Cusco Chapter 4: Monday

Up at 7:30, breakfast at the hotel, left at 9:00. 
We drove to the market in Pusac, but only had 1 hour to shop and it was huge. I could have walked around all day. But I finally got a pair of striped pink pajama pants, so I was happy.
Then we headed toward Cusco and made a pit stop at a place called Awana Kancha, where we got to feed some llamas and alpacas.

Back to the bus, next stop: Cusco Airport. 
At this point Jose Luis called the hotel to see if they could drop my charger off at the airport, but they said they didn't find anything. 
We went through security around 2 and our plane was supposed to leave at 3:15. Around 3:30 we found out that we wouldn't actually leave until 5. But finally we made it home.


The next day, Tuesday, was a holiday so we didn't have classes. It was the feast of Saint Rose of Lima (el Dia de Santa Rosa de Lima). 
Raquel and I had been planning to make french toast at some point so we decided it would be a good morning for it. We walked to Plaza Vea, the grocery store, to get some ingredients, and then came back and made bacon, eggs w/ garlic and oregano, and french toast with bananas and huckleberry syrup. After that all that I decided it would be a good idea to go for a run, so I ran to the ocean and back. (I still can't get over the fact that I live so close to the ocean!)
In the evening, Raquel and I met up with a couple other ISA girls, Dawn and Michelle, and went to their house for pizza (yes, the pizza pact is broken) and a movie (Charlie's Angels). 


And today it's back to school. I just got done with my morning class and have to go back for 5 more hours tonight. But it's the only day of class I have this week, so I can't complain. 

Cusco Chapter 3: MACHU PICCHU!!!

First I would just like to note that Chapters 2 and 3 of Cusco did not actually take place in Cusco. Unless of course we're talking about the province of Cusco instead of the city of Cusco in which case they did. Chapter 4 (spoiler alert) will take place partially in the city of Cusco, almost entirely in the province of Cusco, and very briefly in both the city and province of Lima. 
Now that that's all cleared up...
Sunday we woke up bright and early, had breakfast in the hotel, and walked to the bus stop where the buses take tourists back and forth to Machu Picchu. I was so pumped! Seeing it was definitely on my bucket list, so I'm one step closer to being able to die happy now! 
The bus took us up a super windey (I know that's spelled wrong, but if I spell it right you'll think the road was plagued by strong winds instead of multiple curves) thin dirt road up to the entrance. First we walked through Machu Picchu and to the entrance to Waynapicchu, the mountain behind the ruins. What a hike. About 10 minutes into it I huffing and puffing, my heart rate was through the roof, and I was covered in sweat. 

That's Waynapicchu in the back

But the views of Machu Picchu from that high up were well worth it. 

 When we got up there we rested for a while and took it all in. Then it was time for the climb back down. Significantly more enjoyable in that direction, even though my legs were shaking at that point and I smelled like a pig. 
Next Coco gave us a tour of the ruins. After that was over, we had 2 hours of free time, so instead of wandering around staring at stuff with no idea what it was for 2 hours, we asked Coco if he would walk around with us and tell us more stuff. So he did. 
After walking around for awhile, we sat down in the grass and made him tell us stories while we laid in the sun in the middle of Machu Picchu. It was all very zen. First he told us about the history of coca, and then he decided to interpret our dreams. His mom knows the meaning of pretty much any dream, so he has picked up a lot of that knowledge. It was really interesting. Here are some of the ones I remember. People dying means that it is going to rain. Dreaming about fruit means that you're pregnant. Dreaming about babies or baby poop means there's a lot of money coming your way. Dreaming about flying in an airplane means you are going to die. Dreaming about someone's car parked at your house means they are going to die. Dreaming about rice means you're going to get married, and I think dreaming about bread means the same thing. Dreaming about falling means financial trouble. 
Then he told us some Peruvian slang and cuss words, and we headed back to the bus. I got a really cool Machu Picchu 100 yr anniversary stamp on my passport so I was pretty stoked. 
The bus took us back into Aguas Calientes and we found a little restaurant to have some lunch. I had semolina soup (with french fries in it) and alpaca (delish).

Then we went back to the hotel, grabbed our stuff, walked to the train station, and headed back to Ollantaytambo. We had supper there (there were only 3 menu choices so I had alpaca again) and then some of us wanted to go out, but didn't know where to go, so we asked Coco and Jose Carlos (the other tour guide) about the bars in town. They said they were planning on going to a bar and that we could come with.
The town was pretty much dead, but there was a bar that was open. We walked in to the smell of incense and pot, a guy in dreadlocks sitting around a table with the rest of the people that I think worked there, and Bob Marley playing in the background. We went upstairs, which was completely empty. It was a pretty cool place. There were benches and swings, a rope ladder that looked like it led up to a little loft where you could sleep, and to get back downstairs you could slide down a wooden fire pole. We were a huge group but after a little bit about half the people left, so Coco taught us a drinking game where you get the rim of a glass wet, stick a piece of toilet paper on it, put a penny in the middle, and have to take turns burning holes in the TP with a cigarette. The person who makes the coin drop loses and buys a round. It reminded me of that game I used to play in the middle where you did the same thing but with wet marbles and a paper towel, and obviously an absence of beer and cigarettes. 
After a while some people wanted to go to a discoteca, so we went. Unfortunately we were the only ones who went. It was competely empty. So after a couple songs a few of us, myself included, went back to the hotel and called it a night.

Cusco Chapter 2: Saturday

Thankfully Saturday morning the shower was working because I was starting to smell a little rank. We got up bright and early, had breakfast at the hotel, and then loaded the bus. We were on our way to the Sacred Valley.
As we were in the bus, I took my camera out to take a pic of the scenery. It wouldn't turn on. I realized it was because I didn't put the battery back in after charging it. Then I realized that the battery was still plugged into the wall of my hotel room in Cusco. Shit.
I told Jose Luis, but let's just say that getting my camera battery back was not at the top of his list of priorities. Understandable, but it sucked for me. 
Our first stop was in a town called Chinchero. There, we stopped at Nelly's house, where we were given a demonstration of how the women wash the alpaca wool with a natural soap made out of a root (they also use it on their hair), dye it using all natural dyes, and weave it. 

