It’s my 14th day here in Cusco and yesterday, I realised that I only have one more month in Peru, before flying to Texas. It’s crazy how time flies when you’re travelling and experiencing so many new and exciting things every day. After about two weeks in the city, I have developed some kind of routine, or at least some sense of direction, when walking the streets. And that fact really strengthens the feeling of having found yet another home somewhere far from my actual home even more. I have to work 4 days a week at the bar, which leaves me with 3 days where I can go out, explore the city, go on tours or simply do whatever I want. I have to admit that I was slightly more active during the first few days here, before I started my work at the hostel. Lately – also, because I caught the flu a couple of days ago & I’m still trying to cure it – I’ve gotten a little lazy. Usually, I have my Spanish lessons three times a week from 11-1pm and before that I don’t manage to do anything else but to get out of bed, take a shower & maybe grab a granola bar for breakfast (I’ve given up on trying to make it to the hostel breakfast from 7-10). After my lesson, I either go to San Blas to grab a coffee at one of my little favourite places, I go to San Pedro Market to buy some rice, vegetables, etc. for dinner, or I go straight back to the hostel – taking a nap, reading, or writing something for the blog might sound chill but it actually takes up more time from a day than you would expect. I guess you would call that “Freizeitstress” in German – the fact that having to write a new post or trying to finish another chapter of my book (currently reading “the circle”) sometimes really wears me out. And then there are also trips to plan, more cafes to discover, presents to buy, drinks to mix, fellow travellers & volunteers from the bar to hang out with… dang, life as a backpacker can be so hard!

Putting all this “Freizeitstress” aside, I’m glad I find the time to just enjoy being here every single day. Although it might not seem extremely exciting to just go to Spanish lessons, work at the bar at night & hang around the city in between, I gotta say, I can’t think of anything I’d rather do right now. Even after quite a long time in the same place, I still find streets, shops, people, food and so much more that I haven’t seen before. Little things that make every day another adventure.

Plaza de Armas

I’m still amazed, every time I see all the artificially coloured cakes & desserts – these Peruvians are really into their sweets

Street food market at Plaza de San Francisco

Chicha = Juice – in all variations (still not my favourite though, it’s just killing my blood sugar levels)

Lady serving Ceviche, the Peruvian national dish

COMING UP: Alessandra & I are leaving for Machu Picchu early tomorrow morning, so stay tuned for some amazing pictures and a story about one of the “New Seven Wonders of the World”

Typical “snack cart” you can find all over the place – they offer local snacks, like granola bars, puffed corn, but also ahoi cookies or chocolate bars. Again, everything you could possibly crave when walking around the city

—Sometimes you just wouldn’t expect places like these in the middle of the city, between two laundry shops & a mini supermarket

Plaza de Espinar on a beautiful sunny day in Cusco – the city has so many different facets & would be foolish to judge it by just one. You should really take the time to discover all of them. It’s worth it, I promise!

Some German “Strudel” in a Peruvian bakery