Well Situated with Spanish

After changing schools and getting to know the teachers at our new school, we feel like we have finally nailed down our ideal situation in Cusco.  We are happy with our teachers, the class length and the times of day.  The three of us have two hours of grammar together in the morning. In between class we have time for lunch (at the homestay or at a restaurant) and homework.  In the late afternoon we return to school for two hours of conversation class.  John and Eydie are together and Brook has a private session. Brook’s instructor, Amauta, is young, upbeat and friendly.  He is no longer hesitant to do private lessons.

We are going to delay our Salkantay trek for another week to stick with this Spanish schedule.  By waiting, we hope it won’t be too cold when we are camping.  Winter is approaching. The past two days it has been colder, not as sunny during the days.  In fact we had hail today.

A little more about the weather in this city…

Layered clothing is essential as is enough daypack capacity to handle it.  The mornings are cool.  As the day progresses while walking the streets, you are regularly moving into the sun where it is comfortable to wear short sleeves and then back in the shade where you want a jacket.  It doesn’t matter what time of day, inside buildings and houses it is cold.  None of them have heating systems.  We have found that it really helps to walk to class at as brisk a pace as possible.  It takes about thirty minutes at full throttle.  Then your body is warm enough to get you through the two-hour class comfortably. Ideally we give ourselves enough time to pick up coffee before class.  The watered down coffee concentrate at the house just isn’t cutting it.  Apparently, that's the way Berta likes her coffee.  But finding quality take out coffee isn’t easy.  Despite our preference to support a local establishment, we often end up at Starbucks since they are the only ones that can (usually) handle fast take out.