Things are going to pick up QUICK for me here. I posted a few pics... will try and post some more but the internet shuts down so it is rare that the posts actually work. I'm learning a lot of patience :). The pics are all around Cuzco, Machu Picchu.... Some of the ones I really wanted to post didn't- like I said it's hit or miss.
Things are pretty routine here...when routine is waking up to breathe in some fresh air (literally because I have a window that is wide open in my room that doesn't have glass) and hoping into a freezing cold shower. I've learned that I have to shower early or else I'm accompanied by the construction workers who work at the same level as my bathroom where there is also a window that is actually just a hole in the wall. I've had a few moments where I've gone into the bathroom and have been eye-to-eye with some of them- akward! Then there is the normal arguing with my host mom at the breakfast table that I've had enough to eat and wishing they let their dog in the house so I could feed some of my toast to it. After that- brush the teeth and pack my bag to take the 20 min walk uphill to school. My school is on the main avenue...avenida del sol- so there is always lots of traffic and hussle and bussle. It is kinda wierd dodging cars, people, llamas, alpacas...you name it. I get lots of comments that I pretend I don't hear and just keep my forward pace. Yesterday at the market my favorite comment was this guy who approached me and asked me real seriously.."Cuando me vas a casar?" When are you going to marry me? That one at least got a smile out of me... creativity points for that guy!
School is good- Had my morning lesson with my tandem student- Kely... more of a friend now. Today we walked to a bookstore and I bought a Spanish/English dictionary... I'll need it for teaching. Next week is supposed to be intense.. I'll be teaching classes to the students here. Kinda nervous for that. BUT- there is more to focus on before that. This afternoon I'm going with Alfonso & his wife to get all of our materials ready to take to the village.. we are leaving at 5 am tomorrow morning and will be gone all day. There is much unknown to this trek....but I know it will be an adventure for sure. We bought notebooks, pencils, erasers, all the basic school supplies. Greg's organization "Sense the World" sent down a bunch more supplies and we are doing the big trek to deliver it all tomorrow. There are rumors of taking some via horseback- but you just never know what will actually happen???
The afternoon should be normal as well... I'll go home to some loud music bumping in the house and my host brothers who have decided to finally get out of bed will be ready to give me a hard time. I think they wait anxiously until I get home to harrass me...but with good intentions. They are like little kids. There is always soccer on the TV and chyada our cat is always waiting for attention.... pretty comfortable little living pad for me.
There have been a few moments that have brought a smile to my face...just those moments when you stop and think "where in the world am I?" in a good sense....
*The other afternoon when I was riding horses with Dan and he was on this little tiny horse that was galloping & he was holding on for life yelling "ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch".... I seriously laughed SOOOOOO hard the entire ride just watching his face. That was a good moment.
*Walking down the street the other day (most of the streets are made of stones & are really narrow) and this little girl had two sheep and a little dog and they were tied together. She was having SO much fun running along with them laughing. Every now and then the dog would go on one side of a post and the sheep on the other and they'd get all tangled up and the girl (about 5) would fall over laughing. It was priceless to watch the girl with her pets.
*Getting spit on by a llama...... believe them when they say if they put their ears back they'll spit!
*Riding home on a bus from Kely's house yesteday on a little bus that was PACKED with peruvians. I was obviously the only gringa on the bus and this lady had three little kids about 3 & 4 yrs old and they kept saying "mama look at that girl". The mom was so embarrased and tried to appologize- but the kids so innocently kept going on and on and on about how white I was and with "clear" hair and "colored" eyes. They stared at me the whole trip... Gotta love kids and their honesty.
*The other day erin and I tried to buy some nail polish remover that costed less then a sole...so about .50 cents.... it was SUCH a process to get it and we were dying laughing. First you have to go to the counter and order what you want. Then you go to another part of the store and pay and get the paper work. Then we went to another place to get the paperwork stamped....then we took the paperwork, with the stamp back over to another window to exchange it for our nail polish that was worth .50 cents...... quite the process to buy something here.
There are so many images I see every day that i wish I could describe... all the markets I pass and people with their business up and down the streets...selling anything you could think of. Lots of poverty here. Much more evident then in Costa Rica. I want to try some of the foods that they sell in the bakerys etc, but I've been hesitant and STUFFED so haven't done that yet. I'm craving some good old cookies and cream ice cream though- that is for sure :).
I'm going to be off on my adventure tomorrow so I'll write more when I get back...
Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Cuzco- The norm
Walking down the street today there were so many experiences in my normal day that I thought of that I haven´t written about. The big moments & trips have been great- but there is a whole nother degree of my trip- which is experiencing the daily routine of Cuzco. My living situation is a ¨condo¨which I´m pretty sure is considered nice living here in Peru. It is a cement 3 story house that is stacked high rather then having width. I live in a room with 2 other beds (anyone want to come visit?) and a private bathroom... but it is pretty basic. I´ve had about 2 warm showers since I´ve been here- as you can imagine shower time is not my favorite time of the day. It isn´t like in Costa Rica where it is 80 degrees outside... it is COLD. Cold plus cold water= not fun. But there is good and bad to every place you live in life I suppose.
My host family as I´ve said are great... I came in at a moment that they are going through a lot of hard stuff. The boys try and not show it as much- but I can see it in them somedays. I am thankful that I´m here at this time as I´ve tried to keep a upbeat attitude and keep them laughing with my attempts to speak Spanish- when all else fails, SMILE :). They hardest part has been keeping up with the food. I am not used to having 3 meals a day. We sit down for three full meals. Breakfast is always toast with Jam & tea- sometimes fruit. Lunch is between 1-2 and everyone makes the trek home to eat together. Dinner is usually around 8 & by the time I´m done eating 3 full meals I´m exhausted just from the eating. I try and pawn the food off to Juanca & Richy... but they make sure to give me a hard time for not finishing first. The food for the moment is okay as I have lost a lot of weight. My pants are falling off my waist...but I´m sure I won´t have that problem for too long. Several students have gotten the same illness as me- but it has sat them out all together. Fortunately I´ve been feeling good- but they say it is pretty common that once you get this bug it comes back... I can feel it kinda dormant in me and I´m trying to be very careful to take care of myself so it can´t fight back.
Classes have been good- but the best part has been my tandem class- my one on one with a peruvian student. I was fortunate to get partnered with a girl (kely) my same age that has become more like hanging out with a friend then having a class. I had NO girl friends from Costa Rica (they wanted nothing to do with me) so it has been so FUN to have a friend here!!! We wonder around Cuzco and talk & it has helped with my conversational Spanish a lot more then the actual class.
On Tuesday after lunch I went out to find Dan bc he had been in Cuzco for a while and I hadn´t made contact with him. We met up at the Plaza and he was traveling with a friend and we decided to hike up to one of the highest parts of Cuzco- a place called ¨sacsayhuaman¨ to the gringos... where there are ruins and at the top we met a guy that had horses and offered us a ride for 20 soles...like 6 dollars. We took him up on it & it was a brilliant afternoon. We went to this stable with these little horses that we rode around on through the country side and up to the temple of the moon. It was beautiful. By the temple you could walk around through parts of the inca trail and see the walls they built at the very beginning. Pretty incredible. Sooooo much history here. There were rocks that were sculptured into monkeys, snakes, and a puma... but they were broken up (smashed up) by the Spaniards.... quite interesting. They aren´t really perserving the stuff- you could walk right up to it and touch it... I imagine that they are going to have to tighten the reigns on the artifacts and machu picchu in coming years or it will be destroyed quickly....
