This is the true story... Of [eleven] strangers... picked to live in a house...work together and have their lives taped... to find out what happens... when people stop being polite... and start getting real...The Real World.
On Sunday I felt as though I was the newest member of the Real World; I was walking down the main avenue of Cusco, Peru on Palm Sunday with my oversized hiking pack on, going against the flood of Catholics in town for Semana Santa (Holy Week). I reached the language learning center, Maximo Nivel, that is the hub for my work here in Peru, where I met my first roommate, Jane, a 20yr old intellectual from New Hampshire. After a few minutes of getting to know each other, we hopped in a cab and were taken to the Arcopata Casa, my new home for the next 6wks.
The house is nothing what I expected; it is amazing and was only finished with a remodel six weeks ago. I am incredibly lucky as we have a comfortable sitting room, a reading nook, a fabulous kitchen that comes with the incredible accessory of 2 chefs, four bathrooms, and a patio that I sit on tonight. I naturally roamed around the house in astonishment and then met some of my housemates who were eating lunch. (we get three incredible meals a day; all prepared directly with from our chefs with all natural and organic Peruvian foods. The baker drops fresh bread off each morning for us, there’s baskets of fruit everywhere; only downside is we get all carbs and rarely protein; there are 3000 types of potatoes here and they are trying to get me to try them all I suppose.)
The first of the housemates I met were a lovely family from Australian, actually they are South African, but moved down-under 9yrs ago. The father, Daniel, who I have spent wonderful conversation with, sold his ice cream business and is taking the family around the world for one year. The mother, and two daughters (Jeanne-Marie & Karien) are volunteering with abused girls as they are staying in Cusco for one month. Soon after filling us in on the house, more mates returned from class (everyone is taking Spanish lessons and/or studying to teach English in foreign countries…hmmm):
Kate - a recent college grad who is from DC; has been traveling for a few months already, and volunteering at an orphanage for approx 6mns.
Leonnie - Australian in her early 30s who is traveling the world for a year, and is working at the zoo
Stewart - 30s Englishmen who loves the States (well NYC actually). He’s been here the longest & is about to receive his certificate for teaching
Travis - mid 20s who will be in Peru for 6mns and then the rest of South/Central America for another 6mns; he’s from Alabama
Lindsey - she’s great & our project of construction but is returning to Alberta, Canada soon
Its quite the collection; everyone speaks English and only a couple are on an intermediate Spanish level; that’s nice on one hand as I can really get to know everyone, but it’d be nice if we spoke more Spanish in the house for practice. I feel fortunate for being in this volunteer-house, everyone except Jane has been here for a least 3wks if not 6wks, so I am able to get a lot of survival guidance like which bus to take, where cold beer is sold, how to get your iPod back one its stolen (side note: Kate had raw chicken thrown at her, when she went to wipe it away kids stole her iPod out of her jacket. Students of hers told her about the Nergo Mercado (yes the black market is called the Black Market) so she went there, found her iPod and bought it back for $20), etc. There is a lot of me that also realizes these people have already formed a huge bond as they have been together so that awkwardness is very dense these first few days, but as people move in and out of the house we will get a continued new flock to get to know & there are about 40 other volunteers in Cusco with different housing situations; not to mention Maximo has 1200 students so its easy to meet people.
Peru isn’t all smooth though; there is a huge water crisis here so we only can get running water between 6-8am daily; so there’s a line that forms starting at 540am for the warm showers; if you sleep in to 7am, you get treated with shivers of the dripping shower. Also, Peru is on its own time schedule here, difficult for my planning-self; for instance on Monday there was a procession of a crucifix (a black Jesus) who in 1650 started to be paraded around the city as a prayer to stop the earthquakes. This happens the Monday before Easter every year and was suppose to begin around 3pm; it started around 8pm. The Gringos learned our lesson, as 12,000 Peruvians showed up hours after we had but it was an amazing site nonetheless. The Plaza was filled shoulder to shoulder as the crucifix came through, illuminated by red lights, taken into the Cathedral and then a prayer was given. I can’t say it was worth the 5hours we sat around, but special to witness the power of faith at work.
Eleven world strangers, sharing bathrooms with 2hrs worth of water, living at nearly 12,000ft (which is very challenging) learning what the Real Cusco is all about. This is going to be fun. Adios.
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