Monday, January 26, 2009
Amsterdam and me
The first one was at the beach at totem park in Sitka, the next one is at Kim Novak's house near Medford, third one is recent, at the cabin me and the girls went to around my birthday, the next one was when we lived in Corvallis. We had that one blown up, about three feet by two, and hung it in our living room. Last one is on Halloween a while back, Amy was "warm" and I was a gypsy. Oh I love and miss you Amy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Llama....
An artist at El Arbol wanted to draw a portrait of me....never had that done (except one time at a at Pikes Place Market someone did a caricature of Lila and me). Kind of an interesting experience, especially when I had to smile for about 20 minutes. But it was good for my soul....all these happy thoughts kept running through my mind....mostly of family, and good things to come.
Other pictures are of me walking along some Inca ruins. Went on a hike with a knowledgable guide to the Temple of the Monkeys and the Temple of the Moon....It was awesome. There were pre-Incan ruins, and Incan ruins....it's so amazing the thingss they carved and did. There was this big figure 8 out of rock, a perfect circle for a clock, carvings of monkeys, snakes, condors, and pumas and there were caves, stairs, "chairs," alters for sacrificing animals in ceremonies, caves where only the priests could enter to pray, a cave where a woman was constantly in trance.....amazing. I did two challenges. The hardest one was climbing a mud-caked rock inside a cave, and squeezing through a tiny opening at the top and doing it without getting serioiusly injured or dying. It was a pretty awesome experience.
An artist at El Arbol wanted to draw a portrait of me....never had that done (except one time at a at Pikes Place Market someone did a caricature of Lila and me). Kind of an interesting experience, especially when I had to smile for about 20 minutes. But it was good for my soul....all these happy thoughts kept running through my mind....mostly of family, and good things to come.
Other pictures are of me walking along some Inca ruins. Went on a hike with a knowledgable guide to the Temple of the Monkeys and the Temple of the Moon....It was awesome. There were pre-Incan ruins, and Incan ruins....it's so amazing the thingss they carved and did. There was this big figure 8 out of rock, a perfect circle for a clock, carvings of monkeys, snakes, condors, and pumas and there were caves, stairs, "chairs," alters for sacrificing animals in ceremonies, caves where only the priests could enter to pray, a cave where a woman was constantly in trance.....amazing. I did two challenges. The hardest one was climbing a mud-caked rock inside a cave, and squeezing through a tiny opening at the top and doing it without getting serioiusly injured or dying. It was a pretty awesome experience.
Here are some pictures of the market that I have been talking about. It's pretty huge, and there's lots of cool stuff. They sell fruits and vegetables and bascilly everything you'd have to go to numerous stores to get, including instruments and whole skinned pigs who, needless to say, did not come home from the market. The other poster (I couldn't rotate it) I thought was funny.....If you drink juice, you will definitely look like that strapping young man, for sure. So buy it, after all, it is only about $2.50 for the freshest stuff around. You drink it right there on a stool after they blend it up for you. Yummy.
Alrighty well it has been been a few days since I have posted anything, but I am now! Here are some boys I came across burning fake American money, I thought it was kind of funny. This was in the Plaza de Armas, the main square here in Cusco...And then, some fruit. I love fruit, and it is so fresh here! And so cheap, too. What a wonderully grand and healthy combination.
So what else....Spanish lessons are still going well, and I am learning a lot. I have a feeling I don't really realize how much I am learning, because in class a lot of new concepts are being introduced and is challenging, and it is so hard to remember all these new words....but "poco a poca" I am getting better.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
An eight year old boy I see almost every day while walking around, and buy stones from once in a while. I stopped at looked at the rocks today, and since he was in a different spot than usual, I didn't pay attention to who was selling them. He didn't see my face at first either, so thought I was just another tourist, but we were both happy when we realized who each other was, and he gave me a hug, it was so cute.
El Arbol, the groovy hangout place I go to sometimes. Lots of live music, organic vegetarian food and all that jazz. I love it. Also a place where you can book treks through the jungle and to Macchu Picchu. Groovy as gold.
A typical store type place....kind of set up like a concession stand. Today I went to a place like this and bought a tomato, an onion, two bananas, two oranges and three pieces of fresh bread for $1.70 soles (about $.60 american). 
My neighboorhood
Welll well well....
I started my first day of spanish lessons today, and they went very well. I had an excellent time. Mi profesora, named Marionella, came to my hostel at 8:30 this morning and we walked around talking in spanish. We spent most of our time at the market, where there was a lot of vocabulary on shelves that people were selling. We had some coffee, and I actually learned a lot. Then we took a minibus to the school where another teacher named Maritza taught me some grammar. Most of it was review, but a lot of it will be memorizing certain things....just remembering how things are put and stuff like that. I am happy to be supporting these nice, single mothers. I pay most of the money directly to them each week.
It was rainy most of the day today. I kind of want it to just be warm all of the time! But if gave me a chance to wear the rain jacket in a bottle that Mom and Dad got me from Christmas. Isn't that wonderul? Yes, it is. I love it. It's lightweight, blue, has pockets and works perfectly. Awesome.