It took me a few hours to walk home from that adventure and I was exhausted. Wednesday was the first day i could eat again so my body was achy and weak- but it was good to get some fresh country air in my lungs. Yesterday was a good day also.... Did all my school and watched Liverpool tie. Did errands... laundry day- I needed it! I wore flip flops to meet kely the other day and it was cold and she asked me if I was crazy ¨no I ran out of socks¨I told her and she laughed and laughed and laughed at me. For some reason I was nervous to take my laundry- but it was quite painless... just had to go pick it back up around 8:30 last night. Everywhere i go here I walk- so I have to plan on leaving 20- 30 mins before I need to be somewhere. It has been quite nice...when it is not raining.
I didn´t think it´d be sooo cold here- but this week has been a bit nicer. I thought I´d die when I first got here it was so cold. Today has been beautiful. I went to a market called Molina this morning with kely & there you can find ANYTHING. It isn´t a tourist market- but for the locals. I bought a few DVD´s- 3 for 10 soles... like 3 dollars. I got Siete Almas¨- seven pounds, and look forward to seeing that as I´ve been wanting to for awhile. At night sometimes I can´t sleep and I´ve been watching movies- last night we bought Mama Mia for a dollar off the street- I enjoyed it. Kely took me to her house and we hung out for awhile and she took me to another part of Cuzco- it was a huge maze I think. Had she ran off I´d be lost for good I´m sure. It seemed like we were walking zig zag up streets- but I probably should question a local.. It is hard to have a since of direction here as it is all a big valley.
Hopefully we will go out for a bit tonight. I haven´t really done any going out since I´ve been here and after this weekend I will be 24-7 intensive in my TEFL. They say to brace yourself bc the last two weeks are intense- so I´m counting on getting all my fun out of the way this weekend. I´m going to be taking my trek to deliver the materials that I brought through ¨sense the world¨ on Saturday- that should be an adventure. There is supposed to be a big celebration/festival going on Sunday in Cuzco so I want to be around to see what that means???
So much I want to write about- but this is getting long for today. Thanks for the e-mails & staying in touch.
Love,
Lindy
My host family as I´ve said are great... I came in at a moment that they are going through a lot of hard stuff. The boys try and not show it as much- but I can see it in them somedays. I am thankful that I´m here at this time as I´ve tried to keep a upbeat attitude and keep them laughing with my attempts to speak Spanish- when all else fails, SMILE :). They hardest part has been keeping up with the food. I am not used to having 3 meals a day. We sit down for three full meals. Breakfast is always toast with Jam & tea- sometimes fruit. Lunch is between 1-2 and everyone makes the trek home to eat together. Dinner is usually around 8 & by the time I´m done eating 3 full meals I´m exhausted just from the eating. I try and pawn the food off to Juanca & Richy... but they make sure to give me a hard time for not finishing first. The food for the moment is okay as I have lost a lot of weight. My pants are falling off my waist...but I´m sure I won´t have that problem for too long. Several students have gotten the same illness as me- but it has sat them out all together. Fortunately I´ve been feeling good- but they say it is pretty common that once you get this bug it comes back... I can feel it kinda dormant in me and I´m trying to be very careful to take care of myself so it can´t fight back.
Classes have been good- but the best part has been my tandem class- my one on one with a peruvian student. I was fortunate to get partnered with a girl (kely) my same age that has become more like hanging out with a friend then having a class. I had NO girl friends from Costa Rica (they wanted nothing to do with me) so it has been so FUN to have a friend here!!! We wonder around Cuzco and talk & it has helped with my conversational Spanish a lot more then the actual class.
On Tuesday after lunch I went out to find Dan bc he had been in Cuzco for a while and I hadn´t made contact with him. We met up at the Plaza and he was traveling with a friend and we decided to hike up to one of the highest parts of Cuzco- a place called ¨sacsayhuaman¨ to the gringos... where there are ruins and at the top we met a guy that had horses and offered us a ride for 20 soles...like 6 dollars. We took him up on it & it was a brilliant afternoon. We went to this stable with these little horses that we rode around on through the country side and up to the temple of the moon. It was beautiful. By the temple you could walk around through parts of the inca trail and see the walls they built at the very beginning. Pretty incredible. Sooooo much history here. There were rocks that were sculptured into monkeys, snakes, and a puma... but they were broken up (smashed up) by the Spaniards.... quite interesting. They aren´t really perserving the stuff- you could walk right up to it and touch it... I imagine that they are going to have to tighten the reigns on the artifacts and machu picchu in coming years or it will be destroyed quickly....
It took me a few hours to walk home from that adventure and I was exhausted. Wednesday was the first day i could eat again so my body was achy and weak- but it was good to get some fresh country air in my lungs. Yesterday was a good day also.... Did all my school and watched Liverpool tie. Did errands... laundry day- I needed it! I wore flip flops to meet kely the other day and it was cold and she asked me if I was crazy ¨no I ran out of socks¨I told her and she laughed and laughed and laughed at me. For some reason I was nervous to take my laundry- but it was quite painless... just had to go pick it back up around 8:30 last night. Everywhere i go here I walk- so I have to plan on leaving 20- 30 mins before I need to be somewhere. It has been quite nice...when it is not raining.
I didn´t think it´d be sooo cold here- but this week has been a bit nicer. I thought I´d die when I first got here it was so cold. Today has been beautiful. I went to a market called Molina this morning with kely & there you can find ANYTHING. It isn´t a tourist market- but for the locals. I bought a few DVD´s- 3 for 10 soles... like 3 dollars. I got Siete Almas¨- seven pounds, and look forward to seeing that as I´ve been wanting to for awhile. At night sometimes I can´t sleep and I´ve been watching movies- last night we bought Mama Mia for a dollar off the street- I enjoyed it. Kely took me to her house and we hung out for awhile and she took me to another part of Cuzco- it was a huge maze I think. Had she ran off I´d be lost for good I´m sure. It seemed like we were walking zig zag up streets- but I probably should question a local.. It is hard to have a since of direction here as it is all a big valley.
Hopefully we will go out for a bit tonight. I haven´t really done any going out since I´ve been here and after this weekend I will be 24-7 intensive in my TEFL. They say to brace yourself bc the last two weeks are intense- so I´m counting on getting all my fun out of the way this weekend. I´m going to be taking my trek to deliver the materials that I brought through ¨sense the world¨ on Saturday- that should be an adventure. There is supposed to be a big celebration/festival going on Sunday in Cuzco so I want to be around to see what that means???
So much I want to write about- but this is getting long for today. Thanks for the e-mails & staying in touch.
Love,
Lindy
Monday, January 26, 2009
La chica enferma & Machu Picchu!!!!!!!
