A day @ the Sascayhuaman (Sexy Woman) Ruins

These are pictures of our day out at the Sascayhuaman (pronounced Sexy Woman, no joke) ruins. this is where the Procession of the Incan Sun Festival, Inti Rahymi, takes place with a re-enactment of Incan rituals, which includes sacrificing a llama. Nowadays they just cover it up with a sheet to symbolize the sacrifice. The town of Cusco is delineated with the lines of the puma, part of the Incan trilogy of the serpent, the puma, and the condor. The chest/heart is the city center and the ruins we ventured to is the hair of the puma. These ruins are just outside of town and easily walkable.


With the size of group we had and the supplies we were bringing it was best to take the bus. On the way we jumped a couple of buses and waited for Ayde (our friendly local guide from the family house) and played some games with los chicitos as Ayde had forgotten her pack at the Mega supermarket.

Once up at the area of the ruins we built a clay over, covered the chicken, sausages and potatoes in foil and placed them in the middle where a fire had been built by the ladies (girrrrl power!) and smashed the oven onto itself. Not bad for a picnic. Leave it to the Scots to get the crazy idea to paint our faces with mud!





While the food was cooking some of us went up to Chritso Blanco, a statue of JC himself that is lit up at night and looks over the town.


Afterwards we went up to a natural rock slide and all about broke our asses sliding down this escarpment. Had fun doing and thats all that matters. Lastly we walked through some caves around the ruins.






And nothing beats ending a good day like this one than some refreshments at our favorite hangout Yanapay.

All done

Look at the graduates!! We did it. So now let the fun begin as the teachers. My last day was funny. We played the game scattergories But first Inti Rahymi, the Incan Sun Festival has begun and is going on til Wednesday. Full of parades, music, great food, and the most colorful costumes and artwork all in the Plaza De Armas and surrounding streets and churches.

almost there

After being inundated with every aspect of the English language and tested on it, the TEFL class is almost finished. This next week is the big test as I have my own class of second language learners to teach. This week has been fun and interesting as I have taught mini-lessons everyday about grammar, reading, speaking, and finally, listening exercises. The last day was the best since by then it didn't even feel like teaching. We did a listening exercise using music. Let me tell you it was just hi-lar-ious hearing a group of young Peruvians singing "Hello, I love you" by the Doors. I will never be able to listen to that song the same way again.

Afterwards Cyd and I celebrated by having some fun on the Plaza de Armas and at our favorite restaurant Indigo for some tasty alpaca and live music.

The Side Project: Making a garden at a girls orphanage

In order to stay involved at the school and continue learning Spanish in a practical manner, my partner in crime from TEFL class, Cyd, asked that I come help her make a garden at a girls orphanage since she didn't know how to build one. This orphanage is different than what we might think of since it resembles more of a prison. High stone walls, the girls are locked in and not allowed to leave unless as an entire group, also being locked into the rooms at night with 4 in each room, and only have outside interaction from volunteers, sociologists, and state officials. All of the girls are under 16 and have been either abandoned or abused in some way. The orphanage can hold up to 20 girls and has 11 at this point in time. With their time the girls create jewelry to sell in the markets, learn English as well as other subjects and other practical life skills such as cooking. The girls were delighted to see Cyd, who was a volunteer there before she began our TEFL class, and that she brought a friend to help add to their garden. We first began by going over a few days before with some carrot, cucumber, onion, cauliflower, and broccoli seeds to start the germination process to help create a good crop.



Friday morning we were given the day off from TEFL class as we will be teaching on Monday instead and decided this would be a good time to go and plant seeds and make a compost pile. When we arrived the girls were in English class learning counting and the basic verbs of to have, to be, and to do(make). Cyd and I jumped into the kitchen to help cut vegetables for the day's meal, which was vegetable soup, until English class was over and there was time to involve all the girls in the planting process. After the class was done and we were finished cutting all the veggies I got caught playing jump rope with Ellen, a British volunteer.

After we grew tired of jumping rope we moved into the greenhouse and began tilling and planting seeds. Simply as that we helped plant new vegetables in their garden and concluded our morning, now afternoon, by a heart to heart with each of the girls about what they want to do when they leave this place. Cyd had given each of the girls a journal with their picture in it and questions about what they want from their future so they could at least have some thoughts of their own.

THE PROGRAM: Maximo Nivel

The reason I am here in Cusco is to get my teaching English certification as a foreign language or TEFL/TESOL. I am doing it at a private language school, Maximo Nivel, which sits across the street from the Incan Sun Temple. Needless to say there's a lot to get distracted by in town. The course itself is an intensive class about ESL techniques for non-native speakers. Consists of 150 internationally accredited hours including 10 practical teaching hours. We began teaching 20 minute mini-lessons at the end of the first week, which was only after a day and a half of classes.

My first mini-lesson was about whitewater rafting and consisted of creating new vocabulary about the river, what you need to get down it, and local knowledge of the river systems here. My class consisted of 6 beginner intermediate English students ranging in age from 18- 22. It went okay but, thankfully, there's always room for improvement. It's a crash course in pedagogy, grammar, and overall classroom management. I like it as it is taught differently than any class I've ever taken, focusing on getting the students talking, using the language correctly, and takes the spotlight off of me.

In addition to this class, I have also started doing what is known as a tandem learning hour with a local Peruvian focusing on language exchange about any topic you prefer. It's arranged through the school here with an English student and its aim is to improve both languages and, indirectly, my ESL techniques. This picture is of Jenny, her sister Lucy, and myself while they tell me about Inti Rahymi, the upcoming Incan Sun festival. Here's how it normally goes, I speak Spanish and she speaks English, we meet in the middle (sometimes) and choose a new topic for the next day. Yesterday was political structure, discussing the similarities and differences of our governments. It was so hard for me to explain the difference between conservative and liberal since the two parties are centrist and have more similarities than differences. Then there's always the neo-conservatives and neo-liberals, which is different sides of the same coin and bag of worms in and of itself. Today's topic was much better, poetry. I brought a poem by Pablo Neruda called 'Clenched Soul' and she brought a poem call "La Semenairista de los Ojos Negros" both with English and Spanish translations. Tomorrow is the religions of the world. We'll see how that goes and whether or not I will need salvation and just exist.

A trip to the grocery store...

I have realized how disconnected we are from our food source as I walked through the San Pedro market. The market lies just across the street from my hostel and the church of San Pedro. It has just about anything you want as far as fresh fruit and vegetables grown in the amazon and also includes an open air butcher block. So I thought I would show you all some of those same sights. This first picture is from the corner of the market itself outside. Then we have our aisle of fruits and veggies. Lastly, theres the deli. It is a sight when you see someone actually sawing ribs in half right in front of you. Needless to say I have contemplated becoming a veggie-saurus but that's just not an option. The best part of the market though is the juicebar. Any fruits you want juiced are made right in front of you and they will refill it for only S/. 1.