Me gusta el queso!

OK, imagine every swear word you have ever heard. Multiply it by a hundred. That´s nowhere near how "bleeped" off I feel right now. Now, no bag until Wednesday. I have NADA left in terms of las robas, I´m wearing men´s Y-fronts ´cause that´s all I could get hold of. Grrrr.....

Anyway, today I had my first Spanish lesson, which was wicked. I´m seeing more the differences between Spanish in all the different countries, like "Barcelona" and "Bar-the-lona." Gives me some ammunition for the yanks a hard time for their awful spelling - colour has a u for God´s sake! Spent last night sitting in the plaza chatting for ages and teaching people my oh so amusing accent, leading to a lot of "alroit chaps, would you like a cup of tea?"

Yesterday went to Yucay, the next town over, for a little hike with my homestay dad and brother Josh ("Yoss"), which resulted in much puffing and sweatiness for me, while the 55 year old ran miles ahead of my without breaking a sweat at all! The scenery was beautiful, and we saw some gorgeous art, though I don´t trust any airline enough not to lose it on my way home (grrr.....).

The food is gorgeous, though there is a tonne of it, I can´t eat it all! It´s so natural and healthy, lots of vegetables and rice, but still all very different dishes. Yesterday my homestay mum took me into the garden to hold one of the cuy (guinea pigs), then proceded to tell me that it was Wednesday´s dinner. I wanted to run away with the little bubby, though he probably would have bitten me to bits. This morning for breakfast I had small flat sweet bread rolls with melted local cheese inside - ahhhhh!

The climate is rather odd, with blistering hot sun during the day, and minus zero nights. I´m shivering with sunburn! The sun is up only from 6am to 6pm, and it sets so quickly, in literally 15 minutes. Last night I saw the stars, they are all so different here! There are a million more than at home, all so bright and so big. The moon was amazing, like a giant bowl above the mountains, and you could even see the 3/4 that was in shadow faintly, which I was really excited about!

This morning I woke up at my usual 4:30am (jet lag) and thought I would have a shower, but the water only runs between 6am and 8pm. And there´s no hot water AT ALL. EVER. It´s an alien concept here, which can be painful when you are so cold that you see your breath at 7am, then you have to get naked and stand under a rush of glacial water for a least 45 seconds to lather and rinse. Think I might just smell a lot while I am here.

OK, promise, pictures on the way!

Chao!