How can this BE?

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

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.

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!!!!!!!

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!!!

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.

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!

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!

Smells

One of the top ten reasons I love to travel:
The smells.
As weird as that sounds, its true. Smells just stick with me. Every place has its own unique smell and I just love it because weeks or months or years afterwards, I'll be somewhere and out of the blue there is a smell that brings me back to that other place. It happens to me a lot with Arizona and Bolivia, for some reason. I can't really describe their specific smells but they just bring back really vivid memories. Its such a weird, yet cool feeling.
Peru has a very distinct smell. There are definitely disgusting things, like pollution-y smells. And there is kind of an abundance of rotten egg odor. But there are good smells too. Like the eucalyptus trees in the park where I walk every morning. And the mixed-up smell of all the different foods that are being cooked when you walk by restaurants. And the smell of the beach and the ocean.
I'm excited to smell PERU and remember the time I spent here. :)

In other news....in case you didn't know, yesterday was the International Day of Women. It was really weird because I'd never even heard of that before but here people actually say things to you about it. Bethany's host brother said "Congrats on your day!" to the two of us and someone else told me, "Happy Women's Day!" and gave me a kiss on the cheek. So. I know its a day late but...Feliz dia de la mujer to all the lovely women who are reading this! Un beso!

New Friends and Salsa

I'm sorry my blog posts are less and less frequent. Its just that, having been here for exactly one month and four days, its a little harder to find things to write about. Well, its not hard at all to think of things to say, but a lot of things that were really strange and amazing before have become normal. So I guess what I'm saying is that I'm pretty well adjusted to life here. Its funny because you just get so used to things that used to seem crazy to you.
Anyways, yesterday two really great things happened.
1) We went to a breakfast for all of the international students who are attending our university. (In case I didn't mention this, my classes are all specific to the Luther study abroad program. We have professors from the university but the only people taking our classes are from Luther and we have a different schedule than the normal classes. So, we've already been in class for about a month, but everyone else starts on Mar. 12th. Which is why all of the other international students are arriving now.) Anyways, there are people from all over the place, a pretty big group of girls from China, a few from France, Germany, Poland and I think there were a few others...Its so cool that there are people from so many different places in the world. I'm just SO curious to know what brought each of them to Peru. I talked to the girl from Poland for awhile and she actually went with me and some of my friends to get coffee. It was really cool. I hope we get to hang out again. It was just fascinating hearing her take on Lima and how its different than Poland. She has only been here three days, so she is still in the "Everything is new!" phase. It was fun to think that I was the same way not too long ago...and already I feel like I've been here forever. :) It was just really nice to talk to someone new and feel like I am still making friends! I absolutely love my Luther friends, but we are together SOOOOOO much of the time, I really am feeling the need to branch out and meet some new people.
2) A few of my friends and I took a salsa class. It was a blast. I know Salsa isn't from Peru, or even Latin America at all. I think it originated in New York...(Could be wrong about that...?) but we just all love to dance and wanted to learn and we figured that we are doing so many new things already...might as well add one more new thing to the list! So. We had met this teacher at a free dance class we went to a few weeks ago and he offered to give us private classes. Turns out, though, they weren't really private. We had the lesson in the middle of a sidewalk in a kind of busy park next to the ocean. It was so out-of-the-box for me. At first I was really self-conscious and just felt weird because there were all these people walking by and stopping to watch us. After awhile though, I started to have a lot of fun and was kind of oblivious to the onlookers. We are not by any means good at salsa but we did learn a lot of new steps and its going to be fun to keep practicing.

What's happening to me???!!!

Right now Maruja (my host mom) has an old friend of her husband's visiting from San Francisco. He is a really funny and eccentric guy and his name is Cesar. He has a productions company and a salsa club in SF. Anyways, we went out to eat with Tio Cesar (all of the kids here call adults either Tio or Tia, which means Uncle/Aunt...regardless of whether or not they are actually related.), Tio Loco (yes! That means Crazy Uncle...I don't even know his real name...haha!) and Tio Ponzon. They were Maruja's husband, Jaime's three closest friends. We went to one of the best restaurants in Lima. It was SO GOOD. At first I didn't know what the heck I was going to eat because EVERYTHING on the menu was fish/seafood. Luckily I didn't have to make a decision because we just ordered a bunch of dishes to try...but they were all things that I never would have tried had I not been forced to. And I was forced to. :)
Things I ate:
-Ceviche (raw fish marinated in lime juice with onions and other vegetables)
-Tiradito (raw fish sliced really really thinly in some kind of sauce)
-Oysters
-Shrimp with a spicy concoction of vegetables and sauce
and...(I can't BELIEVE I ate this!!!)...Escargot!!!!!!
Throughout the whole lunch I was thinking to myself, "WHO am I??? I would normally never even try this stuff!!" but it was really delicious and I am really glad they coerced me into tryting everything. (The escargot I could probably have lived without...but everything else was great.)
Anyways, I think that is one of the main things I am gaining from this experience. I'm just much more willing and excited to try things. You kind of have to be when you're in a situation like this.

