I should write about my 10 day trip that I took a while ago.. i think almost a month ago..
i decided to make use of a 4 day holiday and take an 8 or 9 day trip to see some new places... those being huaraz, piura, and mancora. so i skipped some classes, didnt do any work, and left by bus with a friend (samantha) to huaraz.
im pretty much used to bus rides now. we got to huaraz way too early.. about 6 or 7 in the morning. it was freezing outside: a nice surprise. we got into some tourist shuttle to take us to a hostal and those people ended up booking our excursions for that day and the next.
the hostal was a house about 7 blocks from the main street with an amazing family that took care of us for the two days. it was comfortable with some nice hot water (because the city has natural hot springs under it) and she made us literally feel at home. We rested a little and did our first trip, which was pretty much a taxi ride to cities down a valley outside of huaraz. I was expecting like some small farm towns with a different feel, but really every city was pretty much the same.. some pleasant plazas with different buildings. the views were amazing though, and one place really struck me as an amazing oasis of beauty. There was a city called Yungay that in the 70s had an avalanche/flood wash through the city and everything and everybody were uprooted from the city, leaving almost nothing behind. thats not the beautiful part of course, but now there have a memorial site in memory of the city and the people that is a huge, i mean HUGE garden of roses... thousands of roses covering what once was the city, where theres almost nothing left standing... i have never seen so many roses, so many varieties of roses, so big roses, everything roses.. i related everything to roses for a week after that garden.
so we get back and rest in some hot springs, where we thoguht wed just jump in a spring, but it was just a tub that had naturally hot water come out of a pipe.. still nice.
next day, we get up and go with a peruvian couple to churup lagoon, which they said would be about a 4 hour trek to see it and 2 hours down....
this was not a trek.. it was a near-death hike and scale up a mountain. Note: im already about 10k feet above sea level and winded easily by that.. and then this hike wasnt just a casual stroll in the garden.. it was an uphill battle to survive! i was climbing an effin mountain without any preparation and a pudge... so yeah we took a lot of breaks, the couple from peru had to turn back due to now being 14k feet above sea level.. yes we hiked up 4.5k feet.. we had a part where we saw what was left... which wasnt a trail at all it was literally climbing up the mountain, the girl turned back.. me and samantha looked at each other and were like.. i dont care, we gotta do it. so we did.
Note: i know that i wasnt on a mountain or anything like some people hike, but this was some serious stuff. the air was thin, it got a hell of lot colder, as in in the beginning i was sweatin like crazy and near the top i was freezing. the sun was burning my face and hands, i was loosiing consciousness and barely being able to lift my legs.. but determination pulls through.
so we got up there to see the amazing lagoon and an amazing site and it was all worth it... of course it had to be hah. beautiful though, i got pictures on facebook.. the site was literally worth it.. but having to go down from there.. oh no
luckily there were already some locals on top just chillin (jealous), so they talked to us and we met some friends but ME...me.. I was dead... literally, i felt like pukin, i had a head ache, i couldnt talk to anybody barely, i just wanted to get down from the hike and nothing more, i coudlnt even think that far ahead hah.. that was me, my most exhausted time of my life, probably due to not bringing water or food for the hike.
so thats mainly our hauraz time, now we are goin to split, she going to cajamarca for some inca hot baths and a beautiful place and me to go to piura to meet a friend and see some stuff there..
piura, well was a city.. nothing too special haha. maybe should have gone to cajamarca, but it was actually good because i needed some time to do my registration for classes and relax a little.. i also went to catacaos and bought a lot of stuff that made me realize how bad of a shopper i am. while i was there i went to some ruins that were washed away by el niño en the 80s so wasnt much to see. it was the people of Tallan.. or soemthin.. there i met two local kids that took me back to catacaos and i chilled with them for a little while.. different hah.
in piura was a friend i met randomly at a discoteca in lima and her friends and such.. that was about it, piura was nothin.. but then i left to Mancora.. a beach in the north of Peru.. i had a full day to myself before samantha would get there.
Mancora was pretty sweet.. i went walkin for3 hours down the beaches and it was calm and smoothe, a little hot was some cold water.. also there was some reefs or i dont even know what you call it but on the beach were some sea rocks or somethin that was pretty cool. hah..
so one thing about mancora: the sun is INTENSE... dont forget that Equador is on the equator.. and Mancora is probably an hour and a half away from that country.. so basically the sun is beaming down on my really pale skin that has never been able to handle sun really well.. i saw some locals that were literally dark red... i dont even know if that is natural...
but the beach was nice, there were peruvian families for the break, and a lot of surfers and sports stuff.. and me.. just sittin there and chilling..
that was pretty much mancora.. sittin and chillin, and drinkin and what not.. samantha came that night and we went out and relaxed.. the next day we met a guy named STEVE! from new york.. a chill guy who was a big obama supporter.. i mean big.. i think he took a vacation to kick his obama addiction since obama won..
it was nice, i enjoyed mancora a lot.. i bought some other bad stuff that no one is going to like and i went home haha.
oh yeah food, so we ate some ceviche, which is kinda like peruvian sushi.. they dont cook it they just let it be semi cooked by lemon (or limon, i forgot if thats lemon or lime) and its amazing.. i had octopus, fish, and crab.. mmmmmmm and its all fresh too from mancora beach... then we had amazing sushi that was really good... and some burgers and i dunno nothin else too special..
that is pretty much my trip. that and lots of hours on the bus... and beautiful land and some things to think about.. i dunno what else to add.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Good job me, for never posting
I knew i would be bad at this. i got 40 minutes ish to talk about some needed subjects about my stay in peru.. so here i go
My trip to Teoria, Peru.. in the Junin provincia at the edge of the central jungle. It was me and 8ish education girls goin on a trip to the Ashaninka pueblo of Teoria, an old culture with its own language and customs... some modern advances of radio and electricity with a library that has internet... some sure signs of civil intervention.. i got to spend the night there and pass two days with the kids of the pueblo doing projects and just hanging out.
