Vamos a la playa..a mi me gusta surfear!

No school today because it is a holiday so you know what we did? We learned to surf!

Der I am!...no mentira mentira.

this is basically my day today

(I stole it from some surfers tumblr though so sorry about it)

Anyway we walked down to the beach with Meghan and her surf board, Ella and I took turns carrying it so we would look legit. Then we met up with her surfer friends and Ella and I got a lesson. After a little jog, some stretching, and practicing on the beach we hit the waves. And lets just say I think it was one of the most fun things I have ever done.

We would paddle out then our instructor would push us into the waves and it was actually pretty easy to stand up..can't wait to go again and get bigger waves! Can you say surfer gurls? Next Roxy surfers is what they were callin' us!

Mom/Dad- I want a surf board for christmas!

Besos!!

Getting High

As this title suggests, we got high this weekend. I'm talking physically, approximately 15,748 feet above sea level.

We arrived in Huaraz Friday morning at 6am and went straight to our hostel, Jo's Place, which was more of a quirky colorful guesthouse. There were tents set up in the courtyard and we met some really cool people including a couple who are biking from Lima, to the tip of Sur America, to Buenos Aires. Amazing people, check out their page here at inspireout.com and read their journal entry specifically about the Santa Cruz trek(Emily, all I could think was how you would have loved them!).

Anyway without wasting anytime to acclimatize to our new height of 10,000ft above sea level we hopped in a van and headed higher to ride some horses. Lets just say we didn't really know what we were getting into. Riding ponies up and up, in the beginning we joked about riding them to the glacier covered mountains above us...and then we actually did it. Unfortunately I wimped out when we were about 40mins from the top because my head hurt too much, but apparently there were some beautiful lakes at the top. Also I hit my head on a branch..not too funny at the time but now it is.

After this little adventure we realized we needed to acclimatize better, so we napped and drank lots and lots of coca.

The next morning we awoke with the roosters and went to a cute cafe for trekkers/backpackers, Cafe Andino. Where we ate huge banana pancakes, delish. Then we headed out to some hotsprings, which turned out to just be a tepid muddy pool and then these really hot sauna caves. I just did the cave thing, I think we did the coolest one and it was still too much for me.

Sunday morning we headed out at 6am to Huascaran National Park, it was about 3 hours away, on some crazy dirt roads. Driving into the park we passed some pretty teal lakes. Then we began our 6 hour hike. It started off alright, there were some struggles on the valley which was by far the easiest part looking back. The valley was soo majestic there was a river running through and just as we started about 7 horses came running down the hill to drink out of the river. After 30mins of walking on flat land we began our ascent, zig-zagging up the mountainside. Amazing views the entire way, of waterfalls and Huascaran, which is like the tallest peak in Peru, I think. Then we finally got to another flat part which I like to call Hot Poop valley, the name is self explanatory...there were probably 30 cows in this valley..I have no idea what left all of that poop though! Then started the hour and a half long scramble to the top which was literally the hardest thing I have ever had to do because of the lack of oxygen. But it was as they say 'vale la pena' when we saw laguna 69...I have never seen those colors of blue before in my life! It was just incredible I can't even explain it..the pictures do a pretty good job but still the color is not perfect.

To sum it all up I will just leave you with a myriad of pictures from my trip!

inside the sauna cuevas in Choncos

we had a cowgirl with us, thankfully

hello sun!

see that mountain..that's where we went

our first glimpse of glacial lakes

we went up there

ahhh

meghan, me, ella and emily at laguna 69

besos

Earthquakin'

The doors started shaking and the tables too,then Ella said "um are we having an earthquake?"

Highlight of my day. Only tremors but still fun from the 3rd floor of a building. Getting super excited for nuestras viajes manana! We are going to the second tallest mountain range. And then Machu Picchu next weekend, life is good!

Besos

hasta luness

Matriculated

Today we awoke early, and registered for classes. Nothing exciting. Here is a pretty cute video I think..it gets a little boring in the end so feel free to stop halfway, but it is just a little of peru for you!

Did it...

..went to the catacombas today!

