This morning I went back to the Colegio Salesiano to observe 4th Grade C again. It was cute, because I really haven't done anything there except sit and watch them from the back of the class and tell them the English word for camel (I'm not sure why all of them were asking me that, but I'm assuming it is the nickname of one of their friends and they want to tease him in English). But even though I've just been sitting there doing nothing, before they went out for P.E., Profesor Jorge said that a few of them wanted to say a few words. So they stood up at the front of class and told me that they hoped that I had enjoyed my time with them, and they were glad to have me. They wish me all the best and hope that I will return soon. One of them even made a card on the computer and printed it out to give to me along with a card with San Juan Bosco on it, the saint of the school. It was pretty adorable.
I watched them have P.E. for awhile, and then I headed out to go to class. My last class! Now I just have a few exams next week, a paper to email in, a Quechua composition to write, and a presentation to make. When I say it like that it kind of makes me nervous.
After class I met up with Hugo, Toni, Jessica, and Jorge to go to the Parque de las Leyendas (Park of the Legends) which is the zoo. It's right next to campus, and thats where the deer on campus came from. I guess they got loose one time and ended up just populating the campus. The zoo was pretty cool. We got to see some bears, penguins, a croc, a giraffe, zebras, and of course lots of llamas and their relatives. I saw on the news the other morning that there was a fresh baby goat there, but we didn't see him :( We did see some pretty cute monkeys though.
After the zoo I went with Mary to the market at 28 de Julio to do a little souvenir shopping. Then we stopped at a really nice bakery called Nova for some cake, and headed home.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Let's Go Surfin' Now!
Monday, after class, I headed to the beach in Miraflores with Dawn and Susanna for a surf lesson. It was a gloriously beautiful day. It's finally summer here in Lima! There's a row of tents set up next to the beach with surf instructors, but we went with Pukana, which is the company that ISA went through when they did the activity (I missed that one).
The water is still pretty cold here, so we slipped on some wet suits. Slipped is probably not the right word. A better phrasing might be 'struggled and squeezed into some wetsuits.' Then we went for a little jog, stretched, and practiced standing up on the board in the sand.
After that, they gave us a rundown of how it would go and then we went out into the water. There was an instructor for each of us. Mine was named Javier. Paddling out was pretty difficult. My arms were tired within like 5 minutes. Then we would lay there and wait for a wave. When a good one was coming, they would tell us to paddle, and then when we felt them push us we had to bring our shoulders up and then stand up.
Last time I took a surf lesson was with my cousin Chelsea when I was in San Diego. I remember standing up one time, very briefly, the whole day. So I was not expecting much, but I ended up getting up on the first try, and I made it up most of the time. There were a couple times when I wiped out, and got some nice gulps of salt water. My ají de gallina that I had for lunch was becoming dangerously close to being fish food.
But despite the nausea it was a lot of fun. I wish I would have made it to the beach earlier so that I could have gone more often. Time's running out now! And I still have so much crap to do.
Speaking of which, I went to visit Joel's old school this morning for my thesis research. I got there at 7:30 to watch their formation. Three sections of every grade (1st thru 5th) line up on the playground (cement soccer field) for the morning formation. It's an all boys school, yet somehow all of those boys manage to stand quietly for about 20 minutes while the faculty makes announcements and does the morning prayer. Fourth grade has mass on Wednesdays, so we went to that with them. Me and Joel sat in the back, and it was cute because during the "peace be with you" part about 5 of the boys came back and shook Joel's hand and gave me a kiss on the cheek, and they had no idea who we were.
After mass Joel headed out and I went with the 4th grade section B class. I sat in the back and observed while they had their communication and math lessons. It was extremely different from the public school where I work. First of all, the classroom had tile floor, not cement, was painted nicely, had lots of windows and natural light, I could go on and on. Secondly, the behavior. The kids were quiet. And even when they were getting kind of restless, it was still better than my kids on their best behavior. They raised their hands and waited to be called on. They paid attention to what the teacher was saying. They read aloud in class and were definitely better readers than the majority of my kids. They had class until 10:30ish and then they went outside for 15 minutes to eat their morning snack and get some fresh air. That gave me a chance to chat with the teacher a little bit. She was super nice. Afterwards, I went to Section C. They were having their Religion lesson. At 11 they had a city-wide earthquake drill, so we went out to the playground and stood on the circles painted there. Because what I've learned in Lima is that apparently, in the event of an earthquake, if you stand in a circle, you are safe.
At 12:30 I headed out so I could get to class. I didn't get to observe their recess, so that was kind of a bummer. And it ended up being unnecessary for me to leave early anyways, because once I got to campus, I found my classroom empty. Apparently, when my prof said that we were having class this week, even though it's finals week, he was just kidding. So I wasted away the afternoon drinking beer on Jorge's balcony with him and Raquel and trying to write a Quechua composition, while severely lacking one important ingredient: knowing how to say anything in Quechua.
The water is still pretty cold here, so we slipped on some wet suits. Slipped is probably not the right word. A better phrasing might be 'struggled and squeezed into some wetsuits.' Then we went for a little jog, stretched, and practiced standing up on the board in the sand.
After that, they gave us a rundown of how it would go and then we went out into the water. There was an instructor for each of us. Mine was named Javier. Paddling out was pretty difficult. My arms were tired within like 5 minutes. Then we would lay there and wait for a wave. When a good one was coming, they would tell us to paddle, and then when we felt them push us we had to bring our shoulders up and then stand up.
Last time I took a surf lesson was with my cousin Chelsea when I was in San Diego. I remember standing up one time, very briefly, the whole day. So I was not expecting much, but I ended up getting up on the first try, and I made it up most of the time. There were a couple times when I wiped out, and got some nice gulps of salt water. My ají de gallina that I had for lunch was becoming dangerously close to being fish food.
But despite the nausea it was a lot of fun. I wish I would have made it to the beach earlier so that I could have gone more often. Time's running out now! And I still have so much crap to do.
Speaking of which, I went to visit Joel's old school this morning for my thesis research. I got there at 7:30 to watch their formation. Three sections of every grade (1st thru 5th) line up on the playground (cement soccer field) for the morning formation. It's an all boys school, yet somehow all of those boys manage to stand quietly for about 20 minutes while the faculty makes announcements and does the morning prayer. Fourth grade has mass on Wednesdays, so we went to that with them. Me and Joel sat in the back, and it was cute because during the "peace be with you" part about 5 of the boys came back and shook Joel's hand and gave me a kiss on the cheek, and they had no idea who we were.
After mass Joel headed out and I went with the 4th grade section B class. I sat in the back and observed while they had their communication and math lessons. It was extremely different from the public school where I work. First of all, the classroom had tile floor, not cement, was painted nicely, had lots of windows and natural light, I could go on and on. Secondly, the behavior. The kids were quiet. And even when they were getting kind of restless, it was still better than my kids on their best behavior. They raised their hands and waited to be called on. They paid attention to what the teacher was saying. They read aloud in class and were definitely better readers than the majority of my kids. They had class until 10:30ish and then they went outside for 15 minutes to eat their morning snack and get some fresh air. That gave me a chance to chat with the teacher a little bit. She was super nice. Afterwards, I went to Section C. They were having their Religion lesson. At 11 they had a city-wide earthquake drill, so we went out to the playground and stood on the circles painted there. Because what I've learned in Lima is that apparently, in the event of an earthquake, if you stand in a circle, you are safe.
At 12:30 I headed out so I could get to class. I didn't get to observe their recess, so that was kind of a bummer. And it ended up being unnecessary for me to leave early anyways, because once I got to campus, I found my classroom empty. Apparently, when my prof said that we were having class this week, even though it's finals week, he was just kidding. So I wasted away the afternoon drinking beer on Jorge's balcony with him and Raquel and trying to write a Quechua composition, while severely lacking one important ingredient: knowing how to say anything in Quechua.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Thanksgiving al estilo Peruano
Tuesday, 2 days to Thanksgiving
Baked 2 pecan pies and 2 apple pies.
Wednesday, 1 day to Thanksgiving
Made some creamed corn during my first break between classes. Got home from class at 9. Boiled a buttload of sweet potatoes, put them in a casserole and put the glaze on them. Washed and trimmed the green beans and boiled them. Made the cream of mushroom soup (it only comes in powdered form here) and mixed it with the beans. Went to sleep at 2 a.m.
Thursday, Thanksgiving
Up at 7:30. Put the marshmallows on the sweet potatoes and baked them. Put the onions on the green beans and baked them. Reheated the creamed corn.
Maria Elena picked me up at 9ish and we headed to the school. I was so excited to have our Thanksgiving party with the kids! When we got there, Nichole's room had cleared out all the desks and set up a table at the front of the room. They had decorated the board with Thanksgiving stuff, and we put an orange table cloth on and started setting out the dishes. Nichole had made a 20 lb turkey, stuffing, and gravy, and some parents had brought mashed potatoes. Some of the other teachers at the school came in to learn about Thanksgiving, too.
We brought my kids in the room, and Nichole commenced by telling them the story of the first Thanksgiving. Then I explained to them how a typical family celebrates Thanksgiving in the states (all I really had to say was that you cook half the morning, and then eat and sleep the rest of the day). I also explained to them what foods we would be trying. Then they asked me to say a prayer in English. I was completely drawing a blank when I was trying to remember how the food prayer goes ( I remember it now: Bless us oh lord, and these thy gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty through Christ, our lord, Amen.) However, that was not coming to me at the time, so I considered doing Dad's standard Thanksgiving prayer: "Good food, good meat, good god, let's eat." No one would understand it anyways, so why not? However I decided against it, and just made some stuff up instead.
And then, we ate. We were worried the food wasn't going to be enough for 60 kids and 5 teachers, so we decided to make them hand us their plates and we served them about a bite of everything. However, it ended up being the modern day fish and bread miracle, because everyone was able to get seconds if they wanted, and everyone left full. The kids loved the turkey and pie, but weren't huge fans of the creamed corn. All in all, it was a hit. They had a lot of fun, and I think the teachers had a good time, too.
