I only have two days left in Lima. I absolutely cannot comprehend how the last four months have flown by...
I've been really lame and haven't written anything of interest and importance for a long long while...sorry about that. I would like to say I have some good excuse, like I was traveling a lot or my computer broke or something legitimately disabling. BUT the truth is...I haven't written because I simply don't want to face the fact that this is almost over and every time I write about something I've done or a trip I've been on, I feel like it brings me one step closer to leaving. :(
I can't even begin to describe the changes I feel like I've gone through here in Peru. Its such a cliche to say "My study abroad experience changed my life! Blah blah blah." But I guess I finally understand why people say stuff like that. Its TRUE! I feel a lot more mature, a lot more open, a lot more confused about what I want to do with my life...haha. I've really learned soooo much about myself and what I want out of life simply because by coming here and immersing myself in a different culture, I was able to see what parts of me are ME and what parts of me are influenced by my surroundings and the people around me. Its really an interesting process to look back on.
When we were first doing orientation stuff back at Luther, they made us read this info about the stages of culture shock. First you are overwhelmed and excited because everything is new...then you go through an "I hate this!" phase because you are starting to see all of the differences and you are feeling uncomfortable not doing things the way you are used to...then you become pretty well adjusted and start to think of things as normal...then you do it all over again when you go back home!
When I read that, I always said to myself, "I'm a positive person! And I am so excited to go to Peru! I bet I won't really go through that whole phase where I don't like things..." Its funny to think back on that, because I definitely did go through that. And all of the other phases, just as they are described but I didn't even realize it was happening at the time. Funny how predictable our brains/emotions can be sometimes.
Anyways, I just want to say that this has been one of the best best best experiences of my life. I really don't know how my experiences here are going to shape my life in the future, but I know for sure that they will in some way....
I'm already thinking about moving back to Peru at some point...haha!
So. Thanks for reading my blog! Hope you enjoyed it!
See you in the States!!
CHAU! BESITOS!!!
-Kia
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Saturday, May 9, 2009
With my remaining 14 days
I plan to...
-Visit all the museums I haven't yet
-Eat lots of Peruvian food :)
-Drink a Pisco Sour!
-Finish all my classes on a good note
-Say goodbye to Peruvian friends! :(
-Spend lots of time with my family
-Buy gifts
-Pack my suitcases (which is going to be a major accomplishment...)
-Knit some last minute going-away gifts for my host mom and sister
-Spend as much time as possible with my friends
-Plan my next trip to Peru! :) :) :)
And hopefully lots lots more.
-Visit all the museums I haven't yet
-Eat lots of Peruvian food :)
-Drink a Pisco Sour!
-Finish all my classes on a good note
-Say goodbye to Peruvian friends! :(
-Spend lots of time with my family
-Buy gifts
-Pack my suitcases (which is going to be a major accomplishment...)
-Knit some last minute going-away gifts for my host mom and sister
-Spend as much time as possible with my friends
-Plan my next trip to Peru! :) :) :)
And hopefully lots lots more.
Monday, April 20, 2009
As promised....Stories from the Sacred Valley
This is long, long, long overdue.
So when my parents got here a few weeks ago, we hung out in Lima for a few days (I still had to go to classes since I was going to be missing the entire next week.) and they did some tourist-y things like the Mira Bus, which is kind of like the double decker tourist buses in London. They are a really good way to see the sights of Lima without having to pay 10 different cab fares to go to each place on your own. Plus it just has a fun name. :) My parents also took a few days to go down to Ica and Paracas (the trip our group did at the beginning of our time here) and they went to the Ballesta Islands and to some wine and pisco places.
So. They got here on a Sunday night and we were busy busy busy all week with all of that.
Then early Saturday morning, we headed off to Cusco. It was a super early flight and in an atypical Peruvian fashion, the cab driver showed up to my house about 30 min. early. Which meant I got to my parents hotel 15 min. early...which meant they hadn't woken up yet! But that was ok because they were all ready to go and just had to get dressed and wake up a litte. :)
We arrived in Cusco mid-morning and got right out of town...there was a car from our hotel waiting to pick us up. A really nice girl, Kelly rode along with us because the driver didn't speak English. (Which actually wouldn't have been a problem but they didn't know I spoke Spanish.) Anyways, it was cool to talk to her...she is studying to be a tour guide in Cusco. There is probably an abundance of jobs available to her in that particular area! They took us to our hotel in a small town called Pisac, which is in the Sacred Valley. All along the way at the pull-outs there were people dressed in traditional clothes, selling things and posing for tourist photos.
We stopped to take some pictures along the way....the Sacred Valley is simply stunning.
After arriving in Pisac, we had some Mate de Coca (Coca Tea) to combat any altitude sickness. My parents walked around a bit but I was feeling the altitude a little, so I just hung out and laid down for awhile. That afternoon, we went to the Pisac ruin site and Kelly, the girl who brought us from Cusco, showed us around up there. It was a really really cool and pretty well preserved site. There were these enormous sun dials and buildings that are thought to have been used for astrology purposes. There were also a TON of tombs on the hillside across from the ruins...they were basically just a group of holes in the side of the mountain but they covered the whole thing. It was impressive. It was really neat because earlier in the day there were some people at our hotel getting ready for a wedding...a Swedish woman and a Peruvian man were getting married and we saw them leaving. She was dressed in traditional Peruvian clothes and they were going up in the mountains to get married. When we were walking around the ruins, we looked back and heard music and saw that they were getting married right there in the middle of the old buildings and stuff. It was really picturesque and cool. I didn't get a great picture but this gives you an idea...
So we walked around the ruins for awhile and took our time walking back down into the town of Pisac. In the main square, which our hotel was on, there was a kind of tourist market. We had heard that Sundays were the big days for the market there, but it seemed pretty busy on Sat. My mom and I did some shopping for gifts, etc. I bought a really amazing table runner type thing from a little Quechua woman who very enthusiastically explained to me what each color dye was made from and what all of the symbols she had woven meant. I absolutely LOVE the focus on textiles here...as a knitter I feel like I really appreciate the fineness of the work and the amount of time that these people put into making things. (Not that non-knitters can't appreciate it too!!! I just mean that I am EXTRA interested because I love knitting/fiber arts so much.)
