It's weird that blogger is in English now, that everyone speaks English, that I blend in with the crowd, that the furniture is moved in my room and what was my brother's room is now the guest room. It's weird that everything is the same but not, that I am the same girl who left her stuff sprawled around the house before I left but I am not that same girl. I've only been in the states for about 12 hours now (if you count my time in the Atlanta airport), so hopefully this weird "I feel like this isn't real" feeling will wear off soon. I actually feel a little sad and out of place. Hopefully getting back into the normal schedule of school will take care of that.
It was so good to see Rich in Atlanta and my parents at the airport. My parents brought me lovely flowers. The journey was tough- I think I threw up about 12 times on Saturday. Poor Chase, I was so dead when I got to the airport to hang out with him. We made the most of it though. It almost feels like that journey needed to be long- sort of a time travel back to my past life.
Well I still have a ton of packing to do and I haven't slept more than 6 hours at a time in the last 4 nights so I'm quite exhausted. It's sad that I have to leave my comfy house so soon but I wouldn't be happy laying around if I was missing school. Cheers for the first day of Junior year!
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Despididas. Saying Farewell.
Peruvians know how to do many things well, one of these is saying goodbye. Here they call it a despidida. So far I've had 2, and I have 4 more today (if you only count the 'official') ones! Tuesday night I despidida'd with the soccer players in Liberacion Social. We all stood around in the street chatting for a bit and drinking Coke. Last night I went out to Olviedo with Natali and Fiorella which was really nice. Excellent cappuccinos and excellent company. Today I'll eat lunch with Pastor Ricardo and Danni at the church and say goodbye to them. Then I'm having a little party with each of my night classes (and I'll probably swing by Natali's class to join Chase's despidida too) and then afterward we're going to Clara's for a despidida with all the interns. What this all means is that I will say goodbye about a million times, eat tons of cake/drink 4 glasses of Inka Kola, and tell people for the millionth time that I don't know when I'm coming back (or if, but they never like to hear that). Being a realist always makes goodbye more difficult!
Much has happened since I last wrote. I experienced my first earthquake, though here in Trujillo it wasn't serious. I was on the third floor of SALI watching Harry Potter 4 with my class (apparently they're big HP fans) when I felt the building moving. My students squealed a bit and laughed at me for looking so scared. They told me not to worry, that it was just a tremor and that they were pretty normal. Turns out it wasn't a normal tremor at all but a really serious earthquake down in Pisco and Ica, towns south of Lima. The death tole is upwards of 400 I think, and while there is aid pouring in, people are still without electricity and running water, living on the streets. Some people from our mission are going down with supplies today.
I'm really looking forward to setting foot on American soil in just a few short days. At the same time though, I'm starting to feel sad about leaving. I haven't really been that sad, since my "excited to get home, see friends and family, and start school" emotions have really had precedence. Now it's starting to hit me though. I almost cried saying goodbye to the Ferguson's yesterday.
Things I will miss most about Peru: the friends I've made here, the advantages of city life, the exchange rate making my money worth more, guaranteed sanctification (Heather and I were joking about making T-shirts that say "Come to Peru for Fast Track Sanctification." This is funnier because we have "fast track" English classes here for people who need to learn how to speak English in a hurry), getting lots of emails and letters, rice, freshly baked cakes every afternoon, delicious fresh bread for $.07 a piece, roller-coaster taxi rides (if I was a bad driver before, I'm going to be worse now. Cuidate.), and probably a lot of other things I'm just not thinking of right now. There are also things I will not miss, but I shan't get into that here because when I'm home that won't matter anymore. Let's just say I'm excited for the luxury of my dorm room and the American concept of cleanliness.
It's been a good summer; there's been a lot of maturing and growth I think. I've certainly learned a ton about myself and about living in a Christian community. I've also come to cherish being able to communicate! I look forward to speaking English in the street. People will probably ask me, "So are you fluent in Spanish now?" The answer is no. I have definitely improved, but I am a far cry from fluent. I can get around just fine but having a conversation about anything abstract is very difficult still, unless the person is used to speaking to Spanish-learners and talks very slowly. I decided not to take a Spanish class this fall so I haven't been very motivated to learn down here. I'm still looking to take some Swedish lessons this fall, so if you know anyone who speaks Swedish, let me know!
