A Limean Life

As I have mentioned before, Mari and I created the best of schedule where we only have class 3 days a week (Tuesday-Thursday), and I only have one for 2 hours on Thursday. Thus, we achieved extremely long weekends.

My weekend began Wednesday night with "la noche de integración" (night of integration). This was a bar event sponsored by the four big universities in Lima. Thinking, "Oh great! A chance to meet more Peruvian students", I went with my household. Turns out they only want to integrate us with other foreign exchange students. But that's o.k. because I met some really great people from the U.S. and from Sweden. I also met a girl from Finland. I refrained from excitedly telling her my great-great grandparents were Finnish too. And that I know about 4 words in Finnish, if she wanted to converse.

What a cute group of friends

After my one class, I started off Thursday night with a little rock climbing. Erin and I have officially started bouldering lessons. The first thing we learned was how to fall properly. This turned out extremely helpful as I preceded to demonstrate my knowledge of this skill for the rest of the night. Bouldering is way harder than you think. My finger muscles were killing me.

Thoroughly exhausted I decided the best thing to do was go out dancing! We had a few people over to our house.. got ready... packed a cab full of people... and got to the same discoteca as last time. With a hilarious mix of American and Spanish pop, it was obviously a great time. Plus I planned 8 soles in advance for the incredible sandwiches they have outside.

Friday Katie, Mari and I played it low key and went to Miraflores. Here we encountered one of my favorite things in Peru; OLD PEOPLE DANCING. A group of older Peruvians come to Parque Kennedy every Friday and dance traditional dances while singing sometimes too. It was incredibly cute and the singers have hilarious faces during all the songs.

The same night we also had some more delicious Peruvian sandwiches. That is something Peru does well. Turkey piled with all sorts of things. We also went and got some frozen yogurt from a very friendly gentleman who told us to come back always. We will be. You get to chose your flavor and 5 toppings!! I can't say no.

After a very Lima week, we decided that we needed a little green and went to the Lomos de Lucumo, some really pretty, Sound of Music-esque, hills just outside of Lima. After getting told we were heading the wrong way up the trail, we preceded to discover lots of interesting rock formations and experience the hot sun. It was great. I did forget sunscreen however and came home a little burned (sorry mom!). I covered my head for a little bit with my sweatshirt, but I couldn't pull it off quite like Mari. I have to say that sitting on a rock high in the hills with new and great friends eating bakery bread is one of the great, specific joys in life. 

Check out the gymnastics on the hills. Especially my obvious skills.

These are the main events. Side antecdotes:

1) While walking through Miraflores a guy talking on his phone in Spanish stopped, said; "Hold on, there's some white chicks", and preceded to check us out before continuing his conversation.

2) While coming home from Lomos de Lucumo, we were trying to catch a combi in to town. We got one. But it was a family driving one off duty. They still took us in for a sol each (only slightly a rip off).

3) My climbing instructor thinks I'm really bad at Spanish. And it is quite funny having him explain things to me like a he would a 4 year old.

4) I made paper airplanes and hats with an 8 year old boy today at the Hospital.

5) My stomach hasn't been normal for 3+ weeks. I'm holding out on the doctor though.

6) Mari and I had our first fight about her not sharing her Big Mac with me. Don't worry, we are o.k. now.

A Summary of Activites

I realized it had been a little while since I had written, so decided to do a little summary of the exciting/interesting/strange activities.

Sunday, September 11th: All the American students got invited to a 9/11 commemoration event at the U.S. Embassy in Lima. So, all of my household decided to go, partly to check out what the embassy was like. It is HUGE, looking slightly like a large prison. The first thing we discovered was that we had underestimated the dress code (we were the only ones in jeans). I should have guessed by the gold embossed invitation that my dirty red sneakers weren't going to go over well. The ceremony was sweet, I only teared up, some school children sang, and they served Inka Cola and coffee after. I also signed a book as proof of my commemoration.

