Special Service

First off, I need to apologize to one of my Czech Republic travelers. I failed to thank her in my previous blog about the road trip and I am sorry for that. A big thanks goes out to Elena for doing a great job of coordinating the trip, the accommodations were great. Despite being sick, you were a great trooper.

Now back to South America.... I love stargazing and stargazing on a bus through the mountains of Peru is no exception. Once the lights went out for the night, the stars lite up for a show of there own.

A ¨special service¨bus in Peru may cost a few soles more but it doesn´t necessarily mean ¨special service¨ No movie was shown even though there were televisions were on the bus. We got a nice, semi-stall piece of bread and one bathroom stop in the middle of who knows where, where you are lucky if you even get your pants pulled down before you have to run back to the bus before it speeds away. Nothing better then experiencing the local, inexpensive way of traveling through South America.

My sister and I arrived in Cusco, Peru around 4 in the morning on Sunday. We weren´t due to check in at the Spanish School until 4 p.m. that day. What do you do at 4 a.m. in Cusco....not a whole lot. We somehow managed to survive the day in Cusco lugging our backpacks around. We seemed to be really good at walking a block or two before seeing a bench to sit down at. Cusco is a tourist city. The beggars are the worst. They bug you and then just stand there and then hiss if you don't buy from them. Quite annoying.

My sister and I will be spending two weeks in Cusco studying Spanish, living with a Peruvian family and doing a little site seeing. So far, so good. I am really enjoying Spánish classes. We attend classes in the mornings from 8:30 to 12:30 with a half hour break. We have two teachers. We are in different classes....thank goodness. My teachers names are Ana Maria and Marie. Both are very nice.

My sister and I were put with the same family. Different rooms luckily. The family is super nice (even though I understand very little) and the food is wonderful. Good thing we have a 45 minute walk to school ;)

I love Peru which I believe I already mentioned. Cusco is a very beautiful place. The elevation here is around 10,500.

Song Quote of the blog: From a distance, we hold heaviness and no one is in need and there are no guns, no bombs, no disease, there are no hungry mouths to feed. Nancy Griffith - From A Distance