Photo courtesy of Raquel Amador

After that, we walked up to the main square, where a little market was set up. We got a chance to look around and I got an alpaca backpack and a pair of alpaca gloves (I always buy them from the people that come to UNL each year, and I always lose them and they're my favorite gloves ever). Then we walked around the Inca ruins there and got some good photo ops. 
Back to the bus, and on our way to lunch in Urubamba. It was a buffet, but it was a little nerve-racking deciding what was safe to eat. Raw fruits and veggies were a no-no, seafood is risky when you're not near the coast, and juices and coffee can get you as well if they're made with water that hasn't been boiled first. I was doubly cautious because if I had to miss Machu Picchu I was going to cry for days. 
Back to the bus, next stop, a Chicheria. As the name implies, this is a bar that makes and serves chicha. What is chicha you might ask? Don't worry, I'll tell you. Chicha is a beer made out of corn. The lady there gave us an explanation of how it is made and let us try some. Not bad. There's the regular yellow kind, but also a pink kind where they add strawberries and sugar. Yum yum. 
There was also a game at the bar that we played, where you have to try and throw a corn in a frog's mouth, and you can get points for getting it in the other slots on the board. We also got to look into the guinea pig pen. Full of cute cuddly creatures, with an unfortunate fate ahead of them. For those of you that are unaware, their future entails being skinned, roasted, and placed paws and all on a hungry customer's plate. 
Back to the bus, and on our way to Ollantaytambo. Once there, we visited the Inca ruins. 

Photo courtesy of Sin Pantalones

As you can see, this involved climbing a lot of steps. At that altitude, I got winded just by lifting up my backpack, so it was a bit of a challenge. But well worth it. There was an awesome view of the town from the top, and also of a mountain across the valley where you could make out the image of someone's profile (I couldn't really see it) that the Incas believed to be a god. You could also see the structures that they built to store their food, so that the strong wind coming through the valley and hitting the buildings would keep it cool and fresh. 
Back on the bus and into town. We drove to the hotel that we would be staying at the next night, so that we could leave all the stuff there that we wouldn't need in Machu Picchu. Then we walked to the train station. There were some people selling stuff outside, so I looked around to see if I could buy a battery. They had Sony ones, Olympus ones, and even one Canon one, but it was unfortunately the wrong voltage. The train took us from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes in 2 hours. Once there, we checked into our hotel, the Hotel Santuario. It was past 9 by that time so none of the stores were open. No battery for me. 
We didn't want to get dinner so Ashley, Mary and I had a picnic in my hotel room made up of one giant avocado, some crumbled Saltine crackers, sour cream and onion pringles, and some granadillas (the alien fetus fruits) for dessert. 

Cusco: Breakin it down

I've had a pretty fun filled last couple of days, so I'm gonna break it down into separate entries.


Friday:


6 a.m. Raquel and I grabbed our stuff and walked over to the ISA office where we boarded the bus to the airport. Joel and Jose Luis, the same guys that went with us to Junin, were also our ISA chaperones on this trip. Our flight from Lima to Cusco left at 8:40. It was only an hour and a half flight, but the seats were roomy and they gave us drinks and a little meal. All of the U.S. airlines should take a page out of Peru Air's book.
I had a window seat and an awesome view of the snow-capped Andes that we were flying over.
Cusco was the capital of the Incan Empire. Today it's a huge tourist town, but it still has a lot worth seeing. It sits at about 11,000 ft, so it wasn't quite so bad as the Junin trip, and this time I was prepared to combat the altitude with coca toffees that I bought at the airport.
After we got off the plane, we split into 2 groups, Tigres and Pumas, and loaded up the buses. The tour guide on our bus was named Coco (that's his nickname, his real name is hard to pronounce) and he accompanied us to our hotel, the Hotel Suenos del Inca.
At the hotel we had time to drink a coca tea, get settled in our rooms a bit, and then we met again for lunch. The Tigres went to a restaurant right on the edge of the Plaza de Armas (the main square). We were up on the 2nd level, and got to eat at a bar right by the windows, so that we could look out on the plaza and on all the houses spread out on the hilltops. It was a gorgeous sunny day (the sun actually shines in Cusco, unlike Lima) and there were even some live musicians in a band called Pachamama (in Quechua, mother earth) playing traditional Andean music. We ordered off the tourist menu, so we got a 3 course meal (I had cream of asparagus soup, aji de gallina, and apple pie) for 15 soles, or about 6 or 7 dollars. After that, we started our tour.

(Sacsayhuaman, not my pic, for reasons soon to be revealed)

First we drove a little ways out of town to Sacsayhuaman, the remains of an old Incan fortress. When the Incans built Cusco, they made it into the shape of a puma, and Sacsayhuaman is the head. It has 3 large terraces of stone, some weighing over 300 tons. It was gorgeous, and when we climbed to the top, we had a perfect view of all of Cusco.
There was also a section of rocks shaped like a rainbow, and perfectly smoothed and arced, so that they could be used as a slide. We didn't have time to slide down them, but there were plenty of other tourists doing it. Next we walked over to a cave and crawled in one side and out the other. It was pretty long, and the middle section was pitch dark, so you had to hold on to the person in front of you to make sure you didn't lose your way.
After that we walked down to the road and our buses picked us up and took us back into town. We began the city tour at the Koricancha, or Temple of the Sun. It was built by the Incas in honor of the sun god, Inti. We went in one room built out of stone, where all the walls leaned in toward each other, and all of the stones locked perfectly together, making it able to withstand the earthquakes. During Inca times, the walls were completely covered with silver, up to a certain line, at which point the walls depicted the night sky. The height of the sky was such that when the Incas were praying and lifting their arms, they were just short of the sky, which represented another world.
We also visited a place outside, where there was a hollow carved into the stone wall. This used to be the place where the Incas put an idol of the sun god made of pure gold. It's of course no longer there, because the Spanish took all of the gold and silver that was in Koricancha, but (if I'm remembering right) after an earthquake knocked down the structures that the Spanish had built around the temple, they realized that the Incas had put the golden statue in that precise little nook, because for one day a year, on the summer solstice, the sun shines directly on it.
These structures that the Spanish built over Koricancha are the church and convent of Santo Domingo.
Next we walked to La Catedral. I've seen some pretty churches in Italy, Germany, and Prague, but this was by far the prettiest church I've ever been in. Unfortunately photos were strictly forbidden. The construction began in 1560 and took 104 years to complete.

