Day 32- Cuzco

And, at long last, classes are officially over in Peru!!! We had a fun day in our grammar class, finishing up the Phantom of the Opera (La Fantasma de la Opera) and going over any technical questions we had. Our culture class ended a bit early at 12 so that we could have a small ceremony afterwards with our teachers. They had a few snacks for us and they all gave speeches; then, they turned the table over to the students and I gave a short speech in Spanish (saying something along the lines of, “Thank you for your patience and your kindness and for all that you’ve taught us. We won’t forget you…). I will especially miss Patti, because she cared so much for all of her students and made sure that we were learning what and how we needed to learn.

Everybody had different plans afterwards, including an optional trip to a contemporary art museum. I had really wanted to go, but decided that with limited time left in Cuzco, I should explore a bit more. Some people said the museum wasn’t all that great, so I didn’t regret my decision too much.

Kris and I decided to forgo our meals at home so that we could go out to eat more. We went back to the bagel café again, where I ordered a tuna salad and a sesame bagel with cream cheese and a lemon and mint smoothie-like drink. I don’t know how I ate all that food on my own yesterday because I had leftovers today. Again, I really enjoyed my meal there and left happy.

Kris had been planning on meeting up with a few others at a larger artisanal mall. I didn’t have much cash on me and hadn’t planned to do any shopping but decided to look around nonetheless. When I say it was larger, I mean much larger, almost to the point of being overwhelming. It’s actually very close to the other artisanal mall I’d visited on Avenida El Sol and has all the same items but more. I found a booth with a few small, handpainted plates where the artist was painting them right in front of me. I picked out two small ones and, with almost all of my cash spent, walked back to the school for music lessons. I was very excited to take this optional activity at our school. I wasn’t entirely sure what we’d be learning, but a musician presented zampoñas, a typical Peruvian instrument that sounds like a flute. 

He taught us a few songs, including El Condor Pasa (which is extremely popular here; I hear it all the time and always think of Simon & Garfunkel) and a few notes of Hey Jude, Sound of Silence and more. (I wanted to post some videos, but I think they're too large for this site...)
At the end, the instructor, whose name escapes me, told us he was selling two large zampoñas with a case and music book for 50 soles each. Monica decided to buy them and auction one off to the handful of us who participated. Vinny said he knew he wouldn’t win since he didn’t want to, and as soon as he said that, we knew he’d win. He ended up giving it to Leslie, since he didn’t feel it was fair to keep something that the others of us actually wanted. A nice gesture on both his and Monica’s part.

I stayed at the school afterwards to use the internet, then met up with a large group of people at 8pm to figure out dinner plans. We walked around until we found a spot that offered a personal pizza, garlic bread and lemonade for 7 soles. The food wasn’t very good at all, but it was cheap and filling at least. I went home afterwards to pack for our weekend trip to Macchu Pichu (!!!).

Also, that morning I realized I was missing my little pouch where I keep my money and my keys. I had placed it inside my purse, and since my purse was at the house, I knew I must’ve dropped my pouch in the cab the night before. I was really nervous when I realized it was gone, though fortunately I only had 22 soles in there since I never carry around much money here. I knew I had to break the news to my host family, but didn’t want to tell them in the morning since it might be hiding in my room somewhere. They weren’t home when I came back to pack, so the bad news had to wait.

First, I needed to sleep to mentally and physically prepare myself for the crazy upcoming weekend.