Now to say some more goodbyes...
Much has happened since I last wrote. I experienced my first earthquake, though here in Trujillo it wasn't serious. I was on the third floor of SALI watching Harry Potter 4 with my class (apparently they're big HP fans) when I felt the building moving. My students squealed a bit and laughed at me for looking so scared. They told me not to worry, that it was just a tremor and that they were pretty normal. Turns out it wasn't a normal tremor at all but a really serious earthquake down in Pisco and Ica, towns south of Lima. The death tole is upwards of 400 I think, and while there is aid pouring in, people are still without electricity and running water, living on the streets. Some people from our mission are going down with supplies today.
I'm really looking forward to setting foot on American soil in just a few short days. At the same time though, I'm starting to feel sad about leaving. I haven't really been that sad, since my "excited to get home, see friends and family, and start school" emotions have really had precedence. Now it's starting to hit me though. I almost cried saying goodbye to the Ferguson's yesterday.
Things I will miss most about Peru: the friends I've made here, the advantages of city life, the exchange rate making my money worth more, guaranteed sanctification (Heather and I were joking about making T-shirts that say "Come to Peru for Fast Track Sanctification." This is funnier because we have "fast track" English classes here for people who need to learn how to speak English in a hurry), getting lots of emails and letters, rice, freshly baked cakes every afternoon, delicious fresh bread for $.07 a piece, roller-coaster taxi rides (if I was a bad driver before, I'm going to be worse now. Cuidate.), and probably a lot of other things I'm just not thinking of right now. There are also things I will not miss, but I shan't get into that here because when I'm home that won't matter anymore. Let's just say I'm excited for the luxury of my dorm room and the American concept of cleanliness.
It's been a good summer; there's been a lot of maturing and growth I think. I've certainly learned a ton about myself and about living in a Christian community. I've also come to cherish being able to communicate! I look forward to speaking English in the street. People will probably ask me, "So are you fluent in Spanish now?" The answer is no. I have definitely improved, but I am a far cry from fluent. I can get around just fine but having a conversation about anything abstract is very difficult still, unless the person is used to speaking to Spanish-learners and talks very slowly. I decided not to take a Spanish class this fall so I haven't been very motivated to learn down here. I'm still looking to take some Swedish lessons this fall, so if you know anyone who speaks Swedish, let me know!
Now to say some more goodbyes...
Friday, August 10, 2007
if you plan to read anna karenina and don't want to know the ending, stop reading now
I'm sitting here in the classroom watching my students take their test. I just read the climax of AK and I can't believe that's it. She justs throws herself under the train and its over. All that agony! What saddens me the most is how much of myself and my last few years I found on those pages.
She was uncapable of believing in Vronsky's love, always jealous and working herself up into hysterics. She knew she was provoking his anger, but from pride, could not stop herself. Pride is so destructive in relationships. She was spiteful, and killed herself from spite! It seems like a stretch but after reading all those pages and seeing her downward spiral played out slowly, her suicide seemed to be the only possible conclusion. Now that it's happened, I don't even feel like reading the last 40 pages- there can be no happy ending. Perhaps that's why I love Dostoevsky, even though characters die, there is redemption. Here it was just meaningless death, death because her heart was eaten up with bitterness. What's scary is how realistic it is and the baseness we are all capable of.
If you've never read it, then perhaps this entry is nonsense to you. I just have such strong feelings about it at the moment and needed an outlet. She started off so good and fell so far, without letting herself acknowledge reality.
She was uncapable of believing in Vronsky's love, always jealous and working herself up into hysterics. She knew she was provoking his anger, but from pride, could not stop herself. Pride is so destructive in relationships. She was spiteful, and killed herself from spite! It seems like a stretch but after reading all those pages and seeing her downward spiral played out slowly, her suicide seemed to be the only possible conclusion. Now that it's happened, I don't even feel like reading the last 40 pages- there can be no happy ending. Perhaps that's why I love Dostoevsky, even though characters die, there is redemption. Here it was just meaningless death, death because her heart was eaten up with bitterness. What's scary is how realistic it is and the baseness we are all capable of.
