Volunteering begins! Cusco: Week 5

I can't believe we're now on the "back end" of our time in Cusco. It has flown! 

This week we have shifted our daily schedule entirely, with homeschool in the morning, lunch with Blanca, then we head to our volunteering jobs at an after school program! We are volunteers in a public after school program that provides a place for the children of vendors (the ones selling goods and services in the plazas) to go so that they can do their homework, have a snack, and have some fun time off of the street for a few hours. We start at 1:30-2pm, do homework until 3:30pm, have a snack, and then spend 4-5pm doing English or French lessons (Katreina teaches French!) or playing games. At 5pm, the kids head out. But here's where the real humbling begins. Many head right out into the plaza to help their parents sell stuff or to hang out while their parents sell. We don't know when they finally go home, but we saw one of our kiddos in a cerveceria (taproom) at 9:30pm selling keychains one night. He stopped to give Frank a hug and told us what he was doing so we bought some of his keychains, and off he went with a smile on his face. These families and the kids work hard and seem to always smile despite the long hours on the street. We buy a few things here and there, but the best thing we hope to offer is homework help and a cozy environment for a few hours of their day. We see "our" kiddos in the plaza and it's so sweet when they say hi or give us hugs (Frank gets a lot of hugs!). It's only been a week, but I can already tell that we are really going to miss these kiddos when we leave Cusco.

Our crew of volunteers and kiddos! We do a lot of homework help, snuggling...

...and general cleanup. The walk to the program (and the playground) is steep, but it's worth it!

We kept it a little low-key this week, but we did hit trivia night with the kids (and they helped us get 3rd place!) and we went to our Spanish school for a Pisco Sour lesson. It was great to see some old classmates again and meet a few new ones. I even went to Salsa lessons with Katreina and we worked up an appetite for a nice girls' night out.

Always so much fun taking classes at Amauta! And we love Pisco Sours!

Green Point Restaurant is a bit of a splurge for us, but it is sooo good! Vegan/vegetarian menu, amazing kombucha, great beer, and a fantastic atmosphere. K & I really love it!

Yesterday after an awesome lunch in the Mercado de San Blas we did a little hike from the city up to Cristo Blanco, past Sacsayhuaman, Q'enqo, and Qochapata, over to Temple de la Luna, down to K'usilluchayoq, through the Plaza de San Blas and the Coca Museum, and into a bar for 2x1 drinks. It was about four or five hours on foot and had a lot of vertical gain...think of it as a test-run for the coming week. Everyone did ok and enjoyed wandering through some of the free archeological sites just outside of the city. Today is a day of rest and packing as bright and early tomorrow we leave to trek the Salkantay Trail for five days!

Cristo Blanco sits atop a hill over Cusco with great views of the city. About 30-min away by foot we arrived at the Temple de la Luna.

Did a little cave exploring around the temple before checking out the ruins of K'usilluchayoq.

Frank and I have also spent a ton of time this week ironing out travel plans. I may not have given enough consideration to bus schedules at the southern tip of South America when booking some our places at the end of the year, so we had to adjust some lodging plans. We are getting into the high season in Patagonia so lodging and tours/treks are a little harder/more expensive to secure, but we're working on it. Our joy of the week was securing a 5-day trek on the famous "W" in Torres Del Paine National Park! Almost 16 years ago we did that trek and even though we only had one kid at the time, we said we wanted to return with our kids. Well, we're doing it in December! And does the word, "Paine," look familiar???

~Jo, Nomadic Momma

Cusco: Week 4

What a week! We made the most of our location this week with lots of good eating and fun with our classmates. 

Monday was a real treat! After Spanish school and our regular homeschool, we were all a bit worn out and walked about 3 minutes to a place I've been wanting to eat at. The outside is unassuming and the menu is written on a board by the door and the entire menu is S/5.00 (that's 5 Peruvian soles, or about $1.25 USD). Only through Google could I finally figure out the name of the restaurant is Samaritano. We were lucky to find four chairs together and as soon as we took our seats, the proprietor brought us big bowls of a yummy pasta and vegetable soup in a chicken broth, fresh limes, and a dish of homemade picante. A few minutes later, he asked, "pollo o carne?" The boys went with the chicken, and we gals asked for arroz Cubano, the veg option on the menu. He nodded and only a minute or two later brought our plates. Everything smelled and tasted amazing! And then he brought us some cups of hot muña tea. I loved it. People came and went, many clearly at the end of a long day of work. The locals definitely noticed us, but didn't seem put off by our presence. It was a warm, tasty, filling, fast, yet relaxing experience. And all of that for the whole family cost us $5 USD total. (And no, no one got sick--it was really good!)

