Que será, será...

Hola a todos. Finally the rare occurrence that we call "the sun" appeared in Lima this weekend and I have an awfully red burnt face to prove it. The unusually clear skies allowed me the opportunity to watch an incredible Pacific sunset. Usually the clouds are in the way, but not this evening. This late afternoon I sat down with my newest read (The World According to Garp) and spent almost 2 hours in my favorite park witnessing my Lima. There were skateboarders, a guitar player, teen couples, and (you guessed it) gringos all dotted along the edge of the pale brick wall that peers over the cliffs and down at the Pacific. Of course, my camera was not at hand, but I am happier that it wasn't because it forced me to simply live in the moment, rather than trying to capture it. As I sat idly with Garp, the sky grew pinker and the sun slowly descended into the azul waters of Lima's coast. I felt a peace finally come over me, that hasn't been present since I got back a week ago. I slowly sipped the air around me and appreciated how lucky I am to be here and how priviledged I feel to have been given the opportunity to experience Peru.

This brings me to what's next in my life story. While I had planned to stay here until mid-November, I have changed my plans to come home earlier on October 2 (two days after I turn 25). Long story-short, I have been searching long and hard for some consistent volunteer opportunities in Lima and the results have not satisfied me. And while I do enjoy the city of Lima, my friends here and travelling in Peru a great deal (as well as living with Mark), I decided that it's best for me to re-integrate to DC and start the job hunt once more. No hard feelings to Lima, I have had a life-shaping experience here for sure. I just want to contribute to society again and I can better do so from the District. For those of you there, I look forward to seeing you soon, and whoever passes through in the near future, don't hesitate to get in touch :) Gracias y chau.

Belated update...Techo building

Hey all. I know this is way overdue but I wanted to share a brief bit about my service project . So I last told you that I signed up to do a service project whose mission was to build 270 houses in Lima and Pisco. There were 12 teams of about 30-50 people and my team (Escuela Morada--purple school) was sent to Villa Maria de Triunfo, a barrio on the southern border of Lima. Took us over an hour to get there from my neighborhood. That just gives you an idea of how big Lima actually is. We arrived quite early in the morning, around 1:30am (to an actual school near our work site), to our group leaders banging pots and pans to welcome us. Not my idea of fun, but I got used to it. We stayed at the school for a week,a all 33 of us, sleeping on one large cement classroom floor.

We had 6 long days of work ahead. Most of the days we spent lugging boards, wall panels, and beams up the side of a muddy rocky mountain, most times in the misty Lima rain. I have never been so physically tested in my life. And even though it was super painful most of the time, like grunting and biting your lip painful, it felt so great the at the end of the day to be really physically exhausted. I really felt like I was working and helping. Each team (2-3 people) had two houses to build in very little time. Luckily some of the house components were pre-made, like the walls. What we did was level the land (which was really bad terrain for building), put down the support beams and floor boards. then we put up the walls, secured them with primary and secondary beams, and finally attached the tin rooves. It sounds easy in theory, except for the fact that we had to lug all of the materials way up hill. I am seriously surprised that I didn't have a slip and fall accident. The worst that happened was that a heavy rock fell on my shin. Got a proud black and blue that I showed off for a few weeks after. It's just now beginning to vanish.

My team or cuadrilla finished house number one by day 5, which left one day for house number two. Of course our last day was the coldest day and after a week of mist the land was getting really muddy and more and more slippery. As night began to fall the last night, we were working diligently to finish. It was very hard since the light had gone and we were using my travel booklight to illuminate things. All of the sudden we heard a loud noise, felt the ground shake, and heard someone scream. The ground right below the house we were constructing partly fell through due to the rain and just plain un-durability(?) of the land. The land that fell crushed the wall of a shack below us, including an older woman inside. She ended up with a cut in her head, but was actually ok in the end. All in all, the civil defense and fire department ended up coming to the mountainside and all teams had to stop work. It will luckily be continued this month thanks to a new set of volunteers.

This incident, albeit very scary to me, is a regular occurrence in this area. The land is horrible and the only people living on it are doing so because they have no other choice. A new house is only a band-aid to the very complex problem of urban poverty. I wish I could have done more, but at least we assisted in the betterment of these people's daily lives. Having a roof and floor and wooden home is a nice upgrade to a cardboard cube. I am really grateful for the experience I had, especially all the people I was able to meet. My group consisted of mostly Peruvian college students who thankfully taught me some awesome Spanish slang words and loved my somewhat lousy attempts at cursing.

