I Told You the Education System is Bad....

The following is an article a fellow volunteer sent to us from The Economist..... Education in Peru When teacher is a dunce Mar 29th 2007 LIMA From The Economist print edition A long-overdue attempt to raise the quality of schooling JUST for a change this month, when Peru's schoolchildren trooped miserably back to their classrooms after the summer holiday, they were not faced with a teachers' strike. Instead, the leaders of SUTEP, as the teachers' union is called, meekly offered to work with the education ministry to improve the quality of teaching. That marks an important victory for the centrist government of Alan García—one that may be noticed across a region whose educational standards lag those of many Asian countries. Peru has done relatively well at getting children into school: over 90% complete primary and two-thirds secondary schooling, a better record than in richer Argentina and Mexico. The problem is that Peruvians do not learn much in the classroom. When it entered a 43-country international test in 2000, Peru came bottom of the class, well behind even the other Latin American participants. There are several reasons for that. Alberto Fujimori, the country's president of 1990-2000, built lots of schools but gave no thought to education. Today, four-fifths of schools are in poor repair, obliging the government to promise to spend $100m this year fixing them. Education spending is rising, but at 3.3% of GDP this year it remains below the regional average. Alejandro Toledo, Mr García's predecessor, doubled teachers' salaries (to an average of $350 a month) but did not tie that to higher standards. In December, the education ministry announced that all teachers would have to take a proficiency exam. SUTEP's leaders, most of whom belong to radical Marxist parties, have long rejected teacher evaluation. They got hold of a copy of the exam and posted it on their website. That was "the most serious mistake" in SUTEP' s history, in the view of José Chang, the education minister. "They lost what little confidence the public still had in the union." The ministry rewrote the exam and required the country's 250,000 teachers to sit it in January. Four out of five of them did, in defiance of the union's boycott. Almost half of those who sat the exam were unable to solve elementary maths questions and a third failed a reading comprehension test. The government has gone on to limit SUTEP's perks. It says it will no longer deduct union dues from teachers' pay cheques and has ordered 300 union leaders to return to the classroom or lose their salaries. It is also launching a pilot plan to decentralise the education system, giving control to local government. These moves are long overdue. By dint of them, Mr Chang, a former university rector, has become Mr García's most popular minister. Still, it is one thing to expose the teachers' limitations. More must be done to provide Peru's children with the teaching they deserve.

Being Sick in Peru

So like I said in the previous posts, I've been feeling really badly lately and was sure it was because something is living inside me. I finally got my results back from the stool sample and guess what....NOTHING! They said I don't have a parasite, which is good, but I wish I had an answer as to why this happens to me because it's frustrating, very uncomfortable, and definitely NOT normal. You look at the pictures and decide for yourself....

My stomach on a normal day.

My stomach when I'm sick....

And they say nothing is living inside me? What the heck?!?! They say it seems to be another bacteria infection so the next time I have the symptoms, I have to take Cipro - this will be the 5th time in 10 months - nice record I have going here!

Photos!

A view of the beach in Miraflores.

Trying out hooka for the first time.

Mike, Cheridyn, and Rachel with their wine samples.

Cheridyn, me, and Rachel excited to be on vacation!

A view of the laguna at dusk.

A view of Huacachina as we were walking up the sand dune.

A geoglyth that dates back to ancient times called The Candelabra.

Hello Mr. Sea Lion!

Looking back through the "Arco de Suerte" (Arc of Luck).

A view of "La Catedral" (the cathedral).

Rachel, me, and Julia ready to go sand-boarding in our cool googles!

A view from the backseat of the dune buggy.

Pulling up in style.

Some people climbing up the sand dune we hiked the night before.

A view of the sunset in Miraflores (right before I missed bus #2).

