Arrival to Cuzco

7 de julio -

The arrival...

We left for the airport at 3:30 this morning. We literally had to run through the airport to make it to our plane on time. It was really amazing to fly over the Andes - you see land the whole time because the mountains are so high, higher than the clouds. I fell asleep and woke up right on time when we landed at the airport, which took us way longer than it was supposed to. Here were my first reactions to Cuzco:

• There were Palm trees!!!
• The sky was overcast, which was kind of disappointing since I’d been missing sunny weather.
• I felt absolutely fine, no altitude sickness at all :)

You may notice something isn’t right here...Much to my surprise we were back in Lima! The weather was bad in Cuzco so we couldn’t land so we turned around and headed back to Lima.

The second flight was smooth and we landed safely at the Cuzco airport. No one could really feel the altitude sickness at first. Felice, my host mom and her mom (another host mom) were waiting with signs, it was so cute! After a quick drive we arrived at their houses. To get to our house you have to walk through Mama Julia’s (her mom) house, where 2 other ISA students live. We carried our bags up five flights of stairs - and then the altitude sickness really kicked in because it was hard to breathe. Felice gave us some mate de coca, which helped a lot, but I still didn’t feel all the way better. We also talked a little with Miriam, a student from Quebec who is also staying at the house.

Felice then showed up our rooms, which are amazing! We each have our own room and bathroom. I would have never expected this! My view is absolutely amazing, I can see an elaborate cathedral and the mountains behind it. After getting acquainted with my room, I wanted to unpack, but then I started to feel incredibly dizzy so I laid down. I felt like I was on a rocking cruise ship, like the earth was moving around me. Luckily, I was able to sleep for a few hours. I woke up to Micah (the other USC student who is living with Mama Julia) cheering for Spain in the game against Germany. I wanted to go downstairs so bad, but when I stood up I fell back down on the bed since I was still so dizzy. I finally got downstairs after the game and Felice made me more mate de coca since I wasn’t feeling well and I took some dramamine, which helped a lot.

We met back up with the ISA group for a tour of the city. We’re all really excited to be here - there’s so much culture, beautiful architecture and fresh air. Unfortunately, walking around all the hills was difficult for our acclimating bodies so we couldn’t go too far, but we’ll do some more exploring tomorrow with the group.

I really can’t explain how much I like my host family. I still haven’t met Vladi, the father, but Felice has told us a lot about him. Their two boys, Esteban and Mateo, are so adorable. We gave them gifts tonight and it was so cute to see how excited they were! I don’t have wifi, though, so I’m going to post when I can at night on their computer.