In summation, the trip was incredible and super rough at the same time. Ia happened to meet two wonderful dutch girls there (thanks to AIESEC, smaaaaaall world). It was great to have an optional break from Spanish. But the majority of the time it was Spanish so that was helpful for my language skills. I mean who knows when I will need all the vocabulary I know have relating to construction. You just never know. Thanks for reading.

p.s. Stay tuned next time for my trip to the states :) Back to Lima in one week, currently in Maine.

Un Techo Para Mi Pais

My next adventure will take place in Lima from 12-17 of August. It's called Un Techo Para Mi Pais, which literally means "a roof for my country". It is a week long service project that will build over 270 homes in Lima and Pisco (a city a few hours south of Lima). It's led by Peruvian college students. There are gonna be a ton of volunteers, I hear. I signed up today and am really looking forward to it. Although I am not looking forward to sleeping on a floor for 5 nights, but it's nothing I can't handle. It will be really interesting to do home construction in Spanish. But when I talked to a staff member while signing up, she assured me by saying that another American signed up and he doesn't speak ANY Spanish, so I feel better already. In fact, I think this will be a good for my language skills, kinda like Spanish boot camp :)

Feel free to read more about the organization online. It's a pretty neat idea in my opinion, started in Chile in the late 90s, in Peru only 3 years ago. They've been doing really incredible work building houses in the area where the huge earthquake hit this time last year, south of Lima.

Well, off to buy some work gloves, borrow a sleeping bag, then hang out with my Aunt and cousin who are ending their Peru trip with a weekend in Lima. Nos vemos <3

Bienvenidos a la Selva...

Wow. I almost have no words for what the Amazon jungle and river were like. I have never in my life been so immersed in nature...not only in nature but in such rich biodiversity, such amazing life. It was crazy and I loved it.
After a flight cancellation, 5 hours in the airport, and some incredible river views from the plane, Sarah Anne and I arrived in Iquitos. As soon as we stepped off the plane I felt like I had entered a sauna. It was very hot and humid. It almost reminded me of the DC summer that I left behind. We made our way to a cute little hostel where we spent the night. Had a homemade breakfast on Friday and then headed to a hotel to meet our jungle guide and get transported by boat to the lodge. Beder, our guide, (still not sure how he pronounces his name), got us all on a little bus which took us to the dock. While leaving Iquitos for the lodge, we just happened to see the rare pink river dolphin. It's the only dolphin that lives in fresh water.
Arrived at the lodge in time for lunch. We ate the most delicious food (fresh fish, salad, friend plantains, fruit, etc) and dove into the jungle for a 2.5 hour walk. It was certainly sweaty, esp. in my corduroys, but it was incredible. The forest was just teeming with life. You could hear all the creatures and insects just humming and buzzing in surround sound. We saw some incredibly tall trees, lots of species of plants, and a few birds. We got the rest of the evening off for glorious cold showers, dinner, and some time in hammocks.
The next day was jam packed. We went bird watching at 6am. Saw a lot of birds but I can't remember many of their names-- kingfisher was def. one of them though. We also went fishing for piranas and swimming the Amazon (!) all before lunch.
That afternoon we visited a real-live sugar cane distillery used to make aguardiente, a really bad tasting alcohol, the poor man's rum. Of course I ended up buying some since they claimed that it sometimes cures people of stomach illness, headaches, etc. Can't be that bad I thought.
Later that evening, before dinner, after the sun went down, we took our flashlights and took another walk in the jungle. I was totally dreading this part of the tour because I knew we would see spiders and other nocturnal things that I have been trained to fear. But I bucked up and didn't even freak out when we saw this baby tarantula.
The next day, Sunday, we left after breakfast for a short boatride followed by a walk. The ultimate purpose was to see these GIANT lilypads called Victora Regia (Queen Victoria). They were gorgeous, but apparently deadly if you touch them in the wrong spot...luckily we weren't close enough to try anything.
That afternoon we took a short canoe ride on the Amazon and enjoyed the tranquility of the river at dusk. It was very peaceful to hear all the different types of birds and just be a witness to nature. After we returned to the lodge we were able to engage in some jungle talk with our guide and another friend at the lodge. We talked about Peruvian politics, infectious diseases (much to Sarah's chagrin), and other things.
Monday was our last day. We took a lovely boat ride to where the Amazon River meets the River Napo. It was beautiful and we even visited the town of Orellana where apparently Francisco de Orellana "discovered" the Amazon back in the 16th century. Of course the indigenous folks who had already been there received no credit, as per usual. Either way the town of Orellana was beautiful and almost felt over-developed for a river town on the Amazon. They even had streetlights and a beautiful town square.
On the way back from Orellana, we just happened to stumble upon some kids holding slothes. So we did what most tourists would do, which was pay them a few coins for some awesome pictures.

