Home Sweet Yamanya

I have made the move to Yamanya! I am now living in a dorm with 6 other people which has already brought its interesting moments. Just today, someone moved in and one of the most interesting of my roommates had a little bit of a fit about losing a cover (of which he had four!). His name is Antonio and he is such a character. He is working as a cook here in the hostel and he is from Italy. His food is amazing and he has cooked all over the world. He is definitely the ladies man though. I am sure he will be the source of many of the adventures that occur here.

The dorm isn’t that bad. The hooked me up with an amazing feather comforter and the beds are to die for. The picture above shows my little cave. Pull down the sheet and it almost feels like I am in my own room. Too bad Antonio snores when he sleeps after drinking. I have been sleeping on such a crappy colchón for the last 6 months. It’s quite a nice change. I also have a windowsill for my toiletries which makes life a lot easier. There is not a ton of ventilation in the room so when there are more people I am sure it will get more stuffy. For now, it isn’t terrible. The most important thing is that we have lockable cubbies that roll under our beds as seen in the pic above. We don't lock our dorm door so anyone could potentially come in. Huzzah for locks!

As for my work here, I am learning the ropes of the bar. I haven’t had to make any drinks yet but I am sure I will get my chance to show my skills (or lack thereof) tonight when I work the 8:30pm to 1am shift. I am looking forward to it. It’s something I can add to my list of renaissance activities. Haha. I also had a meeting with Esther at Excel yesterday. It was a short orientation as to how things work there. In a lot of ways I am quite impressed with their system. She broke it down into hours for each unit and how the attendance and grading works. It is definitely a school and not just a private business that teaches English to its clients. A few of the things I like are the attendance policy. If you are absent more than 3 times, you don’t pass the course. The same goes for tardies, but you have 5 tardies before you fail the class. You are also not allowed to have cell phone’s in class. I also like that classes are an hour and a half long. It will give me more time to develop the lesson and give my students time to practice. I do hear that you only get one dry erase marker so I took the liberty of borrowing some from office 6. When I am done I will give them back. I will find out when my classes are tomorrow afternoon and pick up my books so I can start lesson planning. Classes start on Friday and since I specified that I can’t work in the mornings, I will only have 2 or 3 classes in the afternoon/evening. I am really glad that I am doing it because it will get me out of the hostel. It’s super easy to get caught here since everything is right here: a bed, food, drinks, wi-fi, really awesome hot showers, and interesting company from all over the world. I have promised myself that I will not let myself get sucked in and make sure to hang out with Erica. I miss living with her.

Last night I had my first run in with a bit of food poisoning. I made myself some spaghetti with veggies from the kitchen and ended up throwing all of it up after I sang at Kamikase. While I made it to the toilet, I managed to get some on my pants. It was a bit embarrassing walking out of the bathroom to Marco who gave me a “are you OK?” look to which I responded with a pout and a sigh. He’s a good guy though and made sure I got home safe. I was hoping that that was the only incident I would have but low and behold, at 3:30am I found myself running to the bathroom again. I think that it was after the second time that I really felt better. Either way, this morning I downed a nalgene and ended up sleeping most of the day. That’s the last time I use someone else’s veggies.

Life is good right now. I am excited about the change. I had a knot in my stomach for a few days before I moved, but it’s been fading since I have moved in. I have met some really interesting people and I enjoy the company of one of my fellow bar workers and roommies named Catherine. Another Glee fan. I can’t complain! She is from Canada and she is looking for EFL teaching jobs. Unfortunately, as she has found out since she started her search, getting a job in South America (or at least around here) has proven to be a bit more difficult with a 60 hour TEFL certification. Most certifications are 120 hours with 100 of the hours being classroom work and 20 hours being student teaching, or in my case, tutoring. She is looking into working in Asia and apparently has 3 offers already which is great! I don’t know if I could teach in Asia. Well, I know I could teach, but I wouldn’t be as comfortable in the culture as I am here. I also don’t know any asian languages which makes daily life a bit more difficult. I am so happy down here. People have asked me when I am going back to the states and I honestly don’t know. Well, I might be back for a stint if I get the Experiment in International Living Abroad job, but I have no idea when I will be back for more than just a short time. At this point, I have nothing that I need to be back in the States for. My life is here and I really enjoy it. It is going to be difficult when I leave Cusco because I have gotten used to my life here. I am in a band, I have a job, I have great friends, and a great boyfriend. I couldn’t ask for more. To top it off, my brother is coming in April! So excited!!!!!