A Realization!

HI! Ok. First I have to catch you up on some cool things that have happened/are happening!
-Yesterday for our Ethics class we had a round table discussion with Carlos Ferrero, who is a Peruvian congressman. He has been involved in the government for a really really long time and he used to be the Prime Minister of Peru. He worked under President Fujimori, but left when he found out about the corruption that was going on. Now he is part of Toledo's party. (Toledo was a president that followed Fujimori..I think. The political system here is quite confusing and we've only learned about it in Spanish so I THINK I have all these details correct...) He was a really charismatic guy and it was fun to talk to him. It was just really interesting to hear the perspective of someone who has been very close to a lot of the corruption that has happened in the government. He definitely didn't approve of the things that were being done, but he also said that he thought there were more important things that needed to be addressed before corruption, like unemployment. I was really happy that we had the chance to hear his opinions and ask him questions. It was kind of scary, though! We were speaking with a really important government official! In Spanish! I was really nervous that he wouldn't be able to understand me or vice versa. But I thought that everyone asked really good questions and the language thing wasn't really a problem. He was very understanding and didn't mind that we sometimes didn't have any clue what was going on. :) I think we are going to be having more discussions with him in the coming weeks.
-Slightly less intellectual event...:) Tonight I am going to the Backstreet Boys concert!!! Hahaha. I never would have gone in the US (I was more of an N'Sync fan, actually...) but the ticket was only about 25 dollars and a lot of my friends wanted to go. It'll definitely be a fun experience.
-Last night I went to dinner at Bethany's house with my whole family. It was really fun because Bethany's real parents from the US are visiting this week, so they were meeting everyone and getting to see where Bethany lives, etc. Seeing them here was weird (even though they aren't my parents!) because it was like two different worlds merging together. It was really cool, though. Luckily both of our Peruvian moms speak English pretty well, but Bethany's host dad doesn't really, so she had to translate a bit. Ok. Now for my Big Realization. I've been feeling a lot lately like I have no idea what is going on and I just have been kind of hard on myself for not being as good at Spanish as I think I should be. But being around people who couldn't communicate with one another more than with just a few words made me realize how much progress I've made since I've been here. It just made me remember that I really DO understand a lot and I know the general idea of what is going on in a conversation.
Anyways, it was lovely to have dinner with all those lovely people. It made me really really excited for when my parents come to visit me, which is going to be on March 29th!!!
Another thing about last night was that I just felt really thankful to have been placed with my host family. They are really great people and I just love them. I really feel like I am a part of the family!! :) And I'm extra lucky because Bethany's host family and mine do lots and lots of things together. I feel like I have two wonderful Peruvian families!!! :) :) Its just really amazing that these people have been brought into my life.

Regarding cars and the traffic of Lima.

I was riding home from the beach today with my sister, Bethany and Bethany's host mom and thinking about how crazy the driving is here. I would never ever in a million years attempt to drive here. There are no rules and people are just running red lights all over the place and doing all kinds of really crazy things. I try not to sit in the front seat of any vehicle I ride in because it scares me too much to watch what is going on. Anyways, I was just thinking about how amazing it is that people are really insane on the road, but I hadn't seen any accidents AT ALL. Weird, huh? You'd think there would be crashes all over the place. But no, not a single one!

Five minutes after I was thinking about this, we went past a line of four cars that were all smashed together. It wasn 't a terrible accident but it was the first one I'd seen here.

Sorry I've kind of been neglecting my blogging. The last few days have been quite busy. More tomorrow. That day in the sun's worn me out...I need to sleep!

Things that make me laugh. 2

This morning, Bethany and I were walking in this park that is close to her house. (We have been going for power walks every morning! Its so nice to get out and get some exercise and to get to know the neighborhood a little better!) Anyways, we were walking along and kind of got stuck behind these two old ladies who were also walking. When they realized we were behind them they said something along the lines of "Girls!! Pass us! Go ahead! You're younger and much faster!" It was really cute and funny and we kept passing them as we went around the park. So now Bethany and I have walking buddies. :)

Things that make me laugh.

