Lima

So I am in Lima spending some time with my Tia, Aunt, Ines. I have been here since Sunday and will be leaving tomorrow for the big trip.

Lima is super. I wake up every morning to a fresh papaya and pineapple smoothie. After months of nothing but carbs I can feel the vitamins reentering my body. We go to the supermarket everyday to buy food for that day. The supermarkets here are very differnt than Huancayo. Its basically like being in the US. I almost bought peanut butter as I craved it all month but 5 dollars is a little steep for non skippy. They also have wendys, papa johns, subway, tgif, and mickey dee´s to name just a few.

Yesterday I went to the catacombs with my Aunt Ines, my Aunt Eva, and my cousin Lorenzo. It was pretty wierd a`nd pretty awesome. 10 meters deep filled with 25,000 bones. (There is currently a 90 year old women sitting next to me who has no idea how to use a computer. She taps me every 5 seconds looking for a key. The problem is she has a major speech defect and is speaking in spanish, arghhh)

For those of you who sent me emails concerned about the earthquake, it was up north and I am fine. Since it was so big, 7.5, I hear you could feel it everywhere. I happened to be in a car while it hit so I felt nothing.

Ok well thats all I have to say,

Next stop Trujillo

Nicole

Remember the time I got fleas?

Ok now forget it, and never mention it again....

Argh, well yes, turns out my bedbugs were actually fleas. Could anything be worse you might ask? The answer of course is yes. For one my brand new sleeping bag is infested with fleas. The dermatologist told me to leave the sleeping bag in the sun for a few days. Ok not a problem, not a problem at all, that is until a bird decided to fly over my roof and shit on my bag! Ok aside from that I was painting a mural yesterday, slipped on the chair and got paint alllll over my arms and hands. Not a problem right? Just wash it off. Nope, there is not hot water anywhere and soap and cold water just doesnt cut it. The plan today is to buy some alcohol and spend a few hours peeling the paint off. As misery does love company, I must note that Nili also has fleas and is also covered in white paint.

So as I said to my friends here, this is the bottom of my bell curve, everything must go up from here. Knock on wood.

On a positive note, I must say that I have the greatest friends here. When the bugs first started attacking I thought I had picked up some rare disease. Luckily for me we were still in the middle of a 4 day strike and the doctor was an hour away. Nili and Nia insisted on walking with me the whole 2 hours and they were very suppported about my fleas. Then that night Harri insisted I share her bed with her, as mine was full of fleas. It turns out its not just my bed, as much as the whole house, but still the gesture was really nice.

So thats the story. Oh ya! We (Nia, Nili, Harry, Pepe, and I) booked the Inca trail yesterday. We decided to do the entire 4 day hike. We are all a bit nervous as Nili´s guidebook says that parts of the inca trail ¨leave even the most serious hikers gasping for air,¨but we all agree its one of those things you just haveee to do. The backpacking adventure begins on Thursday when we catch a bus up to Trujillo. I am super super excited and hope to be defleaed by then.

Peace out and enjoy your clean beds.

Nicole

Strike Strike

So the strike has been going on for 3 days now. This means there is very little to report. The only interesting tidbit i can offer is my lunch yesterday. Dr. Atkins would roll over in his grave. We started with potato soup. The next course consisted of 2 large potatos, rice, and pasta. If that wasnt crazy enough we were also served cuy (guinnea pig) which I refused to eat.

Aside from that I think I have bedbugs. I am going to the doctor tonight. Pretty gross eh?

What a weekend

So I came up with the idea to visit a little town Jaujau (the first capital of Peru) this weekend. My 3 roomates, my host brother and 2 other girls decided they wanted to go too. I went to sleep friday night super excited about the trip. Of course 6am saturday morning I wake up feeling sicker than I have in a very long time. Now before you feel too bad for me I have to admit it was entirely my fault. The night before Nia, Nili and I went out for dinner. On the way back I saw a lady selling churros on the street. Of course my first instinct was to stay away but I reaaaaaallly wanted one. Considering my friends all buy fruit juice from the street I figured i´d be okay. Well obviously I was very wrong. I ended up going to Jaujua anyway, feeling very sick, coming home, and spending the next 12 hours in bed. The good news, now I am fine.