Monday, September 12th: Mari and I volunteered at a children's hospital. This was a really wonderful and difficult experience. The hospital was nothing like I had ever experienced. Incredibly crowded, not welcoming, and the poor funding was very visible. They don't use computers for most things, all the doctors I saw were writing everything. I was paired with another girl and we went to play with a group of kids. I couldn't understand/say much to the kids but they didn't seem to mind. One little boy was quite the talker. We colored some pictures, played a memory game, and did some puzzles. They were all so sweet and so excited to have a distraction from the day to day. Most of the kids are there for long periods of time. The program I am working with also tries to do some learning activities, but the kids I was with were pretty little for that stuff.
 

Tuesday-Thursday: I went to class, had my first quiz! I wrote in Spanish and put English translations for the words I thought I might have made up. I signed up for rock climbing classes!

Friday: Katie, Mari, and I went to the Glee 3d movie. Katie is the biggest fan ever, so it was quite exciting. The movie theater was located in this underground shopping mall. It is cut into the side of the cliff a little. I don't know how to describe it. But when we were looking for it, we were across the street and couldn't see it. But if you are in the ocean you can. It's crazy. Anyways, I cried twice during Glee. We also got asked to take a picture with some Ripley department store reps, so I expect to rise to fame shortly.

They blend right in with the group.

Saturday: Kati, Mari, Erin, and I decided to walk to Miraflores. This turned out to be a longer walk then expected, but it was along the ocean and we discovered the park of lovers. So it turned out quite nicely. During lunch, we were interviewed by two boys about family traditions in the U.S. This is my third time being interviewed (on camera!) here. I never knew I gave the interesting opinions vibe before.  Later, we went to a get together at an international student house. My favorite part of the evening was when we packed a taxi with 6 people and all sang the Beatles. 

Lover's Park Mosaic

That's all! For those who don't want to read this all and skimmed, here are my highlights:

- 3 on camera interviews since arriving

- Drinking Coca-Cola in jeans at the U.S. Embassy

- Tried McDonalds here (tastes the same, possibly more expensive, slightly different menu)

- Continuation of hollering: "Hi ladies, what is up?"

- Beatles in a taxi

-The sweetest little kids ever
- Constant stomach problems (if you are traveling don't look up parasite symptoms if you feel sick)

Food, Food, and Pick-up Lines

Today, Katie, Erin, Mari and I went to Mistura. Mistura is this huge festival in Lima where chefs, restaurants, and food stands from all over the country come and set up stands in a park. Basically, it is food heaven. They showcase everything from traditional dishes that they cook over a fire in the ground to disgustingly huge hamburgers with fries on them. Needless to say, we spent the entire day eating here.

List of Foods We Ate:

1) Chicken in some sauce with rice and beans. I can't remember the name, but this was quite good.

2) Anticuchos- Cow heart. That's right. I ate grilled cow heart. It was pretty good, but I don't really like steak so that probably was my problem with it.

3) Tamales- They were alright, we've found better ones on the street.

4) Cebiche- This is raw fish they cook with the acid of limes. It basically takes like the citrus from the limes, and I really liked it! It is one of Peru's most famous dishes, and I can see why.

5) Lamb with Potatoes- I don't remember the Peruvian name for this, but it was a type of lamb cooked over a fire in a big wrapped thing. We had two kinds of potatoes with it, one I liked and one I didn't.

6) Chocolate Samples and Chocolate Covered Fruit- There was a tent of chocolates. Let me repeat that, THERE WAS A TENT OF CHOCOLATE. I could have spent the whole day here. We walked around getting samples from all of them, and then also bought some chocolate covered fresh fruit. It was the best thing.

7) Pinneaple Drink- This was pineapple with possibly some condensed milk, in this icy awesome drink.

8) The Largest Hamburger Ever- This is what was on my hambuger: A humongous bun, lettuce, tomato, hamburger, an egg mixed with sausage, a fried egg, little fry like things, ketchup, mustard, aji, and 3 more unidentifiable sauces. I couldn't finish the last couple bites. I'll post a picture later so you can see just how crazy this thing was.

After eating all this, we stumbled to a cab and back to the house to groan about how full we are.

What I also want to talk about in this entry are the "pick-up" lines so frequently used on us. And by frequent I mean we get hollered at every day. The reason I am thinking about this is because today while we were sitting eating at the fair, an older man came up to us and started talking. He asked us where we were from, and if we liked the food. And then proceeded to tell us many times how pretty we were. Following this awkward exchanged he shook our hands, AND RUFFLED MY HAIR. What? Did that just happen? And that's not even THAT weird here. 

