Crazy Weekend!!

On Saturday we went into Lima with our Spanish classes instead of having more training at the Center. It was my first time to Lima since we arrived (almost a month ago!) so I was really looking forward to the trip (mostly to get some good old American food, but to see the city too). I went to Lima three years ago when I was studying abroad in Chile, but we were only here for about 24 hours as we were passing through on our way to Cusco. The last time I was here, I remember thinking the city was really dirty and poor, but I thought the main plaza with some of the government buildings was kind of cool. This time I was pleasantly surprised to see that the city was nicer than I had remembered. It´s still pretty dirty (I was getting sick from the pollution when we were riding on the bus), but we visited a few different districts of Lima and I really enjoyed them.

We started in Barranco, which is a bohemian-type neighborhood. The architecture was really nice and I loved all the brightly colored buildings. It was also close to the ocean so we were able to walk down and see the Pacific! We didn´t walk all the way down to the beach though because it´s really dangerous there and easy to get robbed - no thank you. Next we went to Miraflores, which is an upper middle class neighborhood of Lima. We saw a few movie theaters there, a lot of trendy stores, and of course, lots of American restaurants (Chili´s, TGI Friday´s, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, Dominoes, Kentucky Fried Chicken, etc.). We stopped at Dunkin Donuts to have a mid-morning snack. I rarely even eat donuts when I´m in the States, but anything from home is really appealing when you´re so far away so six of us decided to share a dozen donuts and they were amazing! They had lots of the traditional ones like "Krema de Boston" and then others that I had never seen before (one covered in toasted coconut and filled with dulce de leche).

From there we took a bus to the center of Lima and walked to the main plaza where all of the government buildings are located. On the way to the plaza, we walked through this whole strip of stores that reminded me a lot of Santiago. I don´t understand why they do this in Perú and Chile (and maybe other parts of Latin America too), but in shopping districts, you´ll find all the same type of store clustered together. For instance, we passed at least 2 blocks of stores that sold nothing but eye glasses. How do they all stay in business? Is there really a demand for so many glasses? Hana told me her class walked by a whole block of stores that sold dentist chairs! Don´t ask me.

Before we arrived at the plaza, we also stopped to visit a big Catholic church that was built in the 1500s. It was incredible how powerful it was to be inside of the church. Rarely do I feel a strong emotional or spiritual connection (for lack of a better word) when I´m inside a church, but when it does happen, it´s amazing. For one reason or another, I seem to have these feelings more often when I enter a Catholic church in Latin America. I´m not even Catholic, but it´s hard not to feel moved when you enter the churches down here. Many Latin Americans are only "culturally" Catholic, as they say, because they don´t go to church, but they truly believe in the power of the saints and it´s truly incredible to observe their devotion to their faith when you´re visiting a church - even if they don´t express it in the traditional sense.

After the church we visited the main plaza, but didn´t go into any buildings. I wish we had gone to a few museums, but my host mom said she´d take me back so that´s okay. Class was done by about 1:30 so Hana, Lindsay, and I took off to find a Pizza Hut. We spent about 30 minutes in class on Thursday drawing a map of where we could find Pizza Hut and what buses to take from the center of town. We were doing really well until our bus turned off the main road. Lindsay and Hana thought we were fine, but I knew we were headed in the wrong direction. We wanted to get off at "the" McDonald´s, but quickly realized that was an awful point of reference as they are everywhere in Miraflores. Anyway, we got off at a McDonald´s and realized we had no idea where we were. We were determined to find Pizza Hut though and after walking for about 15 minutes, finally found out. We were starving when we arrived and probably could have consumed everything in the entire place, but settled on pizza and breadsticks. It was delicious! It´s so weird how Pizza Hut tastes the same whether you´re in San Antonio, TX or Lima, Peru. The funniest part though was that the restaurant itself was way nicer than you´d ever see in the States. It was pretty fancy and expensive, but well worth it!

After lunch we headed to the supermarket to buy some peanut butter (my one jar is almost gone already!). The supermarket was so nice on the inside. It had an inner courtyard and sold lots of stuff besides food. It wasn´t nearly as big as Jumbo - the one I used to go to in Santiago, but it was fine. It even had a Benihana sushi stand inside! We drooled over the chocolate aisle as it had snickers and m&ms and such, but decided not to get any since it was really expensive. We did buy all bran cereal though and peanut butter - both of which were really expensive. It was Peter Pan peanut butter (unfortunately they didn´t have Trader Joe´s....) and it cost almost $6 for the jar! Desperate times call for desperate measures....haha. While we were in line, this really attractive guy came up to the check out lines and we were sure he was American. He looked very American so Lindsay dared Hana to go talk to him for 5 soles (approx. $2) and ask him where he´s from. Of course she did because it´s Hana, but she approached him in English since we were all sure he was from the States. We were hoping he´d be Hana´s boyfriend and we´d have this great story to tell, but turns out he´s actually from Lima. He lived in the States for a few years though so he speaks English really well. Since we had no idea where we were, we asked him how to get back to the center of Lima to catch a bus back home. While we were talking, we found out he was waiting for his girlfriend to pick him up.....we can still dream though Han! It was really funny! Before getting on the bus, we bought McFlurry´s from McDonalds to satisfy our craving for ice cream and were on our way.

