not come as often. I hope that you all are well and are having a great summer.

Finally In Peru!!!

I started off my trip at San Francisco International Airport at about 7:30am and eventually flew out to LAX at 9:20am. Once I got to LAX I met up with other people that were talking the same flight to Lima and we hung out at LAX for a while. Our flight to Lima was supposed to leave at 1:20 but after busing us to the plane and then getting us on the plane they told us we had to get off and await further instructions (I never actually found out what the problem was). So, we did not actually leave LAX until about 6:15. International flights are quite festive. I watched a couple movies, the food was not too bad and had a row to myself and a window seat. Seeing the sunset as we passed over Baja, Mexico was priceless. I probably did not get as much sleep as I should have but I just took a nap for a couple hours and am feeling much better. So, after getting to Lima I had to reschedule my connecting flight to Cuzco because my original connection was at 4am and we did not arrive at Lima until 4:15. I made it off on a flight to Cuzco at 6:10 Lima time, which is three hours ahead of California just like the east coast. It was a cloudy flight so I missed getting to see the snow capped peaks that I had hoped for, I will probably catch them on my way back up to Lima in July. After arriving at Cuzco Airport I was picked up and met with the other people in the group. After chatting a while we made the taxi ride up to our hotel which is about two blocks from the main square. It is a really nice place and has really warm sheets. Cuzco is an amazing city with colonial architecture mixed with its Incan heritage. I will be staying in Cuzco until the 27th of May when I will be moving onto Puno and eventually Chijnaya. Hopefully next time I will have some pictures or something to show for my adventures. So far things are going fantastically, the people are great and it should be a great trip. I hope to get to tour some of Cuzco today with its amazing cathedral and other architecture. It is a little chilly here in Cuzco but I will adjust. I have not been feeling much of the effects of the altitude yet, we are currently at about 10,500 feet but will be getting higher up next week. The trip has already proven a great test for my spanish as manuevering through airports is much easier, especially the ones in Peru, if you know spanish. It also helps with the flight attendents on my international flights who typically speak Spanish, although know English. Everyone is going to try to make arrangements to visit Macchu Picchu so I will have to update you all on whether or not I will be going. I hope everyone is well and I send my best wishes to you all on a great summer.

Departing for Peru on May 23rd

I am leaving for Peru tomorrow. I am staying near SFO for the night at the lovely Vagabond Hotel with a sliver of a view of the bay. I leave tomorrow at 9:20am for LAX where I will then transfer to LAN Airlines flight 605 to Lima. I will be in Peru as of 11:40pm on Wednesday night. I will be enjoying the festivities of Lima International Airport at 11:40pm to 4:00am, when my flight for Cuzco will leave. I should actually arrive in Cuzco at about 7am on Thursday morning when I will then go to my hotel room and crash for a long time while attempting to breathe the oxygen-lacking air at 10,500 feet. Then off to Chijnaya on Friday after I recover from altitude sickness. I am not sure how reliable the internet access will be while I am there, but I will make an attempt to update everyone on my travels and maybe even upload some pictures. I will be returning on July 23 and will arrive at SFO at 11am. I will be crashing at home until I return for Pomona for OA. More to come soon!!!