The inside is covered wall to wall with paintings, silver, and gold. I was absolutely in awe of the beauty of it. At the same time, it also disgusted me that the church can be so lavishly decorated when you can peek your head out the door and see a 6 year old walking around the plaza by herself trying to sell yarn bracelets to tourists for 1 sol apiece.
The choir is made completely of cedar and has carvings of the saints and popes. There's also a shrine to El Senor de los Temblores (Lord of the Earthquakes) with a carving of a dark skinned Christ on the crucifix. It is believed to have the power to calm earthquakes, and every year during Easter there is a festival where it is paraded around Cusco. One of the most interesting things about the church was a painting of The Last Supper by Marcos Zapata, which gives the traditional Last Supper a little bit of Andean flair.

In the foreground (not seen in the pic) are some typical Andean ceramic pots and on the table is chicha morada (a drink made out of purple corn) and a very interesting looking animal. Some believe it is a guinea pig, but Coco said he thinks it's a vizcacha, which is a cross between a rabbit and a squirrel.
After the church, we went back to the hotel and had free time for the rest of the night.
I went with Ashleigh, Ashley, Mary, Hannah and Christina to go look for a restaurant. We ended up going to a place called Aldea Yanapay. It felt like Alice in Wonderland. There were crazy bright colors, stuffed animals, board games, papier mache lamps, and all kinds of random stuff. It's part of a social project that includes schools and art and culture activities. We got to sit on the balcony at a table in the corner. It was low to the ground and surrounded with pillows and stuffed animals that we sat on. The menus had pictures of fairy tales on them, and we got to play cards while we were waiting for our food. At the end, our check came in a little box, like a present. It was pretty cool.
After eating, we walked around some of the shops. I ended up getting a pretty good deal on some necklaces and earrings, even though I had already spent too much money on souvenirs. Outside our hotel there was a guy selling paintings, and while I was looking at his stuff, his buddy who sold carved gourds also came up and started talking to us. He said something in Quechua, so I thought that would be a good time to practice mine a little bit. I greeted him in Quechua, answered when he asked my name, and asked his, but that's about as far as my Quechua goes so I responded to everything else with "no comprendo" and he would explain to me what he was saying. It would have been really cool if the trip to Cusco were at the end of the semester when I knew some more, but oh well, I think he was happy that I was trying and I think he gave me a pretty good price on the gourds :)
Unfortunately, when I got back, they had turned the water off in the hotel. Luckily, our room was literally right next to the dining room, so I just made a couple trips filling up coffee cups with water from the tea kettle in the dining room and using that to wash my face and brush my teeth.

Buenos Dias, Profesora Jamie!

At 9 a.m. Maria Elena came to my house to take me to the Colegio Juan Pablo Vizcardo y Guzman for my first day of volunteering!
She showed me how to get there with the buses, but she's going again with me next Thursday, luckily. It's kind of far away, and it's not in the best neighborhood (my host mom told me to wear a hat when I go there to look less gringa) but I think it's gonna be a lot of fun.
When I got in the classroom, all 30-something kids shouted BUENOS DIAS SENORITA! in unision. Then the teacher explained to them that I would be coming every Thursday and Friday to teach them English (they broke out into applause after hearing that) and to help her in the classroom. She told them that they would need to be well-behaved and attentive for me (they all sat up straight in their chairs). Then I told them hi and that I was happy that I would be able to work with them and help them learn English and they all applauded again. It was a pretty warm welcome.
I think I arrived around recess time, but a lot of them stayed in and surrounded me, bombarding me with questions.
"How do you say Jorge in Spanish?" "How do you say Pilar in Spanish?" "Perro is dog in English, right?" "How old are you?" "Do you have kids?" "How do you say Maria in English?" "What is your perfume called?" "Where does your mom live?" "How do you say Miguel in English?" (pointing at the only pale girl in the classroom) "Look! You guys are the same color! You look like sisters!" "Were you on TV? I saw you on channel 4. Are you sure it wasn't you? Maybe it was Nichole [the other volunteer]. Was she in Cusco?"
I'm really bad at judging kids' ages, but I'm guessing it's about the 3rd grade maybe? I'll find out and get back to you.
So what I will be doing, is teaching about an hour of English each Thursday and Friday and then for the rest of the time (they have school from 8-1) I will be assisting the teacher, because 30+ kids is a handful for one person. English isn't a part of their curriculum, so they like having volunteers that can come teach it a few times a week while the teacher does other things. Plus the kids are very excited to learn.
Today I didn't do the English class, I just helped the teacher. It's definitely a different environment compared to the elementary schools in the U.S. Because of the size of the classroom it's a little bit chaotic. Everyone was talking and running around, and the teacher was telling me how the schools didn't have money to buy enough materials so it was really hard for them to provide books and stuff.
Nichole, the other volunteer, is helping out with a different class, so we're gonna get together on Tuesday and make some basic lesson plans so that our classes are going at the same pace and learning the same things. I'm excited to get started.
Afterwards we had an ELAP meeting (there's about 5 of us) on campus, and we all had lunch with Maria Elena.
After I came home we went to coffee with our mom and Ashleigh and her mom at a cute little cafe not too far off. This entailed "Lucuma Temptation," a cake made of a fruit called lucuma that's common here. We'll see if I fit in my jeans by the time I get home.
Ashleigh, Raquel, and I went to Metro, the grocery store here, to get some snacks for Cusco. It was there that I encountered avocado's the size of a baby's head. I also got some granadillas, which is a fruit that you open up and it looks like alien fetus. But it's yummy. You just crack it open and then suck out the fetus. Nutritious and delicious!

I'm all packed and ready to go, so it's up at 5:30 tomorrow, be at the ISA office by 6! That said I'm gonna hit the hay.
That's all for now, back on Tuesday!

My First Tremor!

I was just saying to someone the other day that I really hope I get to feel a tremor while I'm here. Well, my friends, today was my lucky day!
I was sitting in class this morning, and the projector screen started waving back and forth. I looked at the window to see where the breeze was all of a sudden coming from and then I felt my chair start to move. It was like being on a boat. I was so excited! It only lasted for about 15 seconds probably, so we kept going with class. 
Apparently in Ecuador it was stronger, about a 7 on the Richter Scale, (but only felt like about a 5 because the center was so deep in the ground.)


