Can I stay in Urubamba for the rest of my life?

Ten days have passed since I stepped foot on the South American continent. Time simply zoomed past when life is laidback, insouciant and without worries. Each and every day is novel and challenging and this experience is definitely much more enriching than SIF?s YEP.

The Cusco region, i.e. the Sacred Valley of the Incas, is the most beautiful place I?ve ever been to in my entire life. Even Venice and Florence in Italy, Salzburg and Vienna in Austria, Kinderdijk and Amsterdam in the Netherlands, or Bath and London in the United Kingdom cannot compare to Cusco, Urubamba and Calca. Sure, comparisons like these are unfair as every place is unique, but the Sacred Valley is truly the most magnificent and spectacular place I?ve ever been to. And moreover, this place just gets prettier and prettier every day and all of us (24 volunteers) think so.

When the domestic plane first flew from Lima to Cusco, the view of the Andes mountain range from the plane just mesmerised me throughout the whole 60-minute flight. When the plane landed at Cusco airport, my one and only reaction was "Oh my God!" and the close encounter with death and everything else negative and unpleasant in Lima seemed all worthwhile suddenly. Driving through the Andes from Cusco to Urubamba and Calca was even more spectacular. I mean I read and study the Andes in Geography textbooks, I see the Andes on television, but nothing is comparable to the real thing right before my eyes. The Andes are truly awesome!

Cusco stands at the head of the Sacred Valley of the Incas. What was once an ancient Inca capital is, in fact now, the capital of the entire continent. Cusco and Urubamba are surrounded by the Andes with aplenty Inca ruins and stunning scenery. The Quechua people bring the city to life with a combination of prehistoric and Christian beliefs and may I mention this, the Quechua language is absolutely beautiful.

The shortage of oxygen at this high altitude of 3310 metres (I made a mistake in my previous entry) easily and definitely induces altitude sickness and this affects every traveller somehow or another. It took me a few days to acclimatise but what really almost killed me was the jet lag. I slept at 5 pm and woke up at 7 am - a total of 14 hours - on the second day in Cusco. But everything is fine now and I?ve adapted to the Peruvian lifestyle of sleeping at 10 pm every night and waking up at 6 am every morning.

With high altitudes (though Urubamba is slightly lower at 2900 metres) come naturally large daily temperature ranges. The sun shines ferociously in the day and temperatures can hit a maximum of 20 degrees Celsius. Once the sun sets, temperatures start to drop rapidly to 10 degrees Celsius in a matter of minutes and it continues to plummet to 0 degrees Celsius at night. Even so, the scenery at night is still marvellous. The night sky is the most beautiful I?ve ever seen in my entire life. The sky is completely cloudless every single day and hence, all the stars and galaxies can be seen. They seem to appear brighter and larger too, perhaps because of the fact that I?m nearer to the stars? Up till now, I still can?t locate the supposedly-conspicuous Orion Belt, so you can imagine how many stars can be seen in Urubamba?s night sky.

Everything in Urubamba seems so perfect that I wish I can stay here forever. Peruvian people are friendly (they kiss everytime they greet one another), Peruvian scenery is stunning (no adjectives can do the Andes justice), Peruvian food is delicious (for instance Peruvians have 5000 different kinds of potatoes that cannot be found elsewhere in the world and each of them is damn tasty, the British should learn from the Peruvians), Peruvian drinks are awesome (Peruvian coffee is the best I had so far; the national drink, Pisco Sour, is freaking damn good and I got a bit drunk only after 2 glasses, maybe because of rapid intoxication due to high altitude; Peruvian tea is also incredible, I have to drink at least 2 cups of mata de coca - coca tea made from coca leaves - everyday now.)

So, what more can I ask for? I already have plans to come back to Peru some time soon and maybe work here after my bond at SPH...

Can I stay in Urubamba for the rest of my life?