Woke up today with the intentions of running to the beach again, but my host sister Viole had her brazilian friend Danilo over and they invited me to go to the center of Lima with them. So that I did. Emily came with and we went around to some mercados indios and bought some cheap goodies. Today is Dia de los ninos..I don't know why we don't have that in the US. It is basically like mothers day for kids:) I think everyday in the US is that though. Anyway every where we looked there were dancers in the street and costumes and parades. It was pretty fun. Then Emily and I met up with Jacey and Ian and finally got to go see the catacombs! The museum before was pretty cool, it was a tour of a monastery, but you couldn't take any pictures which was sad because the library was soo cool, they said it was the most important library in South America, I think that's what they said at least. Then we went down to the catacombs which where cool, scary, and musky. Saw lots of leg bones and skulls. Apparently they run all throughout Lima and there are 2 more levels below where we were. Lets just say I would not want to get lost there or play hide-and-go-seek there.

Tomorrow we register for classes, leaving for school at 6...not excited for that at all.

Besosx0

Fin De!

Yesterday Ella and I went downtown Lima! We took a bus for an hour and some how we ended up there fine. The plaza was beautiful, but our purpose was to go to the catacombas and anyway we got distracted shopping in a little market and eating the best churros in the whole world, and so we were too late for the catacombs:( otra vez!

Anyway we ran into some friends who were also late for the catacombs so we hungout with them for awhile and practiced our spanish. We went into the church and looked around for a bit then as we were walking out I tripped down the steps and fell on my knees, it was really embarasing jaja! Here are some of the lovely pics Ella and I took yesterday. Can't wait to go back and actually see the catacombs.

Oh and I forgot, today we had a dance workshop where we learned a bunch of dance moves! We learned the festioj( i never can get the name right), alcatraz(where you take a lighter and light it under someones butt...extrano, no?), some salsa, some merengue, a little carnival and others I don't know the names of.

new born baby on campus...que lindaaaa

plaza de armas

where a lot of famous people hungout including Che Guevara

"hi, I like churros"

thanks for the recommendation Cara!

loca loca locaa

dancin'

Adventures !

Well yesterday was my busiest day so far this week, I had class from 10-6 with only an hour break. And on top of that I have a runny nose. But my last class was Etnografia de la Amazonia which proved to be very interesting, but the lecture got a little long. I am really excited for that class though.

Anyway today has been good because I don't have class until 3! So of course I slept in til 11 and then went on a walk, which is where the adventure part comes in. First I walked to this park that was really nice in San Isidro, which is a fairly upper class residential neighborhood next to mine. Then I kept walking down some random streets and stumbled upon a pyramid! Crazy! It looked a lot like Huach Pucllana but more put together. The I stumbled upon the country club so I kept walking in search of the Country Club hotel which I have heard is really nice. Then I found it! It was near all of these embassies and it was also really nice. There is a starbucks attached to it which I think will be nice in case I start really missing gringos.

Also next weekend we are planning a trip to Ica/Huacachina. It is in the desert, Huacachina is literally a desert oasis, see the picture below. And we are going to go sandboarding!Can't wait.

Also I have been looking into trips to Iquitos(amazon) and hopefully in September we will get to go there. That's all for now. Going to a museum tonight with Ella and her madre!

un beso!

Avisame!

So today(tuesday) was my second day of real classes but my first day in direct classes, monday I only had CIEE courses. Anyway we have this weird thing where foreigners can go to all the classes they want and see what they like. So that's what I did, and let me tell you it is exhausting! So today, firstly could not for the life of me find my class because all the buildings have letters instead of names and they are not on a map you are just supposed to know them somehow. Made it to my literature class in H finally and that sucked. So not taking that. Then I went to a history class that was cancelled. Then I went to a cinema class that was boring but taught by a well-known movie critic which is cool. Then to another history class which I liked. The to ecotourism which was good at first until he lectured for 2 hours (mind you it was 6-8 pm!). Tomorrow I have my CIEE classes and then ethnography which I think will be really fun! Also I am losing my English skills...today after the cinema class I asked Ella, and I quote " Are you thinking of still might taking that". Not right. The good thing is I definitely won't have classes on Fridays and there is a chance I won't have them on Thursdays either. WohooO!

Last night I made a list of all the foods I miss...that is all I want for Christmas, a buffet of all my favorite foods.

besos

Miss you america!

