The most famous part of Peru...
One of the seven wonders of the world...
An incredible mix of culture, history and construction...
The capital of the Incan empire...
What could I be referring to? None other than MACHU PICCHU!!! And after 8 months of hearing the unending praise of this marvelous city, I can finally say I´ve been there. Haleluja! This month truly has been marvelous though, and not only because I made it to Machu Picchu. I turned 19, visited two of the most famous cities in the entire country, started at my university, and above all got to spend two weeks with my family. My REAL, flesh and blood family!!! =) They flew all the way down here and spent 12 days seeing the sights with tour guide Chelan. My mom and I spent a good number of hours sending emails and skyping to figure out the itinerary, hotels, buses, flights etc but it the end we got everything pretty well ironed out. It was a new experience to plan a trip for the family and although it was a bit exhausting it was WELL WORTH the time. Of course I made my mistakes and learned my lessons but for the most part everything ran smoothly. I think my biggest mistake was choosing restaurants that just didn’t seem to have their ovens turned on. hahahahahaha
So, I guess I’ll start from the beginning. My host family took me to the airport to pick up the family around 11 on Sunday and I can tell you that I was a ball of emotions. Excited... nervous... restless... and every other state inbetween. First we left the house late because my host dad couldn’t find the keys, and then you add in the horrid Lima traffic and it was not a good situation- luckily we still made it about 5 minutes before they came out of the gate. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I was standing there jumping up and down with my bright orange welcome sign and Skye and I did the awesome flying, running embrace thing- Although a slightly comical version because she had a giant hiking backpack and I had an awkward welcome sign. haha But it really felt amazing to hug those four crazy Paulys who I hadn’t seen in 8 months! Jace finally sprouted up and was a whole lot taller (still hasn’t passed me yet) but other than that they were all exactly how I remembered. :)
I won’t get into all of our adventures but I basically showed them the most important places in Lima, my life as a Peruvian, and my wonderful host families. Skye, Jace and I took a few rides on the local buses and I dragged the whole family out to run a few of my favorite routes. Well, everyone except Jace who enjoyed the soft pillows and a few hours of extra snooze time. haha Skye and I had THE biggest birthday celebration of our lives with no less than 5 birthday cakes and three nights of parties. The day before my birthday we had a party in my current host house with lots of exchange students and friends from school. They have a perfect back yard and my host mom went all out with plastic tables, chairs, loud music and TONS of food. We had chocolate fondue, little chicken sandwiches, chips and salsa, vegis, fruit, cheese and crackers, and the two delicacies- waffles and PB&J sandwiches (most of my friends had never tried either one…) awhhhhh I felt so special :) And it was fun to introduce Skye to my world over here too. The second night (my actual birthday) we visited my other host house and had a bit of a family reunion with them. I have become so attached it feels like we have known each other forever so it was great to be able to introduce my two families. (mom, this is mom other mom. haha) They cooked my favorite dish and and we sang happy birthday and basically just enjoyed general bonding time. Yayzers.
So that brings us to Cuzco. INCREDIBLE! Probably the most enchanting city I have been to in my life. Aside from the gorgeous artisania and fascinating people, the streets just call my name. There is one neighborhood called San Blas that I could wander for weeks without ever getting bored. It is all cobble stone with little winding streets and stone steps. It is full of old houses, little shops and hole-in-the-wall restaurants. It is also on the edge of town so as you go father and father back you gain altitude and end up with a breathtaking view of the city and surrounding mountains. Anyway, we met up with Vicki and Heather (fellow Wenatchee-ites volunteering in Cusco) and they gave us a lovely first hand tour. We went to a delicious restaurant by the number one chef in Peru (Gaston Acurio) and then in the evening Heather and Vicki took us for a little more birthday celebration. In honor of Saint Patricks day we went to an Irish Pub (full of Europians and Americans since that particular holiday doesn't seem to exist in Peru) and then to a discoteca. Around four in the morning we shared our fifth an final birthday cake :)
The next day we did the rounds of all of the not-so-famous but equally impresive ruins in the Sacred Valley. In Sacsaywaman (the first ruin right outside Cusco) we found ourselves a guide who ended up accompanying us the entire way to Ollantaytambo (the last city where the train embarks to Machu Picchu). By the end of the day we had made great friends with not only the guide Agusto but the taxi driver joined us for dinner. I don't think I can possible explain the intricate stonework, ingenious engineering and pure aww factor of the Incan ruins we saw that day, but I can say that everyone should see them at some point in their life. This ancient culture knew exactly how to construct their houses, agricultural terraces, economical centers and religious temples to withstand the wear of time. They were antisismic, anti erosion, antiwind, flood proof designs with irigation and water chanels built right into the walls. Plus everything was aligned with the sun, stars, and certain imaginary lines they had made going out from the center of the ancient culture- Machu Picchu. Wow, talk about forward thinkers and an advanced society!
We spent that night in Ollantaytambo and the next day exploring more ancient ruins, making our way to Aguas Calientes and preparing for the ultimate marvel, Machu Picchu itself. Ollantaytambo is a gorgeous little town in the center of a valley surprisingly similar to Wenatchee and Leavenworth. Skye and I went running (I am proud to say I have run in every single city I have visited in Peru) it the morning and felt perfecttly at home tucked between the mountains with a river running along one side. It is obviously somewhat touristic because it houses the train to Machu Picchu but impressively enough it has retained a lot of the traditional culture and small town feel. Anyway, the day itself doesn't need much describing but train is worth a callout... it is an ancient clackity-clacking old thing but fits the ambiance perfectly. We walked about half a mile along a cobbled street to get to the station and before getting on I bought corn on the cob with fresh cheese from a little old lady in her brightly colored skirts and leather hat. We sat in seats facing each other with a table in the middle but that hardly mattered because our eyes were glued to the window the entire time. With huge windows on either side and sky-lights above it is the perfect setup and even better is the speed of the train. It chugs along swaying from side to side at somewhere around 15 or 20 miles an hour. Just about equal to cruising speed on a fast road bike... We followed the river Urubamba all the way to Aguas Calientes and admired the power of its rapids for about two hours straight. March is the end of the rainy season in Cusco so the waters are swollen to the brim and it is ready to swallow any person or thing who dares to get in its way. Anyway, we enjoyed it :)
So… Machu Picchu. After getting the tickets bought, alarms set, and everything laid out the night before Jace managed to chance our plans in an instant. And that instant happened to be at 4:41 am. To make a long story short and save the gory details, we will just say that he had a very unhappy stomach and was absolutely incapable to hit the trail. So Skye, my dad and I headed up the Incan steps on our own and my mom stayed on bed duty for a few extra hours. We made our way up up up for about an hour through the light rain and eventually reached the goal around 7. From the check-in point we raced to the far outpost and managed to get our name on the list to climb Wayna Picchu. They only allow 450 people to head up each day and we were lucky enough to get the last couple slots for the 10 am group. Yayyyyyyyyyyy Since it was still early we explored the ruins and had a little picnic breakfast with some Argentinian friends while we waited. And thank goodness we waited! As we were climbing Wayna Picchu (the mountain just behind Machu Picchu) the sun broke through and we were rewarded with gorgeous views on the ancient city and a full rainbow to boot! Wow. The trail up to the top is a bit precarious with little Incan steps and drop off cliffs but in the end the view is entirely worth it. On the way down we got the chance to chat a lot with another new Argentinian friend since it is a single set of stairs and impossible to pass double wide. Back at the ruins, I went running off in search of my mom (she had taken the bus up a little later in the morning) and Skye and my dad found themselves a guide to take us on the official tour. It was somewhat miraculous that I found her in the midst of so many people and so much space (we had no meeting plan or means of communication) but with in 20 0r 25 minutes we were all united and ready to go. I’m not going to recount the rest of the tour or day but Skye and I spent a full 12 hours walking and exploring that day. Wow! Lets just say that the hot springs the next morning felt AMAZING!!! =)
The second city that we visited is called Arrequipa. It is probably the most europian city in Peru and has a completely different feel from Cusco. It was also fascinating to explore but for lack of time I am not going to go into detail. Just believe me that it is a great city and I enjoyed myself very much. We took an overnight but from Cusco to Arrequipa (first one ever for the rest of the family) and checked into our hotel the next morning. It was a huge old mansion renovated as a hotel and probably one of the most interesting places I have ever spent the night. The rooms had double high ceilings with equally large windows and doors. They were decorated with furnishings at least 100 years old each one opened into a small courtyard connected to the others through a series of passages and stone steps. Definitely recommend it! The day after we arrived Skye and I split off on our own little adventure and went on a guided tour of the Colca Canyon. It is supposedly even deeper than the Grand Canyon, has stunning views, and is supposedly home to some of the worlds only Condors. These are giant birds with 9 ft wing spans who are super impressive to see and NEVER SHOWED THEMSELVES. Yup, we were in that canyon for two days straight and I did not see one condor. UNFAIR!. Ok, really it wasn’t that big of a deal. We had a great group of hikers and I spent the majority of my time talking with them and admiring the surrounding mountains. There was a young couple from france, a girl who just finished her two years of service in Israel, a super cool guy from England with an AWESOME ACCENT, a fascinating couple from Europe (the wife from Russia, the husband from Germany and they had spent 5 years traveling the world working as doctors on cruise ships and then getting off in random places) and of course our guide from Peru.
And yeah, I’m kinda tired of writing so I’m going to leave it at that… I spent 12 fabulous days with my family and now I’m back in Lima. I miss them but I’m still perfectly happy living my life over here. Basically it was fun to have a little piece of Wenatchee in Peru but it’s good to be back to a slightly more normal schedule. Life is good.
Lets see, a few other interesting random things that have happened in the past month…
* I went to my first Peruvian wedding! I didn’t even know the bride or groom but I still had a blast and it was fun to see the marriage process in another culture. I went with my friend Valeria and her parents who just happen to be some of the greatest people in the world… they always invite me to do things with them and have become my second adoptive family down here. They take me to the beach or to go camping or go to family functions and I know practically all of the cousins and aunts and uncles. But that is beside the point. What I wanted to explain is how Peruvian weddings work. They are (like all social functions) a late night party full of drinking, dancing and eating combined with a little bit of catholic religion. This was actually a very small scale wedding with only about 130 people at the party and even fewer during the church service. We went early because Valeria’s dad was the padrino of the bride but the majority of people didn’t even arrive until 11. The dinner was served around 12, they did all of the boquet throwing, guarder removing and formal waltzing and around 1 we started to dance. :) One interesting thing is that the bride changed from her white fluffy dress to a hot pink one for the party. haha Anyway, we had the “hora loca” and danced like crazy people until 4 in the morning… fun stuff!
