Mmmmm... Chirimoya!

Classes have begun! Now it is really time to buckle down and learn. But honestly I wish I did not have to bother. I would really not mind at all spending my days in the various cafes that Miraflores has to offer, sipping strong peruvian espresso and reading leasurely. But instead I travel 45 minutes to an hour every day on a combi to arrive at PUCP the university in which I have enrolled. So glad to be paying for my stress and sleep deprivation. I'm only half joking... I really like my classes my favorite is called Etnografia Andina, an anthropology class where we study andean history and culture. The campus is okay. It feels smaller than I thought it was and I cannot figure out if it is really just a small campus or if there is still more that I have not yet discovered. There are deer there. Little deer wander freely throughout the campus. No one

bothers them and they don't bother anyone else. They do not leave the campus they just stay there all the time and graze. So strange.

Last weekend I went on an adventure with a couple of guys from the IFSA program. We decided we needed to get out of the city and find some sun! So we decided we would go about an hour north to a small town called Chosica. On our way there a passenger in our car pool as well as the driver told us that if we wanted to be out in nature a little we should not go to Chosica but continue on about 20 minutes farther to Santa Eulilia where there would be trails for hiking and lots to see and do. So we decided to continue on. When we got there we were very excited because we could almost touch the mountains on either side of the town. We just had to figure out how to get to them. So we asked some mountain bikers where the hiking trails were and they said we were definately in the wrong place. This was not the best place for hiking and we needed to continue on about 20 minutes farther. So back in the cab we went to find the PERFECT hiking trail... not even necessarily what we had set off to find in the first place. But regardless on we went on a winding, bumpy dirt road in a cab driven by a 15 year old I'm almost certain only to reach a dead end where the driver dropped us off. We asked him where we should go to hike and he mumbled something very quickly in spanish and pointed and we all acted as if we understood exactly what we were told to do and walked away in the direction in which he advised us to go.

So we walked along the dirt road which took us up along the side of a mountain. As we walked up the view go better and better. The best part was that the sky was blue and the sun was hot! I absolutely love Lima but it is almost always gray, chilly, and the air is thick with pollution. So this was a really wonderful break.

Just when we were about ot turn around we started to enter into a little town. It was called Callahuanca and it was absolutely precious! We all decided it was our favorite place in Peru thus far. There were dogs and chickens and donkeys roaming the streets. Small, narrow roads with no cars or honking horns. There was a little cookout going on in the town center where about 6 people were having lunch. People had their doors open and on the tables were piles of chirimoya ( a yummy fruit which is apparently very abundant in Callahuanca ). We had chirimoya ice cream and bought a chirimoya wine as well as some fresh chirimoya to take back home with us. What a great adventure! We were thoroughly satisfied by the time we returned home to Miraflores.

Here are some pictures from the trip:

The view from the road was gorgeous!

David holding hands with the chirimoya.

The guys being really creative for their photo op

There were these crosses all over the road leading up to Callahuanca. There was a head of Jesus in a box in every one of them. I'm not sure what the story is behind it but I would be very interested to find out!

Heaven! / Callahuanca!

The guys on the combi on the way down the mountain. It was really full so we had to stand. They were about as nervous as they look in the picture.

Off north again to Huancayo this weekend with some friends from the program. We will take a night bus and arrive there at about 6:00a.m. I feel like I am never sure what to expect but after last weekend I am ready for more adventure!

There have been requests for pictures of Dina and Klaus so here is my family!

Dina and Me.

Dina and Klaus. Klaus being silly with a scarf on his head.

Mi casita!

I have been in Lima for 2 weeks going through a slightly tedious yet very helpful orientation period. One session was called "surviving in Lima" a theme thoroughly enjoyed and a strategy high on my priority list especially in these first two weeks.


I thought I would share some... wait for it.... PHOTOS! since I know everyone is itching to see where I am living and what I have been doing.

This is my casita:


Here is the foyer from the viewpoint of my bedroom. I really lucked out with my house it is beautiful and unusually large for houses in Lima.




Here is the kitchen- the table where I eat breakfast every morning. Dina and I usually share 2 meals a day - breakfast and dinner. Avocado or Palta ( not aguacate) is a very common food here and is eaten at almost every meal. Peru is also the home of the potato! So they are almost always present at lunch and dinner. I have not had a shortage of food thus far - everything is delicious and Dina is an excellent cook!

The lovely sitting room.

This is a little outdoor patio - the stairs lead to the roof where Dina has her garden and her bedroom. Today the sun came out a little bit so it looks really pretty!

Here is the dining room - this is where we eat when there are more people here. Dina and Klaus' home is something like a bed and breakfast but for close friends and friends of friends. When I first came there was a family of 8 from Denmark - it was so interesting because a couple of them could speak english and danish but not spanish, one girl spoke all 3 languages. So there were languages flying all over the place it was absolutely crazy and I absolutely loved it!

I would say the house is similar to houses at home except it would not look like a house from the outside. All of the streets are pretty much lined with walls with little shops and doors that lead to peoples' homes. You generally cannot tell the size of the house from the outside. Next time I will share photos of Dina and Klaus, my host father, who I met for the first time today. He has just returned from Denmark where he was visiting his children. He speaks spanish with a heavy Danish accent and is very quiet and sweet. He is also very tired from traveling all day ( it is about 2a.m. in Denmark right now). A couple of his friends came to visit and we all had a Pisco sour, a common Peruvian cocktail which consists of Pisco, lime juice and egg whites. Que rico!!

