Yes. I went to a bullfight. To begin I’ll tell you how I feel now: I'm glad I went, and I'm glad I'll never have to do it again.Going into it I really didn't have real idea of how bullfights worked, only that there is huge controversy over it. On one side there are the die hard bullfight fans who go for their whole life and who believe that bullfighting is one of the most important traditions in Hispanic culture. On the other side are the animal rights people who believe that it’s terrible to wound and kill hundreds of bulls every year for sport. I can see both sides of the argument now and even though I wouldn't want to go to another fight I respect the people whose tradition it is and the closest comparison I could make would be to game hunting back in the states and to those people who go out and kill animals to just mount on their walls. However by no means do I want to underplay to brutality and suffering of the bulls and how tragic seeing a huge animal being stabbed to death really is. Okay, so for all of you who have never seen a bullfight here is what exactly happens. There is a round stadium and in the center is a dirt ring in which the bullfight takes place. The stadium is pack with obviously wealthy people partying, drinking and having a great time (obviously the people who cherish this as a part of their tradition like the Kentucky Derby). To start the fight a bull (toro) is let out into the ring and numerous bullfighters (toreros) taunt it with pink/red cape. Next two men mounted on horses come out and one stabs the toro on the back numerous times and makes it bleed. The horses then leave the ring and 3 men one after the other stab 2 sticks each into the toros back that are implanted there for the rest of the fight (sometimes they fall out though). After this the main torero comes out and does many "dances" with the toro, taunting it with a red cape and the crowd yells "OLE" each time the bull charges. If the bull wasn't being stabbed and killed this part would actually be very pretty because it literally is like the two are dancing around each other often times with the torero touching and rubbing the bulls horns, within only feet of each other. It is just miraculous how the bull doesn't annihilate the torero and really never charges except at the cape when being taunted. After about a half hour of this the torero gets a sword and stabs the toro in the spinal cord to kill it, the bull walks around and eventually collapses to its death where upon another dagger is more precisely placed in its spinal cord to make sure its completely dead and the toro twitches on the ground at that point. Horses are then brought into the ring and the bull is tied and dragged out by the horses. There were six fights with 3 toreros killing 2 bulls each. One bull came onto the field and had a problem with its legs or hoofs and the crowd booed and yelled until they let him off and new one was brought on. If a torero does especially good fans will wave white flags and if enough flags are waved a judge will give the torero an away and he will walk around the ring thanking everyone and people throw roses and these leather flasks of wine down to him. I sat next to a group of people who had been coming for over 40 years to the bullfights and they were able to teach me more about it which I think really helped me understand why people go as part of a tradition. Honestly by the 6th bull I was pretty desensitized by the whole experience so even though I still think it’s pretty awful I can see how people who have grown up in the culture view it as just another sport.
For more info and a better cultural and technical explanation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_fights The fight I saw is Spanish bullfighting opposed to some other kinds of different places.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Dia de los muertos
Dia de los muertos (day of the dead) is celebrated on November 2nd and although a primarily Mexican tradition it is celebrated in Hispanic communities all over the world. For more background info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_DeadIn lima the holiday is celebrated most by the lower class so we joined thousands of people at the cemetery where all the poor are buried. We were dropped off in a combi and had to walk a few blocks up to the cemetery; along the way the streets were filled with vendors selling candles, crosses, flowers, food, alcohol and more. Upon entering the gates there is a huge mausoleum that has recently been built and families were climbing ladders to clean, paint, and decorate the front cement square of their loved ones. Once passing the mausoleum I saw hillsides as far as I could see covered in graves. This is not a cemetery similar to any I have seen in my life and is almost impossible for me to explain but I’ll try my best. Traditionally Andean culture prefers to be buried under ground and going back into Incan tradition doesn't like to be cremated. The Incan's believed that you needed your body in tact after death to have your soul be able to continue living. The last Incan "king", Atahualpa, converted to Catholicism immediately before being killed by conquistadores so that he would be beheaded instead of burned. Initially the bodies are buried and the coffins are covered with rocks and a cross is places on the head of the grave with the Name, date of birth and date of death painted on the cross. The day of the dead is a day where families come to clean the graves, repaint the crosses, decorate and bring gifts for the dead. As families move up in social standing more elaborate altars and even building are built on top of the grave sites. The graves are painted pastel colors and looking into the distance the cemetery looks like a city for the dead. The day is not a day of so much mourning but rather a day of celebration. Families stay at the graves often times all day and play music, sing songs, dance and drink. The Peruvians welcomed us to party with then and we shared a lot of beer and stories with them, they really appreciated that we would come celebrate the day and their deceased loved ones with them. It was amazing that basically every single grave had been cared for and only a small percentage out of thousands of graves were not visited on this day. I bought a pack of candles and found what I believe was the grave of a baby (due to the size) that had not been visited and I rebuilt the rock structure on top of it, cleaned away the weeds and burned a candle there. What I found written on one grave that really touched me was " I am not dead I am only sleeping and I will not die until the day you stop visiting me" (in Spanish of course). The cemetery was so spectacular and unbelievable because it just continued up and down the hillsides for what seemed like forever. The cemetery is by far the biggest in lima and is thought to be one of the biggest in the world. Like so many things here in Peru this is just so hard to define in words and I feel like what I have written doesn't even begin to explain this experience.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Mountain climbing is a physical activity.
The group APU (that I went to Huacachina with) planned a hiking excursion for the weekend. About 20 of us left Saturday morning at 8:30 in cabs to Chosica an hour away that cost 8 soles/person ($3), then we switched there to a combi that took another hour or so to Matucana which was 3.5 soles ($1.15). Upon our arrival in Matucana we got all of our backpacks together, changed into shorts and t-shirts and got anything else we needed for the night. The weather was perfect it was sunny and not too hot. The entrance fee to climb was 2 soles ($.70). The landscape was amazing and we were hiking through valleys, around rivers and farms that lined the mountain. We met some locals who had farms a few hours climb up on the side of the mountains, and it was actually embarrassing as we were all panting, short of breath and had to stop for many breaks to see these little old ladies just hiking up the side of a mountain like it was nothing. The hike was so much harder than I could have ever imagined. I thought I brought nothing in my backpack but part was up the hill I felt like I had the whole world it in! The hardest part was between 30 and 60 % of the way when it was basically just straight up the side of the mountain like we were climbing stairs, only there were no stairs it was just rocks and gravel. I'm so glad I got those new hiking shoes (thanks mom and dad) because everyone else was having a really hard time slipping on the gravel but I was pretty much fine. I have never in my life been so out of breath and having my heart beat so hard from walking, and walking really really slowly at that! It seemed like we had to stop every few meters to catch our breath at that point because we were so tired and with the altitude there was less oxygen in the air. After about 75% of the way it got easier and we just had to hike around the side of a peak until we made it to our camping destination at this waterfall. The waterfall wasn't that impressive after going to Ithaca with Eric over the summer but it was pretty none the less. We played in the waterfall and the river even though it was pretty cold; I didn't think it was that bad seeing as I come from the north and go wakeboarding in April but everyone else was dying! I took a nap on my towel for an hour or so before we set up camp. We looked for firewood, which was very scarce because there really wasn't any trees in the area just other little bushes and such. We ended up having a pretty nice fire anyway. The Germans brought bread dough and we made stockbrot (stick bread) which basically you just take dough and wrap it around a stick and hold it over the fire forever and then eat it even though the inside is still mostly dough. I learned a lot about German and Dutch culture as we made stockbrot. I went to bed pretty early because I had the worst headache of my entire life because of the altitude. I didn't have a tent so I just slept outside in a sleeping bag which was amazing because I saw more stars and shooting stars in one night than I ever have in my whole life. On Sunday we got up early and packed everything up and started back down the mountain. Instead of taking multiple hours like it did to go up it probably only took us at most an hour to get down. We encountered a guard dog that we were pretty sure was going to attack us so we pick up rocks to throw at it just in case but it ended up just barking at us as we passed. That was lucky though because getting attacked by a dog on a gravel path on the side of a cliff is probably pretty dangerous. We got back into Matucana and took two combis back into Lima that took a few hours but the drive through the mountains is really gorgeous. Overall it was the coolest and cheapest weekend yet. It cost about 20 soles ($6.67) for transportation and the park fee but besides that we just had to bring our own food and sleeping bag. On the way out of the park the ranger told us about guided multiple day hikes that we could do around the area that we are thinking about doing in a couple of weekends.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Un Techo Para Mi País
I signed up to build houses in Chincha which is a city down south by Ica that was destroyed by a terrible earthquake in August of last year. I signed up with my two roommates Trevor and Michael and a lot of people from their UVA group.