Chino Y Nacho

When I found out that Chino y Nacho were going to play in Cusco, Corey and I were set on going. Last night, it came to fruition and it was all that I was hoping for and more. Let me explain who these two men are. They are from Venezuela and sing reggaeton, cumbia, and merengue songs that are extremely popular in Latin America. They also happen to be quite good looking guys which is always helpful in the music industry. Anyway, Erica and I took off our last classes so we could get in line and while we were in line we bought some Chino Y Nacho headbands. I took a picture but unfortunately, my camera was stolen about 5 minutes later along with my ticket to the show. I had a split second feeling of anger and violation and then my rational optimistic side set in and I just reminded myself that it was more important that I was with Erica and that I can remember things in my head. Not having pictures is not the end of the world. As for the ticket, I just found a scalper and bought another one for 45 soles. In the end the price to see them was 80 soles but what´s a little bit of money? I am just happy that my phone wasn´t taken because I don´t have all the numbers written down and staying connected with people is more important than getting a few pictures of two attractive Latinos. Haha. Life could always be worse. Anyway, we met up with Linda who works at Maximo and she had a camera so she took some to put up on facebook. The concert was a blast. The opening band was OK. They were called Monkiss. Chino y Nacho started off their set with Tu Angelito which is one of their famous songs. It was great seeing them dance. Chino´s signature dance is a gyrating hip thrust of sorts. Hahaha he made all the girls melt of course. The best part of the concert was when Lo Que No Sabes Tu came on. It´s a super fast merengue song and really fun to dance too. Corey, Justin, Erica, Linda, her sister, and I found a spot above one of the exits with plenty of space to dance. I was expecting the place to be packed but it wasn´t that bad at all. I would say there were maybe 4000 people there for the concert.

After the concert, Erica and I headed to Mythology for their white party and danced with some of my students that we saw there. My couch surfing friend Omar from Lima, called me and we went to see him and his buddies perform at a little bar called Hibrido. The guitar was terribly out of tune but it was fun to see him perform. He came to see my sing last Tuesday at Kamikase. Ahora estamos parches (Now we are equal).

After a delicious sandwich de pollo deshilachado I made my way to bed. I had to get up this morning to start packing all my stuff so I wanted to get a little bit of sleep. Tonight Sadidt and Cecilia, two of me Peruvian girlfriends are making Erica and I dinner for my despedida from the apartment. It´s sweet of them and I am excited because I am starving!!

So now on to the next chapter! Let the adventure begin!

Adios Maximo!

Well, my last day finally came yesterday. I have to say that my feelings are a bit bittersweet. I am going to miss seeing all my co-workers on a daily basis but I am not going to miss getting up in the mornings. I was offered another month if I wanted to stay with a bonus but at this point it´s not about the money for me. I am ready for something new and starting tomorrow I will be starting a new adventure in Cusco by moving to Yamanya Hostal. It´s going to be a big change and while I was packing today I had a pretty big knot in my stomach. I know that I am not leaving Cusco all together but at the same time, I know that life is going to change drastically. It doesn´t help that I have started dating someone and now I am moving into a dormitory. Privacy is not easy to come by while working and living in a hostal. It´s similar to working at camp. You are constantly sharing a tent or a cabin with people. Fortunately, it doesn´t bother me too much and I tend to get more out of communal living than I do out of living on my own because I thrive on socializing with other people and hearing their stories. That´s why I think it´s actually going to be pretty awesome. Worst case scenario: I hate it and I really need to have my own space. I will find an apartment to live in for the rest of my time here. I have a little bit of money thanks to the wonderful padres so it´s not like I have no other option than the hostal which is nice to know.

I am also ready to get rid of the damn pulgas that have been biting me lately. They aren´t bed bugs because I have seen what they look like but they sure as hell make me itch. I am going RAID happy before I shuffle all my stuff to the hostal. The last thing I want to do is infest a dorm with bugs. No thank you.

I am going to miss living with my roommate the most. She is my bestie down here for sure and there is not way that I will stop seeing her just because I move out, but it definitely won´t be the same.

Today I went to Salsa lessons and had a blast as usual. I love when the guy really takes control because it makes learning the steps that much easier. I ended up in the advanced circle which was awesome. We might go out again tonight like we did last Saturday and dance Salsa at Mythology, a club in town.

Bolivia Border Run

Hey Hey! I know it's been a while but I have definitely been busy finishing up my last month at Maximo. I made a border run this past weekend which was much more expensive for me because unfortunately, Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia is not a fan of the United States. Unfortunately, for me that means paying $135 for a 5 year visa. Oh well, Maximo helped pay for $65 of it and they reimburse me 100 soles for transportation which is also helpful.