Anyways, most of the market was pretty tourist-y and not necesarily the best quality stuff, but I found some good jewelry and other presents so it was a success!
That night was really cool because we were just hanging out in the hotel and all of a sudden heard music playing out in the square. We went to check it out and a bunch of teenagers were gathered around, doing traditional dances. It was so fun and cool to watch...I just wanted to jump in there with them. We watched them for a little while and then things kind of dispersed. People were taking down the market and going home...only to put it all up again in a few hours for the next day....
On Sunday, we woke up and the market was CRAZY. It was about 5 times bigger and extended onto all of the side streets and there was a whole huge section of it devoted to food! It was so cool to just walk through that part and see all of the different fruits and types of potatoes (!!!!!) and other exotic food items.
We did a bit more shopping but then we took off, leaving the craziness of Pisac behind.
While in Pisac the ATM Situation started. Neither my mom's nor my atm card would work in the machines in Pisac. So we had to drive back to Cusco to get money because otherwise we wouldn't have been able to pay for our hotels for the next few nights...
It was kind of out-of-the-way, but it turned out alright and we got money and then headed to Ollantaytambo, a little town that is kind of the stopping point for pretty much everyone who is headed to Machu Picchu. It is a really gorgeous town...the streets are all still paved with cobblestone-y rocks and there is an amazing water system that has survived for hundreds of years and people are still using it!
The main attraction in Ollantaytambo, though, are the ruins. There are some really well preserved ones on the hill right above the town.
We also went to some ruins nearby. The site was called Moray and it was supposedly used to experiement with different elevations for growing different plants. There are some people though who really don't subscribe to that theory. Its interesting to talk to people who are from Ollanta or have studied a lot about the Incas because they often have really different ideas and theories than the ones that are presented to tourists.
After spending two days (I think...) in Ollanta, it was off to Machu Picchu. But we decided to go the "back way" there, which not many people do. The owner of the horal we were staying at is actually from MN and he moved to Ollanta about 6 years ago and now has a hotel and takes people on mountain biking trips. So. He drove us up to a pass that was a little ways from the town. At the top the pass was about 14,500 ft. and it was COLD (a sensation I hadn't experienced in a long while...) and there was snow! It was really foggy and eerie because you couldn't see beyond the next curve in the road. We started mountain biking on the road from the top and planned to go all the way to a town called Santa Maria at the bottom of the mountain. The first section of the road was really really eerie, like I said....there was all this fog and I just could not believe that I was flying down a mountain on a bike!!! It was scary but exhilirating and really really fun. The first third of the road was paved, which was really nice. The only REALLY scary thing was that there were a ton of huge tour buses and trucks that would come along the road and they aren't very respectful at all of bikers. They kind of drive in the middle of the road and come around curves at insane speeds so you have to be really really careful as a cyclist. But luckily we didn't have any problems with that and there wasn't much traffic on the morning we were doing it. So we biked for a few hours and eventually the pavement turned to dirt road. Which would have been fine...except that it was really washboard-y. We finally made it to our lunch spot, which was another ruins site and we ate lunch there, along with a lot of other people who were also biking down. WE had dropped about 7000 ft. from the beginning of the ride at the top of the pass!!! Ourguide, KB, said that the bike ride between the ruins and Santa Maria wasn't that exciting so my mom and I decided to get in the van (there was a van that followed us all the way down so we could stop and take off coats, etc. and not have to carry them.) and we rode to Santa Maria while my dad biked there.
When we got to Santa Maria, we split up with KB and the van drove us on to a town called Santa Theresa. This was supposed to be a quick 45 minute drive....that ended up taking about 2 hours. It was on one of the most scary roads ever, just a little dirt road with room for one car clinging to the side of a mountain. I was really thankful we had a very good driver...
There are some thermal baths in Santa Theresa that we wanted to visit, but it was getting dark and starting to rain so things weren't lookig good. When we finally got to town, it was pouring and totally dark out. We pulled up to a hotel (which apparently is the only decent hotel in town.) But it wasn't the one my mom had made reservations at. After asking around a little, we found out that my mom had made reservations at a place by the thremal baths, which were 20 min. outside of town and we would have had to walk 20 min. from the baths to the hotel. In the dark. And rain. (Its really too bad because it probably would have been a really cool place to stay.) They luckily had one more room at the hotel we were at, so we just decided to crash there for the night. We were sort of bummed about not getting to do the thermal bath thing...but it was ok.
So then we were trying to figure out how to get to MP the next day. We'd heard about 5 or 6 different stories about when a train ran from Santa Theresa to Aguas Calientes (the town right below MP) but when we asked we found out there was only one that they allowed tourists to take at 3 in the afternoon. We wanted to get to MP early so that wasn't going to work...instead, the next day, we had to get a taxi to a hydroelectric plant(where the train station is) and we walked along the train tracks to Aguas. It only took about two hours and we started right when it was light out, so we got to Aguas at about 8:30 in the morning. It was actually a really fun an gorgeous hike, although a little hard on the feet because we were walking on rocks and railroad ties the whole time.
When we finally got to Aguas, we found our hotel, dropped our bags and ran to get tickets for MP. We got on the next buses up at about 9:30-ish. It was crazy how many people were there. I knew that there would be TONS but it was still kind of insane to see how many people actually do go there. I am happy that people really appreciate these kinds of things, but also a little sad because MP is being damaged by the amount of tourists they are letting in. 2500 every day. I read somewhere that studies have shown that MP should ideally only have 500 visitors a day in order to avoid permanent damage to the site. Obviously that is not happening and I really hope they find some way to control the numbers because it would really really really be a shame to lose such an extremely beautiful and special place.
Ahhhh...Machu Picchu. I wasn't expecting to like it so much, especially given the whole tourist factor and the fact that it is so hyped up...I wasn't really sure if it could live up to it all. But it did.
The main city is just fantastic! Its really well-preserved and just amazing to walk around and think "These walls were built by the Incas! They were built by REAL people hundreds of years ago!" Its one of those things that is kind of hard to wrap your head around. So we wandered around the main sites for awhile and then we took a hike to the Inca Bridge which is this insane bridge on the side of a cliff. Those Incas sure weren't afraid of heights...
