Two weeks ago I finally got around to enrolling at a Spanish School which has led to some interesting developments.

In Cusco there are well over a dozen Spanish schools so it wasn’t easy knowing which one to choose. I must have looked at around ten different websites and most of them had a very similar spiel and cost roughly the same. The main difference between them is that some are privately owned and some are part of NGOs that put their profits towards various community projects that help many of the underprivileged people in Peru.

Initially it felt right that I should enrol at one of the schools run by an NGO so that as well as learning Spanish my money would be going towards helping people in need. However, my intuition was pulling me towards a privately owned school called Máximo Nivel. It didn’t seem like the most ethical choice, but I’ve learned to trust my feelings and that’s the place I felt I had to go. And what an amazing choice that turned out to be!!

At the beginning of my 2nd week I find out that my Spanish teacher, Norma, was about to leave the school because she was in the process of establishing her own Spanish school and tour agency with her husband. She told me they had just moved into a new office (which includes 3 rooms that will be used as classrooms) in the trendy San Blas area of Cusco (less than a 10 minute walk from where I live). Not only that but she kindly invites me to work out of their office if I want to.

One of the things I’ve been doing a lot this last month is working out of a couple of bars in central Cusco. This is simply because the wifi connection is much better than my home connection which is a bit unreliable and can be painfully slow at times. Now I don’t mind working out of bars, however it does prove to be quite expensive because I will usually keep buying drinks (rarely alcohol) while I’m working. I figure it would be a bit rude to use their electricity and internet for several hours at a time and not buy anything. But all those, sandwiches, coffees and fresh orange juices (and the occasional beer, I must admit) soon add up, and it had been on my mind for quite awhile that it would be really nice if I had an office I could work out of during the day. I hadn’t even made it a specific intention, but the universe still got to work for me and provided me with just what I wanted. How amazing is that?

Of course I’ve now left Máximo Nivel to remain Norma’s student and I’m her very first student at her new school. They’re not quite ready to promote the school yet as they still have a few things to finish, so as of today I’m lucky enough to be getting one-on-one lessons with Norma and I can really feel the benefits of that already.

As for how I’m actually getting on with learning Spanish, well I’m doing ok. I’ve always found learning foreign languages really difficult and this is proving to be no exception, but I’m pleased with my progress so far. However, I think it’ll take a good few months before I’m anywhere near being at a conversational level.

Hasta luego mis amigos!

It’s hard to believe but today marks the beginning of my fifth week in Peru. I can hardly believe I’ve been here 4 weeks already, the time has simply flown by - a sure sign I’m having fun!

I haven’t written a great deal about what I’ve actually been getting up to and to be honest that’s because I haven’t yet done a great deal that’s worth writing about. I found out about 10 days ago  that a friend of mine from the UK wants to come out and join me for nearly a month (she arrives 10th June) so I’ve decided to wait until she arrives before I do all the touristy sight-seeing stuff like trekking to Machu Picchu and visiting the jungle etc.

Anyway, I can’t wait for my friend to arrive because I’m sure we’ll have a lot of fun and adventures together, and also it’ll be nice having regular company for awhile because there have been occassions lately when I’ve felt a bit lonely. One of the downsides of living in Cusco is that most of the people you meet here are travellers passing through so they don’t usually hang around long enough to form any real kind of friendship.

Anyway, most of the last few weeks I’ve just been settling into Cusco and getting to know the city better. I’ve also been quite busy with client work so I’ve spent a lot of hours on my computer working although I usually work from a couple of pubs I like because they have much better wifi connection and a better atmosphere too.

I’ve had two trips to Pisac in the sacred valley where I’ve taken part in Ayahuasca ceremonies and they’ve both been amazing experiences. The place where I stayed, Paz y Luz, is just in the most incredibly beautiful and tranquil location surrounded by mountains. I would love to spend more time there but there isn’t a good internet connection unfortunately so I can’t really stay for more than a few days right now.

This morning I finally got around to enrolling at a Spanish school and I have my first class tomorrow morning. I must admit I should have done this much earlier and it’s pretty shameful of me that I’ve now been here 4 weeks and I’ve made very little attempt to learn the language. Better late than never I guess. I’ll let you know how I get on!

Doorways can be a useful metaphor when talking about a variety of different spiritual themes, however this post is going to be about actual doorways.

Earlier this week I started to become fascinated with doorways all around Cusco as I noticed how interesting many of them were. It seems that almost every doorway has interesting or unique features.

So last Thursday afternoon I decided to spend a few hours walking around town taking pictures of all these amazing doorways.

You can see the full collection here: Amazing Doorways

Here’s a few of my favourite images

Full slideshow: Amazing Doorways

Today I finally got around to uploading most of my photos to my Flickr account. You can also see the 6 latest photos I’ve uploaded in the blog sidebar to the right.

If you want to go to my latest photostream then visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/andymetcalfe/

Here’s a slideshow of the photos I took during my first week in Cusco.

I still have a few more to upload which I’ll hopefully get around to doing this weekend. I’m going to Pisac in the sacred valley tomorrow (friday) and should be back in Cusco either Saturday or Sunday, hopefully with some interesting stuff to write about.

The weather in Cusco at this time of year is generally pretty good. I’ve been here two weeks now and most days have been full of blue skies and bright sunshine. It doesn’t get super hot with the average daytime temperature being around 20°C (68°F), which is really nice. Not too hot, and definitely not cold.

However, the evenings do get cold. Technically it’s winter time here at the moment because Peru is southern hemisphere, although Peru doesn’t have seasons the same way that most European countries do. Many parts of  Peru have what is generally known as the dry season (winter) and wet, or rainy season (summer).

It gets dark early at the moment. It’s just after 6pm as I write this and it’s almost completely dark outside, and once it starts getting dark the temperature plummets. You definitely can’t go out wearing just a t-shirt in the evenings. What makes things worse is that most buildings don’t have any form of central heating so even indoors can be chilly in the evenings and you have to wear a few layers to keep warm.

Still, after having just braved a Canadian winter for almost 6 months I have a completely new perspective on cold, so it’s not really a problem for me!