For this classroom project we did a story... and we made books, puppets, and a scene to tell it. The story was how an ashaninka boy captured a star, and eventually the star turned into a princess and they got married.. touching... by the way it was based off an ashaninka legend so dont acredit me for the ingenuity.
of my group, me and fiorella (a peruvian group partner) went to the place and man it was an experience. First, the scenary was amazing, as some of you know thats all i take pictures of.. it was a great relief from the concrete jungle that is called Lima. so i was basically outdoors, with the buzz of nature from the two rivers that surround the pueblo and the common insects (crickets, lightning bugs, etc) that are somehow everywhere in the freaking world. the kids were kids, thats the reality of the world.. they got their customs and language but in the end they got the same cares, needs, and things to work on haha. Some of the kids were shy, some were open, I basically tried to be open with everyone after everyone got use to us. We did the puppet show and storytellin time with success the first day, everyone responded and participated... wehihc made me feel good because i am still a bit insecure with my communication skills.
So about 10 of the kids took us to their hang out.. which was the teoria river.. where theres some good places to relax and also some cool rapids to go down... that was great and our group and the kids had some fun, except that we left too late and couldnt really see our way goin back.. oh well
the night sky was... i cant even describe it.. it was no longer a picture frame sky like you get from the city lights, but rather a profound and awe inspiring view of the huge space that we are a part of... which made me repeat oh my f!$%# $#$% a couple of times.. since really that was the most I have ever seen of the true space thats beyond the city lights... and to think before electricity people saw that almost every night (except in lima because 9 months out of the year its cloudy)
Also a bat got stuck in our room and i didnt want to kill it haha the girls complained, i tried to capture it without sucess, and we slept with the fear of Nasferatu's return
Next day we spent the whole morning with preschool children ages 3 to 5.. and talk about a hand ful.. so we did the storytellin and puppets.. with some blank faces and some picking noses and such,.. typical i guess.. but others got it. then they drew some pictures and made their own puppets AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW PICTURE TIME!
that was good, then we went to the OTHER river called the mazamari river and waded around, where i took my picture for my facebook profile pic a while ago and we hung out with the kids even more... all in all an amazing experience that i will keep with me for a while.
when we got back to the main city (satipo), i hung out at the plaza and we ate at a restaurant for FREE (gracias a la catolica) then we got back
so... if you remember my delirium from not sleeping in the techo para mi pais trip in chincha.. get a load of this...
we left 9ish... and immediately the bus got hot... miserably hot.. i was in a sweat within an hour.. but bearing through it all... until the movie ended.
so the lights went out and everyone got to sleep.. except me.. whose only focus was the sweat and tiredness that dont mix well together... i think i went into a deep conscious sleep, but some might call that.. i dont know
then suddenly the bus stopped... for 2 hours... without ANY air flow, and i had to take off my shirt and try to not think, until i saw elmer fudd again.. that was awkward because we got into a fight last time we met. basically the trip lasted 11 hours when it should have lasted 7, and i did not sleep through it at all, but i did get some nice thoughts in! but i survived and here i am...
Its a long post but i want to add the next weekend, where i watched a peruvian soccer matchup La Universitaria versus Cienciano
so.. peruvian soccer isnt particularly good, and this game was not a peruvian highlight tape.. more like a clumsy practice tape. but the cool thing was that the music and cheering NEVER ended.. never... ever.. which kept a pretty cool rhythm through the whole game...and it makes me wonder if all pro soccer games are like that.. since football you got the constant breaks and basketball has lots of down time.. really soccer has short enough breaks that you can just cheer constantly.. hh well sidetrack.. but yeah it was with the whole group and was cool to be there.. plus the seats were really colorful.. like a gumball machine on the sides
there, peace yo.
My trip to Teoria, Peru.. in the Junin provincia at the edge of the central jungle. It was me and 8ish education girls goin on a trip to the Ashaninka pueblo of Teoria, an old culture with its own language and customs... some modern advances of radio and electricity with a library that has internet... some sure signs of civil intervention.. i got to spend the night there and pass two days with the kids of the pueblo doing projects and just hanging out.
For this classroom project we did a story... and we made books, puppets, and a scene to tell it. The story was how an ashaninka boy captured a star, and eventually the star turned into a princess and they got married.. touching... by the way it was based off an ashaninka legend so dont acredit me for the ingenuity.
of my group, me and fiorella (a peruvian group partner) went to the place and man it was an experience. First, the scenary was amazing, as some of you know thats all i take pictures of.. it was a great relief from the concrete jungle that is called Lima. so i was basically outdoors, with the buzz of nature from the two rivers that surround the pueblo and the common insects (crickets, lightning bugs, etc) that are somehow everywhere in the freaking world. the kids were kids, thats the reality of the world.. they got their customs and language but in the end they got the same cares, needs, and things to work on haha. Some of the kids were shy, some were open, I basically tried to be open with everyone after everyone got use to us. We did the puppet show and storytellin time with success the first day, everyone responded and participated... wehihc made me feel good because i am still a bit insecure with my communication skills.
So about 10 of the kids took us to their hang out.. which was the teoria river.. where theres some good places to relax and also some cool rapids to go down... that was great and our group and the kids had some fun, except that we left too late and couldnt really see our way goin back.. oh well
the night sky was... i cant even describe it.. it was no longer a picture frame sky like you get from the city lights, but rather a profound and awe inspiring view of the huge space that we are a part of... which made me repeat oh my f!$%# $#$% a couple of times.. since really that was the most I have ever seen of the true space thats beyond the city lights... and to think before electricity people saw that almost every night (except in lima because 9 months out of the year its cloudy)
Also a bat got stuck in our room and i didnt want to kill it haha the girls complained, i tried to capture it without sucess, and we slept with the fear of Nasferatu's return
Next day we spent the whole morning with preschool children ages 3 to 5.. and talk about a hand ful.. so we did the storytellin and puppets.. with some blank faces and some picking noses and such,.. typical i guess.. but others got it. then they drew some pictures and made their own puppets AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW PICTURE TIME!
that was good, then we went to the OTHER river called the mazamari river and waded around, where i took my picture for my facebook profile pic a while ago and we hung out with the kids even more... all in all an amazing experience that i will keep with me for a while.
when we got back to the main city (satipo), i hung out at the plaza and we ate at a restaurant for FREE (gracias a la catolica) then we got back
so... if you remember my delirium from not sleeping in the techo para mi pais trip in chincha.. get a load of this...
we left 9ish... and immediately the bus got hot... miserably hot.. i was in a sweat within an hour.. but bearing through it all... until the movie ended.
so the lights went out and everyone got to sleep.. except me.. whose only focus was the sweat and tiredness that dont mix well together... i think i went into a deep conscious sleep, but some might call that.. i dont know
then suddenly the bus stopped... for 2 hours... without ANY air flow, and i had to take off my shirt and try to not think, until i saw elmer fudd again.. that was awkward because we got into a fight last time we met. basically the trip lasted 11 hours when it should have lasted 7, and i did not sleep through it at all, but i did get some nice thoughts in! but i survived and here i am...