One of the things that makes me laugh: My host brother. Ok, so tonight, I had to stay after classes and work on a group project for tomorrow and I was kind of in a cranky mood because it takes about an hour of driving through scary traffic (Today it was especially scary. I literally thought I was going to die about three or four times.) in a kind of sketchy van (called a combi...I think I described them before?) and I was really really hungry and just ready to be at home. Finally I got home, glad to be alive (!), and I went into the kitchen to have something to eat and in the garden were about 10 of Marcos' friends, all playing poker. So I was just sitting there eating and talking to my host mom and he came in to show us how much money he had won from his friends. Which was actually a lot! And he had sunglasses on, so I asked him why he was wearing them in the dark. And his response was to do this suave James Bond-y gesture and say, "That way....they can't see my expressions! That's how I win all this money." :)
We all burst out laughing. It was really funny.

In other news...(gosh! There are so many things I wanted to write about here...hopefully I'll remember them all....)
We got back yesterday from a really really fun weekend trip! We left last Fri. morning and took a bus to Ica. That is a town about 2 or 3 hours south of Lima. It was just the ten Luther students, our professor and Wendy, our ISA go-to girl. (She is really wonderful. She's 26, from California but her parents are both Peruvian, and her job is basically to help us out when we need it and to plan all the trips that we take together on weekends. Its a lot of work but SO COOL! She gets to travel around and meet tons of people. She is just really fun and I think I would like to have her life in a few years....:)
So..we arrived at our hotel in the afternoon sometime on Fri. The hotel was actually in a place a little further along than Ica, called Oasis de Huacachina. Its this tiny little town that is built around a lake in the middle of the desert. When we got there, we had some time to just hang out, so some of us climbed a sand dune that was right behind the hotel. It was one of those things where we thought we could just run up really quickly but it turned out to be REALLY hard to get up there! (Duh, Kia...its a hill of sand!) My calves were dying and we all had to take lots of breaks but we finally made it up and it was so worth it. We had a gorgeous view of Ica and of the rest of the dunes surrounding the oasis. It was indescribable. Sand dunes are just so...I don't know...there's something very compelling about the desert. After taking lots of pictures, we ran down the dune back to the hotel. That was so much fun. It felt like I was flying down the hill.
When we got back, we went on a dunebuggy ride. Which was AMAZING. Luckily I didn''t read this until after I went but my Peru guidebook says to go at your own risk because the drivers "are notoriously unsafe"...
Our drivers seemed to know what they were doing, though, and it was a blast. It felt like a rollercoaster because they just drive right up and then down the other side of the sand dunes. As we were driving I just keep looking around and marvelling that places like that exist on Earth!!! Its just so incredible! We stopped once in awhile to take pictures and to sandboard, which is exactly like snowboarding but on...SAND! Haha. It was kind of scary at first but when I finally worked up the courage to just go down the hill, it was amazingly fun! I went laying down on my stomach because I didn't think I could go down standing up. It freaks me out to have both of my feet attached to one board...
We kept working up to bigger and bigger dunes and by the end, we were going down some pretty huge ones. It was so so so much fun...probably one of the coolest things I've ever done.
That night we just relaxed by the pool, had dinner, and hung out some more. It was really fun because I feel like we are really getting to know one another better. When you travel with people, I feel like you get closer so much more quickly.

Sunset in the desert!

Our dunebuggy. It looks hardcore, doesn't it? Flames and everything...

Me! Awkwardly standing in the desert.

The next morning, we got up kind of early and went to Paracas, which is a coastal town about an hour and a half away from Ica. From there, we took a boat to the Islas Ballestas (which are sometimes referred to as a Mini Galapagos). It took about 30 min. to get out there and it was really cool once we did. Except for the smell. That was not cool. These islands are absolutely COVERED in birds...pelicans, penguins, tons of different species that all live together there. Which means a lot of bird poop. They call it guano and it actually used to be one of the area's main exports...it was sold as fertilizer. They still collect it and sell it, but now that only happens every 10 years or so. We also got to see an incredible amount of sea lions. There was one beach where all the mothers and their babies were hanging out. It was so cute! They were all rambunctious and noisy. We also went past this kind of run-down looking building that was built on one of the islands and a guy came out and waved to us! The guide explained that he was the guardian of the islands and he lives there alone for months at a time. I think the guardian can go home to see his family once in awhile but other than that he is totally isolated on these islands. I can't even imagine what that would be like....the guide said that the guardian always comes out to wave to the tour boats because its the only human interaction he gets for such long periods of time....Yikes. I don't think I could handle that much isolation.

A view of some of caves in the islands....Sea Lions!!!! This was the beach with moms and babies!

