Within the past few weeks, I have traveled to Iquitos in the Amazon basin, and Tarapoto, in the selva baja of Perú. If I try to write everything I did while there, it would take more time than I have, especially considering I have midterms to study for. I'm going to focus more on my time in Tarapoto, since that was the most recent, and, in my opinion the most awesome.
For those of you who don't have time to spare, here's a quick list of things I did while working on a farm outside Tarapoto, Perú:
-climbed a mountain
-got stung by a bullet ant ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraponera )
-cured the pain with the vaginal excretions of Stephanie, the mother of the family who owned the farm
-swam in a waterfall
-killed a cuy
-ate a cuy
-ate some fatty grubs
-became proficient with a machete (though my wounded hands would say otherwise)
-became covered in mud
-learned how to say cheese in French
-lost a little self control and started scratching my infinite bug bites
-gained knowledge and understanding of the importance of preserving the natural world and being caretakers of the earth rather than just takers.
Now for the more poetical version:
Wayra Sacha means wind of the forest in Quechua. The farm was aptly named. The family who owned it is slowly working towards expanding biodiversity and restoring the soil and the forest. Cesar, the father of the family, calls the place his medicine. He is a sinewy man, about my height, and is full of dreams for the future and sadness for the present state of our world. Stephanie, his wife, is from Switzerland, but speaks French and Spanish. She did her doctoral thesis on butterflies. Often when we were working in the fields or in the forest, we'd see a burst of electric blue, and Cesar would call out: "Morpho menelaus", the scientific name of this beautiful mariposa: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morpho_menelaus
Wayra Sacha is home to 9 of the 13 different families of butterflies of the region, and this is not counting all the subfamilies, species, and subspecies. The diversity is tremendous.
It was our second day there that we climbed the mountain. Our end goal was to reach a waterfall in the valley and swim there before heading back to Wayra Sacha. We left at 5 am and reached the summit around 9 am. It was quite possibly one of the most beautiful views I've ever seen. We looked down upon gliding vultures in the valley below, green and forested on one side, and on the other lay a blanket of clouds. Swallows swooped around our heads, and the sun gave us the perfect amount of heat after being in the shady and cool forest. I could have stood there for hours just to look upon the valley. Then I felt terrible stinging pain on my right achilles heel. I look down to see a humongous ant just above my boot line. I hissed and brushed it off, but the stinging pain remained. I told Stephanie, and she quickly dabbed some whitish cream on the sting. After about a half an hour the pain subsided. I had to ask her three times before she told me what it was she had put on it. Apparently vaginal excretions work as an anti-inflammatory or something. Surprisingly, I wasn't disgusted at all. It's kind of miraculous that something that can cure that much pain can be found in our own bodies. She said that sperm can do the same thing. It works on bee stings as well.
After resting on the mountain top, we began the descent. We could hear the waterfall, and stopped to rest again at a smaller waterfall on the way. It was a considerable hike, and my legs were definitely feeling it. In the end, we got a little lost and headed in the direction of the high way. We ended up going to a more touristy waterfall and had to pay to enter, but it was still absolutely beautiful, and after hiking for a good 7 hours, the chilly water felt heavenly.After swimming for a while, it was time to walk back. We took the highway all the way this time; we wouldn't have returned until after dark if we had taken the same route. My legs were sore for the next 3 days.
A day in Wayra Sacha consisted of being awoken by screaming roosters
and hens just past dawn. Then you'd lay on your mattress in your
mosquito net for another half an hour or so, wondering at how a chicken
could sound so damn loud. The smell of the cooking fire meant coffee and
tea were being prepared, and soon breakfast was on the long rectangular
table in the main room of the tambo. I'm going to miss the huge pile of
fruit salad I got to consume every morning. Sooo delicious.
Work
was done at a leisurely pace. We helped Cesar transplant radishes, weed
the rice paddies, and cut stalks of corn and sugar cane to feed the
guinea pigs. All the work was done with a machete. The key to using a
machete is the angle. Forty five degrees gets you optimal sharpness.