Afterwards, they presented us with going away gifts (it was Nichole's last day, and I only have about 4 days left there).
We got a cute little ceramic Andean Nativity scene, and a giant envelope filled with letters from each child. They were so cute! They had various spellings of my name: Yeimi, Jeimi, Yemy, Jaime, none of which were Jamie. And they told me they would miss me and said thanks for teaching them English. One of them even said "I hope you liked us even though we behaved so bad for you sometimes." :)
Afterwards, I relaxed at home in my food coma until it was time to eat again. You can take the girl out of America, but you can't take the America out of the girl. A few of us went to our friend Jimmy's house. He's American and studies here at the UP, but his American parents also live here, so they were having a Thanksgiving dinner and said he could invite his friends. It was deliiiicious. Stuffed again.
After that we went to Hensley's for the owner's bday party, then I called it a night around 1.
Friday
I didn't go to the school on Friday, because we had an ELAP activity. Maria Elena took us out to a "pueblo joven" called 3 de Octubre. A pueblo joven is an area that has been "invaded" as they say here. Here's what our prof told us about them in my anthro class. Basically, immigrants come in and build their house on an empty piece of land on the outskirts of town. The land is empty because it's not really suitable for habitation. It's basically just solid rock. At first they just build huts. Slowly through the years, they're able to build cement walls and put on a tin roof. Then they may be able to put in a cement floor instead of just mud. Next they might be able to build a cement roof. At that point the might build another level, again with a tin roof until they've saved up enough for a cement roof. At some point they may have the money to paint their house or put tile on the outside. Usually they all come from the same communities, and when they're building up their houses it's a collective task. As these communities grow, they come up with their own informal ways of building up the infrastructure of the community. Since the land is rock, they have to devise an above-ground water system. It's really amazing what people have accomplished in this completely informal situation, without the help of the municipality.
We took a cab out to Chorrillos (one of the districts in Lima) and took a combi to 3 de Octubre. There, we visited a school. It was a nursery and preschool, but the kids were not in school that day because it was a teacher planning day. Even though it was in a pueblo joven, the school was pretty nice. I think it's just recently been improved a lot, though. They were showing us around, and said that a lot of the tile floors had just been put in. They had used old doors that people donated to them to make tables, and for some of their own classroom doors. It was nicer than the school that I work at, at least aesthetically. I think I'm going to go visit it again next week when they're in classes as part of my thesis research.
After the school, we went to a comedor popular. It was a little dining hall funded by a governmental food program. The ladies that work there work from about 9-3 M-F, in exchange for 7 rations of food to take home to their families each day. The government provides them with rice and flour and such, and also with some money, then they cook a giant pot of rice, a giant pot of soup, a giant pot of the main meal, and a giant pot of some kind of drink (chamomile tea that day).
People come in and get soup, rice, the main dish, and a drink for S/ 1.50. This is about 55 cents. It gives families a chance to feed themselves and their kids for much cheaper than they would be able to by going to the store and cooking for the whole family. Plus, it gives the women who work there a chance to feed their families.
We helped out by cutting some potatoes, and then serving and washing dishes once the people started coming in. I kind of felt more in the way at times than anything, but it was a good experience.
Last night Nichole and Hannah stopped by, and once we made it through one of my bottles of Ica wine, we headed to the casino that's close by called New York. We sat down at the slot machines, and right before we were about to move, because there were no ladies in our area to bring us free drinks, I won! Not just like 3 soles, I won 100 soles on one spin. It was pretty awesome. That's like $35. So I was excited. And then we moved upstairs to the card game machines, were the ladies with free drinks were close at hand. It was a good night.
Today
Today was our ISA going away party. Our last hoorah before everyone heads home. Nichole is leaving tonight, the UP people are leaving next weekend, me and the other Catolica people are leaving the weekend after, and the USIL people the weekend after that.
We headed out to La Molina to the Universidad Agraria de La Molina. Why? Because they have a paintball field!
We got into 2 teams, and headed out. It was my first time playing paintball so I was pretty excited. I was not aware that there were teams involved, or the conquering of flags, or strategies. I just thought you shoot people and get shot for the fun of it. But apparently I was wrong. Our team won the first battle but lost the 3 subsequent ones.
I got shot 3 times and only shot someone once. I have a couple good welts on my hip and my side. Those suckers hurt. But it was a lot of fun. After the battle, we had our potluck dinner. Raquel and I brought deviled eggs, and they were grilling burgers and hot dogs. They also brought a turkey, so it was kind of a Thanksgiving dinner/ BBQ.
After that we had the awards ceremony. They gave out prizes for stuff that we had voted on, like who spoke the most Spanish, who had the most Peruvian friends, who tried the most food, who travelled the most, etc. But they forgot to bring the certificates that said what the awards were for. Michelle had most of them on her blackberry, but at the end she gave me one of the gift bags and told me that I won something but she couldn't remember what. I'm guessing it was for eating or traveling. I do both of those pretty well. And I have proof of the former hanging over the sides of my now too-tight jeans.
It was nice seeing everyone again before we all go home, but it also sucked because it was probably the last time I'll ever see a lot of those people again, and I hate saying goodbyes!
Baked 2 pecan pies and 2 apple pies.
Wednesday, 1 day to Thanksgiving
Made some creamed corn during my first break between classes. Got home from class at 9. Boiled a buttload of sweet potatoes, put them in a casserole and put the glaze on them. Washed and trimmed the green beans and boiled them. Made the cream of mushroom soup (it only comes in powdered form here) and mixed it with the beans. Went to sleep at 2 a.m.
Thursday, Thanksgiving
Up at 7:30. Put the marshmallows on the sweet potatoes and baked them. Put the onions on the green beans and baked them. Reheated the creamed corn.
Maria Elena picked me up at 9ish and we headed to the school. I was so excited to have our Thanksgiving party with the kids! When we got there, Nichole's room had cleared out all the desks and set up a table at the front of the room. They had decorated the board with Thanksgiving stuff, and we put an orange table cloth on and started setting out the dishes. Nichole had made a 20 lb turkey, stuffing, and gravy, and some parents had brought mashed potatoes. Some of the other teachers at the school came in to learn about Thanksgiving, too.
We brought my kids in the room, and Nichole commenced by telling them the story of the first Thanksgiving. Then I explained to them how a typical family celebrates Thanksgiving in the states (all I really had to say was that you cook half the morning, and then eat and sleep the rest of the day). I also explained to them what foods we would be trying. Then they asked me to say a prayer in English. I was completely drawing a blank when I was trying to remember how the food prayer goes ( I remember it now: Bless us oh lord, and these thy gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty through Christ, our lord, Amen.) However, that was not coming to me at the time, so I considered doing Dad's standard Thanksgiving prayer: "Good food, good meat, good god, let's eat." No one would understand it anyways, so why not? However I decided against it, and just made some stuff up instead.
And then, we ate. We were worried the food wasn't going to be enough for 60 kids and 5 teachers, so we decided to make them hand us their plates and we served them about a bite of everything. However, it ended up being the modern day fish and bread miracle, because everyone was able to get seconds if they wanted, and everyone left full. The kids loved the turkey and pie, but weren't huge fans of the creamed corn. All in all, it was a hit. They had a lot of fun, and I think the teachers had a good time, too.
 |
| With Profesora Delia and the kids |
Afterwards, they presented us with going away gifts (it was Nichole's last day, and I only have about 4 days left there).
We got a cute little ceramic Andean Nativity scene, and a giant envelope filled with letters from each child. They were so cute! They had various spellings of my name: Yeimi, Jeimi, Yemy, Jaime, none of which were Jamie. And they told me they would miss me and said thanks for teaching them English. One of them even said "I hope you liked us even though we behaved so bad for you sometimes." :)
Afterwards, I relaxed at home in my food coma until it was time to eat again. You can take the girl out of America, but you can't take the America out of the girl. A few of us went to our friend Jimmy's house. He's American and studies here at the UP, but his American parents also live here, so they were having a Thanksgiving dinner and said he could invite his friends. It was deliiiicious. Stuffed again.
After that we went to Hensley's for the owner's bday party, then I called it a night around 1.
Friday
I didn't go to the school on Friday, because we had an ELAP activity. Maria Elena took us out to a "pueblo joven" called 3 de Octubre. A pueblo joven is an area that has been "invaded" as they say here. Here's what our prof told us about them in my anthro class. Basically, immigrants come in and build their house on an empty piece of land on the outskirts of town. The land is empty because it's not really suitable for habitation. It's basically just solid rock. At first they just build huts. Slowly through the years, they're able to build cement walls and put on a tin roof. Then they may be able to put in a cement floor instead of just mud. Next they might be able to build a cement roof. At that point the might build another level, again with a tin roof until they've saved up enough for a cement roof. At some point they may have the money to paint their house or put tile on the outside. Usually they all come from the same communities, and when they're building up their houses it's a collective task. As these communities grow, they come up with their own informal ways of building up the infrastructure of the community. Since the land is rock, they have to devise an above-ground water system. It's really amazing what people have accomplished in this completely informal situation, without the help of the municipality.
We took a cab out to Chorrillos (one of the districts in Lima) and took a combi to 3 de Octubre. There, we visited a school. It was a nursery and preschool, but the kids were not in school that day because it was a teacher planning day. Even though it was in a pueblo joven, the school was pretty nice. I think it's just recently been improved a lot, though. They were showing us around, and said that a lot of the tile floors had just been put in. They had used old doors that people donated to them to make tables, and for some of their own classroom doors. It was nicer than the school that I work at, at least aesthetically. I think I'm going to go visit it again next week when they're in classes as part of my thesis research.
After the school, we went to a comedor popular. It was a little dining hall funded by a governmental food program. The ladies that work there work from about 9-3 M-F, in exchange for 7 rations of food to take home to their families each day. The government provides them with rice and flour and such, and also with some money, then they cook a giant pot of rice, a giant pot of soup, a giant pot of the main meal, and a giant pot of some kind of drink (chamomile tea that day).
