So Many Places in One Day!

The weekend was such an awesome one! I knew we were going to have a busy one, but I never could have imagined it like that. The places we saw were fantastic and the company just as good. We got to have a field trip instead of classroom time this week. So we had the "opportunity" to find where our professor (for literature) lives and make it there in one piece. Luckily we went as a group in a micro and then a bus, but that wasn't the nervewracking part. Getting in the area was easy, it was finding out which house was his! haha. But once we asked directions we found we were only a block away. His apartment might as well have been on the beach, but it was a lot of fun trying to find our way. Anyways, we got a guide that would tell us a little about the history of different areas and parks. She was very nice and we walked a long ways! lol But we started out on the cliffs above the beach where the different parks were. The major one was the Parque del Amor. We got to take a lot of pictures here and there were so many tiled walls that had sayings on them. We also learned that on Valentine's Day they have a huge kissing contest!! Literally the park is filled with everyone making out. I realize that people here are a tad more "passionate" and less shy about making out like monkeys as the walk, however this just struck me as hilarious. But I did really enjoy the walls with sayings about love, it was very inspiring and cute. We then moved on to walk through the city and she gave us more history about the wars and important people. But the time she was done we arrived at a fairly big archeological site called Huaca Pucllana (Worship Place for the Priests); technically this is quechua and means a play area for the sacerdotes or priests but their "playground" was to worship their gods. We got an English guide because there were other travellers too; but it was pretty exciting to see the different areas. He told us about the walls and how the holes allowed it to be stronger when earthquakes occurred. And he showed us different burial sites that they have found; they would sacrifice anyone, usually it was women but children were also sacrificed. Many were buried with things that they had used in their life, like if the person had been a prominent weaver, he was wrapped in woven ropes and buried with wool and such. He also showed us the festival areas and how they made their bricks. It was fun to actually see the traditional side of Lima finally. I hope we can visit a lot more places like this, I would love to see more dances, more bands and more indigenous people to learn about them that way. AND I need to learn how to dance the salsa! jaja After we left the ruins we headed out to eat (which we found a Chili's- and it was my first time there ever) but there was awesome food and RANCH! Thank the Lord, there was ranch, real ranch!!!
Then we headed home to take a break and we met up with our soccer friends Raul and Oscar who took us to the Magic Water Circuit! Its a huge park that has tons of fountains and lights, you can even run through some of them. We spent a couple hours there and had a blast being 10 years old again. But in reality, the finale show was spectacular! Almost a block long, a huge fountain was in the middle that they could project different light shapes on, and then after a while you could see people dancing on the water! Their figures were displayed on the water for everyone to see! On our way out, I didn't know it but I wanted to stick my foot into the fountain and after almost falling in one of the police officers blew his whistle at me (luckily nothing happened but Raul told me that people used to be able to go into that fountain but not anymore) mmm... shouldv'e told me sooner jaja. So then after we got cleaned up Raul took us to downtown Miraflores where there are hundreds of restaurants and dance clubs. And even though there was enough smoke (generated for cool effect) to probably lose myself, it was a blast being able to hang out and dance the night away.
Yesterday we got to go to church for the second time, it was awesome once again. Although the church closest to us isn't a cathedral, it works for the neighborhood. I enjoy the Father even though he is from Spain and his accent sometimes throws me for a loop; he seems to be a very light spirited teacher. I cannot wait to see the beautiful cathedrals though!
This weekend was amazing, and I can't believe it's going to be a month here on Friday! Its going by so darn fast, but I am enjoying it all. And even through all the slang and slight confusions, I think I'm getting better at speaking the language. I just need to keep pushing myself out of my comfort zone.... here I go! Buenas suerte, hope you enjoyed this one!

The Adventures of the Week.