This kind of shows the mix of species on the islands! All the different kinds of birds (penguins in the front!) and a sea lion and that is the guardian's house in the background.
On the way back to shore, our boat ran out of gas. It was kind of funny because we were so close to the shore but we just couldn't make it, so another boat had to come out and replenish our gas tank....the people in the "rescue" boat were video taping and taking pictures of us and it was just kind of a ridiculous situation. :) When we finally got back to shore, we had a delicious lunch of fish and shopped a little bit in the market they had there. It was my FIRST time ever ordering fish in a restaurant...it was all they had. But I'm really glad I did because I liked it a lot. So..that was my big adventurous thing....
After we were all done in Paracas, we drove to Nazca and checked into our hotel there...more hanging out by the pool that afternoon. The next morning (sun.) we had to get up super early to catch our flights over the Nazca lines. The plane was a tiny little four-person one and it was an...interesting plane ride. It was really swervy and there was lots of dipping and sudden turning going on so I felt pretty sick but I still managed to enjoy seeing the lines. It just amazes me that people so long ago could create these shapes that can only be seen from the air. They are so intricate and its pretty incredible. There are lots of theories about why they are there...from being indicators of where water could be found to being linked somehow to the Nazca people's astronomical knowledge/beliefs. It was super interesting and I still can't fathom how these lines even can into existence!

The hummingbird...it was kind of hard to take pictures in the plane...so I apologize if they are cut off, etc.The Spider
After our flight we had breakfast (we were advised not to eat before the flight...GOOD ADVICE!) and then we had a 7 hour drive back to Lima. It was good to get "home" again and see my family.
This was just a really great first trip! It reminded me how much I love travelling and seeing all of these really amazing things. It just makes me feel excited and happy to be alive and I absolutely love the feeling of falling in love with a new place. The only thing that was not good was getting back into the Spanish groove when I came home...we spoke a lot of English on the trip...its really hard to speak Spanish when we are all together.When I came back I could definitely tell that I'd already lost some ground on my Spanish skills. ...I hope that next time we can all make more of an effort to keep speaking Spanish throughout the weekend...I don't want to keep taking steps backward when we do trips like that.

Our next organized trip isn't for awhile but I'm hoping to be able to travel with some friends a few weekends from now...there is so much I want to see here in Peru and I am HERE so I really need to take advantage!
Well, now that its the week again, I've got to go do some homework...
Ciao!

P.S. I had a new kind of potato today!!! It was kind of hard to taste it because it was all mixed in with a sauce and meat and other things, but it was good from what I tasted! So far I've probably had about 7 or 8 types...so I've got to get working on that...haha.

Happy Birthday....

I just got back from a really interesting day!
This morning was just normal...I had breakfast, did some homework, hung out with my sister....the usual. (AH! Its kind of exciting that I actually HAVE a usual routine now!)
Then I went to school a little early because we were having individual meetings with the ISA directors just to make sure everything is going ok with our families and school, etc. So we did that and then went to Ethics class. Our prof was kind of explaining that we were each going to do something experiencial that kind of pertained to our majors. He was speaking in Spanish so I was kind of half-understanding. And then he asked me if I was busy tonight and he said that MY experience was going to be going to his grandmother's 80th birthday dinner! I was kind of taken aback! I didn't really know how that would pertain to Ethics class, but I went to meet him after class and we went to the dinner. (Bethany came along too because it was in the neighborhood where we both live.) He is a second generation Chinese-Peruvian (I don't know how else to say that...:) His grandparents immigrated here from China and they had 12 children and all of those children have married people from all over the place. It was such an incredibly varied group of people. The point of me going was to see the racial diversity in his family because that is the next topic we are discussing in class. It was really incredible because about half of the family looks Chinese but there were also lots of people who look Hispanic and White. It was just really interesting to see and a lot of the people I met were really really nice. They are all just so welcoming and everyone kisses everyone else on the cheek to greet them. I was so surprised because they all acted like it was so natural that there were two random girls at their family gathering. Nobody seemed to wonder where we came from....it was just kind of a "more-the-merrier" attitude. Which seems to be really common here and is something I really love! :)
Anyways, it was a really fun time and I'm glad I got to go!
Tomorrow we are leaving for a weekend trip to Ica, Paracas and Nazca. I'll tell you all about it when I get back!

WAHOOOOO!