I haven't really been doing a lot in the evenings, but tomorrow there is a cooking class that I plan on going to. That happens every Wednesday, so it will be cool to learn some Peruvian techniques. All of the teachers and most of the other students will be there, so it will be a good chance to meet some people. Yay merrily yay.
Hmmm....I don't know...I have been reading and writing a lot and looking into some places to volunteer either while I am taking spanish lessons or afterwards....Most of the volunteering places are all packaged up and have a certain schedule, so I don't know how it will work out, as I am not free until around 1:00 in the afternoon. We'll see. I don't want to pay a certain amount for an organization each week or month if I am only going to be there half the time. Although usually it's a pretty good deal, with your homestay family cooking you three meals a day and providing accomodation, of course, including usually a shared bedroom (with a strapping young gentleman) and a hot shower (also, of course, with the gentleman).
So...I know I have been saying this for weeks now, but I REALLY do want to do a trek through the jungle and on to either Macchu Picchu or some other place. There are a trillion tourists that go there every year, which kind of puts me off, but really, I should just get over it and go. I don't see how it can be anything but absolutely amazing. But, staying here in Cusco for this long has opened up several different opportunities to choose from, and I believe I have found the cheapest and best way to go on that adventure, at that is through this vegetarian/hangout/live music/homely kind of place that I go to pretty often. There is a guy named Pepe who does the trek with small groups, and it sounds pretty awesome. So I might have to take a week off spanish and do that....or wait for a couple more weeks. We'll see what unfolds.
Well, I have been meaning to take more pictures, and I do have a few, but it would be kind of cool to go to take pictures at the market, like I have been thinking about doing for a while. So I probably will.
I guess that is it for now!!! As usual, I hope everyone is absolutely groovy!!!!!!!! I love you all!!!!!
Love,
Magnum
I started my first day of spanish lessons today, and they went very well. I had an excellent time. Mi profesora, named Marionella, came to my hostel at 8:30 this morning and we walked around talking in spanish. We spent most of our time at the market, where there was a lot of vocabulary on shelves that people were selling. We had some coffee, and I actually learned a lot. Then we took a minibus to the school where another teacher named Maritza taught me some grammar. Most of it was review, but a lot of it will be memorizing certain things....just remembering how things are put and stuff like that. I am happy to be supporting these nice, single mothers. I pay most of the money directly to them each week.
It was rainy most of the day today. I kind of want it to just be warm all of the time! But if gave me a chance to wear the rain jacket in a bottle that Mom and Dad got me from Christmas. Isn't that wonderul? Yes, it is. I love it. It's lightweight, blue, has pockets and works perfectly. Awesome.
I haven't really been doing a lot in the evenings, but tomorrow there is a cooking class that I plan on going to. That happens every Wednesday, so it will be cool to learn some Peruvian techniques. All of the teachers and most of the other students will be there, so it will be a good chance to meet some people. Yay merrily yay.
Hmmm....I don't know...I have been reading and writing a lot and looking into some places to volunteer either while I am taking spanish lessons or afterwards....Most of the volunteering places are all packaged up and have a certain schedule, so I don't know how it will work out, as I am not free until around 1:00 in the afternoon. We'll see. I don't want to pay a certain amount for an organization each week or month if I am only going to be there half the time. Although usually it's a pretty good deal, with your homestay family cooking you three meals a day and providing accomodation, of course, including usually a shared bedroom (with a strapping young gentleman) and a hot shower (also, of course, with the gentleman).
So...I know I have been saying this for weeks now, but I REALLY do want to do a trek through the jungle and on to either Macchu Picchu or some other place. There are a trillion tourists that go there every year, which kind of puts me off, but really, I should just get over it and go. I don't see how it can be anything but absolutely amazing. But, staying here in Cusco for this long has opened up several different opportunities to choose from, and I believe I have found the cheapest and best way to go on that adventure, at that is through this vegetarian/hangout/live music/homely kind of place that I go to pretty often. There is a guy named Pepe who does the trek with small groups, and it sounds pretty awesome. So I might have to take a week off spanish and do that....or wait for a couple more weeks. We'll see what unfolds.
Well, I have been meaning to take more pictures, and I do have a few, but it would be kind of cool to go to take pictures at the market, like I have been thinking about doing for a while. So I probably will.
I guess that is it for now!!! As usual, I hope everyone is absolutely groovy!!!!!!!! I love you all!!!!!
Love,
Magnum
Saturday, January 17, 2009
A groovy picture I found on the internet of the four elements.
Some herbs that I will dry and make tea out of.
Rocks....the big black ones are ones that the Incas crafted. One is a snake that wraps around the whole thing. The other one symbolizes a serpent, puma and condor. There is also amethyst there, clear quartz, solalite,, amber, pyrite and copper something something......
Rocks....the big black ones are ones that the Incas crafted. One is a snake that wraps around the whole thing. The other one symbolizes a serpent, puma and condor. There is also amethyst there, clear quartz, solalite,, amber, pyrite and copper something something......
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