After lunch, we said goodbye to Heliconia lodge and went back to Iquitos. We had a lovely dinner looking out at the river and even topped off the night with delicious jungle gelato :) If you are even thinking of visiting the Peruvian Amazon, just do it... you won't regret it.

Coming soon: Selva Amazonica

Currently, I am still in Iquitos, the largest city in the world not accesable by road (wow). Heading back to Lima manaña. Sarah Anne and I just returned from our Jungle journey and it was incredible. I am going to try to be diligant this week and actually upload all my photos (which is a lot) and link to them for you all, in addition to publishing a beyond-awesome post. So, I guess this mini-post is just a teaser. Stay tuned later this week for the recap of one of the best trips of my life! Espera con paciencia :)

Nuestra Patria, Nuesta Fiesta, Nuestro Pisco

Alas, another blog (attempt). Since I last wrote, we've celebrated Peruvian Independence Day AND National Pisco Day and therefore I have consumed a lot of my favorite drink, the Pisco Sour. Here's a brief summary of the holiady celebrations with some pics. I will add more pictures later when I steal some from Mark.


On Sunday, National Pisco Day, we ventured south to the Pisco making region. The town we visited, Lunahuana, was just lovely. It took us way longer than we thought to get there. But what's a bus trip in Peru without delays and annoyances. Anyways, we had great Pisco, an incredible lunch of fresh shrimp and a nice hike in the desert region south of Lima. Above is a pic of Mark and I hiking. I intend to add the picture of our lunch (patience is a virtue).

Monday was the biggest national holiday Peru has, Fiestas Patrias (Independence Day). Sarah Anne, Mark and I were kinda pooped from our trip to Lunahuana and the bus rides back and forth, so we relaxed and took it easy. Sarah Anne took it upon herself to start cooking. Mark and I actually awoke to the delicious smell of eggs and mixed veggies. Not only that, but she proceeded to make an incredible lunch... she is certainly earning her keep. Oh my goodness, we've been eating well.

That brings us to Tuesday, another day off for Peruvians. Unlike July 4th, whether the holiday falls near a weekend or not, Peruvians get two days off for independence. Sarah Anne and I took that day to see some sights. We ventured into the historic center of Lima. We walked around the Plaza de Armas and went to the Monastery of San Francisco (pictured above). All in all, an educational trip. We even stopped for some incredible ceviche that just happened to be available in a nearby park. Later we went to a festival in a neighborhood of Lima called Surco. We had some more amazing Pisco while listening to a live Peruvian band.

And today, we ventured out for ceviche again, at Punto Azul, a restaurant near my house. It was so delish! It had a different sauce than the classic ceviche made from a pepper here called 'rocoto'. All I can say is that I enjoyed it thoroughly. Now, it's time to prepare for the jungle and Iquitos. Sarah Anne and I will be staying at Heliconia Lodge. I heard some good reviews so I booked it! Hoping for the best. Thank goodness for low-cost, high-quality anti-malaria pills; they are essential for the journey. Look for a post when we return. Exciting things to come :)

Just an update...

Realizing that not every blog has to be really long with lots of pictures, I thought I would just update you all on a weekly (hopefully) basis. This past week, Sarah Anne (one of my best friends from g-dubs) arrived in Peru. After spending two years in Peace Corps Honduras, Lima is the city of her dreams. Check out some of her thoughts here. It's amazing the different perspectives you get from other folks who visit. It's a joy having Sarah here since she is ecstatic about how awesome Lima is. It gives me a good kick in the butt to realize just how lucky I am to be living here.

I had the weekend to myself after Sarah fled to Cuzco and Mark remained with his parents in Arequipa and Lago Titicaca. I managed to finish the Tipping Point, which I found just okay. Sarah delivered me some reading materials and I have started Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now. Be prepared for my many enlightened blogs to come due to this spiritual literature. I have also caught up a bit on my knitting. Sad to say, I am still knitting a scarf I started in May for my mom's birthday in June. At least I have to excuse that I can't give it to her until August when I visit the states for 2 weeks. That's a good excuse, right mom?

