Cusco – Week 4 – Preparing for “Plan B”

Well, it has become clear to us, that 2 hours per day with the Spanish Teacher for 4 weeks is not going to turn our kids into fluent Spanish speakers.  We’ve all heard about how quickly kids under 10 can pick up new languages, and yet the conditions still have to be right.  Our options were really, to give up the dream of really learning spanish on this trip, or give up the dream of exploring the “South American Alaska”, Patagonia.  It just so happened that the friends we met from New Hampshire, started school this week in Peru after months of planning and research.  We tend to think of these things as a sign.  I had an ulterior motive in that my vision for our time in South America was to “live” in one place for awhile to both control costs, and really get a flavor for the culture.  There may arguably be better places than Cusco for this, but it’s very safe, they speak relatively slow version of Spanish, it’s beautiful, and there is lots to do and see closeby.  The downside is, it pretty touristy, and by comparison expensive.  Thankfully, we have an apartment in a very “residential” area that is not very (if at all) touristy.  If fact, only about 2% of the cab drivers in town know how to get to our street! (that is a precise number based on tens of rides, and 1 guy knowing).

In an even bigger surprise, when we asked the kids about enrolling in school here, they were “all in”.  I’m still not sure why or how, but it must have to do with either:

1. Wanting to be like their new friends.
2. Wanting to “upgrade” their teachers.
3. Being tired of being with Kim and I 24/7.
4. Soccer Fields, Swimming Pools, & Snack Bars

Whatever it was, after a couple of days of thinking about it, operation “peruvian school” was launched with great fanfare.  By the end of the following weekend, the kids were enrolled, uniforms bought or ordered, school supplies purchased, and high-fives distributed.

Although this was the over-riding theme of the week (and Kim already did a post on it), we did manage to acquire some other experiences along the way.  We had ruins to see, and unbeknownst to us, “Carnival” had begun.

Saturday, our schedule was empty and operation “peruvian school” had not yet begun to percolate.  During one of my Spanish lessons with my substitute teacher, Warner, (and Kim was out too) I had inquired about the possibility of a zoo on Cusco.  Warner told me about a small zoo inside the University.  He mentioned bears, parrots, puma, monkeys, and condors.  He had me at monkey.  Kat has already posted on the zoo experience, but I mention it here for time reference.  It was an awesome Saturday, last minute, adventure.  We even walked back, and got to see more of the city.

Sunday, we had planned a guided side trip to Moray and Salineras (we also thought it included another place too, but we were confused).  We showed up 40 minutes early as instructed, and were led over to the Plaza San Francisco.  The morning was glorious!  After 20 minutes, they came back and led us to a bus.  The bus was completely full, every last person was Latin American, and the bus smelled of heavy perfume.  There were 2 seats in the last row, and I’m not sure anything else available.  We had been recommended to have a specific guide, and assured by the ticket office that we’d have “alfredo”.  This was a “bait-n-switch”.  We marched back off the bus, and asked for another with a fluent english speaking guide.  They took us up the street to bus #2, which was totally empty, except for a grumpy driver who didn’t want us on his bus.  We got on anyway, because Kim was quickly becoming a “women scorned”.  The downside was, we had to wait another 30 minutes for the bus to fill and the guide to show up, but it was well worth it.

We headed up toward Moray, with a quick bathroom break and wool dying clinic in Chinero.  The guide was OK, he was “bi-lingual” which means he would talk for 4 minutes in rapid Spanish, and then 45 seconds in broken english.  He was funnier that he was informative, and to kill time, he interviewed people and tried to shame them into singing.

The ruins at Moray are pretty cool.  Mostly terraces, but the unique thing about them is they are in a “crater shaped valley”, and are circular terraces.   The guide suggested that at some point a meteor there and created the circular valley.  I’m not so sure about that.  He also said the Incans used the site to acclimatize crops for various elevations.  Not sure about that either, but sounds cool.  Kind of like a natural, ancient Monsanto lab.

At the bottom we could see workers mowing the place with weedwhackers!  What a job.  I’ve noticed lots of jobs being done “the hard way”, I guess because of cheap labor and expensive equipment.  There is a 3 month project going on to along on of the main roads that we travel… avenue Sol.  You’ve got guys digging by hand with chisels and pick-axes, and boards being cut with hand saws!  But I digress.