Today=A GREAT DAY.
I don't really know why. It just felt good to be here and I understood a lot more and I did some really fun things! :)
This morning, my family's parrot, Camila, was making SO much noise! She can talk but really only says "Hola". Its cute at first and really funny but when you hear it 20 billion times at 6 in the morning, it gets old. Fast. But that was ok because I got up and just kind of lazed around for awhile. I am definitely enjoying the slower pace... :)
Breakfast was really good today too! I had this cereal that is made in Peru called Kwincha Pop (or something similar...I can't exactly remember...) but it was delicious!
After breakfast, I went with Bethany to Parque Kennedy (which is named after JFK!). Its pretty close to our houses (only a 5 min. bus ride away) and around it are lots of shops and restaurants. We went shopping a bit and bought a book that we needed for our history class. I loved looking around the bookstores. Its kind of different because each individual book is wrapped in plastic...it makes me kind of sad because I can't just go and read parts of different books. That is probably my favorite thing about bookstores...but I guess they don't want you doing that here! (David-If you're reading this, I found The Book Thief in SPANISH (El Ladron de los Libros)!!! I think I'm going to buy a copy!!! )
After shopping, we went to a cute little cafe and sat on a table on the sidewalk. It turns out that we both like Hawaiian pizza which made us both very happy since not many people do. :) We had coffee too and just relaxed there for awhile. Its hard to speak Spanish with each other because its so much easier sometimes to just explain something in English...but we're trying to speak only Spanish. More often it ends up being a mix of the two...Spanglish!
It was great to just hang out and talk about what we're thinking/feeling about everything here.
After lunch, we walked around Parque Kennedy for a little while and discovered La Calle de Pizza!! There are TONS of pizza restaurants all in the same street. They are all cute and look very picturesque and Italian. I really want to go there to eat sometime...but how to choose which of the 20 restaurants?!?!
We had to get to school from the park and we couldn't really figure out the bus thing from there because we only really know how to take it from our houses, so Bethany and I took a taxi to school which was really fast! We got to school in about 1/2 the time it normally takes which was kind of nice.
Classes were much better today. I understood so much more and I just felt better about the rest of the semester. Its pretty tiring still to have three hours of class in Spanish, but after class today, I feel like I can do this! Today we had history and ethics classes.
Here's the schedule:
Mon.-Latin American Literature and Culture
Tues.-Latin American History/Contemporary Ethical Issues in Latin America
Weds.-Advanced Oral Communication
Thurs.-Same as Tues.
So. Those are the classes I'm taking. So far, I really like the literature class....I just love analyzing things and finding symbols, etc. :) :) And doing it in Spanish is pretty hard, but twice as rewarding.
The Ethics class is interesting as well. Right now we are taking about corruption in Peruvian government.

After class we had a meeting with the ISA program directors to talk about our weekend trip!! I am super excited for it! We are headed to Ica, Paracas and Nazca!!! I don't know how many people know what the Nazca lines are but they are these shapes (animals, etc.) that are kind of carved into the desert near the town of Nazca. They've been there for a really long time and its kind of a mystery how they got there. There are theories about them being a signal for aliens...but also some more plausible theories as well! ;) You have to fly in a plane to really see them because they are so big.
Paracas is really close to the Ballestas Islands, which is supposed to be like a mini Galapagos and we are taking a boat ride out to them.
In Ica, we are going to a place where we can sandboard, which is basically like snowboarding but on sand dunes!!!
I'm super pumped for this trip. All of the things we're doing seem like so much fun and I'm excited to see a bit more of Peru.
Well, that's about it for today.
Besos!

Pictures!

Bethany and I at the beach house!

Punta Hermosa-the beach we went to. There were SO many people there!

The church we visited. The catacombs are beneath the square in front of the church.

My Peruvian friend, Claudia, and I in the Plaza San Martin

The concert we went to in the Plaza de Armas

Poco a poco

Whew!!! So, I've neglected to post for a few days and now I have tons of things to tell you!
Last Friday in the afternoon I went to a place called Larcomar to meet up with everyone from our group. Larcomar is kind of a mall, but it is outside and overlooks the ocean. Its a gorgeous view! There are all kinds of things there, from clothes stores to restaurants to discotecas! I haven't taken any pictures of that yet, but I will soon! :)
Anyways, we hung out there for a while and got some ice cream. We were all kind of feeling overwhelmed after the first day of class, so it was nice to just relax and be able to talk about all of the things we are experiencing. A lot of people are having trouble getting used to the attitudes towards food here!
First of all, the food is great. There is, of course, lots of seafood! Rice is eaten with every single meal and most of the time there is some type of potato as well. Chicken is also one of the main things to eat. So far, my favorite dish is Lomo Saltado. But I've had some other really good things too! I've been very adventurous...yesterday I tried squid!! And I also tried the national dish, ceviche, which is fish marinated in lime juice. They were both pretty good. The other day I was really surprised because I came down to breakfast and we were having grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. It was kind of bizarre to eat that at 8 in the morning! But its pretty common here, I guess.
The thing with food here is that they feed us SO MUCH of it! Its delicious but sometimes I cannot physically eat everything on my plate! Our program directors told us that giving people food is a way to show love and caring but sometimes its just way too much. I feel bad because I end up wasting quite a bit of food, but they won't let me serve myself...My host mom keeps saying that I don't eat very much and that she thinks I will get "more hungry" the longer I am here. :)

