Day 30- Cuzco

Today, Kris and I headed out to school a little early so she could grab some cash from the ATM. I guess we could've taken our time since we were the only ones in class today. Kim has been sick and went to the clinic, though I hear she mostly just had a sore throat and was released soon afterwards. Yiannis and Priscilla were sick and/or just had too much fun last.

Anyway, Kris and I continued with our Phantom of the Opera audio. We finished most of it and will have about 15-20 minutes left tomorrow. Somehow class went by super quickly today; when our professor told us it was over, I thought she was being nice and letting us out early.

For our culture/history portion of class, Pati took us to the main plaza to watch the "desfiles" (parades) for a little while. Today, various local high schools competed in traditional costumes and dances. Tomorrow the universities will compete; I hope we'll get a chance to watch a little bit of that.

Next, we returned to the San Pedro market, where we learned how people from "los campos" live economically. Since the market's very cheap, many of the poorer people come everyday to buy their groceries. They don't have enough money to stock up and can buy a full meal for only 3 soles. There's a huge selection of fresh fruits, vegetables, flour, chocolate, coffee, nuts... basically anything you can imagine. We also saw some raw fish as well as live frogs getting ready to be killed... it's kind of hard to believe I was a vegetarian for 4 years not too long ago, considering I've been able to stomach all of this (albeit with some difficulty).

We walked around the market, interacted with some locals, and I tried cherimoya, an oval, green fruit. The white, fleshy inside is very sweet, with a flavor that's very hard to describe since it's unlike anything I've had before, but is often referred to as "custard apple." I still need to try grenadilla, noni, pepino and more...

After we'd finished our two hours, Kris and I went to the pharmacy so I could get some cold medicine. While my cold hasn't been bothering me too much, it's made me pretty tired and has kept me from going out and exploring as much as I'd like to. I bought some cough medicine for 7 soles to try to get rid of this thing once and for all, especially before we continue onto the very cold town of Puno (and so I don't have to risk being sick for my birthday).

We took a cab home for lunch; I took some medicine and then enjoyed probably the best meal at my Cuzco homestay so far. We had chicken, rice, peas and carrots (not too different from anything we've had before, but the flavor was definitely superior), followed by fried plantains, which in Peru are just the local bananas, and one of my favorite foods to eat here.

I decided a nap would do me some good, so while Kris, Natalie and Rachel headed out to ChocoMuseo, a chocolate museum right by the Plaza de Armas that Pati pointed out, I rested. I slept for just over 2 hours and took a cab to the Plaza by about 5. When I got to the chocolate museum, my friends were just finishing up their trip.

I walked around on my own. The museum, which is free and includes a sample of some cocoa tea (delicious), contains information about the history of chocolate, how it's grown, how it's made, its main exporters and more. I also caught a glimpse of a chocolate workshop, where, for 70 soles, you can make your own chocolate bar and hot chocolate.

After I was done reading all the information, I took a seat in the balcony of the cafe, with a beautiful view overlooking the city at night. I wanted to order a fondue, since Kris, Natalie and Rachel highly recommended it (they got 3 fondues with different fruits and shared), but since it was later in the evening, all their fruit was gone and they only had marshmallows left. Still, I was satisfied just ordering a hot chocolate. The waiter brought me chocolate, milk, sugar, cloves and cinnamon to prepare my own drink.

While I started reading my material for our 6:45 discussion on Peruvian law, the waiter, whose name escapes me now, started talking to me. He left for a few minutes once I had prepared my drink, then sat next to me and continued our conversation. I told him a bit about my trip, and he told me that he graduated last year but found work at the museum. Since it's a great job and a perfect excuse to eat a lot of chocolate, he's staying there for the time being. He's also 23, just a year older than me, and was very friendly. Again, I enjoyed having a Spanish conversation with a local, and everybody here is so nice that it's impossible not to want to talk to them.

I finished my hot chocolate, bought a few different types of chocolates for 2 soles each and walked to Amauta. We had a lecture on the laws of Peru with Henry from 6:45-7:45.
Afterwards, I went to a vegetarian restaurant with a large group of people. I ordered a lentil burger and fries and hot spiked tea with lemon and pisco.

About halfway through the day, I heard that about half the group had made plans to go to the jungle for four days. The Inca Trail is a highly physically strenuous four-day trip through the jungle to Machu Picchu and passes many ancient ruins and sites. This trip is very popular and requires booking it many months in advance, so my classmates had found something similar that cost just over $100 USD for the full four days. They had done all this without Monica's permission and hadn't asked other people to go since there was a group limit. It's been a dream of mine to go to the jungle, so while I was upset that I couldn't do it, I guess it's just as well since I wasn't invited. Priscilla, Yianni, Syeda, Ilana, Klevis, Brielle, Cara, Andres, Tomas, Andrew, Dana, Kaitlyn, Jenn, and Scott were all going, with Henry going to accompany/supervise them. So, I said my goodbyes to the group and went home after dinner. and  was home by 9:30 and went to sleep a few hours afterwards.

(note: the pictures in this blog are taken with my iphone)