Can you beat $5 to feed a family of four without doing dishes?

Tuesday we hit one of our favorite local restaurants, Nero de la 375, for dinner before the adults headed to La Cerveceria del Valle Sagrado for trivia night! It's sponsored by a local education charity and we had a blast! The drinks were great, the trivia was in English and Spanish, and there was a great musician after trivia. I think we will be back!

So much fun! I think we will take the kids next week!

Wednesday I took some time to enjoy the garden at our house and read a book. That night we joined our classmates for a tour of the San Blas neighborhood. It's where the school is located and it has lots of great history, views, and restaurants.

I really do feel fortunate to have landed in such a beautiful, peaceful place.

Such a fun night chatting and exploring with our classmates !

Thursday night we went to school for a lesson on medicinal plants that are used in Peru and to try some teas. We learned a lot! Afterwards we went next door to UFO Asian Food for some of the best Japanese food I can recall having. Even the tea and lemonade were noteworthy! (No pics because we were all so hungry we wolfed the food down!)

Really loving all the aspects of Peruvian culture that are covered in the activities at Amauta Spanish School. We found some new favorites!

Friday was a big day for us! It was the end of our Spanish lessons at Amauta Spanish School! I think we've all learned a lot, but now it's up to use to keep practicing and learning. We have really enjoyed the school portion of this experience and had some fantastic instructors throughout our four weeks there (Fanny, Nury, Dessy, Surabhi, Alejandra, and Hans) and have met some great fellow travelers in our classes. We still get to participate in activities at the school for the next four weeks while we are volunteering, but I'm going to miss class as I have LOTS more to learn! I'm also VERY proud of our kiddos for doing 80 hours of Spanish lessons over the past four weeks in addition to their regular studies. Just, wow...they are amazing!

Bittersweet day! Happy to have a lighter school load, but going to miss our professors and classmates.

Friday night we opted for a little time apart! The kids went to a salsa class at our school and the adults went to a restaurant/brewery to sample beers while they were in class. Fun for all!

Surprised to be finding so much good beer in Cusco!

Saturday was another long tour day, but it was worth it! We did a tour to Q'eswachaka Bridge, the only Inca bridge that has survived over 500 years and has almost maintained its original state. Declared as having "Intangible Cultural Value" by UNESCO in 2013, this bridge crossing the Apurímac River is made with ropes of vegetable fiber and is completely renewed every year through a process that is passed from generation to generation. It swayed a bit while you walked across and the reeds were a little sparse right in the middle, but otherwise it was an easy crossing! I'm so glad we did it. Our tour visited a little volcano and a few mountain lagoons along way, too, but the star was definitely the bridge and the cultural heritage that it preserves. 

A few pre- and post-bridge viewpoints...including a tiny volcano and the Inca Trail!

The bridge is a wonder! That's Frank hanging out in the middle on a lovely day.

We all made it across!

Today? Well, we slept in, went out for pastries and coffee, and spent the morning booking tours and transportation for our route out of Peru. It's still a ways off, but when you have four people and some "must do's" and "really want's" you book early. We were going to go for a long walk on the outskirts of Cusco this afternoon, but rain may change those plans. No big deal...we are ready to relax after four very busy weeks of learning!

Tambien, nosotros continuamos a practicar hablar español. Es demasiado fácil a regresamos a ingles, así probamos hablar español cuando estamos juntos.

~Jo, Nomadic Momma

Travel Planning: Water vs Land

When we decided to take this year off of cruising to "land travel," it was in part to take a break from the stress (read: weather) you meet as full-time cruisers. When cruising, we of course had some places and people that we wanted to see, but weather always had a >51% say in what we actually did! Anyone who has cruised for even a few weeks knows that time is devoted every day to studying the weather forecast, the charts, where your buddies are, where you can get a slip if you need one, where to pick up parts, and figuring out when/where to pump out/fill up/dump trash...it's not all cocktails and sunsets! And sometimes the weather can be more than a nuisance--it can be downright terrifying. 

Wind, waves, rain, and rainbows! Riding out a front in an exposed anchorage with fantastic holding in the Exumas, Bahamas.