* Diego Torres concert!!! Most of you have probably never heard of him but I am a big fan! He sings two of my favorite songs that I learned in junior year Spanish class and is relatively well known in the latin world. The only thing is that he is 40 and isn’t really famous with the younger generation. Doesn’t matter, my exchange friend Savannah and I bought our cheap tickets and went very happily to stand in the crown and sing along with our latin hero. It was an outdoor concert on a gorgeous summer night and you really can’t beat the magic of the entire crown singing “Color Esperanza” at the top of their lungs and dancing together :)
* Gamarra. Picture a giant market full of little stores, people, and clothing. It is infamous in Lima if you want to buy cheap clothing but it also has the reputation of being packed full of people and somewhat dangerous. Obviously with lots of people come lots of thieves and pickpockets. Anyway, I went there for the first time a couple weeks ago and it was not lacking in clothes or people. On the contrary, it was the most shirts, shorts, pants, dresses, and other fabricated items I have seen in my entire life! Cotton of every color, shape and size flashed before my eyes and the mazes of little stalls exploding from all sides literally made me dizzy. It was rather overwhelming and I felt like the shops and passageways packed with people could easily swallow me in an instant. I know there are some women who are time weathered masters of Gamarra and know exactly where to find the best prices and cutest cloths but I felt like it was impossible to ever find your way out! Still, I bought a few things and enjoyed the experience very much :)
* I started my first week of university classes in Peru. It is rather comical and a slight disappointment how little we do but I still enjoy it immensely. I have four hours of academic classes per week and four hours of dancing. :) The academic class is called Realidad Nacional y Globalicacion and the dance classes are Salsa and Marinera ( a traditional dance from the north). It is a small university but I like it a lot… there are two cafeterias stocked full of good snacks, a library on the 8th floor of one building, lots of green grass and trees, free water ( a miracle in Peru), plenty of stairs and most importantly lots of fun looking people to get to know. I’m EXCITED! :)
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
North, South and all about!
Like always, I am going to start this blog with an apology. I try to keep it up to date but the adventures keep piling up and now I have TWO trips to write about and about 55555 other little things I’d love to share. I guess it’s a good thing… everyday I go out to see something new and there just isn’t time to write about it all. I much prefer it this way than the opposite! Anyway, I am going to say the horribly cliché but completely accurate
I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S BEEN SEVEN MONTHS!!!
… on the 22nd of every month at midnight I celebrate my anniversary of arriving in Peru. At first it was a delight and slight shock that I had lived in a foreign country 1, 2, 3 months. But now I am Peruvian and this is my home. Everyday I learn more about myself, the world, and this country. I have never had the slightest desire to go home but now the thought is even more painful… I have so much to explore and so little time. I don’t want to leaveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! But since the goodbyes are inevitable I am determined to fill these last three months full to bursting and arrive back in Wenatchee tired, out of breath and completely awed by what I have seen, done and heard. On that note I will recount my latest travels.
Trip to the North #2
It was COMPLETELY different. Everything from the basic structure of the trip to the cities we visited to the food we ate was polar opposite. The first trip was self organized and go-with-the-flow… when an opportunity presented itself we took it and ran. We ate when we were hungry and slept when we were tired. It was also economical. As in a very minimalist exchange student sort of budget. This second trip was organized though a travel company. Our group of 12 (10 exchange students and two adults) was led by a guide named Mercedes and she was in charge- in charge of everything. It was quite a contrast and at least in my case taught me that I do NOT like group traveling. We were large, clumsy and inflexible. We spent an unreasonable amount of time waiting and had zero freedom to break into smaller groups or split up. There was a complete lack of communication and lots of complaints about food, transportation and just about everything else. The problem was that Mercedes had our 300 bucks and the money that she didn’t spend was what she earned. Thus she was stingy on a lot of stuff but then spent money on ridiculous things that we didn’t want. She never specified exactly what the trip included or what the procedure was for food and travel. Sometimes she did things like hire a private van for 11 and make us sit four across for a two and a half hour ride. Or she would ask one person what they wanted to eat and then order it for everyone. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr That being said, it was still a good trip. I don’t mean to make it sound like I didn’t enjoy myself because I did. As a group of exchange student we got to know each other a lot better and had lots of fun sharing stories and laughing. We played little kid games in Spanish, French and English and generally made fools of ourselves. The Rotarian who accompanied us, Holger, was also super cool. He is 33 and acts younger which is a refreshing change from the average age of the Rotarians in my club. (grey haired and annoyingly respectable and proper) So don’t worry, we did have fun and get to see lots of interesting things I just don’t think there will be a repeat experience with that travel agency. Ever.
Basically here’s the run down. It was an 8 day trip and we made our way up the coast of Peru by bus stopping in Trujillo, Chiclayo, Colan, and Mancora. The first four days were spent getting to know the two major northern cities and seeing all of the archeological and historical sites (lots!). We stayed in the houses of Rotarians and got somewhat of an inside view of life in the North. The next two days were spent in an Interact conference. We listened to lectures, learned more about Interact and got to meet about 150 youth from all around the north of Peru. The last two days were beach time. Mancora was a repeat but Punta Sal was new and both beaches are GORGEOUS!!!
So, in Trujillo we arrived after sleeping all night on the bus and were dropped off with our three host families. Five of us stayed in the same house and they were the most welcoming, kindhearted couple I have met. They had a delicious breakfast waiting on the table when we arrived (starving and tired) and in the evening when we got back from the day’s tour they took us to buy sandals and eat. Trujillo is known for its quality factories and cheap prices so almost everyone buys shoes or clothes when they go. I think 5 of the 7 girls bought a pair and all of us paid less than 12 bucks. Yay for Peruvian prices! During the day we went on a tour of Huaka de la Luna which is an archeological site with ruins and a museum about the culture Mochica. We also went to the largest mud city in South America called Chanchan. It is remarkably well preserved and absolutely jaw dropping to learn about how organized the society was 5000 years ago. Our tour guide was the tiniest, most enthusiastic little lady ever. She was genuinely excited to talk for the 1000 time about the ancient culture and truly inspired me to find a job that I love. For lunch we ate ceviche on the beach and Savannah and I were brave enough to try out the Caballitos de Totora. They are somewhat like kayaks but much heavier and made of reeds. The same design has been used by the fishermen for thousands of years and it is pretty efficient with a seat in front for the paddler and a seat in back for the passenger or fish. The only downer is that the water is frigid and the guy paddling mine flipped us. Aggggggggggg! He was in a wetsuit but I was not. jaja After that I asked if I could try paddling and I will proudly say that we did not flip again!
In Chiclayo three of us were together in another very nice Rotary house. We almost never saw our “host dad” because he was busy working but the employee was super nice and became our friend/ host anyway. She was only 19 so when we had down time we went out exploring the city or sat talking with her and playing with the puppy.(Yoko is a 6 month mini poodle and he is adorable!!! ) The highlights of Chiclayo were definitely the pyramids of Tucume and Senor de Sipan. He is a fairly recent discovery (1987) but they estimate his tomb to be from the year 300. We went to see the tombs where he was found as well as the museum devoted entirely to him and his ancient culture. It is quite honestly the best museum I have ever been to and definitely worth a visit for anyone in the area. It was opened in 2002 and is top quality! The pyramids are from the culture Chimu and are about 1000 year old. We got to see their building technique and art work up close but the best part was hiking to the lookout. There are 26 pyramids in total and from the lookout you can see the entire valley. Two friends and I continued hiking upward from there and managed to make it to the highest point in the entire province. Incredible views… J We were Switzerland, France and the US standing together looking out over Peru. How awesome is that?
What else? The conference in Colan. I’ll start by saying that it was an interesting experience to say the least. There were some great parts and some very, very annoying parts. The great parts? We went to a gorgeous beach with lots of waves and awesome rock formations, there was a costume dance, we got to hang out with cool youth from the north, we saw the oldest church in South America, and we experienced an Interact Conference. The bad parts? The living conditions and long… long… long… lectures. The lectures are fairly self explanatory and somewhat expected but the living conditions were something else. We stayed in a school with 170 other people. We slept in a big room with thirty other people and almost no air. The lights never turned off. The mattresses didn’t have sheets or pillows, and I am quite certain that I shared my bed with about 500 other little critters. But all of that could have been passable… it was really the bathroom situation that got to me. There were three showers for 170 people and they weren’t even reliable. When there was water it came out in a dribble about as strong as a leaky faucet. When there wasn’t water we had two big plastic garbage cans full of water that we could use with buckets. But by the end of the night those were empty and we plain old didn’t have access to water. Which obviously means that the toilets didn’t work either. Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww I must say I was quite happy to move on to part three of the trip.
Beach time! I loved mancora the first time we visited but now I love it even more J We stayed in a bright colored hostel with a swimming pool and cute little balconies. We spent two days living the beach life and it was fabulous. My friend from Switzerland taught me how to body surf and my friend from France went running/exploring early in the morning with me. The white sand, warm water and hot sun were heaven! And Mancora is small enough that Mercedes gave us a little bit of rein and aside from meals we were free to spend our time doing whatever. We even ate one meal in a Mexican restaurant of our picking ( we had to pay the cost difference between her cheap-o meals and our delicious one but it was well worth the price)… I can’t explain how much I have missed Mexican food! I ordered a giant burrito and savored every bite of the tortilla, cheese, and pico de gallo goodness J And it’s a good thing that the last two days were so nice because the trip home was a DISASTER! Honestly! Mercedes switched our bus company from the reliable, safe and comfortable Cruz de Sur to abominable Roggiero. Once again it was the cheaper option. I had a full 24 hours to contemplate so I made a list of the 12 deadly sins of that bus. I don’t want it to sound like this entire post is complaints but it was really so bad that it was comical. And since you guys didn’t have to experience it, you should find it entirely comical!
1) The bus came 2 hours late so after hurrying as fast as possible while lugging giant suitcases for 6 blocks, we got to sit on the curb. Waiting… waiting… waiting… all the while thinking about the luxurious, lovely beach only half a mile away.
2) They messed up the luggage tags and we spent about 20 minutes trying to get them retagged and safely stored under the bus.
3) The gave us the incorrect seats so after two hours a huge group of passengers boarded and started yelling that we were their seats. “this is MY seat” “your in MY seat” “this is where I sit” “my backpack goes HERE”. Blah blah blah! We were half asleep and comfortable but after 20 minutes trying to solve the dilemma everyone was well awake and irritated…
4) There was no air conditioning and most of the windows didn’t open. It you can imagine that makes for a stifling, smelly and almost unbearable ride when it is hot summer outside.
5) There were no lights. All of the overhead lights were broken so when they turned off the lights it was pitch black. You couldn’t see to go to the bathroom, get something out of your bag or read after 7 pm. ugh. When it is impossible to sleep it is even worse to know that you can’t distract yourself with a book.
6) The TV’s didn’t work. Instead of playing something inspiration, funny or at least distracting then were dark and soundless then entire ride. What they did have as compensation was scratchy, makes-you-want-to-go-insane type of music that blared all night and didn’t let us sleep. Definitely an even switch (NOT.)
7) It was not a bed bus. The seats on the way there reclined to 150 and had a leg rest that made it relatively comfortable or at least possible to sleep. These did not. They went back as far as your average charter bus and nothing for the legs. UGH.
8) It was not a private bus that goes the entire way without stops. This thing stopped in every little town and let people on and off. Thus, we had the oh-so-wonderful vendors who like to board the buses and try to sell their miracle powder. The only thing is that they had to stay on for an hour + so they had to keep rattling on and on and on about the benefits of that magic powder… I was seriously ready to throw this guys briefcase full of magic powder out the window!!!
