A trip to the Cusco markets, and nervous host family greetings

COUNTRY: Peru
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Building
WRITTEN BY: Hayley Yellowlees + Melanie Power

Our first week has been quite a whirlwind! After a rather eventful journey, we finally arrived in Cusco at 6:55am on Sunday minus Pat's luggage. We had 2 days to acclimatise in which we explored the city. On Monday we found out that we were actually moving in with our host families on Wednesday instead of Saturday and our school placement has changed. It was a bit of a suprise but we are all prepared for the challenge!

Also, this was our first day of Spanish lessons. Our teachers are great fun, especially Karla who punished people for speaking English by drawing whiskers on our faces.

As part of our acclimatisation, on Tuesday our in-country partner Nico took us on a city tour which involved a trip to San Pedro markets where we tried traditional bread (pan), fruit and sweet potato chips. The bus we caught that day was also quite an experience. It was packed to the brim and I think we were all quite relieved to get off.


On Wednesday we all packed our bags and went to San Jeronimo to meet our host families. We were all nervous, but they were all really welcoming, especially Mama Sanchez. Our first night was a shock to our systems because of the many low flying planes and alarmingly large population of feral dogs (Perros). However the Spanish tv shows, especially Esto es guerra: Cobras vs Lions, were much enjoyed. Thursday brought another day of beautiful weather which was perfect for the ruins above Cusco. This included Sacsaywamán (or sexy woman) and amazing views of the city.

Friday was an eventful day due to the transportation strike (el Paro) which meant we had to walk 2 hours from San Jeronimo into the city for our Spanish lesson later that day. During Spanish we all went on excursions! Some went to the Choco museo and tried chocolate Pisco, cocoa tea and fondu, others walked around the city and were shown all the best spots.

The weekend meant time to spend with our host families and on Saturday night Phoebe, Georgi and Meg's host brother took us out to the city to learn Salsa and experience Peruvian nightlife. Overall we've had a great first week and look forward to sharing our forthcoming adventures (and many trips to the markets, WE WANT EVERYTHING) with you!!

Hayley + Mel