After that, not much force is required The main project was a frog pond
they were constructing. This was probably my least favorite. We were in a
shady, muddy area of the forest, filling sacks with mud to serve as
retaining walls. The area will eventually be filled with water and serve
as home to diurnal frogs.
Our last day there was spent milling coffee beans to break the outer shell, then separating the shells from the green little beans. It was a tedious process, but Grace put on the 6th Harry Potter which she had on her computer, so the time went fast. The day of our flight, we descended to Tarapoto proper and explored the city a little bit. We managed to find an organic ice cream shop. We were ecstatic.
Stephanie and Cesar have two children, Jai and Bruno, who are 6 and 4 years old, respectively. They love to play "no me atrapas"or "you can't catch me", and on our days of rest, we spent our energy chasing the squealing boys around, and catching them up in our arms. Gotta say, kids are exhausting.
There were also three French students working there. It was difficult to communicate because I don't know French, and they didn't know much Spanish. We all pitched in to cook together and clean up, and we managed to have a few good conversations. In spite of our lack of ability to communicate, they seemed like happy and warm people, and it was nice to have other peers around to work and play with.
Cesar and Stephanie have big dreams for their land, and we came at a time when those dreams were just starting to take shape. I'd be interested to see Wayra Sacha in three or four years. They eventually hope to open their doors to eco-tourists in order to share the immense diversity that the selva has to offer. I was glad to help them, glad to escape bustling Lima for a while, glad to hear the sound of rain and thunder rather, glad to be covered in dirt and sweat, glad to not know or care how I looked. My roots are in the earth, after all.
martes, 8 de mayo de 2012
sábado, 14 de abril de 2012
It´s been a while
Sorry I haven't blogged more recently guys. I'm sure you'll get over it though.
For the weekend of Semana Santa (April 5th through the 8th) I spent a lovely weekend with my cousin Chris and his family at his mother-in-law's beach house in Punta Negra. It is normally only a 45 minute drive south of Lima, but with all the holiday traffic it took a bit longer than that.
We arrived to a small town right on the coast with dirt roads and a smattering of little parks with monuments and various flora. Broken glass was cemented on top of the walls that surrounded houses, just to dissuade any would-be robbers. Dogs wandered the streets, but other than that, there was little traffic, quite the change from bustling and noisy Lima. The only sound to be heard was the crashing waves of the ocean, which I could see from the roof of the beach house. This may have been my favorite part of Punta Negra: the constant rhythm of the huge waves breathing in and out along the endless coast. I think I could taste the salt in the air.
We spent days on the beach; I hid in the shade for the most part, not wanting to mess with this powerful Peruvian sun. Since the waves were so big, it was too dangerous to really swim in the ocean. I'd go in up to my waist or so and could already feel the incredibly powerful under toe luring me out. The pelicans and other water fowl seemed to love it, and I enjoyed watching them swoop down and come up munching on some poor fish. Chris took me to the club where I tried calamari and ceviche. Both were delicious but I was a little weirded out by the tentacles and suckers visible on the calamari. The beer tasted even more delicious after a hot day in the sun. In the evening, Chris got out his guitar and he and I jammed a couple of tunes for the family and some other guests. We did House of the Rising Sun, which was a favorite of Chris's mother-in-law, Magnolia, Dust in the Wind, and a traditional Mexican song called La Llorona. I also played some of my bluegrass, which everyone seemed to enjoy.
This coming Friday, I will be heading to Iquitos with Grace, Kelsey and Mike. We are going on an Amazon river tour that will last three days. We'll get to see monkeys and pink river dolphins, fish for piranhas, and go bird watching and hiking. I'll be sure to blog about that when I get back, so keep an eye out for amazing tales from the Amazon!