9) They don’t give you food. When you go with the good company they serve you little meals like on airplanes. They have water and tea and juice and give you snacks every once and a while. It’s really quite delicious… But on this piece of junk they don’t give you one little drop of water. Nothing. So what did our lovely guide give us for dinner? A banana and 5 crackers. Yup that’s right. We were getting to the harry potter level of starvation in a cupboard! haha
10) Someone stole my friends 350 euro camera. She had it clipped to the side of her seat between the wall and her feet and at some point during the night they cut the straps and took the camera. By the time she looked down to check on it in the morning the thief was gone. We searched the entire bus and even had the police get on but obviously it wasn’t there. After the fact a 14 year old girl sitting across the isle said that during the night a man stood up and disconnected a cable to the lights and then leaned down behind my friends seat. The girl said that the man accidently kicked her and that earlier in the day her money and pop had gone missing. The guy that we think stole the camera had been pretending to be in charge of the bus too. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr
11) The bathroom had no light. No toilet paper. No water for hand washing. And no door handle. (you had to pull on a plastic bad tied in a loop)
12) And the ultimate bummer? The bus broke down about 2 hours outside of Lima. We got to wait and extra hour and half for our guide to call a van to pick us up. We squished inside buried under a mountain of suitcases and finally made it into Lima around 7. Karma. That’s all I can say is karma for the end of the trip.
Trip to the South
So this trip was 110% better in my opinion J Although at first the Rotary President was being a big pain in the but and wasn’t going to authorize it. I won’t get into those details though because everything worked out and in the end and we pushed through and made it happen. I was working on this end and my friend from France was working on the other end and with about 24 hours to spare we got the whole thing organized. Exchange student power J
Ok, here’s the background. Ilo is a little port town in the South of Peru where my French friend has been living out her exchange. It is in the hot hot desert of the coast but has a continuous breeze running through the town so it isn’t as stifling as Lima. There is also a little green valley in the middle of all the dryness with olive groves and a little river running down the middle. The economy is obvious somewhat fish based but there is also a HUGE copper company that brings in quite a bit of money. It is the biggest copper company in Peru and the second largest in South America. And since it was originally an American company there is a strong US influence and the town is abnormally clean and well ordered. It is a completely different lifestyle and experience to live in the provinces instead of Lima so obviously I wanted to see what it was like. Louison invited all of us to visit for a week and her rotary club is fabulous so they housed and fed us too. I’m telling you, that is the way to travel J It ended up being a group of 7 exchangees that went to visit and I think we all really enjoyed it. I was probably the luckiest because I got to stay with Lou in her house and saw the real version of what her life is like down there. The others were a little bit more controlled by their temporary host parents but Lou took me to meet all of her friends and we had complete freedom. Ilo is quite tiny and you can basically walk everywhere of interest inside the town and if not she has tons of friends to give us a ride. J Honestly, when we walked down the beach we stopped about every 20 feet to say hi to a friend or kiss the cheek of yet another tio rotario. It is really cute because with the small town feel all of the Rotarians are tios or tias (uncles and aunts) and it seems like everyone knows everyone. Plus her host mom is running for Congress and has lived in Ilo her entire life so they are a pretty well known family. That’s another thing, it was fun to get to see a Peruvian political campaign up close. She has a publicity center down town and did a big campaign push on Sunday afternoons on the beach and has signs all over the town. Wowzers. If I were to vote I would check that yellow box in a heartbeat!
So what did we do? First off, we got to tour the copper refinery which I found fascinating. We wore the hard hats and safety goggles and it was legit. I didn’t know ANYTHING about the mining industry before and since it is one of the most important parts of Peru’s economy I felt like I should. This company is quite exemplary and I have to say it’s probably because it was founded by the US. I guess I never really appreciated how American companies follow safety protocol and are organized and efficient and care for the environment but after 7 months of absence I find it very refreshing! They did a powerpoint presentation to explain everything and afterward we got to see it all up-close. We even got to see the machine that turns saltwater into freshwater. AWESOME! The three guys who gave us the tour were Rotarian and afterwards their wife showed us the entire little mini-city for the workers. It has its own school, housing, hospital, recreation center and EVERYTHING just for the employees…
Ummm I have to wrap up this post so I’ll be brief. We also we to a discoteca (fun but the head Rotarian made us come home by 1:00 which is when everyone generally arrives), toured the port in a little boat (saw sea lions and pelicans and giant fishing boats), went to a museum (yet another ancient culture but as always fascinating), went to the beach (several times), went to the golf club ( yay for saunas and swimming pools J ), and toured a navy cruzer. That was probably a once in a life time experience! There were three of them stopped in the port for two days and we were lucky enough to get a tour. All of the guys were in their full white uniforms and I must say that they are much much better looking than the average Peruvian. Plus the fact that there is a height minimum so they were all at least five cm taller than me. yayyyyyyyyyy! And then they invited us to their party that night and it was AWESOME! We scrounged around and found dresses and suits to borrow and went to dance on the Navy Cruzer!!! Way cool J Oh, and on the last day we visited Tacna which is the most southern city in Peru. Now I can officially say I have gone the ENTIRE coast… Every step of the way from Ecuador to Chile!
Chau for now but I promise I’ll post again soon!
I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S BEEN SEVEN MONTHS!!!
… on the 22nd of every month at midnight I celebrate my anniversary of arriving in Peru. At first it was a delight and slight shock that I had lived in a foreign country 1, 2, 3 months. But now I am Peruvian and this is my home. Everyday I learn more about myself, the world, and this country. I have never had the slightest desire to go home but now the thought is even more painful… I have so much to explore and so little time. I don’t want to leaveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! But since the goodbyes are inevitable I am determined to fill these last three months full to bursting and arrive back in Wenatchee tired, out of breath and completely awed by what I have seen, done and heard. On that note I will recount my latest travels.
Trip to the North #2
It was COMPLETELY different. Everything from the basic structure of the trip to the cities we visited to the food we ate was polar opposite. The first trip was self organized and go-with-the-flow… when an opportunity presented itself we took it and ran. We ate when we were hungry and slept when we were tired. It was also economical. As in a very minimalist exchange student sort of budget. This second trip was organized though a travel company. Our group of 12 (10 exchange students and two adults) was led by a guide named Mercedes and she was in charge- in charge of everything. It was quite a contrast and at least in my case taught me that I do NOT like group traveling. We were large, clumsy and inflexible. We spent an unreasonable amount of time waiting and had zero freedom to break into smaller groups or split up. There was a complete lack of communication and lots of complaints about food, transportation and just about everything else. The problem was that Mercedes had our 300 bucks and the money that she didn’t spend was what she earned. Thus she was stingy on a lot of stuff but then spent money on ridiculous things that we didn’t want. She never specified exactly what the trip included or what the procedure was for food and travel. Sometimes she did things like hire a private van for 11 and make us sit four across for a two and a half hour ride. Or she would ask one person what they wanted to eat and then order it for everyone. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr That being said, it was still a good trip. I don’t mean to make it sound like I didn’t enjoy myself because I did. As a group of exchange student we got to know each other a lot better and had lots of fun sharing stories and laughing. We played little kid games in Spanish, French and English and generally made fools of ourselves. The Rotarian who accompanied us, Holger, was also super cool. He is 33 and acts younger which is a refreshing change from the average age of the Rotarians in my club. (grey haired and annoyingly respectable and proper) So don’t worry, we did have fun and get to see lots of interesting things I just don’t think there will be a repeat experience with that travel agency. Ever.
Basically here’s the run down. It was an 8 day trip and we made our way up the coast of Peru by bus stopping in Trujillo, Chiclayo, Colan, and Mancora. The first four days were spent getting to know the two major northern cities and seeing all of the archeological and historical sites (lots!). We stayed in the houses of Rotarians and got somewhat of an inside view of life in the North. The next two days were spent in an Interact conference. We listened to lectures, learned more about Interact and got to meet about 150 youth from all around the north of Peru. The last two days were beach time. Mancora was a repeat but Punta Sal was new and both beaches are GORGEOUS!!!
So, in Trujillo we arrived after sleeping all night on the bus and were dropped off with our three host families. Five of us stayed in the same house and they were the most welcoming, kindhearted couple I have met. They had a delicious breakfast waiting on the table when we arrived (starving and tired) and in the evening when we got back from the day’s tour they took us to buy sandals and eat. Trujillo is known for its quality factories and cheap prices so almost everyone buys shoes or clothes when they go. I think 5 of the 7 girls bought a pair and all of us paid less than 12 bucks. Yay for Peruvian prices! During the day we went on a tour of Huaka de la Luna which is an archeological site with ruins and a museum about the culture Mochica. We also went to the largest mud city in South America called Chanchan. It is remarkably well preserved and absolutely jaw dropping to learn about how organized the society was 5000 years ago. Our tour guide was the tiniest, most enthusiastic little lady ever. She was genuinely excited to talk for the 1000 time about the ancient culture and truly inspired me to find a job that I love. For lunch we ate ceviche on the beach and Savannah and I were brave enough to try out the Caballitos de Totora. They are somewhat like kayaks but much heavier and made of reeds. The same design has been used by the fishermen for thousands of years and it is pretty efficient with a seat in front for the paddler and a seat in back for the passenger or fish. The only downer is that the water is frigid and the guy paddling mine flipped us. Aggggggggggg! He was in a wetsuit but I was not. jaja After that I asked if I could try paddling and I will proudly say that we did not flip again!
In Chiclayo three of us were together in another very nice Rotary house. We almost never saw our “host dad” because he was busy working but the employee was super nice and became our friend/ host anyway. She was only 19 so when we had down time we went out exploring the city or sat talking with her and playing with the puppy.(Yoko is a 6 month mini poodle and he is adorable!!! ) The highlights of Chiclayo were definitely the pyramids of Tucume and Senor de Sipan. He is a fairly recent discovery (1987) but they estimate his tomb to be from the year 300. We went to see the tombs where he was found as well as the museum devoted entirely to him and his ancient culture. It is quite honestly the best museum I have ever been to and definitely worth a visit for anyone in the area. It was opened in 2002 and is top quality! The pyramids are from the culture Chimu and are about 1000 year old. We got to see their building technique and art work up close but the best part was hiking to the lookout. There are 26 pyramids in total and from the lookout you can see the entire valley. Two friends and I continued hiking upward from there and managed to make it to the highest point in the entire province. Incredible views… J We were Switzerland, France and the US standing together looking out over Peru. How awesome is that?
What else? The conference in Colan. I’ll start by saying that it was an interesting experience to say the least. There were some great parts and some very, very annoying parts. The great parts? We went to a gorgeous beach with lots of waves and awesome rock formations, there was a costume dance, we got to hang out with cool youth from the north, we saw the oldest church in South America, and we experienced an Interact Conference. The bad parts? The living conditions and long… long… long… lectures. The lectures are fairly self explanatory and somewhat expected but the living conditions were something else. We stayed in a school with 170 other people. We slept in a big room with thirty other people and almost no air. The lights never turned off. The mattresses didn’t have sheets or pillows, and I am quite certain that I shared my bed with about 500 other little critters. But all of that could have been passable… it was really the bathroom situation that got to me. There were three showers for 170 people and they weren’t even reliable. When there was water it came out in a dribble about as strong as a leaky faucet. When there wasn’t water we had two big plastic garbage cans full of water that we could use with buckets. But by the end of the night those were empty and we plain old didn’t have access to water. Which obviously means that the toilets didn’t work either. Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww I must say I was quite happy to move on to part three of the trip.