Its a long post but i want to add the next weekend, where i watched a peruvian soccer matchup La Universitaria versus Cienciano
so.. peruvian soccer isnt particularly good, and this game was not a peruvian highlight tape.. more like a clumsy practice tape. but the cool thing was that the music and cheering NEVER ended.. never... ever.. which kept a pretty cool rhythm through the whole game...and it makes me wonder if all pro soccer games are like that.. since football you got the constant breaks and basketball has lots of down time.. really soccer has short enough breaks that you can just cheer constantly.. hh well sidetrack.. but yeah it was with the whole group and was cool to be there.. plus the seats were really colorful.. like a gumball machine on the sides
there, peace yo.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Some random Peru experiencies..
I want to talk a little about some random experiences that happen in Peru:
The first thing thats in my head are temblores.. or small earthquakes.. This monday was my first time to experience a pretty big temblor, and let me tell you its something. At least for tornados in Alabama you know when they are comin, temblores hit suddenly. I was upstairs with my brother, and the whole house started to vibrate and then shake. My brother told me to get down and down I went along with everyone else in the house. It lasted roughly 10 seconds, which is a pretty long time to me. Octoberish is the season for temblores, so i might have some more in store for me. Its really a hard situation since theres not much you can do about it and of course afteer the big earthquake a year ago people have that memory of what could happen, but the house has been secured for those.
I am communicating more with the little girl in our house Camila.. She is two years old and only knows the world through whats hers and whats yours hah, and not surprisingly she thinks everything is hers. She is cute even when she ignores any request you may tell her to do. its different hearing a baby girl in spanish since every time i hear her i want to think shes gonna say somethin in english.. still need to get use to that one. The mother works a lot so the maid has taken up the duty in watching over her 24,7, which she does.. i dont think camila ever gets a break from chaperones.. but thats the everso watchful eye of a peruvian mother.
I walk to school sometimes.. a really nice and quiet neighborhood is between me and my university, and its my time for myself. I listen to music, probably sing too loud, and just walk. its about 35 minutes, which is a nice chuck of time to have, but really not enoguh for me hah. I have found some nice roads to take so that its not so busy traffic and i hit some nice parks. I cant help but wonder how weird it must look seein me walkin through this district, but that could just be me thinkin that.
I dont work out, but I do do pushups.. every other day im doin too many pushups and sometimes some ab and balance workouts. I have gotten a little gut since ive gotten here.. but thats to be expected with good food and cheap everything coughbeercough.
i have a little blanket i use as a pad for my hands, and you can see me next to the comp just pushinup on through.
My first individual grade Ive gotten in my university was an 11 out of 20... which of course is horrible but i am not worried. I cant wait for the new life of gettin really low grades.. hah. I actually didnt read all the material, but man readin so much for classes takes a lot of energy out of ya, and its all in spanish of course.
I went to see a play at the National Library. It was Arsenic and Old Lace, an old movie that luckiyl ive seen before. I didnt understand a lot of it. Then we went to McDonalds.. hooray.. they were surprised when i told them i dont eat restaurants like mcdonalds, but i got a strawberry sundae and a chicken wrap haha.
I am not cut out for the greetings in Peru. Whenever there is some type of social interaction, a greeting is required. For girls its a kiss on the cheek, and a handshake for guys, but I am a hugger! hah and when ive tried to do some hugs its just weak! plus, my face is never smoothe, so i always got some scruff or razor sharp cheeks. Sorry peruvian girls!
Nothing in this city resembles the wild. Everything is man made, even the trees look manufactured for looks. The parks are a joke.. but they do appear like a painting by someone in the form of flora. It is nice, but Ive realized how much truth is in the saying concrete jungle. People havent a clue about the wildlife, about things that arent created by us.... I think its a necessity that is lacked in Peru, but they do have that nice ocean.. which I will see tonight.
Peru is almost always has a clouded sky.. not cloudy.. fully clouded.. It is rare to see the sun in its round form.. and when the sun is out it cant be handled. Supposedly it is the season, so when summer rolls around (november and december) it should be clearer.
I went to a bar place and listened to a tribute band to Bon Jovi.. it wasnt that great...
Ill post more later.
The first thing thats in my head are temblores.. or small earthquakes.. This monday was my first time to experience a pretty big temblor, and let me tell you its something. At least for tornados in Alabama you know when they are comin, temblores hit suddenly. I was upstairs with my brother, and the whole house started to vibrate and then shake. My brother told me to get down and down I went along with everyone else in the house. It lasted roughly 10 seconds, which is a pretty long time to me. Octoberish is the season for temblores, so i might have some more in store for me. Its really a hard situation since theres not much you can do about it and of course afteer the big earthquake a year ago people have that memory of what could happen, but the house has been secured for those.
I am communicating more with the little girl in our house Camila.. She is two years old and only knows the world through whats hers and whats yours hah, and not surprisingly she thinks everything is hers. She is cute even when she ignores any request you may tell her to do. its different hearing a baby girl in spanish since every time i hear her i want to think shes gonna say somethin in english.. still need to get use to that one. The mother works a lot so the maid has taken up the duty in watching over her 24,7, which she does.. i dont think camila ever gets a break from chaperones.. but thats the everso watchful eye of a peruvian mother.
I walk to school sometimes.. a really nice and quiet neighborhood is between me and my university, and its my time for myself. I listen to music, probably sing too loud, and just walk. its about 35 minutes, which is a nice chuck of time to have, but really not enoguh for me hah. I have found some nice roads to take so that its not so busy traffic and i hit some nice parks. I cant help but wonder how weird it must look seein me walkin through this district, but that could just be me thinkin that.