SO my after Huancayo plans are looking pretty cool. The group of travellers will me Nia, Nili, possibly Harry, a girl named Pepe from london, and a girl named Naomi from Australia. Should be good times. We will be leaving Hauncayo on the 29th and then heading north to Trujillo. The plan is to hit huaraz, ica, pisco, nasca, ariquipa, cusco and the Puno before heading over to Bolivia or Chile. We shall see.

Oh ya, tomorrow there is supposed to be a huge strike in all of Peru. No buses, taxis, cars, etc. We have been advised to stay home. Some of the girls want to go to see the strike. After experiencing one in Ecuador I must say, in the words of my mommy, ¨thank you, but no thank you.¨ I will be cozy in my bed sleeping in.


PEACE out

I´m so domestic

This is my roof. I hang my clothes here after washing them by hand! Those mountains surround us in all directions.

Hello folks

This is my house. I live with 11 other people. It´s a little tight but we manage.


SIKKKKKE

Sicky mcSicksters

So last night I awoke to the sounds of not 1 but 2 of my housemates throwing up. I don´t know what the deal is, as we all eat the exact same things. Maybe some of us just have stronger stomachs. No se.

Well to answer Nina Anne Mittenthal Schwartz´ comment, I didn´t actually fight. I think you all would have been quite proud. My friend and the directors were all kind of freaking out but I remained the calm mediator.

Today I had my first private spanish lesson, last week was free so it was in a group of 5. The spanish lessons cost 5 $ ´s an hour so I am considering taking a week or so more. Depends how cheap I decide to be and how good the lessons prove to be. My host sister Merilla (pronounced MA RAY UH) has offered to spend 2 hours a night practicing spanish out of a book as well. I find that at this point I can understand mostly everything, its the talking that is tough. I find that with the 4 of us together all the time it is a little tough. We do try and talk to eachother in spanish at least half the time. Its only been a week and a half though so im feeling pretty good.

Ok my babies in the orphanage ( I have decided to keep 2 of them) are awaiting.

PEACE OUT

What a day...

Yesterday we went to a festival. All 9 of us (5 members of the host family and us 4 girls) packed into one taxi. I sat essentially in the trunk with 2 other girls. Quite honestly I thought I was going to drive most of the way from a combination of terrible driving and terrible road conditions. I expected the fesitval to be relatively small but it was actually huge. The festival was in honor of the ¨virgin of Cocharca.¨ According to the tale the virgin mary appeared in this city at some point in time. People from all over Peru were there and there were around 10 different groups dressed in traditional costumes and doing traditional dances. It was really funny to see a group of girls dressed in the exact peruvian costume I had when I was little.


Today has been un poco loco. Had a bit of an argument with the program director. All is well now though. The major problem was with my friend and I spent a good hour defending her. I have changed my schedule around a bit and don´t have anything until 830 tomorrow morning. I am super excited about this. Tomorrow I must call my mommy´s friends friends daughter. Hopefully we can meet up and I can work on my spanish some more.

Hoy es Domingo

Ah the weekend is nice. Nothing like having time to spend in an internet cafe listening to the traditional Peruvian music of Avril Levine.

Today I went to the Indian market with the girlies. I bought a sweater, a pair of pants, 3 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of earrings and a bag for around 20 bucks. I really needed all the things as it turns out its a lot colder here than I was expecting.

Last night we went out for vegetarian food. Somehow Nili and I ended up getting banana eggs. We thought we were ordering an egg with fried bananas and tortillas but apparently not. It was actually quite good though more something you´d eat for breakfast or dessert. I also tried ordering a diet coke which did not go over well. First they had no idea what I was talking about and then ended up just bringing me a regular coke. Oh well. After dinner we went to a discoteca. It was quite fun though all of the other volunteers are awesome dancers and can do all these latin moves while I tend to do the ¨Jenny Shuffle¨. Ha, oh well, I like to dance anyway. I ordered a Pisco Sour which turned out to not be that bad after about half the glass.

Oh so an update on the Jungle trip. Due to my keen ability to not fall for scams (aside from the time Jo and I were duped into buying a dancing micky mouse in Italy) it seems as though the number of volunteers going has dropped from 8 to 2. I feel especially good about this for a few reasons. The main reason is that although we paid for a full month, which is supposed to go entirely to our host family for food my host mother told us, in confidence, that the director told her she would not recieve any money for the days we were in the jungle. In other words, we were told that the host families were paid upfront and so we would have to pay for food in the jungle despite already paying room and board, but it was a lie. Shady folks.

