I lit the stove!! (and Inti Raymi)

I lit the stove! I lit the stove! Laugh all you want, but this was a big deal. We now have hard-boiled eggs and I made them all by myself. :)

I ran into Jesus on my way into school the other day and he was dressed for the festivities, so naturally he wanted a picture of us while he was in costume. And, naturally, I obliged.



Becca’s having a bit of homesickness, which was expected, but she’s working through it. I feel so at home here that I forget how foreign this is for her. But I'll admit that even the simple things here take a while to understand. For example, figuring out the phones here and how to put credit on them has been a challenge, but I think we’re getting the hang of it. There are no phone plans here. You buy a phone from one of a couple of companies (Claro, Movistar or Telefonica) and then add credit to them when necessary. I really don’t know the difference between the three except that Claro seems to be the most prevalent and my friend Alfredo was insistent that I get a Claro phone. So, we have Claro. The phone’s a piece of shit, but it’s sufficient if you’re obsessed with staying connected.

Inti Raymi was great. Well, the part that we were able to attend. The festival starts at Coricancha and proceeds to La Plaza de Armas (the main square) and then everyone hoofs it up to Saqsaywaman (about 2km from the plaza, uphill, in the sun). We missed the first two ceremonial locations due to school but were able to get up to Saqsaywaman (pronounced "sexy woman")by about 2pm.

But first, school. More practice lessons in preparation for the mini teaching lessons we start doing Friday and Monday with actual students. I don't go until Monday (which means I have Friday off!), so I have the weekend to prepare. We have to teach a "how to" lesson as clearly as possible, provide written instructions to the students and then get critiqued. Lovely. Some of my classmates are going to teach "how to play soccer," or "how to make sangria" (looking forward to the latter, not so much the former).

Since we had a half day of class, we headed out at noon and a small group of us made our way to Mercado San Pedro for lunch before the hike up to Saqsaywaman. The food stalls at San Pedro are a mecca for Peruvians (and me) seeking a cheap lunch. And because I'm the only one in our group who's been here before, I was today's lunchtime ringleader for about 8-9 of us. The roads were packed with people for Inti Raymi and I'm surprised the whole group made it to San Pedro. Each stall has two skinny benches one behind the other, so those in the first row can use the counter as a table while the second row has to hold their bowls. Greg, Sierra and I snagged front row seats while the rest spread out behind us amongst the locals. Bowls of lomo saltado (meat, rice, potatoes and a fried egg), arroz a la cubana (rice, fried banana, fried egg and a few potatoes), arroz con pollo (fried chicken, rice with green sauce, potatoes and pimientos and lima beans (arvejas). Oh so good.

We then proceeded to follow the crowd up to Saqsaywaman, a long, slow climb up flights of slippery steps and then a winding road laden with vendors selling souvenirs and food. We stopped along the way to eat some candied apples and take note of the food we wanted to eat on the way back down (Choclo con queso -- corn with cheese -- was high on my list).







The ceremonies were a little too far away to really appreciate, but the energy at Saqsaywaman is always amazing -- and when you add thousands of people to the mix it's almost enough to carry you away. So many beautiful people, so much good food. Heaven.






We followed the masses back down to the main square and settled in on the steps near the McDonalds (clean bathroom). Some kids (a brother and sister) befriended us and played with us for about an hour. Their father and uncle were selling pictures in the square and these kids were literally running amok ;) We had a blast with them (more pictures will come from that -- Sierra took most of them and I'm waiting to get them off Facebook).

It was such a long day that we headed home by about 7:30. Too tired to do much else. Our mattresses are uncomfortable, so the only way to really get a good night's sleep is to be too tired to notice that you're sleeping on a pile of bricks.