USA, Paracas, and Memories

We traveled to the United States this week, southern Peru, and Lugar de la Memoria. We got a lot done and might have even cried a little bit.

United States (embassy that is)

Last Thursday we got to go see the United States Embassy and listen to a speaker there. Due to security reasons, we were not allowed to have our phone to take pictures. So, unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of that amazing place. We felt air conditioning for the first time since we have been in Peru and it was glorious. The lady that spoke to us has been all around the world and can speak several different languages because of her job. I would love to be able to speak a second language fluently and hopefully that is Spanish because that’s kind of why I am in Peru. It was great to be on American soil for a short time!

Paracas

Friday, we got on a bus for 3 hours to go to the city of Paracas found in the southern part of Peru for a field trip. We knew we were going to be staying in a hotel there, but little did we know that the hotel was going to be a 5 star resort with a gigantic pool and a beautiful view of an ocean bay. We got to go kayaking, paddle boarding, and relax at the amazing pool. Best field trip ever (sorry Mrs. Lindekugal, the Dancing Leaf Earth Lodge just didn’t compare)! That wasn’t even the best part.

On Saturday we got to go to Islas Ballestas, which are a group of islands about a 30 minute boat ride from the main land. On the boat ride we passed a pod (pack?) of wild dolphins and everybody freaked out because… DOLPHINS! I think that is pretty self-explanatory. When we got to the islands we got to see thousands of birds, hundreds of sea lions (sea wolves if you translate from Spanish), and three penguins! We also passed by a beach on the island called Playa Maternidad (maternity beach) and there were tons of little baby sea lions! There were so cute and I wanted to hold one so badly but I don’t think a protective mama sea lion would’ve liked it if I swam into shore and grabbed one of her babies. I just don’t think she would have liked that very much. The rest of the day was spent relaxing by the pool. That night we got to play Monopoly Peru edition. We thought that was so much fun because there were places on there that we had been and places that we wanted to go to. (Pictures of the island at the bottom!)

Sunday was spent stuffing ourselves with all the fresh fruit and bread at breakfast. I am really going to miss the pineapple and pineapple juice here because it is so so so so so good! I can’t even describe how good it is. You’re just going to have to come try some. Some of us played some volleyball after that. It was kind of hard to move, or breathe for that matter, but somehow we played anyway. We also found some snorkel gear at the kid’s club (we still act like kids) and took it to the pool! As soon as the goggles we on our heads, we instantly started acting like 3^rd graders again. We were doing handstands, trying to walk up the stairs in the pool on our hands, yelling at each other underwater, having underwater tea parties, and doing flips. It’s just a reminder that no matter how old we think we are, the kid inside of us is still alive. Something just has to trigger it (like a pool and goggles), and when it gets triggered, the little things bring us the most joy.

That night I got a taxi home by myself from the bus station. The taxi driver was older and he must not have heard the correct address because we ended up 30 minutes away from my house. I felt so bad that all I had to give him was 20 soles (6.50 American dollars), 50 cents, and an American dollar. It was originally only supposed to be 18 soles, but I felt bad and gave him everything I had. I could’ve thrown in my chapstick too, but for some reason I don’t think he wanted that very bad.

This week for our literature class, we took a field trip to Lugar de la Memoria (place of memory). This was all about terrorism in Peru from 1980-2000. The building was split into three levels. Level 1: terrorism and how it all started. Also, what they did and how people were treated. Level 2: How Peruvians reacted to terrorism brought on by their own people and how they got rid of it. Level 3: A memorial to the victims. There were several times throughout that I felt really sick to my stomach, confused, and shocked. The pictures were very graphic, there were videos of the victims speaking about what happened to them (really cool because the screens were big and made the people look like they were standing right in front of you), and drawings from kids involved in the terrorism; those were definitely the most disturbing. They drew the terrorists shooting their families, but the terrorists were smiling in the pictures. If you want to learn more about the terrorism in Peru here is the link. I highly recommend watching it. It was very eye opening that something like that ended here only 16 years ago. This was definitely one of the coolest museums I’ve ever been to. They don’t call it a museum though because they want it to be a place for people to realize that this happened and they can’t let such devastation happen ever again.