If you've never read it, then perhaps this entry is nonsense to you. I just have such strong feelings about it at the moment and needed an outlet. She started off so good and fell so far, without letting herself acknowledge reality.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Daddy are we there yet?
It's not that I don't like it here, but I'm really looking forward to getting home and going to school. This further convinces me that I'll probably end up in grad school and maybe get my ph.D for the simple reason that I love going back to school every fall. The summer day when I wake up and think "I'll never be a full-time students again" shall be a very sad day indeed. Perhaps I'll feel differently by then, but for now, I am quite excited to get back into the academic routine.
One thing I've learned from being a teacher this summer, is that being a teacher and being a student are very different things. I don't think teaching English is my calling, in fact, I'm quite certain it is not. Maybe economics someday, but we'll see. Teachers have to do so much grading! Seriously, I think twice about assigning homework because I know I'll have to correct it. Same with essay questions- what a pain. I guess that's why our professors have TA's.
I'm currently sitting out on the balcony at SALI (where I pretty much live). There is an enormous mass of vines growing on the building next door that are blooming in a vibrant shade of purple. I'm glad because on these cold, cloudy days, it's nice to have some life to look at. I hope it's oppresively hot when I get home.
Just a little more than 2 weeks left down here, south of the equator. I'm still taking my spanish classes though now that I'm not going to take spanish this semester, it seems like a bit of a waste. Still, Noemi, my teacher, is so kind, and we've started reading the Bible in Spanish for practice. I understand a lot, it's encouraging to have spanish class if for no other reason than it makes me feel like I do actually speak spanish. I hope to watch spanish movies to hang on to what I've learned so next time I can start a little further along than when I arrived. Maybe I'll go to Spanish club, we'll see.
I can't believe how fast the summer disappeared. I guess I've done a lot but since I tend to gage progress by how many books I've read, I feel like I haven't done anything. When I get home I'll read, though there are so many other things I want to do too. In any event, I feel like I've had a huge attitude readjustment lately and I'm feeling very relaxed. I look forward both to being social (and 21) and having some quiet afternoons/nights with a book. I resisted the urge to put an extra class in my schedule, though so many looked interesting, especially the Middle East film class on Monday nights.
It's not what I expected but I'm starting to reevaluate my supposed love of latin america and moving here after I graduate. It definitely has its charms and I don't mind going without some of the luxuries of the West, but I don't know if I'd ever feel at home here. I'm pretty sure the language barrier has a lot to do with it since it's hard for me to make real deep relationships without enough spanish. Still, I'm not going to run full speed ahead towards such a specific career. I'll see what comes along.
Jenny and I were talking today about state/city pride and we decided that Connecticutians just don't have it. I think I'd like to live somewhere that does, where people are more invested in making their city/state something they can be proud of. For example, people in Boston have Boston pride, as do people in New York City. A lot of southerners I've met down here also have state pride, in Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee. I end up defending CT and feeling proud to be from there only because other people feel so about their homes. It's an interesting dynamic. Living here has also allowed me to test out city life and thus far, I think I can handle a small city. I'm definitely more of a Trujillo girl than a Limanite; more of a Boston girl than a New Yorker. I like the accessability of a city and the community it fosters.
Alright well I guess I should go do something that's actually productive. I taught this morning from 9-10:30 and I don't teach again until 5:45 so I have some time. Perhaps a book? Que bueno!
One thing I've learned from being a teacher this summer, is that being a teacher and being a student are very different things. I don't think teaching English is my calling, in fact, I'm quite certain it is not. Maybe economics someday, but we'll see. Teachers have to do so much grading! Seriously, I think twice about assigning homework because I know I'll have to correct it. Same with essay questions- what a pain. I guess that's why our professors have TA's.
I'm currently sitting out on the balcony at SALI (where I pretty much live). There is an enormous mass of vines growing on the building next door that are blooming in a vibrant shade of purple. I'm glad because on these cold, cloudy days, it's nice to have some life to look at. I hope it's oppresively hot when I get home.
