I left Greeville, South Carolina at 12:20pm on Tuesday. For the most part my travels went very smoothly. I made some fast friends along the way- a lady from Brazil, a professional golfer, and some very friendly Peruvians (some were extra friendly). I met up with Kelsey, another student from my university studying in Cusco in Miami. When we got to Lima we checked our bags at the same time. Everyone at the airport spoke English very well, except the guy that checked Kelsey's bag- she got put on a flight that was in 1 hour and he didn't tell her. According to someone on the plane ride, Lima was supposed to be the best airport in South America. Well- I'd have to say I saw it on its worst day. After Kelsey realized her plane was leaving RIGHT THEN I walked around the airport a bit, paid $10 for a bottle of water and sat down at my gate. PS- Lima's policies for departures include no announcements or final boarding calls, releasing gate numbers 20 minutes before departure and keeping people confused so they don't know whats going on. While siting at the gate my flight was leaving from I started looking at the depature screen and noticed that my flight was CANCELED. So I quickly went up to the desk and luckily got a new ticket. It wasn't until 10 minutes later that they started announcing that this flight was cancelled. All the flights were also delayed and the screens were reading the wrong departure gates. I was really frustrated as I was coming up on 24 hours in airports and airplanes. I begged a lady to let me be on standby for an earlier flight and somehow I got it. I arrived in Cusco 1 hour late, but thankfully my ride was still there. On the way into the airport I was stunned by the mountains and scenery. It is so beautiful here. There are no words. No hay palabras. After getting my bag I met Gustavo, my homestay father. He speaks a good bit of English but I prefer using only Spanish. We went to his home- a very nice apartment. Here I met Marina, their helper. She is the same age as I am. Gustavo had to return to work so I talked to Marina for 2 hours or so- my broken Spanish was very hard to understand I'm sure but she helped me understand some customs etc. I was also thankful to have my phone with me that has a spanish dictionary app. I can tell I'll be using this alot. (Gustavo often types in words so he can translate them for me). I feel very at home. Then I met Catalina. Boy is she spicy! She is 3 and knows what shes doing and talking about. She knows some English but is on a mission to teach me Spanish.
After a very delcious lunch of soup, chicken, rice and vegetables I got some sleep. I didn't want to sleep very long because I don't want to be too off of the schedule. I slept until about 5. When I woke up I met Katy, mi madre. She is very beautiful! She doesn't speak as much English as Gustavo, but we were both learning. She is very very sweet and accomidating. She and Catalina were baking a cake. This was alot of fun to watch because Katy let Catalina have a large part in mixing the ingredients. With each new addition Katy told me how fresh and organic the products are in Peru. Catalina liked licking the spoons :) (I have pictures don't worry). While the cake was baking Catalina and I were drawing a castle in her room. And the power went out. I'm not going to lie I was pretty scared. I didn't really know what was going on. Then I found out that their neighbors grandma was stuck in the elevator. I was really thankful for my phone then because it was a good flashlight and none of the candles in the house were working. After about an hour it came back on. We were able to eat the cake also- it was very good! Then I talked to Gustavo and Katy about home and some other things over un Cerveza. And now its time to catch up some much needed sleep!!! Buenos noches. I will add pictures of today shortly.
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