After that we started hiking to Inti Punku, which is the Sun Gate. Its kind of the entrance point to MP for people hiking the Inca Trail. My dad wasn't feeling well so he stopped to rest for awhile and my mom and I kept going. After a looooong time my mom turned around to check on my dad but I REALLY wanted to see it, so I kept on hiking. It was kind of misty/rainy and a little cold. The whole time I was thinking, "How ironic! I am hiking to the SUN Gate in the rain. Lovely." I FINALLY got there and it was really cool. Although it was incredibly foggy so I couldn't see much. I was just happy to have made it but also happy to have some alone time. There was nobody else up there and it was great to be able to experience MP without 2500 of my closest friends crowded around...:)
Anyways, so I stayed for a little bit and then decided to head down. Just as I was going down the trail, I looked up and the clouds parted PERFECTLY and I had an insanely perfect and gorgeous view of MP. It was so beautiful....a really magical moment. I was just so happy and amazed to be there! I've never been so glad to have hiked somewhere.
When I got down, my parents and I hung out for a little longer and then took the bus back down to Aguas. Unfortunately, my dad was feeling even worse, so he just slept and my mom and I went out for coffee/dinner.
The next day we took the train back to Aguas Calientes in the am. Its hilarious because in Aguas, to get to the train station you have to pass through the tourist market. They have a HUGE sign out front saying "TRAIN STATION --->" so you follow that into the market and then they have a smaller sign with a more vague arrow direction and then there are no signs at all. So basically they want you to get lost in the market and buy a bunch of stuff before you leave...hahaha.
Back in Ollanta, Dad still needed to rest and just lay low for awhile so Mom and I had more coffee and just kind of hung out, reading, writing in journals, etc.
The next day he was feeling better, so we went horseback riding! Probably one of the most frightening horseback rides of my life. I thought the horse was either going to break a leg or I was going to fall off because we basically rode straight up a cliff. It was a gorgeous ride, though, and at the top our guide showed us some mummies in a cave that he'd discovered. They are just sitting up there on the mountain...it was so weird but cool!
The rest of the time in Ollanta is kind of a blur. We had lots of coffee and watched some of the Easter festivities and just bummed around until it was time for us to go back to Cusco.
We spent the last day there, just walking around and exploring. My favorite thing was the Center for Traditional Textiles, which is a place where they have indiginous people come in and do weaving demonstrations and they have a small museum and you can buy woven things there. I bought 2 skeins of the MOST gorgeous alpaca yarn. Which made me very very happy! :) I haven't knit anything since being here...
We also saw this dance/parade thing that was being put on for Easter. There were all these different groups doing dances from different areas of Peru. It was fun to watch and really really colorful...a beautiful sight.
I really liked Cusco, despite its touristy-ness. There are a lot of really persistent street vendors and you are basically accosted every minute to buy everything from Coca candy to sweaters. Its really the only part of Cusco I didn't like.
The next morning, we caught an early flight back to Lima. The adventure was over! :(
It was a really fantastic trip, though. I'm so excited that I get to go back there in 2 weeks!!!!!!!
So when my parents got here a few weeks ago, we hung out in Lima for a few days (I still had to go to classes since I was going to be missing the entire next week.) and they did some tourist-y things like the Mira Bus, which is kind of like the double decker tourist buses in London. They are a really good way to see the sights of Lima without having to pay 10 different cab fares to go to each place on your own. Plus it just has a fun name. :) My parents also took a few days to go down to Ica and Paracas (the trip our group did at the beginning of our time here) and they went to the Ballesta Islands and to some wine and pisco places.
So. They got here on a Sunday night and we were busy busy busy all week with all of that.
Then early Saturday morning, we headed off to Cusco. It was a super early flight and in an atypical Peruvian fashion, the cab driver showed up to my house about 30 min. early. Which meant I got to my parents hotel 15 min. early...which meant they hadn't woken up yet! But that was ok because they were all ready to go and just had to get dressed and wake up a litte. :)
We arrived in Cusco mid-morning and got right out of town...there was a car from our hotel waiting to pick us up. A really nice girl, Kelly rode along with us because the driver didn't speak English. (Which actually wouldn't have been a problem but they didn't know I spoke Spanish.) Anyways, it was cool to talk to her...she is studying to be a tour guide in Cusco. There is probably an abundance of jobs available to her in that particular area! They took us to our hotel in a small town called Pisac, which is in the Sacred Valley. All along the way at the pull-outs there were people dressed in traditional clothes, selling things and posing for tourist photos.
We stopped to take some pictures along the way....the Sacred Valley is simply stunning.
After arriving in Pisac, we had some Mate de Coca (Coca Tea) to combat any altitude sickness. My parents walked around a bit but I was feeling the altitude a little, so I just hung out and laid down for awhile. That afternoon, we went to the Pisac ruin site and Kelly, the girl who brought us from Cusco, showed us around up there. It was a really really cool and pretty well preserved site. There were these enormous sun dials and buildings that are thought to have been used for astrology purposes. There were also a TON of tombs on the hillside across from the ruins...they were basically just a group of holes in the side of the mountain but they covered the whole thing. It was impressive. It was really neat because earlier in the day there were some people at our hotel getting ready for a wedding...a Swedish woman and a Peruvian man were getting married and we saw them leaving. She was dressed in traditional Peruvian clothes and they were going up in the mountains to get married. When we were walking around the ruins, we looked back and heard music and saw that they were getting married right there in the middle of the old buildings and stuff. It was really picturesque and cool. I didn't get a great picture but this gives you an idea...
So we walked around the ruins for awhile and took our time walking back down into the town of Pisac. In the main square, which our hotel was on, there was a kind of tourist market. We had heard that Sundays were the big days for the market there, but it seemed pretty busy on Sat. My mom and I did some shopping for gifts, etc. I bought a really amazing table runner type thing from a little Quechua woman who very enthusiastically explained to me what each color dye was made from and what all of the symbols she had woven meant. I absolutely LOVE the focus on textiles here...as a knitter I feel like I really appreciate the fineness of the work and the amount of time that these people put into making things. (Not that non-knitters can't appreciate it too!!! I just mean that I am EXTRA interested because I love knitting/fiber arts so much.)
Anyways, most of the market was pretty tourist-y and not necesarily the best quality stuff, but I found some good jewelry and other presents so it was a success!