Beach time! I loved mancora the first time we visited but now I love it even more J We stayed in a bright colored hostel with a swimming pool and cute little balconies. We spent two days living the beach life and it was fabulous. My friend from Switzerland taught me how to body surf and my friend from France went running/exploring early in the morning with me. The white sand, warm water and hot sun were heaven! And Mancora is small enough that Mercedes gave us a little bit of rein and aside from meals we were free to spend our time doing whatever. We even ate one meal in a Mexican restaurant of our picking ( we had to pay the cost difference between her cheap-o meals and our delicious one but it was well worth the price)… I can’t explain how much I have missed Mexican food! I ordered a giant burrito and savored every bite of the tortilla, cheese, and pico de gallo goodness J And it’s a good thing that the last two days were so nice because the trip home was a DISASTER! Honestly! Mercedes switched our bus company from the reliable, safe and comfortable Cruz de Sur to abominable Roggiero. Once again it was the cheaper option. I had a full 24 hours to contemplate so I made a list of the 12 deadly sins of that bus. I don’t want it to sound like this entire post is complaints but it was really so bad that it was comical. And since you guys didn’t have to experience it, you should find it entirely comical!
1) The bus came 2 hours late so after hurrying as fast as possible while lugging giant suitcases for 6 blocks, we got to sit on the curb. Waiting… waiting… waiting… all the while thinking about the luxurious, lovely beach only half a mile away.
2) They messed up the luggage tags and we spent about 20 minutes trying to get them retagged and safely stored under the bus.
3) The gave us the incorrect seats so after two hours a huge group of passengers boarded and started yelling that we were their seats. “this is MY seat” “your in MY seat” “this is where I sit” “my backpack goes HERE”. Blah blah blah! We were half asleep and comfortable but after 20 minutes trying to solve the dilemma everyone was well awake and irritated…
4) There was no air conditioning and most of the windows didn’t open. It you can imagine that makes for a stifling, smelly and almost unbearable ride when it is hot summer outside.
5) There were no lights. All of the overhead lights were broken so when they turned off the lights it was pitch black. You couldn’t see to go to the bathroom, get something out of your bag or read after 7 pm. ugh. When it is impossible to sleep it is even worse to know that you can’t distract yourself with a book.
6) The TV’s didn’t work. Instead of playing something inspiration, funny or at least distracting then were dark and soundless then entire ride. What they did have as compensation was scratchy, makes-you-want-to-go-insane type of music that blared all night and didn’t let us sleep. Definitely an even switch (NOT.)
7) It was not a bed bus. The seats on the way there reclined to 150 and had a leg rest that made it relatively comfortable or at least possible to sleep. These did not. They went back as far as your average charter bus and nothing for the legs. UGH.
8) It was not a private bus that goes the entire way without stops. This thing stopped in every little town and let people on and off. Thus, we had the oh-so-wonderful vendors who like to board the buses and try to sell their miracle powder. The only thing is that they had to stay on for an hour + so they had to keep rattling on and on and on about the benefits of that magic powder… I was seriously ready to throw this guys briefcase full of magic powder out the window!!!
9) They don’t give you food. When you go with the good company they serve you little meals like on airplanes. They have water and tea and juice and give you snacks every once and a while. It’s really quite delicious… But on this piece of junk they don’t give you one little drop of water. Nothing. So what did our lovely guide give us for dinner? A banana and 5 crackers. Yup that’s right. We were getting to the harry potter level of starvation in a cupboard! haha
10) Someone stole my friends 350 euro camera. She had it clipped to the side of her seat between the wall and her feet and at some point during the night they cut the straps and took the camera. By the time she looked down to check on it in the morning the thief was gone. We searched the entire bus and even had the police get on but obviously it wasn’t there. After the fact a 14 year old girl sitting across the isle said that during the night a man stood up and disconnected a cable to the lights and then leaned down behind my friends seat. The girl said that the man accidently kicked her and that earlier in the day her money and pop had gone missing. The guy that we think stole the camera had been pretending to be in charge of the bus too. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr
11) The bathroom had no light. No toilet paper. No water for hand washing. And no door handle. (you had to pull on a plastic bad tied in a loop)
12) And the ultimate bummer? The bus broke down about 2 hours outside of Lima. We got to wait and extra hour and half for our guide to call a van to pick us up. We squished inside buried under a mountain of suitcases and finally made it into Lima around 7. Karma. That’s all I can say is karma for the end of the trip.
Trip to the South
So this trip was 110% better in my opinion J Although at first the Rotary President was being a big pain in the but and wasn’t going to authorize it. I won’t get into those details though because everything worked out and in the end and we pushed through and made it happen. I was working on this end and my friend from France was working on the other end and with about 24 hours to spare we got the whole thing organized. Exchange student power J
Ok, here’s the background. Ilo is a little port town in the South of Peru where my French friend has been living out her exchange. It is in the hot hot desert of the coast but has a continuous breeze running through the town so it isn’t as stifling as Lima. There is also a little green valley in the middle of all the dryness with olive groves and a little river running down the middle. The economy is obvious somewhat fish based but there is also a HUGE copper company that brings in quite a bit of money. It is the biggest copper company in Peru and the second largest in South America. And since it was originally an American company there is a strong US influence and the town is abnormally clean and well ordered. It is a completely different lifestyle and experience to live in the provinces instead of Lima so obviously I wanted to see what it was like. Louison invited all of us to visit for a week and her rotary club is fabulous so they housed and fed us too. I’m telling you, that is the way to travel J It ended up being a group of 7 exchangees that went to visit and I think we all really enjoyed it. I was probably the luckiest because I got to stay with Lou in her house and saw the real version of what her life is like down there. The others were a little bit more controlled by their temporary host parents but Lou took me to meet all of her friends and we had complete freedom. Ilo is quite tiny and you can basically walk everywhere of interest inside the town and if not she has tons of friends to give us a ride. J Honestly, when we walked down the beach we stopped about every 20 feet to say hi to a friend or kiss the cheek of yet another tio rotario. It is really cute because with the small town feel all of the Rotarians are tios or tias (uncles and aunts) and it seems like everyone knows everyone. Plus her host mom is running for Congress and has lived in Ilo her entire life so they are a pretty well known family. That’s another thing, it was fun to get to see a Peruvian political campaign up close. She has a publicity center down town and did a big campaign push on Sunday afternoons on the beach and has signs all over the town. Wowzers. If I were to vote I would check that yellow box in a heartbeat!
So what did we do? First off, we got to tour the copper refinery which I found fascinating. We wore the hard hats and safety goggles and it was legit. I didn’t know ANYTHING about the mining industry before and since it is one of the most important parts of Peru’s economy I felt like I should. This company is quite exemplary and I have to say it’s probably because it was founded by the US. I guess I never really appreciated how American companies follow safety protocol and are organized and efficient and care for the environment but after 7 months of absence I find it very refreshing! They did a powerpoint presentation to explain everything and afterward we got to see it all up-close. We even got to see the machine that turns saltwater into freshwater. AWESOME! The three guys who gave us the tour were Rotarian and afterwards their wife showed us the entire little mini-city for the workers. It has its own school, housing, hospital, recreation center and EVERYTHING just for the employees…
Ummm I have to wrap up this post so I’ll be brief. We also we to a discoteca (fun but the head Rotarian made us come home by 1:00 which is when everyone generally arrives), toured the port in a little boat (saw sea lions and pelicans and giant fishing boats), went to a museum (yet another ancient culture but as always fascinating), went to the beach (several times), went to the golf club ( yay for saunas and swimming pools J ), and toured a navy cruzer. That was probably a once in a life time experience! There were three of them stopped in the port for two days and we were lucky enough to get a tour. All of the guys were in their full white uniforms and I must say that they are much much better looking than the average Peruvian. Plus the fact that there is a height minimum so they were all at least five cm taller than me. yayyyyyyyyyy! And then they invited us to their party that night and it was AWESOME! We scrounged around and found dresses and suits to borrow and went to dance on the Navy Cruzer!!! Way cool J Oh, and on the last day we visited Tacna which is the most southern city in Peru. Now I can officially say I have gone the ENTIRE coast… Every step of the way from Ecuador to Chile!
Chau for now but I promise I’ll post again soon!
Monday, February 7, 2011
... the big change!
Ok, so there is one thing I forgot to tell you guys. A rather important thing. Quite possibly the biggest influence on my life in Peru… and that is my host family. At the very beginning of January I had to experience the tragic, tear-jerking,
CHANGE
OF
HOST FAMILY
Ok, so it really wasn’t THAT bad but I do miss them a lot and go back to visit whenever I get the chance. Yesterday I went and spent the entire day over there and we had a huge water fight with all the little ones. I really clicked with that family... I feel like that is where I belong because they truly are my second family. But I guess I appreciate the time we get to spend together a whole lot more now. And they always make me feel EXTRA special when I go back to visit. My mamacita, Adri, and chiquita (the dog) were waiting for me when I got off the bus and they cooked my favorite food for lunch. :) :) :)
My new host family is great too but I haven’t gotten the chance to get to know them as well. Probably my fault since I have been traveling traveling traveling… Literally 3 of the 4 weeks I have been with them I’ve been out of the house. Anyway, I am in a new neighborhood and a new social class. It’s upper crust with giant houses and fancy alarm systems that don’t allow you to open your window at night. ( Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ) We have a pool and a waterfall in the house and my dad is the president of the biggest chocolate company in the country. My host family has traveled all over the world and my host siblings have been to florida and the east coast at least 5 times more than I have. (never, jaja) I think you get what I’m saying… it’s a different experience! Unfortunately my three host siblings are all in the US studying or working so I’m the lone ranger for now.
I'm heading out to meet up with a friend but I'll try to post about my second excursion to the north in the next couple days.
Chauuuuuuuuuuuuu
CHANGE
OF
HOST FAMILY
Ok, so it really wasn’t THAT bad but I do miss them a lot and go back to visit whenever I get the chance. Yesterday I went and spent the entire day over there and we had a huge water fight with all the little ones. I really clicked with that family... I feel like that is where I belong because they truly are my second family. But I guess I appreciate the time we get to spend together a whole lot more now. And they always make me feel EXTRA special when I go back to visit. My mamacita, Adri, and chiquita (the dog) were waiting for me when I got off the bus and they cooked my favorite food for lunch. :) :) :)
My new host family is great too but I haven’t gotten the chance to get to know them as well. Probably my fault since I have been traveling traveling traveling… Literally 3 of the 4 weeks I have been with them I’ve been out of the house. Anyway, I am in a new neighborhood and a new social class. It’s upper crust with giant houses and fancy alarm systems that don’t allow you to open your window at night. ( Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ) We have a pool and a waterfall in the house and my dad is the president of the biggest chocolate company in the country. My host family has traveled all over the world and my host siblings have been to florida and the east coast at least 5 times more than I have. (never, jaja) I think you get what I’m saying… it’s a different experience! Unfortunately my three host siblings are all in the US studying or working so I’m the lone ranger for now.
I'm heading out to meet up with a friend but I'll try to post about my second excursion to the north in the next couple days.