I joined this organization called Couch Surfing which is a group of people who either have a couch for people to stay on or are looking for a couch to sleep on when they travel. It's free and a great way to meet new people and like minded people. If you are interested in the organization, you should check out the website www.couchsurfing.org

All right so my trip started on Friday night as I took a 10pm bus to Puno from Cusco. At 4:30 I got to Puno where I had a layover for an hour and a half before I boarded a bus at 6am to La Paz. The ride wasn't too bad although there was not a working bathroom on board so I made a quick pit stop behind an abandoned building when the bus stopped to put air in the tires. Thank goodness for carrying tissues and hand sanitizer. After than fun little adventure I had the pleasure of crossing the Bolivian border and paying $135. I think the funniest part is that the Bolivian immigration people wanted a copy of the visa and my photo page from my passport but I had to go back into Peru to make the copy. They can't spring for a copy machine or at least a scanner? I guess considering there was no electricity in the building, it's not surprising. Fortunately, the Peruvian police at the border were cool with me just running back into Peru to make a copy. It was perfect timing when I got back to the Bolivian side because my bus was about to leave. Of course, I was the only American on the bus. I am not surprised that I didn't meet more Americans. Who wants to pay $135 to go to Bolivia? Haha me!

When I got into La Paz I called Jorge and got directions to his place. It was super nice staying with him because he lives in a very central part of La Paz. He is within walking distance to the main plaza and a bunch of restaurants and bars. On Sunday night we checked out the Alasitas festival which was just a few blocks away. We ate traditional Bolivian food, played foosball, and checked out all the miniature things that were being sold. Apparently, each small item has a meaning. If you want to make more money in the new year, you buy a small pack of money. If you want a boyfriend, you buy a little rooster. I enjoyed a chocolate covered apple and churros as well as getting my ass kicked in foosball. Haha.

Anyway, back to Saturday. I got to Jorge's apartment and his mother was making a typical Peruvian meal. There was a gathering of couch surfing friends who were there to partake in the consumption of delicious food such as ceviche (raw fish in lime juice, onion, and cilantro), and aji de gallina. Mmmm mmm! It was soo good. I even got to help make the pisco sours after we ate. I had a great time meeting Jorge's friends and his sister Melissa. We played Uno after eating and then Melissa, her boyfriend Rodrigo, her friend Nelly, and I made our way to Chalet, a restaurant pub. It was pretty full so we decided to get coffee at a place closer to the central. After coffee and great conversation we headed to the mall to see a movie. We saw "The Last Exorcism" which I thought was going to be really scary but ended up being really lame. Don't waste your money on it if you were thinking about seeing it. I only paid 25 Bolivianos for it ($3) but it was still a waste.

After the movie I went back to meet up with Jorge and we went to a bar called Jarón. I met a really cool chick named Jessica who is teaching in La Paz. She is from Utah which was a first for me meeting someone from Utah on my travels in SA. I also met her roommate Sara and Jorge's friend Juan Carlos came out too. After the bar we headed to a club to dance for a bit. The night was capped with some fries from a street vendor. I had a blast. The following day we had lunch with the family and chilled out until the evening when we went to Alasitas which I mentioned earlier. I was supposed to bike the Death Road on Sunday but it didn't work out because I was the only one signed up to do it and it doesn't make financial sense to go with just one person. Even though I really wanted to go on it, I guess I will just have to go back to La Paz some time soon to do it. I have my 5 year visa! I might as well not let it go to waste!

I got up super early on Monday morning since Jorge had a plane to catch. I met up with Juanca (Juan Carlos) and we went to the bus station. I was going to take a 5pm bus but there wasn't one so I had to get a 2pm bus to Copacabana. During the travel to Copacabana it is necessary to cross Lake Titicaca, the highest navegable lake in the world. It was pretty sweet. From Copacabana we were supposed to have a bus to cross the border but ended up going in mini busses. There weren't enough spaces for everyone either so some people had to sit in the aisle. Super safe, I know. In Puno, there also weren't enough tickets to get on a bus to Cusco that night. Fortunately, since I was traveling by myself, there was a space for me. I took a 9:30pm bus to Cusco and go in around 6:30am on Tuesday morning. What a trip. The 72 hours to Chile is going to be awesome! Our bus crossing Lake Titicaca.