There is a lot to catch up on in the past three days. Thursday night I was supposed to go out with my host mom to a concert of a friend of hers that plays typical Inka music at a lounge... I laid down to rest as I was exhausted & it hit me pretty hard that I was not feeling good...so I didn´t make it back out of bed Thursday night. Friday only got worse. I am NOT used to being sick- especially when it isn´t just feeling run down but actually illness.... so that´s what I´ve been battling the past several days. I came to the conclussion that I´m not eating ANYTHING for a few days. After not eating (or trying a few bites a few times and having a horrible outcome)- this morning I tried to eat some bread and it was a no-go.... so I´m sticking to water and gatorade for the next few days to try and get this out of my system. The sound of food just repulses me as every time I try to eat something it makes me feel awful. Some small bug living in my stomache I suppose.... I have no idea where I picked it up.. but I´ve convinced myself it was from the cuy I ate on the street :) (guinea pig). I´m sticking to that... In fact I think I´ll call this little bug in my belly "cuy". I´m not one to turn down trying things but I did the deed and tried the guinea pig and came to the conclusion (this one´s for you G)... Good idea= have a guinea pig as a pet. Bad idea= have a guinea pig for dinner. Lesson learned :)
Now that I´ve gotten the bad out of the way.... this weekend was amazing despite feeling ill. On Friday Willy´s cousin, my best peruvian friend, Efrain came from Lima and we hung around Cuzco and did some sight-seeing and ran around the city. He was so patient with me as every 10-15 mins I´d have to sit down and let my stomach settle down. But we got quite a bit in. We hung out in the plaza and did some people watching- it is the best place I´ve been to people watch. Lots of foreigners here- but not many from the US. Most are from Argentina (LOTS), Chile, Brazil, Columbia.... all over. I was surprised that there aren´t more people from the States here- very little English speakers around Cuzco... which is good for me and my Spanish. The people from Argentina are crazy though. Friday night we got some dinner- but I only had one bite and was done. After we made plans to travel the next day to Machu Picchu... the adventure I´d been waiting to take!
It was good to be traveling with a Peruvian bc the way I was going to do the trip and the way that the peruvians do it is quite different & I ended up saving lots of money. Early Saturday morning we got a taxi to a city called Ollaytaitambo. If you haven´t heard of it check it out online.. pretty amazing. It was about an hour an a half from Cuzco. From there we caught the train to Aguas Calientes- The little town you stay in when visiting Machu Picchu. On the train my mouth was wide open seeing the views- this HUGE mountains that look NOTHING like the mountains in CO. Just unreal... Reminded me of a movie.. something like Lord of the Rings- amazing scenary.
When we got to Aguas Calientes we explored the little town- it was sooo cute... lots of little hostels and restaurants built around the train tracks and a fast paced river that runs through the town. Tiny place that once you´ve seen it you´ve seen it- but worth seeing. All day we walked around- again stopping every 15 mins- but I was so excited to be in a new place I tried not to let it slow me down. So much to see and explore! We had dinner at a little restaurant and I had a few bites of a pizza made on a thin crust...looked delicious... but was done pretty quick... and after trying that was bed-riden for the rest of the night. I felt so bad for Efrain as it was his first time going to Aguas Calientes as well... but he was chill & once again patient about "cuy" living in my belly.
It turned out to be a good thing that we went to bed early because we woke up at 4:30 yesterday morning to catch the bus to Machu Picchu. I was SO blessed to have a gap that I felt good (well better) for the day- and we went HARD for our time in Machu Picchu. We got up there about 5:30 am and once we got in we went straight to Wyannapicchu.... a HUGE mountain that you can climb that is the highest point. This is another experience that I´ll struggle to write about.... UNREAL. When you get to Machu Picchu you are already up in the sky in the clouds... but at Wyannapicchu it feels like you are above the WORLD. There was a line to get into the mountain & it is dangerous to say the least.. but such a rush. They only allow 400 people to climb a day... and there are sessions. We were numbers 97 & 98- you have to sign in to climb and sign back out to say you exited (aka survived). I had no idea what I was getting into- but it was going up these steep rocks for over an hour... there were parts you had to hold on to a cord and pull and it was wet and slippery. Lots of work to get up... but at the top was worth it all.
I struggled with energy a bit just as my body has been SO exhausted- but when we got to the top it was so cloudy you couldn´t see anything. We waited about 10 mins and it cleared completely and there was a perfect view of Machu Picchu from WAY above. Incredible. Wow. Wow. Wow. That is all I can say. I am going to see if I can put some pics later today. We enjoyed being on top of the world for a little while and started the trek down. Too much to see in one day. The accent was easier...but even more dangerous- but when we got back to the bottom and looked at where we´d been it hit me pretty hard. The rest of the morning we ran around Machu Picchu trying to soak it all in- see everything. Incredible (did I say that already?). Can´t really describe it more then that.
We went back to Aguas Calientes after enjoying one of the wonders of the world and hung out and walked around a bit more before the train came. The train was a good experience.... we had to travel in seperate cars- as he was a resident of Peru and I was a foreigner.... to me that seemed like descrimination... but what can a little gringa do about a system they have set? I ended up sitting by a guy from France who was traveling with a friend of his who is peruvian as well- so they were seperated also. We struck up some conversation and after seeing the sights from the train we were back in the city where we got another mini-van taxi back to Cuzco. Home sweet home. We returned with a bunch of bug bites, a splash of sun on our skin and we were pretty dirty and tired. BUT well worth it all!
Last night I went back to my host family... sad to see my puruvian amigo leave as we had such a great time. I will get to see Willy´s family again on the 14th of Feb. so I´m looking forward to that.
Today is back to work... classes and spanish. My Spanish class was hard today- which was good as I had been challenged, but not really pushed last week. I feel awful right now- thinking of getting to a doctor (could be interesting) sometime this week if I´m not feeling better. As long as I can dodge food I should be good to go. About to head home to my house for "lunch time" so this should be interesting................ I´ll keep ya posted :)
Now that I´ve gotten the bad out of the way.... this weekend was amazing despite feeling ill. On Friday Willy´s cousin, my best peruvian friend, Efrain came from Lima and we hung around Cuzco and did some sight-seeing and ran around the city. He was so patient with me as every 10-15 mins I´d have to sit down and let my stomach settle down. But we got quite a bit in. We hung out in the plaza and did some people watching- it is the best place I´ve been to people watch. Lots of foreigners here- but not many from the US. Most are from Argentina (LOTS), Chile, Brazil, Columbia.... all over. I was surprised that there aren´t more people from the States here- very little English speakers around Cuzco... which is good for me and my Spanish. The people from Argentina are crazy though. Friday night we got some dinner- but I only had one bite and was done. After we made plans to travel the next day to Machu Picchu... the adventure I´d been waiting to take!
It was good to be traveling with a Peruvian bc the way I was going to do the trip and the way that the peruvians do it is quite different & I ended up saving lots of money. Early Saturday morning we got a taxi to a city called Ollaytaitambo. If you haven´t heard of it check it out online.. pretty amazing. It was about an hour an a half from Cuzco. From there we caught the train to Aguas Calientes- The little town you stay in when visiting Machu Picchu. On the train my mouth was wide open seeing the views- this HUGE mountains that look NOTHING like the mountains in CO. Just unreal... Reminded me of a movie.. something like Lord of the Rings- amazing scenary.
When we got to Aguas Calientes we explored the little town- it was sooo cute... lots of little hostels and restaurants built around the train tracks and a fast paced river that runs through the town. Tiny place that once you´ve seen it you´ve seen it- but worth seeing. All day we walked around- again stopping every 15 mins- but I was so excited to be in a new place I tried not to let it slow me down. So much to see and explore! We had dinner at a little restaurant and I had a few bites of a pizza made on a thin crust...looked delicious... but was done pretty quick... and after trying that was bed-riden for the rest of the night. I felt so bad for Efrain as it was his first time going to Aguas Calientes as well... but he was chill & once again patient about "cuy" living in my belly.