Until then,
Abby
For the weekend of Semana Santa (April 5th through the 8th) I spent a lovely weekend with my cousin Chris and his family at his mother-in-law's beach house in Punta Negra. It is normally only a 45 minute drive south of Lima, but with all the holiday traffic it took a bit longer than that.
We arrived to a small town right on the coast with dirt roads and a smattering of little parks with monuments and various flora. Broken glass was cemented on top of the walls that surrounded houses, just to dissuade any would-be robbers. Dogs wandered the streets, but other than that, there was little traffic, quite the change from bustling and noisy Lima. The only sound to be heard was the crashing waves of the ocean, which I could see from the roof of the beach house. This may have been my favorite part of Punta Negra: the constant rhythm of the huge waves breathing in and out along the endless coast. I think I could taste the salt in the air.
We spent days on the beach; I hid in the shade for the most part, not wanting to mess with this powerful Peruvian sun. Since the waves were so big, it was too dangerous to really swim in the ocean. I'd go in up to my waist or so and could already feel the incredibly powerful under toe luring me out. The pelicans and other water fowl seemed to love it, and I enjoyed watching them swoop down and come up munching on some poor fish. Chris took me to the club where I tried calamari and ceviche. Both were delicious but I was a little weirded out by the tentacles and suckers visible on the calamari. The beer tasted even more delicious after a hot day in the sun. In the evening, Chris got out his guitar and he and I jammed a couple of tunes for the family and some other guests. We did House of the Rising Sun, which was a favorite of Chris's mother-in-law, Magnolia, Dust in the Wind, and a traditional Mexican song called La Llorona. I also played some of my bluegrass, which everyone seemed to enjoy.
This coming Friday, I will be heading to Iquitos with Grace, Kelsey and Mike. We are going on an Amazon river tour that will last three days. We'll get to see monkeys and pink river dolphins, fish for piranhas, and go bird watching and hiking. I'll be sure to blog about that when I get back, so keep an eye out for amazing tales from the Amazon!
Until then,
Abby
sábado, 31 de marzo de 2012
El Caral
My first experience traveling outside of Lima brought me 3 hours up the coast to the ancient ruins of Caral. The city slowly fell away as the bus drove north, giving rise to sand dunes and rocky mountains, covered with clusters of huts and pueblos. I have never seen a desert like this one, with pure sand and zero vegetation. Lima is technically part of this desert, but you'd never know it from all the grass and palm trees. Of course, this is only possible through frequent irrigation. The coast was on our left, and we got occasionally glimpses of the sea as we climbed into what seemed like another planet.
I didn't notice how very silent the country was until I heard the rush of water. Green sprouted up around us, and we were in the Supe Valley, home of Caral. In the fields, people were cultivating crops as well as livestock - mostly goats it seemed. There were also lots of horses, donkeys, and dogs. On either side of the lush valley rose rocky mountains (foot hills, really, but to my Wisconsin eyes they were mountains), a reminder that the desert stretched out endlessly around us. A rickety ride on the rocky country road brought us to the archeological site.
We hiked away from the river valley, out into the desert and the merciless sun, where the city of Caral once lay. It is supposedly the 3rd oldest civilization on earth, after Mesopotamia and Egypt, and was built around 2500 BC. It consists of a large semicircle of pyramids make of rock. The pyramids were tiered and probably served as religious meeting places for the citizens of Caral. My favorite site was the "reloj del sol" or sun dial that was positioned in front of one of the pyramids. It was a simple large stone embedded in the earth, but somehow, it made the people of Caral seem more real to me. Such a human thing to chronicle time. Some of the artifacts they found there included flutes and 16 vertebrates of a whale, which they think were used to sit on. Crazy! The cool thing about this site was that, unlike La Huaca Pucllana in Lima, you could get a true idea of the size of the city. The tour took about an hour and a half, which should give you an idea of the size and spread of the city and it's pyramids. At one point there was a beautiful vista looking down into the vibrant river valley, and at other times you could feel the desolation of the desert and it's surrounding cruel mountains. The pyramids were dwarfed by the size of these hills, but their grandeur still remained a testament to the lives of those who had lived there.