Friday: We went to meet at a stadium at 8pm Friday night but had to get into smaller groups and wait around for buses until about 10pm. There were probably a couple hundred people who volunteer, both Peruvian and foreign. The organization that does this is called "Un techo para mi país which means "A roof for my country." We arrived in Chincha at about 3am and set up our sleeping bags in a church. There were a lot of younger people and the whole experience felt like a weekend at summer camp as a child. My friends and I were really tired and wanted to go to bed but a group of about 20 people stayed up and played games until 5am when they finally turned the lights off and we went to bed.
Saturday: At 7am they started blasting terrible music to get us to wake up and I was very unhappy at that point since I couldn't get to sleep until 5am. We got up, ate some breakfast, brushed our teeth outside and changed into working clothes. Then we had to play "team building" games (again with the summer camp feel), which only made me more annoyed because I could have slept for another hour while people were doing all that. We were split up into groups of 3 people. In my group were two other Peruvians; Carla who was 18 and our leader, and Alonso who was 21 and had also never built a house before. The three of us were supposed to build a house in the two days we were there. At probably 9am we took our tools (shovel, hammer, nails) to the site of our house and we met Luís who we were building the house for. Luís lived in a house with his sisters, some man, nieces and nephews. In a 6 meter by 6 meter house made of bamboo sticks and tarps lived at least 10 people, and for those 10 people we were building 2 6 meter by 3 meter wooden houses. To start the house we had to build a foundation which was three 6 meter boards. We had to level the ground and dig wholes to put the boards into but the ground is made up of clay so digging was really hard. Once those boards were down we nailed the floor panels perpendicularly across the three boards and nails then down by hand. That is all we finished the first day and we were nailing by candle/flashlight because we didn't finish until about 9pm. We were by far the group who worked the latest and had the least amount of our house done because Carla really had NO IDEA what she was doing in building this house. In comparison Trevor’s groups was done at 4:30pm and had put up their walls. We went back to the church to eat dinner which was mashed potatoes, rice and tuna and then we went to bed.
Sunday: We woke up around 8am after sleeping through the blasting music, ate breakfast and went to our site. We started by putting up the pre-constructed walls which didnt really it together correctly so there were spaces in the corners at some points. All the wood we were using was terrible and it was almost impossible to nail through it sometimes so we dipped the nails in cooking oil first (if that helped or not I have no idea). In the afternoon we ate lunch that the family prepared for us on their propane camping stove that they had in their hut. I'm pretty sure it’s a terrible idea to use those inside because the whole place smelled like propane and our food tasted like it too. We just had very simple chicken and rice. The next step of the house was to put up 7 ceiling beams, the roof and then we nailed the walls to the floor. We had a lot of help with the last parts and I basically just played with all the little kids that were running around. The kids were fascinated by my camera and each wanted a turn taking pictures so I have about 20 of the same photo of me holding various babies. In the end I had to tell them that the battery died because I did have to do a little work on the house! We had a littler ceremony with cake and balloons and we gave the family a certificate for the new house and they told us how grateful they were that we did this for them so it was really nice because they seemed so happy. Shortly after we got back on the bus and came back to Lima.
Friday: We went to meet at a stadium at 8pm Friday night but had to get into smaller groups and wait around for buses until about 10pm. There were probably a couple hundred people who volunteer, both Peruvian and foreign. The organization that does this is called "Un techo para mi país which means "A roof for my country." We arrived in Chincha at about 3am and set up our sleeping bags in a church. There were a lot of younger people and the whole experience felt like a weekend at summer camp as a child. My friends and I were really tired and wanted to go to bed but a group of about 20 people stayed up and played games until 5am when they finally turned the lights off and we went to bed.
Saturday: At 7am they started blasting terrible music to get us to wake up and I was very unhappy at that point since I couldn't get to sleep until 5am. We got up, ate some breakfast, brushed our teeth outside and changed into working clothes. Then we had to play "team building" games (again with the summer camp feel), which only made me more annoyed because I could have slept for another hour while people were doing all that. We were split up into groups of 3 people. In my group were two other Peruvians; Carla who was 18 and our leader, and Alonso who was 21 and had also never built a house before. The three of us were supposed to build a house in the two days we were there. At probably 9am we took our tools (shovel, hammer, nails) to the site of our house and we met Luís who we were building the house for. Luís lived in a house with his sisters, some man, nieces and nephews. In a 6 meter by 6 meter house made of bamboo sticks and tarps lived at least 10 people, and for those 10 people we were building 2 6 meter by 3 meter wooden houses. To start the house we had to build a foundation which was three 6 meter boards. We had to level the ground and dig wholes to put the boards into but the ground is made up of clay so digging was really hard. Once those boards were down we nailed the floor panels perpendicularly across the three boards and nails then down by hand. That is all we finished the first day and we were nailing by candle/flashlight because we didn't finish until about 9pm. We were by far the group who worked the latest and had the least amount of our house done because Carla really had NO IDEA what she was doing in building this house. In comparison Trevor’s groups was done at 4:30pm and had put up their walls. We went back to the church to eat dinner which was mashed potatoes, rice and tuna and then we went to bed.
Sunday: We woke up around 8am after sleeping through the blasting music, ate breakfast and went to our site. We started by putting up the pre-constructed walls which didnt really it together correctly so there were spaces in the corners at some points. All the wood we were using was terrible and it was almost impossible to nail through it sometimes so we dipped the nails in cooking oil first (if that helped or not I have no idea). In the afternoon we ate lunch that the family prepared for us on their propane camping stove that they had in their hut. I'm pretty sure it’s a terrible idea to use those inside because the whole place smelled like propane and our food tasted like it too. We just had very simple chicken and rice. The next step of the house was to put up 7 ceiling beams, the roof and then we nailed the walls to the floor. We had a lot of help with the last parts and I basically just played with all the little kids that were running around. The kids were fascinated by my camera and each wanted a turn taking pictures so I have about 20 of the same photo of me holding various babies. In the end I had to tell them that the battery died because I did have to do a little work on the house! We had a littler ceremony with cake and balloons and we gave the family a certificate for the new house and they told us how grateful they were that we did this for them so it was really nice because they seemed so happy. Shortly after we got back on the bus and came back to Lima.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Chiclayo, Pimentel, Lambayeque, Monsefú
After a long week of studying and two 'controls' (tests) I had to get out of Lima for the weekend. Hannah ran her finger up and down the map, I said stop and it was decided that we were going to Chiclayo which is a city up north.
