Anniversary

As of today I have been in Peru for two months!

How time flies..only two and half more to go:( sad. Anyway here is a bulleted list of random thoughts after two months...

-why when turning left would you go to the far right lane then try to cut off? three more lanes? why bus driver why !

- they eat every part of the chicken here...yah the feet/claw ...bleh

-someone got killed at the U v Alianza game last saturday so now we can't go to the Peru v Paraguay game:(

- at La Catolica (my school) there are big drama /protests going down because the Vatican wants to make it really catholic

- I don't like when my underwear dries in the kitchen...

-palta palta paltaaa(aka avocado..you have never tasted something so good)

-spanish is not called spanish here, it is castellano

-when Peruvians speak in English I can't help but die laughing...so thank you Peru for not laughing at me when I speak Spanish

- Also spanish speakers can't say 'ld' so "world" comes out like "word"

-here I am Sara not Sarah 

- when you buy stuff sometimes at the giant supermarket they write you a receipt at the counter then you take it to the register, pay, then walk back to the counter and they give you what you want

- I broke my key in the door...twisted it all around...I'm like the hulk

- If you want to take a shower you have to turn on the water 40minutes before...major planning

-The sidewalks and every other floor surfaces are really slippery

-nobody has carpets..shoes all the time in the house

Okay that is all that comes to mind as of now!

edit----
-everyone says I have the face of a child..it's getting old

Pachamama needs a taxi!

Fuimos a Huacachina-

For starters the bus ride was a surprise..what we thought would be two hours turned out to be four, sopresa! Anywho we went with literally no plans of where to go or stay really, we ended up in Huacachina, a desert oasis about 4.3 minutes away from Ica. Friday we didn't do much because we got in late and everyone was tired. Saturday we woke up walked around the lagoon to go get some breakfast, took paddle boats out on the lagoon and lounged by the pool. Later we went sandboarding and in a dune-buggy. I think those drivers must loveeeeee their jobs. It was like a roller coaster gone wild..but not really. Sandboarding was fun, I like lying on the board more than going standing up, less sand in yo' pants! But en serio.... I probably don't want to go sandboarding again, it hurt and I think snow is way more fun.



After sandboarding we went on a winery tour..they called it ,in English, the Shit-faced tour. We went with some other foreigners to a bodega/ winery/ place where they make pisco. It was seriously like the Museo Nacional that I didn't go to last weekend when everyone else did; they had all this old armor, Incan weapons, swords from Simon Bolivar, and other old shit that they found. We "taste-tested" two different types of pisco..as in we took shots of two different types of pisco, and if you have never had pisco..it is nasty. Pachamama (mother earth Quechua style) needs a taxi was our joke because before you take a shot you pour some on the ground to praise Pachamama and some of us "accidently" poured out a little too much. So Pachamama got drunk. Also I have never seen this done before but the pisco and wine are stored in these strange clay vessels and they dip a bamboo stick in it that has a cutout and then they pour the little shots out of the bamboo stick...extrano. And then we had 3 different types of wine, all really sweet, which I liked. Then they brought us pitchers of our favorite wine and pisco and we stayed and danced/drank there til 12 and after we proceeded on to the one discoteca in Huacachina where our sandboarding instructor was there mixing drinks as a bartender.
Lost my watch, I guess I will be adapting to Peruvian time sooner than expected.

Ella has some cool pictures of us on the dunes that I will steal from her later and post.

 The oasis, looks like nasty green water, and it was. Apparently it has curative properties and you can roll around in the mud and then cure your heart disease!

 sun sun sun

 before we fell...and before we sandboarded

 The only pyramid in this desert

 Meghan and Indy

 Please note the museum like background..and the strange vessels..all full.

...after a few

...procrastination

here is a little preview of what's to come..because some people can't wait..mom.

nada muchooo

Welllll I keep forgetting my password..so that's why I haven't been posting so much, and nothing too crazy happened this week.