Vacation Ends, Depression Begins

So as if missing two busses in one day wasn’t enough, I proceeded to have more bad luck upon my return to Cajamarca. We arrived at 7:30 am and Jessica and Heidi (who were also on our bus) invited us out to breakfast. We opted not to go as we had essentially spent our entire monthly stipends already and still had three weeks to go in the month. I gave the girls money for my bus ticket and told them to call me when they were leaving Cajamarca and I’d go out to the road to wait for them. I timed the taxi ride from Cajamarca to Lindsay’s site so I thought I had everything figured out. Well there we were hanging out in Lindsay’s room and next thing I know it’s 10:55 – five minutes before the bus is supposed to leave Cajamarca. I start getting ready, but haven’t heard yet from the girls so I wasn’t too worried. Next thing I know it’s 11:10! I try calling the girls and realize the network is busy for our phones so no one can call out – that’s why I haven’t heard from them…crap! I run out to the road, but by the time I get there it’s 11:20. I think I’ve probably just made it in time because the buses never leave on time and it takes 15 minutes to get to her site. The woman across the street who sells me water tells me the bus hasn’t passed yet, but her friend insists it has. I continued praying that I hadn’t really missed my third bus in three days, but by 11:35 I was starting to worry that the bus hadn’t passed yet. We finally got through to Jessica and she confirmed that I had, in fact, missed the bus….AGAIN!

At this point I didn’t think it was funny anymore. To be honest, I was ready to get back to my site. I missed Bambamarca, Chabu and the kids, my family, Rita, and my own bed. I couldn’t believe I had missed another bus. I began to get really cranky because I was so frustrated with myself. I don’t do things like this. This is so out of character for me. I was hoping I’d wake up and it’d all be a bad dream, but of course, that wasn’t the case. I felt so stupid and irresponsible. Unfortunately Lindsay was cranky too because she had hurt her knee and was having trouble walking. We were quite a joy to be around.

We went into Cajamarca so I could buy another stupid bus ticket. Man was I annoyed with myself. We also went to the computer place to pick up her computer. It appears they didn’t do anything to fix her computer and the only reason it’s working is because of a $84 cord Kevin brought back from the U.S. for her, but they insisted they fixed it. We both tried to argue to get our money back since we both think they didn’t actually do anything to our computers, but like I told you before, it was a failed attempt. I don’t know enough about computers to argue for too long about them and I was feeling terrible. Turns out, on top of everything else that was going on, whatever is living in my body had come back to haunt me. All of the same symptoms I had a month ago – bloated stomach (where it looks like I’m 6 months pregnant), sharp pains, gas, sulfur burps, the works – it all came back with a vengeance. When this happened a month ago, my doctor told me to take Cipro and if it didn’t help, that means I probably have a parasite. Well it helped at the time, but only temporarily because here it is again so I had to go to the clinic. Lindsay had to go too for her knee and a possible kidney infection – what a great night. Luckily we had Grey’s Anatomy to help cheer us up – we’re definitely addicted to that show.

The lab at the clinic was about to close when we went the day before so they told me to bring my stool sample in the morning before I left. Lindsay had to give a urine sample so since I was already going…. Only in the Peace Corps do you ride on public transportation carrying your and your friend’s pee and poop samples. What a life.

I finally made it back to Bambamarca, safe and sound, that afternoon. It was great to be back in my room, but shortly afterwards, depression started to kick in. I started to feel guilty and frustrated that I haven’t done anything in my town. I’ve been here for seven months and what do I have to show for it? I got frustrated at how slowly things move work wise even though I’m trying to make an effort and get projects started. My girls don’t show up any more for the meetings and every time I try to get something done with Rita, she says yes, but then it never goes anywhere. It made me feel bad because over vacation, some of the business volunteers were talking about successful projects they are doing with youth or are about to start. Working with youth is a secondary project for them, but for me it’s my main work and I have nothing. Ahhhh! Sometimes I get frustrated because our results aren’t tangible. Not that I think the work of any volunteer is easy, in any way, but at least for the business volunteers, they are given a group to work with and their results are more tangible – they can measure profits, productivity, etc. I’m trying to realize that my “work” isn’t only charlas and projects, but also the relationships I form and the intercultural exchange, but sometimes it’s really hard to push my American mentality of what work is, aside.