It turned out to be a good thing that we went to bed early because we woke up at 4:30 yesterday morning to catch the bus to Machu Picchu. I was SO blessed to have a gap that I felt good (well better) for the day- and we went HARD for our time in Machu Picchu. We got up there about 5:30 am and once we got in we went straight to Wyannapicchu.... a HUGE mountain that you can climb that is the highest point. This is another experience that I´ll struggle to write about.... UNREAL. When you get to Machu Picchu you are already up in the sky in the clouds... but at Wyannapicchu it feels like you are above the WORLD. There was a line to get into the mountain & it is dangerous to say the least.. but such a rush. They only allow 400 people to climb a day... and there are sessions. We were numbers 97 & 98- you have to sign in to climb and sign back out to say you exited (aka survived). I had no idea what I was getting into- but it was going up these steep rocks for over an hour... there were parts you had to hold on to a cord and pull and it was wet and slippery. Lots of work to get up... but at the top was worth it all.
I struggled with energy a bit just as my body has been SO exhausted- but when we got to the top it was so cloudy you couldn´t see anything. We waited about 10 mins and it cleared completely and there was a perfect view of Machu Picchu from WAY above. Incredible. Wow. Wow. Wow. That is all I can say. I am going to see if I can put some pics later today. We enjoyed being on top of the world for a little while and started the trek down. Too much to see in one day. The accent was easier...but even more dangerous- but when we got back to the bottom and looked at where we´d been it hit me pretty hard. The rest of the morning we ran around Machu Picchu trying to soak it all in- see everything. Incredible (did I say that already?). Can´t really describe it more then that.
We went back to Aguas Calientes after enjoying one of the wonders of the world and hung out and walked around a bit more before the train came. The train was a good experience.... we had to travel in seperate cars- as he was a resident of Peru and I was a foreigner.... to me that seemed like descrimination... but what can a little gringa do about a system they have set? I ended up sitting by a guy from France who was traveling with a friend of his who is peruvian as well- so they were seperated also. We struck up some conversation and after seeing the sights from the train we were back in the city where we got another mini-van taxi back to Cuzco. Home sweet home. We returned with a bunch of bug bites, a splash of sun on our skin and we were pretty dirty and tired. BUT well worth it all!
Last night I went back to my host family... sad to see my puruvian amigo leave as we had such a great time. I will get to see Willy´s family again on the 14th of Feb. so I´m looking forward to that.
Today is back to work... classes and spanish. My Spanish class was hard today- which was good as I had been challenged, but not really pushed last week. I feel awful right now- thinking of getting to a doctor (could be interesting) sometime this week if I´m not feeling better. As long as I can dodge food I should be good to go. About to head home to my house for "lunch time" so this should be interesting................ I´ll keep ya posted :)
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Mis hermanos...
Yesterday I took a walk around Cuzco after having lunch with my brothers- The plaza de armas is A-MAZING... seriously the most beautiful place. It is a huge square with all ancient buildings and churches surrounding- and a fountain in the middle. I love that everything is historic here- nothing new and yuppie.... every building is just beautiful.
I went home to watch Peru play against Columbia with Juanca- perdimos...we lost :(. These boys crack me up! They are so great though- we laugh a ton and they are teaching me the "spanish lingo" of how to talk hip in Cuzco. We ate dinner all together- which was nice. In the evening Juanca and I walked to the plaza so he could give me tour of all the places. There are little stone allys in every crevice here that i would have never found on my own... that have a lot of international restaurants & discos. We walked through just about every one of them. At 11 Richy (that´s what they call Ricardo) got done working so we went to his bar/lounge. It is such a cute place. Lots of bean bags you can sit on- just a hip chill place. We played darts for about 2 hours- I got addicted. We played a game and I was within 2 points of beating them both... but Richey won- I got second.
This morning I had breakfast with Marina- my host mom again & this time she spilled everything. She opened up and told me all that she had been through- why she is a single mom and how she has/is struggling with depression. She was crying while she told me & it broke my heart... but I was able to tell her how much strength I see in her and that there is a joy that shines within her. All of that is true- she is such an incredible woman. It has just been such a blessing to be in her house- really.. divine. There is a reason that I´m there and I am just so glad I can be there for her to listen. What a blessing it has been to understand everything and be able to express myself. I love spanish soooo much. Last night Richy and Juanca were giving me a hard time for something that I said- and I realized that in this trip there hasn´t been a moment that I want to stop speaking in Spanish. In the past my head would be spinning and I´d want to be away from it- but this trip it is almost addicting to be in conversations. I´m loving it! Everywhere I go someone wants to have a conversation- and I love talking with people.
The most interesting thing that I´ve talked is politics... the peruvians have so many questions they want answered. It is interesting to hear their views also. I try to stay away from it for the most part- but they don´t want to argue it- more so hear about it.
Okay- enough for now. Off to my next clase de espanol....
I went home to watch Peru play against Columbia with Juanca- perdimos...we lost :(. These boys crack me up! They are so great though- we laugh a ton and they are teaching me the "spanish lingo" of how to talk hip in Cuzco. We ate dinner all together- which was nice. In the evening Juanca and I walked to the plaza so he could give me tour of all the places. There are little stone allys in every crevice here that i would have never found on my own... that have a lot of international restaurants & discos. We walked through just about every one of them. At 11 Richy (that´s what they call Ricardo) got done working so we went to his bar/lounge. It is such a cute place. Lots of bean bags you can sit on- just a hip chill place. We played darts for about 2 hours- I got addicted. We played a game and I was within 2 points of beating them both... but Richey won- I got second.
This morning I had breakfast with Marina- my host mom again & this time she spilled everything. She opened up and told me all that she had been through- why she is a single mom and how she has/is struggling with depression. She was crying while she told me & it broke my heart... but I was able to tell her how much strength I see in her and that there is a joy that shines within her. All of that is true- she is such an incredible woman. It has just been such a blessing to be in her house- really.. divine. There is a reason that I´m there and I am just so glad I can be there for her to listen. What a blessing it has been to understand everything and be able to express myself. I love spanish soooo much. Last night Richy and Juanca were giving me a hard time for something that I said- and I realized that in this trip there hasn´t been a moment that I want to stop speaking in Spanish. In the past my head would be spinning and I´d want to be away from it- but this trip it is almost addicting to be in conversations. I´m loving it! Everywhere I go someone wants to have a conversation- and I love talking with people.
The most interesting thing that I´ve talked is politics... the peruvians have so many questions they want answered. It is interesting to hear their views also. I try to stay away from it for the most part- but they don´t want to argue it- more so hear about it.
Okay- enough for now. Off to my next clase de espanol....
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Family Day
This morning I got up early to spend a little time with my host Mom- I haven´t been able to really sit down and talk to her as I´m always coming and going from the house. I can tell that she is a strong woman- a single mom of two boys ages 20 &25. She has a lot of strength in her personality, you can just tell she is such a wise woman.. but so warm and welcoming at the same time. I kind of had a feeling that she was struggling a little bit so I sat down with her for a few hours this morning and she was more then ready to talk... it was such a beautiful thing to be able to have a full conversation with her and understand all the things she is going through & the hardships of living in Cuzco. She told me about the past things that had happened to the people- the economy in Cuzco- her personal story and her hopes and dreams. It was awesome! Lots of hard things to hear about how the people in Cuzco are losing their land, companies and culture due to all the tourism and foreigners- but good to hear and be aware of for sure. Now she is a full time host mom- but keeps herself busy with yoga, volunteering at a few places and spending time with her friends.