Mark returned Monday with tales from Colca Canyon (twice as deep as the grand canyon) and Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in South America, or the world, I forget. Either way, he said that he had a great time with his folks and that they are truly soaking up all Peru has to offer. Now, in between visitors, I have rejuvenated my search for constant work. I've made a lot of connections with some volunteer orgs here but I need to be a little more persistent. My wonderful amiga Jacky (who is currently doing Peace Corps in Bolivia, but studied abroad in peru) told me that I need to show these orgs that I really want to work them, and sometimes that means calling and even knocking on some doors. I prefer email, but perhaps only because that works in the states where people would think you're crazy if you just showed up at an NGO looking to volunteer. C'est la vie. I am ready to jump in. I really miss working and contributing to society. I think once I get something constant, a little daily routine, I will really start to LIVE in Peru and improve my Spanish...instead of feeling like I am temporarily visiting.

Anyways, I am in the midst of planning the rain forest trip. Not the cheapest thing in the world, but it IS the Amazon so I am pretty excited. Sarah and I might enjoy the following activities: fishing for piranhas, bird watching, village visiting, hammock reading, pink river dolphin spotting, canoing down the amazon, etc. There will be a really long blog with pictures after that. We depart Lima July 31 and return very early on August 5. Look for more posts from Fiestas Patrias next week as we celebrate Peruvian Independence Days. Hope you all are well. Sorry this blog actually turned out to be rather long, as usual. Thanks for reading.

See you Stateside Aug 23- Sept 7 in the cities of DC, Pittsburgh, and Chicago :) Big hugs-SG.

Julio Loco, Part 1: Beth & Cuzco

I know I've been a bad blogger this month. We're half way through and this is my first blog in July. I guess I can put the blame on getting over sickness, having my first visitor, and then having more visitors. Anyways, July is just crazy and I like it. I'll get to the summary of the first half of the month and do my best with inserting appropriate pictures. I am still new at blogging :)

Beth arrived late July 2nd and we spent the following two days in Lima exploring my beloved pacific coastline, looking at a pre-Inca pyramid, and basically just eating and walking a lot. July 4th came and went without a lot of fuss around here. We did however manage to squeeze in a drink with Jane and Dan, a friend and her BF, who were at the tail end of their Peru vacation. Otherwise our trip truly start on the 5th when we flew to Cuzco (at an unGodly hour). That day we thought we might try to rest and adjust to the altitude, but that didn't happen. Instead we hopped on a little sacred valley tourbus and climbed the lesser known ruins of Pisaq and Ollantaytambo. Not resting at all, by the time we arrived at our hostal in Ollantaytambo (a city just 60km away from Cuzco) we were in need of relaxation. Unfortunately the place we were finally about to rest our heads was a little buggy, dirty, and lacking electricity. Luckily the lights did come on that night and I killed a bug or two and we slept. We awoke at 5 the next day to get dressed and get on a train for Machu Picchu. Unforunately the electricity was out for real this time, in the whole town. So we got dressed in the dark (Beth with her shirt on backwards) and stumbled in the dark towards the train station. After waiting, drinking hot tea, and getting on a shuttle we finally arrived at Machu Picchu around 8:30am.

We took the ruins by storm that day by starting around 10am with a hike to the top of Wayna/Huayna Picchu. Wayna Picchu is the big mountain in the back of most memorable MP photos, and if you scroll back in my blog you can see it. They only give out 400 tickets to hike it everyday and we got two of the last 30 tickets available which was pretty lucky. The hike was pretty crazy. There were thousands of stone steps going up only getting steeper as wel rose to the top. But the real battle was the way down where our legs literally started to feel like jello. It took us a little over two hours to get down and back, and as sore as we were (for the next three days) it was well worth it. Machu Picchu looked like a tiny thumbnail from the mountain (Photo 3 with me standing, shows tiny MP ruins to my right, very high up). We spent the rest of the day tiring ourselves out some more by exploring all the ruins and climbing another million steps for another million photos. All in all a fruitful day. The only unfortunate part was that were we stuck with the last train at 9:20pm so we had to kill time in Aguas Calientes (the crazy tourist town which sits at the base of MP). After shopping, eating, feeling sick, and even taking a nap, I still felt like our train would never come. But it did and we arrived back at our gross hostel for another night with bugs and no shower. Forgot to mention that the shower in our room didn't work and another one we could use had very little pressure.

