The Sacred Valley

¨Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent in the ideas of living." - Mariam Beard

I have never seen a quote more fitting for travel, and adventures I have come upon so far....

After the first week of classes I felt a bit flustered. It turns out that TEFL is a totally new way of thinking for me. When teaching a new language you have to fight all instincts that most teachers innately have. No explaining, just eliciting responses from the students by a number of mind bending exercises. Because of that the first week has been a lot of observation and absorbing of the practices we are expected to walk away with. I know it is possible, but it is evident that it will take a lot of work to master the art of ESL teaching. Luckily the students are supportive and for the most part eager to learn. They appreciate us making fools of ourselves for their sake. In order to fully absorb all the new facts, some of my classmates and I decided it was crucial to get out of the city, and fully enjoy where we are.


Before we headed out of the Cusco I was fortunate enough to meet up with the Pressl family. My mother teaches their son and she has been telling me about them for ages. We were lucky enough to be in Cusco at the same time to enjoy dinner together. They are a beautiful family with a great sense of adventure. They are living abroad for a year splitting that between Ecuador and Argentina. It was by far the best dinner I have had yet with fantastic food and even better conversation. It is always nice to find a piece of home in random corners of the world.


As for the rest of the adventures, initially some of my classmates and I just started on the outskirts of Cusco. We headed to the giant white Jesus statue (Cristo Blanco) resembling the one in Rio.It is the only big sight around Cusco city center that I was interested in seeing. So we found a way to hike up, weaving through the outer banks of Cusco, up a lot of stairs. When we got there it we were serenaded by the happiest Cuscaño I have ever seen. I started out chatting with him and practicing the Quechwa we learned in class that week and then he took out his baby guitar and proceeded to break out in song about the pretty North American ladies. It was great and his joy was contagious. Overlooking the city of Cusco was pretty neat. It was interesting trying to figure out where we live and seeing how condensed the population really is.

The next morning another group from our class headed to the Sacred Valley to explore the Inca ruins. What we found was amazing beauty and the experience of a life time! Our first stop was Pisaq which leads to and Incan Temple. We took the way up that was designated to avid hikers, we didn´t really know what we were getting into. It seems that hiking through Incan ruins requires a lot of stairs. So much that A.B. blurt out before bed that whenever she closed her eyes all she could see was stairs (mind you still is still saying that 4 days later.) Needless to say the stairs made the journey much more difficult than expected, but totally worth every step! The further we climbed the better the view got. It was completely breath taking in every meaning of the word. We topped of the exhilarating hike with  "Ceremonial Mango," the most refreshing treat to a completely fulfilling adventure.

As for the Incan ruins, I have established that the Incan Empire must have been crazy. The number of rocks and how perfectly they place them to construct these amazing places is almost unfathomable. The beauty in every construction just needs to be seen in order to fully take it in.

After Pisaq we hopped a bus to stay in Urubama for the night. After the big day what we had, we ended up crashing early to continue our sight seeing. We left early to head to the Muray and Chinchera. Two more Incan ruins that, again, were amazing to see. The best part about these two places was the landscape surrounding them I have yet to see such lush grass and friendly mountains as I did in these areas. Not the mention all of the locals working the day away, and seemingly enjoying every minute of it. I really felt at peace in the Sacred Valley. Yes, people were trying to get business out of us, but it wasn´t the hustle and bussle of Cusco. It was a great break from reality and an even better adventure... with more to come!

The people I have met  here are amazing. Those of us in the program have really clicked, and it is great that somewhere so far from home is already starting to feel like another home. Hopefully learning all the English grammar won´t put me completely over the edge and scare all my new friends away. Well.... it is easy to see that we are all going down on the insanity level together, so we will beat that path as one.