I dont work out, but I do do pushups.. every other day im doin too many pushups and sometimes some ab and balance workouts. I have gotten a little gut since ive gotten here.. but thats to be expected with good food and cheap everything coughbeercough.
i have a little blanket i use as a pad for my hands, and you can see me next to the comp just pushinup on through.
My first individual grade Ive gotten in my university was an 11 out of 20... which of course is horrible but i am not worried. I cant wait for the new life of gettin really low grades.. hah. I actually didnt read all the material, but man readin so much for classes takes a lot of energy out of ya, and its all in spanish of course.
I went to see a play at the National Library. It was Arsenic and Old Lace, an old movie that luckiyl ive seen before. I didnt understand a lot of it. Then we went to McDonalds.. hooray.. they were surprised when i told them i dont eat restaurants like mcdonalds, but i got a strawberry sundae and a chicken wrap haha.
I am not cut out for the greetings in Peru. Whenever there is some type of social interaction, a greeting is required. For girls its a kiss on the cheek, and a handshake for guys, but I am a hugger! hah and when ive tried to do some hugs its just weak! plus, my face is never smoothe, so i always got some scruff or razor sharp cheeks. Sorry peruvian girls!
Nothing in this city resembles the wild. Everything is man made, even the trees look manufactured for looks. The parks are a joke.. but they do appear like a painting by someone in the form of flora. It is nice, but Ive realized how much truth is in the saying concrete jungle. People havent a clue about the wildlife, about things that arent created by us.... I think its a necessity that is lacked in Peru, but they do have that nice ocean.. which I will see tonight.
Peru is almost always has a clouded sky.. not cloudy.. fully clouded.. It is rare to see the sun in its round form.. and when the sun is out it cant be handled. Supposedly it is the season, so when summer rolls around (november and december) it should be clearer.
I went to a bar place and listened to a tribute band to Bon Jovi.. it wasnt that great...
Ill post more later.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Un techo para mi pais
So Im gonna talk about my little volunteer trip i had... it was grand.
There was a pretty devastating earthquake that struck Peru last year in August, where thousands upon thousands lost their homes to the quake, so almost immediately some youths decided to do somethin about and started the program un techo para mi pais (a roof for my country). They get volunteers to rebuild houses for all the families that lost them, and now its rollin pretty well.
So i decided to do it, since i am a pretty big fan of Habitat for Humanity. I went over to the Techo building, which is actually just a house and seems more like a hang out spot than a formal office. i signed up and i get teleported by some random invention they made and its friday... night.
They got a huge turn out for this trip, over 300 volunteers, all between the ages of 18-30.. their goal is 75 houses in one weekend.. yeah i dont know how either... we all met up at a stadium at night... the planned departure was probably around 9 pm.. but being in peru, where everything is formally an hour late, we didnt leave the place until 11:30... and the city (Chincha) is over 3 hours away.. WOOHOO
on the bus, sittin next to Elaina (stephanie, samantha, aaron, jamie, and john all came too from my program) she could pleasantly sleep while i couldnt.. which would turn out to be the rest of the trip It was a rough ride, squished and miserably wanting sleep..
We arrive at our school where we are going to spend the nights, and its like 2 am.. im ready to pass out.. but what do the leaders do??!? They have an icebreaker activity to get to know names!! Why sleep, they ask me, why sleep!?
so of course us (gringos) being not so chipper, we complain and give mean faces as everyone is somehow ready to build houses in that moment... next its 3 am and someone is brave enough to ask what time well be gettin up cuz ya kno we need like 7 hours sleep for this work right?!!?
We'll be waking you up at ooo 6:30
What.... did you just say, jefe? not even 3 hours of sleep for the first night.. and its really nice being in room that makes my nose act like a dam for air and 30 people sleepin around you on a floor
so im thinkin everyone is gonna be miserable.. but who gives us a chipper howdy in the mornin? the directors ... Do they even need sleep?
for breakfast some tasty stale bread and juice.. alright go build! im with 3 people to make a house.. they house is 6 meters by 3 meters.. so almost the size of an average room in an american house.. made out of wood.. we have two days to build.. my jefe for the group is gustavo, and theres an exchange student from france named cristelle and a highschooler named tamia... we are the dream team
the first thing we gotta do is level the land... thats nice... we start levelin with a shovel and other inventions that dont use electricity until we get to a part... hmm it seems kinda rough we think.. so we bash it a little to see that its just a big ROCK... so lets level rock with some simple tools... i got my pick and was wailing on it... for 2 hours..
the rock.. NEVER.. ended... so we failed and had to raise the land a little.. a good compromise since its the first day, hot, and im miserable.. so go take a good swig of water and what did i buy!?! CARBONATED WATER... you see, regular water and carbonated water are popular in Peru, and you have to read it before really knowing.. and i just took one... so i drank it, almost gagged, and i never truly quenched my thirst that day..
we work until late.. we probably worked 8 or 9 hours thatday and just finished gettin the floor in. everyone is smelly and dirty and we go back to the school, where there isnt a clean bathroom and definitely no showers.. we are goin dirty the whole weekend.
the cool thing thatr kept my spirits up was meetin a group from Loyola university in LA. i was chillin with some guys form there and had a good time until we had to pass out.. one guy was actually on the show NEXT on MTV.. how.. weird..
so was pass out at 3:30 am i guess, i dunno.. and i was like good lets get some sleep, i dont care that my nose is completely stopped up... im passin out... but Halleluja a director bursts into our room at 6 or 7 and tells us Buenas dias
im glad i didnt have a shoe in my hand... but i looked up and the guy was wearing a clown suit... i looked deep into his eyes... i saw that he was literally insane.
so i got some more stale bread in me and we hit the road.. gotta finish the house
the house is made of wood with a tin roof, pretty simple really with two windows and a door (i want to make a house without a door)
we were cruisin and i got to know my group pretty well and we were jokin the whole tim.. for lunch the family prepares us meals and we sat down and watched a dvd on 70s and 80s american music.. HELL YEA! got some Blondie, Grease, Jackson 5, and disco.. cant beat that.
so we finished the house at like 5.. it looked nice we tried not to mess up any but its hard with our inexperience. everything looked good, we hugged the lady of the house and took a break. and i was like yes lets hit the road i gotta get home sleep and do work.. but NONE of the hosues were finished... so even though i was hallucinating i was so tired i had to go work more.. cheers, we got done with the houses at around 10 or 11 pm, and i had school the next day... i woudlnt get home until 2 or 3ish... i havent recovered yet.
in the bus ride, i was talking to elmer fudd at a coffee shop. it was cozy, occasionally wed be interupted by scary 18 wheelers being 5 inches away from our bus and passing us. Elmer told me somethin about some rascaly rabbit that always messin with him.. i was like , yo fudd, take it easy, let the rabbit be.. there are other rabbits out there to eat.. we talked some politics, and he had to go to mrs fudd, who was piggy from the muppet show.. i thought she had a thing for mickey mouse. i didnt ask..