Anyways, the next morning we recooperated with the best pancakes ever (at http://www.heartscafe.org/) and a relaxing taxi ride to Cuzco. That Monday we finally had our day of rest. We arrived at Ninos Hotel and were elated. It was clean, warm, and had very powerful hot showers. After resting and more resting we managed to get ourselves out of the hotel and explored a bit of the city, ending the evening with some sub par Italian food. The next day, feeling a little more rested, we did a little shopping and walking around and took a city tour of Cuzco (meaning archeological sites around Cuzco) that afternoon. Basically we were still pooped from MP and didn't pay too much attention. There are only SO many archeological sites that you can visit and learn about. Anyways, Beth and I had our quota of that but went through the tour anyways. The best part of the tour was an unplanned stop at a little shop before returning to Cuzco. Our guide decided to teach us how to feel the different between vicuna, baby alpaca, adult aplaca, wool, and acrylic fibers in woven goods. This was a very tough lesson but it helped since I plan to buy baby alpaca yarn to knit wonderfully soft things as well as buying a possibel sweater or scarf along the way.

Finally it was Wednesday (July 8th) and Beth and I were having breakfast at the hotel and checking out when we asked about getting a taxi. The woman at the hotel looked a bit confused and started telling me (all in Spanish of course) that there were no cars today. I was super confused and totally didn't understand why. Cuzco has the biggest tourist industry in Peru, how could there be no taxis to take tourists to the airport, to the sites, etc. After some more confusing conversation, she said she would get her friend to get us a tricycle. I figured it was one of the three wheeled moto-taxis which was fine. What actually pulled up to the door of the hotel was a cart. Yes, that's right, a cart, usually used for carrying vegetables, fruits, tools, etc. We drew a bit of a crowd and were absolutely hysterical (laughing) that we were about to sit in a cart and be pedaled to the airport. We managed to grab a picture of our driver (seen here) and our feet along the way. It took a little over a half hour, passing more than a hundred laughing Peruvians and photo-taking tourists, but we made it to the airport. Our flight (which unfortunately was gonna have two stops, which is a lot for an otherwise one hour direct flight) was not for an hour and half. Still crazed from our airport transport, we kindly asked the airline check-in gal to see if there was another earlier flight or just something direct we could get on to make our journey a little easier. To our wonderful luck, she said yes and we basically boarded the plane within five minutes of checking in. We were thrilled that after a vegetable cart ride to the airport we were now in a spacious exit row on a direct flight back to Lima, phew. We got back around the same time our 2 stop-over flight would have taken off from Cuzco and spent the remainder of the afternoon resting and uploading pics from the trip.

We finished up on Thursday by shopping in the Merdcados del Indios in Miraflores (a ton of arts n crafts stalls in my hood) and eating delicious Chifa (Peruvian Chinese food). After that Beth packed up, hopped on her plane, and bid adieu to Peru. My first visitor had a lovely time, but boy did we wear ourselves out. Next upcoming post will include Mark's parents visit (July 12-26) and the beginning of Sarah Anne's visit. She arrives tonight! Alright, off to plan the trip to the Amazon that I will engage in at the month's end. Tell me what you're up to, please! hasta pronto ;)

Semana Sola...

It's been a quiet week. Mark left for DC in the wee hours of the morning on Sunday and returns tomorrow (from El Salvador). This job is certainly keeping him busy. The bad part was that I was sick when he left. I seemed to come down with the flu combined with a stomach bug on Friday evening. Of course, it was almost as soon as we got to our friend's place for a fiesta. We were meeting lots of new people and all I could think about what curling up in a small ball in our bed. We left after not having been there long and I suffered through that night and Saturday with a moderate fever. That went away on Sunday but my stomach continued to be disfunctional until yesterday.

I decided to go to a doctor in order to get rid of whatever I had. Of course, the morning of my appointment, I already felt better. That always happens to me. I went anyway, with dictionary in hand, ready to tell the doc everything I could about my digestive patterns in Spanish. When I finally saw the Dr., Doctora- actually, she ended up speaking some English. What a relief! I couldn't believe it. She didn't speak really well, but it definitely helped. Apparently she's seen a lot of this stomach bug lately so she gave me some cipro (aka the cure all antibiotic) to take as well as some probiotics. I am guessing the probiotics are to restore some good bacteria to my stomach since cipro pretty wipes out all bacteria in general, eek. I took it once in Kenya when times were rough in Kisumu, Laura remembers, it was bad. And cipro was great. Hoping for similar results this time around.