Just a little more than 2 weeks left down here, south of the equator. I'm still taking my spanish classes though now that I'm not going to take spanish this semester, it seems like a bit of a waste. Still, Noemi, my teacher, is so kind, and we've started reading the Bible in Spanish for practice. I understand a lot, it's encouraging to have spanish class if for no other reason than it makes me feel like I do actually speak spanish. I hope to watch spanish movies to hang on to what I've learned so next time I can start a little further along than when I arrived. Maybe I'll go to Spanish club, we'll see.
I can't believe how fast the summer disappeared. I guess I've done a lot but since I tend to gage progress by how many books I've read, I feel like I haven't done anything. When I get home I'll read, though there are so many other things I want to do too. In any event, I feel like I've had a huge attitude readjustment lately and I'm feeling very relaxed. I look forward both to being social (and 21) and having some quiet afternoons/nights with a book. I resisted the urge to put an extra class in my schedule, though so many looked interesting, especially the Middle East film class on Monday nights.
It's not what I expected but I'm starting to reevaluate my supposed love of latin america and moving here after I graduate. It definitely has its charms and I don't mind going without some of the luxuries of the West, but I don't know if I'd ever feel at home here. I'm pretty sure the language barrier has a lot to do with it since it's hard for me to make real deep relationships without enough spanish. Still, I'm not going to run full speed ahead towards such a specific career. I'll see what comes along.
Jenny and I were talking today about state/city pride and we decided that Connecticutians just don't have it. I think I'd like to live somewhere that does, where people are more invested in making their city/state something they can be proud of. For example, people in Boston have Boston pride, as do people in New York City. A lot of southerners I've met down here also have state pride, in Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee. I end up defending CT and feeling proud to be from there only because other people feel so about their homes. It's an interesting dynamic. Living here has also allowed me to test out city life and thus far, I think I can handle a small city. I'm definitely more of a Trujillo girl than a Limanite; more of a Boston girl than a New Yorker. I like the accessability of a city and the community it fosters.
Alright well I guess I should go do something that's actually productive. I taught this morning from 9-10:30 and I don't teach again until 5:45 so I have some time. Perhaps a book? Que bueno!
Monday, August 6, 2007
Saturday, August 4, 2007
If only I had some of those zip-off cargo pants, I'd be a real traveler.
So I went to Machu Picchu this past week, and all the fun tourist towns that involves on the way there and back. I can give a more detailed report of my adventure to whoever asks, but here are the bare bones and highlights of my trip...
July 26th I got on the Super VIP bus to Lima with Becca, Jason, Sarah, Julie, and David. It was weird saying goodbye to everyone at the bus station because I was the only one of our group who was returning to Trujillo. The fact that I can't sleep during a movie has been reiterated to me many times lately, despite that I've seen the movies before, they're dubbed in Spanish, and have no subtitles, I still can't sleep while they're playing. We arrived in Lima at about 6:30 a.m. and went from there to the Lima airport. I got excited about Dunkin Donuts but it was premature- when I tried to order an iced cappuccino (which I expected to be the equivalent of a pretty normal coffee), I recieved a super strong coffee coolata. No worries though, I got my Starbucks iced caramel macciato by the end of the trip.
Okay enough about little things, I'll try not to get bogged down in unimportant details. We flew to Cuzco and took taxis to the downtown. There we sat around at the post office for a good 2 hours waiting for David to get money wired to him (his bank turned off his debit card). The picture below is Becca and I in that taxi.
Once David got his money we were off to the Peruvian bus station (as opposed to a tourist one) and hopped on a local bus for an hour and a half ride to our next checkpoint (for about $1). From there we took a comvi (a public van) for another $.35 for another 20 minutes to Ollantantambo (not sure of the spelling on this one). We spent the night here at a pretty nice hostal- though I had a killer migraine and went to bed at 8:30. This was a beautiful village geared toward Machu Picchu travelers and nestled in the middle of a beautiful mountain range. 
The next morning was stressful because we had to meet a guy at the train station who would give us our tickets and we waited for a good 35 minutes before finding him just in time to get on the train. While we were waiting for the train I noticed that one of the snack vendors was selling Red Bull. If you think about how isolated we were in the Sacred Valley of Peru and how much traveling we had already done to get there, it just seemed so silly to me to find Red Bull there. In any event, we made the train and rode for 2 more hours to Aguas Calientes (yes there are hot springs there). 
