Got DaMoude For Peru : 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?