We had a little spiritual ceremony near the ruins with our guide playing his flute, then we hiked back up to the rim for some more good views, and returned to the bus.  While the bus was loading, our guide was pelted by dozens of water balloons by a half dozen tween and teen girls.  He was a good sport, and it’s customary to throw water on each other during “Carnival”, however, he informed us that he was dating the girls sister and “they don’t like me”.

It was then off to Salineris and the salt pans.  The view between was quite nice, younger, taller Andes peaks and many glaciers/ice fields to be seen.  Along with some stormy weather in the distance.  It’s amazing how often cloudy weather yields such beautiful views, as somehow the sun always manages to sneak through the clouds in spots to highlight some new landmark.  We see this all the time from our apartment, and on this short trip as well.

Salineris was fascinating, I’ve never seen anything quite like it.  They’ve dug a trench along the hillside for brackish water to flow (evidently there is ground water that travels though/over a salt dome, and emerges in this valley full of salt).  All along the trench, and down the hill, they have build elaborate system of pools that flow from one to the next.  I guess it’s like a natural filter.  The water pools up in this little (3 ft x 3 ft) areas, and the salt crystalized in the semi-stagnant water where it is later harvested.  They evidently only harvest the salt for 6 months out of the year, and we missed that, but we still had full walking around, dipping our hands in the warm and salty water, and watching the salt form on our hands as the water dried.  It’s really a remarkable and beautiful place.

After we returned to Cusco, we decided to grab dinner near the square, and watch the “Carnival Chaos” ensue in the square.  We went to a place that advertised “Amazing Thai Food”.  It was amazing that they called it Thai food, easily the worst I’ve ever had!  Totally bland and lacking spice.  The cool part about “The Crown” pub was that it was on the second floor, right on the main square, and the kids could watch people throwing water and spraying each other with aerosol spray foam.  I guess the foam is a new tradition, and young adults were reveling in it!  Our kids were dying to get into the action, but Kim nor I wanted to be covered with foam.  Kat’s moment of excitement came when a double-decker bus pulled up adjacent to our balcony.  The waitress brought over a can of foam, shook it up, and set in on the table in front of the kids.  It took Kat about a millisecond to pick it up.  She then proceeded to spray the folks on top of the bus for about 10 seconds (it felt like 10 minutes).  The main victim was a 50-something Italian man, who was not happy to say the least.  The people scattered, and he scolded Kat for a bit, and proceeded to angrly clean himself up.  I thought for a moment I might get my first knuckle sandwich in Cusco!

One day this week, the kids and I decided to start working on a short film.  Since nobody cared to get in front of the camera, we settled on “The Adventures of Super Brownie”, staring Kat’s homemade stuffed animal (and possibly some pieces of fruit with faces).  So far we’ve shot about half, and figured out how to (sort of) use Final Cut to do green screen work, but we have a ways to go to complete it.

Also, since we had out 10 day ticket from Moray/Salineras, we decided to use it again on Wednesday to go some some Peruvian dancing and music.  It was neat to see all of the various costumes and dancing styles from around Peru.  The music was enjoyable too, though I have to admit most of the songs sort of sounded the same to me!  They mostly plan an instrument called a Charango, which is kind of like a small mandolin.

We spent most of Thur/Fri, running around trying to get the kids ready for School.  Kim went to Kane’s school (Colegio San Jose) with the kid’s spanish teacher, Carina.  After that, Kim went solo to Kat’s school (Santa Maria Reyna) to sign Kat up.  Both schools are private Catholic schools, with San Jose being larger with both boys and girls, and Santa Maria being very small and all girls.  Each school provided a long list of necessities (Both Formal and Track Suit uniforms, and a multitude of supplies/books, including toilet paper!).  It seems as though the classroom is outfit with supplies community style.  Needless to say, it was quite an experience for us to find everything.  Kane even got his first pair of tailored pants!  Some things don’t change no matter where you are, with private school in Peru, the tuition is the tip of the cost iceberg!  They better learn Spanish!

All in all, a good week for us, we felt like we won the Nobel prize by the end and the kids were ready to head off to Peruvian School!