These last few days have been crazy awesome! Even though it took around two hours to get the beach we were wanting it was spectacular the whole way; although I think it took like half an hour getting out of Lima on the highway. People are crazy, my parents think I’m a terrible driver, but the people here don’t even pay attention to the lanes, I believe there was suppose to be 4 and there were definitely about 5 ½ made on the road! I was so pumped that once we got out of Lima after while I could see the ocean and I asked which beach we were going to and they just replied that it would be a while before we made it there, much to my dismay. However, once we got there it was fantastic! We went to Cerro Azul (Blue Hill) where Jose’s family has a restaurant and the rest of his family- they just opened December 31^st so it’s a very new place, but from what I’ve seen they are doing awesome! The first thing we did was walk on the pier which was ridiculous! It went out quite a long ways and there was one spot that you could go down a few steps and be on the platform above the ocean, and just in case we fell there was a nice rope to climb up on next to the platform =). Once we got onto the beach, it was crazy (and I now have high expectations for all other beaches I may encounter lol) because there were so many people selling so many things and they walked the beach and came to you! There was even a restaurant or two that brought their full menu down and then brought out full feasts for people to eat. Anyways, the second was extremely fun too because after lying out and enjoying the sun and water Jose and I climbed the small hills that overlooked the ocean! It was absolutely breathtaking!

Another adventure we got to enjoy was seeing the celebration of Peru! There was a whole week of festivities that were held to commemorate Lima’s anniversary. There was a whole parade on one of the nights that went around the entire Plaza de Armas. There was a stage with bands, dancers, and singers in the middle of the plaza and then around it different aspects were celebrated. The parade was very much so interactive; the people dressed as political figures got people to dance with them on the street. AND I noticed that they gave out food instead of candy as treats. Plus, there were thousands of people lining every side of the plaza and street that they could.

A Llama

Different types of Llama and Alpaca

The orange bird is a Gallito de las Rocas.  

First baby Zebra I've ever seen 

Political Figure who had been mocking the police woman. 

Flaminco Dancing. 

Dance of the Scissors. He actually put his foot in his mouth and danced too.

The Devil who blew me many kisses

Platform I was mentioning. 

The rocks/hills we climbed in Cerro Azul

Friday we got to go to the zoo with our friends we play fútbol with (Parque de las Leyendas). It’s such a huge zoo that we only saw about half of it. But the jungle was my favorite anyway, which is where we started. They have so many different types of eagles and predator birds, and the monkeys here are so tiny! They are awesome! The zoo was pretty spectacular and a lot of the exhibits we could get pretty close to the animals. The orange bird is a Gallito de las Rocas.  

What a Start!

Everything is incredible! I cannot believe I've only been here a couple days, I already feel like I've been here for longer, but that's a good thing. I feel so welcomed already. I've met some of Gracia's family and they are very nice even though her little cousin bit my leg.. twice. jaja está bien. The sights and sounds are so facinating, it seems like everything is always alive. My room is on the inside of the building and I look down into a courtyard, so I get to hear the comotion that is all around. 

Gracia has already taken me to Jockey Plaza, which I was completely lost in because of its size!! But it was also really cool; we took a tiny little "micro" bus to get there and I definitely notice that size does matter, because I'm almost too tall for those things! But we all fit well enough. At least this mode of transportation does not terrify me as much as the taxis- those things are absolutely crazy!! There are no turn signals and only when the pedestrian signals turn on do they stop it seems. And the amount of time that is allowed to cross is ridiculous- you can get up to 80 seconds. Anyways it's always an exciting time to drive. We also took a quick tour around el Centro, which is where there is a cathedral and government buildings, plus lots of shopping!! 

Yesterday we all got to meet up and tour the school as a whole group. It was entertaining to talk English with one another, we were a little rusty and had some toruble remembering the English words! But the campus was fun to explore and we met the coordinators who are extremely helpful! The campus seems huge and at the same time so small because the buildings are so tall it seems giant! But then it's not spaced out like in Kearney. But it was fun to go to orientation and then sort of start classes, Dr. Aviles let us out early after giving us the run-down of how the class would go. 

I'm just getting ready to go exlpore some more with Jose before we have to go to class at 2, but I'm so excited to just meander around and see what other goodies we can find!

First Sights

These pictures are of: The sunset on the way to Panama. The Yucatan Peninsula. AND the first sight of Lima!! Its like time stands still. The waves don't even move from my point of view. And I can't sleep because I'm so excited to see what we'll fly over next! Even the clouds are fascinating to look at. And although some turbulence existed while landing it was quite amazing! But by far the lit up city was the best sight of them all. ¡Buenas noches!