Next weekend we go to Machu Picchu and I think we are all very excited about that! It’s so hard to believe that we are almost to the half way point of our trip. I feel happy because I get to go home and see my family, but also sad because I have to leave this wonderful place and I just haven’t learned enough Spanish to leave yet.

Keep the kid alive,

Mariah

Random things

• They say snack in English, but they pronounce it eh-snack. They also do this with other words that are English but start with S. I can’t think of any more right now, but I’ll try to come up with some more.
• Ice cream shops here sell the BEST ice cream. Nothing gets better than homemade ice cream, of course, but this stuff comes pretty darn close.
• I am becoming very good at talking people down in prices.
• Almost all shirts here are called polos because of Ralph Lauren. These shirts don’t necessarily have to have a collar though, they can just be a t-shirt.
• I think they might just create jobs here. There are people standing around gates to get paid, others that sweep the streets, and some people even sweep the roofs. What? 

3 Cactus Thing. I obviously don't remember
the name for it. But you can see it 7 miles away!

Awesome sea food pasta I had at the resort. 

Some sea lions just lounging around

Sea lion haven

I just thought this would make an awesome picture.
And it did. 

The ladies sweeping the roof outside my
bedroom window. 

Spring Break: Do's and Don'ts

I’m so sorry you haven’t been able to read all about my life the last couple of weeks, and if by reading this is how you make sure that I’m still alive, I’m sorry it’s been so long (I’m okay Grammy - I promise). I am actually more than okay because I was having the time of my life on spring break!!! At least most of the time was great. There are some things I do not recommend. So, without further ado, I give to you The Do’s and Don’ts of Spring Break.

Don’t…

…wait until the last minute to print off the bus ticket. For some reason I couldn’t get my ticket to print off on campus so I thought they could just do it quick at the bus station. Wrong. I had to get a number to be called with 45 minutes before the bus left. I was number 304 and they were on number 267. Not good. With 15 minutes left before we were supposed to board the bus and number 282 up to bat, my chances for making it to spring break were not good. Luckily a very nice man with the company led me straight to front of the line and asked the nice lady to print off my ticket as soon as possible.

…choose a random seat on the bus. There were 12 seats in first class on the bus, 10 of us (UNK girls), and 2 possible seats for strangers. What are the chances that I get to sit in a seat for an 18+ hour bus ride next to a stranger? Apparently pretty good. His name was Alexis. He taught me all about the banana plants we drove by and told me he was going to ride a horse all the way back to Lima (I’m still not quite sure I understood that part of the conversation). I did feel bad for the non UNK girls on the bus because 10 girls on a bus for 18+ hours... that can't be the best experience for someone who doesn't understand what we were laughing about. But of course, we never laughed at them. They were very nice people for putting up with us the whole way there. We weren't that bad once we got the movies started. 

This kind of gives you the idea
of how some of the trip looked.
It was so scary. 

…decide to get onto a bus for 18+ hours if you get bus sick easily without Dramamine. You’d think I would learn after all of the times I have gotten sick on a bus, but it’s just a really cheap way to travel and all the cool kids were doing it. At one point we were basically driving on a cliff and if I looked down, I couldn’t see any pavement. That’s how close we were to the edge. Another "great" thing about Peru is that guard rails don’t really seem to be a requirement. If we would’ve blown a tire, driving off the edge of the cliff would have been one of the possible outcomes. I’m just glad I never have to make that trip again.

Moto Taxi

…ever ride in a moto taxi. These are very dangerous and very expensive if traveling long distances. For the first 3 days of spring break we thought they were the only form of transportation. Turns out we could’ve been taking a van every day for a fraction of the price. We take full responsibility for being dumb Americans when it comes to moto taxis.

…look too long at the dogs on the street. One day we walked into town to get some groceries for the Super Bowl and to make American food and we saw a dog laying on the side of the road. I looked a little closer at the dog and was absolutely torn apart by what I saw. The dog was actual skin and bones and was the most horrific thing I have ever experienced in person. I couldn’t believe it was even living because it was so deteriorated. The closest thing I can describe this dog to are pictures from the holocaust. The way we could see the bones in this dog was so disturbing and it was everything I could do to hold myself together and not cry. A lot of the dogs here are strays and they are so skinny, but that was by far the saddest dog I have seen here yet.

