Dear friends and family,
For our first four weeks we were doing quite well and blogging once a week. We have sense dropped the ball and begun slacking on our blogging. Sorry about that, we will try to be a bit more regular from now on!
Each week here in Cusco feels like a year. So much happens every weeks that it is hard to remember what all happens and when. These past two weeks have been quite full! I (Cora) finished my Spanish classes, and so I gained free afternoons which is nice. Caitlin and I switched volunteer projects in order to feel more useful. We volunteered at Puririsun, a pre k and kindergarten school that served extremely poor children from the slum of Mancco Capac, near our house, for the first month of our stay. I was working with children ages 2-4 and Caitlin had children from the ages of 4-6. It was a good experience but we felt that the school was very well run and needed resources more than anything. We decided that our help was needed more else where, so we switched to working in a nutritional center called Madre Teresa. We are now working with malnourished infants and 2-3 year olds. We help feed them and make sure they are well taken care of. We feel more useful at Madre Teresa and are really enjoying working with the children. The teachers seem very thankful for our help and the children are beautiful and endearing.
Aside from our volunteering, we have been hanging out with our housemates most of the time. Our house has changed a bit in the past few weeks because people have been moving out, and new people have moved in. Because of that we have had multiple good byes and spent lots of time getting to know the new people. We had a halloween party last night which was lots of fun, and we have been going on adventures and playing lots of card games. Next weekend we are going to carve pumpkins to celebrate Halloween on the real day.
Caitlin and I went to see Cristo Blanco today, a huge white stone statue of Christ that is on the mountain side above Cusco. It was one of the first sightseeing things we have done together so far apart from going to Machu Picchu. I realize that we never wrote much about Machu Picchu so I will write a paragraph or two about it after I finnish this letter. Other than that, there haven't been many notable moments. We spend most of our days hanging out with our housemates, going to the market, volunteering, and doing a bit of exploring.
Over all our experience so far has been great! Cusco is a comfortable city, our volunteer house is lots of fun, our volunteering placements has gone smoothly, and the Spanish classes have been useful. Though we miss home comforts, good thai good, and our friends and family, we are enjoying ourselves! The rainy season has begun, so everyday it rains from about three in the afternoon until late into the night. We don't seem to be able to escape bay area rain no matter where we go! This is a bit of a drag at times but its also refreshing because it helps to clean the air and Cusco is a very polluted city.
Well, thats about all for now, I hope everyone is well!
Much love,
Cora
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