That night was really cool because we were just hanging out in the hotel and all of a sudden heard music playing out in the square. We went to check it out and a bunch of teenagers were gathered around, doing traditional dances. It was so fun and cool to watch...I just wanted to jump in there with them. We watched them for a little while and then things kind of dispersed. People were taking down the market and going home...only to put it all up again in a few hours for the next day....
On Sunday, we woke up and the market was CRAZY. It was about 5 times bigger and extended onto all of the side streets and there was a whole huge section of it devoted to food! It was so cool to just walk through that part and see all of the different fruits and types of potatoes (!!!!!) and other exotic food items.
We did a bit more shopping but then we took off, leaving the craziness of Pisac behind.
While in Pisac the ATM Situation started. Neither my mom's nor my atm card would work in the machines in Pisac. So we had to drive back to Cusco to get money because otherwise we wouldn't have been able to pay for our hotels for the next few nights...
It was kind of out-of-the-way, but it turned out alright and we got money and then headed to Ollantaytambo, a little town that is kind of the stopping point for pretty much everyone who is headed to Machu Picchu. It is a really gorgeous town...the streets are all still paved with cobblestone-y rocks and there is an amazing water system that has survived for hundreds of years and people are still using it!
The main attraction in Ollantaytambo, though, are the ruins. There are some really well preserved ones on the hill right above the town.
We also went to some ruins nearby. The site was called Moray and it was supposedly used to experiement with different elevations for growing different plants. There are some people though who really don't subscribe to that theory. Its interesting to talk to people who are from Ollanta or have studied a lot about the Incas because they often have really different ideas and theories than the ones that are presented to tourists.
After spending two days (I think...) in Ollanta, it was off to Machu Picchu. But we decided to go the "back way" there, which not many people do. The owner of the horal we were staying at is actually from MN and he moved to Ollanta about 6 years ago and now has a hotel and takes people on mountain biking trips. So. He drove us up to a pass that was a little ways from the town. At the top the pass was about 14,500 ft. and it was COLD (a sensation I hadn't experienced in a long while...) and there was snow! It was really foggy and eerie because you couldn't see beyond the next curve in the road. We started mountain biking on the road from the top and planned to go all the way to a town called Santa Maria at the bottom of the mountain. The first section of the road was really really eerie, like I said....there was all this fog and I just could not believe that I was flying down a mountain on a bike!!! It was scary but exhilirating and really really fun. The first third of the road was paved, which was really nice. The only REALLY scary thing was that there were a ton of huge tour buses and trucks that would come along the road and they aren't very respectful at all of bikers. They kind of drive in the middle of the road and come around curves at insane speeds so you have to be really really careful as a cyclist. But luckily we didn't have any problems with that and there wasn't much traffic on the morning we were doing it. So we biked for a few hours and eventually the pavement turned to dirt road. Which would have been fine...except that it was really washboard-y. We finally made it to our lunch spot, which was another ruins site and we ate lunch there, along with a lot of other people who were also biking down. WE had dropped about 7000 ft. from the beginning of the ride at the top of the pass!!! Ourguide, KB, said that the bike ride between the ruins and Santa Maria wasn't that exciting so my mom and I decided to get in the van (there was a van that followed us all the way down so we could stop and take off coats, etc. and not have to carry them.) and we rode to Santa Maria while my dad biked there.
When we got to Santa Maria, we split up with KB and the van drove us on to a town called Santa Theresa. This was supposed to be a quick 45 minute drive....that ended up taking about 2 hours. It was on one of the most scary roads ever, just a little dirt road with room for one car clinging to the side of a mountain. I was really thankful we had a very good driver...
There are some thermal baths in Santa Theresa that we wanted to visit, but it was getting dark and starting to rain so things weren't lookig good. When we finally got to town, it was pouring and totally dark out. We pulled up to a hotel (which apparently is the only decent hotel in town.) But it wasn't the one my mom had made reservations at. After asking around a little, we found out that my mom had made reservations at a place by the thremal baths, which were 20 min. outside of town and we would have had to walk 20 min. from the baths to the hotel. In the dark. And rain. (Its really too bad because it probably would have been a really cool place to stay.) They luckily had one more room at the hotel we were at, so we just decided to crash there for the night. We were sort of bummed about not getting to do the thermal bath thing...but it was ok.
So then we were trying to figure out how to get to MP the next day. We'd heard about 5 or 6 different stories about when a train ran from Santa Theresa to Aguas Calientes (the town right below MP) but when we asked we found out there was only one that they allowed tourists to take at 3 in the afternoon. We wanted to get to MP early so that wasn't going to work...instead, the next day, we had to get a taxi to a hydroelectric plant(where the train station is) and we walked along the train tracks to Aguas. It only took about two hours and we started right when it was light out, so we got to Aguas at about 8:30 in the morning. It was actually a really fun an gorgeous hike, although a little hard on the feet because we were walking on rocks and railroad ties the whole time.
When we finally got to Aguas, we found our hotel, dropped our bags and ran to get tickets for MP. We got on the next buses up at about 9:30-ish. It was crazy how many people were there. I knew that there would be TONS but it was still kind of insane to see how many people actually do go there. I am happy that people really appreciate these kinds of things, but also a little sad because MP is being damaged by the amount of tourists they are letting in. 2500 every day. I read somewhere that studies have shown that MP should ideally only have 500 visitors a day in order to avoid permanent damage to the site. Obviously that is not happening and I really hope they find some way to control the numbers because it would really really really be a shame to lose such an extremely beautiful and special place.
Ahhhh...Machu Picchu. I wasn't expecting to like it so much, especially given the whole tourist factor and the fact that it is so hyped up...I wasn't really sure if it could live up to it all. But it did.
The main city is just fantastic! Its really well-preserved and just amazing to walk around and think "These walls were built by the Incas! They were built by REAL people hundreds of years ago!" Its one of those things that is kind of hard to wrap your head around. So we wandered around the main sites for awhile and then we took a hike to the Inca Bridge which is this insane bridge on the side of a cliff. Those Incas sure weren't afraid of heights...