After class I met a friend for lunch. We walked to the Plaza San Miguel and got some sandwiches with gelato for dessert. Then I just hung out until my 6:00 class because my 4-6 one was cancelled. I went to the library for the first time, which was sort of an ordeal. 
They don't just let you on campus here, you have to go to 1 of 2 entrances and show the security guards your student ID because the campus is walled in. You also have to show your ID when going into the library, but apparently the 1st time you go you have to register it or something. So the guy was asking me my phone number and address to put into the computer. He looked at me like an idiot because I didn't know my address. Woops. Good day to not bring my little info card with me. But finally they let me in. 


I had my Quechua class from 6-9. It's a tough one. Quechua morphology is super complicated. They make heavy use of suffixes, so, for example, wasichaykikunas is one word, but it is also a sentence that means "They say that they are your little houses." Here's how that breaks down:
wasi - house
cha - "little" (really it's the diminutive form, like -ito/a in Spanish--casita)
yki - your
kuna - plural
s - They say that they are
To complicate matters more, there are suffixes that have meanings in Quechua that aren't used in English. For example, -qa is added to mean something close to "that's how it is" and is used to emphasize the condition of the subject. In addition, the suffix -m (after vowels) or -mi (after consonants) is added to nouns as a "validator" to confirm what you're saying. 
So when I tell someone my name, I have to say Jamiem because I'm confirming that my name is actually Jamie. 
They sometimes also add -lla to questions with the approximate meaning of "no more/nothing more." That's used a lot when asking "how are you?" like saying "how are you nothing more?" but it's used for affectation.
In other words, I'm not expecting to come back fluent in Quechua. 
(Sorry if that was boring, but I think it's pretty cool.)
http://www.sonicomusica.com/huaynos/magaly-solier/cancion/para-que-/
If you click on the link it will play the Quechua song that we were listing to in class today. It's kind of fun :) It's about the rain (para)


Also, we had a little scare last night because Macy went missing after a thunderstorm, but luckily they found her! She was just hiding in the garage :)

Salsa!

Today was registration day for international students. For some reason, this can't be done online like it is for all the other students, so we had to be there in person. All however many hundred of us. It was first come first serve, so Maria Elena, our ISA director, suggested we get there at 6 a.m. so we could be the first in line and get the schedule that we want. 
However, when I told my grandma that, she said that it wasn't safe to take the micro at 6 a.m. I also wasn't very excited to get up at the buttcrack of dawn just so that I could wait for 3 hours. So I decided, for my personal safety, that I would try to get there at 6:45. I ended up getting there at 7. (It's called Peruvian time, I'm just trying to assimilate into the culture.)
Luckily for me, Maria Elena had saved me a seat in the first room where people were waiting to get there numbers. Which means, I got number 30 even though I definitely was not the 30th one to get there. I also got a few dirty looks, but hey. That's why studying abroad with ISA is more expensive. They go the extra mile for you. 
I got into all my classes with no problem, so I have a pretty bomb schedule:


Monday:
11-1 Amazonian Linguistics
4-6   Amazonian Ethnography
(7-8:30) Salsa class!


Tuesday:
1-3 Activity in Anthro 2


Wednesday:
11-1 Amazonian Linguistics
4-6   Amazonian Ethnography
6-9   Quechua


Thursday and Friday: No class! (those are the days I will be volunteering at the school)


It all adds up to 13 credits and should be pretty manageable. 


So after registering I had my Amazonian Linguistics class. It sounds like it's gonna be pretty interesting. It's exactly the type of linguistics that I'm interested in, indigenous languages, and there is an immense variety in the Amazon. However there's only like 5 people in that class, and I'm the only exchange student so that kind of sucks, but the prof is really nice, so it should be alright.
I came home during my break and our parents took me and Raquel to the store to buy tickets to the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert!! I'm so excited!! The seats are pretty far away, but still. Yay!!!
After my Amazonian Ethnography class (which is about 70% international students) I had my first salsa class! The teacher is a riot, so it should be a lot of fun. 
My dance partner was not so fun. He was kind of obnoxious so next time I'm definitely gonna pick out a different one!
Luckily, I made it home in time for my telenovela, La Perricholi, at 9. Me and Raquel always watch it with grandma. It's based on a true story of this lady that was the mistress of the Viceroy when Spain ruled Peru. It's only "slightly" dramatized. 
Then we hung out with Manuel, the latest addition to our casa.

Beach!!!!!!

Today was pretty awesome. 


I got up this morning determined to run off some of that pizza and cake. (Me and Raquel have also agreed to a Pizza Pact: no pizza for 3 weeks). This time I did some reconnaissance (that just took 10 tries and an online dictionary to spell right) and google mapped my neighborhood. I found a pretty big park about a mile and a half away, so my plan was to go there and get away from the traffic and exhaust. But then Wilmer, who lives at the house too but is from Peru, said that it was only about 2 miles to the beach. YES PLEASE! He said he would go with me, so off we went. The jog there wasn't that bad, either. It was on a busy street but there was a bike path in the median of the street with trees on either side so it was pretty nice. 
I was so excited to finally see the ocean! Who knew that it was right there? When you get to it, it's a big cliff that you can look over and see the beach below, but we went a little farther down the coast to a spot where you could go down and get up next to the water. It was pretty foggy, but it was still really pretty, and I got to see some people surfing. It's way too cold right now to be in the water without a wetsuit, so the surfers and joggers were pretty much the only people there. 

(this isn't my pic, but this is the beach I was on. It's called costa verde, or the green coast)
When I got back me and Raquel decided to go to a shopping center called Polvos Azules. They sell all kinds of stuff...electronics, clothes, DVDs, CDs, watches, perfumes, sunglasses, trinkets. Most of it is knockoffs or bootlegs so it's super cheap. I, of course, didn't buy any bootleg DVDs or CDs because that would be illegal and wrong. 
Then we took a cab to Miraflores and walked around Parque Kennedy. I tried street food for the first time, so cross your fingers that I don't get food poisoning. I'm not too worried, though, because Raquel's Peruvian friend had recommended these particular turkey sandwiches from this particular street vendor. And delicious they were. We walked around the park and browsed all the artist's stands and the other goings on. 
We attempted a movie night when we got home, but the Dinner For Schmucks DVD that I bought legally at a reputable entertainment store, for some reason stopped working after the first 1/2 hr or so. Bummers! 