Chauuuuuuuuuuuuu
Monday, January 24, 2011
Escape to the North
I officially love to travel. I just got back from one of those trips that makes you want to be a traveling hippie for your entire life. Honestly! I am starting to learn the secrets to happy traveling and I’m ready for more. J Two friends and I escaped the constraints of Lima and host families and took off to the North for twelve days. Talk about freedommmmmmm! We spent our time based in Tumbes doing little day trips or overnight adventures to the surrounding area. We stayed with the sister of the sister-in-law of my exchange friend but it was very much our responsibility to plan everything. We bought our own food (from the little corner stores about the size of your average concession stand) and cooked all of our meals if we didn’t eat out. I must say it is quite an experience to budget, buy and feed yourself for twelve days. I feel like I seriously rediscovered the beauty of staple foods like potatoes, noodles, bread and eggs. They are cheap, filling, tasty (when mixed with a few key spices) and did I mention cheap? jaja We also planed and executed our entire itinerary and transportation. Basically there are three options. Collectivo- which is a taxi that has a certain route and stops to pick up random people along the way. Motor taxi- for shorter trips within the city this is a good option because the drivers know how to get everywhere even if you don’t. J Bus- for a longer trip to the beach or another city. But, it’s definitely the least comfortable of the three options because they are super crowded, hard seated and lack air conditioning. After getting off the bus from Ecuador my shirt was so sweaty that the nine year old daughter literally thought I had been hit by a water ballon. hahahahaha! That reminds me of an absolutely FABULOUS tradition that should definitely become part of Wenatchee life. It’s called carnivales! Basically that means that all summer long the entire city is entitled to participate in a ginormous water fight. At any given moment you can be pegged by water balloons or squirtguns and it is completely acceptable. It makes walking to the store MUCH more of an adventure… and unfortunately for us the gringos stick out as very nice targets! We had quite a few incidents with little neighbor boys, motor taxi’s full of teenagers, and even random guys standing on the corner. haha J
Here are a couple random highlights
1) Beachtime. Tumbes is right on the border with Ecuador and it is HOT HOT HOT! So what better way to spend the day than playing in the ocean? Especially when this province is known to have some of the most beautiful beaches in Peru. Our favorite beach was Zorritos and we spent three afternoons tumbling around in its waves and lounging in the shade of the palm structures. It is one of those HUGE beaches that you see in postcards with white sand, blue water and crashing waves. But the best thing about it is that it isn’t overly crowded. On the contrary it was nearly private. We only had to share with about three or four other families and a lot of red crabs. Although we did have three different encounters with overly friendly men. This guys would come over and start a conversation with us while we were swimming and then they didn’t take the hints that we were DONE talking. And we were quite blunt too. hahahahaha Once we practically had to run away to convince the dude that we didn’t want a ride back to Tumbes.
2) Cerros de Amotape. This was our adventure in the wilderness. It is a national park with gorgeous hiking and lookout spots but it’s a tab bit difficult to access. First you have to get permission from the government and then you have to find a way to spend the night. We ended up camping in a borrowed tent without any type of sleeping gear or padding. jaja luckily it wasn’t cold and we found a nice little lady in the miniscule town to sell us a few bottles of water and cook us dinner. Totally worth it.
3) Hervideros. These are basically big huge medicinal mud pits. You take a motor taxi about half an hour into the middle of nowhere and then you see these huge stone walls. Inside are 5 different mudpits, the sound of hundreds of singing birds and some buckets full of yellowish water to rinse off. It is really one of the most tranquil places I have ever been and I am sure a lot of people would pay good money if they knew about it. Lucky for us we only had to pay two soles to the ancient little grandpa for filling up the rinsing buckets. Yay! We spent about 2 hours playing in the mud and smearing ourselves with various shades of black, brown and green. oooooooooooo just think back to how fun it was to wiggle your toes in the mud when you were a little kid making mud pies and then multiply it by 1000. Best feeling in the world!
4) Rainstorm. Tumbes is still costal but it has a totally different type of climate than Lima. Much more desert-y trees and brush land. AND it has a rainy season. It turns out that we picked the perfect dates for our trip because we had sun everyday but we still got to experience one night of torrential rainstorm. Ahhhhhh how wonderful is rain! We were up on the third floor in the hamak when the drops started pounding down on the tin roof. It sounded like a semi truck rumbling along and completely blocked out all noice. So instead of the suffocating, sleep-without-sheets type of weather and loud crowing of the neighborhood roosters, we got to relax in one night of paradise. I slept like a baby is the cool air and yummy smell of fresh rain. I must say I really started to appreciate the value of water during this trip! Swimming in the ocean, hearing the sound of rain or even just drinking a glass of water was heaven. We were buying our own water so I can tell you that we drank at least 65 liters between the three of us... YIKES!
5) Mancora. This is considered the most gorgeous beach in the north and is also part of an awesome little hippy town. It is two hours south of Tumbes so we took our backpacks, some food, and jumped on the bus to explore. We found a hostel on the main street for just 10 soles ($ 3.50) a night so we spent two days living the life of a beach bum. J I absolutely loved the relaxed atmosphere and random mix of Peruvians tourists from all over the world. We met people from Columbia, Ecuador, Argentina, Spain, Europe, the US and of course other parts of Peru…From the restaurant owners to the surfshop instructors to the street vendors to the other beach goers, everyone was SUPER friendly! At night we went and joined a huge bonfire on the beach too. We just sat there listening to the sound of the waves mix with the guitars, drums and voices of the Argentinean hippies and enjoyed the night. A few rather drucken firedancers performed for us and we watched the stars and it was an incredible end to the evening J
6) Puerto Pizzaro. Where the river Tumbes meets the ocean and Francisco Pizzaro first landed to claim Peru, it is a very famous tourist attraction. This was our first adventure and we got slightly ripped off as unknowing tourists. Our nine year old buddies later informed us that we had paid about 30 soles too much. Opps! But it was still a fantastic day. We went on a boat tour to see the Manglares, toured the crocodile reserve, ate ceviche and black conch on an island and explored the sandy/ muddy beaches of the island Huesos de Ballena.
7) Thief. Somebody tried to steal my friends camera! This is the second time I have been walking with a friend during an attempted pickpocket. Neither time was the kid successful but Savannah is the first female exchange student to have to fight for her stuff. And she did AWESOME! We were just three American girls walking innocently to the plaza de Armas in our summer dresses when BANG- disaster struck. Savannah had her camera inside a flowery bag but somehow the kid knew it was there. We think he probably saw us taking pictures earlier and then ran ahead to wait for us. Anyway, he was a very inexperienced thief and completely failed to steal anything. He made the grab, wrestled her for a few seconds, realized his mistake and jumped into a waiting motortaxi to get away. Savannah used her awesome basketball instincts and even sacrificed a little blood and a scraped knee to win that fight. YAY!
8) Ecuador. Yes, that’s right, I have now been to ECUADOR! It wasn’t a long trip because we just passed into the border city but it still counts. We ate icecream, walked around in the plaza de armas, and even bought something with dollars. Woooooow they use US bills, one dollar coins and a few of their own coins as well, so it’s quite an odd mix.
Wow, I got back on Friday and am leaving for another 8 day trip today (Monday). Just enough time to unpack, rest, wash clothes, write a quick blog post, and repack again…
Chauuuuuuuuuuuu!
Here are a couple random highlights
1) Beachtime. Tumbes is right on the border with Ecuador and it is HOT HOT HOT! So what better way to spend the day than playing in the ocean? Especially when this province is known to have some of the most beautiful beaches in Peru. Our favorite beach was Zorritos and we spent three afternoons tumbling around in its waves and lounging in the shade of the palm structures. It is one of those HUGE beaches that you see in postcards with white sand, blue water and crashing waves. But the best thing about it is that it isn’t overly crowded. On the contrary it was nearly private. We only had to share with about three or four other families and a lot of red crabs. Although we did have three different encounters with overly friendly men. This guys would come over and start a conversation with us while we were swimming and then they didn’t take the hints that we were DONE talking. And we were quite blunt too. hahahahaha Once we practically had to run away to convince the dude that we didn’t want a ride back to Tumbes.
2) Cerros de Amotape. This was our adventure in the wilderness. It is a national park with gorgeous hiking and lookout spots but it’s a tab bit difficult to access. First you have to get permission from the government and then you have to find a way to spend the night. We ended up camping in a borrowed tent without any type of sleeping gear or padding. jaja luckily it wasn’t cold and we found a nice little lady in the miniscule town to sell us a few bottles of water and cook us dinner. Totally worth it.
3) Hervideros. These are basically big huge medicinal mud pits. You take a motor taxi about half an hour into the middle of nowhere and then you see these huge stone walls. Inside are 5 different mudpits, the sound of hundreds of singing birds and some buckets full of yellowish water to rinse off. It is really one of the most tranquil places I have ever been and I am sure a lot of people would pay good money if they knew about it. Lucky for us we only had to pay two soles to the ancient little grandpa for filling up the rinsing buckets. Yay! We spent about 2 hours playing in the mud and smearing ourselves with various shades of black, brown and green. oooooooooooo just think back to how fun it was to wiggle your toes in the mud when you were a little kid making mud pies and then multiply it by 1000. Best feeling in the world!
4) Rainstorm. Tumbes is still costal but it has a totally different type of climate than Lima. Much more desert-y trees and brush land. AND it has a rainy season. It turns out that we picked the perfect dates for our trip because we had sun everyday but we still got to experience one night of torrential rainstorm. Ahhhhhh how wonderful is rain! We were up on the third floor in the hamak when the drops started pounding down on the tin roof. It sounded like a semi truck rumbling along and completely blocked out all noice. So instead of the suffocating, sleep-without-sheets type of weather and loud crowing of the neighborhood roosters, we got to relax in one night of paradise. I slept like a baby is the cool air and yummy smell of fresh rain. I must say I really started to appreciate the value of water during this trip! Swimming in the ocean, hearing the sound of rain or even just drinking a glass of water was heaven. We were buying our own water so I can tell you that we drank at least 65 liters between the three of us... YIKES!
5) Mancora. This is considered the most gorgeous beach in the north and is also part of an awesome little hippy town. It is two hours south of Tumbes so we took our backpacks, some food, and jumped on the bus to explore. We found a hostel on the main street for just 10 soles ($ 3.50) a night so we spent two days living the life of a beach bum. J I absolutely loved the relaxed atmosphere and random mix of Peruvians tourists from all over the world. We met people from Columbia, Ecuador, Argentina, Spain, Europe, the US and of course other parts of Peru…From the restaurant owners to the surfshop instructors to the street vendors to the other beach goers, everyone was SUPER friendly! At night we went and joined a huge bonfire on the beach too. We just sat there listening to the sound of the waves mix with the guitars, drums and voices of the Argentinean hippies and enjoyed the night. A few rather drucken firedancers performed for us and we watched the stars and it was an incredible end to the evening J
6) Puerto Pizzaro. Where the river Tumbes meets the ocean and Francisco Pizzaro first landed to claim Peru, it is a very famous tourist attraction. This was our first adventure and we got slightly ripped off as unknowing tourists. Our nine year old buddies later informed us that we had paid about 30 soles too much. Opps! But it was still a fantastic day. We went on a boat tour to see the Manglares, toured the crocodile reserve, ate ceviche and black conch on an island and explored the sandy/ muddy beaches of the island Huesos de Ballena.