People come in and get soup, rice, the main dish, and a drink for S/ 1.50. This is about 55 cents. It gives families a chance to feed themselves and their kids for much cheaper than they would be able to by going to the store and cooking for the whole family. Plus, it gives the women who work there a chance to feed their families.
We helped out by cutting some potatoes, and then serving and washing dishes once the people started coming in. I kind of felt more in the way at times than anything, but it was a good experience.
Last night Nichole and Hannah stopped by, and once we made it through one of my bottles of Ica wine, we headed to the casino that's close by called New York. We sat down at the slot machines, and right before we were about to move, because there were no ladies in our area to bring us free drinks, I won! Not just like 3 soles, I won 100 soles on one spin. It was pretty awesome. That's like $35. So I was excited. And then we moved upstairs to the card game machines, were the ladies with free drinks were close at hand. It was a good night.
Today
Today was our ISA going away party. Our last hoorah before everyone heads home. Nichole is leaving tonight, the UP people are leaving next weekend, me and the other Catolica people are leaving the weekend after, and the USIL people the weekend after that.
We headed out to La Molina to the Universidad Agraria de La Molina. Why? Because they have a paintball field!
We got into 2 teams, and headed out. It was my first time playing paintball so I was pretty excited. I was not aware that there were teams involved, or the conquering of flags, or strategies. I just thought you shoot people and get shot for the fun of it. But apparently I was wrong. Our team won the first battle but lost the 3 subsequent ones.
I got shot 3 times and only shot someone once. I have a couple good welts on my hip and my side. Those suckers hurt. But it was a lot of fun. After the battle, we had our potluck dinner. Raquel and I brought deviled eggs, and they were grilling burgers and hot dogs. They also brought a turkey, so it was kind of a Thanksgiving dinner/ BBQ.
After that we had the awards ceremony. They gave out prizes for stuff that we had voted on, like who spoke the most Spanish, who had the most Peruvian friends, who tried the most food, who travelled the most, etc. But they forgot to bring the certificates that said what the awards were for. Michelle had most of them on her blackberry, but at the end she gave me one of the gift bags and told me that I won something but she couldn't remember what. I'm guessing it was for eating or traveling. I do both of those pretty well. And I have proof of the former hanging over the sides of my now too-tight jeans.
It was nice seeing everyone again before we all go home, but it also sucked because it was probably the last time I'll ever see a lot of those people again, and I hate saying goodbyes!
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Casa de Don Bosco
Today was a jam-packed day, but since I only have 18 more days left in this country, they should probably all be.
A few weeks ago I was talking with Michelle about the difficulties I was having at the school where I volunteer, and she suggested I go visit a couple of the private schools in Lima so that I can get an idea of how things work there, too. This led to the idea for my thesis, which is comparing the different levels of education in Lima and their availability (or unavailability) based on a family's class and income. So, I met up with Joel this morning at la Católica so that he could take me to his old school to set up some days to come in. We took the bus to Breña, to El Colegio Salesiano San Francisco de Sales. We met with one of the priests, and he set up a time for me to visit the 4th grade class a couple mornings next week.
After we left, Joel was showing me the rest of the campus. It's a pretty large school. The one we went to is the boys school, and it's preschool thru high school. Across the street is the girl's school that is associated with the same church. Connected to the boys school is the polytechnical school, and connected to that is la Basílica Maria Auxiliadora. We peeked inside. It was a really pretty church.
Then Joel pointed to another set of buildings that he said was still part of the school. It's called Casa Don Bosco (Don Bosco was the guy that started the Salesians) and it's where they take in boys from the street and give them a place to stay and teach them a trade, like mechanics. We popped in the back door and looked around at their basketball court and stuff, then we walked around the block and found the front door. We peeked in to see if we could have a look around and they said they would get Padre Ricardo to show us around.
He came out and started talking to us about what they do there. They bring in high risk boys from the street (older than 12) and they start out by giving them a basic education. For example, one of the boys he introduced us to is 15 (like a lot of kids at my school, he only looked about 10 because of malnutrition) and he's in the 4th grade right now. When he came, he started out in 1st grade, because before that he was living with his mother, who was an alcoholic, and he was not going to school. As the kids advance, they also start learning a trade, like mechanics, baking, sewing, etc. That way, once they're ready, they'll be able to find employment. Another kid he introduced us to, also 15, already knows how to sew all kinds of clothing with different machines, so that when he goes back into the real world, he'll be able to go to Gamarra (a clothing market in Lima) and be a tailor or find a job in a factory.
They gave us a tour of the house. It has 4 different levels, which is how they divide your progress as well. For example, when you're older and learning your trade, you're in the 4th stage, and you also live on the 4th level. The house was really nice. They have a pool table in the patio area on the first floor, there is a nice computer lab, the classrooms are really nice, they have good dorms to sleep in, there's a nurse living there, as well as psychologists. They have laundry facilities, and a room for the volunteers from other countries to live in, and a nice coffee room, where we had coffee with Pablo, the volunteer from Spain. There was also a volunteer from Poland, and various other ones in Lima that come in and out.
After our coffee, Padre Ricardo came back and gave us a tour of the rest of the place. The whole Salesian complex (schools, church, Casa Don Bosco, offices) is huge, and really nice. It's got beautiful gardens, and pretty architecture. He took us to the bakery, where the kids were learning how to make suspiro a la limeña (a traditional dessert). They also make turrón to sell durning the festival del Señor de los Milagros during October and panettone to sell during Christmas time. Then he took us to the offices to speak with his co-worker about how the casa works, because Joel got the idea that this might be a good organization for them to offer through ELAP. He was telling us about how there are 11 Casas de Don Bosco in Perú, and that he recommends a volunteer stay in one house for a minimum of 4 months. At that point, he said they are welcome to travel to any of the other casas. So if they want, they can spend a week at the Cusco casa (there's also an all-girl casa in Cusco), see how it is, help out, and do all the tourist stuff while they're there. It sounds really cool.
Padre Ricardo gave us the Salesiano bulletin, a brochure about the Casa de Don Bosco, and he also gave us both a copy of a really nice hardcover book of inspirational poems written by Salesians. Why? I guess because he's just a really nice guy.
So I'm really glad we decided to peek in, because I ended up learning a lot. It makes me really happy that there are projects like this in the city, because you see so many kids out on the street selling candy, or washing windows at stoplights. Just today, when I was on the bus, I saw a kid that looked like he was about 13 being the "bus counter." I totally just made that name up to describe the people that stand at bus stops (buses actually stop anywhere and everywhere here, so it's probably better to stay that they stand where lots of buses tend to stop) and keep track of the buses that go by, and how full they are. That way, when the next bus on the same route comes by, the cobrador (guy who stands at the door of the bus shouting it's route out - "todo Bolívar todo Bolívar, Católica, Universitario, San Marcos! Sube sube sube!!" and who collects the fares) asks the person keeping track and they tell them when the last bus came by and how full they were. Why does this matter? Because apparently the cobradores have a quota for a certain number of passengers each day. And they have some strategy worked out, so that after these "bus counters" give them this information, they tell the driver, who either starts driving like a bat out of hell, probably so he can pass the bus in front of him and get to potential passengers first, or starts driving really slow and pretending to wait for fake passengers who are "running down the sidewalk flagging down the bus" but who in reality don't really exist, we're just trying to kill time, so that more people will be at the next bus stop. No one ever really falls for this and people usually just start yelling at the bus driver. But back to the "bus counter." How much does he get paid for this information? The cobrador gives him 10 or 20 cents. How much is this in U.S. cents? About 3 or 6 cents. My point with this really long explanation is that that's what this kid was doing at 9:15 this morning when he should have been in school.
There are about 70 boys at the Casa de Don Bosco right now and there have been as many as 100. So it's a pretty great organization in my opinion. And Padre Ricardo is like everyone's dad. He's super nice, but he also has an air of authority and all the boys respect him. Which is probably exactly what a lot of them need, is something that feels like family.
We headed back to la Católica and I went to my class and then headed home for the day. On Thursday we're having a Thanksgiving feast/ going-away part for Nichole, so me and her are in charge of making a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for 60 kids. I'm really excited about it though. I told her that if she made the turkey and stuffing, I would do everything else. And some of the parents at the school said they would bring the mashed potatoes. So I started the cooking today. I baked 2 pecan pies and 2 apple pies this afternoon. Now I just have to make the creamed corn, green bean casserole, and sweet potato casserole. Then somehow with Maria Elena's help we're going to lug all of that stuff all the way to the colegio, and try to reheat it and serve the kids! It should be a lot of fun. They'll love it.
Rosa also said that if we don't do a Thanksgiving dinner with ISA on Thursday she'll cook one at the house, because she knows that it's an important holiday for us. She's a sweetheart!
A few weeks ago I was talking with Michelle about the difficulties I was having at the school where I volunteer, and she suggested I go visit a couple of the private schools in Lima so that I can get an idea of how things work there, too. This led to the idea for my thesis, which is comparing the different levels of education in Lima and their availability (or unavailability) based on a family's class and income. So, I met up with Joel this morning at la Católica so that he could take me to his old school to set up some days to come in. We took the bus to Breña, to El Colegio Salesiano San Francisco de Sales. We met with one of the priests, and he set up a time for me to visit the 4th grade class a couple mornings next week.
After we left, Joel was showing me the rest of the campus. It's a pretty large school. The one we went to is the boys school, and it's preschool thru high school. Across the street is the girl's school that is associated with the same church. Connected to the boys school is the polytechnical school, and connected to that is la Basílica Maria Auxiliadora. We peeked inside. It was a really pretty church.
Then Joel pointed to another set of buildings that he said was still part of the school. It's called Casa Don Bosco (Don Bosco was the guy that started the Salesians) and it's where they take in boys from the street and give them a place to stay and teach them a trade, like mechanics. We popped in the back door and looked around at their basketball court and stuff, then we walked around the block and found the front door. We peeked in to see if we could have a look around and they said they would get Padre Ricardo to show us around.
