I am still in the office and ready to go home, so this will be short, but here are a few highlights of the past few days...
1. Maura and Gabi arrived safely in Cusco, and though I haven't seen a ton of them, I've enjoyed their presence here and there. On their first day in Cusco, I took them for a little city tour, which included stops at several artisan markets and all of the main plazas. Gabi has a pretty interesting appetite, which is composed almost entirely of white foods--potatoes, rice, chicken, cheese, and bread, to be specific. Luckily for her, Peru is full of all of those things, so she'll be able to eat without much of a problem! I made the girls an information sheet with instructions on how to get to some interesting places in and around Cusco. Yesterday, they managed to get themselves all the way to and from Ollantaytambo via a colectivo, which I found quite impressive. After they got back, they joined Laura, Colleen, and me on a trip to El Molino, where we all bought some DVDs. It's been kind of an unexpectedly rainy day today, so I am going to watch one tonight, though I'm not yet sure which.
2. On our walk from Molino to the combi stop, Laura spotted a bootlegged copy of the last Harry Potter movie! She, Colleen, and I were super excited about this find (which cost us 2 soles), but made an immediate pact (in the middle of the sidewalk where we happened to be standing) that we wouldn't watch the movie if it was a) or horrible quality and/or b) not in English. We arrived home, did a test drive, and were suuuper excited to find that our requirements were met! I was not looking forward to spending the equivalent of 36 soles on a movie ticket, and now I don't have to! Wooot!
3. Tomorrow, Maura and Gabi are headed to Machu Picchu, and I have a rather busy day of meetings and things before a delicious dinner with Cal Poly at Pachapapa Restaurant. I enjoyed my last meal there so much that I have decided to order almost exactly the same thing, except that I've changed my dessert from fruit salad to ice cream. Last time, the ice cream looked super delish.
4. I introduced Laura to sporcle.com today, which pretty much made her life complete. :-) Once she had properly figured out the site and how the games work, we spent a brief period of time having timed sporcle competitions, which was a bundle of fun. Sporcle provides just the short respite from work that makes the day that much better! For those of you who are unfamiliar with the site, I highly recommend a look-see.
5. Yesterday morning, I went to Centro Yanapanakusun, an orphanage for girls in Cusco. I visited with Brennan, a current intern there, who kindly gave me a tour of the facility, introduced me to the director, and gave me a taste of what she's been doing there each morning. I knew the place would be interesting, but I didn't expect to love it. It is AWESOME! The girls I met were so sweet and selfless, and so eager to learn! I spent much of the day with a dear 14-year-old named Sucy, and she and I practiced doing math problems in English (an ingenious idea of Brennan--why not integrate math problems with language learning?!). I didn't want to leave when 1 PM came around, and I wish that I could be a regular volunteer there. Such sweet girls. I am sending them a copy of Andrew's CD because they were super excited to hear that my brother is a cantante and that he can tocar la guitarra! I think they'll be super excited to receive it from Brennan tomorrow.
Here's a picture of Brennan, me, and sweet Sucy, one of the girls at the orphanage.
That's about all I've got for now, folks! I could say more, but I'm pretty hungry and pretty ready to head home and make some popcorn!
My time in Cusco is quickly winding to a close, and I am excited to see some of your faces in the very near future!
Hasta luego!
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