cusco continued..

Today I got to explore the city a little bit... It is so beatiful but there are allot more turists than I expected! I met up with wilder, who has been here with his friend tom for about a month. He and his friends and I took a small hike up the side of one of the mountains surounding cusco. There was an amzing view and beatiful flowers, plants, and trees!

For the most part cusco is everything I expected it to be, except for that it is allot colder and my attire usually consists of long sleeves, a hat, a scarf, and pants... which is also nice sometimes.

Cusco

I made it finally to Cusco! I did not sleep the whole time I was in the airport which was approx 11 hours..7p.m. to 6a.m. so when I finally got here I really couldn´t believe my eyes! all I could think was ¨it´s just like the pictures!¨. As soon as i got off the plane there was a live traditional Peruvian band rockin out with theír little flutes and the little amplifier... yet again my bag and I found each other and that was a huge relief! when I steped out side the small airport I saw a little old man holding a sigh that said JESSA FITZPATRICK! the mans name was Daniel and he told me to call him dany, he was my home stay dad! He gave me a big hug and kiss and went to get the car. when we pulled up outside the house he turned to me and said¨Jessa, this is your home¨.

Inside I met Ali, my home stay mom and Margarita, their house keeper. she had matte de coaca ready for us to drink at the dinning room table and we sat and shared about our families and they showed me pictures of their children and grandchildren! After tea I went up to my room and took a little nap, and when I came down they had made a wonderful lunch for me! soup and a dish with rice and potatoes and chillies, onions, just very delicious stuff!
Franklin, their son joined us for lunch and he was very helpful correcting me with my congregation. I was saying ¨yo sabo muchas palabras¨ which means I know many words... he told me only childen say ¨sabo¨ and it was correct to say ÿo se¨...pretty funny lunch in gereral...

Later that day dani took my to AMIGOS (the spanish school that I will be attending starting on monday) I met the directors of the school and a few teachers, everyone was super nice and one of the directors, Jesus, suggested that we all go out on the town together friday night! we exachanged numbers.

when we were leaving the school I asked Dani if it were ok if I just wondered my way home, he looked a little concerned, but he made sure I had the address to the house, gave me a kiss and sent me in the right direction.

This is just the first day of many and i can´t wait to see what will happen next!

My bag was there..

Yes, indeed my bag was there to meet me at the airport in Lima! i was very happy to see it.

Another breazy plane ride! in fact i made ANOTHER new friend, his name was ruben. He was comming back home to is homeland, peru, he had been doing an exchange program in NYC for the past 3 months, he was studying law. He said that he loved New York and thats where he met his girlfriend, he said he loves her.

on the plane they were showing the movie Wall- E we both were laughing hysterically , although this was actually my second time seeing the movie. great movie. very funny. after we got off he gave me is number and said to call him if and when i come back to lima and he could show me all the good places to visit. he said when he went to New York at first he didn't know anybody and he met this guy and the guy gave him a place to live and helped him get to know the city. one day this guy says to him, okay you need to pay me. Ruben  says "how much?" the guy says back to him," you just need to help somebody, like i helped you, the next time you can" so he told me he was going to help me if i needed anything. It felt good to know that there ARE genuinely nice people in this world and that even though i'm all by myself, i have lots of people and some higher force guiding me and protecting me...

So now, i'm in a cafe at the airport... first thing i did was get a ice cream sunday and a cafe americano! I have to sleep in the airport tonight so i'm going to try and get as much homework done as i can and then try to pass out somewhere relatively chill... Nighty night.

The Begining

Alright! So I'm off , it didn't really hit me until I got into the San Salvador airport in El salvador. I met a really nice guy on the plane who was sitting next to me, named Marvin. Marvin  told me that he is revisiting El Salvador for the first time in 9 years! he is going to visit his childhood friends and his horses that are still alive! we kind of got each other pumped up about what was to come!  He told me that he was 23 and taking online classes, like me, to become a stock broker, unlike me... we exchanged emails but I wonder if i'll ever see him again. 

I have a feeling that there will be allot of similar encounters a head of me. (minus the stock broker)

so to back up a little, I left montpelier by train on the Vermonter into NYC on Tuesday morning. I thought it was going to be a just a quick 9 hours ride but it turned into an 11 hour ride because the train broke down in Conneticutand on a bridge to boot! We had to wait for another locomotive to come and push us over the bridge and then they had to jump start us or whatever they do with trains! that being said, my trip has been nothing but smooth sailing so far! i made it through the city by myself on my way to my friend colleens work place where i had never been before... i almost got a train to new jersey (seriously)... but the doors closed right in front of me as i was about to hop on!..pretty awesome... at 5:30 I woke up and walked to the nearest main street in east harlem and hailed the first cab that came along.

my can driver was very nice, he was from Pakistan and his son was at Harvard university! "i think we can all agree that harvard university is the best university in the world" so he said.

After our surprisingly short drive to JFK and the heafty some of $58.00 i handed over. he told me he was very happy to see me because i am very innocient and friendly and i said i was happy to see him as well because he was a very friendly man! money well spent.... well kind of... could have been a little cheaper. jeeeezzz.(new york sucks)

So now I'm on the plane in El salvador waiting to take off to Lima,Peru! I hope my bag is there to meet me!