He came out and started talking to us about what they do there. They bring in high risk boys from the street (older than 12) and they start out by giving them a basic education. For example, one of the boys he introduced us to is 15 (like a lot of kids at my school, he only looked about 10 because of malnutrition) and he's in the 4th grade right now. When he came, he started out in 1st grade, because before that he was living with his mother, who was an alcoholic, and he was not going to school. As the kids advance, they also start learning a trade, like mechanics, baking, sewing, etc. That way, once they're ready, they'll be able to find employment. Another kid he introduced us to, also 15, already knows how to sew all kinds of clothing with different machines, so that when he goes back into the real world, he'll be able to go to Gamarra (a clothing market in Lima) and be a tailor or find a job in a factory.
They gave us a tour of the house. It has 4 different levels, which is how they divide your progress as well. For example, when you're older and learning your trade, you're in the 4th stage, and you also live on the 4th level. The house was really nice. They have a pool table in the patio area on the first floor, there is a nice computer lab, the classrooms are really nice, they have good dorms to sleep in, there's a nurse living there, as well as psychologists. They have laundry facilities, and a room for the volunteers from other countries to live in, and a nice coffee room, where we had coffee with Pablo, the volunteer from Spain. There was also a volunteer from Poland, and various other ones in Lima that come in and out.
After our coffee, Padre Ricardo came back and gave us a tour of the rest of the place. The whole Salesian complex (schools, church, Casa Don Bosco, offices) is huge, and really nice. It's got beautiful gardens, and pretty architecture. He took us to the bakery, where the kids were learning how to make suspiro a la limeña (a traditional dessert). They also make turrón to sell durning the festival del Señor de los Milagros during October and panettone to sell during Christmas time. Then he took us to the offices to speak with his co-worker about how the casa works, because Joel got the idea that this might be a good organization for them to offer through ELAP. He was telling us about how there are 11 Casas de Don Bosco in Perú, and that he recommends a volunteer stay in one house for a minimum of 4 months. At that point, he said they are welcome to travel to any of the other casas. So if they want, they can spend a week at the Cusco casa (there's also an all-girl casa in Cusco), see how it is, help out, and do all the tourist stuff while they're there. It sounds really cool.
Padre Ricardo gave us the Salesiano bulletin, a brochure about the Casa de Don Bosco, and he also gave us both a copy of a really nice hardcover book of inspirational poems written by Salesians. Why? I guess because he's just a really nice guy.
So I'm really glad we decided to peek in, because I ended up learning a lot. It makes me really happy that there are projects like this in the city, because you see so many kids out on the street selling candy, or washing windows at stoplights. Just today, when I was on the bus, I saw a kid that looked like he was about 13 being the "bus counter." I totally just made that name up to describe the people that stand at bus stops (buses actually stop anywhere and everywhere here, so it's probably better to stay that they stand where lots of buses tend to stop) and keep track of the buses that go by, and how full they are. That way, when the next bus on the same route comes by, the cobrador (guy who stands at the door of the bus shouting it's route out - "todo Bolívar todo Bolívar, Católica, Universitario, San Marcos! Sube sube sube!!" and who collects the fares) asks the person keeping track and they tell them when the last bus came by and how full they were. Why does this matter? Because apparently the cobradores have a quota for a certain number of passengers each day. And they have some strategy worked out, so that after these "bus counters" give them this information, they tell the driver, who either starts driving like a bat out of hell, probably so he can pass the bus in front of him and get to potential passengers first, or starts driving really slow and pretending to wait for fake passengers who are "running down the sidewalk flagging down the bus" but who in reality don't really exist, we're just trying to kill time, so that more people will be at the next bus stop. No one ever really falls for this and people usually just start yelling at the bus driver. But back to the "bus counter." How much does he get paid for this information? The cobrador gives him 10 or 20 cents. How much is this in U.S. cents? About 3 or 6 cents. My point with this really long explanation is that that's what this kid was doing at 9:15 this morning when he should have been in school.
There are about 70 boys at the Casa de Don Bosco right now and there have been as many as 100. So it's a pretty great organization in my opinion. And Padre Ricardo is like everyone's dad. He's super nice, but he also has an air of authority and all the boys respect him. Which is probably exactly what a lot of them need, is something that feels like family.
We headed back to la Católica and I went to my class and then headed home for the day. On Thursday we're having a Thanksgiving feast/ going-away part for Nichole, so me and her are in charge of making a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for 60 kids. I'm really excited about it though. I told her that if she made the turkey and stuffing, I would do everything else. And some of the parents at the school said they would bring the mashed potatoes. So I started the cooking today. I baked 2 pecan pies and 2 apple pies this afternoon. Now I just have to make the creamed corn, green bean casserole, and sweet potato casserole. Then somehow with Maria Elena's help we're going to lug all of that stuff all the way to the colegio, and try to reheat it and serve the kids! It should be a lot of fun. They'll love it.
Rosa also said that if we don't do a Thanksgiving dinner with ISA on Thursday she'll cook one at the house, because she knows that it's an important holiday for us. She's a sweetheart!
Monday, November 21, 2011
The Nazca Lines and Ica Wines
On Saturday, I got up and went to the cooking class that was planned for ELAPers. We went to my friend Dawn's house, because her host brother Willy is studying to be a chef. He and his friend Jorge showed us how to make a traditional Peruvian dish, papa rellena (stuffed potato). Here's what I remember...
Boil a bunch of potatoes. Peru has about 6 million types of potatoes, and apparently everyone has their own personal preference of what to use for papa rellena. I think in America you would just use a mix of yellow and white. After boiling the potatoes you have to peel them right away before they cool off. This is a very painful process. Next you puree them. In Peru, I guess they don't use potato mashers. Instead, they use a contraption that's kind of like a giant garlic presser. You put about 2 or 3 potatoes in, then squeeze it until the potatoes start oozing out of the little holes. Or start shooting across the room and splattering everyone else in the kitchen. This process is very difficult and tiring, but makes the potatoes nice and fluffy. To a huge bowl of potatoes, add some salt and pepper to taste, and an egg yolk or two. Then mash it all together with your hands. You have to really knead it so that the potatoes start to get sticky so that you'll be able to form them. I think you're supposed to add a little flour, too at this point.
At this point you start to make the filling. Put some oil in a frying pan and sautee a couple cloves of garlic and an onion. Then add some ground beef and brown it. You can also add ají, which is a pepper sauce of which there are many varieties and that they put on everything here.
Time to mold the papa rellena. Cover your hands in flour and then mold a little potato pancake in your hand. Spoon in some of the meat stuffing, a piece of hardboiled egg, and an olive. Then, carefully wrap the potato around the stuffing into a nice little ball. If you fail miserably at this at first, don't be discouraged, it gets easier.
Once they're formed, heat up some oil in a frying pan. When it's hot, place about 3 of the potatoes in the pan and fry them evenly until they're golden. Garnish with lime-soaked onions and serve with a tall glass of Inca Kola.
After eating our papa rellena, Nichole and I headed to the Cruz del Sur station to take the bus to Nazca. Best bus ride ever. It was practically empty, so I got 2 comfy seats to myself, we watched a decent movie, and they actually served a delicious dinner - zucchini and eggplant vegetarian lasagna, a cheesy pastry, and an apple tart for dessert. However, it did take about 2 hours longer than expected.
When we got to Nazca, Alas Peruanas, the flight company that we booked for our tour of the Nazca Lines, picked us up from the bus station, took us to their office so we could get everything paid and ready to go for our tour the next morning, and then took us to our hostel, the Hostal Brabant.
It was pretty simple, but definitely nice enough. It had a good TV, so we watched a show about autopsies, then headed a couple of blocks down to the Plaza de Armas to grab some dinner. We ended up getting some pizza and then headed back to the hotel.
We watched a couple episodes of American Horror Story. Has anyone seen this?? It's crazy and messed up and I'm pretty sure whoever writes it is on 18 types of drugs, but I'm also kind of hooked on it now.
Sunday morning we got picked up at the hotel at 7 and driven to the airport. The airport is pretty much a little open air bamboo building and also the most pleasant airport I've ever been in. We ended up having to wait about an hour before our flight. We got paired with a couple German dudes.
The Nazca Lines are huge lines made into shapes only visible from up in the air, that were left by the Nazca culture about 2000 years ago. Most of them are geometrical, but there are also shapes of animals. They're believed to have some kind of astrological connection, or may have to do with the worship of water sources.
The flight was really cool, but also a little nauseating. They would turn the plane sideways to let one side see, then turn it the other way for the other side. That part wasn't really what got me as much as the bumpiness of the little plane when we were just flying straight. We saw 12 of the shapes: the astronaut, the condor, the hummingbird, the hands, the tree, the parrot, the monkey, the whale, the spider, and a few more that I'm forgetting. Luckily, it was only a 1/2 hour flight, because about 2 minutes before we landed, I was on the edge of needing to use the little plastic bag.
After the flight we got taken to a little workshop where they replicate pottery using the methods used by the Nazca culture. The guy gave us a demonstration of how they do it and then let us shop around.
After we checked out of our hotel we grabbed some lunch and then got on a bus to Ica. When we got there we went to Huacachina and walked around a little bit, then found a taxi driver to take us to the vineyards. The first one we went to was kind of a letdown. They're wines and piscos weren't great, and the lady who gave us the tour spoke pretty much incomprehensible Spanish. I don't know if she had a speech impediment or what but I was not gettin it.
We still had some extra time so we went to El Catador. Nichole had been there the last time we went to Ica, so she knew it was a nice one. The guy there was much more comprehensible and the booze tasted better, too. We tried a couple wines. The first one is a wine and pisco mix, which was super sweet and wasn't my favorite, but the second one was delicious. (And only $8 a bottle, so I bought 2). Then we tried some of the creams: peach cream pisco, and another cream that kind of tasted gingerbready. Then time for the straight pisco. I'm not a huge pisco fan, but the guy said he invented a new way to drink it, which is to mix a spoonful of honey in it and sip it slowly. That was doable for me. It was also citrus pisco, which was his invention, and they're the only ones to make Citron pisco anywhere. After our bellies were feeling nice and warm we took the cab back to the bus station and grabbed a bus back to Lima.
