Blame it on the alt - alt- alt -alt -alt -titude baby

For anyone who has ever been to Denver, they have probably felt the difference in altitude. Denver is a whopping 5,281 feet above sea-level. For a comparison, New York is about 30 feet and Atlanta is less than a thousand. The magical city of Cuzco however, is a whopping 10,861 feet above sea-level. The difference between this and what most people are used to is immediately felt when you're doing every day things like walking up steps, hills or ancient Incan Ruins. Ive tried running a few times and lack of oxygen prevents you from running for more than ten seconds at a time, which makes me excited for the upcoming season when my high-altitude training should pay off immediately.

I've been here in Cuzco with Penn International Business Volunteers for a week now and I am very excited about how much we've helped the NGO that were consulting for already. I don't want to talk too much about work here, but just know that some good is actually being done.

Cuzco is a very interesting city. Reminds me of an old European city in that nothing seems to have been changed in the downtown area in centuries. The old Gothic cathedrals and cobblestone roads give it a character that most American cities miss now-a-days. Like almost all Latin American cities there's a Plaza de Armas and a huge statue of Jesus Cristo on top a hill overlooking the city with an almost comforting gaze. This past weekend, we got the opportunity to visit many of the local Incan Ruins. I'll just show pictures instead of talking about them because in a few days we will be doing Machu Picchu and well, that kind of speaks for itself.

The cusquenan people have a very distinct character; they are much more timid people than I would have ever expected. They tend to walk with their heads down and don't bother you too much, unless you're a tourist and they're trying to sell you gum, traditional clothing or bombard you with free drink tickets to come to their bar or club. The nightlife scene is an almost seamless union between Latin and Western Culture. Locals and tourists mix interchangeably in the same way a song will go from Salsa to House to Hip-Hop in a 2 minute period.

The poverty here is something I have never seen before, which is saying alot after seeing the favelas (slums) of Brazil last year. There seems to be a distinct difference between living in a slum and living in some of the rural Peruvian villages. Slums tend to be crowded, dirty and dangerous, complete with an unbreakable social code/structure and wealthy warlords and errand boys. These rural Peruvian villages however are marked by a lack of any and everything. Most homes are just four sided structures made of mud bricks, lacking running water, a stable roof and a dirt floor. This, compounded with nighttime temperatures that can reach ten below Celsius regularly and three generations of family members crammed into a single bedframe is a serious indicator of poverty. I think I'll have to come back to this subject however, because its far too much to cover in a paragraph.

If you've read this far, I congratulate you because this is my first attempt at writing a blog and I'm pretty sure it reeked of stream of consciousness.

Things to look forward to: I will be eating guinea pig in 2 hours and trekking to Machu Picchu in 2 days. To say I'm excited would be a gross underestimation.