School was good today- another day of Spanish. It has it´s good moments and frustrating ones, but I feel like my spanish is improving for sure!
I went home for lunch and my host brothers (Ricardo & Juan Carlos- we call him Juanca) were waiting to eat with me- how sweet. They are awesome. We have a really good time talking soccer (they can´t believe that I love it) and laughing about the simple things in life. This host family has been great- feels like home for now. I like having brothers around that I can hang out with and talk Spanish... they are good about helping me. Plus I can pawn some of my food off on them- they try and feed me sooo much (surprise)!
Ricardo is a chef so tonight he is going to take me to his restaurant & the three of us are going to go dancing for a bit after. My tandem class got cancelled in the morning- so I´ll be able to sleep in a bit tomorrow morning before my next class. Juanca told me he is going to see if he can get us into a private tour of the stadium here in Cuzco- they were telling me their dad used to work for the club.
So- in a nutshell I´m enjoying my host stay and am glad I choose to take the family route. Should be an awesome month!
School was good today- another day of Spanish. It has it´s good moments and frustrating ones, but I feel like my spanish is improving for sure!
I went home for lunch and my host brothers (Ricardo & Juan Carlos- we call him Juanca) were waiting to eat with me- how sweet. They are awesome. We have a really good time talking soccer (they can´t believe that I love it) and laughing about the simple things in life. This host family has been great- feels like home for now. I like having brothers around that I can hang out with and talk Spanish... they are good about helping me. Plus I can pawn some of my food off on them- they try and feed me sooo much (surprise)!
Ricardo is a chef so tonight he is going to take me to his restaurant & the three of us are going to go dancing for a bit after. My tandem class got cancelled in the morning- so I´ll be able to sleep in a bit tomorrow morning before my next class. Juanca told me he is going to see if he can get us into a private tour of the stadium here in Cuzco- they were telling me their dad used to work for the club.
So- in a nutshell I´m enjoying my host stay and am glad I choose to take the family route. Should be an awesome month!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Festivals....
I know it hasn´t even been a day- but the festivals were pretty impactful so I thought I should record it. Alfonso picked me up with his nephew and we took a taxi to the first one. It was pouring rain and we ran to this church where the procession would take place (they were religious festivals). We pushed our way through hundreds of people to make our way to the front of the church so we could see the virgin that was being honored. It was a huge statue that they would pick up on their shoulders and carry out.. Alfonso told me it weighed more then 3 tons- no idea how close that was but about 50 men carried it out. After that we pushed our way back out of the church to get a taxi to the next festival.The next festival was that times 500... TONS of people and we missed the honoring of the virgin in that town... but we got there to see the dancing. Groups of traditional dancers traveled from all over south america to honor this virgin... and they all had bright costumes. I´ve never been so close to so many people. This event tested just about all of my patience... I was SO close to SO many people... a few times I was worried we would all fall over. There were lots of masks in the procession... which I LOVE. Alfonso thought it was so great so I couldn´t tell him that i have a phobia of masks... as you will see in one of my pictures. We watched a parade of the dancing as it was pouring rain- we bought panchos.. but were soaked.
To top it off Alfonso decided we should try traditional food at a festival... perfect. My first sampling of Coy... guinea pig. Not only that, but there was whole parts of chicken, sausage, some bread made of corn, fish eggs, alge, beef... you name it- it was there. Luckily I didn´t get a plate... I just sampled off of Alfonso´s.... PRAY I DON´T GET SICK!!!! ha ha- I guess we only live once and my theory is that if you are going to be somewhere you must live as the people live. As you can see they serve guinea pigs whole.... head, feet... it´s there. You should have seen these peruvians tear that thing up..... Mmmmm!So there you have it.. again you must see pictures to do justice to this experience. Now I´m wet and cold and waiting to go home to eat....AGAIN. Ish... I can´t keep up with this.
Inauguration day from Peru...
Yesterday I ended up taking a city tour with my spanish class going to the town market... not the tourist one, but the one where they sell all kinds of fruits, vegetables, groceries, supplies, everything you could think of. The most odd thing I came across were the buckets of live frogs that they would cut the heads off of and peel the skin and you eat the rest of the frog (not the legs) as a form of medicine. It is supposed to relieve stress and headaches... I´m pretty sure it would CAUSE me both!!!! Poor little froggies.. I wanted to buy all of them.
In the evenings- after all of my classes at Maximo we decided to take some clases de baile.. Dance class.. they dance a lot of rueda here...which is salsa in a circle with anywhere from 3-10 partners and you change partners in a circle... if you´ve never seen it check it out on youtube- it is pretty awesome. One person in the group calls out the turns and all the other partners follow, changing partners as you go. After dance class i went home and watched the Peru vs Ecuador game on tv with my host brother Ricardo... Unfortunatly Peru lost 2-1. I feel right at home with the brothers- we watch lots of soccer, and my host mom is awesome! Erin and I decided to go out and dance a little more Rueda at a place where all the locals go to dance from 9-11 to try our new skills.
This morning I had my first tandem class- which is where I meet with a peruvian student and we talk for an hour in English and an hour in Spanish. I am meeting with a girl named Kelly who is my age and we had lots to talk about- it has been great for my conversational skills!!! Next I have classes for tefl and again in the afternoon I have my formal spanish class. I will be doing dance classes in the early evening 3 times a week- so I´ll keep busy for sure!
For the inauguration today we stopped our class to watch Obama speak- and got back to business after. It was good to see and especially with all the peruvians- they were very interested. We were all gathered around the tv´s listening... pretty sweet experience.
This afternoon Alfonso is picking me up to take me to some religious festivals... No idea what that means but he said they are very traditional so I guess I´ll find out. Right now I´m going to walk home to have lunch with my host mom...
My friend from Lima is coming out this weekend so it will be fun to hang out with someone during the free time. It´ll help me out a lot to trek around with a peruvian too as they get charged so much less then us obvious gringos. I try to blend in, but it´s hard. Here in cuzco there are a TON of tourists- but not from the US- from all over central and south america... cool to meet new people. Last night I got the best compliments bc I was talking to some locals in spanish and they asked me if I was from Argentina or Chile.. I was like ¨no..the EEUU"- but they said I spoke too well in Spanish to be american... that was exciting. my accent is probably my greatest strength in Spanish, which is helpful here.
Alright- off for lunch! Happy inauguration day to you all. Here´s to new beginnings for all.... Salud!
In the evenings- after all of my classes at Maximo we decided to take some clases de baile.. Dance class.. they dance a lot of rueda here...which is salsa in a circle with anywhere from 3-10 partners and you change partners in a circle... if you´ve never seen it check it out on youtube- it is pretty awesome. One person in the group calls out the turns and all the other partners follow, changing partners as you go. After dance class i went home and watched the Peru vs Ecuador game on tv with my host brother Ricardo... Unfortunatly Peru lost 2-1. I feel right at home with the brothers- we watch lots of soccer, and my host mom is awesome! Erin and I decided to go out and dance a little more Rueda at a place where all the locals go to dance from 9-11 to try our new skills.
