here i am!

well, its been about a month since I have posted anything... Chinchero was absolutely amazing, I loved every minute of it. I stayed with a woman named Roxana, her husband Roberto, and their 8 year old son Ribaldo. After staying with them for so much time, I really felt like we were a little family. Ribaldo was just like a little brother.. and we loved and hated eachother just like siblings. I think he will miss me a lot, even though one time he was so annoyed with me for locking him out of the house while he was brushing his teeth outside, he hissed at me "sal de mi casa!" (get out of my house!) yeah. it was fun. For two weeks I taught English for two hours every morning at Ribaldo's school. I really enjoyed teaching, all of the kids were amazing and so excited to learn... except for the first graders. They were brats. Every day I had weaving lessons for 4 hours with Roxana. I have lots of cool things that I have made, all partly incomplete, but I have all of the materials to finish them at home. I had a cord, three belts, a scarf, and a manta (like a small blanket), all in the making. Right now I am staying at probably the dingiest hostel in Cusco, for 5 dollars a night. It's 16 dollars a night to stay with your host stay family here, and I wanted to save some cash.. so basically Im living in a dungeon. But its in a cool area with interesting things, its safe, and relatively clean. Monday our whole group is going to reunite and we are off to Ollantaytambo, the town where we had orientation. Full circle! We are there for four days, and everyone is going to present their experiences and party like crazy for the last time. Im excited and nervous for my 30 minute presentation in spanish, and excited to see everyone else's presentations. My program ends May 20th (so soon! ahh!) and on the night of the 20th I am off by bus with Kate, Katie, Marge, and Carolina. We are travelling to Buenos Aires via Bolivia. Im excited for the three day bus trip (ahhh) and for of course, our final destination! We all have friends in Buenos Aires right now (I'm going to see Dave and Leah!) and we are going to see the sights and whatnot. We only have 5 short days in Buenos Aires, but we think it is worth it. We found a cheap flight from Buenos Aires to Bolivia, and we will bus back to Cusco from Bolivia. And I will be on my way back to the U.S. on June 1st. Oh my. I'm so sad to leave, but also excited to see everyone back home, and to work in Vermont this summer. There are so many things I am going to miss about Peru... the people, the food, art, cheap things, friends from my program, Chinchero in general... so much more but I can't reminisce and get nostalgic right now because I have to finish this damn paper and get my presentation in order. Just letting you all know, I'm here, I'm alive... love you all. more updates later!