Peru

Quiet, clean, cheap, and central yet out-of-the-way little hostel-slash-guesthouse, situated in Cusco's trendy and eclectic San Blas neighbourhood. I checked in to this place (on the recommendation of Jesus) after leaving my host family today, and I'll be here on-and-off for the rest of my time in Cusco. It seems to be almost empty — I've got a 6-bed dorm all to myself — and this is probably due to its being very basic, and to its location at the top of a big hill, which can only be climbed on foot via a flight of steep steps.

After four very quick and very memorable weeks with them, today I finally said goodbye to the Polar Covarrubias family, and "moved out of home". Lunch today was my last meal with the family, and it was a bit sad to have to say farewell to them; but it was also a relief to be ending my routine and getting-a-bit-too-comfortable life with them, and preparing to get back on the road again. They've been the best host family I could have asked for: after my time with them, I feel like I've gained a second family, for life. I know I'll always be welcome at their house in the future.

It seems that working on one web site (during my "vacation" — which seems to be on hold for now in Cusco) simply isn't enough: as well as Hampy, I'm now also helping with the Amigos web site! That's right: Jesus has persuaded me to lend a hand with the effort to deliver Amigos a shiny new site. However, in the case of Amigos, Luis is taking care of all the design and development side of things (using Rails); so I'm just assisting with writing, improving and correcting the English-language content for the various pages.

Ashley is a Canadian girl with a marketing background, who's here in Cusco for about 2 months, helping Hampy with various aspects of their publicity. I first met Ashley about 2 weeks ago, on the Chocco and Hampy tour, and from now on I'm going to be working pretty closely with her on the new Hampy web site. She has a dry but witty sense of humour, and she can sure as hell let her hair down and party, when the occasion calls for it.

This morning, I had my final three hours of class at Amigos. So, after four intense and incredibly quick weeks, my Spanish classes have come to an end. I've had an amazing time at Amigos, I've made lots of really good friends, and my Spanish has improved tremendously. During the past week, I've had one-on-one classes with Merly, and we've covered heaps of ground in the various types of past tense (in particular). My new found knowledge in this area, and in general all-round vocabulary, has really empowered me to speak a lot more confidently and a lot more fluently.

A paro is a "strike" or a "demonstration". Generally, disgruntled workers hold a paro. It usually involved the stoppage of services (such as public transport), rioting, and sometimes violence. Since I'm going to Bolivia soon, I'll no doubt be witnessing quite a few paros there (as they're basically a way of life in Bolivia). In fact, there's a big paro going on there right now — I hope it's finished by the time I arrive there. Paro can also mean "unemployed": a dole bludger could say "estoy en paro" (lit: "I'm unemployed"). Also elderly people and smokers (in particular) are sometimes known to have a "paro cardiaco" (lit: "cardiac arrest", or "heart attack").

Delicious, vegetarian dish of beans and potatoes, simmered in a spicy sauce of chili, egg, milk, and onion, and served with rice. This afternoon, for my final cooking lesson with Amigos, our amazing chef Ricardo (of tiradito de pescado and causa rellena fame) showed us how to cook up some kapchi de habas, another spicy dish local to the Cusco area. A great final addition to my Andean cooking repertoire, and another one that I'll have to make again sometime!

On Monday night, I started working on a completely new, completely better web web site for Hampy, a volunteer organisation that I kind of ran into here in Cusco. Between Monday and today, I've spent about 5 hours each night working on the site, over at Jorge's house (AKA "Hampy HQ), where I have access to his computer and Internet. And already, the new site is looking pretty good. Design basically done, rough navigation structure done, and a bit of the interactivity done.

Definitely not anyone's favourite thing (apart from the local council — which around here is Caja Municipal Cusco), a multa is a "fine", or "payment penalty". Similarly, the verb multar means "to fine". Someone can "pone una multa a tí" (lit: "give you a fine"), or they can just "te multa" (lit: "fine you"). You can "paga tus multas" (lit: "pay your fines"); or alternatively, you could "pide tus multas" (lit: "lose your fines"). One way or another, they're always a pain in the a$$.

Carlos Joel Delgado Pizarro is a young guy studying computer science at university, here in Cusco. Carlos was told about me (and vice versa) by — who else — the king of Linux and of Linux-folk here in Peru: my friend Antonio Ognio (from Lima). I met with Carlos today at my host family's house, and we had a good old chat about Linux, open-source, programming, the state of IT and of open-source in Peru, and even Drupal (a bit). Plus, I managed to talk with him in Spanish the whole time! Not bad, especially considering that I really wasn't feeling too good today (more food poisoning). Great guy, and a many with many questions.