Boil a bunch of potatoes. Peru has about 6 million types of potatoes, and apparently everyone has their own personal preference of what to use for papa rellena. I think in America you would just use a mix of yellow and white. After boiling the potatoes you have to peel them right away before they cool off. This is a very painful process. Next you puree them. In Peru, I guess they don't use potato mashers. Instead, they use a contraption that's kind of like a giant garlic presser. You put about 2 or 3 potatoes in, then squeeze it until the potatoes start oozing out of the little holes. Or start shooting across the room and splattering everyone else in the kitchen. This process is very difficult and tiring, but makes the potatoes nice and fluffy. To a huge bowl of potatoes, add some salt and pepper to taste, and an egg yolk or two. Then mash it all together with your hands. You have to really knead it so that the potatoes start to get sticky so that you'll be able to form them. I think you're supposed to add a little flour, too at this point.
At this point you start to make the filling. Put some oil in a frying pan and sautee a couple cloves of garlic and an onion. Then add some ground beef and brown it. You can also add ají, which is a pepper sauce of which there are many varieties and that they put on everything here.
Time to mold the papa rellena. Cover your hands in flour and then mold a little potato pancake in your hand. Spoon in some of the meat stuffing, a piece of hardboiled egg, and an olive. Then, carefully wrap the potato around the stuffing into a nice little ball. If you fail miserably at this at first, don't be discouraged, it gets easier.
After eating our papa rellena, Nichole and I headed to the Cruz del Sur station to take the bus to Nazca. Best bus ride ever. It was practically empty, so I got 2 comfy seats to myself, we watched a decent movie, and they actually served a delicious dinner - zucchini and eggplant vegetarian lasagna, a cheesy pastry, and an apple tart for dessert. However, it did take about 2 hours longer than expected.
When we got to Nazca, Alas Peruanas, the flight company that we booked for our tour of the Nazca Lines, picked us up from the bus station, took us to their office so we could get everything paid and ready to go for our tour the next morning, and then took us to our hostel, the Hostal Brabant.
It was pretty simple, but definitely nice enough. It had a good TV, so we watched a show about autopsies, then headed a couple of blocks down to the Plaza de Armas to grab some dinner. We ended up getting some pizza and then headed back to the hotel.
We watched a couple episodes of American Horror Story. Has anyone seen this?? It's crazy and messed up and I'm pretty sure whoever writes it is on 18 types of drugs, but I'm also kind of hooked on it now.
Sunday morning we got picked up at the hotel at 7 and driven to the airport. The airport is pretty much a little open air bamboo building and also the most pleasant airport I've ever been in. We ended up having to wait about an hour before our flight. We got paired with a couple German dudes.
The Nazca Lines are huge lines made into shapes only visible from up in the air, that were left by the Nazca culture about 2000 years ago. Most of them are geometrical, but there are also shapes of animals. They're believed to have some kind of astrological connection, or may have to do with the worship of water sources.
The flight was really cool, but also a little nauseating. They would turn the plane sideways to let one side see, then turn it the other way for the other side. That part wasn't really what got me as much as the bumpiness of the little plane when we were just flying straight. We saw 12 of the shapes: the astronaut, the condor, the hummingbird, the hands, the tree, the parrot, the monkey, the whale, the spider, and a few more that I'm forgetting. Luckily, it was only a 1/2 hour flight, because about 2 minutes before we landed, I was on the edge of needing to use the little plastic bag.
After the flight we got taken to a little workshop where they replicate pottery using the methods used by the Nazca culture. The guy gave us a demonstration of how they do it and then let us shop around.
After we checked out of our hotel we grabbed some lunch and then got on a bus to Ica. When we got there we went to Huacachina and walked around a little bit, then found a taxi driver to take us to the vineyards. The first one we went to was kind of a letdown. They're wines and piscos weren't great, and the lady who gave us the tour spoke pretty much incomprehensible Spanish. I don't know if she had a speech impediment or what but I was not gettin it.
We still had some extra time so we went to El Catador. Nichole had been there the last time we went to Ica, so she knew it was a nice one. The guy there was much more comprehensible and the booze tasted better, too. We tried a couple wines. The first one is a wine and pisco mix, which was super sweet and wasn't my favorite, but the second one was delicious. (And only $8 a bottle, so I bought 2). Then we tried some of the creams: peach cream pisco, and another cream that kind of tasted gingerbready. Then time for the straight pisco. I'm not a huge pisco fan, but the guy said he invented a new way to drink it, which is to mix a spoonful of honey in it and sip it slowly. That was doable for me. It was also citrus pisco, which was his invention, and they're the only ones to make Citron pisco anywhere. After our bellies were feeling nice and warm we took the cab back to the bus station and grabbed a bus back to Lima.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Been too lazy to update this lately, but on Sunday I did paragliding! It was pretty cool. We went about an hour out of Lima to some sand dunes and went to the top of a hill and glided off of that. The glide didn't last as long and wasn't as high as I would've imagined but it was still pretty cool. You just run off the hill and hold on to the brakes on each side and they tell you over the walkie talkie whether to pull the right or left one so you don't run back into the hill. Then you slowly start to sink and eventually you land lightly on the ground, at which point the wind catches your parachute and pulls you backwards, sometimes at such a rate that you fall on your ass and get dragged a little ways. Not that I would personally know... ;)
This has been a pretty busy week. I finally decided on a thesis topic: the primary and secondary education in Lima, the differences between public and private, and what this means for people of different social status. I've got 3 weeks to do my research, but ISA's being really helpful. They're going to take me to some other schools in Lima and help me do the research. I'm also trying to get prepared for finals in a few weeks, and for my trip to see the Nazca Lines this weekend!
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Colca Canyon
Sunday
Up at 2 a.m. Waiting in the lobby at 2:30. Picked up by the tour bus shortly thereafter. The right side of the aisle was single seats, but I cant sleep up against the window on my right side because of my piercing, so I switched sides to the 2 seaters. Big mistake. The people that sat next to me were the worst. But I'll get to that later.
We drove about 3 1/2 hours before our first stop. I got some sleep, until we started rising in altitude and my window frosted up, and I was freezing despite my fleece jacket and blanket.
Our first stop was a lookout point with tons of rocks that were stacked in piles all over and a view of all the volcanoes. It looked like you were on the moon. Except that that's probably not what the moon actually looks like. A picture's worth 1,000 words, and since I'm not doing a very good job of describing this:
I think our tour guide, Roger (I think it might be a requirement to change your name to something foreigners can pronounce when you get into the tourism industry here, because Roger, Ray, and Rudy aren't exactly Peruvian names) said that the rocks were stacked for ceremonial or religious reasons, but I'm not sure, because the microphone didn't work well and I could never really understand what he was saying.
Our next stop was in Chivay to purchase our tickets to the canyon. I brought my international student ID, but not my Catolica ID, which cost me 30 soles, because they only give a discount for Peruvian students. Bummer!!
Then we stopped at a place in Chivay for the breakfast that was included as part of our tour. The breakfast consisted of a basket full of bread, some butter, some strawberry jam, and tea. Way to splurge, tour agency.
Next we went to the canyon. It was soooo gorgeous!!!
We went to Cruz del Condor, where the condors show up. Its a huge tourist attraction to watch them fly through the canyon in the morning. We got there at 9 and had 45 minutes before we had to be back on the bus. I looked around, took some pics, and looked at the stuff people were selling until about 9:30 and still no condors. I figured I better go to the bathroom before we had to get on the bus. It was kind of a walk, especially since the return walk was uphill and we were at about 4,000 meters, so I was a little worried that I missed the condors when I got back. Nichole and Sara said that only one came, and it was really far away. So we headed back to the bus, but 15 minutes later, as we were waiting for those who had their watches set to Peruvian Time not Inca Time, the condors came, so we hopped out and watched them. There were only 3 or 4 but at least we can say we saw them.
Next we drove down the road a little ways and went for a little walk with a beautiful view of the canyon. Afterwards we continued back to Chivay with a couple pit stops on the way for bathrooms, and pictures. Gorgeous views!!
You can see all the pre-Incan terraces in the background. It was beautiful.
We stopped in Chivay and had a delicious buffet lunch, then were back on the road.
We made it back to Arequipa, and we had a few hours before we needed to go to the airport, so we walked around the plaza a little bit. Arequipa is a beautiful city. It's called the White City because of the white volcanic stone used to construct most of its buildings. It just looked so much cleaner than Lima. I don't know if its due to smog or dust, but all the buildings in Lima are dirty. Arequipa had a beautiful Plaza de Armas, definitely my favorite out of all that I've seen in Peru, especially with the mountains in the background.
We also stopped in a couple churches that were beautifully decorated. Then we took a cab to the airport.
And that's where the trouble begin.
As we were waiting in the "line" to check-in we met this guy that had just finished his 2 years in the Peace Corps in a small town outside Arequipa. He was waiting in line to try to figure out what flight he would be on to Lima, because he was supposed to fly at 4, but a lady died in the plane before take-off. I don't know if it was that that caused the problems, or if it was just a lack of organization at the Arequipa airport.
First of all, Peruvians don't know how to stand in line. This may stem from elementary school, since I've noticed that my kids are never told to line up for anything, which I think is a good skill to be taught to children. There were 2 lines that sort of merged in a disorderly fashion at the front. Everyone was trying to sneakily cut to the front since the lines were moving so slow. But luckily there was a guy in line who was watching people like a hawk and would yell at them whenever they tried to do it. Finally we got to the front and got our tickets. We went to go through security about 20 minutes before our flight was supposed to board and the guy told us we couldn't because our flight wasn't confirmed yet.
So we waited about 15 minutes until the board said it was confirmed (and delayed half an hour).