 Friday Ella and I went to Starbucks and it was really nice and cozy and felt like winter almost. Then later in the night we went with her family to a Club, which is like an event center, and it was somewhat of a showcase of Peruvian song/dance and Ella's host brother's guitar teacher was releasing his new CD so it was for him I think. Anyway it was cool to see, probably the most Peruvian thing we have done so far. We danced in circles with all the old people, fun fun.

Saturday we went surfing which is always a good time. Then later in the night we went to audriana's friends house to pregame for this charity event....most amazing house, got to know some more Peruvians and then the event was cool, it was like a discoteca outside.

And today(sunday) we got up and went surfing again because it was soo beautiful and sunny! It probably wasn't a good idea though because I was so sore from Saturday. We used shorter boards this time too which was frustrating and the waves weren't that good but it was still fun. Then I went with my friends Emily and Indy to go watch Indy's guy friends play soccer. Here are some picz of this weekend that I stole from Ella!

 After surfing on saturday...cold on zeh beach..not sunny

 can't really see it but that's me! in my neopreneeee today

the sun was out all day...amazing...and I do not know why but there are always a billion parapenters (i think thats what it is called) and I want to do it some time!

Embajada de EEUU

       So today we went to the US Embassy for a 9/11 commemoration. The embassy is on the other side of town..it was completely different then I expected. It was huge and kind of looked like a prison made of marble. The event was really nice, there were so many people, including the president of Peru. I guess I didn't even realize that 9/11 effected other countries, 5 Peruvians died that day and some of their families were also there.

 nosotros

 Ella with the embassy on the left,prison-like, no?

.

Mistura!

...More like heaven. Yesterday I went to Mistura with some amigos..and lets just say it was really overwhelming but really amazing. It was in Parque de la Exposicion, which is just a giant park downtown Lima, the way they have it set up is so the entire park is surrounded by restaurant booths and then there are these giant tents selling cooking stuff, food I think, doing demonstrations and I don't know what because I didn't have enough time to go into any of them. Anyway we went around getting a bunch of plates and then taste testing from everybody elses . There was a lot of ceviche, but I don't eat seafood so no, but here are some things I did try- an amazing risoto, lomo saltado lasagna, anticuchos (cow heart.....yah), milkshake de lucuma, tacu tacu ( a dish from the jungle that was super good) and then we got pisco sours that were apparently the best in town. The only reason I tried the cow heart was because, well when in Rome, and also it was apparently the best of the best...the line took us at least an hour so yah had to be good.

I want to go back and eat more...so good!

Also it was kind of strange, we got special privileges; because we are tourists we got to sit in this little gated off section. Whereas before when we were with everyone else we were just sitting on the grass because there weren't enough tables. It was odd and I didn't really like it..but the Peruvian we were with said it was just because they want us to say good things about their cuisine and the experience so more tourists will come. yo no se.

 Meghan in front of the entrance

 causa's con causa! -potato stacked with chicken and avocado in the center

My camera was dead so sadly those are the only pics I have..but I will steal some from other people later and post em!

Also we have had three days of sun in a row! Which is kind of a big deal...and yesterday at mistura it was actually uncomfortably hot outside..can't wait for more of that kind of weather! I went to a BBQ last night with our peruvian friend Indy at her friends house. Went on an errand with Indy to her aunts house in the middle of the BBQ and met some of her family which was fun. It was nice to be at someone's house and hangout with other peruvians...makin' friends! Alsooo we ended the night by falling into the pool..which some people were not too happy about..oops.

Escuela e espanol!

Shout out to mi padre...quien quiere oir sobre mis clases y la lengua!

Primero..clases...In general I don't like the university system here, it is probably because I really miss U of O and spending time on campus. Classes are long, 2 hours twice a week, which doesn't seem bad but when you have had 3 classes before that one, it is nearly intolerable. For the most part they are interesting though but we haven't really done much.  Finally I have a control de lectura to work on for my etnografia class and an article to read for my history class. The class I do the most work for is my living and learning class that is taught in English. Also classes aren't well organized here, at all. This is probably just me being an American, but I literally have no idea where any of my classes are coming from or going, I swear everyday we talk about something completely different from the day before.