I didn't notice how very silent the country was until I heard the rush of water. Green sprouted up around us, and we were in the Supe Valley, home of Caral. In the fields, people were cultivating crops as well as livestock - mostly goats it seemed. There were also lots of horses, donkeys, and dogs. On either side of the lush valley rose rocky mountains (foot hills, really, but to my Wisconsin eyes they were mountains), a reminder that the desert stretched out endlessly around us. A rickety ride on the rocky country road brought us to the archeological site.
We hiked away from the river valley, out into the desert and the merciless sun, where the city of Caral once lay. It is supposedly the 3rd oldest civilization on earth, after Mesopotamia and Egypt, and was built around 2500 BC. It consists of a large semicircle of pyramids make of rock. The pyramids were tiered and probably served as religious meeting places for the citizens of Caral. My favorite site was the "reloj del sol" or sun dial that was positioned in front of one of the pyramids. It was a simple large stone embedded in the earth, but somehow, it made the people of Caral seem more real to me. Such a human thing to chronicle time. Some of the artifacts they found there included flutes and 16 vertebrates of a whale, which they think were used to sit on. Crazy! The cool thing about this site was that, unlike La Huaca Pucllana in Lima, you could get a true idea of the size of the city. The tour took about an hour and a half, which should give you an idea of the size and spread of the city and it's pyramids. At one point there was a beautiful vista looking down into the vibrant river valley, and at other times you could feel the desolation of the desert and it's surrounding cruel mountains. The pyramids were dwarfed by the size of these hills, but their grandeur still remained a testament to the lives of those who had lived there.
viernes, 23 de marzo de 2012
Cathedral Mischief
What a wonderful day I had today! Grace, Margot, and I decided to be a little touristy, so I strapped on my fanny pack, armed it with my camera, sunglasses, and enough soles for a trip to the center of Lima. We saw the Plaza de Armas, which has a beautiful fountain in the middle and is surrounded by the Cathedral of Lima, the Governmental Palace, and other administrative buildings.
We had to pay to get into the Cathedral, and they gave us a pamphlet explaining a little bit of the history of each Chapel. The English translations were a little bit off sometimes, and at the same time that I was chuckling at it, I was wondering how inaccurate my Spanish is. We got to go into the crypt where there was a case full of skulls as well as the coffins of children. It was a little bit spooky.
Next we wandered into the courtyard. A side room brought us to a mysterious staircase. There were no signs telling us not to enter, and hey, you only live once. The stairway brought us to what seemed like the living quarters of the groundskeeper or maintenance person of the cathedral. There were jeans hanging on a line, and shoes sitting in a corner. We probably should have turned around, but there was yet another staircase, and we were so curious! A series of increasingly steep, precarious steps brought us to the roof of the cathedral. How amazing the view was! Feathers littered the ground (not to mention a fair amount of bird excrement) and we could see the shells of the domes that we had been looking up at within the cathedral not 5 minutes prior.
As we continued exploring, we found another staircase that led up to the bell tower. I felt like the hunch back of Notre Dame, looking down at the bustling city from the peace and silence that comes from such great heights. The ravens that seemed so small and distant from the ground now looked sinister perched on the statues of old men that eternally guard the cathedral. The bells within the tower were tarnished and ancient, tempting me to make them ring anew. When we got our fill of the beautiful view of the sprawl of Lima, we began our descent back through the living quarters, down all the stairs, and back to the courtyard. Cathedral Mischief at it's finest.