Today, I had my final Spanish class. It's hard to believe that four weeks have past. I have been here for almost a month, strange. Anyways, we had a written test that I took Tuesday while a little ill and then an oral test of sorts today. Needless to say I passed with flying colors :) Actually it was kind of unfortunate because I didn't learn a ton in the class and a lot of my fellow students were below the level they should have been for this class. It was a little slow for my liking. So I think I will refrain from taking another class there. Also, there will be an abundance of visitors, and therefore travels, in July and August, so I won't really have a month free for a class.

Speaking of visitors, Beth (one of my closest friends from NJ and my former neighbor there) arrives Wednesday night! I am quite excited to have her here. Right now I have a lot of alone time and it was nice at first but now it's getting a little depressing, so quite frankly I need the company. Beth and I are traveling to the Sacred Valley which includes Machu Picchu, Cuzco, and Ollantaytambo (try saying that ten times fast). We'll also have a few days in Lima so I can show her my city and we can celebrate July 4th (hopefully with some other American visitors, Jane and Dan, here on vacation from DC). After Beth departs, Mark's parents arrive, and a few days after that Sarah Anne comes to town. Like I said it will be quite busy. Thank goodness...

I should be in Lima from July 9th onwards, showing a few folks around AND volunteering with Special Olympics (Olimpiades Especiales). I met with them yesterday and am going to be involved in their training clubs, which is similar to what I was doing in DC, I think. I will find out soon. Right now they are organizing for some local competitions within the country. I just missed the national games they had in Lima earlier this month, which is probably why it took me a while to hear from them. I am attending a workshop they are having today, but I am not sure what it's about yet, just that I wanted to go and get info. Vamos a ver ("we'll see") how much I can understand in Spanish. I am looking fwd to it nonetheless since most of today I spent in competition for the 2 washers and 2 dryers that accommodate all 20 floors of our apt. building. Good planning, right?

Anyways, for those of you who don't know, it looks like we will be hanging around Lima until November. This gives those of you who didn't think you had time for a summer vacation to plan a fall trip instead. I know, it's a great idea, you can thank me later. Hope all is well in your lives. Keep me updated. Abrazos :)

Another weekend en la cuidad

Last Saturday Mark and I ventured into Central Lima. First of all, let me start by saying that Lima is huge. It has something like 30 districts, 7 million residents, and can take up to two hours to get from one end of the city to the other. We live in Miraflores, a neighborhood that is right on the ocean, full of cute restaurants, cafes, parks, etc. In order to get to the historic center of Lima, we took a combi. A combi is the lovechild between a bus and a minivan. It has the shape of a large minivan but has various seats and a center aisle like a bus.

Mark and I journeyed a few cuadras (blocks) from our apt. to a main street where all the combis run. We got on one and crammed towards the front of it, sitting across from one another. The fare was S/1 (one nuevo sol). Currently the exchange rate is about 2.85 soles to the Dollar, so that means the ride cost less than 50 cents. Although there was traffic, the ride was actually enjoyable. The combi driver put the radio on a station that played some good American rock music. To make matters better, Mark thought the driver looked like Bruce Springsteen. I assure you, he did not, hehe.

Once in the center of Lima, we saw a lot of neat things including the changing of the guard at the Palacio del Gobierno (where the President lives). They do it everyday at noon I believe, accompanied by bands, tanks, and tons of tourists (picture 1). The Plaza also has a beautiful fountain. See if you can find Mark amongst the crowd in Picture 2. After seeing this, we went around the block from the Plaza Mayor to the San Francisco Monastery. Some of you might already know, that even though I am not Catholic, I really admire St. Francis. Ever since I went to Assisi in Italy, I have been interested in learning more about him. So, the monastery in Lima is incredible. It contains the second oldest library in South America. Another amazing part was the maze of catacombs that lies underneath the church. It was the first public cemetery in Lima during the 18th century and contains over 70,000 bodies. Most of what we could see were just some really dusty bones, still enough to be creepy and awesome at the same time. Upstairs in the corridors there were murals and tiling dating back to 1620. And even thought the church has been partially hurt by a few earthquakes over the centuries, most of it has stayed in tact thanks to the columns underneath the church where the catacombs lie.

