Peru!

So I have arrived in Peru! I left on a noon flight from Boston, and arrive in Lima around 10 pm (their time, which is an hour behind the east coast, so really 11:00). I had traveled with a girl on my program, Priscilla, because she was also from Boston. Our flight to Cusco didn't leave Lima until 5:45 am, so we waited in the airport all night until it was time to leave. We waited at a Starbucks and ended up meeting a few other people from our program who were also there waiting for flights, so it was nice (but also a little ridiculous because we were so tired) to meet each other in advance. We got to Cusco around 7:00 am and got picked up by the staff here (we have 3 main staff who coordinate everything and are in charge of academics). Rather than staying in Cusco right away, we have been staying at a hotel in a nearby city called Urubamba for our orientation. The reasoning behind this is that Cusco is at 11,000 feet and many people get sick from the altitude when they first get there. Urubamba is only around 7,000 feet so it has been easier to get used to the altitude.

We haven't been doing too much in orientation, just getting to know each other (there are 14 other students in the program) and becoming familiar with Peru and the culture and understanding the academic expectations for the trip. We have gone a few little trips to neighboring communities but otherwise mostly stayed in our (beautiful) hotel here in Urubamba and talked. Yesterday, though, we went to Machu Picchu, which was beautiful! Well, it owuld have been more beautiful had it not been raining the entire time. But it was still incredible to see, and even better than I had expected. The trip took a LONG time each way, so we all bonded a lot on the journey, which was fun.

Today we are going to meet our homestay families in Cusco! We are leaving on a bus in an hour to go to a little reception they are having for us. Tomorrow we have a Spanish placement test and then we start class on Monday. I should go now but I will update more later once I figure everything out in Cusco.

Hasta Luego!

Rachel