Next we went to the Church of Saint Francis. A tour guide showed us around the old monastery, whose walls were covered in beautiful old tiles and frescoes. Much of the woodwork has disintegrated over time due to humidity and earthquakes, and the frescoes were only discovered after an earthquake in the 1970s revealed them. For some reason many of the faces were missing in the frescoes. Nobody is sure why. The tour guide led us down into the catacombs, where the bones of thousands of Catholics rest. It was an eerie experience. Many of the catacombs have yet to be excavated. Some of the grave sites were clearly marked as the graves of important people, but for the most part, anyone who was Catholic could be buried there. It was amazing to see so many skulls and femurs, and I wondered what their lives were like, so long ago. Lima has a rich history, and it has been fascinating to learn and to see the relics of what seems like a completely different world.
We had to pay to get into the Cathedral, and they gave us a pamphlet explaining a little bit of the history of each Chapel. The English translations were a little bit off sometimes, and at the same time that I was chuckling at it, I was wondering how inaccurate my Spanish is. We got to go into the crypt where there was a case full of skulls as well as the coffins of children. It was a little bit spooky.
Next we wandered into the courtyard. A side room brought us to a mysterious staircase. There were no signs telling us not to enter, and hey, you only live once. The stairway brought us to what seemed like the living quarters of the groundskeeper or maintenance person of the cathedral. There were jeans hanging on a line, and shoes sitting in a corner. We probably should have turned around, but there was yet another staircase, and we were so curious! A series of increasingly steep, precarious steps brought us to the roof of the cathedral. How amazing the view was! Feathers littered the ground (not to mention a fair amount of bird excrement) and we could see the shells of the domes that we had been looking up at within the cathedral not 5 minutes prior.
As we continued exploring, we found another staircase that led up to the bell tower. I felt like the hunch back of Notre Dame, looking down at the bustling city from the peace and silence that comes from such great heights. The ravens that seemed so small and distant from the ground now looked sinister perched on the statues of old men that eternally guard the cathedral. The bells within the tower were tarnished and ancient, tempting me to make them ring anew. When we got our fill of the beautiful view of the sprawl of Lima, we began our descent back through the living quarters, down all the stairs, and back to the courtyard. Cathedral Mischief at it's finest.
Next we went to the Church of Saint Francis. A tour guide showed us around the old monastery, whose walls were covered in beautiful old tiles and frescoes. Much of the woodwork has disintegrated over time due to humidity and earthquakes, and the frescoes were only discovered after an earthquake in the 1970s revealed them. For some reason many of the faces were missing in the frescoes. Nobody is sure why. The tour guide led us down into the catacombs, where the bones of thousands of Catholics rest. It was an eerie experience. Many of the catacombs have yet to be excavated. Some of the grave sites were clearly marked as the graves of important people, but for the most part, anyone who was Catholic could be buried there. It was amazing to see so many skulls and femurs, and I wondered what their lives were like, so long ago. Lima has a rich history, and it has been fascinating to learn and to see the relics of what seems like a completely different world.
martes, 13 de marzo de 2012
Classes!
Classes have officially begun. None of us extranjeros will be officially registered until Monday, so this week is serving as "shopping week" in which we get to try out classes that we think we want to take to make sure that we understand the professor and the work load is something we can handle. This has been very useful, and there are a few classes I thought I really wanted to take that I'm no longer interested in as well as a few classes that I'd like to take that I hadn't thought about before.
Hopefully, my final line up will result in my having classes only three days a week: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, for a total of 12 credits. This will give me long four day weekends for travel and shenanigans. I've heard terrible rumors about the chaos that is registration, so I'm going to have to put on a patient face and prepare to not get the classes I want while hoping for the best. Cross your fingers :)
On the buses, sometimes people get on, explain that they are poor, and then attempt to sell people inexpensive goods like candy or stress balls in order to help support them. Today, a guy got on the bus, made a little speech about his poverty, and proceeded to stick a nail up his nose. He then walked around the bus with the nail still lodged in his nasal passage and held out his hand asking for donations. If I hadn't been so shocked and mildly disgusted, I probably would have given the guy a couple soles, because you've got to admit that's pretty impressive.
I love you Lima.
