Salineras and Baby Syndrome

Don't worry, it's not that I want a baby, it's just that I feel like one. This morning I went to Salineras with Alejandro (also known as Alfredo, or Rasta-Man, although he doesn't know about the first one), and because he couldn't find his identi(ficación), we took an alternate route. I think he was testing my American lungs, or perhaps the strength of my heart. So... many... steps. My body does fine, my calves love the burn, but my heart and lungs are two very different stories. I swear we went up ten flights of the steepest stairs in my life. I should have seen heaven at the top, I tell you.

It was beautiful, and ruinesque (although I'd also like to see it from the non-alternative route side) and I was a hot sweaty baby throughout. I tried to explain that I felt like a little thing that had just woken up from a nap and felt mussy and fussy and disoriented but I think he just thought I was lazy (floja.) This could also be true, but I much prefer my metaphor.

We had chica (not the made-in-the-mouth kind) and it tasted of sweet and sour apple. He tipped some of his chica onto the concrete floor in the chicaria (for Pachamama, he said) and I told him I had already given my offering, referring to my nature-pee at Salineras. I'm getting quite skilled at peeing outside, although today I made the splashy mistake of peeing on dirt. Maybe this is too much information; I don't know. This is Jessica Jackson Peru Adventure 2009 UN-CUT version, with behind the scenes passes to the outside-peeing scandals.

Plans are coming together for the upcoming weeks. I think a bunch of us (Máximo teachers, my fellow teachers, my housemate/s) are going to go camping in the Sacred Valley on Friday. Whether or not we camp, we're going to do something adventurous for the long weekend, and I'll probably take off for Machu Picchu from there.

I still feel frowny and mussy. It's just one of those days. I think a dance marathon is in order. But first, listening to "Get Up, Stand Up" and heeding the advice to look for my life on earth and see the light (jah!), and then maybe a nap.

Life after TEFL

TEFL course is over! Look at all of those proud and beaming graduates!

I am finishing up my portfolio and Grammar paper this week, and then I will be free and my certificate will be in the mail to me!

During our TEFL party (pictured above) at Máximo Nivel, Mojito got spilled up my nose, and there was plenty of dancing. At the spill-over party in Roots, arguably the best disco in town, our TEFL professor as well as another English teacher and two of our students danced on the bar. I even got down with someone who had nothing to do with Máximo. Score! You might be sad to hear that I didn't dance on the bar, but don't worry, I got into my own mischief. ;) The night on a whole was super and I spent the next day in bed, which was also super.

I am giving myself a week or two here in Cusco to re-ground. This TEFL course really did eat my life, and I'm getting it back. Enjoying spending more time at home or outside, as opposed to my TEFL classroom... I'm enjoying taking pictures and exploring and walking and breathing, and being.

After I've decompressed from the course, I'm planning to travel through Peru, with spots and sites including but not limited to: Machu Picchu, Arequipa and Colca Cañon, and Lake Titicaca. Next up, Chile and Argentina, maybe, who knows. Not me.

If you have ideas, give me a holler.

For now, peace.
Jess