We went through security and entered the terminal. It's a pretty small airport with only 4 gates. And a crappy microphone that made it almost impossible to understand any of the announcements. We waited a long time and they never called us to board. At one point, a huge line formed at gate 1. I don't know why this happened. There was literally nothing to spark it, no announcement, no sign, people just did it.
After they stood there for about 15 minutes, one of the very few airport employees yelled something, not even bothering to use a microphone, and it was like all hell broke loose. People started running to form a second line on the other wall to the same gate. Then he shouted something else and people started literally running to switch lines. Everyone was shouting across the room at each other and pointing to the lines. I don't think anyone really had any idea of what was actually going on. At one point an angry mob formed around the employee and they were shouting at him to talk clearer because no one could understand what he was telling them to do. This was probably about 300 people that were engaging in this chaos. And from what I can assume, 300 people who already had a ticket and a seat assignment and to my knowledge no reason to run anywhere, since the farthest gates in this airport were about 45 seconds away from each other even at a slow stroll.
Meanwhile, we were sitting in awe of the situation. Finally the people started actually moving out the doors and when we figured out what line we were supposed to be in, we waited until almost everyone was through and very calmly boarded the plane.
After a pretty expensive taxi ride, it was nice to finally make it back to mi casa.
Up at 2 a.m. Waiting in the lobby at 2:30. Picked up by the tour bus shortly thereafter. The right side of the aisle was single seats, but I cant sleep up against the window on my right side because of my piercing, so I switched sides to the 2 seaters. Big mistake. The people that sat next to me were the worst. But I'll get to that later.
We drove about 3 1/2 hours before our first stop. I got some sleep, until we started rising in altitude and my window frosted up, and I was freezing despite my fleece jacket and blanket.
Our first stop was a lookout point with tons of rocks that were stacked in piles all over and a view of all the volcanoes. It looked like you were on the moon. Except that that's probably not what the moon actually looks like. A picture's worth 1,000 words, and since I'm not doing a very good job of describing this:
Our next stop was in Chivay to purchase our tickets to the canyon. I brought my international student ID, but not my Catolica ID, which cost me 30 soles, because they only give a discount for Peruvian students. Bummer!!
Then we stopped at a place in Chivay for the breakfast that was included as part of our tour. The breakfast consisted of a basket full of bread, some butter, some strawberry jam, and tea. Way to splurge, tour agency.
Next we went to the canyon. It was soooo gorgeous!!!
Next we drove down the road a little ways and went for a little walk with a beautiful view of the canyon. Afterwards we continued back to Chivay with a couple pit stops on the way for bathrooms, and pictures. Gorgeous views!!
We stopped in Chivay and had a delicious buffet lunch, then were back on the road.
We made it back to Arequipa, and we had a few hours before we needed to go to the airport, so we walked around the plaza a little bit. Arequipa is a beautiful city. It's called the White City because of the white volcanic stone used to construct most of its buildings. It just looked so much cleaner than Lima. I don't know if its due to smog or dust, but all the buildings in Lima are dirty. Arequipa had a beautiful Plaza de Armas, definitely my favorite out of all that I've seen in Peru, especially with the mountains in the background.
And that's where the trouble begin.
As we were waiting in the "line" to check-in we met this guy that had just finished his 2 years in the Peace Corps in a small town outside Arequipa. He was waiting in line to try to figure out what flight he would be on to Lima, because he was supposed to fly at 4, but a lady died in the plane before take-off. I don't know if it was that that caused the problems, or if it was just a lack of organization at the Arequipa airport.
First of all, Peruvians don't know how to stand in line. This may stem from elementary school, since I've noticed that my kids are never told to line up for anything, which I think is a good skill to be taught to children. There were 2 lines that sort of merged in a disorderly fashion at the front. Everyone was trying to sneakily cut to the front since the lines were moving so slow. But luckily there was a guy in line who was watching people like a hawk and would yell at them whenever they tried to do it. Finally we got to the front and got our tickets. We went to go through security about 20 minutes before our flight was supposed to board and the guy told us we couldn't because our flight wasn't confirmed yet.
So we waited about 15 minutes until the board said it was confirmed (and delayed half an hour).
We went through security and entered the terminal. It's a pretty small airport with only 4 gates. And a crappy microphone that made it almost impossible to understand any of the announcements. We waited a long time and they never called us to board. At one point, a huge line formed at gate 1. I don't know why this happened. There was literally nothing to spark it, no announcement, no sign, people just did it.
After they stood there for about 15 minutes, one of the very few airport employees yelled something, not even bothering to use a microphone, and it was like all hell broke loose. People started running to form a second line on the other wall to the same gate. Then he shouted something else and people started literally running to switch lines. Everyone was shouting across the room at each other and pointing to the lines. I don't think anyone really had any idea of what was actually going on. At one point an angry mob formed around the employee and they were shouting at him to talk clearer because no one could understand what he was telling them to do. This was probably about 300 people that were engaging in this chaos. And from what I can assume, 300 people who already had a ticket and a seat assignment and to my knowledge no reason to run anywhere, since the farthest gates in this airport were about 45 seconds away from each other even at a slow stroll.
Meanwhile, we were sitting in awe of the situation. Finally the people started actually moving out the doors and when we figured out what line we were supposed to be in, we waited until almost everyone was through and very calmly boarded the plane.
After a pretty expensive taxi ride, it was nice to finally make it back to mi casa.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Lake Titicaca, Colca Canyon, Arequipa
Just got back last night from a weekend trip south! Here´s what I did.
Friday
I met up with Sara and Nichole, two girls from ISA at Wong (the grocery store) at 9 so we could buy our bus tickets that we´d need to get around over the weekend. We grabbed a taxi to the airport and left for Arequipa at noon.
Once we arrived, we took a taxi to the bus station, where we bought tickets to go to Puno. The Arequipa bus station was a little insane. Mostly because of the large amounts of bread. It was everywhere in huge stacks. There was probably 10,000 bread rolls in that bus station, and I don´t think I´m exaggerating.
We bought a bus ticket for Puno and headed out at 3:30. It was awful. So far I´ve only traveled with Cruz del Sur, but this time we went with Julsa. The bus was about 100 degrees with no air conditioning and window shades that were broken and wouldn´t stay shut. There were about 3 crying babies, and it was a 6 hour ride. But we made it.
We got to Puno and checked into our hostel, which was pretty nice. Then we walked to the Plaza de Armas to grab some dinner. We found a cute little restaurant and had a nice meal and went to bed.
The next day we woke up and had some breakfast at the hostel, and waited for our tour to pick us up at 9. They drove us to Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world, where we boarded a boat that took us out to Uros, the floating islands. It was a gorgeous day and the lake was beautiful!
The floating islands are made from blocks of soil held together by reed roots (this is what gives it its buoyancy) and then are covered in reeds. There are currently about 65 of these man-made islands. It´s a crazy feeling to walk on them. They sort of wiggle like a waterbed, and if you stand in the same spot for too long it might start to sink and get your feet wet.
The President of the island we were on explained to us in Aymara, the local language, how the islands are constructed and told us a little bit about life there, after which the guide translated it to Spanish for us. I took a video, so I´ll try to upload that later.
Then we went with one of the women so that she could show us her house and let us try on the traditional clothing.
Lookin good, right?
Then we got on one of the reed boats that took us over to another island, and from there the tourist boat took us back to shore, and the van took us back to our hostel.
We went to the Plaza de Armas, and they were having a parade of little kids. It lasted the whole time we were there, which was at least an hour and a half. There was a huge crowd of people sitting in front of the church to watch. At one point we saw a bunch of little kids dressed as guerrilla soldiers. That was odd.
We walked around and found a place to eat. It was a little restaurant on a side street and we got soup, rocota rellena (stuffed pepper, a regional dish), rice and juice for S/ 3.50 or about $1.25. Then we headed to the bus station.
We went with Cruz del Sur this time, so it was quite comfy.
When we got to Arequipa, the plan was to walk around the Plaza de Armas until we found a cheap hostel. We got a taxi driver and he asked us where we were headed. We told him and he asked if we were looking for somewhere to stay and how much we were wanting to pay. We told him we were looking for somewhere cheap, and he said he could get us a nice hostel for S/ 25 each. He called the hostel and the guy working there said no, so he called the owner of the hostel and got us the deal. He went in with us to make sure everything was in order, and I saw that the triple room we were getting is supposed to cost S/ 140 and we were getting it for 75! Apparently there was something about 3 lost looking gringas trying to find a place to stay at 9:00 at night that made his fatherly instinct kick in. What a nice guy!
Our room was awesome. It was so pretty and had an amazing shower. And clean! Very clean! Unfortunately we were only staying until 2:30 in the morning. I'll fill you in on that tomorrow! BTW just posted pics of the trip on facebook, so check them out. There's some beautiful ones of Lake Titicaca.
Friday
I met up with Sara and Nichole, two girls from ISA at Wong (the grocery store) at 9 so we could buy our bus tickets that we´d need to get around over the weekend. We grabbed a taxi to the airport and left for Arequipa at noon.
Once we arrived, we took a taxi to the bus station, where we bought tickets to go to Puno. The Arequipa bus station was a little insane. Mostly because of the large amounts of bread. It was everywhere in huge stacks. There was probably 10,000 bread rolls in that bus station, and I don´t think I´m exaggerating.
We got to Puno and checked into our hostel, which was pretty nice. Then we walked to the Plaza de Armas to grab some dinner. We found a cute little restaurant and had a nice meal and went to bed.
The next day we woke up and had some breakfast at the hostel, and waited for our tour to pick us up at 9. They drove us to Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world, where we boarded a boat that took us out to Uros, the floating islands. It was a gorgeous day and the lake was beautiful!
The floating islands are made from blocks of soil held together by reed roots (this is what gives it its buoyancy) and then are covered in reeds. There are currently about 65 of these man-made islands. It´s a crazy feeling to walk on them. They sort of wiggle like a waterbed, and if you stand in the same spot for too long it might start to sink and get your feet wet.