After that we started hiking to Inti Punku, which is the Sun Gate. Its kind of the entrance point to MP for people hiking the Inca Trail. My dad wasn't feeling well so he stopped to rest for awhile and my mom and I kept going. After a looooong time my mom turned around to check on my dad but I REALLY wanted to see it, so I kept on hiking. It was kind of misty/rainy and a little cold. The whole time I was thinking, "How ironic! I am hiking to the SUN Gate in the rain. Lovely." I FINALLY got there and it was really cool. Although it was incredibly foggy so I couldn't see much. I was just happy to have made it but also happy to have some alone time. There was nobody else up there and it was great to be able to experience MP without 2500 of my closest friends crowded around...:)
Anyways, so I stayed for a little bit and then decided to head down. Just as I was going down the trail, I looked up and the clouds parted PERFECTLY and I had an insanely perfect and gorgeous view of MP. It was so beautiful....a really magical moment. I was just so happy and amazed to be there! I've never been so glad to have hiked somewhere.
When I got down, my parents and I hung out for a little longer and then took the bus back down to Aguas. Unfortunately, my dad was feeling even worse, so he just slept and my mom and I went out for coffee/dinner.
The next day we took the train back to Aguas Calientes in the am. Its hilarious because in Aguas, to get to the train station you have to pass through the tourist market. They have a HUGE sign out front saying "TRAIN STATION --->" so you follow that into the market and then they have a smaller sign with a more vague arrow direction and then there are no signs at all. So basically they want you to get lost in the market and buy a bunch of stuff before you leave...hahaha.
Back in Ollanta, Dad still needed to rest and just lay low for awhile so Mom and I had more coffee and just kind of hung out, reading, writing in journals, etc.
The next day he was feeling better, so we went horseback riding! Probably one of the most frightening horseback rides of my life. I thought the horse was either going to break a leg or I was going to fall off because we basically rode straight up a cliff. It was a gorgeous ride, though, and at the top our guide showed us some mummies in a cave that he'd discovered. They are just sitting up there on the mountain...it was so weird but cool!
The rest of the time in Ollanta is kind of a blur. We had lots of coffee and watched some of the Easter festivities and just bummed around until it was time for us to go back to Cusco.
We spent the last day there, just walking around and exploring. My favorite thing was the Center for Traditional Textiles, which is a place where they have indiginous people come in and do weaving demonstrations and they have a small museum and you can buy woven things there. I bought 2 skeins of the MOST gorgeous alpaca yarn. Which made me very very happy! :) I haven't knit anything since being here...
We also saw this dance/parade thing that was being put on for Easter. There were all these different groups doing dances from different areas of Peru. It was fun to watch and really really colorful...a beautiful sight.
I really liked Cusco, despite its touristy-ness. There are a lot of really persistent street vendors and you are basically accosted every minute to buy everything from Coca candy to sweaters. Its really the only part of Cusco I didn't like.
The next morning, we caught an early flight back to Lima. The adventure was over! :(
It was a really fantastic trip, though. I'm so excited that I get to go back there in 2 weeks!!!!!!!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
In the Footsteps Of Che...
Ok. I know I promised that this next one would be about the Cusco/Sacred Valley/Machu Picchu adventure...but I am running out of time...next week is going to be my big Catch-Up-On-Emails-And-Blog Week. BUT I just have to say that I am leaving for the jungle town of Iquitos tonight and I am SOOO excited. It is supposed to be a really really cool place, complete with lots of jungle animals (They eat crocodile burgers there!!!!) and birds and bugs. :)
This morning I was reading an email newsletter that I get called "Living in Peru". Its basically a newsletter for expats who are in residing here in Lima, or I guess Peru in general. Anyways, there was an article on there today about two British men who, after seeing the movie "Motorcycle Diaries", decided to take a journey that Che Guevara and Alberto Granado did in the early 1950's. Right now they are in Iquitos!! So it is cool in itself that I am going to be in the same place that these now-celebrities are stopping...but also the reason they are stopping there is because it is near the San Pedro Leprosarium, which if you've seen the movie (and if you haven't you should! Its really good!) is where Che and Alberto spent quite a bit of time and where Che kind of found his vocation in life.
I just was really surprised because when I saw the movie I didn't realize it was in Peru or I had forgotten and its kind of neat that we are going to be there this weekend!
Well, I've got to go pack!
More next week....I promise!!!
This morning I was reading an email newsletter that I get called "Living in Peru". Its basically a newsletter for expats who are in residing here in Lima, or I guess Peru in general. Anyways, there was an article on there today about two British men who, after seeing the movie "Motorcycle Diaries", decided to take a journey that Che Guevara and Alberto Granado did in the early 1950's. Right now they are in Iquitos!! So it is cool in itself that I am going to be in the same place that these now-celebrities are stopping...but also the reason they are stopping there is because it is near the San Pedro Leprosarium, which if you've seen the movie (and if you haven't you should! Its really good!) is where Che and Alberto spent quite a bit of time and where Che kind of found his vocation in life.
I just was really surprised because when I saw the movie I didn't realize it was in Peru or I had forgotten and its kind of neat that we are going to be there this weekend!
Well, I've got to go pack!
More next week....I promise!!!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Pre-nostalgia
So. I promise to write more later about my amazing trip to Cuzco/the Sacred Valley/Machu Picchu with the parental units.
But for now I just have to say that I am already missing Peru and I haven't even left yet!!!! Today I was thinking about the fact that I've only got about 5 weeks left. Which seems like kind of a substantial amount. But I know the time is just going to fly by. I am super excited for this summer and to see everyone back home...but at the same time it makes me really really sad to think about leaving this wonderful place and my Peruvian family and friends. At least I know that I will come back someday to visit them all. :) But still. Its sad.
But for now I just have to say that I am already missing Peru and I haven't even left yet!!!! Today I was thinking about the fact that I've only got about 5 weeks left. Which seems like kind of a substantial amount. But I know the time is just going to fly by. I am super excited for this summer and to see everyone back home...but at the same time it makes me really really sad to think about leaving this wonderful place and my Peruvian family and friends. At least I know that I will come back someday to visit them all. :) But still. Its sad.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
My Thoughts on Public Transportation
Ok. So I know I talk about this a lot but its a HUGE part of every single day here for me...riding the bus. At first, it was really scary. The bus system is really chaotic and you can pretty much get on and off anywhere you want. Its just crazy and you really have to be on your toes and know what is going on...my host brother was telling me the other day that he has had his cell phone stolen out of his pocket twice while riding the bus. I don't think it happens too often, but its still something I kind of worry about when I'm packed in like a sardine and can't really watch my pockets and my purse.