Semana Dos

Hola a todos! Well I've been pretty busy down here, this week was the last week of intensive spanish class, which is a good thing! Monday we start real classes, eek! Wednesday though we took a field trip to Polvos Azules(blue powder) this huge black market. It smelled bad and I didn't feel good..so it was a bad mix. But they had seriously any DVD you could ever think of, tons of shoes, and electronics. Anyway Friday we went to this bar Tayta..which was muy chevere, there was a live band singing covers of American songs which was kind of funny. Then we went to a salsa club which also had a live band. It was amazing! Ella and I may or may not have fallen in love with one of the singers. Saturday we all went on a tour of Huaca Pucllana, an Incan temple right in Miraflores! It was interesting more or less, but then I realized they had just been putting the bricks back together so it wasn't even legit. Then last night we went to Sargento Pimiento (sargent peppers), seriously so cool. They played American music from the 90's which was also funny. Anyway here are some fotos of my weekend!

Nicola, Marion's daughter, que lindaa no?

Too good not to share!

..literally! The past 3 days have been really awesome and I just thought hey why not blog about!lolzz. Sunday I got up at noon to delicious pancakes mm soo good. Then I decided I'm getting fat eating rice for every meal, EVERY day! So I ran to the beach which wasn't that far, but then I walked along malecon(boardwalk(basically a bike path along the cliffs overlooking the ocean)) alll the way to Miraflores..which is about a 30 minute ride on the micro. It was soo nice to be out in the fresh air..even 2 hours later when I finally got back home. Then my host families sons kids were here and they were adorable! Juan Diego 7 and Julieta 1.5 years old! I had fun playing with them until Julieta stepped in poop at the park...Anyway Monday after class we all decided to hangout in Miraflores which turned into some of us walking again to the malecon and sitting at some play ground with Meghan's host sister and her friends. That was fun, until we lost track of time, micros stopped running, and we didn't get home til 1am. But today was when the real fun started. After school we met our companeros which was cool, David if you read this 'holla! que chevere!' Then I went back to Miraflores with Ella to dine at the nicest restaurant in Peru with Uncle Vince, Aunt Robyn and Cara. I have never in my life seen so much food, it was amazing, delicious, incredible...I'm out of adjectives..soo look at these pictures below:) Unfortunately after I was not feeling so well..montezuma found me:( oh well haha!

besos!

Ella's dessert..unreal. Some hot chocolate thing poured over lucma ice cream..

we didn't ask for this!

Primero fin de semana!

First weekend was successful! Friday we all, as in some students from CIEE met in Barranco. First though Emily Ella and I went to Jen's house in barranco, right next to the ocean. It is seriously amazing, just what I want my house to look like. Her padres are artists and there are paintings everywhere it was sweet. We went to some bars in the main plaza of Barranco and it was fun. Then Saturday I woke up early early and Viole(hermana de yo),Ella,Sheila,Emily y su mama and I all went to Antioquia! We took a scary bus for like 2 hours and then arrived in this beautiful little town in the mountains. The buildings are all white with paintings. I'm pretty sure no one lives there haha but it was still cute. We had lunch took a little tour and then came home. Oh and I forgot to mention it was hot and sunny..soo nice! Then last night Ella, Viole and I all went out and met up with some other friends in Barranco again. Pictures are the best way to explain Antioquia, so check 'em out below:)

xo

jen's house

Porque te amo mucho!

Because I love you all I am posting the exciting things I did este noche! And because I had coffee at 9pm and there is no way I could rest now. Anyway after spanish today all 14 of us gringos took a micro to Miraflores. Miraflores is one of the safest most touristy areas..it's really nice. Then we went to this little park for stray cats and someone said there are 200..They feed them twice a day and there are cute little beds for them. After that we got some food and then the real fun began, we hopped on a Mirabus tour..which is basically a double decker bus of Lima. It was fun to be all touristy with a bunch of other toursits. Seeing Americans is strange haha. But for part of the trip they took us to this park of fountains and I will put more pictures on facebook but who knew fountains could be so interesante! Not me! Then we went to the center of Lima, the downtown-ish area. It has the capitol building, congress..those things in these HUGE colonial style buildings. They are really beautiful but my pictures from the bus don't do them justice and another day we are going to go in the day time and take more pics. Entonces, here are my picz! Enjoy.

P.S-tomorrow is my first friday night on the town in lima-wish me luck!jajaj

miraflores- emily y yo

ella y los gatos

cat beds!

fountains

we love ciee...

seriously..so cool

blurry pictures from the bus..