The President of the island we were on explained to us in Aymara, the local language, how the islands are constructed and told us a little bit about life there, after which the guide translated it to Spanish for us. I took a video, so I´ll try to upload that later.
Then we went with one of the women so that she could show us her house and let us try on the traditional clothing.
Then we got on one of the reed boats that took us over to another island, and from there the tourist boat took us back to shore, and the van took us back to our hostel.
We went to the Plaza de Armas, and they were having a parade of little kids. It lasted the whole time we were there, which was at least an hour and a half. There was a huge crowd of people sitting in front of the church to watch. At one point we saw a bunch of little kids dressed as guerrilla soldiers. That was odd.
We walked around and found a place to eat. It was a little restaurant on a side street and we got soup, rocota rellena (stuffed pepper, a regional dish), rice and juice for S/ 3.50 or about $1.25. Then we headed to the bus station.
We went with Cruz del Sur this time, so it was quite comfy.
When we got to Arequipa, the plan was to walk around the Plaza de Armas until we found a cheap hostel. We got a taxi driver and he asked us where we were headed. We told him and he asked if we were looking for somewhere to stay and how much we were wanting to pay. We told him we were looking for somewhere cheap, and he said he could get us a nice hostel for S/ 25 each. He called the hostel and the guy working there said no, so he called the owner of the hostel and got us the deal. He went in with us to make sure everything was in order, and I saw that the triple room we were getting is supposed to cost S/ 140 and we were getting it for 75! Apparently there was something about 3 lost looking gringas trying to find a place to stay at 9:00 at night that made his fatherly instinct kick in. What a nice guy!
Our room was awesome. It was so pretty and had an amazing shower. And clean! Very clean! Unfortunately we were only staying until 2:30 in the morning. I'll fill you in on that tomorrow! BTW just posted pics of the trip on facebook, so check them out. There's some beautiful ones of Lake Titicaca.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
A tarantula peed on my face. Ive never felt so close to nature!
Sunday in the jungle:
After breakfast I was relaxing in the hammock on our back porch, naming the 11 bats that slept on the roof of the porch of our bungalow. Then I noticed a tarantula crawling on the roof right above my head. I grabbed my camera and yelled at all my roomies to come have a look. We were all standing on our porch staring up at the tarantula, watching him slowly crawling down the side.
All of a sudden, I felt water splash my face, and we immediately all started screaming and running in the cabin. I washed my face and did a very thorough tooth-brushing, since a little of it got in my mouth. Mary told the tour guides that we had a tarantula in our cabin and they said not to worry about it, they dont hurt anything. Then she told them it peed on my face, and they asked if it was itching, because apparently tarantulas shoot their hairs at you in defense and it irritates your skin. So I guess I was lucky it was just pee. And they did end up removing it from our cabin, too, so that was nice.
They took us out on the boats to explore the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve. First we did another hike through the jungle. The hike on the first day was through the terra firme, which is the part of the rainforest that doesnt flood during the rainy season. This hike, however, was through the varzea, the area that does get flooded. You could tell from white marks on the trees how high the water gets and it was pretty high. We got to see lots of cool stuff on this walk, too. Ray showed us how to weave a basket out of palm leaves. He showed us a species of tree that has a symbiotic relationship with these nasty fire ants. The ants kill all the plants surrounding the tree so that it gets everything it needs to grow, and then they eat the tree or the sap or something. I cant remember. But the rubber barons used to tie the indigenous workers to these trees during the rubber boom if they didnt bring in enough rubber for the day. Then, if the workers survived a night covered in fire ants, they had to make sure they brought in enough the next day.
After the walk, we got back in the boat and went to the Yanayacu River, which means ¨black water¨ in Quechua. There we saw a few of the pink and gray river dolphins jumping out of the water. We stopped at a lodge to check-in to the park and saw some baby turtles that they were caring for. Cute!
Then we went a little farther down the river and they told us to jump in and go for a swim. There are piranhas but they assured us that they only bother you if youre bleeding. So we jumped in. In addition to piranhas, the river is filled with sardines. Which love to swim up against you. Its a pretty creepy feeling to have a little fish swim across your leg or your stomach, let me tell you. We swam to the shore and were hanging out in the water, until Jessa said she felt something bite her leg. She got out of the water and there was a perfectly round cut on the back of her ankle. Everyone instantly assumed it was a piranha, but the guide was like ¨no, that definitely doesnt look like a bite. It looks like metal cut you.¨
Jessa told him that she wasnt moving and she felt something come up to her leg, but he said that it for sure wasnt a bite. However, he was completely lying so as not to scare the gringos, because later, when we were piranha fishing, someone commented on the fact that the piranhas teeth looked exactly like the mark on Jessa´s leg, to which the same guide replied ¨Yeah, that´s probably what it was.¨
After that most of us got out of the water, and got back on the boat and had a beer. They took us over to a different part of the river and gave us fishing poles to do some piranha fishing. We didnt have much luck, so we decided to take a lunch break. They had brought us some traditional Amazonian food. It was rice, plantains, chicken and egg cooked in some kind of leaf, which is what we ate it out of too, with a glass of passionfruit (maracuyá) juice.
After that, we went to a new part of the river and recommenced the piranha fishing. I must have been lucky, because I caught 4 like right in a row. Grandpa Carpenter would have been so proud of me! We kept 3 of them to take back to the lodge to fry up, and pretty soon our boat had a pretty good catch going.
Then they took us down the ¨River of Mirrors¨and we saw some monkeys in the trees and lots of birds. It was gorgeous. The water was like glass, hence the name. Once it started getting dark we turned around and headed back slowly. They had flashlights and were looking in the water for caimans (small alligator like creatures). They found a baby one and caught it and we got to hold it.
The night time boat ride was gorgeous! You could see so many stars, which is impossible in Lima. And we sat for a while while the sun was setting and just listened to all the jungle sounds. It was pretty awesome.
When we got back to the lodge, we had some dinner (which included the catch of the day) and then they had a some of the kids from San Jorge come put on a little show for us in the lodge.
They had some people playing some music, and then the kids did some of the ¨traditional¨ dances of the Kokama. However, in my Amazonian Ethnography class the other day, the professor was telling us how most Amazonian ethnic groups dont actually have traditional dances. Its just not a thing. However, the tourists eat it up, and in the same way that they change the size and design of their traditional skirts so that they´ll be perfect to use as a gringo tablecloth, they also make up ¨traditional¨ dances. More power to them.
Monday in the jungle:
Up at 5 a.m. so I could go on the optional morning boat ride to see the sun rise at 5:30. Definitely definitely worth it. The sun was just coming up as we got out to the water and it was gorgeous.
Then we rode out on the river and Ray spotted a couple sloths and iguanas in the trees. And lots and lots of birds. He said that since we didnt see too many dolphins yesterday, he would take us to a spot he knew that had a lot of them.
So we stopped the boat there, and sure enough, we saw a ton. They like the noise of the boat motor, and Ray was also making dolphin noises at them (he was doing that all weekend, bird calls, and monkey calls and stuff. it was pretty cool). They kept jumping all around us. There was even a momma that would jump with its baby by its side. So cool!!
After that we went back to the lodge for breakfast, and then headed out in the boat again to San Jorge. We stopped at a craft market that the people there have and I bought a couple things. Maybe if youre lucky, youll get one of them as a present when I get back!
They also painted our faces with natural plant paint. I´ve noticed that they have a tendency to do that to us on ISA trips. They had a ¨pet¨ sloth outside, so we played with that. A couple people held it, before we realized how sharp its claws were and how many bugs were in its fur. Then Jose Luis just held it on a stick and we stared adoringly out of arms reach.
After that, we walked to their school, where some of us played volleyball and soccer with the kids. Others of us, who decided that playing soccer in 90º heat and 95% humidity did not sound like a fun time, located the town bar. There were already a couple of ISA girls in there drinking jungle moonshine with the tour guide, Rudy, so we had ourselves a glass as well. Only afterwards did I realize that it was like 10 a.m. when this was going on (I had been up since 5 and it threw me off a little.) I guess what Im trying to say is dont judge me. Drinking moonshine before noon is not part of my daily routine.
Rudy told us some legends about the ghosts that inhabit the area, which was pretty cool to listen to.
Then we headed back to the lodge. There was a few canoes that some people were taking back, but there was only room for like half of us, so I headed back on the boat. When we got back to the lodge we had plenty of time to shower, eat lunch, and play some battleship before we head to leave. There was a nice heavy rain after we got back which cooled everything down. Very refreshing.
We took the boat back to Nauta, then the bus to Iquitos. We only had 45 minutes in Iquitos, so we basically just hopped off, found the nearest restaurant, had some supper, and then went back to the bus. From there we headed to the airport.
I was not ready to go home! It was definitely too short of a trip, but Im so glad I went. Best ISA excursion for sure.
After breakfast I was relaxing in the hammock on our back porch, naming the 11 bats that slept on the roof of the porch of our bungalow. Then I noticed a tarantula crawling on the roof right above my head. I grabbed my camera and yelled at all my roomies to come have a look. We were all standing on our porch staring up at the tarantula, watching him slowly crawling down the side.
All of a sudden, I felt water splash my face, and we immediately all started screaming and running in the cabin. I washed my face and did a very thorough tooth-brushing, since a little of it got in my mouth. Mary told the tour guides that we had a tarantula in our cabin and they said not to worry about it, they dont hurt anything. Then she told them it peed on my face, and they asked if it was itching, because apparently tarantulas shoot their hairs at you in defense and it irritates your skin. So I guess I was lucky it was just pee. And they did end up removing it from our cabin, too, so that was nice.