7) Thief. Somebody tried to steal my friends camera! This is the second time I have been walking with a friend during an attempted pickpocket. Neither time was the kid successful but Savannah is the first female exchange student to have to fight for her stuff. And she did AWESOME! We were just three American girls walking innocently to the plaza de Armas in our summer dresses when BANG- disaster struck. Savannah had her camera inside a flowery bag but somehow the kid knew it was there. We think he probably saw us taking pictures earlier and then ran ahead to wait for us. Anyway, he was a very inexperienced thief and completely failed to steal anything. He made the grab, wrestled her for a few seconds, realized his mistake and jumped into a waiting motortaxi to get away. Savannah used her awesome basketball instincts and even sacrificed a little blood and a scraped knee to win that fight. YAY!
8) Ecuador. Yes, that’s right, I have now been to ECUADOR! It wasn’t a long trip because we just passed into the border city but it still counts. We ate icecream, walked around in the plaza de armas, and even bought something with dollars. Woooooow they use US bills, one dollar coins and a few of their own coins as well, so it’s quite an odd mix.
Wow, I got back on Friday and am leaving for another 8 day trip today (Monday). Just enough time to unpack, rest, wash clothes, write a quick blog post, and repack again…
Chauuuuuuuuuuuu!
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Fireworks, lasagna and a definite lack of snow!
"chingo glay, chingo glay" This is the catch prase of my awesome four year old neice! What does it mean? Well, if you heard it you would recognize it because she is actually singing Jingle Bells. As I commented once before, we have an abundance of cheesy american Christmas decorations and many of them sing in their tinny-electronic voices (in english). One of the favorites of my neice is a Santa Clause that sings Jingle Bells so she has learned the song pretty well. Sometimes we randomly burst out singing and dancing together and since it is the holiday season Jingle Bells has been a regular. :)
Anyway, there are tons of exciting holiday adventures to describe but I think I'll try to explain chronologically. Starting with Christmas. All month has been relatively festive with the lights and decorations and presents to buy and cards to write. But the intensive Christmas bustle started on the 23. All of the businesses give their employees a basket full of Christmas type food and a ticket for a turkey. Soooo I acompanied my parents to the special turkey pick up store and to buy last minute presents. The stores were CRAZY! People, people everywhere... and the traffic even worse! On the way home we were sitting about 8 blocks from the house without hope of moving so my neice and I got out of the car to go by foot. Adri is my little mini-me and likes to be called Chelan-cita and run :) So we made it home a good 10 or 15 minutes before the others. Yay for alternative transportation. haha Anyway, that night and a good part of the 24th we spent in the kitchen. Lasagna, roast beef, turkey, salads, pies, fudge, fruitcake, hot chocolate and more... The Christmas dinner can beat out Thanksgiving any day! And everything is made the long way too. For example, there is no canned spaghetti sauce in lasagna; we chop the tomatoes and garlic and onion and carrots and cook it all the day before. And we make the white alfredo sauce too. And THEN we alternate the two sauces with three types of cheese and noodles. I'm telling you, its a PROCESS! But it was fun to spend all the time cooking with my mom and everything turned out DELICIOUS!
So the 24th we finished up the kitchen and I helped wrap all the presents from my brother, sister and mom. Then around 6 we had kind of an early celebration with the three little ones. We took a billion pictures wrestling around in front of the Christmas tree and played with them until 8:30 or so. The sad thing is that all three of my neices and nephews had to go to their OTHER grandparents houses for the Christmas dinner. So I went with my brother and mom to drop off the twins and then we stopped by the store for last minute snacks and pop and icecream. Obviously we didn't have enough food already... jajajaja It was just five of us for the official dinner and with a family as huge as ours it felt a little bit lonely. So to make up for the lack of little kids or crazy cousins we went and bought fireworks! :) I was the baby for the evening and got to provide the entertainment swirling my sparklers and setting off the big bangs. haha it was my first experience with fireworks at Christmas and I must say it is a great addition! We had to wait until midnight to start the celebrations so we entertained ourselfs skyping with Alejandra in Canada, setting off a few early fireworks, and thinking about how hungry we were. Finally the clock struck 12 and we rushed out to the street to set off MORE fireworks and give everyone big hugs and shout feliz navidad. And it's hugs for everyone too. Family and random neighbors alike :) When we went back inside we opened all the presents and then moved on to dinner. I don't know if it was just because we were dying from hunger but the present opening went by really fast. Rip rip, "thankyou", hug, next. I'm a fan of the fast opening process because in my opinion the presents really aren't that important... and I wanted food :) But my family did really appreciate the cards that I wrote. I guess heartfelt cards aren't quite as common over here. When we finished the comercial aspect of Christmas we got to start the eatting aspect. mmmmm yum yum yum It was a bit comical how much food we had for just 5 people and when we finished you couldn't even tell that we had eatten. But believe me, I was STUFFED! So stuffed that I couldn't sleep and stayed up until 4 reading runners world. Tired but happy :)
Christmas morning Adri woke me up at 10 to open more presents. We repeated the whole process with the three little ones because they only opened half the night before. It was equally fast on the rip-rip scale but they were so overloaded with plastic junk that it took a while to get through the mountain of presents. Sorry, I don't mean to disgusted but 8 presents for each of the 2 year old twins JUST from their dad seems to be a bit much. Yeah, the rest of Christmas day was a blur of family. I spent a good three hours skyping with lovely Wenatchee folks and all the various aunts and uncles from Peru stopped by the house to visit too. It was literally an all day train of visitors with the last family coming around 12 and leaving at 2:30 am. Luckily they are my favorites and came with their six kids so we had lots of fun eatting and talking... So much fun that they came back the next day for almuerzo and then I spent the next night at their house. We played volleyball in the street, watched random youtube videos, sang songs with their guitar and stayed up talking until seven in the morning... Cousinssssssss :)
Next up on the list is NEW YEARS!!! It's 2011 and I can hardly believe it. 2010 was jam packed full of fun stuff and I can't quite decide if it passed really fast or really slowly. All I know is that I am going to seriously miss all of the wonderful friends and places and experiences from the past 365 days... Senior year of highschool, graduation, Peru and everything inbetween. Thank you to everyone who made it so special :) I hope that every January for the rest of my life I can feel this way... a little sad to say goodbye to the old year but looking forward with a smile at everything the new year is going to bring.
I'm going to explain my entire New Years weekend because it was super fun :) The 31st was my host dad's birthday so on the 30th we stayed up until 12 to wish him a happy birthday. The general tradition is that you sing happy birthday and eat cake at midnight but we did a little change up. We bought potatochips and pop and I made crepes instead. Extra special crepes with the recipe from my exchange friend from France ;) Neither of my sisters was going to celebrate- one at the beach and the other sleeping with my little neice- so we invited my uncles family to come celebrate instead. They showed up just before 12 and waited in the dark in the dining room to surprise my dad. And it worked!!! We ended up eatting and talking until 4 in the morning with all the cousins. We always play charades or other random games and laugh a TON! So at 4:30 I went to bed slightly exhausted and got up again the next morning to make a big breakfast for my dad. We went to the market and bought fresh cheese and tamales and bread and cooked lomo saltado. It's basically a stirfry of tomato, onion and steak with lots of really yummy spices... mmmmmmmmmm After stuffing myself to bursting with all the good food I decided that I should probably rest up to have energy for New Years Eve. So I went upstairs and took my very first siesta in Peru. I slept from 12 till 4:30!!! Woooooooooh! I got up to go for a run, eat birthday cake and at about seven I left for my friends house. From her house we got dressed for the evening and then went to her aunts house for dinner. The plan was to spend the evening with her aunts and uncles and cousins and then go to a "party" around 1. Obviously timing is a little different over here. Anyway, for all of you who know that I wear running shorts and a t-shirt whenever possible you will probably be slightly horrorized to hear that I wore a mini skirt. LOCO. jaja So we ate yet another big turkey dinner and at midnight went running out to the street to watch the fireworks. I thought Christmas was a ton of fireworks but it is NOTHING compared with New Years... All you can hear is boom, bang, crack and in every direction you see flames! There are lots of supersticious traditions for the New Year and one of them is quemando munecas. Basically think burning scarecrows stuffed full of paper and fireworks. 7 out of 10 houses on the block had a New Years doll blazing away in front of the house. The idea is that you burn everything from 2010 in order to make way from the new year. Some of the other traditions are to wear yellow underwear (yes I bought a pair), eat 12 grapes while sitting under the table (one for every month), throw 12 coins over your shoulder into the street (to make lots of money), take a bath with flower water (to have a sucessful love life), run around the block carrying a suitcase (to travel a lot), and I don't remember what else.
With my friend Valeria and her three cousins we went to our New Years party. Her parents dropped us off around 1:30 but we didn't start dancing until 3. So once again we were up late late late and got back to her house at 8 am after a quick stop to eat hamburgers :) The party was fun but there were a few too many drunk boys wanting to dance and speak English for my liking. Luckily Valerias cousin was our savior and would come ask us to dance if we gave him the look. hahahaha The next two days we spent at the beach playing volleyball, making sand castles, and of course swimming in the ocean. I put sunscreen on about 500 times and am quite proud of the fact that I didn't get burned... :) Valeria's family is kind of like my adopted host family and I am getting to know all of her cousins and aunts and uncles so that is fun too.
Basically to sum everything up I will say that the holiday season was great. Lots of staying up late, eatting big meals, having adventures with host cousins, and setting off fireworks. I really missed you guys and the snow and standard Christmas cookies but it's been fun to experience Peru!
Anyway, there are tons of exciting holiday adventures to describe but I think I'll try to explain chronologically. Starting with Christmas. All month has been relatively festive with the lights and decorations and presents to buy and cards to write. But the intensive Christmas bustle started on the 23. All of the businesses give their employees a basket full of Christmas type food and a ticket for a turkey. Soooo I acompanied my parents to the special turkey pick up store and to buy last minute presents. The stores were CRAZY! People, people everywhere... and the traffic even worse! On the way home we were sitting about 8 blocks from the house without hope of moving so my neice and I got out of the car to go by foot. Adri is my little mini-me and likes to be called Chelan-cita and run :) So we made it home a good 10 or 15 minutes before the others. Yay for alternative transportation. haha Anyway, that night and a good part of the 24th we spent in the kitchen. Lasagna, roast beef, turkey, salads, pies, fudge, fruitcake, hot chocolate and more... The Christmas dinner can beat out Thanksgiving any day! And everything is made the long way too. For example, there is no canned spaghetti sauce in lasagna; we chop the tomatoes and garlic and onion and carrots and cook it all the day before. And we make the white alfredo sauce too. And THEN we alternate the two sauces with three types of cheese and noodles. I'm telling you, its a PROCESS! But it was fun to spend all the time cooking with my mom and everything turned out DELICIOUS!
