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.

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.

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

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

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

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