Most shops have something similar to this, showing you where to stand while you wait your turn. The spots are carefully spaced to follow this social distancing requirements during this global pandemic.
It was quiet this morning. For the first morning in fifteen straight days, the construction workers were not a few yards from my windows, cutting rebar, mixing cement and blasting their radio.
We are back in quarantine, with another all day Sunday curfew. Nobody leaves the house today, except for emergency medical care. No pharmacies are open, no grocery stores, only hospitals and clinics and even then for emergencies only.
Starting March 22nd, Sundays were shutdown through the end of June. That was 15 weeks in a row when nobody went outside on a Sunday. Then, in July, we were allowed out on Sunday not only to buy food, but we also had the freedom to go for a walk, without a destination. The military vanished from my neighborhood at the end of June and I wasnt afraid that Id get arrested if I didnt have a good story about being on my way to a pharmacy for something necessary. I even went camping a couple times in July.
This is the part of the Qhapaq an that leads from Cusco past the Temple of the Moon, and continues north. The Qhapaq an is the system of roads the connected the Inca Empire from Ecuador down through Chile and from the Pacific Ocean up over the Andes and into the Amazon basin. I am so fortunate to live right next to where this road connects to the Plaza de Armas in Cusco, which allows me to easily go for a walk, now that quarantine restrictions allow for adults to exercise outside the home.
honest, I dont mind. I had gotten used to quiet Sundays. During the first 15 weeks of real quarantine, I gradually adapted to staying home most of the time, only leaving the house once per week to buy food and going up on the roof when I needed sun and fresh air.
Plus, the four story apartment building going up about three yards from my bedroom and living room is so obnoxiously loud. With the all day Sunday curfew back, nobody to work on the construction site right outside my windows. Not only is it quiet in my bedroom, I can again hang out on the roof in the sun, without construction workers staring at me.
Today I got a new student! My housemate Kerry has decided to see how well my teaching will work for her. Of the three women from England who hire me for Spanish classes, Kerry and Hannah are at about the same level, but Sonia is much more advanced. It seems like an odd coincidence that
These are some of the stairs carved into the bedrock the makes the Temple of the Moon. The whole hillside is made from limestone, which has been badly worn by the weather during the past five or six centuries, since it was carved.
all of my Spanish students are from the UK. There are so many more people from the US in Cusco, than from the UK. My only other two students are David, from Mexico, who is learning French and Jos, from Cusco, who is learning English.
I should invest some time in getting more students, but I already feel so busy every day that its easy to keep prioritizing something else. This might be a classic case of procrastination. How many other unemployed or underemployed people around the world are using the pandemic as an excuse to procrastinate job hunting? I know that I cant be the only one.
Tonight is the full moon and I plan to go up to the Temple of the Moon to get some photos. It seems like this would be the most obvious thing to do, but honestly I have never gone up to the Temple of the Moon for the full moon. Partly this is because it was the rainy season when I first moved to this apartment, which is almost directly on the trail up to the temple. Partly this is because weve had a curfew since March 15th and going
Walking alone, especially on windy days, I really dont have to worry about exposure to the Coronavirus. When I pass people on the path, I put on my mask, and I always wear it in town.