Thursday:
Wednesday night I packed my bags and headed to class Thursday morning with my backpack to leave directly from school. I had class from 10-12 then studied all day for my linguistics control at 5pm. After my control I went straight to TESPA the bus agency and Hannah, An and I left Lima at 9:30pm. We bought the last tickets on the bus but had to sit at the back by the bathroom which smelled like poop/air freshener for 13 hours. On the bus we watch Dennis the Menace Christmas, and some crazy alien movie. Movies on the bus are always the most bizarre American movies from the 90's. The bus was fairly comfortable and I got a couple hours of sleep before we arrived in Chiclayo at 11:30am on Friday.
Friday:
Once we arrived we headed straight for the central market which was teaming with clothes, toys, herbs, meats, live animals, shoes, fruits, vegetables, dishes, cookware, fabrics, shoe repairs, it was a vary bizarre mix of things like in all markets in Peru. The raw meat area is by far the worst smell I have ever smelled in my entire life, followed by the fieldtrip to the sewage treatment plant in elementary school. There was beef hanging on hooks, full chickens, blood running down the drains, all kinds of fish, crabs, octopus, shrimp, fillets of something that was 4 feet long, 3 feet wide and 1 foot thick. There was also an area of Shamans and we bought little bottles filled with herbs and weird things that were for good luck and health. The Shaman rubbed our hands, said a prayer, took a sip from some bottle filled with herbs and spit it on our hands, then we had to rub the vile between our hands and now apparently we have good luck and health. The whole experience was really funny because we just had no idea what was going on.
We left the market to go to Pimentel which is right on the beach where we wanted to stay that night. In our Lonely Planet guide they recommended this hostel with bungalows on the beach. It was a ten minute walk down the beach from the town and just appeared in the middle of the desert. When we got there it looked deserted but finally this guy showed up and gave us a room in a pyramid shaped building that has room for about 8 people. We walked back to the town to eat and there was this strip of restaurants and ladies would come out from each one and bombard us, flagging us down, yelling what they were serving and trying to give us "Menu Turistico" which is the tourist menu that always costs like 3 times more. Most places in Peru have a daily menu that’s between 5 and 10 soles which has a first plate, second plate and drink. After looking around for a while we picked one and just had the normal Peruvian chicken and rice. After lunch we went to the market to get some food for dinner that night and took a Moto rickshaw back to the hostel. There were 5 kitten, 3 puppies, 2 dogs, and some roosters and other birds in cages at the hostel so we played with the kittens and puppies a bit. We took a walk down the beach, roasted bananas over a camp and chatted with the two guys who ran the hostel. When we went back into our at night we found out that there was no electricity and had to use candles all night, also we found rats who ended up eating a bunch of the food we had during the night. I probably only got an hour of sleep at most between the rats and the dogs barking outside.
Saturday: We got up early and packed out stuff after deciding not to stay there another night. We went back into Chiclayo and found a really nice hostel with hot water, electricity, and even a computer with internet. This hostel was also 15 soles cheaper per person.
We took a cab from Chiclayo to Lambayeque where there is the Museum of Sipan. Sipan is an ancient ruin from people who lived way before the Incas. The museum is a replica of the ruins and starting at the top you go down each level and it shows what archeologists found when they dug it up. There were a lot of tombs and we say the actually human remains along with pottery, textiles and metal work. The jewelry was so intricate I couldn't believe that they had to tools to make such tiny detailed things back then, it was really amazing. They didn't allow photography but if you look up Sipan online you can probably find some pictures.
After Sipan we went to Monsefú which is an even smaller town but has a really nice artisan market. Each town is known for different handicrafts and this market has a lot of wooden tools and artwork. We got interviewed by high school students about out time in Monsefú which is actually the third time I have been interviewed here. The first time was a student learning English who tape recorded our conversation for a class project, and the second was a survey from a girl who had different sketches of clothes and I had to pick one or the other from about 30 pairs of sketches.
We returned to Chiclayo in the evening and ate dinner at a chifa (Peruvian Chinese food) but it was terrible. We got ice cream and just hung around for the rest of the night.
Sunday:
We got up and ate breakfast before going back to the Chiclayo market. We left all of our stuff at the hostel so we could explore the market with out having to worry about getting things stolen from us. The market is so chaotic and exhausting because people are constantly yelling at us to come look at their goods.
We went to catch our bus at 7pm; all of us were exhausted by then! There was this really weird young girl we met there who I’m not sure if she had some kind of social disability for was just very bizarre. She came up and started talking to us and asking us how to say things in English. She tried to give us these bracelets she had on but we would not accept and when her bus was leaving she just kept coming back up to us to say goodbye over and over again and her mom had to keep pulling her away from us. Once we got on the bus it was only 11 hours back so we were home at 6am Monday morning.
Thursday:
Wednesday night I packed my bags and headed to class Thursday morning with my backpack to leave directly from school. I had class from 10-12 then studied all day for my linguistics control at 5pm. After my control I went straight to TESPA the bus agency and Hannah, An and I left Lima at 9:30pm. We bought the last tickets on the bus but had to sit at the back by the bathroom which smelled like poop/air freshener for 13 hours. On the bus we watch Dennis the Menace Christmas, and some crazy alien movie. Movies on the bus are always the most bizarre American movies from the 90's. The bus was fairly comfortable and I got a couple hours of sleep before we arrived in Chiclayo at 11:30am on Friday.
Friday:
Once we arrived we headed straight for the central market which was teaming with clothes, toys, herbs, meats, live animals, shoes, fruits, vegetables, dishes, cookware, fabrics, shoe repairs, it was a vary bizarre mix of things like in all markets in Peru. The raw meat area is by far the worst smell I have ever smelled in my entire life, followed by the fieldtrip to the sewage treatment plant in elementary school. There was beef hanging on hooks, full chickens, blood running down the drains, all kinds of fish, crabs, octopus, shrimp, fillets of something that was 4 feet long, 3 feet wide and 1 foot thick. There was also an area of Shamans and we bought little bottles filled with herbs and weird things that were for good luck and health. The Shaman rubbed our hands, said a prayer, took a sip from some bottle filled with herbs and spit it on our hands, then we had to rub the vile between our hands and now apparently we have good luck and health. The whole experience was really funny because we just had no idea what was going on.
We left the market to go to Pimentel which is right on the beach where we wanted to stay that night. In our Lonely Planet guide they recommended this hostel with bungalows on the beach. It was a ten minute walk down the beach from the town and just appeared in the middle of the desert. When we got there it looked deserted but finally this guy showed up and gave us a room in a pyramid shaped building that has room for about 8 people. We walked back to the town to eat and there was this strip of restaurants and ladies would come out from each one and bombard us, flagging us down, yelling what they were serving and trying to give us "Menu Turistico" which is the tourist menu that always costs like 3 times more. Most places in Peru have a daily menu that’s between 5 and 10 soles which has a first plate, second plate and drink. After looking around for a while we picked one and just had the normal Peruvian chicken and rice. After lunch we went to the market to get some food for dinner that night and took a Moto rickshaw back to the hostel. There were 5 kitten, 3 puppies, 2 dogs, and some roosters and other birds in cages at the hostel so we played with the kittens and puppies a bit. We took a walk down the beach, roasted bananas over a camp and chatted with the two guys who ran the hostel. When we went back into our at night we found out that there was no electricity and had to use candles all night, also we found rats who ended up eating a bunch of the food we had during the night. I probably only got an hour of sleep at most between the rats and the dogs barking outside.
