Cusco, Peru
Learn spanish. An ambitious goal, it takes many years to master the language, I give myself four months. I decided after wondering around Peru with essentially no knowledge of the language to take a class. I did a bit of leg work and found this spanish school located in a private residence that only gives one on one lessons. Sick.
For the past four days I´ve been taking spanish for four hours a day. It is a bit tiring. Other then that all I´ve been doing for the past week is walking around and seeing the sights and musems. It is shocking how bad the musems are considering that tourism is Cusco´s biggest moneymaker. I know that its a developing country, but one would think they would have unbelievable Inkin relics or a through explanation of things. All the musems do are show some pottery and a few mummies and put it all in chronological order. And then have local artisans hock their wares by the exit. Anyway.
Languages. I am surprised how much french I remember from Essex High. When ever I don´t know a spanish word somehow the french one comes to mind. This is a bizzare phenomenon. Because there is no way just sitting I could recall any french outside the standard, hello and goodbye. In class, I will say the french word with confidence and an added "o" at the end. Patty (the teacher), then starts to giggle and accuses me of speaking french. She then says the spanish word and I repeat it back. Its pretty basic and fun, but an effective way to learn the language. Above all else, I am gaining confidence speaking in a spanish accent.
Patty might be my only friend in this city, as all the ones from the Inka Trail have left. It really is a relationship based on laughter, which happens most of the time. Its really nice that her english is not too good so for the most part we are conversing in spanish. Occasionally, I start to yawn and then she brings me cafe con leche. And of course the coffee is instant.
The cultural differences that come up are crazy and I feel like a young traveler again. It is easy to remember that there are multiple definitions of all things in the US (thank you Wesleyan.) But, I forgot how many things have completely different definitions, and take on entirely different meanings in other parts of the world. Patty couldn´t get over that my brother was a "housewife." But, I guess I can´t either. Also, she placed a great importance on color of skin. ummm...
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