Well Well Well, I must be busy and having a blast because I am just now finding time to write! The adventuring in Peru has been awesome. I arrived in Lima after 3 planes and 16 hours. On the plane from Miami to Lima, I made my first Peruvian friend. He was really friendly and was helpful and patient with my Spanish. It was just forshadowing of all the Peruvian kindness that awaited me. I made it through customs in a flash, and as i was walking for the airport exit i felt pressure on the back of my ankle. I turned around to see a beagle, pawing at me. His owner(a customs officer) asks me to come with him. I'm thinking "oh dear, someone has put drugs in my bag somehow". He asks if i have any fruit, lol, yes i have an apple, here you go! okay, and onward into Peru!
I had my hostel pick me up at the airport, they told me they would be there with a sign. When i exited there was a sea of people with hundreds of signs. I scanned and scanned until i finally found my name. I met Jorge, and he drove me bouncing through the streets of Lima to my quiet and sweet hostel. I awoke to doves lowing and beautiful trees outside of my window. I met a wonderful Columbian woman and we had breakfast. Then off to the bus station. I arrived way too early and had a blast people watching and pacing. The bus was sooooo comfortable and the 9 hour journey to Trujillo passed quickly. I dozed on and off, and seemed to open my eyes at just the right time to see such gems as: A man chasing down a truck carrying three giant inflatable ducks, two peruvians in swimwear tanning in sunchairs, in the back of a pickup as it sped down the Panamerican highway, an entire mariachi band playing to no one. As Lima drained away behind me, a mountain of sand rose to my right, and the Pacific Ocean glittered to my Left. The mountain of sand gave way to wind carved wonders, and eventually smooth dunes.
At the bus station i was met by Sarah from Ireland, Ana from Spain, and Mateo from Italy. We hopped in a taxi and arrived at the Espaanglisch house, where I met David the founder and settled into my room. I was pretty tired so i crashed. The next day I woke and showered. I met Carmen, David's aunt. She challenged my spanish comprehension (and still does) but was sweet and showed me around the house. The other volunteers came back from school in the afternoon and Ana showed me to the nearest supermarket. Great fresh mangos and avocados, so good! Back at the house I met Eva from England and also Jack and Holly, also from England. Eva and i walked to the beautiful Plaza de Armas. Its spanish colonial house fronts were painted in bright primary colors and a stunning series of statues are in the center of the polished square. And there's a mcdonalds on the corner, ha ha! Well that night Mateo left to go back home, and another volunteer came from france, her name is Eppy. That night was my first "gringlish" class. It's a class of adults that mostly for conversation and we had great debates on political issues. They asked a lot of great questions about where we're from, and that led to lots of great jokes. One student asks: Is it true that Britain has never lost a war? I respond No! They lost to us, and we all had a good giggle.
Eppy,Ana, Sarah and I caught a combi (like a small VW type van full of seats) to our school in the outskirts of Trujillo called Esperanzas. The combi system here is amazing, there are combis to everyhwhere all the time,they're quick, efficient and they cost about a quarter. Why cant we have awesome transport in the US? Anyhow...The kids are cute, but they all seem a bit tired and quiet. We teach them some vocab and play hangman. After class a student hands me her little sister, and says "here a gift" and the kid starts crying, pretty funny. After class we hop on the combi back to our house. We all walk through the streets getting to know each other and head to a restuarant. I get a huge fresh pineapple juice and an avocado, onion and tomato sandwich. YUM!
Trujillo is a huge city. It's loud and horns are constant. I think taxis outnumber people and they are constantly beeping at you as they pass by, in case you've forgotten that you needed one. Things are mellow though, and the people are extremely kind. I have had so many curious peruvians welcome me to Peru. It's quite a change from some of my asian experiences and I am grateful.
Our organization has decided to do a social project to help the street recyclers who collect plastic for money. They can carry enough plastic to make between 15-30 cents per kilo. The aim of our project is to raise money and buy used tricycles, to give to them so they can collect more plastic, and make more money. We spent our week planning our "BarbeCUY" Cuy is a peruvian delicacy, known mostly to us as Guinea pigs. We had many things to do, I was in charge of gathering things for our bar. This involved going to the market(not a supermarket but a huge outdoor market with hanging chickens and freshly gutted fish, open sacks of everything from lentils to olives to sugar, and heaps of all the fruit and veg you could desire). There's also random party supplies, our founder david leads me through aisles of pinatas, balloons, and decorations. I look down to discover that the dirty pavement is completely coated in glitter. YES! I love it. David is leading to where we can buy the cheap Pisco. Pisco is peru's alcohol, its a clear brandy made from grapes. I think it tastes a little like tequila. We approach a stall selling, glitter things, and cupcake wrappers, nothing to do with alcohol at all. David asks the woman for the Pisco and she pulls it out from behind the counter. 7 soles for a bottle, about $2.50. Nice! I try aguamantay, a tomatillo looking fruit that is covered in a husk that's pulled back to reveal a slightly sour orange fruit, yummy! They also have Cherimoya here, one of my favorite fruits in the world,its like a coconut banana strawberry custard fruit!
