We´re here!

Welcome to Cusco! We arrived yesterday around 11 AM after a long trip. Our layover in Mexico City was less than exciting, with a very long wait in the immigration line, ticket line, and topped off with Papa John´s pizza (which we never even eat in the USA). We thought our 6 hour layover would be too much time, and ended up being just the right amount in order to figure it all out. Needless to say we were happy to leave there and get on our flight to Lima, then Cusco. After very little sleep, we arrived exhausted and were welcomed by Jonathon, an employee of Maximo Nivel, and taken to the home of the family we are staying with. Americo, Dahlia, and their daughter Pamela have all been very welcoming...excellent hosts. Todd is trying to speak as much Spanish as possible, and I find myself picking up more and more as I hear it. Trying to respond is another story, however! Americo (dad) has nicknamed Todd, Qique, as that was his Spanish name in his high school Spanish class and Dahlia (mom) has a difficult time pronouncing Todd. Dahlia is taking extra special care of the pregnant woman staying in her home...she tells us we need to come back with the baby after it is born. Americo and Dahlia both speak limited English, but seem to appreciate the chance to practice with us every chance they get. Pamela´s English is very good, which makes it really nice to have a built in translator around!
Chris and Joe, our other housemates arrived today from Seattle and Connecticut. We have been touring around the city, finding our way around and figuring out where we go to start orientation tomorrow.
We are not having problems with altitude, which is a nice surprise. Our time has been filled with new, unknown foods.....most of which have been very delicious! We think we lucked out with our placement. At times it feels as though we are not even in a developing country....hot water in the shower, internet access, cable TV (which we don´t even have at home)....very comfortable living situation. We had to remind ourselves last night when we went to sleep that we are in Peru, after watching an American movie in English with Spanish subtitles!
We are excited to see what our volunteer placement has in store for us tomorrow....which starts off with a Spanish placement test to see where we will begin our classes, and ends with a tour of our volunteer placement and meeting the staff there. Until the next update.....adios!
-C & T