Hello from Arequipa, Peru where the altitude and dry weather takes some getting used to...like for example...as I type this it is 9% humidity. I have spent one of the three months here in the ABC Espanol language institute and look to spend two more before returning to Pucallpa.
I usually get up around 7am and watch the news or Cartoon Network (in Spanish of course!) - both are really good for Spanish. I then head out the door at 8am and get on a combi, which is a small bus. The ride across town costs .70 soles which is about 23 cents. The combi is not really sized to fit Americans or at least Americans my size - most the time I am standing and chivalry is huge here especially to old women. The ride takes about 20 min or so.
I have a conversation class from 8:30-10:00 and a grammar class from 10:20-12:00. I then take the combi back to my neighborhood on the other side of town. I got a small gym membership and try to workout at least 4-5 times a week. Homework fills the afternoons and evenings - on top of living with Peruvians who correct you all the time - it really is a good thing.
I am making some progress and hope to be well advanced in my spanish by the time I leave in September. Arequipa is beautiful, though it is always cold here as soon as the sun goes down - and no one has heat. I have gotten "the chills" here a lot and found myself thinking of Jimmy Buffet's line "I wanna go where its warm!!!"
The next week I have to go to Arica, Chile to get my Peruvian resident visa. I know I know...its nuts...but once you apply for the visa and it clears...you have to exit the country to pick it up - luckily I am about a 7 hours drive from Chile.
I will try to post some pics this week of a combi and our institute.
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