This morning I had my first tandem class- which is where I meet with a peruvian student and we talk for an hour in English and an hour in Spanish. I am meeting with a girl named Kelly who is my age and we had lots to talk about- it has been great for my conversational skills!!! Next I have classes for tefl and again in the afternoon I have my formal spanish class. I will be doing dance classes in the early evening 3 times a week- so I´ll keep busy for sure!
For the inauguration today we stopped our class to watch Obama speak- and got back to business after. It was good to see and especially with all the peruvians- they were very interested. We were all gathered around the tv´s listening... pretty sweet experience.
This afternoon Alfonso is picking me up to take me to some religious festivals... No idea what that means but he said they are very traditional so I guess I´ll find out. Right now I´m going to walk home to have lunch with my host mom...
My friend from Lima is coming out this weekend so it will be fun to hang out with someone during the free time. It´ll help me out a lot to trek around with a peruvian too as they get charged so much less then us obvious gringos. I try to blend in, but it´s hard. Here in cuzco there are a TON of tourists- but not from the US- from all over central and south america... cool to meet new people. Last night I got the best compliments bc I was talking to some locals in spanish and they asked me if I was from Argentina or Chile.. I was like ¨no..the EEUU"- but they said I spoke too well in Spanish to be american... that was exciting. my accent is probably my greatest strength in Spanish, which is helpful here.
Alright- off for lunch! Happy inauguration day to you all. Here´s to new beginnings for all.... Salud!
Monday, January 19, 2009
change of pace...
I appologize if this blog starts to sound more like a journal- but it is how I´m tracking my trip so bare with me. Wow, wow, wow. Yesterday was a day of adventure. Words cannot describe anything that I experienced or saw yesterday as we packed SO much into one day-but it was brilliant. It was the last day to explore a bit until i had to get down to business at Maximo Nivel. I started my TEFL course and will be taking Spanish classes in the evenings also. SO- lots to learn. I could write all day about yesterday alone-but here is my best attempt to give you an overview. I can´t post pics- but they would do a lot more justice to my day.
Alfonso picked me up yesterday morning after I had some mate de cocoa in my hostel and we went to Maximo to get assigned to a host family. Honestly I was a little nervous when they told me I´d be with a single mom.. as that was my situation in CR, but I got to the place and I couldn´t have it any better. My host mom is named Marina and she reminds me so much of my aunt Judy :). So sweet and likeable from the first moment. She has a cat that wanted me to hold it right away- so I felt at home pretty quick- as I´m used to having Mamba & Luna around. My room is great and she has two sons- 20 & 25 that live there too. I´m sure they´ll show me some good parts of cuzco. I was only there for about 20 mins before we hit the road and started off to who knows where- we left by 9:30 am and didn´t return until 8:30 last night. We went way outside of cuzco the heart of the land here. The land is unbelievable- I couldn´t stop taking pictures. I felt like I was in watching a movie. Alfonso told me we would start at 14,000 ft and go higher as the day progressed. We stopped in a village about an hour outside cuzco where they have a market that people walk to from all over for hours and hours with their stuff on their backs. I was the only gringo that I saw- and the peruvians were the ones you see in pictures.
As I said so much of this is impossible to explain without pictures- but we went to a temple there where the walls were painted with the oils of the vegetables- Alfonso gave me a tour right in the middle of a service- which felt wierd to me.. but you learn to go with it when you are with a local. We heard the people singing in their native tongue- which I don´t know how to spell but it is catchua... the other langugage of the people here. We tried some kind of food that was all herbs that they grew- the closest discription I have is spinach... mixed with other green veggies.
We continued on to a place that was a glimpse of what I´ll see in machu picchu- with the ruins and construction of the incas. I´ve learned more history in the past few days about Cuzco then I know in all my years of English History in the US (that may have something to do with my attendance in highschool-ops). It is utterly facinating... the gods the Incas had and how they worshiped the sun.. how they built their land to harvet different kinds of crops in levels. So much to learn. That was amazing as well... as pictures will later describe.
We met alfonso´s wife for lunch at this buffet where the food was typical- and delicious. It was a cute restaurant with live music with flutes of all sorts- and all of it only cost for the three of us 15.00- for a first class feast.
The drive alone was incredible- but the little places we stopped at and the people of peru have been the biggest culture shock I´ve had in my travels. Yesterday alone! We stopped by a few soccer fields on the way and one time stopped to visit a friend of Alfonso´s who was the ref of a game so we watched. There was a girls game going on on a tiny field and some of the girls (or women) were wearing skirts playing soccer. That was an awesome sight! Go women´s soccer!!! It seriously amazed me how we would be in the middle of NOWHERE and you would see a beautiful soccer field with a fence around it (okay not AS beautiful as DSGPark Dean:)).... they were everywhere. I don´t even know where the people lived that played on some of these fields- but I loved it! Beauty at its finest is when you can see a soccer field surrounded by majestic land.
We also stopped on the side of the road to watch a cock fight- you can only imagine how well I handled that... it was pretty crazy. They put knives on the cocks- and the fight was not even the worst part. I was trying not to watch but kinda had to- REALLY trying to blend in as the only white person there... all the while maintain my cool. I´m a pacifist- so I really don´t understand the joy in watching a cock fight. BUT it was a great experience culturally. The worst fight was afterwards when they had to kill the cock that lost... it took about 10 of the men to try and break it´s neck as it was bleeding all over the place from the fight... ISH! They killed it and started walking off- one man carrying the winning cock and the other holding the losing cock by his legs when it started to try and fly... STILL. After a broken neck.... that my friends was an experience I didn´t expect when I signed up for this deal- but like I said, important to see.
We went to send a message to the village via a piece of paper that we will be coming to bring supplies soon. I guess the people will walk from far away to meet us... after our drive and horse-back trek. I´m pretty excited for that.
We stopped at one more market so Alfonso and his wife could buy some fruit and then on the way back we went to a look out view on our way back into cuzco and saw the white angel statue that looks over the whole city and all of the lights- pretty amazing view.
I got back- had dinner with my host mom and another student and then went to bed pretty quick.
Today I´m at Maximo- I had orientation this morning and classes and took my placement test and start Spanish classes tonight. That is my life in the past day in a nutshell...
Sorry to be so long... Hope all is well. Please be in touch :)
Alfonso picked me up yesterday morning after I had some mate de cocoa in my hostel and we went to Maximo to get assigned to a host family. Honestly I was a little nervous when they told me I´d be with a single mom.. as that was my situation in CR, but I got to the place and I couldn´t have it any better. My host mom is named Marina and she reminds me so much of my aunt Judy :). So sweet and likeable from the first moment. She has a cat that wanted me to hold it right away- so I felt at home pretty quick- as I´m used to having Mamba & Luna around. My room is great and she has two sons- 20 & 25 that live there too. I´m sure they´ll show me some good parts of cuzco. I was only there for about 20 mins before we hit the road and started off to who knows where- we left by 9:30 am and didn´t return until 8:30 last night. We went way outside of cuzco the heart of the land here. The land is unbelievable- I couldn´t stop taking pictures. I felt like I was in watching a movie. Alfonso told me we would start at 14,000 ft and go higher as the day progressed. We stopped in a village about an hour outside cuzco where they have a market that people walk to from all over for hours and hours with their stuff on their backs. I was the only gringo that I saw- and the peruvians were the ones you see in pictures.