Yesterday was probably the worst ride home I've had so far. We got on the bus and it was REALLY crowded. I was basically smashed in between two women and a man. Every time the bus started or stopped, we would all kind of fall against one another and then have to readjust. It was really uncomfortable. Normally the bus clears out a bit after about 20 min. and you can generally find a seat then. Last night, though, we had to stand the entire hour bus ride home except for about 10 min. at the end. It was a looooong ride. My legs and arms were really tired when I finally got home, from bracing myself against the constant stop-and-go of Lima traffic.
Today was a little better but not by much...I was in a seat right by the door and when they started packing people in, I basically had a bunch of people's butts right in my face and I was pushed so far up against the side of the van, I had to stick my arm out the window. The whole ride home I was worried that I was going to get my arm cut off by some rogue vehicle!!!
Its crazy and dangerous and I have never been involved in so many near-accidents in my life, but I don't know what I'd do without it. It gets me from place to place without having to worry about driving myself in this crazy city! AND it only costs me 50 cents to get to school! As much as I hate riding the bus here sometimes, I guess I really can't complain.
In other news...things have been really busy for me the last few days! MY PARENTS GOT HERE ON SUNDAY! I was so excited to see them! My host mom and brother went with me to the airport to pick them up and we took them to their hotel. The next day I took them around the neighborhood and in the evening they came to see my house and meet my host sister and Bethany and her host parents. It was really odd to have my two families meet! Like two very different worlds colliding. But it was really really cool.
They are in Ica and Paracas right now and are coming back on Thurs. Then on Sat. the three of us are heading to Cusco for a whole week!!! I am really really really excited for that. I love traveling with my parents. My mom is absolutely amazing at planning trips. She always manages to find the coolest places to see and things to do. She really has a talent for it. I don't think we've ever been on a family trip that wasn't fun! And my dad is always reading about the places we are going, which is really cool because he is constantly telling me interesting facts and history about where we are. Basically my parents are great to travel with. :) I love it when they talk about all of their experiences traveling. They've been to so many places. I really hope I can travel as much as they have and be able to share the same kinds of stories with my kids someday.
Oh goodness! I forgot to write about about last week! We went to Mancora for the week and it was positively wonderful. It was a really really great thing to just be able to relax on the beach and not have to go to classes! ;)
The house we rented was GREAT! It was perfect for the nine of us and right on the beach. It was a few minutes away from the town of Mancora if we took mototaxis (which are bascially little mopeds with seats for three people on the backs of them).
Mancora is a really cool town. Its SUPER laid-back and people just kind of hang out all day. There were lots and lots of hippies there! :) It was fun to be in such a relaxed and relaxing place. The food was amazing there, too. We ate at a new place for every meal and pretty much all of them were great. My new favorite food is fried yuca, which I had every single day we were there!
I think my favorite part of the trip was that I was the earliest riser of the group. I would get up at about 8 or a little before, while everyone else slept until 9 or 10. It was so nice and peaceful to have that time to myself every morning. Not that I didn't like spending time with my friends! But I would just walk along the beach or write in my journal or read or just stand and feel the warm ocean water washing over my toes.
It was a great trip to paradise and I really hope I can go back there again!
Yesterday was probably the worst ride home I've had so far. We got on the bus and it was REALLY crowded. I was basically smashed in between two women and a man. Every time the bus started or stopped, we would all kind of fall against one another and then have to readjust. It was really uncomfortable. Normally the bus clears out a bit after about 20 min. and you can generally find a seat then. Last night, though, we had to stand the entire hour bus ride home except for about 10 min. at the end. It was a looooong ride. My legs and arms were really tired when I finally got home, from bracing myself against the constant stop-and-go of Lima traffic.
Today was a little better but not by much...I was in a seat right by the door and when they started packing people in, I basically had a bunch of people's butts right in my face and I was pushed so far up against the side of the van, I had to stick my arm out the window. The whole ride home I was worried that I was going to get my arm cut off by some rogue vehicle!!!
Its crazy and dangerous and I have never been involved in so many near-accidents in my life, but I don't know what I'd do without it. It gets me from place to place without having to worry about driving myself in this crazy city! AND it only costs me 50 cents to get to school! As much as I hate riding the bus here sometimes, I guess I really can't complain.
In other news...things have been really busy for me the last few days! MY PARENTS GOT HERE ON SUNDAY! I was so excited to see them! My host mom and brother went with me to the airport to pick them up and we took them to their hotel. The next day I took them around the neighborhood and in the evening they came to see my house and meet my host sister and Bethany and her host parents. It was really odd to have my two families meet! Like two very different worlds colliding. But it was really really cool.
They are in Ica and Paracas right now and are coming back on Thurs. Then on Sat. the three of us are heading to Cusco for a whole week!!! I am really really really excited for that. I love traveling with my parents. My mom is absolutely amazing at planning trips. She always manages to find the coolest places to see and things to do. She really has a talent for it. I don't think we've ever been on a family trip that wasn't fun! And my dad is always reading about the places we are going, which is really cool because he is constantly telling me interesting facts and history about where we are. Basically my parents are great to travel with. :) I love it when they talk about all of their experiences traveling. They've been to so many places. I really hope I can travel as much as they have and be able to share the same kinds of stories with my kids someday.
Oh goodness! I forgot to write about about last week! We went to Mancora for the week and it was positively wonderful. It was a really really great thing to just be able to relax on the beach and not have to go to classes! ;)
The house we rented was GREAT! It was perfect for the nine of us and right on the beach. It was a few minutes away from the town of Mancora if we took mototaxis (which are bascially little mopeds with seats for three people on the backs of them).
Mancora is a really cool town. Its SUPER laid-back and people just kind of hang out all day. There were lots and lots of hippies there! :) It was fun to be in such a relaxed and relaxing place. The food was amazing there, too. We ate at a new place for every meal and pretty much all of them were great. My new favorite food is fried yuca, which I had every single day we were there!
I think my favorite part of the trip was that I was the earliest riser of the group. I would get up at about 8 or a little before, while everyone else slept until 9 or 10. It was so nice and peaceful to have that time to myself every morning. Not that I didn't like spending time with my friends! But I would just walk along the beach or write in my journal or read or just stand and feel the warm ocean water washing over my toes.
It was a great trip to paradise and I really hope I can go back there again!