Two other things that are strange to adjust to:
1) Having a maid/housekeeper. Its very common for middle class families here to have empleadas (maids). They often live in the house with the family and a lot of times they are just considered part of the family. The empleada in our house is named Sofia. She is really really nice and I love talking to her. She has a few kids and grandkids who also live in Lima, but she is from a small town somewhere northeast of here. (At least I THINK that is right....sometimes its kind of hard to know if I've understood things correctly.) She lives on the top floor of the house and does all of the cooking and cleaning. I feel kind of guilty sometimes because I'm pretty used to doing most things for myself. At every meal I try to clear my place at the table, just out of habit, but they won't let me! She also comes and makes my bed and straightens up the things in my room every morning, which is really bizarre. I know its pretty normal here, but its something that makes me feel a little weird sometimes.
2) People being very blunt. In the US it seems like we are always trying to be politically correct and not hurt anyone's feelings. Here, people call it like it is. Which I actually really like, but sometimes it seems a little strange. The other night, my friend Bethany and I were talking to my host mom and her brother and they both kept saying that he was very fat and needed to lose weight. Both Bethany and I said that losing weight would be good but that we didn't think he was fat and that he was fine just the way he is. Afterwards, I realized how programmed I am to try not to offend anyone! Its just really interesting to see all of these differences in the way people think and behave. Its like a continuous anthropology class and I LOVE IT!

Back to the events of the weekend:
On Friday night, we went to a concert in the Plaza de Armas, which is the main square in the center of Lima. The concert was right in front of a cathedral and it was gorgeous! It was a national youth orchestra, with kids from ages 8 and up who are from all over Peru. I was so happy to see the kids who were cellists! It made me miss being able to play! (I thought it was really funny because when I do have my cello, practicing can sometimes be more like a chore, but now that I don't have it with me, I want to play so badly!!!) The orchestra was really good and it was fun to hear a few songs that I've played before in orchestra! The other part of the concert was a well-known Peruvian singer, Ruben Flores, who is the host dad of one of the students in our group. It was fun because when he was singing, they had some traditional dancers on stage as well. The president of Peru was supposed to be there to say a few words, but he didn't show up....I never really figured out why.
After the concert, we went to a salsa restaurant/bar with the whole group which was really fun.

On Saturday, we had an intercambio activity. ISA puts them on and they are really fun because they invite Peruvian university students along. Its great practice to talk to them and really fun to be making some friends who are from Peru and are our age! We went to a church near the center of Lima which was really beautiful. The library was absolutely incredible. It had these really cool spiral staircases inside of it and tons of ancient books and...AH! I could have spent hours just looking at that room. There were also tons of huge paintings and the architecture was really pretty. The coolest part, though, was the catacombs which we got to go down in. There were salas de tortura (torture rooms) and loads of compartments with human bones in them. There must have been thousands of people's bones down there. It was a little creepy but also fascinating. Afterwards, we went to el Barrio Chino (Chinatown) and had chifa, which is the Peruvian version of chinese food. Its pretty similar to American chinese food but a little less greasy. I liked it a lot.

After the intercambio thing, Bethany, our friend Kelly and I took a taxi back to our houses because our three families were going to THE BEACH! Kelly's host mom rents a house at Punta Hermosa, which is about 30 min. away from Lima. My host mom's brother also has a friend who lets him use a house there. We all loaded our stuff into the car and were off!
I've seen this so many times before but it struck me again as we were driving through the outskirts of Lima...there is a lot of poverty here. Its so weird that one minute you can be in a really nice, really safe neighborhood and then 10 minutes later, you are driving past these run-down shacks that people live in. Its kind of hard to see. I know that there is this kind of poverty in a lot of places in the world, but its especially visible here and such an extreme opposite of the houses and neighborhoods where our host families live.
On the highway on the way to the beach, there are tons of stands that are selling swimsuits, beach balls, and lots of other beach-y things. You can just pull over to one and buy what you need and then continue on to the beach! It seemed really strange but its probably quite convenient if you realize you've forgotten something!
The beach was really fun. We arrived in the late afternoon on Sat. and changed into our suits. I went swimming for a long time with Ale and it was a blast. The waves were really big although the water was a bit chilly...we got used to it after a few minutes. That night we watched the sunset, which was absolutely magnificent. We kind of just hung out and relaxed that night at Maruja's (my host mom) brother's friends house. :)
On Sun. we spent the morning on the beach and I got pretty sunburned! My shoulders and back are pretty sensitive today. I thought I was pretty good about sunscreen too! I put it on at least 4 or 5 times in about 3 hours so I thought I would be ok, but the sun is SO strong here. We didn't swim as much yesterday because the waves were even bigger and a bit more dangerous.
The whole day was just super relaxing and lovely. I love spending time at the beach.
It was a really great weekend.