There was a pretty devastating earthquake that struck Peru last year in August, where thousands upon thousands lost their homes to the quake, so almost immediately some youths decided to do somethin about and started the program un techo para mi pais (a roof for my country). They get volunteers to rebuild houses for all the families that lost them, and now its rollin pretty well.
So i decided to do it, since i am a pretty big fan of Habitat for Humanity. I went over to the Techo building, which is actually just a house and seems more like a hang out spot than a formal office. i signed up and i get teleported by some random invention they made and its friday... night.
They got a huge turn out for this trip, over 300 volunteers, all between the ages of 18-30.. their goal is 75 houses in one weekend.. yeah i dont know how either... we all met up at a stadium at night... the planned departure was probably around 9 pm.. but being in peru, where everything is formally an hour late, we didnt leave the place until 11:30... and the city (Chincha) is over 3 hours away.. WOOHOO
on the bus, sittin next to Elaina (stephanie, samantha, aaron, jamie, and john all came too from my program) she could pleasantly sleep while i couldnt.. which would turn out to be the rest of the trip It was a rough ride, squished and miserably wanting sleep..
We arrive at our school where we are going to spend the nights, and its like 2 am.. im ready to pass out.. but what do the leaders do??!? They have an icebreaker activity to get to know names!! Why sleep, they ask me, why sleep!?
so of course us (gringos) being not so chipper, we complain and give mean faces as everyone is somehow ready to build houses in that moment... next its 3 am and someone is brave enough to ask what time well be gettin up cuz ya kno we need like 7 hours sleep for this work right?!!?
We'll be waking you up at ooo 6:30
What.... did you just say, jefe? not even 3 hours of sleep for the first night.. and its really nice being in room that makes my nose act like a dam for air and 30 people sleepin around you on a floor
so im thinkin everyone is gonna be miserable.. but who gives us a chipper howdy in the mornin? the directors ... Do they even need sleep?
for breakfast some tasty stale bread and juice.. alright go build! im with 3 people to make a house.. they house is 6 meters by 3 meters.. so almost the size of an average room in an american house.. made out of wood.. we have two days to build.. my jefe for the group is gustavo, and theres an exchange student from france named cristelle and a highschooler named tamia... we are the dream team
the first thing we gotta do is level the land... thats nice... we start levelin with a shovel and other inventions that dont use electricity until we get to a part... hmm it seems kinda rough we think.. so we bash it a little to see that its just a big ROCK... so lets level rock with some simple tools... i got my pick and was wailing on it... for 2 hours..
the rock.. NEVER.. ended... so we failed and had to raise the land a little.. a good compromise since its the first day, hot, and im miserable.. so go take a good swig of water and what did i buy!?! CARBONATED WATER... you see, regular water and carbonated water are popular in Peru, and you have to read it before really knowing.. and i just took one... so i drank it, almost gagged, and i never truly quenched my thirst that day..
we work until late.. we probably worked 8 or 9 hours thatday and just finished gettin the floor in. everyone is smelly and dirty and we go back to the school, where there isnt a clean bathroom and definitely no showers.. we are goin dirty the whole weekend.
the cool thing thatr kept my spirits up was meetin a group from Loyola university in LA. i was chillin with some guys form there and had a good time until we had to pass out.. one guy was actually on the show NEXT on MTV.. how.. weird..
so was pass out at 3:30 am i guess, i dunno.. and i was like good lets get some sleep, i dont care that my nose is completely stopped up... im passin out... but Halleluja a director bursts into our room at 6 or 7 and tells us Buenas dias
im glad i didnt have a shoe in my hand... but i looked up and the guy was wearing a clown suit... i looked deep into his eyes... i saw that he was literally insane.
so i got some more stale bread in me and we hit the road.. gotta finish the house
the house is made of wood with a tin roof, pretty simple really with two windows and a door (i want to make a house without a door)
we were cruisin and i got to know my group pretty well and we were jokin the whole tim.. for lunch the family prepares us meals and we sat down and watched a dvd on 70s and 80s american music.. HELL YEA! got some Blondie, Grease, Jackson 5, and disco.. cant beat that.
so we finished the house at like 5.. it looked nice we tried not to mess up any but its hard with our inexperience. everything looked good, we hugged the lady of the house and took a break. and i was like yes lets hit the road i gotta get home sleep and do work.. but NONE of the hosues were finished... so even though i was hallucinating i was so tired i had to go work more.. cheers, we got done with the houses at around 10 or 11 pm, and i had school the next day... i woudlnt get home until 2 or 3ish... i havent recovered yet.
in the bus ride, i was talking to elmer fudd at a coffee shop. it was cozy, occasionally wed be interupted by scary 18 wheelers being 5 inches away from our bus and passing us. Elmer told me somethin about some rascaly rabbit that always messin with him.. i was like , yo fudd, take it easy, let the rabbit be.. there are other rabbits out there to eat.. we talked some politics, and he had to go to mrs fudd, who was piggy from the muppet show.. i thought she had a thing for mickey mouse. i didnt ask..
Thursday, September 18, 2008
The University Life
So i feel like talking a little about my life at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica en Peru. First off, its not really a highly religious school... I think its just a requirement to have Catolica somewhere in the name of schools here (not really). The campus is amazingly well maintenanced, but to me it feels really unnatural despite it being one of the few places i know with lots of green areas. The campus is huge and beautiful, and is not a bad place to lounge around all day..