Monday, March 23, 2009
Lots of Catching Up!
Hey friends and fam! I apologize for majorly neglecting my blog lately...Last week I started having SO much to write about that I kept putting it off even longer because I was kind of overwhelmed thinking about all the things I had to tell you!
But I finally am getting around to it and I'll give you the highlights of the last fourteen days.
Two weeks ago, we had another class period with Carlos Ferrero (the Congressman who we talked to before). This time, we were talking about racism in Peru and it was SO COOL because he brought a guest with him to share her experiences with us. Her name is Paulina Arpasi Velasquez and she was the first indigenous Congressperson to be elected to office in Peru. Now, I think there are 3 or 4 members of Congress who are "indios". It was cool to hear that things are changing enough that there can be a greater diversity among government officials, but Paulina said that there is still a lot of racism that she has to deal with everyday. She talked about a bunch of different times when people have said or done things to her in Congress. The example that I remember most clearly was that she arrived late to a meeting once and went around to greet everyone (I know I've mentioned this...but the way people greet one another here is a kiss on the cheek. And when you arrive somewhere late you have to go around the table/room/whatever and kiss every single person! You can't just wave a general hello like we do in the US!) and after she kissed a fellow Congresswoman on the cheek, the woman wiped off her cheek with the back of her hand. Another time, someone else came late to a meeting and went around greeting everyone and simply skipped over Paulina. It was just really sad to hear these kinds of stories and I really can't fathom what it would be like to have to deal with that kind of stuff everyday...They are little things but all the same...Paulina mentioned that its mostly the gestures (or lack of gestures) that are hard to deal with. She said that she wishes people would say racist things to her instead of using non-verbal ways to express how they feel because then she would have a chance to respond. But if they just use body language, etc. its a lot harder for her to call them out on their behavior.
There was another really interesting element to this whole talk as well. The whole time, Paulina kept saying how much she has appreciated the help of Ferrero because he has really encouraged her and is always reassuring her that she is an equal member of Congress and just as good as everyone else. So, at first I thought that Ferrero must be much more open-minded than the other Congress members. But as the conversation went on, he kept jumping in and interrupting her in the middle of a story to kind of add his own opinions, which was fine, but he did it in a pretty condescending way. And whenever any of us would ask Paulina a question, Carlos would repeat it to her very slowly, just assuming that she couldn't understand it the first time it was asked. It was very subtle but I definitely could feel this undercurrent to their relationship that kind of set Carlos Ferrero up higher, as her mentor-he was kind of steering her towards what he wanted her to do and say and I got the sense that he thought she couldn't handle our questions on her own, even though she ovbiously could. I talked to other people in the class who felt the same way. It was just so interesting talking about the topic of racism and seeing it happen right in front of us.
Last week, we had another talk with Ferrero (just him this time...) about terrorism in Peru. I didn't get as much out of this talk as the others, but it was interesting all the same. Learning about the terrorism that was going on in Peru in the 80's and 90's is kind of intense. Its so difficult to imagine what it would have been like and its super interesting because most of our host parents and professors lived through it. They remember what it was like when curfew was at 9:00 pm and if you broke that you would probably get shot. They remember what it was like to not be able to stop at stoplights when you were driving because you would definitely get robbed. (Someone told me that this is one of the reasons the traffic is so crazy here and there aren't many rules...people got so used to just running redlights and driving crazily during the years of terrorism. Don't know if that is totally true..but its probably a factor.) Its just tragic to think of all of the people who died here and in a lot of other Latin American countries...and we never even learn these things in the US. I had no idea before coming here what a HUGE affect terrorism had on Lima and on Peru in general. If you can, you should look up info on the Sendero Luminoso (the Shining Path), which was the major group leading terrorist activites here. I won't go too far into it, but it was a terrible situation because the SL wanted to recruit campesinos (people from the small rural villages) to help their cause. They kidnapped children and would brainwash them into working for the SL. They would basically kill anyone who wouldn't help them. At the same time, the government army was doing the same thing...they were trying to discover who was a part of the SL and would go to the small villages and kill whoever wouldn't help them. So the campesinos were in a terrible, terrible position because either way, they had a very good chance of being killed.
A few friends and I went to a museum last week and there was a huge exhibit dedicated to terrorism in Peru. There were hundreds of photos of things that went on during that time period and it was a really hard but really fascinating thing to see.
The class we are learning about all of this for is Ethics...I really like this class a lot. It just makes me think a lot and its so so so interesting.
Hmmmm. What else has been going on?
OH! Well, tomorrow I am leaving for a whole week (!!!!) to go to Mancora, which is a beach area in Northern Peru. It is supposed to be absolutely gorgeous. Everyone I've talked to about it has been really jealous! :)
My friends and I are renting a house (which was actually cheaper than renting rooms in a hotel) and it looks like paradise!!! Here's a link to pictures of the house: http://www.mancoraperulosalgarrobos.com/condo/index.html
There are also some pretty important archeaological sites nearby which I'm definitely planning on visiting. The last weeks have just been so jam-packed...I'm looking forward to relaxing and finally having some time to read a few books and just hang out with people.
Yesterday was a really good day for me...We went to a birthday party for my "grandma". She is turning 81, but doesn't look like it AT ALL. If I had to guess, I would probably say she is in her late 60's! She is really sweet and it was fun to meet all of the extended family. Two of the older girl cousins were SO nice to me...they were just really helpful in explaining things if I seemed lost. I sometimes feel really bad because I just sit there, listening to everyone else talking, my eyes bouncing back and forth between people. When there are large groups of people talking, its all I can do to just follow and understand the conversation...I can't even think about trying to speak as well!!! I wish that sometimes I would be confident enough/have a good enough idea of what is being said that I COULD just jump in to the conversation...I don't want them to think I am boring or don't want to talk to them...
But these two cousins were really really helpful. One of them is studying to be a translator. Other than Spanish, she speaks German, French and English. The other one is a tour guide. She does tours all over Lima and also other places in Peru, but doesn't go too far because she has a little boy. She studied anthropology in school and lent me a book about Peru. She said I should try to read it and then we are going to get together for coffee and discuss it! I was so excited!!! It was like i was meant to meet these two girls!!! I just felt really confident talking to them in Spanish and it was so great because they've both studied things I am really interested in!