Overall, it was an excellent trip and I look forward to going back some time soon. In the meantime, I am gearing up to finish at Maximo, move into Yamanya hostel, and start working at Excell. I did find out today that they only get one dry erase marker a month. Hmm...that's not going to be too great since they dry out every week and that's with six markers to use. We shall see what happens.
I did manage to make my way to the Witches market before I left for Cusco. There are lots of llama fetuses there. I also found some stuffed frogs. The only things I bought from one of the ladies were some pins that were country flags of all the places I have visited so far. I have Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia pins now.

Jorge and myself

Rafting!

This weekend was a blast! I went rafting on Saturday with a student who is a rafting guide. I wanted to take my camera with me on the boat but I decided against it since we were going to go through class IV rapids. It ended up being a good decision because I definitely would've lost it at one point. Class 4 rapids are no joke and and super freakin fun! At one point I jumped out of the raft when it was calmer and took a little float down the river myself. Chuquicahuna was the name of the 12 km section we went down. It is part of the Urubamba (aka Vilcanota) River. I ended up in the one Spanish speaking boat with 3 hilarious Argentinan guys and a couple that was very nice. Franco, one of the Argentines, thought it was funny to knock everyone's helmets. It definitely proved they were functioning. At one point we did this thing they like to call surfing where we paddled right into a mini water fall and put all our weight at the front so the boat would pop out of the water in the back and be pushed backward. Needless to to say, we all go soaked and were absolutely frozen by the end of the run. Fortunately, my icy fingers and toes were warmed up first in a suana and then a hot shower. It was such a fun day!

On the other hand I think I may have caused myself to get sicker than I was by going on the rafting trip. That night I went to bed at 5pm and didn't get up until the next day. It's only a cold but today I have no voice and a slight cough has started. Thank goodness I was able to get through performing last night. I was right on the verge of losing my voice and singing last night put me over the edge. Needless to say I couldn't teach this morning so instead, I worked in the office. I am really glad I performed last night. It was a new place called Kamikase and it is much bigger than Kilometer Zero where we were playing the last few months. They also have a much better sound system so people can actually hear our voices when we sing. I have a meeting with the music guy on Thursday evening to discuss playing on a weekly basis like we did at KM0. I also want to talk to the KM0 lady again to see if we can't set up a weekly thing again with them. I wouldn't mind having two gigs a week. Although getting up in the morning is somewhat of a hastle after staying out til 12:30 or 1am, I think I can handle one month of it.

Speaking of only one month, I am almost done with my time at Maximo and I am pumped for what's ahead. I have a few ideas in mind, one of which is teaching part time in the afternoon at Excel. I am definitely moving into Yamanya at the beginning of March and working for my stay there which is 4 hours a day six days a week. I am also going to work in advertising for Micheal (my band mates). He has a tourist newspaper he publishes and he makes his money from advertising. I would get 20% of whatever I sell. Not bad! All I have to do is look nice and schmooze with the business owners. I think I can handle that.

Well, that's all for now! Exams and quizzes are next week so I am gearing all my students up with study guides now. I love exam days because I usually get a book finished.

Goodbye for Now Hostel

Well, after a month and a half of working as a tour agent for Yamanya, I was asked to leave. It was not due to my performance but the fact that I lack a work visa. I understand that they want to watch their butts because getting in trouble with immigration can really screw a business. Fortunately, I did get paid and I will pick up what I made for working in January tomorrow. I also told them to keep a bed open for me in March because I am definitely moving in after my stint at Maximo. I am actually quite relieved and I am already much happier because I have time during the day to get things done. I can take a nap or watch a movie or work out. I forgot how nice it was to have the long break during the day. Hello again naps. I have missed you dearly.

Speaking of Maximo, we recently found out that the new teachers are being paid more than the teachers that started before January 1st. Now, for anyone out there who knows anything about good business, a raise should go to the people who have been with the company longer, not to the people who just started. A company is asking for problems if they do the opposite, which is what has happened here. The veteran teachers are not happy with it and what´s worse is that it seems like they thought they were going to get away with it. I don´t understand why they didn´t just raise everyone´s salary. I am planning on talking to my boss today to ask him for a raise even if it is for just three more pay periods. I think I deserve the raise. My feedback was awesome last month and I work my butt off. I have only missed one class over the past 4 and a half months. I also just want to hear his rational for the higher pay for the new teachers. The thing that sucks the most is that the company is not really legit. I don´t have a work visa and we are considered volunteers to immigration. It´s definitely a shady business if you ask me. I am not going to complain too much though because I do have a job and right now I can definitely use the money. I am looking forward to be legit in Chile though. I have to get a work visa in order to work there. I am also looking forward to living on the Pacific Ocean.