I am taking 4 courses directly enrolled in the school and 2 courses through my CIEE program. The 4 classes are Alternative programs to Pre school, administration and legislation of education, social development and responsibility, and human sexuality. My other two are advanced spanish and peruvian social reality. So this is what i do all day at La Catolica (PUCP)
Let me tell you about first days of school in a new language: you dont understand anything. I was literally completely lost by the end of my first week. I didnt even know who i was, i was so confused. The cool thing about most of the classes are that they work in groups. So some students who felt sorry for me decided to take me in and nurture me back to health.
This is how their conversations probably went:
Pepe: Do you think we should take the gringo?
Maria: I dont know, I seriously doubt hes going to do any work.
Pilar: But i want to practice my English! Lets take him!
Pepe: Yeah, poor guy, he is all alone in this class. Lets do it out of our good hearts!
So i have groups for the rest of the year, and yes I have done work for them...
A kinda different thing in Catolica is that there are no bachelor degrees, only degrees equivalent to masters. A person chooses a faculty and takes classes only in that faculty, so me being in 3 different faculties (education, social management, psychology) is a rarety, if ever it even happens.
My two classes in education are full of girls, I am literally the only guy in one class, and Im gringo. What a mix! I have a pretty cool group of girls for that class but they talk incredibly fast. I think they do that just to make fun of me in front of my face! Ill understand them one day...
Also, my human sexuality class does not just talk about sex... it is actually includes everything about sexuality, be it preference, social issues on gender, development of sex, actual sex, and identity. I am actually getting a lot of cool ideas from the class, mainly because i agree with my teacher on just about everything, even if they do call it feminism (i have in the past claimed myself to be an ecofeminist without the title of ecofeminist) i am also one of the few guys in that class as well.
I am meeting new people, but its a slow process. I really do not think the ¨Im lost, can you help me¨ line works in Catolica, so ive just been goin to classes and goin home. Three of my classes are made for independent reading and research, which is exactly the classes i believe are the best for learning. My human sexuality is all lecture, which is fine. My administration and legislation class is literally all independent research, we dont even have classes except for when we need to do a little exam (which i did alright in)
Another cool thing is that all of my classes work for my little research project im doing for UA. I am focusing on the education of Peru and Lima and what all the social reality is of it. So almost every class helps me on my independent research. I am happy about that
When i cannot go home for lunch there is this hamburger kiosk right next to the school that i go to every time. I pay 3 soles (1 dollar) and get a huge hamburger (thin slice of meat though) that i enjoy every bite of. The different thing they do in burgers here is that they put potato sticks in the hamburger.. Who knew it would be delicious!
Cheerio, then! Right-tow!
I am taking 4 courses directly enrolled in the school and 2 courses through my CIEE program. The 4 classes are Alternative programs to Pre school, administration and legislation of education, social development and responsibility, and human sexuality. My other two are advanced spanish and peruvian social reality. So this is what i do all day at La Catolica (PUCP)
Let me tell you about first days of school in a new language: you dont understand anything. I was literally completely lost by the end of my first week. I didnt even know who i was, i was so confused. The cool thing about most of the classes are that they work in groups. So some students who felt sorry for me decided to take me in and nurture me back to health.
This is how their conversations probably went:
Pepe: Do you think we should take the gringo?
Maria: I dont know, I seriously doubt hes going to do any work.
Pilar: But i want to practice my English! Lets take him!
Pepe: Yeah, poor guy, he is all alone in this class. Lets do it out of our good hearts!
So i have groups for the rest of the year, and yes I have done work for them...
A kinda different thing in Catolica is that there are no bachelor degrees, only degrees equivalent to masters. A person chooses a faculty and takes classes only in that faculty, so me being in 3 different faculties (education, social management, psychology) is a rarety, if ever it even happens.
My two classes in education are full of girls, I am literally the only guy in one class, and Im gringo. What a mix! I have a pretty cool group of girls for that class but they talk incredibly fast. I think they do that just to make fun of me in front of my face! Ill understand them one day...
Also, my human sexuality class does not just talk about sex... it is actually includes everything about sexuality, be it preference, social issues on gender, development of sex, actual sex, and identity. I am actually getting a lot of cool ideas from the class, mainly because i agree with my teacher on just about everything, even if they do call it feminism (i have in the past claimed myself to be an ecofeminist without the title of ecofeminist) i am also one of the few guys in that class as well.
I am meeting new people, but its a slow process. I really do not think the ¨Im lost, can you help me¨ line works in Catolica, so ive just been goin to classes and goin home. Three of my classes are made for independent reading and research, which is exactly the classes i believe are the best for learning. My human sexuality is all lecture, which is fine. My administration and legislation class is literally all independent research, we dont even have classes except for when we need to do a little exam (which i did alright in)
Another cool thing is that all of my classes work for my little research project im doing for UA. I am focusing on the education of Peru and Lima and what all the social reality is of it. So almost every class helps me on my independent research. I am happy about that
When i cannot go home for lunch there is this hamburger kiosk right next to the school that i go to every time. I pay 3 soles (1 dollar) and get a huge hamburger (thin slice of meat though) that i enjoy every bite of. The different thing they do in burgers here is that they put potato sticks in the hamburger.. Who knew it would be delicious!
Cheerio, then! Right-tow!
Friday, September 12, 2008
Cusco, while its fresh in my mind.
Lets talk about the Cusco trip.. where I might have slept a total of 5 hours... That is exaggerating, but not much
The cool thing about the trip was that my friend Polina actually came from the states to accompany me and see Machu Picchu. We have been good friends for a while and it was cool that she came by from that far. She took part in one of the coolest trips ive had (I dont have many)
So we got to Cusco on Friday, and immediately we decided to go to the market to get some food... even though our all knowledgable leader Marion told us to rest (we ignored her foolishly).
If you dont know, Cusco is a city that is roughly 3,350 M... lets divide that by 1600 and we got roughly 2 miles high... lets convert that to feet and wha!!? we are almost 11,000 feet up in the air... when Lima is sea level...