In the past two days, things have appeared to be picking up. I’m going to start visiting one of the classes in the elementary school every Friday for an hour and a half to do activities related to self-esteem and values. I’m really good friends with the teacher and these kids are going to finish elementary school this year so we both agree it would be good for them to improve their self-image before going on to high school. I’m going to use a resource a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer developed. It’s designed to do over various sessions so I’ll probably be doing it for the next 4-6 weeks. Sometimes I feel really unoriginal using the stuff they give us instead of developing my own things, but I figure they gave it to us because it works so I try not to feel too bad about it. I don’t think I’m normally a very negative or unmotivated person, but it’s really easy to get down on yourself here. Sometimes keeping a positive attitude is like trying to dig a hole to China.

Sometimes I wish I could carry a tape recorder around with me so you guys could hear the things I listen to everyday while I’m walking through the streets. As you know, I get lots of whistles, marriage proposals, and random phrases in English – whatever the person happens to know how to say or has heard on TV. I would say the most popular shouts are “pretty baby” and “I lov-ay you” (they try to pronounce every letter of love because that’s what you do in Spanish). I always ignore them because it annoys me and I don’t want to encourage them. Here is what I was greeted with yesterday morning, “Hey you! How are you? Fuck you!” (excuse my language). Welcome back, Kristen.

Oh and when I was walking down the street with Rita yesterday she asks me out of the blue, Kristen have you gained weight? I told her I wasn’t sure and she said she doesn’t think so, but I need to be careful because I gain it easily. Thanks for the advice.

These were not the things I wanted to hear after the few days I had just had. I’m frustrated with work, I already feel fat because I’m pretty sure something is living inside of me and it makes me incredibly bloated, and I feel sick everyday after lunch. Please just leave me alone.

Semana Santa Festivities (and Fiascos)

For Semana Santa (Holy Week), Peace Corps gives us four days of vacation. Chabu pointed out that I shouldn’t need vacation because I don’t do anything anyway, and although she’s mostly right, I didn’t need to hear that. To me, that was more reason why I do need vacation. There is nothing as rejuvenating as getting together with fellow volunteers who understand exactly what you’re going through on a daily basis. So on that note, a group of 14 of us took off for Ica, a department just south of Lima to relax and enjoy a break from our sites.

Most of the group was coming on Thursday, April 5th because that’s when our vacation days officially started, but I went a day early with three friends since we were already in Lima. By the time we ran errands in Lima and ate a gourmet lunch at Pizza Hut, we didn’t get on the bus to Ica until 3:30 pm. It’s a five hour bus ride so we didn’t get in until 8:30 pm. The trip started off on a bad note when my friend Rachel realized her backpack had been stolen sometime during the trip. She had put it up above us with my market bag that had magazines and groceries. Neither of us ever put anything up above us so who knows what possessed us to do it that day, but unfortunately Rachel had to pay the price for it. My bag wasn’t stolen because it’s big and bulky and would have been more obvious, but somehow someone managed to walk off the bus with her backpack (that was behind my bag and a TV) without any of the four of us realizing it. Of course we all felt terrible for her because it had her journal, digital camera, passport, medicine, glasses, toiletries, etc. in it. The worst thing to lose is your journal because it’s the one thing you can’t replace, and the first thing the thief is going to throw away. Rachel and Mike went with the police to file a denuncia and Cheridyn and I went to the hostel to wait for them.

Our hostel had a cool restaurant and bar so we tried to cheer Rachel up by having a few drinks and smoking hooka (flavored tobacco), but understandably, she was still pretty sad. Rachel and I had never smoked hooka before so we didn’t get what the big deal was. I tried it, but wasn’t that impressed. Rachel and I hung around for a while, but then we went up to bed in “Aushowitz” as Rachel called it - haha (don’t worry, she’s not prejudice, it was just a joke because we were staying in the dorm rooms, which was a huge room full of bunk beds for about 40 people, very stark and plain).