Abby
Hopefully, my final line up will result in my having classes only three days a week: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, for a total of 12 credits. This will give me long four day weekends for travel and shenanigans. I've heard terrible rumors about the chaos that is registration, so I'm going to have to put on a patient face and prepare to not get the classes I want while hoping for the best. Cross your fingers :)
On the buses, sometimes people get on, explain that they are poor, and then attempt to sell people inexpensive goods like candy or stress balls in order to help support them. Today, a guy got on the bus, made a little speech about his poverty, and proceeded to stick a nail up his nose. He then walked around the bus with the nail still lodged in his nasal passage and held out his hand asking for donations. If I hadn't been so shocked and mildly disgusted, I probably would have given the guy a couple soles, because you've got to admit that's pretty impressive.
I love you Lima.
Abby
viernes, 9 de marzo de 2012
Hoy
I am adjusting well to life here in Peru. My house is starting to feel more and more like home. Laura is always willing to have a conversation about anything, and her soft smile is full of amusement and patience when I make errors. She seems to be a very strong woman, and has certainly passed this trait on to her daughter, Laura (Laurita). Laurita is a professor at the university in political sciences. Yesterday at orientation she gave all the international students a talk about security and how to live safely in Lima. She did indeed scare the crap out of us, as she had promised, but she gave good advice which I intend to follow.
Today I went on a tour of downtown Lima with my companera, Monica. She speaks very quickly, and it is difficult for me to understand her as well as the other students. I spoke with another student, Saul who seemed to want to practice his English more than anything. Our conversation consisted of him speaking in English and me speaking in Spanish; this seemed to draw many a strange look while we rode the bus back to Miraflores. He lives very close to me, and knows a place where we can watch Star Wars for free. Allll riiight!
Downtown Lima is very beautiful, full of old colonial buildings as well as newer ones. I wanted to go into the Cathedral, but it costs 20 soles. Monica said it's either free or less expensive on Sundays, so maybe I'll check it out then.
The sun here is very strong, and in spite of my wearing sunscreen everyday, it seems my skin is still suffering. Eating ice cream helps though. Yum!
This is our last weekend before classes start, and then it'll be all work and no play. Well..okay mostly work and some play. I've got to live it up after all!
Hasta nuevo,
Abby
Today I went on a tour of downtown Lima with my companera, Monica. She speaks very quickly, and it is difficult for me to understand her as well as the other students. I spoke with another student, Saul who seemed to want to practice his English more than anything. Our conversation consisted of him speaking in English and me speaking in Spanish; this seemed to draw many a strange look while we rode the bus back to Miraflores. He lives very close to me, and knows a place where we can watch Star Wars for free. Allll riiight!
Downtown Lima is very beautiful, full of old colonial buildings as well as newer ones. I wanted to go into the Cathedral, but it costs 20 soles. Monica said it's either free or less expensive on Sundays, so maybe I'll check it out then.
The sun here is very strong, and in spite of my wearing sunscreen everyday, it seems my skin is still suffering. Eating ice cream helps though. Yum!
This is our last weekend before classes start, and then it'll be all work and no play. Well..okay mostly work and some play. I've got to live it up after all!
Hasta nuevo,
Abby
sábado, 3 de marzo de 2012
La Huaca Pucllana
Today Davin, Erin, and I ventured out into the Peruvian sun to see the archeological site close to Laura's house. The culture that lived there worshiped the moon and the sea, and shark meat was a delicacy. In spite of its matriarchal structure, the human sacrifices found there were still all of women age 12 to 25. Nothing like a good virgin to please your deity. My favorite part was the small garden with foods traditionally eaten by the Lima culture. They had ducks, llamas, and guinea pigs too. Yum.
For lunch, Laura made a "pastel de aceituna" literally translated to mean tuna cake. Although I've never been a huge fan of tuna, this dish was pretty delicious, perhaps due to Lima's close proximity to the ocean. After lunch, we again ventured out into the city, exploring an Inca Market with various handicrafts. There was definitely some cool stuff, and the people there were all friendly.
