Week #4 - work, work, work

We're settling into a schedule that is work, study, eat, meetings, and sleep.  We do have time for shopping, but not much for sightseeing, though we see plenty of Cusco every day.  Here, Hermana J and Elders Guevara and Black are waiting to knock on the door for our appointment with a family.  One thing for sure, no two doors in the city are alike.  From the street, we either enter directly into the home, or sometimes two or three families will live in apartments inside one main street door.  How do they know when someone's knocking?  Easy, the dogs start barking.

Another view from the picture above.  The hill is steeper than it looks, and it's a workout if we decide to walk the entire way up.  Most times, we'll take a taxi from the main street up into the neighborhoods - it's usually a short distance, and the fare is about 3 soles, or $1.  We get plenty of exercise anyway, and it's worth it to get a ride up the hills.

Here's a typical access to homes or apartments from the street, which is directly behind me.  There will be doors to the left and right.  Most of Cusco is old, how old is hard to say, but you can see several layers of construction to the left and right.  The oldest dates to Inca times, and it's been layered on ever since.  Sometimes there will be stones, adobe and a couple types of brick on the same wall.

Our week was filled with delightful visits to families!  Since our work is Historia Familiar (Family History) we love to talk about families, and they love to share their families with us.  We hear great stories of faith, love, and dedication, and there is a big slice of challenges as well, like in all our families.  This delightful family hosted a meeting for 3 other families who wanted to get started in recording their own family history, stories, pictures, and memories.  We'll be back to see them again.  The Peruvians are so easy to love, and they love you right back.

There are plenty of squares and parks in Cusco, most have historical markers or statues, some open space and plantings, and a combination basketball court and scaled-down soccer (excuse me: futbol) field of concrete.  The kids are all pretty skilled, and they avoid falls on the hard surface.  There are always families enjoying the parks, and kids doing what kids do everywhere.

Hermana J is serious about her Espanol pronunciation - she frequently corrects me when I don't pay attention to how to say each word.  If you're going to speak Spanish, there's no excuse for doing it sloppily.  The pencil in the mouth technique is good practice for trilling the "rr's", as it gets your tongue off the bottom of your mount so you can make the right sound.  It looks awkward, but it really does train your mouth to make the proper sound.  Every day we study and practice, but it's hard for new information to imprint itself on our old brains.