With all that said, i nearly fainted while eatin at the market.. and had to immediately go home to rest and turn a little in my bed because my stomach couldnt digest the cheese.. im sorry for my foolishness, Marion
Melvin, the other chill leader of CIEE, knows this man named Kike` who played 20 somethin different types of native instruments in front of us at a really cool place in cusco... it was spectacular, one of the best performances of music I could have listend to in 30 minutes or so. He also runs a completely donated school for andian children that we would visit the next day.
So the night was better, and i promised myself to not eat until lunch... but that didnt stop me from drinking a little... or... yeah, a little...
so that was done and we had some drinks and went outside just to see a drum circle playin some cool beats.. we sat around, some people played with them from our group, and enjoyed the atmosphere.. which was gettin better and better.. and it got better
note: most of the people there had dreadlocks.
so i was definitely into the music in cusco, until a cool girl from the bar place told us there would be a fusion band that would have some native instruments mixed with rock... WHAT!?! im there..
so we went upstairs to see like 10 people up on stage rockin out some tunes from america and i went nuts... there was an electric lead guitar, a small guitar from latinamerica, a saxophone, two andian flutists, a bass, singer, and a cajon (a box kinda) that did the beat... man they rocked.. it was me, Polina, samantha, matt, and tyler... and you could ttell we were totally feelin it
i have never rocked out to music like that.. it was one of the best vibes ive ever had...
next day, i slept maybe 4 hours and we were off to the donated school, which ill talk about later because i loved it so.. we also visited a huge white jesus statue openin its arms to cusco.. then nightlife.. i listened to a band that played ALL classic rock... some led zepplin, pink floyd, good doors, one strokes song, deep purple and maybe one more... but yeah it was sweet i was definitely into that... but we had to get some sleep... Machu Picchu tomorrow!!
note: the singer sounded just like the bands... impressive, which also happened in a pink floyd cover band i listened to (later i guess)
so next day, me and polina took an hour and half taxi to ollantaytambo, where the train would take us to machu picchu... let me tell you that this trip surpassed the mesa verde passage in Colorado when i went to Telluride from Durango.. it was magnificent.. and we talked some with our taxi, Alfredo, who loves canadian families ??? i didnt ask.
I have lets say, 180 pictures of my machu picchu trip, and machu picchu is as wonderful as they say, i mean its not just the remains of the people that is beautiful, it is the entire atmosphere.. can you imagine walking for 4 days without civilization to find a beautiful gathering of buildings on top of a mountain surrounded by mountains.. man, i was feelin it.. me, meghan, matt, and tonisha decided to walk up to the gate of the sun, an hour walk straight up the mountain to get to the place where the 4 day hike Inka Trail ends and its the first time you see machu picchu. spectacular, we even saw some hikers finish the trail.. which was really cool.. we took in the beauty and hiked down...
so gettin back to cusco, youd think id be tired right!? like completely exhausted bein in the sun all day a little burnt!? right!?!? NOOO... to ROOTS! where its almost all night reggae! sadly my bros could not make it, so it was me Zach, and John with two girls from Urubamba, i dunno John met them somewhere.. anyway we got there and I met these two girls (could be ladies) from Australia!! Hell yea, they were cool.. and there was a live band for a little while playin some killer drums with an Australian indigenous instrument called the didjeridu, and youd know it if you heard it.. so i was definitely feelin this place.. and i danced there until 4 am..which is a ice way to end the trip, even though i felt like dying the next day...
note: every place i went out to had more foreigners than locals.. and they were mostly backpackers.. a way different feel than anywhere else ive been to. there were some free spirits there, and it seemed like a blend from everywhere around the world.. and lots of dreadlocks.. there was a tv in Roots that was showin just extreme sports highlights always... and i think the lesbian population there outdid all other populations of sexual preference. the places were cool.
fact of my life: even though i was droolin i was so tired, i could not sleep in the bus to the airport or the airplane ride.. i am doomed to never be able to sleep in public.
The cool thing about the trip was that my friend Polina actually came from the states to accompany me and see Machu Picchu. We have been good friends for a while and it was cool that she came by from that far. She took part in one of the coolest trips ive had (I dont have many)
So we got to Cusco on Friday, and immediately we decided to go to the market to get some food... even though our all knowledgable leader Marion told us to rest (we ignored her foolishly).
If you dont know, Cusco is a city that is roughly 3,350 M... lets divide that by 1600 and we got roughly 2 miles high... lets convert that to feet and wha!!? we are almost 11,000 feet up in the air... when Lima is sea level...
With all that said, i nearly fainted while eatin at the market.. and had to immediately go home to rest and turn a little in my bed because my stomach couldnt digest the cheese.. im sorry for my foolishness, Marion
Melvin, the other chill leader of CIEE, knows this man named Kike` who played 20 somethin different types of native instruments in front of us at a really cool place in cusco... it was spectacular, one of the best performances of music I could have listend to in 30 minutes or so. He also runs a completely donated school for andian children that we would visit the next day.
So the night was better, and i promised myself to not eat until lunch... but that didnt stop me from drinking a little... or... yeah, a little...
so that was done and we had some drinks and went outside just to see a drum circle playin some cool beats.. we sat around, some people played with them from our group, and enjoyed the atmosphere.. which was gettin better and better.. and it got better
note: most of the people there had dreadlocks.
so i was definitely into the music in cusco, until a cool girl from the bar place told us there would be a fusion band that would have some native instruments mixed with rock... WHAT!?! im there..
so we went upstairs to see like 10 people up on stage rockin out some tunes from america and i went nuts... there was an electric lead guitar, a small guitar from latinamerica, a saxophone, two andian flutists, a bass, singer, and a cajon (a box kinda) that did the beat... man they rocked.. it was me, Polina, samantha, matt, and tyler... and you could ttell we were totally feelin it
i have never rocked out to music like that.. it was one of the best vibes ive ever had...
next day, i slept maybe 4 hours and we were off to the donated school, which ill talk about later because i loved it so.. we also visited a huge white jesus statue openin its arms to cusco.. then nightlife.. i listened to a band that played ALL classic rock... some led zepplin, pink floyd, good doors, one strokes song, deep purple and maybe one more... but yeah it was sweet i was definitely into that... but we had to get some sleep... Machu Picchu tomorrow!!
note: the singer sounded just like the bands... impressive, which also happened in a pink floyd cover band i listened to (later i guess)
so next day, me and polina took an hour and half taxi to ollantaytambo, where the train would take us to machu picchu... let me tell you that this trip surpassed the mesa verde passage in Colorado when i went to Telluride from Durango.. it was magnificent.. and we talked some with our taxi, Alfredo, who loves canadian families ??? i didnt ask.