So the 24th we finished up the kitchen and I helped wrap all the presents from my brother, sister and mom. Then around 6 we had kind of an early celebration with the three little ones. We took a billion pictures wrestling around in front of the Christmas tree and played with them until 8:30 or so. The sad thing is that all three of my neices and nephews had to go to their OTHER grandparents houses for the Christmas dinner. So I went with my brother and mom to drop off the twins and then we stopped by the store for last minute snacks and pop and icecream. Obviously we didn't have enough food already... jajajaja It was just five of us for the official dinner and with a family as huge as ours it felt a little bit lonely. So to make up for the lack of little kids or crazy cousins we went and bought fireworks! :) I was the baby for the evening and got to provide the entertainment swirling my sparklers and setting off the big bangs. haha it was my first experience with fireworks at Christmas and I must say it is a great addition! We had to wait until midnight to start the celebrations so we entertained ourselfs skyping with Alejandra in Canada, setting off a few early fireworks, and thinking about how hungry we were. Finally the clock struck 12 and we rushed out to the street to set off MORE fireworks and give everyone big hugs and shout feliz navidad. And it's hugs for everyone too. Family and random neighbors alike :) When we went back inside we opened all the presents and then moved on to dinner. I don't know if it was just because we were dying from hunger but the present opening went by really fast. Rip rip, "thankyou", hug, next. I'm a fan of the fast opening process because in my opinion the presents really aren't that important... and I wanted food :) But my family did really appreciate the cards that I wrote. I guess heartfelt cards aren't quite as common over here. When we finished the comercial aspect of Christmas we got to start the eatting aspect. mmmmm yum yum yum It was a bit comical how much food we had for just 5 people and when we finished you couldn't even tell that we had eatten. But believe me, I was STUFFED! So stuffed that I couldn't sleep and stayed up until 4 reading runners world. Tired but happy :)
Christmas morning Adri woke me up at 10 to open more presents. We repeated the whole process with the three little ones because they only opened half the night before. It was equally fast on the rip-rip scale but they were so overloaded with plastic junk that it took a while to get through the mountain of presents. Sorry, I don't mean to disgusted but 8 presents for each of the 2 year old twins JUST from their dad seems to be a bit much. Yeah, the rest of Christmas day was a blur of family. I spent a good three hours skyping with lovely Wenatchee folks and all the various aunts and uncles from Peru stopped by the house to visit too. It was literally an all day train of visitors with the last family coming around 12 and leaving at 2:30 am. Luckily they are my favorites and came with their six kids so we had lots of fun eatting and talking... So much fun that they came back the next day for almuerzo and then I spent the next night at their house. We played volleyball in the street, watched random youtube videos, sang songs with their guitar and stayed up talking until seven in the morning... Cousinssssssss :)
Next up on the list is NEW YEARS!!! It's 2011 and I can hardly believe it. 2010 was jam packed full of fun stuff and I can't quite decide if it passed really fast or really slowly. All I know is that I am going to seriously miss all of the wonderful friends and places and experiences from the past 365 days... Senior year of highschool, graduation, Peru and everything inbetween. Thank you to everyone who made it so special :) I hope that every January for the rest of my life I can feel this way... a little sad to say goodbye to the old year but looking forward with a smile at everything the new year is going to bring.
I'm going to explain my entire New Years weekend because it was super fun :) The 31st was my host dad's birthday so on the 30th we stayed up until 12 to wish him a happy birthday. The general tradition is that you sing happy birthday and eat cake at midnight but we did a little change up. We bought potatochips and pop and I made crepes instead. Extra special crepes with the recipe from my exchange friend from France ;) Neither of my sisters was going to celebrate- one at the beach and the other sleeping with my little neice- so we invited my uncles family to come celebrate instead. They showed up just before 12 and waited in the dark in the dining room to surprise my dad. And it worked!!! We ended up eatting and talking until 4 in the morning with all the cousins. We always play charades or other random games and laugh a TON! So at 4:30 I went to bed slightly exhausted and got up again the next morning to make a big breakfast for my dad. We went to the market and bought fresh cheese and tamales and bread and cooked lomo saltado. It's basically a stirfry of tomato, onion and steak with lots of really yummy spices... mmmmmmmmmm After stuffing myself to bursting with all the good food I decided that I should probably rest up to have energy for New Years Eve. So I went upstairs and took my very first siesta in Peru. I slept from 12 till 4:30!!! Woooooooooh! I got up to go for a run, eat birthday cake and at about seven I left for my friends house. From her house we got dressed for the evening and then went to her aunts house for dinner. The plan was to spend the evening with her aunts and uncles and cousins and then go to a "party" around 1. Obviously timing is a little different over here. Anyway, for all of you who know that I wear running shorts and a t-shirt whenever possible you will probably be slightly horrorized to hear that I wore a mini skirt. LOCO. jaja So we ate yet another big turkey dinner and at midnight went running out to the street to watch the fireworks. I thought Christmas was a ton of fireworks but it is NOTHING compared with New Years... All you can hear is boom, bang, crack and in every direction you see flames! There are lots of supersticious traditions for the New Year and one of them is quemando munecas. Basically think burning scarecrows stuffed full of paper and fireworks. 7 out of 10 houses on the block had a New Years doll blazing away in front of the house. The idea is that you burn everything from 2010 in order to make way from the new year. Some of the other traditions are to wear yellow underwear (yes I bought a pair), eat 12 grapes while sitting under the table (one for every month), throw 12 coins over your shoulder into the street (to make lots of money), take a bath with flower water (to have a sucessful love life), run around the block carrying a suitcase (to travel a lot), and I don't remember what else.
With my friend Valeria and her three cousins we went to our New Years party. Her parents dropped us off around 1:30 but we didn't start dancing until 3. So once again we were up late late late and got back to her house at 8 am after a quick stop to eat hamburgers :) The party was fun but there were a few too many drunk boys wanting to dance and speak English for my liking. Luckily Valerias cousin was our savior and would come ask us to dance if we gave him the look. hahahaha The next two days we spent at the beach playing volleyball, making sand castles, and of course swimming in the ocean. I put sunscreen on about 500 times and am quite proud of the fact that I didn't get burned... :) Valeria's family is kind of like my adopted host family and I am getting to know all of her cousins and aunts and uncles so that is fun too.
Basically to sum everything up I will say that the holiday season was great. Lots of staying up late, eatting big meals, having adventures with host cousins, and setting off fireworks. I really missed you guys and the snow and standard Christmas cookies but it's been fun to experience Peru!
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
...aji is a miracle food!
My title really has nothing to do with the general theme of this post but I had to put SOMETHING. And it's true that I love aji. That red hot flavor goes with everything and is absolutely delicious! If the food is good it accents the flavor and makes it even better, if the food is bad it's a fixall solution. Ahhhhhhh how I am going to miss you my dear aji!!! It's a bright red sauce made from special rocoto pepers called aji verde. Rather ironic I know... still haven't figured out who in their right mind would name a red peper "aji verde." But it doesn't matter because I love it!
Anyway, here's the news from my last three weeks...
I am officially a high school graduate! (for the second time :)) I think I am probably one of the only people in the world who can say they have graduated two time in six monthes. Once in the US and once in Peru. Once in Spanish and once in English. Once in the lovely purple gowns of WHS and once in the all white garmets of Santa Rosa de Lima. I literally felt like an angel with my white cap, gown and of course glaringly pale skin. haha The entire process was surprisingly familiar despite the fact that it is a private, catholic school in South America. We all lined up and marched into the auditorium with the traditional graduation music. Of course I was in the very back of the line because, well it was by height. When we got to our seats we remained standing for the national anthem and the school song in Spanish and then AGAIN for the english version. I can tell you that when we finally sat everyone was quite happy to rest their feet. I don't know if its a passing fad or a cultural thing to make up for the lack of height, but everyone down here wears HIGHheels! The rest of the ceremony was fairly standard with a student speaker, words from the principal, presentation of the diploma, passing of the little ball on the cap and of course tons and tons of photos. The student speaker did a great job combining funny comments with nostalgic memories with words of wisdom. This graduation means a LOT to my classmates and just about everyone was crying by the end of his speech. There is a deep connection and a lot of memories when you are together for 11 years... Which is why I feel so special to be included in the Promo of 49- San Juan de Macias. They made me feel part of the group from the very beginning and I will always appreciate that. For example, the principal wasn't originally going to let me graduate but my friends and teachers convinced her that I deserved to wear the robe and walk side by side with my classmates. And, when we put the plack on the wall with the 75 names of the promo, my name was included!!! Now my name will remain forever inscribed on the walls of Santa Rosa de Lima. I can come back in 20 years and show everyone that I really did go to school for a year in Peru :)
I think I mentioned before that I have been taking a native dance class for the past 10 weeks with a friend from school. Every Tuesday we would go to the center of Lima to dance for three hours and learn two tipical dances- Caporales and Diablada. The studio where we were learning is called Brisas de Titicaca and is actually a fairly prestigious school of dance here in Lima. Anyway, last Saturday was the final presentation. It was a HUGE event where they sold entrance tickets and served food and we were the cultural entertainment- a demonstration of 20 typical dances with live music and colorful costumes. We danced in front of an audiance of 500 and I must say it was rather nerve racking! They put a new floor in two days prior and despite our best attempts to gain traction by pouring Cocacola on the bottom of our shoes it was a bit of a disaster. One lady even fell during the first dance it was so slippery... But overall in was a very fun experience :) I got to put on two incredibly elaborate costumes and paint my face with about 500 pounds of make up. This alone was quite the experience. If it weren't for all the help from my new friends I would never have been ready on time. In Caporales we wore three different skirts, two blouses, long fake braids wound in with yellow ribbons, little hats and lace up high heels. YIKES! The hardest part was definitely dancing in heels but getting those braids securely attached was a close second. And in Diablada my costum was even more complicated if you can imagine. There is a fight scene between the devil and the angel and this time I literally got to dress like an angel. :) I had a huge head piece, wings, a spade and armor. Plus the high heels again. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Another new experience was Prom in Peru. Yes it's a big deal in the US but it is NOTHING like prom over here. There is only one dance in highschool over here, and that is Prom. To start with we arrived in limo. A group of 14 of us all met up in one friend's house and we arrived at the hotel Melia with style. Now the limo turned out to be a bit of a ripoff but that doesn't matter, we still went in limo. I can say that my first (and probably last) experience in a limo was riding through the streets of Lima Peru. :) The main problem with the limousine is that the company told us it seated 16 when it was really a limo for 10. Oooops! We were packed in there like sardines in a can with two kids sitting practically in the bar and one across the laps of the others. jajajaja And they didn't pull out the red carpet or serve champain like advertised. But it doesn't really matter because we still had a ton of fun sticking out heads out the sun roof, blasting music, and stopping in all the gorgeous parts of Lima to snap photos. When we arrived at the hotel we got to make the big entrance with more pictures, music, bright lights and an anouncer naming each couple. There was even a bubble and fog machine for effect :) It was held in one of the super fancy ballrooms where you find 15 utencils on either side of your plate and have no idea what to use first... Anyway, we spent the next 8 hours eatting super delicious food, drinking pisco sour (not me), and dancing dancing dancing. That is one of the best things about peruvian parties is that EVERYONE dances! And legit dancing too. Salsa and cumbia and of course the popular american music as well... One of my friends is excellent salsa dancer and I was able to follow his lead and actually dance!!! :) Yayyyyyy I must say I was quite proud! jaja We finally left at about 5:30 in the morning and my friend and I slept until 2 the next afternoon! Woooooooow!
It's officially the first day of summer today. And boy can I can feel it! The sun is out with super strength and on my run home today I almost died. (not really... but I was very, very sweaty. jaja) I can already hear the beach calling my name and now that it's summer vacation I am ready to hit the water. As I sit here in shorts and a tanktop, I can see the advantages to Christmas in the summer... :)
Which reminds me, MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! I wish you all the best and hope you have a fabulous 25th with lots of friends and family and good food. I'll be thinking of everyone back home and just imagine I'm giving you a big huge peruvian hug! :)
Lots of love from South America,
Chelan
PS. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the lovely care package from home! I have already started making my way through the GIANT bag of chocolatechips (yep, Costco sized :)) I spent all day yesterday in the kitchen baking and took cookies to my friends at school. A little bit of US holiday spirit and a new experience for them!
