Sunday, recovering from a near sleepless night of moderate food poisening (due to some raw veggies that my trusting american apetite failed to flag as dangerous), I got up early and decided to commit the layout of Cusco to memory. In a stroke of luck, I caught a nice parade in the Plaza de Armas, with a bunch of local schools, their teachers, and professional bands marching before some important people. I quite enjoyed it, despite the fact that the army, in full gear, with the tourist police, oddly, with much newer uniforms and guns, were standing by looking hungry for some action.
Later I met up with a some of my TEFL group at El Molino, the huge market near my house. I got 2 cds (amy winehouse and juanes) for 7 sols (about 3 dollars) and monopoly for 10 sols. Then, we headed to a nearby pizza resaurant, which was completely desserted. We drank the wine we had purchased at the market (a great argentinian red) and ate delicious pizza, amounting to 3 bucks a person. Later on, we spent the night playing an intense (well, for me at least) game of monopoly at Gloria and Kaitlin´s apartment. The horrible quality of the game made it all the better: the uber-stiff board that caused the pieces and cards to constantly topple over, the super thin paper money of only 2 different colors and insufficient quantity, the incorrectly priced properties, and the ´chance´ cards that had random pictures which did not correspond whatsoever with the card´s verdict. And, in case you were wondering, I dominated.
Today, I went for my first high altitude run. Although I could only go for 10 minutes, and I have been really wheezy and stuffy-nosed all day, it was definately a start! The locals looked at me like I was a crazy person, and the many stray dogs barked as I passed. That´s one wierd thing about Cusco; there are so many stray dogs roaming around! They have no collars, no visible owners, and pass the time lounging around the plazas and walking around the streets. I bet they were abandoned as pets for llamas, which attract a lot of tourist attention and revenue. Llamas are really cute, altough they have really bland personalities. I think I prefer dogs.
There has been a riot going on the past week. It has something to do with the rising cost of living and lack of increase in wages to compliment this. There was a huge march down the Avenida El Sol (the main street, where Maximo Nivel, my school, is) today during our lunch hour. Riot police are always present, loud drums accompany the shouts, and the traffic is really screwed up during the demonstrations. It´s all very heartening, though, to see the people fighting for their rights. Can you tell that I´m American? If my white skin, big sunglasses, or western accent doesn´t give it away, it´s my pride in individual rights against an oppresive government. Too bad there´s not a tea boat nearby to tip over. I bet that would show em.
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