Feliz Cumpleanos, Juan Luis!

I did not accomplish anything on my to-do list today. I did not go running. I did not cease to eat pizza. 


When we got up this morning, Raquel and I walked to the bodega to get Juan Luis, our host brother, a birthday present. We walked to like 5 bodegas (all in about a 2 block radius) looking for something for him, but couldn't find anything, so we finally decided on a little chocolate cake bite.
Raquel went to hang out with her family, and I went with mom to run some errands. We picked up my host sister, Olga, from dance lessons ("sexy dance" is what they call the dance style that she does, hehe), then went to the bakery and picked up Juan Luis's birthday cakes. Then we got some roast chicken from the store and headed home for lunch. 
At 5 I walked over to Ashleigh's house and we grabbed a taxi to Miraflores for the day's ISA activity. We were taking a city sightseeing bus tour. I had only been to Miraflores once, briefly, so I was excited to see it because it's a big shopping and tourist district. 
We met at Parque Kennedy and loaded up the bus. We drove around Miraflores and the city center. It was night time, so we got to see everything all lit up. Then we stopped at the Sheraton hotel for a coffee break and some "very small sandwiches" as our tour guide put it. After that we went to the Parque de la Reserva to watch the Circuito Magico del Agua. It was a really cool water fountain laser show. 

Then we headed back home. By the time we got there Juan Luis's friends were all there and a few of his aunts and uncles too. He requested pizza again. Oh Dios Mio. We got there in time to sing Happy Birthday and watch him blow out his candles. 

We had some pizza and cake and hung out for awhile. 
The original plan was to go back to Miraflores because a few people stayed down there to go to the bars. But....our pizza coma pretty much took away any desire to get ready and go out, so we watched some YouTube videos (Hulu and Netflix don't work in Peru) and called it a night.

I cut my finger and bled marinara sauce...

As you read through my summary of the past couple days, please take note of the number of times I've consumed pizza.


On Thursday I got up early and went to my 8 a.m. Quechua class, which I will hopefully be able to replace with the much more interesting and much later 6 p.m. anthro Quechua class which I went to Wednesday night. Crossing my fingers that there's space for me to register for that one.
After that I just hung out on campus until it was time for our weekly meeting at the ISA office at noon. It was one of the girls' birthdays so Maria Elena, the director, brought pizza and cake for us. I had a slice of each.
When I got home, I had plans to go shopping with my friend Ashleigh (another student that lives a couple blocks away). Raquel had been sick since Junin, but she was feeling better, so she came too. After having eaten nothing but soup the whole day, she was really craving pizza, so we went to the Pizza Hut at the Plaza San Miguel. We had no idea what we were in for.

It was a classy-ass Pizza Hut. The first page on the menu is their wine list. Bonus: They also have sangria! (al estilo Pizza Hut).  They also have cocktails, and they present your food all fancy and stuff. You feel like you're in a classy restaurant! We shared a pizza, and contemplated the dessert list, but eventually decided against it.

We were planning on going to a bar called Help! for 80's night. We were told the bar was really awesome and it only opens Thursdays and a crapload of people come, and it's great. Jose Luis, one of the ISA guys that went with us to Junin told us that this Thursday was 80's night, and helped us get a list sent in so that we wouldn't have to pay a cover. At most discotecas here, if you come with a big enough group and give them a list in advance, then they don't make you pay. So that's what we did.
So me and Ashleigh and Raquel needed some 80s clothes so we went shopping. I got an 80s looking T-shirt and some bright pink tights.
We went home and started getting ready. As I was sitting in my neon tights about to put my hair up in a side ponytail, I looked at the ISA facebook group, where we all post info about get-togethers and stuff, and saw that one of the students had posted something like "hey, so I was checking out the website and maybe it's not 80s night, but it looks like there will be some cool bands..." At that point I looked at the website and it said NOTHING about the 80s. Oops. Caught that just in time. So now I have a nice new pair of tights just waiting for an 80s party to go to.
The club turned out to be really really fun. It was huge and had a nice beachy feel to it. It also had beer for 5 soles from 10 to 11. 5 soles is about 2 bucks and these beers were not normal size beers, they were huge.
They had a ska band first, then a punk band. Not my favorite kind of music, but they were both pretty good. They also had a grill in front where they were cooking up burgers and sausages. Raquel got one when we left. Sorry Dad, but it was the most delicious brat I've ever tasted. It was a super yummy sausage in like a crispy italian bread bun with mustard and shoestrings in it. Also 5 soles.
We got home around 3:30 (some people stay out til 5 or 6 a.m. when they go out here).
So I slept in til around 12:30 today. Then me and Raquel decided that Pizza Hut sounded good. We called up Ashleigh and walked to a different Pizza Hut that is close to our houses. We split another pizza and saved room for dessert this time. Me and Ashleigh each had sauco (elderberry?) cheesecake and Raquel had the Locura de Chocolate. It was a beast.
Then we came home and chilled for awhile. It's my host brother Juan Luis's birthday tomorrow, and he decided he wanted pizza for his birthday tonight since my host dad, also Juan Luis, would be at work all day tomorrow. So Rosi ordered Papa John's and we all had a nice supper together.

To-do list for tomorrow: Go jogging. Stop eating pizza.

College Life

I'm getting the bus system down! Made it to school and back by myself today! Woot woot!
This week is the first week of classes at PUCP, and the int'l students get the chance to test out whatever classes they think they're interested in, and then we register on Monday. So here's how this week has gone for me so far:


Monday
The first class I went to was "Amazonian Linguistics." It was a pretty small class, with about 6 or 7 Peruvians, me and 3 German girls. The prof specializes in the Pano languages and researched and wrote a grammar for one of the languages for his dissertation. It sounded like a really interesting class, and it was definitely not full, so I decided that one was a keeper. 
Next was Urban Anthropology. The prof was really interesting. He reminded me of a Peruvian Peter Jackson with his unkempt hair, scruffy beard, and general appearance of homelessness. This was one of the classes that I had gotten preapproved for credit, but unfortunately, the prof is quite the mumbler. I could understand him, but it took a lot of concentration. Plus the class was really full and I probably wouldn't get in anyways. So I decided that one could go. 
Next was Amazonian Ethnography, also pre-approved for anthro credit. The class didn't seem to hard (it was 70% int'l students) and the prof seemed really nice and chill, so that's another keeper. 