Types of Hollering:

1) The Blatant Yell: They yell things like "Hola", "Bonita"(beautiful), "Gringa (Tourist)", "Tienes un novio? (do you have a boyfriend), etc.

2) The Whistle: They just whistle several times to let you know you've been seen.

3) The Honk: Similar to the whistle, but they're in a car and have a different way of making noise.

4) Kissing Noises: This is my least favorite. They making kissing noises at you as you walk past, sometimes also coming off slightly like hissing.

5) The Whisper: This is where they say what others might yell, but instead say it quietly as they walk by you. Not as disconcerting as the Kissing Noise, but slightly more creepy.

These are the most common types, but can be combined to create new variations. There are also always those that surprise you, like the head pat today. I'm starting to get more used to them, or maybe just better at ignoring people?

The Love/Hate List

The other day I was feeling homesick so being me, I decided to consult the chart of emotions we were given to determine what stage of adjustment to living abroad I was in. Basically, first you like it, then you start to get grumpy about it, then you really hate, and then you are adjusted. I was worried I was in the "hate it" stage. But then, that afternoon, we went shopping, walked outside, laughed and the sun shone in Lima! I was once again glad to be here. 

It seems to me, that I flip-flop between liking and disliking Lima all the time. Sometimes it is just so hard. I can't communicate, my friends and family are thousands of miles away, and Lima is a HUGE city. Other times I never want to leave, I'm meeting new people, seeing interesting things, and learning a lot about the world and myself. 

I think this is a pretty normal study abroad phenomenon, especially for those year-long participants. But, in the spirit of my thoughts I decided to make a top love/hate list about Peru.

LOVE:

1) Meeting new people: It has been really interesting to meet people from all around the world and the United States. I haven't made a ton of Peruvian friends yet (mostly because it is hard for me to carry out an interesting conversation with native speakers) but slowly I know it will be easier. And these new relationships are going to be so memorable!

2) Deserts: I have never been surrounded by so many good deserts in my life. They sell all sorts of cake like things at my school, and we ALWAYS have desert with dinner at my house.

3) Adventures: Everything is new here. I can go pretty much anywhere in the city and have it be a new experience, I can also travel interesting places. Also, because I usually don't know where I am going or what to expect, even running to the grocery store turns into a mini-adventure!

4) Prices: Peru is developing still, so the cost of living is a lot cheaper here. The cheap meal at my school costs fifty cents, and most things in general are just a lot less than in the U.S.. That means, I have more to spend on travel and other things that I love to do!

DON'T LOVE:

1) Pollution: This is not unique to Lima, but it is a new experience for me, who has always lived in the clean Midwest. Lima has a lot of trash in the streets, and constant smog. I have only actually seen the sun two days since I have been here.

2) Class Times: First of all, classes here are long. Most are 2 to 3 hours, with a 10 minute break. I also can only understand Spanish for about an 1hr 30min before I start zoning out. Basically, I miss all of the end of my classes. Second of all, teachers feel they can change class times according to their needs. I already had one class moved to Saturday, one class extended an hour, one on Sunday, etc. This gets difficult when you have other classes scheduled/other plans made for those times.

3) Hollering/Staring: There are not that many tourists in Lima, and especially not in my neighborhood. Therefore, many people stare or yell "gringa" or whisper about me and the other exchange students. Worse than this, there are men who always feel the need to say something (From hola to beautiful, one time we even got "charlie's angels") or whistle at you as you go by. Additionally, the taxis always honk at white people. To which I say; I WILL SIGNAL YOU IF I WANT A TAXI.

And finally, what I don't know what to think about is the constant feeling I am an outsider. On one level, this makes things really hard and slightly uncomfortable. On the other hand, it is a good experience to have and one that I think will definitely change my outlook on a lot of things. Also, I feel as I become comfortable with the language and customs and establish connections to the city I will feel less and less like this.

That's it! Notice that I have one more thing that I love than not. Because Peru really is a great place. And I'm glad I came.

