La vida en Cusco

Dear all,
Two weeks have gone by but somehow it seems much longer! In these two weeks I have settled in, got into some kind of routine, memorized the names of almost all the kids I am working with, got sunburned and soaked with rain, wandered the little cobblestone streets of Cusco and sat in packed (mini)busses on the way to work, felt happy and sad, talked and read a lot of Spanish, strolled over packed markets to buy food, sat on park benches reading the Cusco newspaper, had conversations with shoes shining boys, sneaked into colonial churches and walked past impressive Inca walls, discovered a vegetarian restaurant where, for around €2, you can get a complete meal and well, I have lived the life of an anthropologist!
The place where I work is really nice, the children are friendly and inviting, love painting and drawing and enjoy actually everything you organize for them to do. Of course there are also some setbacks regarding how much of their life I am allowed to witness (restrictions from the organization) and, as expected, things in real life always look different than in your research proposal and so the necessary adjustments to questions/theory have to be made. Nevertheless it is an interesting place to be!
I actually like it to walk around somewhere with the eyes of an anthropologist through which everything is possible data and thus interesting…although it makes you go to bed at 22.00 completely tired it also makes the world a very interesting place, because every little thing can tell you something.
My normal week day looks more or less like this:
7.00 – getting up, shower, breakfast, coffee
8.00 – start writing, reading articles, looking at my data, going to internet, reading the newspaper…
12.15 – lunch
13.15 – take the bus to work
14.00 – start to work (painting, drawing, English, volleyball)
17.00 – clean up
17.20 – take the bus home, shopping, etc
19.00 – dinner
20.00 – typing out field notes and writing diary
22.00 – dive into bed :)

Weekends are different…if it doesn’t rain too much I hang out in the centre all day. Part of that day is past on skype because finally I can call to Europe at a time that people are still awake :) the rest of the time I wander through the streets, hang out on the Plaza de Armas, and try to have conversations with children working on the street (which, especially on Saturday, are quite a lot!).
The weather is crazy sometimes…at one moment you can be sitting in a t-shirt in the sun, getting terribly burned, the next it can start pouring with rain and you need a fleece and a jacket in order not to be cold…however last week it was quite constant with grey clouds and rain (at one time I saw the street literally transform into a river…), so it is great that this weekend finally the sun is out again! I took the opportunity to make some photos of the city so I’ll post them here for you, so that you can have an idea of my weekend ‘working environment’:) I haven’t made pictures in my week ‘working environment’ so those will come maybe next time!
Always happy to hear how you are all doing!
Love

Sara


A lost Inca king close to the famous stone with 12 sides


Cusco tourist city


Lamas!


Plaza San Blas


Part om my research population


Every street is beautiful!


Hats, skirts and beautiful colors


Plaza de Armas


Another beautiful street


The city creaping up the surrounding mountains