Today, I have just been calling people..my parents and some friends. Its so good to talk to people and hear their voices! I haven't been as homesick in the last few days, but I still miss everyone and I miss MN/IA a lot. Even though I don't miss the cold weather. I have my second day of classes later today, which I am a little nervous for, but not too bad...things will get better poco a poco. (Little by little).
I'm going to try and post a few pictures now...we'll see if I can figure out how!
Love you all lots!!!
Kia

Confusion.

Yesterday was our first day of classes here. We had an Ethics class for one hour. (Its the equivalent of Paideia capstone at Luther...for those of you who know what that is!) After that we had a history class for two hours. It was pretty overwhelming and we all came out of there feeling really tired and a bit confused. Its a really hard to focus for three hours in general...but three hours PLUS having to do it all in Spanish was intense. It will get better little by little but yikes! That was a really really hard day.
I'm kind of glad though that our group is all taking classes together. I think it would be even more overwhelming if I was the only one who didn't know what was going on! :) At least we are all in the same boat.
After classes we went to Metro (which is a kind of Wal-Mart-like store that has pretty much everything you can think of) and we all bought cell phones!! They are pretty cheap here They were about 23$ US. (Which is 69 Nuevo Soles. The exchange rate is about 1$ to 3 Soles right now.) Most of the phones here are the pre-pay kind, so we have to buy minutes as we go. Its going to be nice to have them so we can call our families and call one another.
After getting the whole cell phone thing figured out, we took our the combis to our houses. It was out first time riding them alone and a little scary but a lot of us ride the same one, so it wasn't a huge deal. Combis are these tiny little vans that go pretty much everywhere in the city. They are really cheap to ride (only 1.5o soles...which is about 50 cents!) but they're a little crazy! A guy hangs out of the side of the van, yelling to people where they are headed. They cram a lot of people in and its kind of hard to know when you need to get off or how to tell them you need to get off. The first few times I rode them, I could not figure out what was going on because I had no idea where I was! Now I'm starting to be a bit more familiar with things and I know which block and the street I need to get off and on at. So that is good! :)
Last night, I was so exhausted from classes, etc. and I was feeling pretty homesick, so my host sister and I just watched a movie and then I went to bed kind of early. Its kind of surprising how tired you get just having to concentrate so hard...I have been getting a lot of headaches!!! :)
Anyways, today, I'm not really sure what I am doing but I think my host mom is just going to show me around the neighborhood a bit more.

Rompemuelles

Hola!!!
I finally have time to post something!! It has been such a whirlwind since the moment we stepped off of the plane!! We arrived pretty late on Monday night and then had to wait a long long time in the lines to get our passports stamped and go through customs. We finally got everyone through (there are eleven of us-one professor and 10 students) and Wendy, who is one of the directors of our program, was waiting for us.
It was really really surreal to finally be here. It didn't really hit me until the next morning that I AM IN LIMA, PERU!!! :)
Anyways, we were driven to our host families' houses. I was the first one to be dropped off and I was REALLY nervous to meet them, but it was so late that my family just came out to say hi, showed me my room and the bathroom and said "Buenas noches!" I was kind of relieved, to be honest....after spending the entire day in the airport, I didn't feel prepared to converse in Spanish!

The next morning, I got to talk to my family and get to know them a bit more. I have a host mother, Maria (but people call her Maruja), a host sister, Alejandra, and a host brother, Marcos. Ale is 12 and Marcos is 17. For the first couple days he wouldn't talk to me. Ale and Maria said that he is just very shy...tonight, though I talked to him for a really long time. It made me laugh because he was so quiet before but now that I've got him talking to me, he won't stop!!! Which is great. He speaks very fast and uses lots of slang so I am learning a lot from talking to him.