PPS. I had a lovely visit from some Wenatchee folks (the Dappen family and Vicki Monreal) the other day and got to play tour guide :) It was great to see those familiar faces again and speak english for two days and best of all I didn't feel like a giant anymore. Yayyyyyyy! Thank you guys for a GREAT visit! :)
Anyway, here's the news from my last three weeks...
I am officially a high school graduate! (for the second time :)) I think I am probably one of the only people in the world who can say they have graduated two time in six monthes. Once in the US and once in Peru. Once in Spanish and once in English. Once in the lovely purple gowns of WHS and once in the all white garmets of Santa Rosa de Lima. I literally felt like an angel with my white cap, gown and of course glaringly pale skin. haha The entire process was surprisingly familiar despite the fact that it is a private, catholic school in South America. We all lined up and marched into the auditorium with the traditional graduation music. Of course I was in the very back of the line because, well it was by height. When we got to our seats we remained standing for the national anthem and the school song in Spanish and then AGAIN for the english version. I can tell you that when we finally sat everyone was quite happy to rest their feet. I don't know if its a passing fad or a cultural thing to make up for the lack of height, but everyone down here wears HIGHheels! The rest of the ceremony was fairly standard with a student speaker, words from the principal, presentation of the diploma, passing of the little ball on the cap and of course tons and tons of photos. The student speaker did a great job combining funny comments with nostalgic memories with words of wisdom. This graduation means a LOT to my classmates and just about everyone was crying by the end of his speech. There is a deep connection and a lot of memories when you are together for 11 years... Which is why I feel so special to be included in the Promo of 49- San Juan de Macias. They made me feel part of the group from the very beginning and I will always appreciate that. For example, the principal wasn't originally going to let me graduate but my friends and teachers convinced her that I deserved to wear the robe and walk side by side with my classmates. And, when we put the plack on the wall with the 75 names of the promo, my name was included!!! Now my name will remain forever inscribed on the walls of Santa Rosa de Lima. I can come back in 20 years and show everyone that I really did go to school for a year in Peru :)
I think I mentioned before that I have been taking a native dance class for the past 10 weeks with a friend from school. Every Tuesday we would go to the center of Lima to dance for three hours and learn two tipical dances- Caporales and Diablada. The studio where we were learning is called Brisas de Titicaca and is actually a fairly prestigious school of dance here in Lima. Anyway, last Saturday was the final presentation. It was a HUGE event where they sold entrance tickets and served food and we were the cultural entertainment- a demonstration of 20 typical dances with live music and colorful costumes. We danced in front of an audiance of 500 and I must say it was rather nerve racking! They put a new floor in two days prior and despite our best attempts to gain traction by pouring Cocacola on the bottom of our shoes it was a bit of a disaster. One lady even fell during the first dance it was so slippery... But overall in was a very fun experience :) I got to put on two incredibly elaborate costumes and paint my face with about 500 pounds of make up. This alone was quite the experience. If it weren't for all the help from my new friends I would never have been ready on time. In Caporales we wore three different skirts, two blouses, long fake braids wound in with yellow ribbons, little hats and lace up high heels. YIKES! The hardest part was definitely dancing in heels but getting those braids securely attached was a close second. And in Diablada my costum was even more complicated if you can imagine. There is a fight scene between the devil and the angel and this time I literally got to dress like an angel. :) I had a huge head piece, wings, a spade and armor. Plus the high heels again. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Another new experience was Prom in Peru. Yes it's a big deal in the US but it is NOTHING like prom over here. There is only one dance in highschool over here, and that is Prom. To start with we arrived in limo. A group of 14 of us all met up in one friend's house and we arrived at the hotel Melia with style. Now the limo turned out to be a bit of a ripoff but that doesn't matter, we still went in limo. I can say that my first (and probably last) experience in a limo was riding through the streets of Lima Peru. :) The main problem with the limousine is that the company told us it seated 16 when it was really a limo for 10. Oooops! We were packed in there like sardines in a can with two kids sitting practically in the bar and one across the laps of the others. jajajaja And they didn't pull out the red carpet or serve champain like advertised. But it doesn't really matter because we still had a ton of fun sticking out heads out the sun roof, blasting music, and stopping in all the gorgeous parts of Lima to snap photos. When we arrived at the hotel we got to make the big entrance with more pictures, music, bright lights and an anouncer naming each couple. There was even a bubble and fog machine for effect :) It was held in one of the super fancy ballrooms where you find 15 utencils on either side of your plate and have no idea what to use first... Anyway, we spent the next 8 hours eatting super delicious food, drinking pisco sour (not me), and dancing dancing dancing. That is one of the best things about peruvian parties is that EVERYONE dances! And legit dancing too. Salsa and cumbia and of course the popular american music as well... One of my friends is excellent salsa dancer and I was able to follow his lead and actually dance!!! :) Yayyyyyy I must say I was quite proud! jaja We finally left at about 5:30 in the morning and my friend and I slept until 2 the next afternoon! Woooooooow!
It's officially the first day of summer today. And boy can I can feel it! The sun is out with super strength and on my run home today I almost died. (not really... but I was very, very sweaty. jaja) I can already hear the beach calling my name and now that it's summer vacation I am ready to hit the water. As I sit here in shorts and a tanktop, I can see the advantages to Christmas in the summer... :)
Which reminds me, MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! I wish you all the best and hope you have a fabulous 25th with lots of friends and family and good food. I'll be thinking of everyone back home and just imagine I'm giving you a big huge peruvian hug! :)
Lots of love from South America,
Chelan
PS. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the lovely care package from home! I have already started making my way through the GIANT bag of chocolatechips (yep, Costco sized :)) I spent all day yesterday in the kitchen baking and took cookies to my friends at school. A little bit of US holiday spirit and a new experience for them!
PPS. I had a lovely visit from some Wenatchee folks (the Dappen family and Vicki Monreal) the other day and got to play tour guide :) It was great to see those familiar faces again and speak english for two days and best of all I didn't feel like a giant anymore. Yayyyyyyy! Thank you guys for a GREAT visit! :)
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Thanksgiving
As I'm sure all of you guys know, Thanksgiving was last Thursday. The day when everyone goes to grandma's house to eat turkey and pumpkin pie and watch football. It is something that happens every year without question. We see the gorgeous leaves scattering the ground and lots of rustic decorations and know its time to give thanks. The thing is, it's an AMERICAN holiday and im not in america!!! For the first time in my life there was no fourday weekend or cornstalk decorations. Instead I got to initiate, explain and prepare Thanksgiving. I have to admit I was a bit nervous about cooking the turkey and slightly homesick for all the aunts and uncles and cousins but in the end it was an absolute success. I stayed home from school and spent the day in the kitchen. With the help of both my parents, my exchange friend Savannah, and Dina (my neice's nanny) we pulled off a delicious feast! We had the typical American thanksgiving with turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, and apple pie but then we added a Peruvian twist. We also had asado, lemon pie, rice and pallares. Mmmmmmmm mmmmmm good! We didn't end up eatting until 9:30 or 10 because everyone gets off work late but it was fabulous. :) There were 22 of us all crowded round the table eatting and laughing and generally feeling the good vibes. Savannah and I made awesome turkey decorations and explained the history of Thanksgiving. And then we went in a circle and each person said something they were thankful for. To tell you the truth I think I appreciated the significance of the holiday a whole lot more over here than I ever did in the states.
So, both of my past two weekends I got to spend camping – two very different experience but each one fun in a different way. The first weekend was a Rotary service project called handicamp. I went with my couselor to a colegio in the middle of Lima without knowing exactly what to expect. We showed up at 10 and found various groups of youth sitting with their piles of sleeping bags and backpacks. We went to say hi and talk with each group and everyone was full of positive energy. You see, this was a very special group of 60 people. They had Downs Syndrome or were mentally retarded but they were also some of the most enthusiastic, genuinely happy people I have met. I was lucky enough to spend all of Saturday and Sunday dancing, eatting, doing art projects, and playing games with these new friends. The camp wasn't terribly well organized so I got to practice my leadership and spanish skills and lead a lot of the activities too. The great thing is that they all have the spirit of champions and loving playing sports. One boy had even gone to China for the special olympics! The whole weekend was incredibly rewarding and my favorite group of students even invited me to their school dance next week. :)
The second weekend was with my good friend Valeria in the outskirts of Lima. We went to a "club" called Kankay and camped with about 20 of her extended family. When I say "club" I am refering to something more or less like a state park in the US. It has a restaurant, BBQ's, picnic tables, climbing toys, a pool, horses, four wheelers and lots of green grass and trees. Since Lima is both a extremely dry desert and a huge city going to clubs is the only opportunity to find greeness. Anyway, Valeria's family is fabulous and treats me just like their own exchange student. We played with all the cousins and ate tons of yummy food and stayed up until 4 in the morning talking and laughing by the fire. At night it was rather chilly and I had to put my sweatpants over my jeans but during the day the sun was FUERTISIMO! I managed to burn my scalp and currently have a lovely red line running down the top of my head. I’m not sure if it was all the time in the swimming pool or playing volleyball but it definitely taught me my lesson. I have to say I am a little bit scared for my poor skin this summer. I think I’ll turn out like an overcooked tomato!
So, both of my past two weekends I got to spend camping – two very different experience but each one fun in a different way. The first weekend was a Rotary service project called handicamp. I went with my couselor to a colegio in the middle of Lima without knowing exactly what to expect. We showed up at 10 and found various groups of youth sitting with their piles of sleeping bags and backpacks. We went to say hi and talk with each group and everyone was full of positive energy. You see, this was a very special group of 60 people. They had Downs Syndrome or were mentally retarded but they were also some of the most enthusiastic, genuinely happy people I have met. I was lucky enough to spend all of Saturday and Sunday dancing, eatting, doing art projects, and playing games with these new friends. The camp wasn't terribly well organized so I got to practice my leadership and spanish skills and lead a lot of the activities too. The great thing is that they all have the spirit of champions and loving playing sports. One boy had even gone to China for the special olympics! The whole weekend was incredibly rewarding and my favorite group of students even invited me to their school dance next week. :)
The second weekend was with my good friend Valeria in the outskirts of Lima. We went to a "club" called Kankay and camped with about 20 of her extended family. When I say "club" I am refering to something more or less like a state park in the US. It has a restaurant, BBQ's, picnic tables, climbing toys, a pool, horses, four wheelers and lots of green grass and trees. Since Lima is both a extremely dry desert and a huge city going to clubs is the only opportunity to find greeness. Anyway, Valeria's family is fabulous and treats me just like their own exchange student. We played with all the cousins and ate tons of yummy food and stayed up until 4 in the morning talking and laughing by the fire. At night it was rather chilly and I had to put my sweatpants over my jeans but during the day the sun was FUERTISIMO! I managed to burn my scalp and currently have a lovely red line running down the top of my head. I’m not sure if it was all the time in the swimming pool or playing volleyball but it definitely taught me my lesson. I have to say I am a little bit scared for my poor skin this summer. I think I’ll turn out like an overcooked tomato!
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