Part 2: Mancora, mi amor

Ok, so lunch. Lunch was made by Ursula and was tasty. After lunch we drove about an hour away to an unprotected Mangrove area. In this area motor boats are allowed, so we took a boat out to an island covered in birds. I don't recall if we were told what kind of birds they were, but the males have a large red throat they puff out to be more attractive. It has been compared to the Galapagos according to the tour guide (I'm assuming the whole bird displaying adaptation idea, etc.). I didn't particularly enjoy the island, as it smelled like bird poop and I discovered I'm afraid of large groups of birds.

After driving past the island, we landed on another one which hosts a crocodile sanctuary. The sanctuary was a little sad, as they have too little space for all the crocodiles that are there. Also, crocodiles have a very long maturation cycle (15 years) and there is a specific span in which releasing them to the wild is best. The sanctuary has about 20 crocodiles in this span, but unfortunately they have not started to release any because they want some unnecessary research money and, I believe to continue the sanctuary as a sort of tourist attraction. It's a really unfortunate situation.

After feeling a little let down by this portion of the tour, I was incredibly happy to spend some time in hot springs! Ursula took us to a local place that the city has be maintaining. It was really fun to get it, but since it was hot inside and out we didn't spend much time there. Before leaving the tour, Ursula asked us if we wanted to volunteer at a swim race the next morning. Our jobs would be to kayak next to the swimmers in the ocean and give them water and a break if they needed any help. Being sufficiently under-qualified, having just learned how to steer a double kayak, and no knowledge of life-saving skills we enthusiastically jumped at the opportunity.

The next morning, we woke up bright and early for the 6km ocean swimming race. After a few instructions, Mari and I hopped in a kayak and were off! For awhile it was quite fun. Free ocean kayaking! And with something to look and talk about while we did it! Then, one of the swimmers needed a break. So she grabbed on to the back of our kayak and we pulled her for awhile. Finally, she got off and swam a little more. Then she grabbed on again. And we pulled her. For ONE HOUR. I think that counts as cheating. After starting to feel exhausted from pulling a person in a kayak against the current in an ocean, we asked her if she would like us to signal the boat. She didn't. Finally, she went in to shore. And none to soon (I thought I, the rescuer, was going to need rescuing!) we reached the finish line! I'm sure the swimmers were more relieved than I was, they were so impressive! Big waves that day! We then had some fruit (peruvian idea of a breakfast buffet) and headed back to the hostel for some rest.

The next few days at the hostel passed by in a blur of beach, sun, reading, and good restaurants. We also discovered 3 bakeries in town which we frequented alternatively several times a day (we asked when they took the bread out of the ovens). And, oh!, I almost forgot. On our last night there, a truck crashed into the side of our hostel! It came in on the back corner and couldn't stop. It knocked down a wall and two bathrooms. Luckily, no one was in the bathrooms so no one from the hostel was harmed. However, they had to carry the driver away and someone said that he didn't have feeling in his legs. Scary! It is really fortunate that the truck hit where it did, because it wasn't a wall connected to any bedrooms.

Finally the day came where we had to head back to Lima, aka. school, cold, real life. I, of course, felt sick.

Despite feeling slightly sick, I decided it was nothing and boarded the bus prepared for 20 hours of the same horrors. The first thing that happened was the bus driver put in a movie. The movie was Taken. I'm not even kidding. I had to watch again, the story of kidnapped tourists. What does that mean?? As the day went on, I also began to feel sicker and sicker. I kept a trash bag ready at all times. Finally, just as I thought I might need to use it, we made our ONE stop of the night. After scrambling off the bus, I raced to the bathroom. I had just gotten my first bout of traveler's diarrhea. With 11 hours left on a bus. That doesn't have a functioning bathroom. 

This goes in to one of the worst moments in my life list. After vomiting and drinking some water I got back on the bus and had a fitful sleep and cramps and generally yuckiness. We finally arrived in Lima, took a cab back to the house and I laid in bed for about 8 hours. I missed my classes and wanted my mom. But, the next day I felt a lot better. I ended up taking an anti-biotic for this kind of thing and am happy to report that I am doing much better. I am however, going to be a lot more careful with what I eat from now on.