They took us out on the boats to explore the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve. First we did another hike through the jungle. The hike on the first day was through the terra firme, which is the part of the rainforest that doesnt flood during the rainy season. This hike, however, was through the varzea, the area that does get flooded. You could tell from white marks on the trees how high the water gets and it was pretty high. We got to see lots of cool stuff on this walk, too. Ray showed us how to weave a basket out of palm leaves. He showed us a species of tree that has a symbiotic relationship with these nasty fire ants. The ants kill all the plants surrounding the tree so that it gets everything it needs to grow, and then they eat the tree or the sap or something. I cant remember. But the rubber barons used to tie the indigenous workers to these trees during the rubber boom if they didnt bring in enough rubber for the day. Then, if the workers survived a night covered in fire ants, they had to make sure they brought in enough the next day.
After the walk, we got back in the boat and went to the Yanayacu River, which means ¨black water¨ in Quechua. There we saw a few of the pink and gray river dolphins jumping out of the water. We stopped at a lodge to check-in to the park and saw some baby turtles that they were caring for. Cute!
Then we went a little farther down the river and they told us to jump in and go for a swim. There are piranhas but they assured us that they only bother you if youre bleeding. So we jumped in. In addition to piranhas, the river is filled with sardines. Which love to swim up against you. Its a pretty creepy feeling to have a little fish swim across your leg or your stomach, let me tell you. We swam to the shore and were hanging out in the water, until Jessa said she felt something bite her leg. She got out of the water and there was a perfectly round cut on the back of her ankle. Everyone instantly assumed it was a piranha, but the guide was like ¨no, that definitely doesnt look like a bite. It looks like metal cut you.¨
Jessa told him that she wasnt moving and she felt something come up to her leg, but he said that it for sure wasnt a bite. However, he was completely lying so as not to scare the gringos, because later, when we were piranha fishing, someone commented on the fact that the piranhas teeth looked exactly like the mark on Jessa´s leg, to which the same guide replied ¨Yeah, that´s probably what it was.¨
When we got back to the lodge, we had some dinner (which included the catch of the day) and then they had a some of the kids from San Jorge come put on a little show for us in the lodge.
They had some people playing some music, and then the kids did some of the ¨traditional¨ dances of the Kokama. However, in my Amazonian Ethnography class the other day, the professor was telling us how most Amazonian ethnic groups dont actually have traditional dances. Its just not a thing. However, the tourists eat it up, and in the same way that they change the size and design of their traditional skirts so that they´ll be perfect to use as a gringo tablecloth, they also make up ¨traditional¨ dances. More power to them.
Monday in the jungle:
Up at 5 a.m. so I could go on the optional morning boat ride to see the sun rise at 5:30. Definitely definitely worth it. The sun was just coming up as we got out to the water and it was gorgeous.
So we stopped the boat there, and sure enough, we saw a ton. They like the noise of the boat motor, and Ray was also making dolphin noises at them (he was doing that all weekend, bird calls, and monkey calls and stuff. it was pretty cool). They kept jumping all around us. There was even a momma that would jump with its baby by its side. So cool!!
After that we went back to the lodge for breakfast, and then headed out in the boat again to San Jorge. We stopped at a craft market that the people there have and I bought a couple things. Maybe if youre lucky, youll get one of them as a present when I get back!
They also painted our faces with natural plant paint. I´ve noticed that they have a tendency to do that to us on ISA trips. They had a ¨pet¨ sloth outside, so we played with that. A couple people held it, before we realized how sharp its claws were and how many bugs were in its fur. Then Jose Luis just held it on a stick and we stared adoringly out of arms reach.
After that, we walked to their school, where some of us played volleyball and soccer with the kids. Others of us, who decided that playing soccer in 90º heat and 95% humidity did not sound like a fun time, located the town bar. There were already a couple of ISA girls in there drinking jungle moonshine with the tour guide, Rudy, so we had ourselves a glass as well. Only afterwards did I realize that it was like 10 a.m. when this was going on (I had been up since 5 and it threw me off a little.) I guess what Im trying to say is dont judge me. Drinking moonshine before noon is not part of my daily routine.
Rudy told us some legends about the ghosts that inhabit the area, which was pretty cool to listen to.
 |
| Rudy with the coke bottle full of moonshine |
We took the boat back to Nauta, then the bus to Iquitos. We only had 45 minutes in Iquitos, so we basically just hopped off, found the nearest restaurant, had some supper, and then went back to the bus. From there we headed to the airport.
I was not ready to go home! It was definitely too short of a trip, but Im so glad I went. Best ISA excursion for sure.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Adventures in the Amazon: Part 1
I woke up bright and early at 4 a.m. on Friday morning so that we could be down at the UP by 4:30. The bus took us to the airport, where we got some breakfast and then got in line to go through security. After we got all the way through the huge line, they scanned our tickets. Unfortunately mine, and about 6 other people´s, wouldn´t scan. They told us we had to go back downstairs to the LAN desk and get new ones printed out. Which would have been fine, except that we only had about half an hour until our plane took off.
So we ran downstairs with Jose Luis, cut in front of all the people that were waiting in line at the check-in counter, and got new boarding passes. From there we ran back upstairs and tried to explain to the security guard that it was very important for us to cut in line. He was kind of a jerk and wouldn´t let us, but luckily there were some nice Peruvians that let us go in front of them. We ended up making it and had a nice short flight to Iquitos.
As soon as we stepped off the plane we felt a heat wave, and my hair immediately doubled in volume. We were in the jungle!!
Outside the airport, we met our tour guides for the weekend, Rudy and Ray, and they took us in buses to the city of Nauta.
From there, we got on some boats on the Marañon River and headed to where the Marañon merges with the Ucayali. That was a cool moment for me, simply for the fact that I actually knew those rivers. I´d been looking at maps of the Amazon this whole semester and now I was actually there!
Then they took us to the Pacaya Samiria Lodge where we would be staying, which was about an hour and a half boat ride. I think anyways. I was asleep during most of it.
When we got to the lodge, we sat in the lobby while they assigned us rooms and explained how the weekend was going to go down. Then they had an older member of the nearby village, San Jorge, give us a welcome in Kokama, and then the translation in Spanish. That was cool, too, because I remembered discussing Kokama in my linguistics class.
The lodge where we stayed was gorgeous. It was all wooden bungalows with palm roofs. The bungalows slept 5 people and had a porch out back with a hammock and some lawn chairs. The beds were all covered with mosquito nets and there were huge screen windows that let the air in and kept the bugs out. They only had electricity from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
We got all of our meals served buffet style in the dining room. Bananas or plantains, and rice were a part of every meal, and they usually had some kind of yummy tropical fruit juice for us for breakfast.
On Friday afternoon, we went on a hike through the jungle behind the lodge. Ray was my group´s tour guide.
He showed us all kinds of plants and wildlife. We saw some ´´pocket monkeys´´and some frogs. He found a snake, too, but it got away. He showed us 2 different types of magic mushrooms, and the ayahuasca plant, which is used by shamans here, and also by a lot of tourists who want to experience it.
He also showed us a termite nest and let people taste the termites. I did not take part in that in Costa Rica, nor do I ever plan too unless I am dying in the jungle. He also showed us how to cut a root with a machete so that we can get water out of it. The water from the roots actually tastes really good, too.
We found some Tarzan vines, and got to swing on those, and then it began to rain. My handy poncho that I had bought in Cusco, was sitting in the lodge so I got soaked as we made our way back, but it was a good way to cool off, and was way better than the sweat that I had been drenched in before.
A couple of the girls in our cabin went to the lodge after our tour to get a pre-dinner cocktail. I tried the Caipirinha (a Brazilian drink made from Brazilian sugar cane licor, sugar, lemons, limes, and carbonated water). It became the weekend favorite of me and my friend Mary and the bartender, Julio always knew what we wanted before we even had to ask :)
After dinner, we showered and it was lights out.
So we ran downstairs with Jose Luis, cut in front of all the people that were waiting in line at the check-in counter, and got new boarding passes. From there we ran back upstairs and tried to explain to the security guard that it was very important for us to cut in line. He was kind of a jerk and wouldn´t let us, but luckily there were some nice Peruvians that let us go in front of them. We ended up making it and had a nice short flight to Iquitos.
As soon as we stepped off the plane we felt a heat wave, and my hair immediately doubled in volume. We were in the jungle!!
Outside the airport, we met our tour guides for the weekend, Rudy and Ray, and they took us in buses to the city of Nauta.
From there, we got on some boats on the Marañon River and headed to where the Marañon merges with the Ucayali. That was a cool moment for me, simply for the fact that I actually knew those rivers. I´d been looking at maps of the Amazon this whole semester and now I was actually there!
Then they took us to the Pacaya Samiria Lodge where we would be staying, which was about an hour and a half boat ride. I think anyways. I was asleep during most of it.
When we got to the lodge, we sat in the lobby while they assigned us rooms and explained how the weekend was going to go down. Then they had an older member of the nearby village, San Jorge, give us a welcome in Kokama, and then the translation in Spanish. That was cool, too, because I remembered discussing Kokama in my linguistics class.
The lodge where we stayed was gorgeous. It was all wooden bungalows with palm roofs. The bungalows slept 5 people and had a porch out back with a hammock and some lawn chairs. The beds were all covered with mosquito nets and there were huge screen windows that let the air in and kept the bugs out. They only had electricity from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
 |
| our back porch |
On Friday afternoon, we went on a hike through the jungle behind the lodge. Ray was my group´s tour guide.
He showed us all kinds of plants and wildlife. We saw some ´´pocket monkeys´´and some frogs. He found a snake, too, but it got away. He showed us 2 different types of magic mushrooms, and the ayahuasca plant, which is used by shamans here, and also by a lot of tourists who want to experience it.
He also showed us a termite nest and let people taste the termites. I did not take part in that in Costa Rica, nor do I ever plan too unless I am dying in the jungle. He also showed us how to cut a root with a machete so that we can get water out of it. The water from the roots actually tastes really good, too.
We found some Tarzan vines, and got to swing on those, and then it began to rain. My handy poncho that I had bought in Cusco, was sitting in the lodge so I got soaked as we made our way back, but it was a good way to cool off, and was way better than the sweat that I had been drenched in before.
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| The Tarzan vines |
After dinner, we showered and it was lights out.
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