In the evening we again went exploring. We took a central walk way down a commercial district. It ran through a park and there were many families and couples out enjoying the fresh evening air. People were selling goods and food from carts. Roaming the lawn and gardens were many many cats. They were friendly and clean, if a little bit skinny. You wouldn't even need to own a cat if you lived in Lima; you'd just have to go to this park for all your kitten needs. There were also these awesome cubes that were about 7 1/2 feet tall, and on each side of them was amazing graffiti art. We weren't sure if the city allowed random artists to spray paint them or if they were done illegally. I only wish I had had my camera with me so I could take pictures.
Next we went to La Calle Pizza where we ate pizza. A waitress offered us free drinks if we came to her restaurant to eat, so naturally we did. We got drinks called pisco sours which were pretty tasty.
Now I am back at home and am pretty exhausted from sun burn and walking. I have to explore as much as possible before school starts, so hopefully in the next week I'll have more stories to tell.
Until then,
Abby
For lunch, Laura made a "pastel de aceituna" literally translated to mean tuna cake. Although I've never been a huge fan of tuna, this dish was pretty delicious, perhaps due to Lima's close proximity to the ocean. After lunch, we again ventured out into the city, exploring an Inca Market with various handicrafts. There was definitely some cool stuff, and the people there were all friendly.
In the evening we again went exploring. We took a central walk way down a commercial district. It ran through a park and there were many families and couples out enjoying the fresh evening air. People were selling goods and food from carts. Roaming the lawn and gardens were many many cats. They were friendly and clean, if a little bit skinny. You wouldn't even need to own a cat if you lived in Lima; you'd just have to go to this park for all your kitten needs. There were also these awesome cubes that were about 7 1/2 feet tall, and on each side of them was amazing graffiti art. We weren't sure if the city allowed random artists to spray paint them or if they were done illegally. I only wish I had had my camera with me so I could take pictures.
Next we went to La Calle Pizza where we ate pizza. A waitress offered us free drinks if we came to her restaurant to eat, so naturally we did. We got drinks called pisco sours which were pretty tasty.
Now I am back at home and am pretty exhausted from sun burn and walking. I have to explore as much as possible before school starts, so hopefully in the next week I'll have more stories to tell.
Until then,
Abby
viernes, 2 de marzo de 2012
First Impressions
Traveling to Peru was like a gauntlet, a rite of passage. I made it through with only minor complications. I found my taxi driver without a hitch, and Erin, another student staying at Laura's house, was there too. The driver took us through Lima at one in the morning, showing us the good neighborhoods and the bad ones, where a good place to drink is, where the high schools and parks are. We even got our first glimpse at La Catolica. He was patient with us as our brains adjusted to the rapid Spanish. He told us of his family and his life. I missed some of the things he said, but to my surprise I was able to understand most of it. Here I am, and here I'll stay. With Laura and her daughter Laura (Laurita), and their dog, Misky. In my room there was a little balloon on my pillow that said "Bienvenido". The windows of the house are wide open with no screens, and the breeze that comes in is pleasant and cool.
This morning I woke to dogs barking, horns honking, and morning doves cooing softly. I think I will like it here. Today Laura is going to show us around the neighborhood. Most things are in walking distance, and Erin, Davin (the other student living here), and I are going to check out La Huaca later. They are ancient Incan ruins that I can see from my window. Tomorrow Laura will show us how to use the public transportation to get to La Catolica. I imagine it will be quite the adventure.
Until then,
Abby
This morning I woke to dogs barking, horns honking, and morning doves cooing softly. I think I will like it here. Today Laura is going to show us around the neighborhood. Most things are in walking distance, and Erin, Davin (the other student living here), and I are going to check out La Huaca later. They are ancient Incan ruins that I can see from my window. Tomorrow Laura will show us how to use the public transportation to get to La Catolica. I imagine it will be quite the adventure.
Until then,
Abby
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