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.