As I said so much of this is impossible to explain without pictures- but we went to a temple there where the walls were painted with the oils of the vegetables- Alfonso gave me a tour right in the middle of a service- which felt wierd to me.. but you learn to go with it when you are with a local. We heard the people singing in their native tongue- which I don´t know how to spell but it is catchua... the other langugage of the people here. We tried some kind of food that was all herbs that they grew- the closest discription I have is spinach... mixed with other green veggies.
We continued on to a place that was a glimpse of what I´ll see in machu picchu- with the ruins and construction of the incas. I´ve learned more history in the past few days about Cuzco then I know in all my years of English History in the US (that may have something to do with my attendance in highschool-ops). It is utterly facinating... the gods the Incas had and how they worshiped the sun.. how they built their land to harvet different kinds of crops in levels. So much to learn. That was amazing as well... as pictures will later describe.
We met alfonso´s wife for lunch at this buffet where the food was typical- and delicious. It was a cute restaurant with live music with flutes of all sorts- and all of it only cost for the three of us 15.00- for a first class feast.
The drive alone was incredible- but the little places we stopped at and the people of peru have been the biggest culture shock I´ve had in my travels. Yesterday alone! We stopped by a few soccer fields on the way and one time stopped to visit a friend of Alfonso´s who was the ref of a game so we watched. There was a girls game going on on a tiny field and some of the girls (or women) were wearing skirts playing soccer. That was an awesome sight! Go women´s soccer!!! It seriously amazed me how we would be in the middle of NOWHERE and you would see a beautiful soccer field with a fence around it (okay not AS beautiful as DSGPark Dean:)).... they were everywhere. I don´t even know where the people lived that played on some of these fields- but I loved it! Beauty at its finest is when you can see a soccer field surrounded by majestic land.
We also stopped on the side of the road to watch a cock fight- you can only imagine how well I handled that... it was pretty crazy. They put knives on the cocks- and the fight was not even the worst part. I was trying not to watch but kinda had to- REALLY trying to blend in as the only white person there... all the while maintain my cool. I´m a pacifist- so I really don´t understand the joy in watching a cock fight. BUT it was a great experience culturally. The worst fight was afterwards when they had to kill the cock that lost... it took about 10 of the men to try and break it´s neck as it was bleeding all over the place from the fight... ISH! They killed it and started walking off- one man carrying the winning cock and the other holding the losing cock by his legs when it started to try and fly... STILL. After a broken neck.... that my friends was an experience I didn´t expect when I signed up for this deal- but like I said, important to see.
We went to send a message to the village via a piece of paper that we will be coming to bring supplies soon. I guess the people will walk from far away to meet us... after our drive and horse-back trek. I´m pretty excited for that.
We stopped at one more market so Alfonso and his wife could buy some fruit and then on the way back we went to a look out view on our way back into cuzco and saw the white angel statue that looks over the whole city and all of the lights- pretty amazing view.
I got back- had dinner with my host mom and another student and then went to bed pretty quick.
Today I´m at Maximo- I had orientation this morning and classes and took my placement test and start Spanish classes tonight. That is my life in the past day in a nutshell...
Sorry to be so long... Hope all is well. Please be in touch :)
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Familia...
Lima to Cuzco- I made it! It was a long day at the airport but I arrived and Alfonso, the guy that I'll be working with from sense the world (the nonprofit organization that Greg founded & I'll be working with) was waiting the whole day at the airport for me. He took me to my hostel and we had some mate de cocoa- which is like tea, but they told me it is not. They said it is to acclimate to the elevation... which I later found out how serious they were. I rested for an hour and then Alfonso picked me up to go get some lunch- the real peruvian deal! It was the first thing that I had to eat for awhile and it was some kind of fish?? Lots of seafood here! I also tried this drink that is famous here called "Chicha"- probably the worst thing that I've ever tasted in my life. Seriously.. but I tried to swallow it down (believe me this was a BIG glass of chicha) as they were so proud of it. I'm sure it'll come back up in my path again.... can't wait :(. I can try just about anything (and have!)- but that was NO BUENO.Alfonso and I went to start getting all of the supplies we need to take to the villages... we were at the store buying LOTS of notebooks, pencils, pens, erasers, shampoo, soap, etc, etc. They told me we would be going part way by car and the rest of the way on horse back to deliver these things- Pretty excited for that! It was a little while into the evening yesterday that I started to get sick- I was feeling great and then within a few mins was blacked out sitting on the floor. Wow Lindy- here i am the only gringa around trying to blend in... falling on my face in the middle of the store...I was thinking to myself "way to blend in tourist" :). So yeah- that altitude thing... for real. It is the highest city in the world that is civilized. I learned that yesterday- directly.
I went back to my hostel & was a little lonely in a place I don't know at all- but it was good for me for sure! I took a walk to find a phone because my friends in Lima wanted me to let them know I made it- met a gentleman along the way that charged me 3 soles to make a call on his cell phone. Back the the hostel after dodging as many people as I could & hung out for awhile longer until Erin came to my hostel. I was pretty excited to see her... she is studying at the same school I'll be at. We walked up to the plaza and found a salsa bar and hung out for a little while before I walked back to my hostel.
Today I'm going to my host family which I'm really excited about! It will be good to have a home base here. Saying a little prayer that it is a good set-up... my host family in Costa Rica was a bit challenging (but fun none the less).
Alfonso and I will work some more today and who knows what else the day holds??? I'm excited to get busy and get started on my cuzco adventures!
I'll try and post some more pics from Lima- sometimes I can and sometimes I can't. Missing you all! Thanks for the e-mails and facebook notes- they seriously make my day.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Going to Cuzco... maybe
Uh Oh.
First big bump in the road- which isn't a huge bump. I got to the airport at 3:30 am to catch my flight to Cuzco and all went well until we boarded the plane and I fell asleep as soon as I sat in my seat. I woke up about an hour later and we were in the exact same place as we were before. We can't take off because of the weather in Cuzco so we are stuck in Lima. I actually tried to change my flight to stay in Lima for the weekend, but couldn't and now I'm here... but in the airport. We'll see... maybe it is meant for me to stay here?!?!
I can't even begin to describe how long it feels that I've been here. Not a few days but more like months. Dan got here and we've all been treking around Lima seeing new sights. I love the city as you can walk along the cliffs that over look the ocean for DAYS. Well at least a day which is what we did the other day. We met Dan around 11am and went for a walk down the beach and then back through the city (over looking the beach) and got back to the hotel at 5:30 pm. It was awesome!
We have spent all of our time with Willy's family- I met his sisters yesterday- once again, that kid has such an amazing family. His sister, mom and cousin took us around all day yesterday- we got in the ocean (which is not beautiful by any means when you are from Oregon) and it is some DIRTY water. I figure you only live once and all the peruvians were doing it... but I don't even want to know what I was swimming in?!?!
We have had a TON of civiche (spelling?) which is A-Mazing... but if I don't get sick this trip it will be a small miracle.
we just got called to board again- we'll see how it goes.. bye for now.
First big bump in the road- which isn't a huge bump. I got to the airport at 3:30 am to catch my flight to Cuzco and all went well until we boarded the plane and I fell asleep as soon as I sat in my seat. I woke up about an hour later and we were in the exact same place as we were before. We can't take off because of the weather in Cuzco so we are stuck in Lima. I actually tried to change my flight to stay in Lima for the weekend, but couldn't and now I'm here... but in the airport. We'll see... maybe it is meant for me to stay here?!?!