We were staying in a town called Huacachina that was about five minutes outside of the city of Ica. It’s known as a desert oasis because it has a central lagoon surrounded by huge sand dunes. It was absolutely beautiful! In the morning we got up and walked around the lagoon and had some breakfast. We found out about this tour agency called Desert Nights that offers many different tours around the area. Turns out the woman who owns it, Christy, is from Bennington, VT (only about 30 minutes from where I grew up)! She has been coming to Peru for about five years and moved down here about a year a half ago because she got married to a Peruvian. Now they own this hostel/restaurant/tour agency and have a six month old baby. We really liked them so ended up doing all of our tours through them. The first day, Christy organized a tour for us to visit two wineries and a chocolate factory because Ica is the heart of wine country in Peru and is also known for its good chocolates! The wineries were really interesting, but much more rustic (for lack of a better word) from the ones I’ve been to in the States. Oh and by the way, the wine is GROSS. It all tastes like Dimetap! We knew this before going, but we figured since we were there, we had to visit the wineries. However, I couldn’t stomach too many samples so I ended up dumping most of mine on the floor! Haha.

The chocolate factory was a little disappointing because it turned out to just be a store where you can look through a window and see the people making chocolate. However, since it was Semana Santa, no one was making chocolates so we just got to peak at the machinery through the window. We each bought one piece of chocolate because it was all we could afford. I thought the chocolate was really good, but we were reading through the comment book and someone had written, “delicious, but gives me gas”! Oh man, I love this country!

Our friends arrived shortly after we got back from the winery tour. It was so fun seeing everyone again since I hadn’t seen some of them since Thanksgiving. Although it doesn’t feel like it, it’s amazing how fast time goes here (when I think of it in terms of seeing my friends). We all decided to go to Desert Nights for happy hour and dinner since they had guacamole with Doritos (the real thing) and actual green asparagus! I love asparagus so I was really excited to find out it’s Peru’s number one export. What I didn’t realize was that this meant they export almost all of it so it’s nearly impossible to find here. I was thrilled to see it in the grocery store in Lima and then on the menu of many places in Huacachina! Oh the little things that make you happy…

Friday was spent hanging out by the pool and lounging in the hammock reading my book. Rough life, I know. I actually started to feel sick that afternoon though and wasn’t able to eat a meal until the next night at dinner. We were supposed to go sand-boarding that evening at sunset, but a half an hour after we were supposed to have left, Christy informed us that the dune buggies (that drive you around the dunes) weren’t working. Our only option was to go the next evening at the same time after returning from a full day tour, but it was better than nothing. She promised to give us an extra half an hour so we agreed. Since we were all dressed to go sand-boarding, we decided to go to the top of the dunes anyway. Some people rented boards, but Julia, Rachel, and I decided not to because we were afraid to injure ourselves while we were practicing for the next night. Climbing up to the top of the dune at sunset was awesome. All you could see were sand dunes and more sand dunes for miles and miles, with the city of Ica in the distance. It was so cool! I have never seen anything like that before. All I could think about was what an amazingly diverse country this is and how different this all was from where I live in the sierra. We didn’t think our plan through very well about walking to the top of the dune without a sand-board (like a snowboard) so there we were stuck at the top, watching Mike and Brent attempt to sand-board down. Julia suggested we run down, but Rachel and I were scared because it was so steep. I thought we’d start running and I’d either 1) fall and tumble all the way to the bottom, or 2) I wouldn’t be able to stop once I got to the bottom and crash right into the pool at our hostel. I was neglecting the fact that this was sand, not ice, so my feet would sink into the ground and I’d actually be able to balance myself. It turned out to be a blast and if it wasn’t so darn steep and hard to climb back up, I would have done it all over again!

We got up on Saturday morning at 5:00 am to go to a town called Paracas, an hour north of Ica, to tour the Islas Ballestas a.k.a. “the poor man’s Galapagos”. Like most things for Semana Santa, you had to pay full price for half the time so our boat ride that was supposed to be two and a half hours was cut an hour short, but it was still fun. We drove in a motor boat (made for about 30 people) around the islands and saw tons of birds (you can imagine how excited I was about that…), sea lions, and even a special type of penguins! We also got to see this geoglyph that is etched into the ground in the shape of a candelabra. It’s really cool because it looks like it could just blow away, but it dates back possibly to pre-Incan times (it’s up for debate). It’s huge too – over 150 meters tall and 50 meters wide! After the boat ride we had some time to hang out in the little town at the docks and check out all of the tourist stuff. Apparently we’ve been living in this country for too long because we couldn’t believe how expensive all of the souvenirs were even though by American standards, they were incredibly cheap. That afternoon we headed to the Reserva Nacional de Paracas (a national park) where we drove to a clifftop lookout and saw some beautiful rock formations. We also saw the evidence of some fault lines we were standing over where the ground has literally separated. They took us to a private beach, but the water was freezing so I didn’t go in.