Tuesday
At 8 a.m. I went to Quechua. Quechua is the indigenous language with the most speakers in Peru. I was really interested in taking this class, and definitely want to enroll, but this class is a linguistics class in the dept of general studies, and they also offer a class in the anthro dept entitled Quechua. I'm gonna go to it tonight and check it out to see if it's a language class, too, or more lang. and culture. If it's good, I'll pick that one instead, so that I don't have to be at school at 8 in the morning :)
Next, I went to Topics in Contemporary Linguistics. It turns out that this year's topic is Noam Chomsky, which would be super interesting, but this class seemed like a lot of work. There were tests, and a class presentation, and a term paper, and I was just not feelin it. So that one's gotta go. I'm in Peru, I don't wanna do too much work. I can always read Chomsky on my own time.
Then I went to Activity in Anthropology. This is a 2 credit class that meets once a week. Apparently it is specifically for exchange students, but apparently not many exchange students were interested, because the only people that showed up were me, this other American girl, and this guy from Cusco. I'm pretty excited about this class, though, because it's about the public spaces in Lima, and what the architects and kings had in mind when they designed them, and how the people actually use them and have created their own spaces in Lima. So for certain classes we're gonna hop on a bus and go to different districts in the city, or certain markets or plazas to observe. Plus the prof seems really cool, and he speaks English really well because he did his masters at the University of Florida.


Today
I had Amazonian Linguistics again this morning, then had a 3 hr break, so I went home and just got done eating lunch. Heading back from 4-9 for Amaz. Ethnography and Quechua!

The Final Chapter of my Junin adventures

Sunday, 6:45 a.m.: I woke up to the sound of the most obnoxious bird you've ever heard in your life. It sounded like it was right outside our window, too. We went outside and scared it away. I snapped some pics of the early morning mist over the mountains and the city which we had a gorgeous view of from our hotel room.

When I woke up the second time I got some breakfast out on the patio, and then went for a run with one of the girls I was rooming with. We decided to take advantage of the fresh air and the lack of traffic, since it's something you can't find in Lima. We ran up a killer hill until I finally gave up and started walking and let her go on ahead. In my defense it was hot out.....and I'm out of shape.
Then we went back and I spent the rest of the morning in the pool or laying out in the sun beside it. 

At around one, we headed back, this time in the bus. It was extremely hot for like the 1st hour, and wouldn't you know it, there was only one window that opened and the air conditioner didn't work. After we got out of the jungle, it cooled off, though, and by the time we stopped in Tarma to eat lunch (at 4 btw, these people remind me of dad with their tendency to forget to feed us) it was already to chilly for the shorts we all had on. So all of us gringas in shorts and tank tops walking down the street kind of made a scene. Especially when our tour guide had to shout at us, using the name we had chosen for our bus, "los cuyes valientes" (the mighty guinea pigs), when a couple people started wandering in the wrong direction. 
We ate at a restaurant called Hot N Tender, because it was the only thing open at 4 p.m. on a Sunday. It was interesting, basically fried chicken, wings and fries. Not your typical Peruvian dishes.
After that we got back on the bus, and I spent the next 6 hours hating life, because I was too knocked out on dramamine to stay awake and too uncomfortable to really sleep.
But we made it home, and despite the roadbumps, I'd say it was a very successful trip! Can't wait for Cusco in 2 weeks!

SATURDAY (sorry, I can't think of a more creative title)

I woke up a couple of times in the night feeling crappy and when I got up at 5:45 the next morning, I still didn't feel much better.
I was too nauseous to eat breakfast, but like it or not, at 7, we got on the tour bus. First we stopped at the plaza in Huancayo for a few minutes to snap some pics, then we did the same in Tarma at their plaza and church. I slept during the bus rides, and by about midday, I was feeling better, fortunately.
Our next stop was the Amazon Jungle!! We parked and did about a 20 minute walk through the jungle (gorgeous) to the Tirol waterfall. (Admiral Morris came, too)

 We got to swim in the waterfall, and it was pretty awesome.
Then we walked back to the bus and headed to the restaurant "El Mirador."I wanted to try something interesting, so I chose the zamano (tilde over the n). I wasn't sure what it was, but there were pictures of the animals in their natural habitat on the menu so people would know. Although, looking at a photo of a deer, doesn't exactly make me want to eat it. After some googling, I found out what it was called in English, and I actually found the exact pic that was on the menu.

This is the Spotted Cavy Paca. It wasn't bad, but I wasn't blown away by it, either.
Then we loaded up the buses again. The other bus drove off and for some reason we didn't. We sat and sat until word got around that there was a hole in the brake line. Perfect. And no one had cell phone service. After a lot of chaos the other bus finally came back for us and took us to the indigenous village of the Ashaninka. They dressed us up in their traditional clothes and painted our faces, then one of them told us a little bit about their culture and then we danced. It was pretty cool.

After dancing around the fire, my dance partner, a little boy who was probably 10 or so, dragged me over to one of the stands they had where they were selling souvenirs. I bought a bracelet and a pair of earrings. I also bought a hair wrap, but it fell out of my hair later that night. It was only 10 soles though (about 4 bucks) so you get what you pay for!
After that, we went to a coffee factory. At least we were told that was what it was. They had a lot of other stuff too, though. They let us go through and sample some of their products. Most of it was jam. It was delicious, but they didn't give you anything to sample it with, so after about 10 spoonfuls of jam, I was ready to move on. Next came juice and liquor. They had samples of a liquor called 7 Racines. I have no idea what it was, but it tasted like concentrated mulled wine. In a good way. They also had Creme de Cacao. Yum yum. Then they had a coffee sample, which was by far my fave. After sampling, we shopped around and I got some jam and coffee. I also had a guanabana (soursop) slushie.
After that we finally went to our hotel, the Hotel Fundo San Jose Ecolodge in La Merced. Unfortunately, our buses couldn't make it up the driveway so we had to schlepp all of our stuff up a super steep hill. Worth it though. Even though it was dark I could tell the hotel was super nice.
First they gave us a welcome ceremony. Apparently there's an Italian community in La Merced, so they performed some Italian dances, and then gave us an Italian dinner. Caprese salad, spaghetti, and ice cream.
After a long day, the plan was to crack open a beer, but unfortunately the hotel was out :(

Last Friday's Adventure!