…get sick on spring break. I woke up the morning we were supposed to go swim with turtles and threw up. I laid on the couch the rest of the day and got sick again. They ended up not swimming with turtles and the next day I felt fine enough to go Scuba Diving. Halleluja!

…ride on a banana boat in the ocean - ever! It was the worst tubing experience I’ve ever had. The waves were not fun to have to go over, salt water was shooting into my eyes, and I didn’t have anything to hang onto because my handle had ripped off. To make it even better, as we were going into shore we caught a huge wave and the jet ski flipped completely and we all about fell off. We got off the banana boat and looked up to see the whole beach staring at us (hundreds of people). We made such a scene and it didn’t help that we definitely looked like foreigners to them. After the banana boat, a couple of people actually came up and asked to take their picture with us. It’s so hard being famous.  

Coming in real hot from that last wave. Our faces tell
the whole story. Horror, fear, excitement, fun.

…watch the Super Bowl in Spanish. It was definitely interesting but the game is just so much more fun when you can hear and understand what the announcers are saying.

Do…

…upgrade to first class on the bus. The seats almost laid completely back and we had our own personal TV’s on the seat in front of us.

…make American food. We had been missing American food for so long so we ended up making hamburgers, spaghetti, grilled cheese, lasagna, French toast, pancakes, and omelets. I realize not all of that is American food, but it tasted pretty darn good.

…go to Los Organos/Máncora for spring break. We almost had a beach completely to ourselves, the house we rented was absolutely beautiful, and we were able to do so many different things we normally wouldn’t get to do in America.

...eat the amazing sea food. I had octopus, squid, shrimp, and amazing fish that I can't even describe. 

Arroz con mariscos.
Rice with sea food. 

Not the board I used. I was a beginner and this
was too definitely to advanced for me. 

...go surfing!!! That was one of the best experiences of my life and I think I am going to have to take it up as my job and become a pro surfer. My instructor told me I was a pro so I’m definitely taking his word for it. After 20 minutes of basically doing burpees in the sand we headed out into the water. My instructor, Jo (pronounced Yo), held onto my board and helped me paddle with the waves. He held onto the board until I stood up and then let me shred the wave. I couldn’t really control the board because it was so big so I kind of just stayed in one spot. But I was surprised that every time we caught a wave I was able to stand and go all the way to shore! Riding my Ripstik (yes I still ride my Ripstik), wakeboarding, and water skiing definitely helped with that. One time I about ran over Danielle and her instructor, but it all worked itself out and I was able to avoid them! Jo was very concerned about my safety. One time a huge wave came over us and he flipped me under the board. Unfortunately, that did not help because I still rolled with the wave, the rope around my ankle pulled me with the board, and I thought I was never going to come up for air. I would still do it all again though!

…read The Power of Now. It’s a book about enlightenment and transcending the mind and just being in the moment. I took full advantage of being in the moment when it rained us out of the beach one day. I just stood outside in the rain enjoying the fact that it was warm and calming. I prayed and let my mind rest. It’s very hard trying not to think. Clearing the mind completely is a practice that I am working on, but I'm not even close yet. I can only clear it for about 5 seconds completely with no thought. 

…go scuba diving whenever the opportunity presents itself. I have been certified to dive for 4 years now and this was my second time in the ocean to dive! We went out to an oil rig and they had a course through there. The first time I went down, I was with an instructor and one other girl and we went through the course at about 60-70 feet. We saw an octopus and of course all kinds of fish and coral. The second time I went down, I went with other girls from UNK so I could film them on the GoPro. We ended up separating into two groups and although we only went down 35 feet I was very scared for them. The currents were really strong through there, visibility is not great, they had never dived (that is correct grammar... I looked it up) before, and they received a 30 minute lesson in the boat. I’m glad they got the experience, but I couldn’t believe the dive company let them go down so far without much more instruction. It was a good thing there were only two of them per instructor so he could just kind of hold their arms and take them through the course.

I would not have wanted to spend this amazing spring break with anyone other than the girls I spent it with. We bonded over card games, cooking, sickness, no wifi at times, and paradise together. Great memories were made and we were lucky the kitchen table held us all perfectly. 