Aguas Calientes is what Becca and I liked to call the Disney Land of Peru. Everything was expensive and geared towards tourists. We got massages. You walk down the street and people are pushing menus in your face left and right. "Free pisco sour!" "12 Sole Menu!" You haggle with waiters in the street to determine prices in the restaurants- it's rather ridiculous. I got some decent lomo saltado that night (my favorite Peruvian dish). A menu (pronounced "men" "new") is a course meal that usually includes a weird saladish thing or a bowl of soup plus your main dish plus a postre (dessert) or drink (usually a pisco sour or lemonade). We had a pretty nasty menu in Cuzco for 10 soles (about $3) but sometimes you get lucky.
On the morning of Sunday, August 29th, we woke up at 4:30 am (but then julie said we could sleep another 20 minutes) and left the hostal at 5:20 to meet our tour guide in the plaza. We took the bus up to Machu Picchu and entered the ruins at about 6:00 am. It was really cloudy so we couldn't see the sun rise. We were actually a bit worried that the day would be cloudy and we wouldn't get to see Machu Picchu at its finest, but the clouds are just part of mountain weather.
Our tour guide told us some theories about Machu Picchu and we walked around the ruins in the rain for a bit. There were very few tourists there yet so we could get a good look at everything and feel the isolation of this mysterious incan city. They think that only about 800- 1000 people lived there at a time and 85% of the bodies they have found were women's. One of the theories is that Machu Picchu was a convent of sorts, with women preforming religious rituals in the various temples. They also think that there was a princess that ruled over Machu Picchu and that she was very tall (most peruvians are very short). There was one building that had two basins in the middle. The "expert" conclusions on these basins range from "they were paint holders in an industrial building" to "they were sacred astrological tools". Becca found this quite amusing. It may be out of character for me not to care about the historical aspects of a place, but what I most enjoyed about Machu Picchu was its beauty and serenity locked away in the mountains.
After our short tour we climbed Waynapicchu (the mountain in all the pictures of Machu Picchu). They only let 400 people climb it a day (which seems like a lot, but a lot of people come to Machu Picchu). Climbing that mountain took most of the morning. It was basically the Stairmaster 5000. The Incas must have been very physically fit. We took some amazing aerial shots of Machu Picchu and hung out with our fellow climbers at the very top for a while.
Back down in the main area of ruins Becca and I had a nice chat about God and going home. I ate two of the best oranges I've ever tasted. We met up with the rest of the group at a very high point in the ruins and took some pictures. In all my pictures it really looks like I'm standing in front of a green screen or a bill board of Machu Picchu. After we took more pictures than necessary (which must be a lot for me) we sat around off the beaten path and sang some hymns and RUF songs. I read some passages from Isaiah that I've been collecting to set to music. It was a nice ending to a lovely morning.
At 3:30ish we left the ruins and went back to Aguas Calientes to get our stuff. I was proud of myself for only packing my school backpack for a week-long adventure through Peru. We took the train back to Ollantantambo and then a van to our hostal. It was about 9 p.m. when we made it to our hostal in Cuzco only to find that they had no record of our reservation.
This was our "Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem with no room in the inn" night. We didn't have to sleep in a cave but we did have to squeeze 4 girls into 2 twin beds. Still it was better than nothing so despite my poor night's sleep, I was glad we had somewhere to sleep in that chilly city.
We ate breakfast at Jack's, a delicious discovery in our part of Cuzco. While the rest of the group went to a few museums and cathedrals, I mostly just wandered in and out of shops. I found some beautiful alpaca long coats but they were $300, so I had to let them go. Still I enjoyed seeing some good fashion after being lost in the sea of stretchy polyester and pocketless pants for two months. I do look forward to seeing my vintage clothes when I get home.
That night (Monday) we went to a cool cafe and listened to some live music by a Portuguese guitarist and his lovely back up singer. We sat in the window over-looking Cuzco all lit up. I'm a big fan of Cuzco, it had a lot of charm. If I'm ever passing through Peru again, Cuzco would definitely be worth the trip.