Saturday: We got up early and packed out stuff after deciding not to stay there another night. We went back into Chiclayo and found a really nice hostel with hot water, electricity, and even a computer with internet. This hostel was also 15 soles cheaper per person.
We took a cab from Chiclayo to Lambayeque where there is the Museum of Sipan. Sipan is an ancient ruin from people who lived way before the Incas. The museum is a replica of the ruins and starting at the top you go down each level and it shows what archeologists found when they dug it up. There were a lot of tombs and we say the actually human remains along with pottery, textiles and metal work. The jewelry was so intricate I couldn't believe that they had to tools to make such tiny detailed things back then, it was really amazing. They didn't allow photography but if you look up Sipan online you can probably find some pictures.
After Sipan we went to Monsefú which is an even smaller town but has a really nice artisan market. Each town is known for different handicrafts and this market has a lot of wooden tools and artwork. We got interviewed by high school students about out time in Monsefú which is actually the third time I have been interviewed here. The first time was a student learning English who tape recorded our conversation for a class project, and the second was a survey from a girl who had different sketches of clothes and I had to pick one or the other from about 30 pairs of sketches.
We returned to Chiclayo in the evening and ate dinner at a chifa (Peruvian Chinese food) but it was terrible. We got ice cream and just hung around for the rest of the night.
Sunday:
We got up and ate breakfast before going back to the Chiclayo market. We left all of our stuff at the hostel so we could explore the market with out having to worry about getting things stolen from us. The market is so chaotic and exhausting because people are constantly yelling at us to come look at their goods.
We went to catch our bus at 7pm; all of us were exhausted by then! There was this really weird young girl we met there who I’m not sure if she had some kind of social disability for was just very bizarre. She came up and started talking to us and asking us how to say things in English. She tried to give us these bracelets she had on but we would not accept and when her bus was leaving she just kept coming back up to us to say goodbye over and over again and her mom had to keep pulling her away from us. Once we got on the bus it was only 11 hours back so we were home at 6am Monday morning.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Nothing Important
The last few weeks have been pretty low key with the start of school. I love my linguistics class and it might be the most interesting class i have ever taken. So far we are learning about the development of language in children, how languages are perceived in the world and how Spanish differs between its different dialects. Since Peru has so many isolated Amazonian cultures a few languages die out here every year and my teacher is very passionate about informing us about these languages.
I went to the store to buy peanut butter which I was craving here. For a really tiny about 5 spoon full jar it was 14 soles which is about $5. I wasn’t craving it that bad, but it looks like I won’t be eating peanut butter for another few months! They do have peanut butter Oreos here though that are amazing! They have strawberry yogurt filled Oreos too which I think sounds gross but some of my friends really like. Right across the street from my school are some really nice Peruvian restaurants that I have lunch at some days. For 5 soles ($1.70) they serve 3 options for a 1st dish (like soup, salad etc.), then 3 options for main dishes (usually a beef dish with veggies and rice, chicken something with rice, or some other traditional dished) and also a juice. The meals are huge, delicious and so cheap! If I eat at school 5 soles will get me a ham and cheese sandwich. In contrast if you go to a fast food restaurant, even a Peruvian one like Bembos (basically McDonalds but the burgers taste like Taco Bell taco seasoning), it will be 16 soles($5.50) for a nasty burger, fries and a drink.
Since my DVD drive in my computer broke i have been downloading TV seasons on iTunes like it’s my job! Too bad I'm spending $25 on a season when I could get it at the "grey market" for about 12 soles ($4)! They sell all movies and TV shows in the markets here for 3 soles/dvd or 10 soles for 4 DVDs which basically $1 per movie. So... if anyone wants any movies let me know! haha. The quality highly varies but some places let you preview the movies before buying them and that’s when you know the place is going to sell you good movies. We have seen some though that are 100% video taped in a movie theater where you can see peoples heads blocking parts of the screen! I would like to not be watching any TV but since I can’t leave my house without company after 6:00pm when it gets dark the nights can get a bit boring and lets me honest I’m not going to spend all that time studying!
Improve your Latin American cultural knowledge:
1. Watch the movie “Maria Full of Grace” (might be titled in Spanish “Maria lleno de gracia”) the public library downtown has a great foreign movie selection and might have it there. It is based in Colombia but the general looks of the land and family structure is the same. It’s about a girl who is a drug mule- don’t worry I’m not one! It is in Spanish but will have subtitles.
2. Read 100 Year of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. One of the most famous, if not the most famous Latin American literary works of all times. He was given the Nobel Prize for this book which demonstrates ‘Marvelous Realism’ which is the combination of the supernatural and real life. Many things here are based on myth since little is known about the ancient people so the belief in the supernatural is much more engrained in daily living and society than it is in the states. In my history class we are talking about the formation of the Incan empire and all of that is purely mythology up to a certain point because there was no written history until the Spanish arrived.
3. The friend of my friend Ana published a book called War by Candlelight by Daniel Alarcon. He is Peruvian but spent some time growing up the states. Its a series of short stories that Ana told me reflect well the culture of Peru. I havn't read it yet but i'll leave an update when i'm done with it.
I went to the store to buy peanut butter which I was craving here. For a really tiny about 5 spoon full jar it was 14 soles which is about $5. I wasn’t craving it that bad, but it looks like I won’t be eating peanut butter for another few months! They do have peanut butter Oreos here though that are amazing! They have strawberry yogurt filled Oreos too which I think sounds gross but some of my friends really like. Right across the street from my school are some really nice Peruvian restaurants that I have lunch at some days. For 5 soles ($1.70) they serve 3 options for a 1st dish (like soup, salad etc.), then 3 options for main dishes (usually a beef dish with veggies and rice, chicken something with rice, or some other traditional dished) and also a juice. The meals are huge, delicious and so cheap! If I eat at school 5 soles will get me a ham and cheese sandwich. In contrast if you go to a fast food restaurant, even a Peruvian one like Bembos (basically McDonalds but the burgers taste like Taco Bell taco seasoning), it will be 16 soles($5.50) for a nasty burger, fries and a drink.
Since my DVD drive in my computer broke i have been downloading TV seasons on iTunes like it’s my job! Too bad I'm spending $25 on a season when I could get it at the "grey market" for about 12 soles ($4)! They sell all movies and TV shows in the markets here for 3 soles/dvd or 10 soles for 4 DVDs which basically $1 per movie. So... if anyone wants any movies let me know! haha. The quality highly varies but some places let you preview the movies before buying them and that’s when you know the place is going to sell you good movies. We have seen some though that are 100% video taped in a movie theater where you can see peoples heads blocking parts of the screen! I would like to not be watching any TV but since I can’t leave my house without company after 6:00pm when it gets dark the nights can get a bit boring and lets me honest I’m not going to spend all that time studying!
Improve your Latin American cultural knowledge:
1. Watch the movie “Maria Full of Grace” (might be titled in Spanish “Maria lleno de gracia”) the public library downtown has a great foreign movie selection and might have it there. It is based in Colombia but the general looks of the land and family structure is the same. It’s about a girl who is a drug mule- don’t worry I’m not one! It is in Spanish but will have subtitles.
2. Read 100 Year of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. One of the most famous, if not the most famous Latin American literary works of all times. He was given the Nobel Prize for this book which demonstrates ‘Marvelous Realism’ which is the combination of the supernatural and real life. Many things here are based on myth since little is known about the ancient people so the belief in the supernatural is much more engrained in daily living and society than it is in the states. In my history class we are talking about the formation of the Incan empire and all of that is purely mythology up to a certain point because there was no written history until the Spanish arrived.