Ok. Well...I think that is it for now because I haven't even started packing for Mancora and we leave in about 4 hours!!!!! I'll post pictures, etc when I get back!
But I finally am getting around to it and I'll give you the highlights of the last fourteen days.
Two weeks ago, we had another class period with Carlos Ferrero (the Congressman who we talked to before). This time, we were talking about racism in Peru and it was SO COOL because he brought a guest with him to share her experiences with us. Her name is Paulina Arpasi Velasquez and she was the first indigenous Congressperson to be elected to office in Peru. Now, I think there are 3 or 4 members of Congress who are "indios". It was cool to hear that things are changing enough that there can be a greater diversity among government officials, but Paulina said that there is still a lot of racism that she has to deal with everyday. She talked about a bunch of different times when people have said or done things to her in Congress. The example that I remember most clearly was that she arrived late to a meeting once and went around to greet everyone (I know I've mentioned this...but the way people greet one another here is a kiss on the cheek. And when you arrive somewhere late you have to go around the table/room/whatever and kiss every single person! You can't just wave a general hello like we do in the US!) and after she kissed a fellow Congresswoman on the cheek, the woman wiped off her cheek with the back of her hand. Another time, someone else came late to a meeting and went around greeting everyone and simply skipped over Paulina. It was just really sad to hear these kinds of stories and I really can't fathom what it would be like to have to deal with that kind of stuff everyday...They are little things but all the same...Paulina mentioned that its mostly the gestures (or lack of gestures) that are hard to deal with. She said that she wishes people would say racist things to her instead of using non-verbal ways to express how they feel because then she would have a chance to respond. But if they just use body language, etc. its a lot harder for her to call them out on their behavior.
There was another really interesting element to this whole talk as well. The whole time, Paulina kept saying how much she has appreciated the help of Ferrero because he has really encouraged her and is always reassuring her that she is an equal member of Congress and just as good as everyone else. So, at first I thought that Ferrero must be much more open-minded than the other Congress members. But as the conversation went on, he kept jumping in and interrupting her in the middle of a story to kind of add his own opinions, which was fine, but he did it in a pretty condescending way. And whenever any of us would ask Paulina a question, Carlos would repeat it to her very slowly, just assuming that she couldn't understand it the first time it was asked. It was very subtle but I definitely could feel this undercurrent to their relationship that kind of set Carlos Ferrero up higher, as her mentor-he was kind of steering her towards what he wanted her to do and say and I got the sense that he thought she couldn't handle our questions on her own, even though she ovbiously could. I talked to other people in the class who felt the same way. It was just so interesting talking about the topic of racism and seeing it happen right in front of us.
Last week, we had another talk with Ferrero (just him this time...) about terrorism in Peru. I didn't get as much out of this talk as the others, but it was interesting all the same. Learning about the terrorism that was going on in Peru in the 80's and 90's is kind of intense. Its so difficult to imagine what it would have been like and its super interesting because most of our host parents and professors lived through it. They remember what it was like when curfew was at 9:00 pm and if you broke that you would probably get shot. They remember what it was like to not be able to stop at stoplights when you were driving because you would definitely get robbed. (Someone told me that this is one of the reasons the traffic is so crazy here and there aren't many rules...people got so used to just running redlights and driving crazily during the years of terrorism. Don't know if that is totally true..but its probably a factor.) Its just tragic to think of all of the people who died here and in a lot of other Latin American countries...and we never even learn these things in the US. I had no idea before coming here what a HUGE affect terrorism had on Lima and on Peru in general. If you can, you should look up info on the Sendero Luminoso (the Shining Path), which was the major group leading terrorist activites here. I won't go too far into it, but it was a terrible situation because the SL wanted to recruit campesinos (people from the small rural villages) to help their cause. They kidnapped children and would brainwash them into working for the SL. They would basically kill anyone who wouldn't help them. At the same time, the government army was doing the same thing...they were trying to discover who was a part of the SL and would go to the small villages and kill whoever wouldn't help them. So the campesinos were in a terrible, terrible position because either way, they had a very good chance of being killed.
A few friends and I went to a museum last week and there was a huge exhibit dedicated to terrorism in Peru. There were hundreds of photos of things that went on during that time period and it was a really hard but really fascinating thing to see.
The class we are learning about all of this for is Ethics...I really like this class a lot. It just makes me think a lot and its so so so interesting.
Hmmmm. What else has been going on?
OH! Well, tomorrow I am leaving for a whole week (!!!!) to go to Mancora, which is a beach area in Northern Peru. It is supposed to be absolutely gorgeous. Everyone I've talked to about it has been really jealous! :)
My friends and I are renting a house (which was actually cheaper than renting rooms in a hotel) and it looks like paradise!!! Here's a link to pictures of the house: http://www.mancoraperulosalgarrobos.com/condo/index.html
There are also some pretty important archeaological sites nearby which I'm definitely planning on visiting. The last weeks have just been so jam-packed...I'm looking forward to relaxing and finally having some time to read a few books and just hang out with people.
Yesterday was a really good day for me...We went to a birthday party for my "grandma". She is turning 81, but doesn't look like it AT ALL. If I had to guess, I would probably say she is in her late 60's! She is really sweet and it was fun to meet all of the extended family. Two of the older girl cousins were SO nice to me...they were just really helpful in explaining things if I seemed lost. I sometimes feel really bad because I just sit there, listening to everyone else talking, my eyes bouncing back and forth between people. When there are large groups of people talking, its all I can do to just follow and understand the conversation...I can't even think about trying to speak as well!!! I wish that sometimes I would be confident enough/have a good enough idea of what is being said that I COULD just jump in to the conversation...I don't want them to think I am boring or don't want to talk to them...
But these two cousins were really really helpful. One of them is studying to be a translator. Other than Spanish, she speaks German, French and English. The other one is a tour guide. She does tours all over Lima and also other places in Peru, but doesn't go too far because she has a little boy. She studied anthropology in school and lent me a book about Peru. She said I should try to read it and then we are going to get together for coffee and discuss it! I was so excited!!! It was like i was meant to meet these two girls!!! I just felt really confident talking to them in Spanish and it was so great because they've both studied things I am really interested in!
Ok. Well...I think that is it for now because I haven't even started packing for Mancora and we leave in about 4 hours!!!!! I'll post pictures, etc when I get back!
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