By Farah Ahmad – Guest Blogger from Cusco SALUD
1. Try to plan your trip so you can be in Cusco for Inti Raymi and the week preceding the holiday. I found all the dances the week prior to be more exciting than the actual day of the holiday!
2. In all the rush of ruins and things to see don´t forget to take some time to sit in the Plaza or San Blas and enjoy meeting random new people!
3. Wear sun block! You´ll probably burn a little easier here.
4. Tipon was one of my favorite set of ruins but I felt like it got only tiny mentions in most guide books. I recommend going and also
climbing up the Inca staircases as they were awe-inspiring and the view was amazing!
5. There are PLENTY of ATMS everywhere in the city so this is probably the best way to get money at the best rate. I brought traveler´s checks as an emergency back up but I doubt I´ll end up using them. In general, the advice I´ve heard is to pay in dollars when quoted a price in dollars and in soles when given a price in soles. That way you avoid losing money in changing. In general, you´ll probably be paying in soles aside from some of your weekend travel agency bookings.
6. Hoard small change when you can! Also, after pulling money out of the ATM- you can go into a bank and exchange your 50 and 100 soles bills for smaller bills which makes life a lot easier. Another option is going to some of the bigger grocery stores and buying a small snack.
7. Internet cafes are really found every block or so. They are generally 50 centimos per half hour. Walk farther away from Ave del Sol and the Plaza as these tend to be more expensive.
8. Ask cab drivers how much they charge before getting in. Generally during the day cab rides are 2 to 2.5 soles depending on where you live. After 10 pm, they get more expensive.
9. Learn how to take combis (public bus or van) or ask your family to take one with you the first time you go to school. I know that taxis
themselves are not that expensive but combis are much cheaper (approx 60 centimos.) I really believe it´s all part of the experience of living here. What you really need to know (and you´ll learn) is what names of combis go in your destination and what the name of the stop you want is…then you should just be able to ask the person who opens the door of the combis if that combi goes to that stop. Say ¨baja¨when you hear your stop being called and pay. There are some stories of people getting fake five soles coins so just look at your money beforehand or try to have something closer to exact change.
10. If traveling out of Cusco, save some money by cutting out every middleman you possibly can. There are a lot of tourist companies in Cusco so while it saves some headache, it´s also cheaper if you buy a bus ticket to the destination you want (ex.Arequipa or Puno) and then book with a company ahead of time in one of those places. I actually ended up on the same tours as people who booked through Cusco agencies who ended up paying much more. Use the tour agencies listed in a guidebook or someone else has used to avoid any problems with being ripped off.
11. Take a bus company that´s recommended by your family. Some include Ormano, Cruz del Sur, Cromotex. Buy tickets from the bus station and compare prices. When you book (but especially when you go on the trip), you´ll need a form of ID but preferably a copy of your passport.
12. Ask your host family about boiling water or if you can do it. This can save plastic as you won´t have to keep buying new ones. Recycle them at your school.

By Kathleen Schneider- High school Group Leader in Barcelona
6/27/08
The first week of classes ended today. The kids are looking forward to the weekend.
Yesterday we had a really good day. Everyone seemed to be feeling relaxed and comfortably into their routine.
We had lunch at school and them headed out for an afternoon feildtrip to Montjuic. This is a large hill right on the water that looks down on Barcelona and the port. There is an old castle up there and it is also where the Olympic stadiums and buildings were put up before the 1992 Olympics. There were a lot of wonderful views of the city, we got to go into the soccer stadium, walk around a bit and then, because all the kids were clambering to do so, we took the Periféric back down. I guess we would call it a cable car in English.
Today, after class, the kids had a free afternoon and all wanted to spend the afternoon at the beach before heading home for dinner. Sandra and I offered the Chocolate and Picasso museum, but the Mediterranean beckoned. I feel that as long as they´re together, they´ll be fine. It doesn´t get dark until they all need to be home for dinner and no one has given me reason to worry.
Last night after our feildtrip, the Spanish soccer team was playing Russia in the EuroCopa. (European Cup) It was the first time that they made it in 40 years and Raul suggested to the kids that they go out to a cafe to watch it because the locals would be nuts. A number or them called home and told their families they would be home late, but before 11:00, and would have a bite out. Some kids were able to get home and eat quickly, I think. They picked a spot to meet and from there went to find a cafe with a TV. The game was at 8:45 local time.
Nuts is right. The city exploded when Spain won! It was like a city-wide wedding. Everyone was driving around honking their horns. Sandra and I watched the game at a restaurante down by the port and had some fresh fish and shell fish tapas.
Barcelona´s weather is beautiful. The food is great. The city is an architectural gem. The kids are all snapping pictures constantly.
6/29/08
We had a splendid adventure yesterday! After a very early departure at 8:00 a.m., we left Barcelona and headed northwest to Girona, a old Spanish town with a lot of amazing architecture dating back to the romans. The cathedral was beautiful and has the second largest nave in Europe behind St Peter´s in Rome. There is something truly magical about the huge, old cathedrals with the cloistered gardens that are so common here in Spain. On a hot day, they are a perfect, peaceful respite from the street. Some kids went in, others chose not to and simply strolled about the medieval quarter of the town.
The kids seem to enjoy walking about best. There is so much to soak up on the street, observing other cultures as they go about the simplest daily tasks. It´s fun to watch them at certain moments, like when they open their picnic lunches, prepared by their senoras, cast a puzzled look at something inside they´ve never seen before and dive in anyway because they´ve had to wait until 2:30 for lunch ! A huge hit yesterday was the urinal in a restaurante in Girona. It´s a wall of tinted glass that turns on and becomes a fountain when you 'make contact', if you catch my meaning. Before long, many of the guys were getting photos and trying it out. I guess the US has a thing or two to learn from Spain about tinkling in style!
After Girona, we were lucky to have an extra little feildtrip tacked on – the beach! Not any beach, mind you, but a gorgeous little beach on the Costa Brava where the mountains meet the sea and all sorts of little enclaves are cut into the rock: The kids were pumped when we first rounded the corner and the blue Mediterranean with rocks and a mountain shore spread itself out before them. One yelped that they had never seen anything so gorgeous in their lives. The water was the blue you see in photos of the Carribean and so clear and cool. You could see to the bottom and the rocky coast across the inlet. Stunning. I gave my sunscreen lecture as did the guide and off they went in small groups to swim, shop in the town, or meander about. They mentioned it was the best day to far.