We flew back into Lima on Tuesday morning. We met the reggeaton group Hector El Father in the airport and that was rather amusing. After dropping our stuff off at the Melia (luxury hotel where Becca and I spent the night), we stepped back into the US for most of the day. We went to a huge mall and I enjoyed looking at the high fashion that was slightly more affordable than usual, but still not affordable (even when my $1 is worth three soles). We ate lunch at the nicest Pizza Hut I've ever seen, and Julie was the only one brave enough to eat her salad (lettuce is very hard to clean so we generally don't eat it here- I'll eat lots of salads from the SU when I get back to make up for my lack of salad all summer). We went back to the Melia and said goodbye to Julie, Jason, David, and Sarah. We stood there waving to them as they drove away and it was really sad to think I may never see them again. Weird; goodbye's are weird after you've just spent so much time together.
Becca and I took showers and layed on our big beds. It was a restful evening. I felt the need to put myself together before walking by the front desk again, since earlier they had asked me when my parents were coming! I put on a clean shirt (Becca's actually) and we went out to look for a cafe. We walked the wrong direction for about 7 blocks and finally turned around and found what we were looking for. The people in San Isidro (the neighborhood we were in) seemed a bit stuck up if you ask me. Things were definitely more expensive there- 12 soles for a small cup of gelato! What will I do when I get home? I was cheap before!
Wednesday was relaxing too. We did a bit more shopping (most of this vacation falls in the shopping category) and then chilled in Parque Kennedy for a while. I had some great lomo saltado at Cafe Cafe and an iced caramel macciato at starbucks. The atmosphere at Starbucks wasn't quite as relaxing as in the states though, because there is a guard who stands at the door and walks around every few minutes. We were pretty worried he was going to kick us out when I finished my drink and we were pretty much homeless since we had checked out of our hotel room that morning and it was too cold to be outside. That is the slowest I've ever drunk such a tasty treat, and it was a real exercise in self control. I was overwhelmed by the big stores and comericalism in Lima- it's a real shock to the system after being in Trujillo for a while. Becca and I both said many times that we're so glad SALI is in Trujillo instead of Lima.
Wednesday night was sad because I had to say goodbye to Becca. Becca if you're reading this, I miss you!! I took the Super VIP bus home to Trujillo and arrived at 6:30 on Thursday morning. I was really happy to be back in Trujillo, though by midday I was really feeling the loss of everyone who had already gone. I'm going to do my best not to feel like leftovers. Chase and I are the only ones from the summer crew who are staying for August. I moved my flight so now we are flying home together on August 26th. I'll probably skip my classes on the 27th to recouperate a bit.
For those who have been praying about my crazy stressed-outness, thanks, and I'm quite happy to report that the last two weeks have been a lot better. Granted, I haven't been teaching, but hopefully this attitude will carry over into next week.
I miss you guys back in CT, and I'm looking forward to coming home and starting up at school in just a few short weeks. I hope to have a car which will be a bit life-changing, and I'm planning to road trip/fly south for a few days to see some very sorely missed individuals. Being 21 when I get home will add an interesting twist to my life too, I expect. In any event, the future is bright, but I'm trying to live in the moment and enjoy each day I have left here in Peru. Trujillo has become quite dear to me, in a way I didn't know a small foreign city could.
One of these days I will post some of my favorite songs that we sing on Sundays down here, but until then, hasta luego!
July 26th I got on the Super VIP bus to Lima with Becca, Jason, Sarah, Julie, and David. It was weird saying goodbye to everyone at the bus station because I was the only one of our group who was returning to Trujillo. The fact that I can't sleep during a movie has been reiterated to me many times lately, despite that I've seen the movies before, they're dubbed in Spanish, and have no subtitles, I still can't sleep while they're playing. We arrived in Lima at about 6:30 a.m. and went from there to the Lima airport. I got excited about Dunkin Donuts but it was premature- when I tried to order an iced cappuccino (which I expected to be the equivalent of a pretty normal coffee), I recieved a super strong coffee coolata. No worries though, I got my Starbucks iced caramel macciato by the end of the trip.
Okay enough about little things, I'll try not to get bogged down in unimportant details. We flew to Cuzco and took taxis to the downtown. There we sat around at the post office for a good 2 hours waiting for David to get money wired to him (his bank turned off his debit card). The picture below is Becca and I in that taxi.
