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