We were supposed to get back to Ica around 5 pm so we’d be able to go sand-boarding at 5:30 and watch the sunset. Of course we didn’t get back until 6 so we decided we’d all go straight to sand-boarding regardless of what we were wearing or what we had with us. Apparently two of our friends didn’t get that memo because they went back to the hostel first and we had to leave without them (luckily they were able to go at 7 the next morning before we left). Sand-boarding was AMAZING!!! It was such a rush! There were 12 of us who went – eight in one car and four in the other. The four smallest people had to go in the one with four so I ended up there. It was like the best roller coaster ride ever! They strap you in and then drive you up and down sand dunes. Your stomach goes to your throat and at times you fly out of your seat! Of course we were screaming like little girls the whole time!

After driving us around a bit, they drove us to the top of a dune and said we’d go down one at a time. They waxed up our boards and told us we could either go down standing or lying down. I was scared either way because the hill was SO STEEP! I was sure I was going to pee my pants, either out of excitement or fear. Cheridyn took one for the team and went down first – on her stomach. She screamed the whole way down, but survived and said it was a blast so it convinced me to go on my stomach. After watching the guys attempt to do it standing the day before, that looked way harder and more prone for disaster so I opted to go lying down. Oh man it was one of the most fun things I’ve ever done. It was such a rush! After we all finished the first hill, we did and second and third hill and they each got progressively steeper. You’d think your fear would go away, but every time I was so scared and screamed the whole way down. Then I’d just laugh when I finished because it was so fun! It was funny because the sun had already set so it was pitch black and we couldn’t see who was coming down. For the girls we were able to guess who was coming based on the scream – haha. The only bad thing was going over the tire tracks at the bottom of the second hill – at such a high speed, that really hurts. I had bruises on my pelvis the next day! Battle wounds I guess you could call them.

Since Saturday was our last night together, we tried to enjoy our last night together by having drinks and s’mores by the pool. The problem was that we were all exhausted from getting up at 5 am so some people fell asleep on the lawn chairs and the rest of us were all really mellow. The s’mores kind of back fired too since we forgot that we’d need wood and a way to start a fire in addition to the cookies, chocolate, and marshmallow. We ate raw s’mores, but it wasn’t the same. It was still fun to just sit around and shoot the shit together since we don’t get to see each other very often. We were all falling sleep, but no one wanted to go to bed because it meant vacation would be over.

The next morning we had one last breakfast of banana chocolate crepes, fruit salad, veggie omelets (with green asparagus!) and fresh juice – mango maracuyá is a match made in heaven by the way. Of course I was ready about two hours before we had to leave for the bus, but rather than spending those last couple of hours relaxed in the hammock with my book, I was running around helping my friends pack their stuff and pay for the hostel. Kevin and Lindsay had bought our bus tickets to go back to Lima the day before so they were waiting for us at the bus station and freaking out when I didn’t arrive until 10:51 – three minutes before the bus was supposed to leave! We sent two of our friends ahead to tell the bus driver to wait for us while we counted heads and made sure the last taxi full of our friends arrived. When we went to the door to board the bus, they informed us it had already left. What do you mean it left? It’s 10:55 right now and we’re in Peru where nothing ever leaves on time. Of course our bus is the one bus in the history of public transportation in Peru that left on time and we missed it. As we’re trying to decide what to do, Cheridyn calls me and tells me they convinced the driver to pull over two blocks down the street and he’s only going to wait three minutes for us. I scream to everyone, “Go outside, turn right, and RUN”! I must admit, I’m sure we were a hilarious site – this herd of gringos running down the street with all of our backpacks, suitcases, etc. in skirts and flip-flops. Hahaha. Somehow we all made it and the bus drove away two seconds later. Hahahaha. What an end to a great trip!