Once David got his money we were off to the Peruvian bus station (as opposed to a tourist one) and hopped on a local bus for an hour and a half ride to our next checkpoint (for about $1). From there we took a comvi (a public van) for another $.35 for another 20 minutes to Ollantantambo (not sure of the spelling on this one). We spent the night here at a pretty nice hostal- though I had a killer migraine and went to bed at 8:30. This was a beautiful village geared toward Machu Picchu travelers and nestled in the middle of a beautiful mountain range. The next morning was stressful because we had to meet a guy at the train station who would give us our tickets and we waited for a good 35 minutes before finding him just in time to get on the train. While we were waiting for the train I noticed that one of the snack vendors was selling Red Bull. If you think about how isolated we were in the Sacred Valley of Peru and how much traveling we had already done to get there, it just seemed so silly to me to find Red Bull there. In any event, we made the train and rode for 2 more hours to Aguas Calientes (yes there are hot springs there). Aguas Calientes is what Becca and I liked to call the Disney Land of Peru. Everything was expensive and geared towards tourists. We got massages. You walk down the street and people are pushing menus in your face left and right. "Free pisco sour!" "12 Sole Menu!" You haggle with waiters in the street to determine prices in the restaurants- it's rather ridiculous. I got some decent lomo saltado that night (my favorite Peruvian dish). A menu (pronounced "men" "new") is a course meal that usually includes a weird saladish thing or a bowl of soup plus your main dish plus a postre (dessert) or drink (usually a pisco sour or lemonade). We had a pretty nasty menu in Cuzco for 10 soles (about $3) but sometimes you get lucky.On the morning of Sunday, August 29th, we woke up at 4:30 am (but then julie said we could sleep another 20 minutes) and left the hostal at 5:20 to meet our tour guide in the plaza. We took the bus up to Machu Picchu and entered the ruins at about 6:00 am. It was really cloudy so we couldn't see the sun rise. We were actually a bit worried that the day would be cloudy and we wouldn't get to see Machu Picchu at its finest, but the clouds are just part of mountain weather.
Our tour guide told us some theories about Machu Picchu and we walked around the ruins in the rain for a bit. There were very few tourists there yet so we could get a good look at everything and feel the isolation of this mysterious incan city. They think that only about 800- 1000 people lived there at a time and 85% of the bodies they have found were women's. One of the theories is that Machu Picchu was a convent of sorts, with women preforming religious rituals in the various temples. They also think that there was a princess that ruled over Machu Picchu and that she was very tall (most peruvians are very short). There was one building that had two basins in the middle. The "expert" conclusions on these basins range from "they were paint holders in an industrial building" to "they were sacred astrological tools". Becca found this quite amusing. It may be out of character for me not to care about the historical aspects of a place, but what I most enjoyed about Machu Picchu was its beauty and serenity locked away in the mountains.
After our short tour we climbed Waynapicchu (the mountain in all the pictures of Machu Picchu). They only let 400 people climb it a day (which seems like a lot, but a lot of people come to Machu Picchu). Climbing that mountain took most of the morning. It was basically the Stairmaster 5000. The Incas must have been very physically fit. We took some amazing aerial shots of Machu Picchu and hung out with our fellow climbers at the very top for a while.
Back down in the main area of ruins Becca and I had a nice chat about God and going home. I ate two of the best oranges I've ever tasted. We met up with the rest of the group at a very high point in the ruins and took some pictures. In all my pictures it really looks like I'm standing in front of a green screen or a bill board of Machu Picchu. After we took more pictures than necessary (which must be a lot for me) we sat around off the beaten path and sang some hymns and RUF songs. I read some passages from Isaiah that I've been collecting to set to music. It was a nice ending to a lovely morning.At 3:30ish we left the ruins and went back to Aguas Calientes to get our stuff. I was proud of myself for only packing my school backpack for a week-long adventure through Peru. We took the train back to Ollantantambo and then a van to our hostal. It was about 9 p.m. when we made it to our hostal in Cuzco only to find that they had no record of our reservation.
