I am home

My dad said yesterday that given the fact that people are theoretically reading this who I don't see frequently in Seattle, I should write a post now that I'm home.. so yes, I have returned and it's good to be back. There's maybe 6 inches of snow outside now and it's almost Christmas! At this point I have no plans for the spring (loooots of variables there), but I'll probably be leaving Seattle sometime the end of January? Or maybe February? And then the blog will probably return.. so stay tuned I guess. Happy snow in Seattle/holidays/travels!

last night..

..is way too much to process good thing I have a whole day in the Toronto airport. Here is what I know, it has been very hot and humid for the last three days in Lima and there are palm trees everywhere and beaches and apparently it snowed in Seattle.
Ummm last week in Cusco I got really overwhelmed by people trying to sell me thigns everywhere I went but still made it to a couple more museums I think and up to the Christo Blanco & Sacsayhuama Inca fortress on top of the hill.. various family dinners with the other volunters, bought too many pirated dvds and un monton de regalos. At the Yanapay school I ended up on my own with a class of 5ish 8 year olds trying to prepare an altar to explain the Islamic festival Eid Al Adha to the rest of the school, the kids got most excitd when they tried to act out Abraham sacrificing his son who was then changed into an animal by an angel at the last minute. Also we attempted to make a Christmas tree out of plastic bottles and paper mache and I stabbed myself with scissors.
My experience in Lima can be summed up as adventures in public transportation, starting with the trip into the city from the airport I´ve been trying to take collectivos everywhere and only occaisonally getting lost. I also went on a boat on a strange colored Pacific Ocean. I went to this church with catacombs where the bones were all weirdly sorted by body part, and also the place where the Inquisition was based in Lima that had semidisturbing models of people being totured and some legit dungeon ruins. Also Chinatown which was weirdly full of shops selling Christmas decorations, and these ruins outside the city in the middle of the desert that were started by the Lima culture to worship a wooden idol and added onto by successive civilizations up to the Incas, who built a big sun temple in the middle of the desert. What else the two different corners of the city with beaches, La Punta and Miraflores, I finally tried Ceviche, I still ahven´t been robbed so hopefully the next.. 5 hours until my flight will go okay KNOCK ON COMPUTER DESK

fotossss

la paz from the mirador
i wish i had taken more pictures of all the signs like this in bolivia
my feet after walking through the mud slide
river valley in sorata (hike to the HP7 cave)





Copacabana
Copacabana sunset
Isla del Sol Inca ruins
Isla del Sol sunset




Cathedral in Puno (Peru)
traditional dancing in Puno
Uros floating islands, where they build everything out of reeds
sunset on Isla Amantani




sisters in the family we stayed with on Amantani
me on Isla Taquile
Fiesta Yanapay in the christams-decorated upper school
Machu Picchu from Huayna Picchu mountain

PERU

I´ve landed in Cusco for about two weeks, working with an organization called Aldea Yanapay in their school/daycare program and staying in a hostel with the other volunteers. So far Cusco is definitely really touristy, I can´t walk down the main streets or sit in the central plazas without someone trying to speak English and sell me something.. but it´s also a beautiful city, and I really like being in one place and having somewhere to come¨"home" to. I got here Monday night and was kind of surprised to find that they were actaully expecting me (given previous more...relaxed volunteer experiences) and that I had unknowingly left one of the other volunteers, Sharon, alone teaching our class that day. Oops.. but she was really nice about it and helped me figure things out pretty quick. This week we´re helping the kids with art for the first two hours (making Christmas decorations for the school) and then teaching an always-changing group of 10 year olds about Hindusim (!) for the next two. I guess the idea is to teach the different classes about other world cultures and religions with the theme of holiday celebrations in December (actually a pretty great idea, since Catholicism is so dominant here and I´m not sure if they learn much about other cultures in school). It´s been hard figuring out how much informtaion to give them, how to keep them interested, etc.. but in general they seem to be having fun with it, and the school and the hostel are pretty great places, so I feel lucky to have ended up here. School is from 3-7, so I´ve been using the mornings to explore the city, see some churches and museums and things.. and this weekend I´m going to Macchu Picchu!
Backtracking a bit to recap, before I got to Cusco I spent two more days on Lake Titicaca from Puno: took a boat Saturday morning to the Uros floating islands, which are made out of reeds and still inhabited, and although the people who live there seem pretty reliant on tourism at least they still live there.. which was pretty crazy to see/walk around on. Next we went to Amantani island, quite a bit farther out.. did a homestay with a family on the island for a night, watched another amazing sunset. In the morning on to Taquile, which was cool with lots of traditional dress and more beautiful views, back to Puno for the night and then on to Cusco.
I´ve been hogging the computer (free internet!!) for way to long, so hopefully pictures later! xoxo