So. I don't really know where to start describing all the things we've done in the past two days. We had two orientation sessions, one for ISA (International Studies Abroad) which is the organization that planned our program and one for USIL (Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola-our university). It was good to finally know more details about what classes we are taking and when they are, etc. We start classes at 2 every afternoon and end at 6. Its really different because we have each class only once a week. So every day is a different class, but it lasts three hours. AND we only have classes Mon.-Thurs. WAHOO!!! :) Fridays are free so that we can travel, etc.

Yesterday evening, we went to a restaurant that had a buffet of many traditional Peruvian foods....I was feeling a little sick so I didn't eat much, but I did try some of the dishes with chicken and a dish called lomo saltado, which is beef with onions and peppers and some other vegetables and it has a really good spice. Also I had something called La Causa, which is a very very yellow type of potato that is mashed into a ball and topped with kind of a tuna salad. (Potato #1-CHECK! Only 3999 left!) Lots of people also ate pulpo (which is octopus) and we all tried the national drink, Pisco Sour. It was good but REALLY strong, so I couldn't drink the whole thing. Overall, the food is really really good. After eating, the restaurant puts on a show of different Peruvian dances. It was really fun to see the variety of styles there are here and all of the different dresses and costumes they wear for the traditional dances.

Today, after the USIL orentation, we went to a place called Larcomar, which is really close to my house (and my friend Bethany's house! We only live about 2 blocks from one another!!!). Its sort of a mall/park thing. We met with some Peruvian students and got ice cream with them and then walked to a place where we took a salsa class. It was really fun but REALLY hot in the room we were in. It made me want to really learn how to salsa well. Its so much fun and the people who were teaching us gave a demonstration at the end that made me want to learn really badly. Wendy (one of the directors of the program) said that every Weds. night, they have free dance classes and afterwards they open up to the public and you can practice what you've learned. I think I might go sometime!

After the dance class, we went on a bus tour of downtown Lima. It was a blast because we sat on the top level of a double decker bus and we could take lots of pictures and see everything! (I will upload some pictures tomorrow.) There are lots of really beautiful buildings and parks (plazas) in the city. We went to a park that had a bunch of different fountains in it and one of them was kind of a show with music, etc. (It was like the fountains at the Bellagio in Las Vegas)

Bethany and I were trying to remember all of the new vocabulary we've learned on the bus ride. Every time we went over a speed bump we would say the word for it, which is rompemuelle. It literally means something that breaks the car's suspension (or something like that.) When we were doing that I had a very philosophical moment. :) I was thinking that the last few days have been a lot like that bus ride. I've been moving so fast and having such a great time, but there are times when I hit a rompemuelle and I just feel like if I don't slow down, I'll fall apart. I love it here and things are exciting and fun, but I am feeling pretty overwhelmed. Lima is aboslutely enormous (8 million people!!!) and having to communicate only in Spanish is really challenging. I talked to Maria and Marcos for about 2 hours tonight and I probably only understood about a third (actually probably less!) of what they said. Its frustrating and scary but I do feel like my Spanish has already improved a bit. Its so incredible to me that our brains can so easily make the transition from one language to another. Already I am starting to think in Spanish! I was looking for something in my room today and I found myself saying out loud, "Donde lo puse????" (Where did I put it?) It took me a minute to realize it, but I was really excited because its already starting to become a habit and somewhat natural.

Well, I think I need to go to bed. I'm really really tired....today's been a long day! A good one, though.

I'll try and post more pictures and give details about my family and my house tomorrow. :)
I love you all and miss you lots!! Besos!! (Kisses)

My Mission For The Next Four Months

You are probably thinking that I've gone crazy. Why in the world would Kia title her blog "4000 Potatoes" when she says it is going to be about her time in Peru? Well, let me tell you. Its because I was reading about Peru the other day and apparently there are 4000 different varieties of potatoes in Peru. They are really crazy looking too! There are some that are purple, some that are really curved and some that have lots of bumps all over them. So. I promised my dad that I would try every single type of potato in Peru. Which averages to roughly 40 per day. Think I can't do it? HA! Watch me. (Actually I feel like it would be pretty much impossible and I would become very very very sick of potatoes, which I don't want to be because they are a staple food in Peru.)
Anyways...enough about potatoes....I leave tomorrow early early in the morning!!! I cannot believe that its already here. I am so very excited, but I'm also nervous! Its odd to think that I'll be gone for about four months, but I know that its going to be absolutely amazing.
So, I should probably go to bed since we have to be at the airport at 4 am tomorrow!!!
I hope you have fun reading about my experiences in Peru! :) :)