life is a blur, but super fun

Howdy,

wow, for a photo blog, i am still struggling to find the time to make this happen.

so, again, i am gonna post twice in one day, i know this isn't the most effective way to communicate, but so be it

things i want to share that might not quite be captured in my photos

1) Learning spanish is really fun, but really hard. During this second full week here, spanish has become a more serious endeavor for Maren and me. We go to class for 4 hrs each day, but then we spend at least 2-3 hours in the afternoons/evenings practicing words, making flash cards and doing homework. Sometimes its 5-6 hrs if we have the stamina. Who knows how much we'll know in 3.5 months, maybe not that much, perhaps enough to communicate with patients at the clinic. Wherever we wind up with our language skills, i want to be able to say we tried our hardest while we were here, and thats all we can do. Ive definitely gotten to the point that everything i learn is "new", i dont recall learning this stuff in HS spanish nor in Rosetta stone this past fall, so thats sweet

2) These 2 weeks have been awesome for Maren and I. Sure, we've been blessed with 7 months of traveling and quality 1on1 time (heck, marens been a "stay at home wife" since july). But, in most of the places we visited, i was working during the day and we were a lot busier in the evenings with friends/activities. But here, its just a ton of "us time". We share one small room in a small apartment with 5 other people. We dont split up to do our own thing, hardly at all. Sure, these close quarters have led to a tiny bit of stress, but soooo much more its been a huge blessing. I  love Maren more every single day and i cant say enough good things about being alone on this adventure for how its helping us grow closer. 

And now for some pictures from our first week in Cusco...

In the background you can see water that makes you "eternally youthful", so far the
preliminary results are promising, stay tuned for the next 50 yrs to see if it works

They built a catholic monastery here, in the same spot that there was an incan temple to the sun 

CARLOS, our funny tour guide, 1 tour was enough to convince us we'd rather
 check out the sites on our own, instead of herded around in a big tourist group

Cusco in the background, at night time

Richie helping us study our "fruits" in espanol

CLICK THIS PICASA LINK FOR PICTURES: 5 days in between 2 great weekends

(click the blue underlined letters for more pictures!!!)