Or so I thought that was the end. I figured once we made it back to Lima safely, we were good to go. What a silly assumption that turned out to be. We got into town around 4:30 that afternoon and decided to get something to eat before our 7 pm bus back to Cajamarca. Lindsay, Kevin, and I went to a restaurant called Café Café that overlooks the water in Lima. We wanted to enjoy our last opportunity to have some good, fresh American food. We ate a leisurely dinner and headed to the grocery to buy some water before the bus. Somehow we managed to cut this one close too and had to pay the taxi driver to speed so we’d make it in time to the bus. Lindsay and I got to the bus station at 6:58 and it was deserted. I asked the security guard outside if the bus had already left for Cajamarca. He looked at me dumbfounded and didn’t answer. The guy next to him asked again where we were traveling and when I said Cajamarca, he said it hadn’t left yet. I told Lindsay so hurry and get out of the taxi because we hadn’t missed it. Then the security guard asked me two more times where I was traveling. He asked if we already had our tickets and when I said yes, he asked to see them. We thought he was acting really strange, but I told Lindsay just to get them out and show him. When she took them out of her purse, she started laughing hysterically and then said, “Umm Kristen……the bus left at 4:30 this afternoon!” Are you kidding me? Did we really just miss our SECOND bus in ONE DAY?!?! We both burst out laughing because what else can you do? We had never even looked at the tickets to see what time the bus left because they all leave Cajamarca at 7 pm to go to Lima and the only other time we’ve traveled from Lima to Cajamarca, it left at 7 pm so we just assumed that’s when it left. Well we learned that lesson pretty quickly. It was pretty hilarious until we realized we couldn’t just change our tickets – we’d already lost those and had to buy new ones!

The extra night in Lima ended up being really fun because most of our friends were staying the night anyway. It would have been better if I didn’t have to pay all that extra money, but hey, you live and learn. My friends bought me ice cream to cheer me up and we stayed up late talking. I had a great time with them in Lima the next day, but you can imagine, I was very happy to finally get on that bus back to Cajamarca – at 4:30 pm, not 7.

My First Seder

I recently got back from an 11 day excursion to Lima and a department called Ica, just south of Lima to celebrate Semana Santa (Holy Week) with my friends, but before I get into the details of the Ica trip, I should back track a little bit. Hana’s parents arrived on March 30th to spend two weeks visiting Hana and getting a little taste for Peru. Her father is a Rabbi and coordinated with our country director to lead a Seder at his house for Passover. The invitation was extended to all Jewish volunteers and a few interested non-Jews. Since I have the benefit of being Hana’s friend, I fit into the latter category and was one of the privileged non-Jews who got to participate in the Seder.

Since we were invited to the Seder, vacation started a little early for Lindsay and me, but we weren’t complaining – a few extra days in Lima means lots of delicious food! Neither of us had been to a Seder before so we looked it up on the internet to see what it was all about. We read that the “Seder plate” is made up of bitter herbs, a hard-boiled egg, salt water, an a paste that is made to represent mortar. All of the foods are symbols that are used to help retell the story of the exodus of the Children of Israel from ancient Egypt, but to be honest none of them sounded particularly appetizing, at least not as our meal for the night, so we decided we’d stop somewhere and eat a meal before we went so we weren’t miserable and starving the whole time. You can imagine our embarrassment when we mentioned this to our friends and they informed us it would be an entire dinner, not just these few things. Oopsie. (We did, however, stop at McDonald’s on the walk to our director’s house because we hadn’t had lunch. Lindsay and I shared a McFlurry as an appetizer to the Seder and some other friends got their fill with a burger even though we were all aware at this point that we’d be eating a full meal – what we’ll do for good food!).