After that tour, we explored through some more streets in the historic center. We didn't manage to see everything the city had to offer but we did stumble upon a cute little restaurant that we needed to refuel. It's amazing the deals you can get on food here. Lunch consisted of two course and cost S/6.50, which is less than 3 bucks. After enjoying our meal, we caught another combi home and ran some errands for the day, including getting my hair cut. not sure if the haircut was a great idea. I tried really hard to tell the hairdresser what I wanted, even found pictures to support my new look. But once she had those scissors in her hand it was a whole different story. She gave me the shorter cut I wanted but also left a long ugly layer in the back. I thought it was awful, so when I returned home, I woke Mark up from his nap and made him cut off that long, ugly, mullet-like layer. Thanks goodness for Mark, now I look alright.

We awoke on Sunday to SUNSHINE! It was like we were living in a new place. Since I've been here, it's been grey skies, not even a hint of the star I used to know, called the Sun. It was incredible. Mark and I walked down to the water and watched the paragliders while we ate yummy empanadas from the cafe next store to our place. We also went up to a roof top (pictures 3 and 4) and could see some more paragliders from there. You can barely see a paraglider over one of the buildings to the right in the last pic. It's a very popular thing to do in Miraflores right on the water. We spent the rest of the day in our new favorite cafe, Cafe Z, diving into some good books (Three Cups of Tea, for mark, and Mountains Beyond Mountains for me). All in all a good weekend. Looking forward to some more.

Next week is the last week of my Spanish class and when Mark is traveling again, this time to DC and El Salvador. Then the week after Beth arrives and we go off on an adventure after celebrating July 4th as expats in Lima. More pictures to come, I promise. Hasta pronto :)

Dirección Oficial

For those of you who like writing letters, or sending awesome cards, here is the address of our apartment in Lima.

Av. 28 de Julio 887
Dpto. 404
Miraflores, Lima 18
Lima, Perú
South America

Look forward to hearing from you the old fashioned way :)

Fin de Semana en Cuzco/Machu Picchu

Wow! I am still in shock that we actually saw Machu Picchu. This picture is the classic shot that everyone took. We were quite tired at this point, having climbed a great height to get to this view, but obviously it was well worth it. I still feel like Mark and I were photo-shopped into this picture, it looks so unreal.

Anyways, I arrived in Cuzco on Friday morning. Mark had been there since Wednesday morning for work. I rested almost as soon as I got to the hotel for fear of altitude sickness. I also drank maté de coca which is just tea with coca leaves. It's supposed to help with any altitude side effects. I had a little bit of a headache but other than that I felt fine. We got up really early Saturday morning (5am) to eat breakfast and catch the train to MP, before 7. The train ride was four hours and had beautiful view but cramped leg room. The train goes to a little pueblo outside MP called Agues Calientes. It's a place where many people can overnight and walk to MP in the morning before the tourists on the train (like me) show up. It's something I might consider doing next time just to get a different feel for things. From Aguas Calientes (literally, "hot springs"), we boarded a little bus that took us winding up a mountain towards the lost city of the Inkas. It was pretty incredible. Then once you arrive, you're just in awe for the whole tour. Our group (Mark and I, and some other of Mark's colleagues from Guatemala) had a tour guide who was awesome. He's from Cuzco, gives tours of MP a few times a week, and hikes the Inca Trail once a month. Living the good life perhaps. Our tour was totally en español but I understood a good deal of it, and since the guide spoke English he was able to help me clarifies my gaps in understanding. After MP, it was back on the bus then the train, to finally arrive back at the hotel close to 9pm.

On Sunday, Mark and I breezed through Cuzco looking at the sights and and exploring some cool barrios. We found a great hostel for my next trip there, when Beth comes to visit in July. It was founded by a dutch guy and most of its profits go to local children living in poverty. It's called Niños Hotel. Don't worry Beth, if you are reading, I am starting to plan our trip. It's gonna rock.

Well, that's all to write for now. Mark and I are trying to finally get into a routine this week since last week he had a big conference for work and was at the office a lot. It's time to really start digging into Lima!

It's exciting. Last week I met a friend of my recently new roommate in DC and we hit it off. Looks like I won't be friendless after all! I went to an Intercambio today and met some folks who want to practice English with me and I can practice Spanish with them. Pretty good exchange. AND, last but not least, I took my first 'combi' which is like a matatu for thos of you who have visited Kenya. It's a 16 psngr van where about 20 ppl squeeze in and pay like 50 cents for a ride. Exhilarating, right? Hope to hear from all of you soon. Hasta pronto!
p.s. Trying to post the rest of the MP pics soon.