I have lets say, 180 pictures of my machu picchu trip, and machu picchu is as wonderful as they say, i mean its not just the remains of the people that is beautiful, it is the entire atmosphere.. can you imagine walking for 4 days without civilization to find a beautiful gathering of buildings on top of a mountain surrounded by mountains.. man, i was feelin it.. me, meghan, matt, and tonisha decided to walk up to the gate of the sun, an hour walk straight up the mountain to get to the place where the 4 day hike Inka Trail ends and its the first time you see machu picchu. spectacular, we even saw some hikers finish the trail.. which was really cool.. we took in the beauty and hiked down...
so gettin back to cusco, youd think id be tired right!? like completely exhausted bein in the sun all day a little burnt!? right!?!? NOOO... to ROOTS! where its almost all night reggae! sadly my bros could not make it, so it was me Zach, and John with two girls from Urubamba, i dunno John met them somewhere.. anyway we got there and I met these two girls (could be ladies) from Australia!! Hell yea, they were cool.. and there was a live band for a little while playin some killer drums with an Australian indigenous instrument called the didjeridu, and youd know it if you heard it.. so i was definitely feelin this place.. and i danced there until 4 am..which is a ice way to end the trip, even though i felt like dying the next day...
note: every place i went out to had more foreigners than locals.. and they were mostly backpackers.. a way different feel than anywhere else ive been to. there were some free spirits there, and it seemed like a blend from everywhere around the world.. and lots of dreadlocks.. there was a tv in Roots that was showin just extreme sports highlights always... and i think the lesbian population there outdid all other populations of sexual preference. the places were cool.
fact of my life: even though i was droolin i was so tired, i could not sleep in the bus to the airport or the airplane ride.. i am doomed to never be able to sleep in public.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
I am horrible at this, but im going to get better...
As my mother knows, I do not do well with keeping up on things...but in all honesty, I got that from her genes!
So, ill just do some short blogs, since i cant let yall suffer... or can i!?!
Lets talk about my family a little more... So it has been a while since ive lived with a big family.. oh wait.. never.. Like I said, there are 11 people total in the house and two dogs... and two turtles (but thankfully they do not bark)
So the first thing to notice is, there is rarely a quiet time.. Camila is two and yells, the dogs bark with the slightest shift in sound, thats really mainly it.. but its enough to notice. The only time ive noticed things being quiet is when I walk in at 4 in the morning.
My family worries a lot... about me, about everyones safety.. its just a thing that happens.. but really i think its just a part of understanding the city life, because there are always dangers out there. Through my talks with my comrades in la catolica, I have found out that their parents worry too.. So in order for me to ease my parents (especially the mother), I have decided to do a text system where i text my mother when I am comin back, if I am stayin out later or not.. this all was decided after i came out at 7:45 am in the morning (i might tell this story later)
My home is comfortable.. I get my daily exercise walkin up three stories.. sometimes just for water.. My parents leave for work in the mornin and i dont see them that much, but i am going to start checkin on them (i mean, im family!) my older brother fernando works all day, but we talk some when he comes in... sandra, the older sister, chills in her room and we do the occasional hola.. and tamara, the younger sister, comes home later and we talk some... but the most important part of the family is my brother, jose luis. its hard to describe, but he is seriously the best bro match CIEE could have done. We have all the same interests, we get along really well (except i wake him up sometimes, usually for no reason) and we have good conversations, spanish and english.. he has really helped me get use to Lima, and im tryin to find a way to repay him for it. We are two peas in a pod...yehaw (and other cliche southern frases)!!
I cannot forget about Marisa, our stay at home cook. Sshe is wonderful, i have great conversations with her and she cooks some of the best food i will probably ever eat casually. I have really enjoyed my stay in my house, and I look forward to another 3 months here. Of course I need to work on being a better son for my parents, and I still dont know how to do everytihng right, but I believe i should get the hang of it soon.
So, ill just do some short blogs, since i cant let yall suffer... or can i!?!
Lets talk about my family a little more... So it has been a while since ive lived with a big family.. oh wait.. never.. Like I said, there are 11 people total in the house and two dogs... and two turtles (but thankfully they do not bark)
So the first thing to notice is, there is rarely a quiet time.. Camila is two and yells, the dogs bark with the slightest shift in sound, thats really mainly it.. but its enough to notice. The only time ive noticed things being quiet is when I walk in at 4 in the morning.
My family worries a lot... about me, about everyones safety.. its just a thing that happens.. but really i think its just a part of understanding the city life, because there are always dangers out there. Through my talks with my comrades in la catolica, I have found out that their parents worry too.. So in order for me to ease my parents (especially the mother), I have decided to do a text system where i text my mother when I am comin back, if I am stayin out later or not.. this all was decided after i came out at 7:45 am in the morning (i might tell this story later)
My home is comfortable.. I get my daily exercise walkin up three stories.. sometimes just for water.. My parents leave for work in the mornin and i dont see them that much, but i am going to start checkin on them (i mean, im family!) my older brother fernando works all day, but we talk some when he comes in... sandra, the older sister, chills in her room and we do the occasional hola.. and tamara, the younger sister, comes home later and we talk some... but the most important part of the family is my brother, jose luis. its hard to describe, but he is seriously the best bro match CIEE could have done. We have all the same interests, we get along really well (except i wake him up sometimes, usually for no reason) and we have good conversations, spanish and english.. he has really helped me get use to Lima, and im tryin to find a way to repay him for it. We are two peas in a pod...yehaw (and other cliche southern frases)!!
I cannot forget about Marisa, our stay at home cook. Sshe is wonderful, i have great conversations with her and she cooks some of the best food i will probably ever eat casually. I have really enjoyed my stay in my house, and I look forward to another 3 months here. Of course I need to work on being a better son for my parents, and I still dont know how to do everytihng right, but I believe i should get the hang of it soon.
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