Since a lot happened this past weekend, I'm gonna break it up into separate entries, because I'm too lazy to type it all right now. 


So we left off on Friday:


We went to the train station at 6:15 a.m. and hopped aboard the train that goes from Lima to Huancayo.

According to my handy dandy guidebook, the railroad was built between 1870 and 1908 by over 10,000 workers mostly from China. It begins at sea level in Lima and goes through 66 tunnels and 59 bridges. The Ticlio Pass is one of the highest RR passes in the world at 15,686 ft. It was, until recently, the highest passenger station. It has passenger services once a month and transports minerals from Andean mines on a daily basis. (Eyewitness Travel Peru)


It was super comfy and had big windows to see spectacular views. In the last car was a bar, some tables and chairs, and huge open windows that made it feel like a balcony. Everyone got a ticket for a free pisco sour, so I got to try my first one! Not bad. It sort of tasted like a whiskey sour, only if you put in half a shot of whiskey and half a shot of tequila. It also has whisked egg whites on the top to make it foamy. Pisco is huge in Peru.

At the highest point, we got out to take pictures and look around. We were in snow-capped mountains, and there were llamas roaming around. It was absolutely gorgeous! Unfortunately, after I made it a few steps out the door, the altitude hit me, and I felt like I was about to pass out, so I had to sit down for awhile until I could go back to the train. The rest of the ride was pretty much downhill from there. Both literally and figuratively. 
We started to go back down in altitude, but I still felt pretty crappy. There were definitely a lot of people who were worse off though.Someone brought a bag of coca leaves, so we put them in our mouths to help with the altitude sickness, and we drank mate de coca (coca tea).

They also gave us cotton swabs soaked in alcohol to take a whiff of to confuse our senses and make the nausea go away. I'm not sure whether any of it worked, but hey, I didn't puke.
The train ride took a total of about 13 hours, and by the time we made it to Huancayo I felt a lot better. 
We checked into our hotel and had some dinner, then we hit the hay. 


Stay tuned to hear about Saturday's adventures! Here's a preview: it involves swimming in waterfalls, a monkey, eating mystery meat, a bus breakdown, dancing around a fire, and eating spoonfuls of jam. 

Classes

Here are the classes I'm hoping to get into:


Amazonian Linguistics, Urban Anthropology, Amazonian Ethnography, and Quechua. Also, on the side I'd like to take salsa lessons, and afro-peruvian dance lessons at the university. If I get my schedule the way I want it, I'll have stuff from 11-8:30 (w/ 2 hour-long breaks in between) on Monday. Class from 8-10 on Tuesday. Class from 11-6 w/ an hour break on Wednesday. And class from 8-10 on Thursday. And dance from 5-6:30 Friday.
Which now that I look at it that way, sounds kind of crappy for Mon and Wed....I might have to try and redo this.....damnit

"Never in your gringa life sit in the back of the bus!"

Today was a long day.
It was the day for all the university students to go to each department and listen to them talk about their courses, talk to them about their courses, and fill out a list of preferences. So basically it was a lot of confusion about what classes to take and how to fit them in your schedule. I was there from 9:30 til around 12 doing that, then we had a break from 12-3 so some of us walked around and ate lunch.
At 3 we had a safety talk called "Surviving Lima." It scared the living daylights out of me, not gonna lie. Here are some of the highlights:
-If you need assistance from the police, ask the municipal police, not the national police, because they can't be trusted.
-Use your "gringa card." In other words, bat your eyes and say "no entiendo" in your sweet little accent, so that the Peruvian guy's macho instincts will kick in and he'll be protective of you.
-Don't take a Tico, if it wrecks, it will crumple and you will die.
-If there's an earthquake and you're in a tall building, pray, because you're probably about to die.
-If you're on the bus and someone drops their coins by your feet, don't bend down to pick them up, because that's when they jack your purse.
-If you're on the bus and someone spits on you, don't crouch away in disgust, because that's when they jack your purse.
-Never sit in the back of the bus, because everyone on a bus looks forward, and 2 guys will sit on either side of you and hold knives to you're sides so that you're stuck and they can rob you.
-Never get on an empty bus, because they can drive away with you.
--Here's a special section for taxi safety:
 ---Only get in the white or yellow taxis or a radio taxi that you've called. But make sure you ask for the color and plates when you call, because other taxis intercept the radio.
 ---Sit in the back behind the driver (so he can't shoot you as easily), check to make sure the doors open from the inside, lock all doors, put your purse under your legs so someone on the street doesn't punch through the glass and grab it, crack your window in case the driver sprays something at you that makes you fall asleep, if you're getting in a station wagon make sure you check the back so that someone's not hiding in the trunk ready to pop out at you, and make a pretend phone call to someone saying where you're going, when to expect you there, and what color car you're in, in Spanish so that they know you're not just a tourist.
 ---Watch out for Peruvians who want to get in a relationship with you or knock you up, because they just want a green card. According to her, they're also known as Companeros PUCP :)
 ---Don't go to the bars in a few neighborhoods because they bartenders "sell you." Especially blondes. For example, a guy goes up to the bar and says "I want that one" and pays the bartender 100 soles. Then, when "that one" orders a drink, the bartender drugs it.


That being said. Don't worry Mom! I'm having a great time!

