This Thursday, marks my last night at school. Friday I leave for the Inka Trail, Tuesday I leave for Lima and next 1am Wednesday morning, I leave back to the USA (well for 2.5 weeks at least). During my time in Cusco, I lived in the Amauta Spanish School in Cusco for 9 out of the 11 weeks that I stayed in Peru as a student and a resident in the school.
I would like to write exactly how I felt about the school as I am leaving.
Amauta School Administration: Overall I think my experience is clouded by a lot of negative experiences with the administration. Though miscommunication is not an unusual thing in Peru, I feel like if you are a school that caters to foreigners it would make it easier for the students to adapt a more western attitude toward organization. I had several problems including being asked to pay something I already spent an hour figuring out with someone the week before and missing make-up classes that they never told me I was having. This lead to countless frustrations on my part and the part of professors. The lack of communication between colleagues is abysmal. Seriously write a note, it takes 2 seconds.
Grade: D+
Professors at the school: I really enjoyed most of my classes and felt like I improved my skills. The teachers mostly followed the same teaching practices that I learned in TEFL school which are: teach something, practice it, use it, keep activities varied. I can't speak on behalf of the beginner levels, but I felt like the advanced levels were a good mix of activities and for the most part the teachers were well trained and wanted to be there. Also the teachers were really nice and interacted with students not only in class, but also outside of class. I learned more here than in my months at the Instituto Cervantes in New York City. I just wish there was more learning time and a more solid lesson plan than talking about relationships (happened with every. single. teacher). Grade: B+
Amauta Residence: I can really sum it up in a few words: Don't live there. Two meals were provided, breakfast and lunch. Breakfast was only decent on Mondays and Fridays when an egg and juice were offered, other days was only fruit, awful salty cheese or cold crepes. Crepes and bread- nutritious. And then there was lunch. First off, I discovered about 2 weeks in that although there was a place to indicated everyday that you would like vegetarian food- the chef had no idea what a vegetarian diet meant. That means there is chicken bouillon in all the soups and they make all the sauces together- taking chicken out of the sauce is not vegetarian. I argued with the chef about this and he told me I was wrong. I decided never to eat soup there again and only to eat there when I had no more time to make anything else.
The rooms themselves in the residence range from singles to doubles with private bathrooms or shared (ie going outside to cross the courtyard to get to them). Luckily, I had a single with a private bathroom. After the first week when I had no hot water, I usually had hot water, but only during prescribed times- 7-9 am and 7-9 pm at night. I had no windows and the room smelled like mildew. The pillows were like rocks. It was impossibly cold inside. One week when they cleaned my room on Saturday, they left my door wide open, with my laptop, iphone, belongings all wide open for a whole day. Not so good when there was a thief among the students or outside for my last days. My advice: homestays. Grade: D
Staff at the residence: As I mentioned I got into a fight with the chef about what vegetarian food was and I am pretty sure he never got it, so I changed my eating habits to not get sick. Side note, nearly every single person got sick from the food at school at one point. Ten people got sick in one week I wasn't there. The common thread is the food at school. After seeing their practices for preserving and cooking food, I am not shocked. Some of the things I witnessed were really gross. The other staff is ok, except for the night watchman Maru which is possibly the most unpleasant person I have ever met in my life. He is rude, never talks to you unless he is yelling, never looks you in the eye and makes you feel incredibly unwelcome. I hesitate to say I hate people, but I hated him. He is horrible, at least he was always a jerk to me (and I think I am usually pretty nice and polite to staff). Grade: C
Dos Manos: The school advertises the convenience that it has a travel agency associated with it. The office is just across from the office of the school. The problem? It is more expensive than other agencies and just as unorganized (like most of Peru). I booked a trip with them to Machu Picchu and the woman "forgot" to call the cab at the right time, wouldn't allow me to have my train tickets because I would lose them (please) and then we almost missed our train to Aguas Calientes. We literally stepped on the train as it started moving. The hotel was not great and the tour group was huge. Students are well aware of the poor quality and after one booking go elsewhere. I hesitate to say the whole office is bad, because my friends that work there do work hard, but the other staff is not great. Grade: C
There it is, I tried not to hold back anything. I found it really hard to find information and ratings on the school when I was researching, so if this helps one person, then it is worth it. Overall, I would recommend the school because the most important this is the classes and they were good in general. If you do want to spend time there I would recommend a homestay or a hostel, not only to save money, but to get more for your money and deal less with the school.
I am so glad my time there is finished!
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