3. The friend of my friend Ana published a book called War by Candlelight by Daniel Alarcon. He is Peruvian but spent some time growing up the states. Its a series of short stories that Ana told me reflect well the culture of Peru. I havn't read it yet but i'll leave an update when i'm done with it.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Huacachina
The other weekend I took a trip to Huacachina which is 5 hours south of Lima by bus and just right outside of Ica. I went with my friends Ana and Hannah and a bunch of people from this program called APU. APU has international student housing in peru that a bunch of my friends live in so about 50 of us all took this trip together. We got up at 6:30 saturday morning to catch a 9am bus to Ica. From Ica we took a combi about 10 minutes into the desert to this oasis which is Huacachina. Its basically just a pond in the middle the desert.
Once we got to our hostel we settled in, ate lunch then at 4pm went out on dunebuggies. The dunebuggy tour was awesome and we ended up on the top of this series of dunes to do some sandboarding. Sandboarding is kind of like snowboarding, we basically strapped pieces of wood on our feet and went down. The other option was to lay face first on the board and ride it kind of like a sled- this way was a lot more fun and we got going really really fast. You had to make sure none of your skin touched the sand on the way down or it would be shaved off of your body. One girl fell off and really scraped up her body pretty bad.
We went back to the hostel around sundown, and had a cook out with everyone and just hung around the hostel for the night.
The next morning we woke up and tanned out by the beach. It was about 85 degrees and sunny which was nice since i havn't seen the sun in Lima for a month now.
Around 1pm we went back to Ica and took the bus home to lima from there.
Once we got to our hostel we settled in, ate lunch then at 4pm went out on dunebuggies. The dunebuggy tour was awesome and we ended up on the top of this series of dunes to do some sandboarding. Sandboarding is kind of like snowboarding, we basically strapped pieces of wood on our feet and went down. The other option was to lay face first on the board and ride it kind of like a sled- this way was a lot more fun and we got going really really fast. You had to make sure none of your skin touched the sand on the way down or it would be shaved off of your body. One girl fell off and really scraped up her body pretty bad.
We went back to the hostel around sundown, and had a cook out with everyone and just hung around the hostel for the night.
The next morning we woke up and tanned out by the beach. It was about 85 degrees and sunny which was nice since i havn't seen the sun in Lima for a month now.
Around 1pm we went back to Ica and took the bus home to lima from there.
Monday, August 25, 2008
I have my schedule!
On Monday, August 18th I had my first day of class at La Catolica. The entire week we were able to "probar"(sample) which ever classes we wanted and by Friday had to hand in our final classes to the international office. All of this sounds pretty simple but FALSE last week was awful. I probably went to 10 different classes, some I couldn't understand the professors, some I couldn't understand the content, and others had debates and oral final exams which I want nothing to do with. Everyday I came home more frustrated than the day before and had to spend hours online making up new schedules knowing that next day I would most likely have to change everything again. By Thursday night I thought I had my schedule all set when I got an email from the international office saying that we were not guaranteed any of these classes and we had to attend a mandatory matriculation on Monday. On Monday I got up really early to be at the matriculation an hour early because it was on a first come, first serve basis. They never told us how many spots were available in the classes, how many international students would be in each class or really anything other than to just show up on Monday. Everyone, me included, was really worried we wouldn't get the classes we wanted. I ended up getting the classes that I wanted; Spanish Linguistics, Contemporary Spanish Literature, and Peruvian History. My schedule is terrible though; three days of the week I have one morning class and the other two I have one class in the morning and one at night. I'm going to have to go back and forth to Catolica a lot more than I had planned and now I won’t be able to travel so much on the weekends. Hopefully though all of these classes will transfer back to Madison and I will only have a few classes left for my major when I get back. We don’t need to buy a lot of books for classes here because most things are photocopied. There is a photocopy location in each faculty and you have to go buy the copies for class. It’s kind of like a course packet at UW except not bound. It’s really cheap though, it cost me 13/$4 soles for all the info for my literature class and it’s probably a couple hundred pages. For that class I did have to buy the book "Cien anos de soledad" which cost about 30 soles/$10.
Culture note: People here don’t wait in "line" here. There is no such thing as a line, getting the photo copies was really hard because people just yell over you what they need and just bunch up around the counter.
Culture note: People here don’t wait in "line" here. There is no such thing as a line, getting the photo copies was really hard because people just yell over you what they need and just bunch up around the counter.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Hanging around Lima
The last few days i have just been exploring Lima. I had to go to La Catolica for a few hours of boring orientation but i met a group of people who live 4 blocks from me so we have been hanging out. One of the girls is from Milwaukee, two from Germany and two from Spain. Its nice because they almost always speak in spanish because the two people from Spain dont speak english. As nice as it is, it is also equally exhausting to constantly be thinking about what people are saying and thinking about what to say back. I invented a new game i all "Combi Surfing" to play on the buses around Lima (buses are refered to as combi or micro pronounced combee and meekro). So basically in this game all you have to do it stand in the isle of the combi without holding onto anything and see how long you can go before you have to grab something for support. Usually the game lasts only about 10 seconds tops!
On Thursday I went to a female safety orientation at La Catolica. It was a lot more helpful and a lot less boring that I thought it was going to be. Plus, i met up with my friends there too (my phone STILL doens't work). We ate lunch at a place called Larco Mar which is a mall that is dug into the side of the cliff that goes down to the ocean and on top of it is a roof. They made it that way because they didn't want to ruin the view of the ocean. It's a really awesome idea, if you drove by on the street you would have no idea that they was a mall underground. We walked about 20 mintues to an artisan market in Miraflores which sells all kinda of hand made goods for pretty cheap. I really want to buy some peruvian paintings while i'm here.
Today (Friday) I have to go back to Metro for the third time to see if they can fix my phone. Also, i'm going to this HUGE orphanage that is 4 blocks from my house to see if Kat and I can volunteer there. I am such the typical american in that I cant be doing a million things at once. I have been pretty bored all week since I dont have a phone to meet up with my friends and my roommates all have class/work. Hopefully next week will be more fun since school starts and hopefully I will start volunteering.
Notes on Culture:
Everyone here kisses on one cheek when you great them, but people from spain kiss on two which sometimes leads to awkwardness.
It is very hard for spanish speakers to pronounce my name because they dont have the "sh" sound in spanish. They also cant pronounce the first A the way we do and they say "ahh" like what you say at the dentist. Maybe i'll change my name while i'm here to something spanish like people do when they come to the states, that would be funny!
Answers from the last post:
Lima is right on the coast so it is at sea level but if you take an hour or so bus ride east you will be in the Andes around 4,000 meters/13,000 feet (about the altitude I went skydiving from). Madison is at 250-300 meters altitude.
The temperature here right now is around 66 degrees everyday. I saw the sun for the first time yesterday, it was out for a few hours. Its really cloudy most days and a little windy so i have been wearing jeans and a sweatshirt.
The Nazca lines are in Nazca, Peru which is about a 6 hour bus ride south of lima.
On Thursday I went to a female safety orientation at La Catolica. It was a lot more helpful and a lot less boring that I thought it was going to be. Plus, i met up with my friends there too (my phone STILL doens't work). We ate lunch at a place called Larco Mar which is a mall that is dug into the side of the cliff that goes down to the ocean and on top of it is a roof. They made it that way because they didn't want to ruin the view of the ocean. It's a really awesome idea, if you drove by on the street you would have no idea that they was a mall underground. We walked about 20 mintues to an artisan market in Miraflores which sells all kinda of hand made goods for pretty cheap. I really want to buy some peruvian paintings while i'm here.
