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!
No comments:
Post a Comment