Matriculé

New things to report, of course. 1. Happy birthday to my borther Ian!!, 2. I successfully did laundry and 3. I enrolled in a Spanish class. My class meets every weekday morning for 4 weeks at the Peruvian-NorthAmerican Cultural Institute. It's mostly a place where Peruvians take English classes so I am definitely the one who sticks out, go figure. There are ten of us in the class and the overwhelming majority are Chinese. I have only had two classes and so far it's slow going. I understand what's going on in class and my pronunciation is swell, but I really need practice speaking and I am not getting it there. But luckily this was a pretty inexpensive course, so I am not gonna sweat it.

Thus far, I have been researching some places to volunteer and am hoping to get something going by next week. I still have a lot of exploring to do around Lima, I haven't even been to the center of town where all the museums are because that involves taking a bus. The buses are a bit disorganized and Peruvians I have met don't even like taking them, so I am currently avoiding them. No shame.

Last but not least, I leave for Cuzco Friday morning, Mark left early this morning. I am really excited to see another part of Perú other than the grey coastline. I've been reading up about altitude sickness and I plan on resting as soon as I get there. Mark will finish up working the evening and then I hope we'll be able to walk around a bit and explore the city (slowly). Saturday is up in the air, we might go to Machu Picchu or Sacsayhuamán. I would be thrilled to do either! Ok, back to dubbed sitcoms, lunch, and changing money. Hasta pronto.

I forget how to speak Spanish...

Well, here I am in Lima. In the last three days I have gone through a myriad of emotions: overhwhelmed, excited, scared, confident, and everything in between. I have really only seen one part of the city so far, which is a neighborhood called Miraflores (literally means Look at Flowers). It has its nice looking parts and its industrial aspects as well. The picture of me near the water is definitely my favorite part!

So far the weather has been better than I thought. It is pretty cloudy but I've seen worse. And the day time temp has been in the 60s. It gets colder the closer you get to the water. It's really windy near the ocean and there are constantly people paragliding, which looks like a lot of fun.

I had a good first weekend walking around the city with Mark, my personal translator (and novio). We have hopped into little cafes, sipped on pisco sours, and even saw the new Indiana Jones movive Friday night. We both agreed that it didn't compare to the originals. Until last night we'd been staying with a co-worker of Mark's named Victor. He has been so hospitable. And like most middle-upper class folks in Lima, he has a maid who cooks us breakfast and dinner and makes fresh fruit drinks for us, etc. At first I felt weird, but I realized it was a commonplace thing here. Plus I really loved her cooking!

Now, after a LOT of searching (Mark by himself and us together this past weeknd), we found an apartment. It is really cute and only a few blocks from the ocean. The following are pictures from the kitchen/living room and then fomr the bedroom. It's nothing big but it's perfect for just two people. There's also a walk-in closet. And the condo/apt building has lots of amenities like the internet room I am currently using and the rooftop pool, sauna, grill, not to mention view of the entire city! I will post pics of the view on a sunnier day.

Today is my first day without Mark since he's at work. I went grocery shopping and that pretty much wore me out, at least mentally. We live near the Peruvian equivalent of whole foods called Vivanda. It was nice and I got most of what we need to start off including some weird looking laundry detergent. That is another task for today... figuring out the laundry in the basement.

Here's our new address where you can send us mail! I am no positive how to write it yet, so let me confirm before everyone sends all the letters that they wrote over the weekend, haha.

28 de Julio 887
Dpto. 404
Lima,Peru

The street is "28 deJulio" which is Peru's independence day. It also happens to be my dad's brithday which is pretty cool. Alright, time to go practice more Spanish.

p.s. Mark leaves for Cusco on Wednesday for a work trip. Since they will be done on Friday evening, I am flying to Cusco Friday morning and we are spending the weekend there. We might even go to Machu Picchu on Saturday. Hopefully I will post again before the weekend :)

He llegado!

I made it. Dont have much time to write right now, but I hope to have some pictures and stories about Indiana Jones and karaoke before the weekend is up! Hasta pronto.

My bags are packed...

I'm ready to go! Just soaking up two more humid days in DC. Mark has already seen almost a dozen apartments and we'll probably have one last look when I arrive and then we'll move next weekend perhaps. Then, it will be time to dive headfirst into Lima. Stay tuned for pictures and updates this weekend.

La Proxima Semana

I leave for Peru in 7 days!! I will try to post as often as I can. I am sure I will have a lot to say when I get there, so stay tuned. Also, I'll be giving away clothes and shoes this weekend for whoever is interested.

Hasta pronto :)

p.s. The posts below are from my study abroad experience in Kenya-- feel free to read and relive my previous adventure.