After all this eventfulness, this weekend has been mostly catching up on homework and resting. Tomorrow, I may go do a little shopping at an Inca market in Miraflores. Possibly watch a pirated version of the help tonight. So for now, Ciao!

The Long (Awaited) Update

I have been procrastinating writing in my blog. I know. I'm sorry! It's just that this is going to be a long entry, a lot has happened since I last described my life. But, after multiple inquiries from my many devoted fans (aka my parents) I finally decided to stop using my free time to watch Modern Family episodes (ok, I watched one) and WRITE.

The Main Event: MANCORA

Last Wednesday night, a group of us from the house decided we were going to spend a long weekend in a small, coastal town in the north of Peru called Mancora. I don't have class Mondays or Fridays and we had a day off on Tuesday for Santa Rosa, the patron saint of Lima. I think it was her birthday. Possible deathday. Anyways, with the extra long weekend we decided to travel to a place farther away, 20 hours by bus to be exact. 

Initial stresses: 1) While trying to buy bus tickets, my card wouldn't work. I don't know why, it works everywhere else her. Mari had to buy ours with her card while I tried to calm down from the online shopping experience. 2) I only had brought my hiking backpack and daypack as luggage to Lima. Therefore I had to pack my embarrassingly large bag and endure the criticism of my traveling companions (mostly in my mind).

Despite these setbacks, we arrived at the bus stop early to have them not understand our tickets for just enough time for me to stress out again (I'm beginning to think I am not cut out for travel planning). Yet, finally we boarded the bus. The bus which we were to spend the next 20 hours is best described in what it lacks; adequate leg room, toilet paper, lights, and general cleanliness. But ok, I had some motion sickness medicine and they were going to play movies! The results? I fell asleep from drowsiness during the light part of the day and the was up during the pitch dark/no functioning lights part. 

And the movies. First, we watched Taken. Taken is the story of tourist girls traveling abroad who get kidnapped and made into sex slaves. I AM A TOURIST GIRL TRAVELING ABROAD!! This didn't go over well. Taken was then followed by a moving detailing the virtues of christian marriage, one involving Rob Schneider toughening up for prison, and one where a girl is made into an assassin.  Please also remember these are dubbed in Spanish. Not quickly enough, the movies ended, we "slept" and ended up in MANCORA!

Upon exiting the bus, we were immediately swarmed by taxi drivers. After politely and then not so politely refusing them we walked to a hostel I had scoped out on the internet, Kokopelli. Lucky for us, Kokopelli had a room with 8 beds in it (how many of us there were) and they were all free! So we got a room to ourselves, that had its own bathroom, and clean sheets! What more could we ask. Kokopelli ended up being a great hostel the whole time, with friendly staff and lots of hammocks.

The first day, we went immediately to the beach where despite careful sunscreen application, the majority burned. After signing up for an early morning tour, most of us decided to go to bed early that day. However, at about 12 the hotel next door threw a raging discoteca with fabulous reggaeton music at full blast until 3 or 4. So sleep was not so easy.

The next day Mari, Natalie, Katie and I took a guided tour of the Mangrove reserve, close to the border with Ecuador. Our tour guide was the incredibly cool Ursula, an Italian-German Peruvian who grew up in Lima and spent here time being a Marine Biologist (with a huge belly scar from rescuing dolphins!) and giving adventure tours throughout Peru before meeting the love of her life, a jewish, middle-eastern Peruvian and settling down in Mancora. 

The day started with kayaking/canoeing through a protected Mangrove area. Mangroves are trees which can only grow in areas where fresh water mixes with salt water, making them pretty rare and pretty endangered. In the reserve we got to see 5 kinds of these trees, as well as many crabs, birds, and other little creatures. The kayak was a two person deal, which we swapped using. It was HARD. Hard to steer and hard to move, as we were against the current for awhile. After some initial confusion and a lot of me yelling "MARI" we got the hang of it just in time to maneuver our way through a maze of trees and even have the pleasure of lying flat to fit under a fallen branch. Finally, it was lunch.

Ok, I'm sorry to leave you at that cliff hanger but I am about to watch a movie with my amigas. So this is To be continued.... Tonight or Tomorrow.