Aside from enjoying my pleasant abode I have been exploring Miraflores and spending time with the other students from my program. Everyone is great we meet up for coffee and lunch at little chifas - restaurants that serve a chinese/peruvian fusion cuisine. I love that we can go to a new place everyday and know that there is still so much more to see and do. There are also some frustrations that we have learned are a part of life here in Lima. Inefficiency is the state of existence. Counterfeit money is a serious problem. It is not uncommon for a cashier, taxi driver, or vendor to not accept your money. They examine every bill for water marks and every coin for the correct color and texture. There is also very little self-serve services. To buy a pen you must go to a store that sells things like notebooks, pens, folders, etc. and ask the person at the counter for 3 black pens with dry ink. This is just the beginning. They ring you up and give you a receipt. Then you must take the receipt to the cashier to pay for the pens. But sometimes they don't give you a reciept and you have to tell them how much you owe and they look you up on the computer. The cashier then gives you another slip which you take to another counter to recieve your pens. This is how almost every purchase works and I suppose this process creates jobs for 2 more people per store but it is also extremely time consuming and classically inefficient.

I don't have many other complaints. I am loving the city life! There are always people walking around enjoying the park, eating icecream and enjoying the company of friends. There is a lot of passing time with friends and Peruvians take their time with arrivals and departures. Last weekend I went out to lunch in Barrancos with Dina and her French friend Anes. Lunch turned into a 3 hour event while we waited for an hour for another friend to join us. After lunch we were scheduled to have "a glass of wine" with Dina's neice who is an anthropologist and her husband who is a writer. One glass turned into 3 bottles and we did not end up leaving until 8 o'clock at night! So is the leisure of life in Peru!

The traffic is another story. It is fast paced and more hectic than you could ever imagine. Pavement lines mean nothing, turn signals are rarely used, and the sound of honking horns has become like the boy who cried wolf - no one listens because the honking is constant. And the busses - or combis - are an experience like no other! In the door of every combi there is a person who hangs out of the door and yells the name of the streets and landmarks where the combi will stop. "Sube Sube Sube!!" ( Up up up! ) and then everyone rushes on and either stands or sits depending on how crowded the bus is. And the bus takes off. Sometimes people come on and try to sell you candy, sometimes people come on and play music. You never really know what is going to happen on the combi. And they are cheap! it costs 1 sol 20 ( about 50 cents) to get across town. You must always know how much it costs though or the cobrador will try to over charge you when they see your blonde hair, blue eyes and fair skin which scream GRINGA! at the top of their lungs.

So this is just some of life in Lima. Too much to tell in one sitting so for now I will leave it at that.

Green Means Go...

August 2, 2009

A long day of traveling yesterday but finally I am here in Lima, Peru! I would say that my experience last night at customs was the easiest I have ever been through. Once you are off the plane everyone begins walking as fast as possible to try to beat everyone around them to immigration because the line grows quickly. But it was so late that I think even the immigration officers were anxious to get us through. No questions asked, stamp, stamp. Then at customs its just a big glob of people trying to get to one of the three green posts with the telltale button. This button tells you if your luggage is going to be checked. So you cross your fingers and press the button, visualizing in your mind nothing but the color green in hopes that you are allowed to pass through without having the disfortune of all of your belongings frisked by security. Lucky for me, I was mistaken as a member of the family who was standing in front of me and was quickly sent through customs without having to press the button. Nice.

Driving through Lima on a Saturday night around 1 o'clock in the morning was an experience as well. So many clubs and discotecas bustling with all kinds of people, neon lights illuminated in the misty sky. At our hotel I'm pretty sure we all crashed within a minute of falling into bed.

Today we met and had a delicious lunch with our host families. My host mother, Dina, entered the office calling out, "Donde esta mi hija, donde esta mi hija??" (Where is my daughter?) She is a very sweet woman who stands about as high as my shoulders but she is also a very strong and social woman. We went for a walk through our neighborhood, through the park that is just a block from our house, and to the grocery store where we bought some things for breakfast. She pointed out many cafes and restaurants that I am looking forward to passing time reading and hopefully meeting some other young travelers.

The language barrier is difficult but even as I have gone through the day today Ihave become more comfortable. However, I will definately admit that I am nervous about taking all of my classes in spanish this year. What a challenge it will be!

A few pre-departure thoughts...

My mom said its the day of "lasts".. the last walk with the dog, the last lunch out, the last supper... yet oddly enough, I don't even feel like I'm leaving. I know that I won't be here tomorrow, but I don't even have a picture in my mind of where I will be tomorrow and what I will be doing. In a way this is advantageous: since I do not have a pre-existing image of what my experience of Peru will be like, I will not be disappointed that my mental image did not match my experience. Something else that is odd is that this last week has gone by extremely slow. I was certain that come last monday, my last week in the states would absolutely fly by. But it has seemed to crawl in slow motion. Not that the last week has painfully dragged along, but it has been an unusually long week... in a good way. I have noticed myself appreciating my home, taking in the scenery that has become so routine and comfortable to me. This particular day seemed almsost surreal. Like it was extra normal.. so usual.. but every moment was a little bit more colorful and vibrant. I feel ready to go. I'm done talking about this adventure and I'm ready to actually do it.

Here's to an adveture of a lifetime! Thanks to friends and family who have supported me in this and who have stood behind me and who have assured me that this is not only the right decision but the absolute best.