Today (Friday) I have to go back to Metro for the third time to see if they can fix my phone. Also, i'm going to this HUGE orphanage that is 4 blocks from my house to see if Kat and I can volunteer there. I am such the typical american in that I cant be doing a million things at once. I have been pretty bored all week since I dont have a phone to meet up with my friends and my roommates all have class/work. Hopefully next week will be more fun since school starts and hopefully I will start volunteering.
Notes on Culture:
Everyone here kisses on one cheek when you great them, but people from spain kiss on two which sometimes leads to awkwardness.
It is very hard for spanish speakers to pronounce my name because they dont have the "sh" sound in spanish. They also cant pronounce the first A the way we do and they say "ahh" like what you say at the dentist. Maybe i'll change my name while i'm here to something spanish like people do when they come to the states, that would be funny!
Answers from the last post:
Lima is right on the coast so it is at sea level but if you take an hour or so bus ride east you will be in the Andes around 4,000 meters/13,000 feet (about the altitude I went skydiving from). Madison is at 250-300 meters altitude.
The temperature here right now is around 66 degrees everyday. I saw the sun for the first time yesterday, it was out for a few hours. Its really cloudy most days and a little windy so i have been wearing jeans and a sweatshirt.
The Nazca lines are in Nazca, Peru which is about a 6 hour bus ride south of lima.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Weekend and School
Saturday night some of my roommates and I went out to the discos. Ceci (daughter) was nice to show us around. We went to Miraflores to a place called Calle de los pizzas (street of pizza) because all there is on the street is like 20 Italian pizza/pasta place and some discos (clubs). Outside of the pizza places they have workers yelling at you to come into their pizza place. The disco we went to was pretty small but met up with some girls who lived in my house 3 weeks ago. I learned some new Latin dance moves, people here are SO good at dancing. I know I look like an idiot but its still fun. They discos are blasting really loud Latin music with strobe lights and smoke etc. Normally it’s hard to understand people in clubs like this, but trying to understand Spanish was a very interesting task. I epically failed at conversation inside of the club and would just make up answers whenever someone would talk to me- I just assumed the usual questions. 1) Where are you from, 2) what are you doing here, 3) how long are you here, 4) when did you get here. We were all pretty tried from the day so we decided to head home around 2 which is very early in Peru; most people stay out until 4 or 5am.
Sunday I did nothing. We all just relaxed, hung around. Enrique took us for a drive around Miraflores and San Isidro. We saw some cute parks I want to go back to, one has the Nazca lines made in flowers with lights that are on in the night time.
Monday I had a useless orientation at La Catolica. It was 30 min long and was the same information that we received in an email a week ago. Trevor arrived from Virginia and I took him for a walk around Magdalena, San Isidro and Miraflores. We went to that park w/ the Nazca Line and it was really cool. The other boy from Virginia missed his flight and will be here on Tuesday. Kat introduced me to some of her friends from Holy Cross that are in her group here, we all went to a market in Magdalena. They have everything from clothes to household items and food. One section had just meets that were sitting out at room temperature all day. Whole chickens with their heads and feet still on them. It was the worst smell I have ever smelled in my whole life, at one point I was very close to puking. I wanted to plan a trip for this weekend to go up north but no one is able to go with me so I think I’ll be spending the rest of the week in Lima.
Sunday I did nothing. We all just relaxed, hung around. Enrique took us for a drive around Miraflores and San Isidro. We saw some cute parks I want to go back to, one has the Nazca lines made in flowers with lights that are on in the night time.
Monday I had a useless orientation at La Catolica. It was 30 min long and was the same information that we received in an email a week ago. Trevor arrived from Virginia and I took him for a walk around Magdalena, San Isidro and Miraflores. We went to that park w/ the Nazca Line and it was really cool. The other boy from Virginia missed his flight and will be here on Tuesday. Kat introduced me to some of her friends from Holy Cross that are in her group here, we all went to a market in Magdalena. They have everything from clothes to household items and food. One section had just meets that were sitting out at room temperature all day. Whole chickens with their heads and feet still on them. It was the worst smell I have ever smelled in my whole life, at one point I was very close to puking. I wanted to plan a trip for this weekend to go up north but no one is able to go with me so I think I’ll be spending the rest of the week in Lima.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Answers
So some people posted questions so here are a few answers:
The knit coverings are i think to keep bugs out but there really aren't too many bugs here so i dont really know.
The turtles are pets of the daughter.
Its very overwhelming to be here. Its like an overload of everything. Lima is a huge city so lots of noise and action all the time. I have been just dead tired at the end of every day because i have to concentrate a lot more on what people are saying, where i'm going, what i'm doing and look out for my safety. I can't just go on auto pilot, ever.
We have a housekeeper who cleans my room everyday so i cant ever make a mess, she makes us food and gets us anything we need. Its pretty cool but i often feel bad and ask if I can help with anything but they never let me.
The knit coverings are i think to keep bugs out but there really aren't too many bugs here so i dont really know.
The turtles are pets of the daughter.
Its very overwhelming to be here. Its like an overload of everything. Lima is a huge city so lots of noise and action all the time. I have been just dead tired at the end of every day because i have to concentrate a lot more on what people are saying, where i'm going, what i'm doing and look out for my safety. I can't just go on auto pilot, ever.
We have a housekeeper who cleans my room everyday so i cant ever make a mess, she makes us food and gets us anything we need. Its pretty cool but i often feel bad and ask if I can help with anything but they never let me.
Paracas
I talked to this guy Nic who is another student in my program from Madison. We decided on Wednesday night that we would meet up at La Catolica on Thursday morning and plan a weekend trip. Kat showed me how to get to La Catolica by bus on Wednesday morning because she had a Spanish class all week. It’s about a 5-10 min walk to the bus from my house and the bus takes about 15, costs 1 sole and drops us off right in front of the main gate at La Catolica. The school is completely surrounded by a huge cement wall like a lot of the houses. You have to have a student ID card to get onto school ground. I explored the campus for a while; it’s really pretty and big. There are all kinds of art sculptures and statues on the lawn and tons of deer just walking around. I met up with Nic and we went to the international office because he was put into a bad host family situation and wanted to get out of it. They found him another house right away so we moved his bags there and ate lunch with his new family.
Almost every meal we have some sort of chicken and rice dish. The food here is so amazing! There are so many things I have never tried before but all of it has been awesome. All of the juice is freshly prepared and probably the best thing I have ever tasted. We have pineapple, strawberry, and even juice made from black corn. The corn juice is made with a little bit of lemon and sugar, it is a very dark purple naturally and is just delicious! Another interesting food I had came wrapped in a corn husk, and was a cream colored paste. At first I thought it was going to be gross because it looked like oatmeal but it was a desert and had a caramel sauce in the middle.
Nic and I packed up our backpacks and headed to the train station with intentions to go to Pisco for the weekend. The bus cost 20 soles (not even $10) for a 3.5 hour ride down the Pan-American Highway. On the bus we drove by some of the worst poverty I have ever seen. Outside of Lima all along the coast are neighborhoods of "houses" made of random boards, paper, and woven together palm tree leaves etc. It was really sad to look at these places and try to imagine the people who have to live their whole lives like that. The bus dropped us off on the side of the highway and we had to find a way into Pisco. There was a taxi waiting there so we negotiated a price of 7 soles to take us to Pisco, which was for sure a rip off but we really didn’t have any other option other than walking. The taxi driver was really nice and suggested we go to Paracas (20 min away) because Pisco was more dangerous at night.
