When I first arrived it was worst. The fireworks sounded like canons and seemed to go off every hour throughout the night. The people here really know how to celebrate! <-- that's now always a good thing.
Lessons learned and experiences gained
1. Last Sunday me and some friends (Myriam and Richelle) went to the super duper awesome Choco Museo. We paid 65 Nuevo Soles (it would have actually costed 75 Nuevo Soles but Myriam had a discount :D) to do a chocolate making and learning workshop. I highly recommend going if you're coming to Cusco, Peru. The people working there excellently incorporated fun and learning - although I don't think it could have been too hard to do when working with chocolate.
2. I have encountered a major cultural difference here! Here it seems to be ok to explicitly talk about sex without embarrassment. Now, everyone who knows me knows that I have no shame in talking about many things that others would find embarrassing. Sometimes I talk about embarrassing subjects just because I know it's awkward and I welcome awkward situations as learning experiences and for something to talk about with friends later on.
Today, my boss asked me for help in choosing a name of a drink made with Maka. Here in Peru, Maka is known as Peruvian Viagra. That situation got very awkward very fast.
The other day, my boss told me a sexual joke in front of his 11-year-old daughter and another colleague. I'm pretty sure my awkward laugh didn't fool anyone. Afterwards, his daughter told me another joke about a sperm bank. When she began to tell me the joke, I did not understand her pronunciation of the word "semen." I think the confusion was obvious because my colleague asked if I knew what it was. My boss then jumped in and proceeded to explain to me what semen was, where it was produced, and who produces it. SUPER AWKWARD DOES NOT BEGIN TO DESCRIBE HOW I FELT! This is not the first time though that a Peruvian has openly talked about sex in public or to me.
3. Went to Real Plaza (the mall here in Cusco) with some friends for the movie theaters. I went twice actually. The first time we saw "In the Tornado" and the second time we saw "Lucy". I highly recommend that you don't see either one! Life is too short to waste time on these two shitty movies.
4. I'm super swamped at work. I'm working on creating a guidebook and pamphlet for the museum, a game for the kids that visit the museum, and a business model and plan for a few of my boss' other ideas (which are genius by the way).
I did, however, finally finish a basic website for the museum I'm working for! I'm still updating and adding to it, but it is now officially live. You can check it out here: http://museodelacoca.wix.com/cusco.
Picture Time
