Eric Poon – The Voyage Continues – Cusco, Peru

Basilica de la Catedral, one of the two churches at the main plaza.

After a little over a week in Cusco, I have found that I love it. Cusco is different to Mexico, the way people carry themselves is one of the differences. I don’t know if it is because this is a city while my time in Mexico was in small towns and beaches. Either way, the people of Cusco appear to be a bit more timid but still carry the same warmth and friendliness as Mexico. The city is huge yet I have only explored a small section of it (the main plaza, places surrounding the plaza, and the supermarket near my home stay). Through my exploration, I have met a diverse group of people besides Peruvians: Belgians, Australians, Canadians, French, and fellow Americans from the USA. The people from these countries carry very different

The fountain in the main square, Plaza de Armas. This plaza is bustling center of history and activity.

opinions of that of my own and others. Majority of the time, I keep my mouth shut, but sometimes they want a friendly debate (hopefully it was friendly, they are still extremely friendly to me and invite me for lunch, so I’m good). The diversity in Cusco is broad, mainly because Cusco is a huge tourist city.

But moving on to why I came to Peru, teaching English. I am teaching English at an orphanage to seven boys between the ages of 12-15. The boys are eager to learn, but forget or become bored very quickly, which I don’t blame them. English is hard to learn, but it is a very important language to learn, and even in this short time span, they have learned a lot. They are even teaching me as well, accidentally. Mainly it is words that I don’t know that I have to look up because they want to know what it means in English. After a good five seconds of starting class, the kids can’t sit still and want me to play fútbol (soccer) with them.They usually get what they wish for at the end of class: me failing at playing fútbol with them! In the end, as long as they learn their English, there is absolutely no problem.

My English class, from left to right: Richard, Ivan, the man behind is Stefan (he is a fellow volunteer from the USA), he is holding Marco, Yeferson, Leoncio, Edson, Robert, and me and Carlos.

Now, I have to talk about something very important. This topic is how great the food is. I absolutely love it. It reminds me of home. One of the staples in a Peruvian diet is rice and potatoes. A meal has to contain either of those two, unless we are having fruits for breakfast. All of the food in Cusco is right up my alley. Also, walking the streets of Cusco is dangerous. Not like I will get mugged or anything along those lines, but the street vendors’ food smells so good! You can hear the sizzle and smell the fragrance of assortments of meats and potatoes amid the hustle and bustle of the city. Even if you just ate, your stomach will yearn for more, or maybe that is just me. Either way, the food in Cusco is absolutely amazing. Except, the tacos in Cusco are not nearly as good as the ones in Mexico.

Me resting in a quiet moment on ancient stone steps.

There is still so much that I can write about Cusco or the people or the food or where my travels have taken me. But for now, this will be all.