On the 17th of January I woke up at my hotel in Lima, packed my bag again and went for breakfast with my savior from the evening before. On the menu was toast, scrambled eggs and orange juice; international breakfast. After this I thanked Gerrat again, said my goodbyes and went to the airport.
The airport is not a difficult one, so soon after arrival I was seated in the waiting area for my flight to Cuzco city, located in the southeastern part of Peru and the heart of the once mighty Incan empire. In the 12th century, the sun god Inti demanded of the first Inca, Manco Capác, to find the navel of the earth. In the old language of the Incas, Quechua, the navel of the earth is Qosq’o (Cuzco).
After half an hours talking with some friendly American tourists, I boarded the plane and it took me to Cuzco where I was picked up at the airport by Anna, Project’s-abroad’s social manager. We drove northwest for 40 minutes to Urubamba in Sacred Valley, where the Project’s-abroad office is, and I got a sightseeing there. Then, the road went to Pisac, about 30 minutes’ drive and southeast from Urubamba. On the way Anna told me some should and should not do’s, that I would be working in a summerschool for kids between 6-12 years old and that I had to be careful with the altitude, as altitude sickness is very common for living-at-sea-level-people like myself (Cuzco is about 3300m above sea level).When we arrived in Pisac, Anna took me straight to my host family. Here I met mamá Dine, papá Nilo, Nilo Jr.(19), Jamir(13) and Casandra(6 months). They were really friendly towards me from the first moment and I felt truly welcome here. Before Anna left me in my new home for the next months she told me a bit about how things work: That the hot water in the shower is heated by electricity and that the more pressure I have, the more cold water I’ll have, that my mom makes three meals a day and if I don’t want food one day I should let them know so there is no food wasted, and at last that I have my own room, my own bed and two keys; one for my bedroom and the other for the house.
The conversation with my family went very slow in the beginning and consisted of simple English and Spanish words, arms, legs, feet, hands, etc. We managed to understand eachother to a certain degree and “talked” for half an hour or so. Then she showed me my room and I got some time to myself to unpack my things and digest my feelings and new impressions: Excited, confused, doubting, happy, enthusiastic, relaxed, reckless, they don’t have a roof over half of their house…
Later that day we had dinner and I met the other volunteer who is staying with the family, Ainor. She is a lovely woman and I really enjoyed the month we spent together here in Pisac before she went home to Kashakstan. She took me to my work my first day, told me how much everything costs so I won’t get fooled by “gringo-prices”, helped me translate from English to Spanish to my family when needed and helped me settle in to my new, temporary home. Thank you, Ainor!!! J