By Farah Ahmad- Guest Blogger from Cusco SALUD
Today was a great day at the hospital especially since I was dreading that we would be sitting there with absolutely nothing to do. Today I was at the physical therapy department in the "hidroterapia" room that was perfect for practicing Spanish. There were warm baths kind of like Jacuzzis and also a paraffin machine to help people who had arthritis and other problems with their hands. I basically spent the whole morning going from room to room practicing my Spanish. It was wonderful to see that I could, for the most part, get my point across. It was also nice to have conversations without my tense being corrected with every sentence! More seriously, it did make me reflect more on how much I've improved over the last three weeks. After lunch it is time for class, and then time to wander to the bus station and figure out the best way to plan a weekend trip to Arequipa and the Colca Canyon.
This is the one free weekend that we have with our SALUD group so I'm looking forward to being away from the group (not that I mind groups or anything, but it is nice to experience something with a few people and take your own time). We had a bit of a debate in preparing for this trip, as it will probably include a little more bus time than expected. It's 10 hours to get to Arequipa and then the 2 day/1 night trip involves bouncing around from place to place and finally ending up at Colca Canyon and seeing the condors at Cruz del Condor. I don't see how we can go wrong especially with a group of three where we all kind roll with things. I'm looking forward to it!

By Farah Ahmad – Guest Blogger from Cusco SALUD
The rafting trip was great. I'd only gone once before but our guide knew what he was doing. It was a full-day trip ending with a much-appreciated lunch of chicken and fries. The next day, I hopped a bus with a friend from school and we headed off towards Urubamba intending to spend the day visiting Moray and Salinas. We sort of missed our stop to Maras. I had completely forgotten that we were supposed to be looking for a “junction” of sorts rather than the actual town. Backtracking it in a cab from Urubamba wasn't the end of the world and actually, the landscape in Peru is so wonderful and beautiful that half the time I wish the trips would last a bit longer so I could stare at the mountains and the hills a little more.
We went to Salinas first which are “pre-Incan…salt pans” according to my Footprint guidebook. There are about 3200 of them (again, from the guidebook…I was definitely NOT counting them while I was there!) While we were there, people were working on a salt pan a few levels below us. I can't even describe what they looked like; perhaps a winter wonderland because all the salt looked like snow! Our taxi driver picked up a man who worked there and was heading in the same direction as us. He mainly spoke Quechua, the other main language in Peru, but we understood his appreciation for the ride when he handed us tiny bags of salt for us to “recuerde” our trip. We headed off to Moray which it seems was used as an agricultural testing grounds of sorts with each terrace being a different type of “microenvironment”. Both the Salinas and Moray were beautiful especially because we were there later in the day and had both to ourselves. The blend of city-time and time for weekend trips to ruins is perfect. I was glad to spend enough time in Cusco where I actually get to go to more of the places that probably are missed if you're only on your way to Macchu Picchu. This week has been the first week where instead of morning classes with the others, I have afternoon classes with the batch of medical students in the Salud program. I do miss my afternoon wanderings in the city but things should get even more interesting next week when we head to the clinics! I am happy that I added an additional two weeks on to my program and would recommend that to anyone for the extra Spanish practice as well as the freedom to really enjoy the city

By Farah Ahmad – Guest Blogger from Cusco SALUD
It is hard to believe that I have been in Cuzco for two weeks already. At the same time it is hard to believe it's ONLY been two weeks when I look at the amount of things I've done since I've arrived. I wandered around the Sunday market and the ruins at Pisac. I climbed up to Sacsayhuaman (there are a million and one ways to spell it) and watched people set up for the Inti Raymi festival. I wandered the streets alone and with people that I met sitting in the beautiful Plaza de Armas. I've seen how, for over a week, there have been wonderful costumes and dancing in the streets with people at almost every age level. To be honest, the festival of Inti Raymi itself wasn't as wonderful as the week leading up to it so I would definitely recommend trying to plan a trip for the week and a half before the festival (even if you can't see the actual day of the event.) It was a great festive environment sitting in the crowd at the Plaza de Armas; similar to a ball game with vendors selling popcorn, kazoo-type toys, tamales, and more. The festival started at the Qoricancha museum, continued to the Plaza, and then went up to Sacsayhuaman. It included dancers coming in and surrounding the Plaza de Armas, the ¨head Inca¨ and people carrying idols including shriveled up mummies (which I saw more of later in the Inca Museum.)
I've also had time for a weekend trip to Puno and the islands on Lake Titicaca. Uros consists of man-made floating islands made of a reed called ¨totora¨. We stayed with a host family on Amantani and then spent the next day at Tequile where the men wear different hats depending on their marriage status. It was a wonderful trip for the beautiful sunsets and the hiking on the islands. Well, tomorrow I plan on going rafting so I better head to bed to rest up! More news later!