Whatever, the organization is shady but I am loving it here. However, we have all decided to only stay a month, as it seems as though our money is being mishandled. For instance we each pay 30 dollars for classroom materials but there are NONE. I am actually pretty excited to get on the road. We will be travelling in a group of 4, myself, nili, nia and a girl named pepe from london.

Ok well off to lunch and then a pueblo for a festival. I know, its an easy life I live but don´t be too jealous, we have our problems too! For instance my toilets only flush a few hours per day and I have only taken one hot shower since i´ve been here. Also I have short hair!

Peace out


Nicole

A trip to the jungle, postponed

So its Saturday morning and I just wrote an entire blog that was erased. ARGH

Ok here is a short version of the story. Peru for you, the organization I work with, can be shady. (Mom and Dad, by shady I do not mean dangerous, evil, majorly corrupt, etc.) Basically I think that they pocket some of the money we paid which was supposed to go to the children.

Story is as follows. Aldo, head of P4U, proposed a trip to the jungle where we would distribute medicine to indigenous people who are basically untouched by tourism. Sounded great. Turns out to be a 8 hour bus ride followed by a 7 hour boat ride, followed by a 4 hour hike just to get there. Still fine, then he wont tell us what it costs. The he makes up a number 5 minutes later, then a higher number 5 minutes later. Everyone still excited to go except me. Thursday Aldo says we must pay in full by monday. The last night says we must pay in full by saturday morning. Then adds money to the price saying that it costs 100 dollars for a permit to the park. Mind you we are not going to the amazon, we are going to the Selva, and the amazon permits dont even cost that much.



At this point I basically decided he was being manipulative and I was´nt going to go. Still the idea of being the only volunteer not going was kind of frustrating.

Well to make a long story a little shorter after a huge discussion with eachother and our host family it seems as though the other girls in my house have decided not to go too.

So thats my story and i´m sticking to it. Today I am going to explore Huancayo for the 1st time. Tonight we are going to some discoteccas, Tomorrow we go to the famous Huancayo Indian market, and then at night our host family is bringing us to a nearby pueblo for an annual fesitival.

PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Niclo

A little free time

SO last night I came down with a touch of the consumption but I woke up this morning feel fine. Breakfast was at 7 am. We had bread, dulce de leche, star fruit juice and tea. Star fruit juice is the best juice I ever tasted. It is made of nothing but loads and loads of smashed star fruit, QUE RICO!

After breakfast the 4 girls, Nia, Nili, Harri, and myself, walked to nearby park where we picked up a collectivo. Its about a 15 minute ride and costs 50 centimos, around 15 cents (the same price as a half hour on the internet) We arrived at the orphanageat around 815.

In the mornings I work with the little babies. Today Nili , me, and one of the 2 nurses in charge of all the babies, took 3 of them a nearby clinic for a checkup. The nurse told me a little history about the children we were with. My favorite, Nayeli, is 9 months old. She was found abandoned in a small village in the jungle 20 days ago. It{s very sad to work there though I suppose ill get used to it. The babies cry in their cribs and the moment you touch them their faces light up with happiness. They all really crave human contact so I guess we are helping them in some way. Apparently there are almost always volunteers so the babies have time to play. When there are no volunteers there are only 2 people payed to work.

SO anyway, the reason for my free time is that my class with the five year olds was canceled because there is something wrong with there classroom. What exactly i am not sure. I suppose ill find out tomorrow.

Once again, I apologize for typos. The computers here have slightly different keyboards and it appears some of my keys are mislabeled.

Hope all is well back in the States.

NICOLE

SO BUSY

First - life is great

Second - I have never been more busy in my life.

This will be a short post as I barely have time to breath. To update everyone on the party it was wonderful. It turns out my host father is the head of operations for a collectivo (kind of like a bus) company. In the morning we got in his family´s collective and were part of a parade throughout Huancayo. All the collectivos were covered in flower,balloons, etc. We then arrived at a field where the party was held. There were a little over a hundred people I think and there was lots of dancing. Imagine me, linked arm and arm with a peruvian man, trying to follow a traditional huancayo dance. It wasnt pretty but it was fun. Basically they cut down trees the day before covered them with prizes , dug holes in the ground and put the trees back up at the party. We danced around the trees for 12 hours! yes 12. As for the duck dressed in peruvian garb, it died. Thats all i´m going to say about poor mr. duck.