Secundo...lenguaje! Using my spanish is hard sometimes outside of my house because I spend so much time with other CIEE participants, but often I am surprised when I am able to hold up conversations. I think last night was one of the best; Ella emily y yo went to our Peruvian friend Indy's house to hangout before we went out and we all talked the entire time in spanish. Very fulfilling. We are going with Indy to her friends BBQ this weekend, hopefully we make some more Peruvian friends!

This weekend is full of interesting things including Rachel's Birthday, Mistura (taste of Peru if you will- where all the pest chefs of Peru come together for a week of overeating amazing peruvian food), BBQ, going to the US Embassy on Sunday, and hopefully some surfing.

Chaufa!

Baking

Holaaaa,
Baking is strange here, no one knows how to use their oven! Probably because everyone has empleadas.

Last week before I left for Cuzco I made lemon bars with my host sister. We burned them a little but they were still amazing! Unfortunately out of the 1.5 pans that were there when I left only 2 squares were left when I returned...still sad about that.

Anyway tonight I went to Ella's house after my only class and we bought a box of betty crocker brownie mix! We couldn't find the right kind of pan so we used a mini muffin tray. But when it came time to light the oven nobody knew how except for her abuelita..after some failed attempts the room started to smell like gas so they turned off the gas to the house and we packed the raw brownies and got on the bus. THE BUS. with raw brownies...crazy. We went over to Elva's brothers and baked/burned our brownie bites there. In the end they were delish, I just don't get how nobody knows how to work their ovens.

besos

Cusco!

Well just returned from my trip to Cusco this morning; love that city!

Thursday morning we arrived, acclimatized, and conquered! After a nap in the morning we explored Cusco checking out some Incan walls and a great little store near the rock with twelve angels. Then Ella and I went out to dinner with Melvin and Marion (our site directors) to a little hole in the wall pizza place that was really good. Friday morning we awoke early and began our tour of the Valle Sagrado (sacred valley). We stopped at a site above Cusco, a llama/alpaca petting zoo, some ruins by Pisac, a chicharia(where they make chica-a drink from fermented corn) and some more ruins in Ollaytambo. After all of this exhaustion we boarded a train and headed to Aguas Calientes for the night.

Saturday we woke up in Aguas Calientes and got on a bus and headed up to Machu Picchu. The ride was incredible, through rainforest covered mountains. Machu Picchu was incredible mostly because of the location and the extensiveness of the ruins. Though it is extremely touristy with about 3,000 tourists EVERY DAY! After our tour most of us headed off to hike up Wayna Picchu(young peak), the mountain you see in the typical image of Machu Picchu. It is about 45 minutes of zig-zag stairs straight up, I definitely was not expecting to find a little village at the very tip top though. There were some amazing views down on Machu Picchu from there. Next time I go I will definitely be taking the Incan Trail, I can only imagine how awesome it would be to walk through the sun gate as the sun is rising and see Machu Picchu.

After that we returned to Aguas Calientes and boarded our 4 hour long train to Cusco. Ella and I got to sit together and it was a hilarious ride for the most part. We returned to Cusco where I met up with my cousin Cara and we went out and had some amazing Argentinian wine. After we met up with everyone at a hostel party then continued on til 4am to two different dancing spots. And now I am back, missing the sun already!

 Incan walls in Cusco

 dressing up

 dinner

 above cusco

 bigggg incan walls

 scary

 oh jaaa, wingspan like a condor! (also that is Wayna Picchu in the background, went to the very top of it!)

 some duck like things, we miss you U of O!

 at the top of Wayna Picchu, the city of Machu Picchu is behind me

Cusquenas on the train ride back, had to celebrate a 100 yrs of Machu Picchu