We took his advice and went to Paracas, found a tour agency and signed up for the morning tour of Las Islas Ballestas and an afternoon tour of a national park. The cost for both tours together was under $20. There was a hostel close by that we got a room at for under $15 each, got settled in and went out to tour Paracas.There wasn't much to see there because the whole area had been destroyed by an earthquake on Aug 15th, 2007. Paracas wasn't much nicer than the shack towns we had driven by. The only thing that keeps that city going is tourism. In the 10 small blocks that are the city 5 hostels can be found, 5 "nice" restaurants and numerous tourist agencies. There are stray dogs everywhere that just eat trash. They were breads I have never seen before, some were really cute but others were just scary and ugly. We saw a group of men carrier roosters that they had just been cockfighting. Those roosters kept me up all night because they were too retarded to know when it was morning.
In the morning we woke up at 6:30am, went and got a little food and met to take at 8am tour of the islands. By 8am all kinds of little stores were set up on the beach selling Peruvian goods. There was about 100 people waiting to take the 8am tour which was a lot more than we expected, naturally everything was very chaotic but we finally got on a boat with about 20 people. First they showed us part of the peninsula that has an ancient drawing of a cactus or something on it similar to the Nazca lines. There were all kinds of cool birds lining the cliffs on the coast. Then we went 11km out in the pacific to the islands. They had beautiful arches that the wind and water had carved out. The islands are known for their supply of guano which is the poop of one of Peru’s native birds. The guano is collected and sold as a very popular fertilizer. There is such high demand for guano that they have to regulate the collecting of it because the supply that has been building up for centuries is getting low and the population of birds is getting lower. It smelled like poop too. We also saw sea lions and dolphins swimming around. The tour was about 2 hours then we went back into shore.
We had an hour to kill between tours so we shopped around the tiendas (stores) at the market and bought some little things. We took a bus at 11:00am out to the national park about 30 min away. It was the desert, like everything in this area so it really wasn't that cool. The bus took us around to a couple interesting stops though. We saw flamingos, small lizards and some huge cliffs to the ocean. They had red sand beaches in some parts because the area is really rich in minerals like iron. Driving through the desert there were groups of animal bones everywhere. There was this place called "La Catedral" which was a cool arch carved out by the wind and sea but it was destroyed by the earthquake so we saw where it used to be. We stopped for an hour at a place w/ two restaurants in the park that of course were extremely over priced. I had a beer and some seafood/Chinese/rice/something. It was pretty good. Nic had fried fish with some attempt at French fries. The ketchup they have is was NOT ketchup but just some red liquid paste stuff that tasted horrible. The restaurants were cool though because they were right on the ocean, literally the waves came right up on these rocks the tables were sitting on. There was an otter and some pelicans playing in the water that we watched the whole time. We also met two cool guys from Italy, there was a huge language barrier but we went exploring around with them for a while.
After the park the bus took us back to Paracas and we were planning to go get a bus to Nazca that night. We took a taxi, and by taxi mean a random car driven by a friend of the tour guide to the Pan-American Highway. There was tons of people just waiting a long the highway for a bus to come, a few people would get off and everyone would try to push onto the bus. It was going to take forever, and it was getting dark so we crossed the road and got a ticked to go to Lima instead. Why they sell actual tickets to Lima and not to Nazca I have no idea. The bus rides are very scary. There are no rules on the roads of Peru. These coach busses would pass other busses, tucks and cars, usually numerous at a time. Once we passed two buses and a car, very scary. Also people flash their brights at other drivers like it’s their job so many of the drivers are probably blind to begin with. We got back to Lima and took a cab back to our houses and I was tried and went to bed.
Almost every meal we have some sort of chicken and rice dish. The food here is so amazing! There are so many things I have never tried before but all of it has been awesome. All of the juice is freshly prepared and probably the best thing I have ever tasted. We have pineapple, strawberry, and even juice made from black corn. The corn juice is made with a little bit of lemon and sugar, it is a very dark purple naturally and is just delicious! Another interesting food I had came wrapped in a corn husk, and was a cream colored paste. At first I thought it was going to be gross because it looked like oatmeal but it was a desert and had a caramel sauce in the middle.
Nic and I packed up our backpacks and headed to the train station with intentions to go to Pisco for the weekend. The bus cost 20 soles (not even $10) for a 3.5 hour ride down the Pan-American Highway. On the bus we drove by some of the worst poverty I have ever seen. Outside of Lima all along the coast are neighborhoods of "houses" made of random boards, paper, and woven together palm tree leaves etc. It was really sad to look at these places and try to imagine the people who have to live their whole lives like that. The bus dropped us off on the side of the highway and we had to find a way into Pisco. There was a taxi waiting there so we negotiated a price of 7 soles to take us to Pisco, which was for sure a rip off but we really didn’t have any other option other than walking. The taxi driver was really nice and suggested we go to Paracas (20 min away) because Pisco was more dangerous at night.
We took his advice and went to Paracas, found a tour agency and signed up for the morning tour of Las Islas Ballestas and an afternoon tour of a national park. The cost for both tours together was under $20. There was a hostel close by that we got a room at for under $15 each, got settled in and went out to tour Paracas.There wasn't much to see there because the whole area had been destroyed by an earthquake on Aug 15th, 2007. Paracas wasn't much nicer than the shack towns we had driven by. The only thing that keeps that city going is tourism. In the 10 small blocks that are the city 5 hostels can be found, 5 "nice" restaurants and numerous tourist agencies. There are stray dogs everywhere that just eat trash. They were breads I have never seen before, some were really cute but others were just scary and ugly. We saw a group of men carrier roosters that they had just been cockfighting. Those roosters kept me up all night because they were too retarded to know when it was morning.
In the morning we woke up at 6:30am, went and got a little food and met to take at 8am tour of the islands. By 8am all kinds of little stores were set up on the beach selling Peruvian goods. There was about 100 people waiting to take the 8am tour which was a lot more than we expected, naturally everything was very chaotic but we finally got on a boat with about 20 people. First they showed us part of the peninsula that has an ancient drawing of a cactus or something on it similar to the Nazca lines. There were all kinds of cool birds lining the cliffs on the coast. Then we went 11km out in the pacific to the islands. They had beautiful arches that the wind and water had carved out. The islands are known for their supply of guano which is the poop of one of Peru’s native birds. The guano is collected and sold as a very popular fertilizer. There is such high demand for guano that they have to regulate the collecting of it because the supply that has been building up for centuries is getting low and the population of birds is getting lower. It smelled like poop too. We also saw sea lions and dolphins swimming around. The tour was about 2 hours then we went back into shore.
We had an hour to kill between tours so we shopped around the tiendas (stores) at the market and bought some little things. We took a bus at 11:00am out to the national park about 30 min away. It was the desert, like everything in this area so it really wasn't that cool. The bus took us around to a couple interesting stops though. We saw flamingos, small lizards and some huge cliffs to the ocean. They had red sand beaches in some parts because the area is really rich in minerals like iron. Driving through the desert there were groups of animal bones everywhere. There was this place called "La Catedral" which was a cool arch carved out by the wind and sea but it was destroyed by the earthquake so we saw where it used to be. We stopped for an hour at a place w/ two restaurants in the park that of course were extremely over priced. I had a beer and some seafood/Chinese/rice/something. It was pretty good. Nic had fried fish with some attempt at French fries. The ketchup they have is was NOT ketchup but just some red liquid paste stuff that tasted horrible. The restaurants were cool though because they were right on the ocean, literally the waves came right up on these rocks the tables were sitting on. There was an otter and some pelicans playing in the water that we watched the whole time. We also met two cool guys from Italy, there was a huge language barrier but we went exploring around with them for a while.