I loved the Seder. Hana’s family is reform Jewish so the story-telling was very modern and her Dad tied in many current events, music, quotes, etc. We were able to debate certain topics, such as immigration, and everyone was encouraged to ask questions anywhere along the way. One of the main themes of the night was that we’re all equal so no one is discouraged from holding anything back. I really liked that idea. Hana’s parents, Jeff and Debbie, brought a book they use at home called A Night of Questions, which was used as a guide. It had beautiful illustrations, interesting observations, and many songs in both English and Hebrew. Hana’s dad had also made a supplement to the book that related the night more to our Peace Corps experience. It was really special for all of us. At one point of the Seder, you hide some matzah (they said this is done to include the kids and keep them interested). In order for the leader (Jeff) to get it back, he must bargain with the person who found it (Cheridyn). They settled on Hana’s parents donating some money to Peace Corps Peru on behalf of all of us who attended the Seder. It was the perfect ending to a great evening and really tied it all together. Our country director decided to match the contribution and we're currently deciding on how the money will be used (in one of our communities).

In addition to the Seder, Lindsay and I got to go out to dinner the night before with just Hana and her parents. It was so much fun to spend time with them and get to know them better. The only time I had met them before that was at graduation so things were really hectic for all of us and we didn’t get to spend much time together. This time everything was much more relaxed and we had a lot of fun laughing and telling stories about our experiences here. They reminded me a lot of my parents and made me more and more excited by the minute for their trip down here – only six more weeks! Besides for the delicious Italian dinner they treated us to, they also brought us fresh bagels from the States. You can imagine that that was almost better than the Italian food for me. I was happy as a clam!

The first couple of times I went to Lima, I wasn’t that impressed. I thought the city was huge and dirty, but know I’ve realized that I just hadn’t found the good parts yet. The city is so huge and I’m slowly, but surely, finding my niche there. We stayed in a neighborhood of Lima called Miraflores. It was absolutely beautiful and very clean and modern. It reminds me a lot of the United States so I’m sure that’s why we all like it so much. Because of that, we spent our time there exploring restaurants, grocery stores, parks, and little boutiques. We decided to share all of our meals to maximize the number of places we could go. We still managed to go to Starbucks every morning for a frappacino, but then shared the rest of our meals for the day. It’s funny because I went to Starbucks, at the most, once a month at home, but here, it’s the very thing I want. It’s the same way with Pizza Hut, Dunkin’ Donuts, etc. I never wanted them at home when they were so readily available, but here they are the very things I crave and look forward to when I go to Lima – all the comforts of home.

The best restaurant we found was actually a buffet called La Bistecca. It’s really classy with while tablecloths and real napkins (that’s nearly underheard of here) and I didn’t actually eat there, but just looking at the food made me drool. I haven’t seen food that delicious looking since I left home. They had paella, an Argentine-style parilla (high quality meats), homemade pastas, pizza, sushi, and tons of fresh salad and vegetables. The best part is the chocolate fountain they have for dessert and all of this is only $12 per person for lunch! I know this sounds cheap to all of you, but it’s pretty expensive for Peru so that’ll definitely be a place I’ll go with my parents (please).

I FINALLY got my computer fixed when I was in Lima after the guys at Cajamarca only seemed to make it worse (as confirmed by the guy in Lima). The place in Lima is an authorized Toshiba dealer so I trusted them. I could tell immediately when I talked to the guy that he knew what he was talking about. I am now happy to report that it’s working properly – unfortunately it cost Giff a pretty penny to fix, but cheaper than the alternatives. I made a point to go back to the place in Cajamarca to demand my money back since the only thing they did was make the computer worse by erasing all of the information. The guy who worked on my computer insisted that I shouldn’t get my money back because he “fixed” it by replacing the operating system. Yeah that’s just great, because in doing so, you managed to erase all of my information and put a Spanish operating system on my computer so now the keyboard doesn’t do what the keys says it does because it’s all in Spanish. Thanks for all of your help! He insists he can recover all of my information, I just have to leave the computer there for longer because it takes a long time. I told him that I’ve brought it in four times and left it there for a week one time and still NOTHING has changed. He tells me all he needs is two more days, but I’m not sure I trust him to touch my computer again. I don’t think he actually knows anything about laptops because everyone time one of us brings ours in, he says it’s the operating system and just reformats our computers. AHHHH. Needless to say, I didn’t get my money back.