So now that we are firmly in land-travel mode, how are we doing? Well, I certainly don't check the weather as often! Now our time is spent pouring over calendars, tour reviews, tour comparisons, travel mode options, neighborhood reviews, talking to fellow travelers, etc. It's still a lot of planning, but I feel like time and money are the drivers now whereas weather used to dominate. For example, I spent almost 2 hours this weekend trying to book a "promotional" rate on an airline that would have had us all flying for $400USD. I entered in ALL of our family's info multiple times only to have the promotional rate be "no longer available" and after several rounds of that I FINALLY secured suitable flights for $800USD for the family. That was a crusher! But with four travelers we really do spend time carefully comparing options since "only $20 more" on a tour adds up to $80 for us (which is like two nights of nice lodging for the whole family here) so it's worth the effort. This weekend after getting some tips from some girls we met in a hot spring (yep, that's a totally normal statement now), we made the decision to walk away from a $1300USD, 9-hour trip by plane and instead go for a $300USD, 33-hour bus trip (including 20 hours on a posh bus!) for our move from Peru to Chile. We have the time, so why not save the money and try something new? If we hate it, we'll just drink less wine and go back to booking flights (don't tell Frank that I said that!).

The "Travel Agents" enjoying the fruits of some of their labors in the Andes Mountains in Peru.

We are making this journey with a mix of week-long to month-long lodgings, with a few weeks of "do all the touristy" stuff mixed in here and there. We will probably learn quite a few lessons as we go!

~Jo, Nomadic Momma 

Cusco: Week 3

Week 3 of Spanish school started with some new classes! Trent moved up to join Frank's class and Katreina and Jody are the only two students in their class this week. Everyone is learning bits of past tense which is new and pretty hard!

Our new house has been working out great. With the short walk to classes everyone is a little more relaxed and rested. Our new host family is great and we have dependable, hot showers. So yeah, it's been a pretty good move. With school being so close we all get to sleep a little more and we are able to easily participate in evening activities at the school. This week we took a yoga class (well, everyone but Trent took a yoga class) and a cooking class! We learned how to make Papa a la Huancaina, a dish we had with our host mum just a few days prior, and it was great! We really do enjoy these evenings with our great group of classmates, and chef Marilú is a fabulous teacher! We also got to go to a few museums as part of class on Friday. The guys ended up at the Coca Museum and an art museum, while the girls ended up at a textile museum and an art museum. We are loving school!

Papa a la Huancaina with Amauta Spanish School.

Field trip!

The surprise treat of the week was a birthday! Our host's sister (who also lives at the house) celebrated her birthday this week. The other classmate that lives here bought a cake and we celebrated along with many other members of the family. It was so sweet and I felt honored to be welcomed into part of the celebration. More and more family members came to join the festivities and we were greeted with hugs and kisses. We left to finish school and to give the family space, but that warmth and welcoming caused my eyes to leak a little. We finished school and headed to the San Pedro market for a little shopping and sightseeing.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Coca! And a little trip to the market.

This weekend we took a tour to "7 Lagunas del Ausangate," or the Seven Lagoons of the Ausangate Mountains. It was another early, pre-0500 departure from Cusco for the long drive to the start of the hike. We arrived in the town of Pacchanta where we met our local guide, Cleaver, and had a great breakfast with our group. It was our family, another Amauta classmate, and a group of four local girlfriends which included an American--it was a fun group! Pacchanta is a small town where some people don't even speak Spanish--they only speak Quechua, the native Incan language. They farm, guide visitors to the mountains, and they have an amazing local hot spring. The hike around the lagoons is 11km at 4300-4700m altitude and was a little challenging on the way up, but we felt great compared to the previous weekend. Unfortunately our classmate wasn't doing so hot, but she powered through the lagoons before mounting a horse for the return. The lagoons were different colors, sizes, and depths, and all lie in the shadow of the great Ausangate mountain. Cleaver helped us identify birds, explained the significance of the various lagoons, and told us about the people of his town, and he was just an awesome guy and guide!

So much beauty here! And Cleaver was a great guide and photographer!

Family pic!

Such gorgeous views...we took a lot of pics!

We were really hoping the cloud was going to clear off the top of Ausangate, but it was still pretty!

The local, natural hot springs were HOT! It was a joy to share them with the local families of Pacchanta as they enjoyed their Saturday.

Today is a day of rest, booking some more travel legs (which is NOT always easy!), and rest!

~Jo, Nomadic Momma

Cusco: Week 2

Last Sunday afternoon was spent watching the local fútbol team win their championship game before the home crowd! It was so much fun and I love the we experienced a fútbol game in South America, even if it was for one of the smaller leagues. The crowd energy was great and we enjoyed spending the afternoon with one of our Spanish school classmates. 

¡Los ganadores!

However, the week certainly started off a little rough! Our home was without water most of Sunday and when we got it back Monday, the hot water wasn't working in the shower. Oh, and on Monday my cellphone was stolen while we were riding the bus to school. So Monday our super nice hosts installed a new shower head and we filed our first police report in a foreign country! Yay! We have also been struggling a bit to arrange some aspects of our stay here in Cusco which has only added to the stress.