We ended up staying in a town called Los Organos instead of staying right in Máncora which was fine with me even though we had to take moto taxis and buses to Máncora to do some things. We got to stay in a gorgeous house with the beach a block away and hardly any people on it. Paradise!

Now we are back to school and already had a test. The vacation from the vacation is over and now we have to go visit other places for school and go do more fun stuff, like visit Machu Picchu, in a couple of weeks. Such a hard school life we have here in Peru. 

The giant table that fit all 10 of us!
Family suppers were a must

One of the cool shots with the GoPro

If you look carefully you can see the ocean on
the horizon and the pool close to the house.

The house full of memories

Road Rage

One month in Peru… That seems weird to even say! I still feel sometimes like I have been here for only a week and other times I think I’ve been here the entire 4 months. So many things happen in one week that make the days go by so fast!

So my birthday was on Friday and I was kind of feeling a little homesick because it was my first birthday that I haven’t spent with my family. We did so many things that day that I didn’t really have time to feel homesick though. When I woke up Carmen fed me like a princess with tuna fruit, mango smoothie, the awesome bread they have here, and some chocolatada. Then she and Alejandro gave me my present. I wasn’t expecting anything so I was really surprised! They got me a beach towel that is perfect because I leave for spring break today and because I always have to mooch a towel off of them at the beach.  

Pollo a la Braza

Then they took me to Jenny and Martín’s house to spend the day there. For lunch we went to a place that served Pollo a la Braza (basically a chicken on a rotisserie) and the plates were huge again! After that we killed some time in the district of Miraflores until it got dark. As we were driving we passed a pump truck and I about choked to death on my words trying to explain that that’s what my dad does. They didn’t get a very good look at the truck but we were lucky and passed a pump truck in action! I didn’t even have to explain; I just had to point.

Finally we got to Parque de las Aguas where we met up with Patty, Juan Pedro, Fátima and Joaquín. The water fountains were absolutely amazing with the lights and different effects. The park is pretty big and I think there are about 8 or 9 fountains there. We got to go through a water tunnel and play in one of the fountains! After that we went to T.G.I. Friday’s and I ordered a hamburger because I’m was still really missing a good burger. The staff came out towards the end and sang happy birthday to me and gave me this oreo ice cream dessert thing. I liked it.

The next day 8 of us loaded into a 5 person car and headed to the San Bartolo beach. One of the days Martín, Fátima, and I spent 3 hours in the water! One of the family members brought a paddle board so I got to try that for the first time. I never fell once! Carmen made some cupcakes and everybody sang happy birthday to me in English because that’s just what they do here for some reason. They don’t even know why they sing it in English because after they sing it in English, they sing it in Spanish. I got to try some octopus and some really amazing baked goods also that weekend.

Fabrizio ended the weekend by going to the hospital with appendicitis. He is okay now! The funny thing was that I had been having weird stomach pains for a couple days and was concerned that I might have it. Poor little guy ended up having surgery. On our way home from the beach there must have been an accident and an ambulance was trying to get through. Nobody seemed to be in any hurry to get to the side and let them pass. In fact, people were not happy that the traffic was slowing down so they drove on the shoulder of the road to pass people. That did not surprise me. It didn’t even surprise me that when the shoulder wasn’t moving fast enough, people drove off of theroad completely to go faster. I only hope that I don’t come back with some bad driving habits and serious road rage. 

And that is how I spent my birthday of two decades. 

I am a little jealous of all the snow back home! We haven’t had snow like that in a long time and all I wanted to do yesterday was go sledding and enjoy the snow days like everybody else. I guess I’ll just have to settle for surfing this week in Máncora. It’s our spring break here already and today we are getting on a bus for 19 hours to go to Northern Peru and enjoy the beaches for a week! I’ll be thinking of you all as I sit on a beach and try not to get a sunburn from the intense UV rays here! 

Random Notes

• Lots of people drive old volkswagon bugs here. I'll try to put some pictures in my next blog of thsose. 
• There is a street near Miraflores of about 20 flower shops. I don't know how anyone makes money there because they are all separate companies. 
• There is workout equipment in the parks. Kind of a cool concept, but I've never seen anyone actually using them.