My schedule is this 8am to 9 am I work with 3 other girls in a center ( basically a room with no wall on the street sidfe) with street children. We teach basic english and play games. Then from 930 to 11 I go to an orphange and play with babies with special needs. Then myself and 2 other girls teach basic english and dental hygiene to 30, 5 year olds! THEN i have lunch and then myself and Nia teach 9,10,11 year olds english for 2 hours. THEN I have 2 hours of spanish class, then I come home and prepare lessons and worksheets for the next day and then i sleep.

SOrrry for any grammatical or spelling errors. ESTOY CANSADA!

peace out and ill update when i can.

Huancayo

I have to start by saying I am already having an amazing time. While things are not exactly what I expected them to be everything is wonderful. Let me start with my homestay.

I am living with a middle class Peruvian family. Obviously when I say middle class I mean by Peruvian standards. I suppose most Americans would consider them poor but they have all the basic necessities and seem happy. Three other volunteers are living with me. Nia, the girl I orignally planned the trip, Nili, the girl from Manhattan whom I met right before I left and another girl named Harry.

The youngest boy in the family, Frank, is 14 and has been so friendly. Today he told us that he would bring us to ¨Torre Torre.¨ When we asked him what this was I swore he said it was on a mountain but my friends assured me he had said it was a monument. Well, of course, it turned out that I was correct, and while I own hiking boots I figured it was a monument and so I wore my converses. Just in case anyone was wondering hiking a mountain in converses is not pretty. Aside from the difficulty it was unbelievably beautiful. It was basically canyons with rock formations that looked like towers, hence the ¨Torre Torre¨. From there we were able to see all of Huancayo. We were also able to see many women in traditional clothing flocking sheep along the mountain. Totally surreal, and totally amazing.

Tomorrow we are going to a ¨fiesta¨with our host family. I am not completely sure what it is for but from what I understand there will be a pinata, a tree for dancing around, an a duck dressed in traditional Peruvian clothings and a hat. Hmmm.

Well thats it for now.

Nicole

Today´s theme - Being Flexible

So I left for Huancayo this morning. I arrived at the bus station with my travel partners Nia, and Nili. The bus ride was 8 hours and cost around 12 dollars. The bus trip highlights - sitting next to a very sweet woman from Huacayo who insisted I email her son (we´ll see about that), a wonderful meal of chicken, rice, and banana bread, and 2 games of bingo. The lowlight was definatly experiencing the worst altitude sickness of my life. At one point we were extremely high up and I broke into a cold sweat and was so winded I could not speak. Thankfully the nice woman sitting next to me got the bus attendant to get me an alcohol compress which she put on my face. Sounds wierd, but it seemed to work as I ended up feeling much better.

We arrived in Huancayo and were met by our program leader who turned out to be the only unfriendly Peruvian we have encountered so far. It turns out all 3 of us are staying in the same homestay. Its a family of 5 chilldren(age 14 and up) and 2 parents. Not what any of us were expecting but its actually kind of comforting having the other girls around. Hopefully we´ll still learn alot of spanish from our homestay.

Well tomorrow is another day and we´ll see what happens. So far so good.

Bienvenido a Lima!

Hello folks! This will be a short update, as I am currently going on about 4 hours of sleep. I arrived in Lima with no problems. Aside from a crazy Peruvian who stole my seat on the plane and refused to accept that I had the window, all went well. As many of you know I really look forward to plane food and I was not disappointed. My mom´s best friend Lily picked us up from the airport at around 8:30 and we went straight back and had breakfast (bread and tea). I then collapsed for around 2 hours and was awoken for lunch. Lunch started with half an avocado filled with mixed vegetables and then fresh papaya juice. After eating this, I was extremely satisfied/ borderline full. Well I soon realized that this was only the starter. We then had amazing chicken, yuka, rice and peruvian corn, followed by peruvian pastries. I am still stuffed. I honestly think it may take a while to get used to this huge meal in the middle of the day thing. Tomorrow I am catching a 745 bus to Huancayo, a city in the andes. I am excited and slightly nervous. Hope all is well! Nicole