This was our "Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem with no room in the inn" night. We didn't have to sleep in a cave but we did have to squeeze 4 girls into 2 twin beds. Still it was better than nothing so despite my poor night's sleep, I was glad we had somewhere to sleep in that chilly city.
We ate breakfast at Jack's, a delicious discovery in our part of Cuzco. While the rest of the group went to a few museums and cathedrals, I mostly just wandered in and out of shops. I found some beautiful alpaca long coats but they were $300, so I had to let them go. Still I enjoyed seeing some good fashion after being lost in the sea of stretchy polyester and pocketless pants for two months. I do look forward to seeing my vintage clothes when I get home.
That night (Monday) we went to a cool cafe and listened to some live music by a Portuguese guitarist and his lovely back up singer. We sat in the window over-looking Cuzco all lit up. I'm a big fan of Cuzco, it had a lot of charm. If I'm ever passing through Peru again, Cuzco would definitely be worth the trip.
We flew back into Lima on Tuesday morning. We met the reggeaton group Hector El Father in the airport and that was rather amusing. After dropping our stuff off at the Melia (luxury hotel where Becca and I spent the night), we stepped back into the US for most of the day. We went to a huge mall and I enjoyed looking at the high fashion that was slightly more affordable than usual, but still not affordable (even when my $1 is worth three soles). We ate lunch at the nicest Pizza Hut I've ever seen, and Julie was the only one brave enough to eat her salad (lettuce is very hard to clean so we generally don't eat it here- I'll eat lots of salads from the SU when I get back to make up for my lack of salad all summer). We went back to the Melia and said goodbye to Julie, Jason, David, and Sarah. We stood there waving to them as they drove away and it was really sad to think I may never see them again. Weird; goodbye's are weird after you've just spent so much time together.
Becca and I took showers and layed on our big beds. It was a restful evening. I felt the need to put myself together before walking by the front desk again, since earlier they had asked me when my parents were coming! I put on a clean shirt (Becca's actually) and we went out to look for a cafe. We walked the wrong direction for about 7 blocks and finally turned around and found what we were looking for. The people in San Isidro (the neighborhood we were in) seemed a bit stuck up if you ask me. Things were definitely more expensive there- 12 soles for a small cup of gelato! What will I do when I get home? I was cheap before!
Wednesday was relaxing too. We did a bit more shopping (most of this vacation falls in the shopping category) and then chilled in Parque Kennedy for a while. I had some great lomo saltado at Cafe Cafe and an iced caramel macciato at starbucks. The atmosphere at Starbucks wasn't quite as relaxing as in the states though, because there is a guard who stands at the door and walks around every few minutes. We were pretty worried he was going to kick us out when I finished my drink and we were pretty much homeless since we had checked out of our hotel room that morning and it was too cold to be outside. That is the slowest I've ever drunk such a tasty treat, and it was a real exercise in self control. I was overwhelmed by the big stores and comericalism in Lima- it's a real shock to the system after being in Trujillo for a while. Becca and I both said many times that we're so glad SALI is in Trujillo instead of Lima.
Wednesday night was sad because I had to say goodbye to Becca. Becca if you're reading this, I miss you!! I took the Super VIP bus home to Trujillo and arrived at 6:30 on Thursday morning. I was really happy to be back in Trujillo, though by midday I was really feeling the loss of everyone who had already gone. I'm going to do my best not to feel like leftovers. Chase and I are the only ones from the summer crew who are staying for August. I moved my flight so now we are flying home together on August 26th. I'll probably skip my classes on the 27th to recouperate a bit.
For those who have been praying about my crazy stressed-outness, thanks, and I'm quite happy to report that the last two weeks have been a lot better. Granted, I haven't been teaching, but hopefully this attitude will carry over into next week.
I miss you guys back in CT, and I'm looking forward to coming home and starting up at school in just a few short weeks. I hope to have a car which will be a bit life-changing, and I'm planning to road trip/fly south for a few days to see some very sorely missed individuals. Being 21 when I get home will add an interesting twist to my life too, I expect. In any event, the future is bright, but I'm trying to live in the moment and enjoy each day I have left here in Peru. Trujillo has become quite dear to me, in a way I didn't know a small foreign city could.
One of these days I will post some of my favorite songs that we sing on Sundays down here, but until then, hasta luego!
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