It took about 1.5-2 hours to get back home, but we survived our first trip home from Lima alone. We decided to take naps for about an hour because we had an all night party to go to on the soccer "field" (really just cement) in the town we live in. We headed up to the party around 10 pm and somehow stayed up dancing until 4:30 in the morning! It was unheard of for me and I really have no idea how I survived, but it was so much fun! My friend Kevin and I pretended to have a dancing contest with Lindsay and another guy. We decided we won because the people selling beer gave us some for free for our great dancing - haha. I also danced with lots of people´s host siblings (mine were home sleeping) and the security guard from the center. They were trying to teach me Peruvian dances, but I don´t think I was very good. I had a blast though hanging out with our group and lots of Peruvians. The whole party was free and they even served us this amazing dinner! Not that I needed any more food that day, but it was really warm and delicious and freezing outside so I ate it. Yum! The craziest part though was when we were being chased, that´s right CHASED, by fireworks! They make these cows (out of who knows what material) that are covered in fireworks. Then some guy puts the cow over him and they light it on fire and chase people around the field! Aaaaahhh. My friend Sarah and I tried hiding behind this shed with Roxanna (Jorge´s host sister) and then tried leaving the field and going out into the street, but it followed us! It was so funny and scary and crazy all at the same time. My host mom said it´s called "vaca loca" (crazy cow)! Hahahahaha. Welcome to Perú!

Lindsay, Hana, and I slept at Sarah´s house that night because she lives right across from the field. At 7:30 in the morning, the band that had been playing all night, decided to start a parade and march down the street so it was impossible to sleep. We decided to just go home so we could get more rest, however, when I walked in my house, my host mom told me we were leaving in an hour and a half to go to the mountains! Oh vey. I really wanted to go and be able to appreciate their outreach, but I was sooooo tired. I was able to sleep for about an hour and then we took off for the mountains.

We drove in this little truck/jeep thing. It has a bed like a truck, but is much smaller than a truck and sits 5 people in the front like a car. Anyway, there were 7 of us in the front of the truck and 4 kids riding in the back. It was a 2.5 drive into the mountains on this windy road that reminded me of the trail on Mt. Whitney it was so rocky and uneven and the kids stood in the back the whole time! Oh lord. I was so nervous for them and kept having visions of my life flashing before my eyes, but all my host mom said to them was, "hold on tight"! We kept having to stop along the way to put water in the engine (?!?!?!) and the car kept stalling so that was fun. We also had to stop for about 10 minutes in this town because they were having a parade down the street for the Virgen Carmen (??) and blocking the entire road. I was so tired and was hoping to sleep in the ride up there, but it was so rocky and uneven (sometimes we drove through a little stream) that it was impossible to sleep. Honestly my body hurt the next day from riding like that for 5 hours. On the way home, we had to spend about 10 minutes trying to figure out how to get passed this huge dump truck type thing. It was really scary. He still managed to hit our car because if he moved over one centimeter, he probably would have fallen off the mountain side (picture the Pacific Coast Highway for those of you that know it).

So our road trip was to this little pueblo in the mountains called Vicas. Apparently my host dad´s family used to live there, but he never did (he´s the youngest of 8 children). It was a really beautiful location way up in the mountains, but it´s very isolated. There are only about 100 people that live there and they have to go all the way to Chosica (about 15 minutes further than my house) to buy most of their food! It was so pretty though - lots more green than I´ve seen in a long time. I hope that if I live in the mountains, I won´t be that far away from fresh fruits and veggies....

We went to Vicas to watch this horse race that they hold every year. Now erase any images you have in your head of Saratoga Race Track or the Kentucky Derby (I think that´s what it´s called) because this was no traditional race. This was a race down the steep, rocky, and windy mountain side! We got there around 1:30 and ate lunch that we had brought from home. Then we walked around the community, enjoyed the view, and talked until the race started around 4:30 (of course it was supposed to start at 3:30). Three people went at a time to race with their horses. They timed the races to find out who was the winner out of all of the heats. The two big prizes I saw were bunk beds or a huge piece of furniture (like an entertainment center). It seemed sort of odd to me because I don´t even know that their houses we big enough for those two pieces of furniture, but I didn´t ask any questions.

The race was really entertaining and absolutely crazy. I tried to take some pictures so hopefully some came out well and I can post them to my blog (with all the others I need to post of my life here). One of the guys fell off his horse because he was so drunk. My host mom said, I can understand having one beer before the race because you have to be crazy to want to do this, but three beers is ridiculous and some of them drink all morning before the race! It was really fun to watch though and quite the experience. I´m really glad I got a chance to go with them and watch this event that only happens once a year.

Luckily we left as soon as the race was over. I was so tired and ready to be home. Nothing too crazy happened on the way home other than we pulled over to get branches off a calypso tree. I think we may have taken the whole tree with us there was so much in the back of the truck. The kids all had to lie down on it during the trip back so it wouldn´t fly away! They must have been freezing back there because it was cold for me just standing outside. Oh boy.

At home my abuelita taught me how to make banana pancakes so I can make them for myself at my site. We made a lot of extras so I could share them with my friends the next day at school since I always rant and rave about them. I think they wanted me to take enough for everyone because they wouldn´t let the kids eat too much so I could save them. I told them it didn´t matter because I only needed a few. At first they insisted that they´d get up early to buy more bananas and make more, but I convinced them that it wasn´t necessary. They´re so cute.

Well I have lots more stories to tell of this past week, but I´ll post those later so I can go to bed. Thank you to all of you who continue to be interested even though the entries get longer and longer. It means a lot to know that you care so much.

And please keep sending me mail because I get so excited when I have a postcard or letter. Thank you to all of you who have sent me stuff - it means a lot!