Surviving the Earthquake!!

well we have had a pretty eventful past couple of days. Class has started which is ver intense and a lot of work, but we really like it. We had a tour of the city of Cusco on Wednesday which was great, we were able to go and the the Sand Temple and some of the Inca ruines above the city. After our tour which ended about 6 we were in the PLaza de Armas (the main square of town) waiting on some friends for dinner. We were walking around to the shope and at about 6:45 pm there was a little bit of chaos, we were standing by the cathederal and noticed the doors shaking and the lights shaking, everyone was standing under the door way. WE finally realized that it was an earthquake. We didn't feel it as much as Lima, but it was a 7.9 which is very very strong, and there were a lot of bad aftershocks. People in Lima are still sleeping in the streets because they are afraid of another one. There are over 500 dead in Peru.
ON a lighter note we have already observed 2 English classes so we are getting right into our homework and work. I feel like we are back in college, but now we pay a lot more attention.
We have arranged to go on a tour this Sunday to the Sacred Valley, which should be great. Also on Sept 1 and 2nd we are going to go to Machu Picchu, and then after our class is over Jay and I are going to trek 5 days and 4 nights to Choguequirao, a much smaller version of Machu Picchu where we might not see any tourists at all, it is not as popular yet because they are not done exgavating but it will be just as big in a few year as Machu PIcchu. ON the INca Trail and Machu PIcchu there are about 500 to 700 people a day, very crowded. We are extremly excited, we haven't eaten anything too weird in the past couple of day but I will be sure to let you know if Jay does something thats worth letting everyone know. WE are doing very well and have made lots of friends, THings are great!!!