I can't even begin to describe how long it feels that I've been here. Not a few days but more like months. Dan got here and we've all been treking around Lima seeing new sights. I love the city as you can walk along the cliffs that over look the ocean for DAYS. Well at least a day which is what we did the other day. We met Dan around 11am and went for a walk down the beach and then back through the city (over looking the beach) and got back to the hotel at 5:30 pm. It was awesome!
We have spent all of our time with Willy's family- I met his sisters yesterday- once again, that kid has such an amazing family. His sister, mom and cousin took us around all day yesterday- we got in the ocean (which is not beautiful by any means when you are from Oregon) and it is some DIRTY water. I figure you only live once and all the peruvians were doing it... but I don't even want to know what I was swimming in?!?!
We have had a TON of civiche (spelling?) which is A-Mazing... but if I don't get sick this trip it will be a small miracle.
we just got called to board again- we'll see how it goes.. bye for now.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
dancin
Last night my dreams came true. If any of yáll see a handsome peruvian that is known to drop in and out of Denver..that is my friend Willy and you can give him a big hug from me because hanging with his family has been awesome. Last night we went to get a drink at a restaurant that looks over the ocean and sat on the patio laughing and laughing and laughing. It has been a long time since I laughed as much as I did yesterday. It was beautiful. Afterwards we went to the discotecas in Lima- we spent most of our time at a cuban place with live music. I danced the whole time with Willy´s cousin Efrain and I could NOT get the smile off my face. It feels so good to be here. I feel so alive here and just being surrounded in Spanish is music to my ears.
My heart is content and I had so many afterthoughts of this trip being the right thing, but I now know that this is where I belong. There are some times in life where you have to take the consequences and follow your heart. My heart is here today for sure. I am breathing lighter then I have in a long time. I will be in touch as much as possible... we are waiting for Dan right now and then I will have two gringo boys to watch after... or to watch over me, either way.
Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers and e mails... they make my day.
My heart is content and I had so many afterthoughts of this trip being the right thing, but I now know that this is where I belong. There are some times in life where you have to take the consequences and follow your heart. My heart is here today for sure. I am breathing lighter then I have in a long time. I will be in touch as much as possible... we are waiting for Dan right now and then I will have two gringo boys to watch after... or to watch over me, either way.
Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers and e mails... they make my day.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Lima... we are loving this place. We got in at midnight last night and my dear friend Willy hooked me up with a ride from his cousin who was waiting at the airport ready to get Brenton and I safely to the hotel. It is hard to believe we have only been here 1 day... lots to see. The flights down were perfect. We got bumped up to first class the whole way and were wined and dined. Brenton gave me crap for sleeping 6 hours out of a 6 and a half hour flight... I needed it!!!
Today we woke up and explored around Barranco where we are staying and went to the beach and took a long walk on the beach. Lots to see. We met up with Willy´s mom and had lunch at a wonderful place across from the soccer stadium where alanzia plays... amazing food and great company. we laughed a lot and brenton was hitting on Willy´s mom...(sorry willy). Everything has been GREAT.
We are exhausted after lots of running around and FULL tummys from sea food... going to take a nap and go out with Willy´s cousin and sister tonight to dance dance dance the night away. Things could not have gone better thus far....
Miss ya all....
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Destination- Peru
The time has come! I'm sitting in the airport in Atlanta with a 6 hour layover so at this point I'm committed- it's the real deal. I wasn't sure until this moment that this trip was going to actually happen- but my next destination is Lima. Done deal. This trips arrival has been bitter sweet- for a variety of reasons but as I struggled to be excited this morning I woke up about 1/2hour into our flight and glanced to my right and saw the sun rise above the clouds and to my left was my good friend & brotha- Brenton tagging along for the adventure. It was in that moment that I remembered that I am NOT the one in control. My apprehensions were quickly silenced by the most amazing view I've seen in a long time... and I realized that this trip is bigger then my fears.
SO for all of you who were wondering along with me if this was going to be for real here are the details..
*I've recruited two of my best amigos to start the trip off with- Brenton is treking with me & we are meeting Dan-Dan in Lima. I'm going to be in Lima exploring until Saturday.
*This Saturday I'll be flying to Cuzco to meet up with a touch point from "Sense the World"- which is a friend's non-profit organization and delivering materials and working with a gentleman named Alfonso. This is open-ended to what I'll be doing- and I'm excited for that adventure. I'll be visiting villages to deliver the materials... this journey is open-ended. I'll be taken care of by Alfonso & his wife while working with the organization which I feel really confident about as I've communicated via phone and e-mail with him several times. Good guy- he has to be he is a cop in Cuzco :)
*I'm going to try and see Machu Picchu & dance sometime in the down time or weekends.
*I start living with my host family shortly after getting to Cuzco- and start class & down to business. From that point on LEARN, LEARN, LEARN. I'll be teaching for the majority of the time I'm there.. I can hear it now.. Senorita Wimmer. I can't believe I'll be teaching. Scary!
That is the schedule in a nut-shell. I'll be flying to Lima the day after class ends on the 14th of Feb. and trying to get a flight back to Denver as quickly as possible after that. I'll be camping out at the airport until they give me the go ahead to get back to the states.
I'm excited for the adventure ahead- but also looking forward to getting back (which is an awesome feeling)- means that I have a lot to come back to. I'm a blessed little girl- every day of my life and I'm thankful for everything I have. Thanks for the thoughts and prayers!
As I learned in Costa Rica "pura vida"- I'm ready to take this adventure on and learn all that I can from the journey. The more I'm stretched the stronger I'll be!!!!
I'll be in touch,
Love,
Lindy
SO for all of you who were wondering along with me if this was going to be for real here are the details..
*I've recruited two of my best amigos to start the trip off with- Brenton is treking with me & we are meeting Dan-Dan in Lima. I'm going to be in Lima exploring until Saturday.
*This Saturday I'll be flying to Cuzco to meet up with a touch point from "Sense the World"- which is a friend's non-profit organization and delivering materials and working with a gentleman named Alfonso. This is open-ended to what I'll be doing- and I'm excited for that adventure. I'll be visiting villages to deliver the materials... this journey is open-ended. I'll be taken care of by Alfonso & his wife while working with the organization which I feel really confident about as I've communicated via phone and e-mail with him several times. Good guy- he has to be he is a cop in Cuzco :)
*I'm going to try and see Machu Picchu & dance sometime in the down time or weekends.
*I start living with my host family shortly after getting to Cuzco- and start class & down to business. From that point on LEARN, LEARN, LEARN. I'll be teaching for the majority of the time I'm there.. I can hear it now.. Senorita Wimmer. I can't believe I'll be teaching. Scary!
That is the schedule in a nut-shell. I'll be flying to Lima the day after class ends on the 14th of Feb. and trying to get a flight back to Denver as quickly as possible after that. I'll be camping out at the airport until they give me the go ahead to get back to the states.
I'm excited for the adventure ahead- but also looking forward to getting back (which is an awesome feeling)- means that I have a lot to come back to. I'm a blessed little girl- every day of my life and I'm thankful for everything I have. Thanks for the thoughts and prayers!
As I learned in Costa Rica "pura vida"- I'm ready to take this adventure on and learn all that I can from the journey. The more I'm stretched the stronger I'll be!!!!
I'll be in touch,
Love,
Lindy
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