Love at first sight

I have this love at first sight thing with places. Either I love them immediately, like I did Matagalpa and London, and they become part of me for ever; or I might get to appreciate them, but no matter how much time I spend there, I never feel at home (like Durham, and Iringa). And I Love Cusco. Some luxuries I hadn't dared to hope for, like wireless internet in my bedroom definitely help my unconditional love ;)

Today I worked like a banker (almost), till 9.30 pm...there is definitely a lot to do! The office is in the ground floor of the house, and there is me, Maria, an accountant and a web person. It is great, and also strange, to have a job. I don't dare call it a real job, because I suppose in real jobs you don't need your employer to name and explain every food you eat 'cause you've never seen it before, and you don't walk around the city taking pictures "for the website"...anyway it's great to (almost) get paid to do what I've been doing for the past few years for free!

Maricarmen and her husband Geoff took me for a walk downtown Cusco around noon, and it is undescribable! It is surrounded by beautiful green mountains, over 5,000 meters high. The city itself is gorgeous, the Spanish architecture, and little streets, and the indigenous culture is alive and well, not just here for the tourists (who are not here in this season anyway). I keep having problems with my camera, but more and better pictures are coming soon! The central market is impressive, the amount and size and variety of fruit and vegetables is unbelievable! Pumpkins the size of Cinderella's carriage, and so many different kinds of potatoes...the pictures shows a stool where we had carrot juice which a woman made right in front of us of huge carrots and other fruits I don't even know. An entire jug for 4 soles (less than 1 euro).

Tonight I went to the Irish Pub in the Plaza de Armas (you can look up as many pictures of the Plaza de Armas as you want, but they don't even remotely do it justice). The pub is one of the gringo hang-out spots in the city, can't say I was impressed (with the place or the Cusquena beer), but it was a nice evening. I really like Maria, she is very nice and down to Earth, and she seems hard-working and very committed to her work.

Tomorrow we are going to the Inca Sacred Valley so I can see the communities we'll work with there. And Sunday we'll be back to see the carnival celebrations! Next week we'll go to Pilcopata for a couple weeks to talk with communities there and set up the volunteer projects.