After the park the bus took us back to Paracas and we were planning to go get a bus to Nazca that night. We took a taxi, and by taxi mean a random car driven by a friend of the tour guide to the Pan-American Highway. There was tons of people just waiting a long the highway for a bus to come, a few people would get off and everyone would try to push onto the bus. It was going to take forever, and it was getting dark so we crossed the road and got a ticked to go to Lima instead. Why they sell actual tickets to Lima and not to Nazca I have no idea. The bus rides are very scary. There are no rules on the roads of Peru. These coach busses would pass other busses, tucks and cars, usually numerous at a time. Once we passed two buses and a car, very scary. Also people flash their brights at other drivers like it’s their job so many of the drivers are probably blind to begin with. We got back to Lima and took a cab back to our houses and I was tried and went to bed.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
La Casa
I woke up today, Wednesday Aug 6th, at 8:45. Cecilia had breakfast all made for me for when i came downstairs. I ate bread w/ jelly, this really good juice which i'm not sure what kind it was, tea, and cereal. She had all the bowls and plates covered with these cute knit things. In the courtyard they have two big snapping turtles which we fed bananas.
The house is a lot bigger than i expected. There is a cement wall probably 12 feet high with a door that leads to a front yard area. Then you go into the main house; to the right is the livingroom, dining room kitchen and courtyard; and to the left is the stairs. My bedroom is the first one up the stairs to the right, Cecilia (the daughter, not mother, both have same name) is to the left, and Cecilia (mother) is straight. There is also another exchange student living in the house who i have not met yet. She is from boston i want to say. Cecilia made it a big point though that english is not permitted in the house.
I'm not sure what i'm going to do the rest of the day. After lunch Cecilia and i are going to go shopping for a cell phone and some shampoo etc.
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I met Kat the other girl who is staying with us. Also we got a another girl who is living here from brazil.
Wednesday night Cecilia and Enrique took Kat and I on a ride through the old part of the city. All the buildings here lit up (it gets dark at 6:30) and everything was really pretty.
The house is a lot bigger than i expected. There is a cement wall probably 12 feet high with a door that leads to a front yard area. Then you go into the main house; to the right is the livingroom, dining room kitchen and courtyard; and to the left is the stairs. My bedroom is the first one up the stairs to the right, Cecilia (the daughter, not mother, both have same name) is to the left, and Cecilia (mother) is straight. There is also another exchange student living in the house who i have not met yet. She is from boston i want to say. Cecilia made it a big point though that english is not permitted in the house.
I'm not sure what i'm going to do the rest of the day. After lunch Cecilia and i are going to go shopping for a cell phone and some shampoo etc.
___________________________________________________
I met Kat the other girl who is staying with us. Also we got a another girl who is living here from brazil.
Wednesday night Cecilia and Enrique took Kat and I on a ride through the old part of the city. All the buildings here lit up (it gets dark at 6:30) and everything was really pretty.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Getting to Lima... almost
Monday Aug 4th 2008
7:10am- My mom, dad and I left for the airport in chicago
9:45 am- We find out there are major delays due to weather and my flight which was supposed to leave at 12:05 is on at least a two hour delay. I get bumped up to an earlier flight that is delayed only until 12:30 so i can make my 3:55 flight from Houston to lima.
12:30pm- Board my flight to Houston
1:45pm- We finally head to the runway after sitting in the plane for over an hour because of technical problems. We are informed that the flight time will be 2 hours and 7 minutes which would get us into Houston at 3:52 (3 min before my other plane leaves)
3:52pm- We land, i sprint up the plane before the seatbelt sign is turned off and sprint down the airport.
4:01pm- I find out they just closed the airplane door to lima so i have to stay the night in Houston.
4:15pm- I get food and hotel vouchers to spend the night. I had to figure out how to call Cecilia to tell her i missed my flight. I talked to her husband Eduardo and attemped to tell them I'd be there at the same time on tuesday. Hopefully we understood each other.
5:30pm- I have to wait outside in 97 degree weather to get a shuttle to Hilton North Houston
6:30pm- I get into my hotel room, turn on the TV and find out i probably wont be on a flight on tuesday because of Tropical Storm Edouard.
Day One= Epic Fail
Tuesday Aug 5th 2008
9:00am- I woke up, started to track the weather which isn't looking good for the day. There are 50+ mph wind gusts. It is being predicted that the storm will continue into wednesday.
12:00pm- Left for the airport. I dont know what the big deal about this tropical storm was it was just raining pretty much all day.
3:00pm- Met a guy name Guillermo at the airport who is from Lima and told me some do's and dont's of the city.
4:45pm- Out flight was delayed and we finally started boarding the plane.
11:45pm- We land. Immigracion and customs went fine and i got my baggage right away. There were about 500 people waiting outside the airport behind these fences with signs looking for different people but i found Cecilia and Enrique right away. It is about a 20-30 min car ride from the airport.
1:45am- Finally went to bed.
7:10am- My mom, dad and I left for the airport in chicago
9:45 am- We find out there are major delays due to weather and my flight which was supposed to leave at 12:05 is on at least a two hour delay. I get bumped up to an earlier flight that is delayed only until 12:30 so i can make my 3:55 flight from Houston to lima.
12:30pm- Board my flight to Houston
1:45pm- We finally head to the runway after sitting in the plane for over an hour because of technical problems. We are informed that the flight time will be 2 hours and 7 minutes which would get us into Houston at 3:52 (3 min before my other plane leaves)
3:52pm- We land, i sprint up the plane before the seatbelt sign is turned off and sprint down the airport.
4:01pm- I find out they just closed the airplane door to lima so i have to stay the night in Houston.
4:15pm- I get food and hotel vouchers to spend the night. I had to figure out how to call Cecilia to tell her i missed my flight. I talked to her husband Eduardo and attemped to tell them I'd be there at the same time on tuesday. Hopefully we understood each other.
5:30pm- I have to wait outside in 97 degree weather to get a shuttle to Hilton North Houston
6:30pm- I get into my hotel room, turn on the TV and find out i probably wont be on a flight on tuesday because of Tropical Storm Edouard.
Day One= Epic Fail
Tuesday Aug 5th 2008
9:00am- I woke up, started to track the weather which isn't looking good for the day. There are 50+ mph wind gusts. It is being predicted that the storm will continue into wednesday.
12:00pm- Left for the airport. I dont know what the big deal about this tropical storm was it was just raining pretty much all day.
3:00pm- Met a guy name Guillermo at the airport who is from Lima and told me some do's and dont's of the city.
4:45pm- Out flight was delayed and we finally started boarding the plane.
11:45pm- We land. Immigracion and customs went fine and i got my baggage right away. There were about 500 people waiting outside the airport behind these fences with signs looking for different people but i found Cecilia and Enrique right away. It is about a 20-30 min car ride from the airport.
1:45am- Finally went to bed.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Housing in Lima
Here are some photos of the house I will be staying at in Peru.
I am staying with a host family in Lima. The family consists of Cecilia, her husband and 20 year old daughter who goes to the University of Lima (I'm attending Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru). The family's house is 3 blocks from the ocean, 20 min from school and 5 min from Miraflores which is a popular tourist neighborhood. I will have my own room and bathroom. The house is has wireless internet and cable TV, so I won’t be roughing it too terribly!
If you want to look up my location online I will be living near the intersection of San Juan de Aliaga and Augusto Perez Aranibar.
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