Thankfully, Tuesday was better. I couldn't get easy translation help from my phone in class, but at least I'm in class with Katreina and she's a huge help. We decided to trek back into the city for an evening activity at our school, "Las frutas Peruanas." It was a really awesome evening where our teacher, Fanny, taught us all about where the fruits come from, what they are expected to taste like, how they are beneficial to the body, and how to pronounce their names correctly (I'm working on it!). We tried them as fruits, juices, and even one as a yogurt drink. We found a few new favorites, found one or two we would pass on, and had a really fun, educational, delicious night with our fellow classmates and instructors. 

What a great night! Granadilla, maracuya, and aguamanto were new, delicious finds!

We had a sort of routine Wednesday, but Thursday was full of all sorts of excitement! After school and a huge, delicious lunch with our host family, Frank and I returned to the police station with a location ping and a conversation we had with the guy that has my phone to see if they could do anything with it. Well...we ended up in the back of a police car, heading to the location of the last ping! The police pounded on a few doors and talked to some people...no luck, but holy cow, I can't imagine they would have brought us along in the U.S.! Then they basically provided us with a taxi service to a store we were headed to to buy a gift for our host mum! Again, would this happen in the U.S.? The store, a jardineria or plant store, was amazing and when we didn't see the perfect gift ready-made, we got some help from the shop keeper and she made our perfect gift in minutes! From there, we headed to a market ("mercado") to get Frank's sunglasses screw replaced. 45 minutes and at least a dozen different screws tried later, the glasses were back together and the lady told us "no cost." She would not take the equivalent of $1.25 (5 soles) and finally let us give her the equivalent of $0.75. The majority of the people here are simply amazing! 

Riding with the police before we got a nice gift made up for our host mum.

Friday we said goodbye to a few classmates that are moving on, Katreina and I shopped for sun protection and snacks for our weekend trip, as I reluctantly started shopping for a phone. We are thankful for our local Bodega that has all we need for a big dinner (including wine) for $11 and the nice big kitchen we've had for the past 2 weeks.

We have really loved meeting other students from around the world!

But Saturday...we went to Rainbow Mountain! Holy hell, the altitude (5036m at the top of the viewpoint!) about killed me, but it was so worth it! It was foggy as we hiked up the mountain (and there were a few snowflakes here and there!), but the fog cleared just as we got to the top and we had a spectacular view! It was actually very pretty as the fog rolled back in, too! We had time and a burst of energy so Frank and I opted for the additional trek to the Red Valley viewpoint while the kids took their time going back down the mountain. It was amazing! It may have even topped Rainbow Mountain for us. Our photos don't fully capture the amazing views (or how out-of-breath this 40-something asthmatic chick was), but it was a breathtaking experience and I'm so glad we went. We spent a little extra money and went with a tour company that picked us up at 0300 and got to the mountain super early and after seeing the massive crowds while we were on our way back down, we would absolutely say it was worth it. Their bus, meals, and guides were spectacular as well, so we would definitely recommend Rainbow Mountain Travels. 

La Montaña de Siete Colores and Valle Rojo...simply stunning!

I also rejoined the modern world Saturday with the purchase of a new phone. I would still love to get my old one back from the jerk that stole it (and who continues interesting techniques to try to get me to unlock it), but I need to move on.

And today, we moved! This is a bittersweet change for us as the move will drastically reduce the amount of time we will spend commuting to school, but will also move us out of a very big, comfortable home with a wonderful family. Our new place is different, but also very unique and I think we will love it! Our family has two rooms in a building that has been used as a hostel before but is now a family home. We are right in the heart of old Cusco, but it seems peaceful with bubbling garden features and the kids seem happy with their space. Our first meal with the host family (sisters!) was really yummy and relaxed and made me feel a little better about the move. Can't wait to see what our new weekly routine will be!

Maria and her family were wonderful hosts! We will miss them!

Our new place is also with a host family!

We also decided to go to “El Gran Circo de la Familia Madrigal,” a cirque-esque Encanto-themed show. It was in something like a school gymnasium but it was really good! The performers were daring and performed their stunts without any sort of safety gear. The real treat was seeing the local families out for a fun show! (Oh, and I guess I should mention the pre-show entertainment of me tripping and falling/rolling onto the road in front of traffic...pretty sure it's going to leave a bruise or two!) 

So many surprises in this cute show!

So we are ready to start week #3! Trent is moving "up" into Frank's Spanish class this week and we are very excited to see how our new routine works for everyone. And of course, we are making some plans for next weekend! 

~Jo, Nomadic Momma