Food + Shopping = Good day

So today was my first adventure on the "micro," which is the term used for the busses here. My host uncle rode with me to the university this morning, because I had no idea what I was doing. You can tell which micro is which by the color that they're painted, and they also have the locations that they drive to painted on the side. In addition, they have a guy that stands in the doorway and shouts out where the bus is going whenever it stops. It's all very hectic and confusing. You have to be careful, too, because they don't necessarily stop at every stop, and if you want to get out you have to shout "Bajo."
He took me to PUCP and then showed me where to get on the bus back home, and which bus it was. He also told me what to say to the bus driver, to make sure they were going to my house. "Huscares de Junin, en frente del grifo." I said that about 20 times in my head before I found someone to borrow a pen from so I could write it down. I was a little nervous about going home by myself! It's really hard to orient myself in Lima, because everything sort of looks the same to me, so it's hard to recognize when I'm in a certain area.
At the university, we had the academic orientation with all the int'l students, not just the ISA bunch. So there were students from France, Germany, England, one from Holland, and probably lots of other places. I didn't meet them all b/c there was like 250 or something.
We went over a lot of the same things we talked about Monday at ISA orientation, but then we were introduced to our PUCP "buddies." It's a program where you're paired with a Peruvian student so you have someone who sort of knows the ropes. I'd talked to mine on facebook before I came, so it was fun to meet her and all the other students.

We all went out to eat together to a buffet that served Peruvian dishes. So I got to try some new stuff. First of all, I got to try Inca Kola, a peruvian pop. It's yellow and tastes like bubblegum. I'm not a huge fan, but it wasn't bad.

I also got to try ceviche for the first time in Peru! It was yummy, except they didn't quite get all the bones out of the fish, so that grossed me out a little. Their corn here is cool too, because the kernels are like ginormous.
I also got to try Chifa, which is what they call the Chinese food here. It's sort of a Chinese/Peruvian mix, but it was yummy. And for dessert I had ice cream. Delish! All of that for 18 soles, or about 7 bucks, not bad.
After that they gave us a tour of campus, and then we went home. I made it back on the bus alright! Yay!
When I got home, I went with a couple other girls and one of the girl's host mom to Miraflores, which is one of the districts of Lima with good shopping. We walked around some shops that had souvenir type stuff like alpaca clothes little trinkets. I bought some fingerless gloves with llamas on them :) but for most of that kind of stuff I'm gonna get it in Cusco, where it's cheaper, and where the people probably actually make it themselves.
Then we went to a department store, and I found a nice warm coat (all I brought was a fleece jacket) on sale for about $27! Success!

Cajones! (not cojones, get your mind out of the gutter)

In an effort to not get fat, like I have every other time I've had an extended stay in a foreign country, I decided to go for a jog this morning. I was a little nervous about it, since I have completely no idea where anything is in Lima and could easily got lost. On top of that, people here drive like madmen, so I could also easily get run over by a taxi. But I decided to brave it, and my hostmama told me which street to go down. I made it about 3 blocks, to the Avenida San Felipe. Then I waited until there were no cars, so I could cross. And I waited. And I waited. And then I gave up, because I did not have the courage to attempt to cross this street. Mind you, crosswalks mean nothing to the drivers in this city. So I turned, taking careful note of the surroundings so that I could find my way back. As I breathed in the exhaust from the buses and listened to the noise of car horns, I realized that there's something to be said for living in Nebraska. I've been having headaches pretty much since I got here and I'm pretty sure it has a lot to do with the pollution, so it will be nice to get out in the rural areas of the country on our excursions (the first of which is this weekend!)
At 11, all the int'l students met at the ISA office for a lesson on how to play the cajones. A cajon is a wooden box with a hole in the back that you sit on. You bang the front of it like a drum. It has a really cool sound and it was a fun lesson. After we played the cajones, we got to learn some dance moves. It was a lot of fun. Reminded me of Zumba class!
Then Maria Elena, who's in charge of the ELAP volunteer program, stayed to tell us a little more about that. I decided to do ELAP and was placed in an elementary school. There's another girl here from Hastings, NE (NE is well-represented, there's another girl from UNL, too) who is here for 4 months doing just the ELAP program, and she'll be working at the school every day, so I'll be with her. I'm not sure exactly what we're going to be doing, but I think we'll be helping with English classes and activities. Once I register for classes at the university and get my schedule, I'll be able to start at the school.
In the evening I went with Raquel (another American student living at my house) and Ashleigh (a student that lives a couple blocks away) to one of the shopping centers in the city. I bought a prepaid cell phone, so I feel a lot more comfortable having a means of communication when I'm out. I also bought a scarf so I feel a lot more comfortable going outside in the cold. Did I mention it's really really cold here? I'm laying in bed right now wearing a pair of knee socks, a pair of thick house socks w/ the grips on bottom, leggings, pj pants, a cam, a t-shirt, and a fleece jacket, and I'm underneath a sheet and a comforter.
After we went shopping, the whole family and some friends went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant called Romana because it's my host papa's birthday. It was really yummy, but we were there late, so now it's definitely time for bed!

My first day!

I got to my host fam's house at 11:00 last night. My room is nice and spacious, and I've got all my stuff unpacked and put in order. My host family is really nice and I like it here alot.

This morning I headed to PUCP, my university, for orientation. Rosi, my host mom, drove me there on the bus route that I'll be taking so I can see where to get on and off. It's not too far, so that's nice. 

First we just listened to the director tell us all the do's and don't's and yadayadayada. Then we were introduced to some of the university students from Peru. We went to the cafeteria to have lunch with them and then got to walk around campus a little bit. 

The campus is pretty big and it's really beautiful. PUCP is the largest university in Peru, and supposedly the best they told us. The campus has a lot of sculptures and pretty trees and plants and stuff. But the best part by far is the fact that there are deer roaming the campus everywhere. There's a zoo nearby, and they think that's where they came from. They're super tame, and when we were eating lunch outside there was one just walking through the tables. We also saw a little fawn with it's mama, and it was so young that it could barely walk. It's super cute, but there's a lot of deer poop that you have to watch out for. 

All the Peruvian students were really nice and helpful, and there's an ISA (my study abroad org.) office right on campus, along with a free clinic, a sports facility, a bank, computer labs, etc. I'm really excited about going there. There's so much stuff to do. Every Thurs afternoon there are cultural activities, and we also picked up some brochures for dance classes that you can take, so that sounds like fun. 

Plus the organization has activities planned for us all week and this weekend we get to go on our first "excursion" to Junin. 

So far I'm getting by with my Spanish but I can definitely tell that it's been 3 months since I've done anything with it. 

We stayed at the university until 6, then Rosi, Julia, my hostgrandma, Olga, my host sister, and Raquel, another exchange student staying at the house, picked me up and we went home and had some supper. 

So now es hora de descansar!