2011!!!

Feliz Año Nuevo!! I hope everyone had a great time on New Years and was safe. I can’t say that I was too safe. I joined the crowds in the plaza de Armas around 11:30pm and witnessed the most ridiculous display of fireworks being set off by everyone and their children. It was kind of scary how close everyone was to fireworks and at one point I got hit by the sparks which ended up in a bit of burning and a bit of blood but it wasn’t terrible and at least I can still walk. Unfortunately, my coworker didn’t have the same fate. She got a nice chunk blown away right at the crease of her ankle so walking isn’t too fun right now.

Other than the fireworks it was so much fun being in the plaza for all the craziness. The tradition in a lot of South America is to get yellow underwear and wear it over your clothes. Yellow is the lucky color so there is yellow everywhere on New Years Eve. Yellow balloons, yellow confetti, yellow hats, and of course yellow underwear. I got a really pretty bouquet of yellow flowers for my roomy Erica to give her good luck for this year. At midnight everyone runs laps around the plaza. I made it half way around before heading back into the plaza since there were so many people. The run was more like a slow walk. Also, being in a moving crowd like that isn’t too safe when it comes to pick pocketing. Corey and I made our way into the plaza and stopped to stare at all the ridiculousness. It was so surreal! We got our hands on confetti and had fun getting people with confetti. At one point Corey tried putting some in his mouth to try and blow at me but it just ended up with him having wet confetti in his mouth. It was quite funny. Check out the pictures to see more of the craziness. I ended the night with a sandwich from my favorite sandwich lady Rosita at 1am.

So there are lots of new teachers this month since Becca, Cameron, Kate, Whitney, and Darran are all gone now. They are mostly men with the most common America names: Jonathan, Ryan, Andrew, Michael, Chandler (Ok not so common), and Sophia. This means I have a new roommate. Chandler (Yup, just like friends) is his name and he is from Texas. He is super fun and I think it is going to be a great living situation. He is a gearhead which is potentially dangerous since I love chatting about outdoor gear but I know it gets really annoying to anyone who isn’t into gear. I definitely miss Whitney but she wasn’t around that much so it didn’t feel like she lived there that much anyway. It is going to be interesting with all us getting up at the same time and needing to use the bathroom. It didn’t seem to be a problem this morning so it will probably work out. The picture below is one of the roommates.


I have decided that my new years resolution is to be more respectful to my body. I haven’t been terrible since I have been here but I need to listen to my body more and when I need to sleep I should sleep and when I am hungry I shouldn’t just put whatever is easiest to find in my mouth. I could go for less sugar. I work so much that it is often difficult to be healthy. The best thing I can do is cook for myself and bring dinner to work but I often find myself so tired at the end of the night that I don’t want to stay awake to cook when I know I could just grab something quick at the café at Maximo.

This is going to be a difficult month. I have 7 classes and I am still working 4 hours a day at the hostel. Speaking of the hostel, I have been feeling a little weird about my job there lately. There were a few girls who came in and complained about a tour they went on through us and they had a terrible time. I found out it was through Conde Travel which is a company that is known to be kind of sketchy. I am pissed because I didn’t know that the company we work with worked with Conde. I don’t know who our clients are being passed off onto with these tours because often companies will add clients to other groups because they don’t have enough people for their own trip or it is cheaper. I also had to deal with setting up pick up times on Friday night with two clients who had to move hostels etc. Needless to say it was a bit stressful. I really want everyone to have a good time, especially since they are paying more than enough for their tours. That is another thing that is a part of the business that for some reason upsets me. I know that we need to make a profit and if we didn’t there would be no point in the hostel having a tour agency, but at the same time as someone who has been on the side of looking to book tours, I know what it is like to want to find a good price. I guess it is something I just have to get used to. All I know is that I don’t plan on staying in the tourism industry as an agent. I would choose working as a guide any day over being in bookings and reservations. I will only be doing it for another 4 months or so and then off to Chile I go.

Well, I hope everyone had a wonderful New years and has made some good resolutions. I hope you all can stick to them as well! ☺ The photo album on the sidebar is named Feliz Año Nuevo Twentyich because the glasses they sold looked like a 20 and a CH. What do you think?

Starting the night with sparklers.

Underwear being sold in the plaza. Gotta get your good luck charm for the night!


The night wouldn't be complete without seeing people wearing their underwear over their clothes.

A firework on it's way to the sky. (Being shot from 10 feet away of course)