Ana from Spain is at the end of her time here, so we all go out to a fried chicken restaurant for her last night. It was fun, and we took all of the Gringlish students with us. I ate avocado salad and a massive plate of chips (or french fries, but being around all the english folks is rubbing off on me). And then Ana was off for Columbia with her ukelele playing boyfriend.
Thursday morning was class at our other school, Simon Bolivar. We taught them animals and I sang old macdonalds farm on my ukelele. It's summer school right now, so we get to have a bit more fun and play lots of games. It's so much less stressful than teaching in Thailand, and I have so much more help with all the other volunteers that are here. I'm loving it so much! After class Eppy and David and I headed to the most gigantic market i've ever been to. Bananas for days, and more potatoes than I have ever seen. David is silly and jokes with all the vendors and charms them to get the best deal for all of our barbecuy supplies. We buy 100 kilos of potatoes, for 45 soles, that's 200 pounds of potatoes for about fifteen dollars. Wow. The market is vibrant and loud, the people are friendly, theres piles of sacks of onions twenty feet high, people carrying and selling anything imaginble: knives, lemons, air freshners, tank tops, huge containers of fresh flowers, gladiolas and calla lilies. women in straw hats with backpacks overflowing with fresh chamomile flowers, fresh juice, chicha morada (a peruvian drink from purple corn) and picarones, peruvian donuts! delicious! The market is astonishing and just a great experience. We collect our goods and joke with the taxi driver about our "dead body" i.e. the sack of potatoes. Our party is in the beach town of huanchaco, about a thirty minute ride away. We take a taxi there with our party supplies. Eva and Sarah and I head to "my friend" bar for live music and 3 sole ($1) cocktails. Then we listen to warbling love songs in english in the taxi home. Our volunteer coordinator, Emma from Chicago, returned that day from Machu Picchu so we went with her to have drinks. You buy your own little personal keg of beer that they bring to the table it was great, and I tried to convince everyone to dance, to no avail. Eva and Sarah and I decide to walk for street food, and get whistled at incessantly as we go. We get a tasty egg sandwich at 2 in the morning. Lovely.
We spend friday, finishing up our shopping for the barbeque that is on saturday. We all head to huanchaco and i catch my first daytime glimpse of the ocean. It's no thailand, but i love the pacific any way i can get it. The beach is lined with traditional reed boats and happy families playing. Sarah and i wash about 30 kilos of potatos and then we all meet up for lunch. We climb a good hill of stairs to a Cathedral overlooking the ocean. Behind the cathedral is the cutest little restaurant. I have my first taste of fish in 6 years, I ate ceviche, Peru's national dish, and it was...just fine and delicious! Friday was an exhausting day. So much prep and walking the beach, handing out flyers. As the sun was setting over the pacific we look to the east to see a rainbow, and the moon! What? really, so cool! We finished the day at Casa Fresh, the new Irish hostel. Sarah was dying to here another Irish accent and have a guinness. There was another uke player there, from california. He and the Irish owner did a sweet version of "Move bitch get out the way" It was magnificent, and i wish i had it on video! Then home, where I met Adrienne, my new roommate/volunteer from Belgium, and immediately crashed!
Early Saturday we all combid off to huanchaco for more barbecuy prep and handing out flyers, and cold convincing strangers to come!I played a bit of rooftop ukelele to the sea in the rain. Sarah and i walked among the street vendors and beachgoers, trying to invite folks to our party. Slowly folks trickled in and we made our plates of guinea pig. It was awful that morning seeing them get quartered, cutting the feet off and heads, gross. NO, i didn't try any. But i ate a massive amount of potatoes. In the evening lots of tourists, couchsurfers, students, and friends came out and we had a great time mixing, and drinking cocktails. We raised some funds, and had a great time as well! Then we headed down the beach a bit to another club, it was okay and i danced a bit. Then we walked across the road to play drinking games on the beach with some students, it was hillarious. Eventually we headed back to Trujillo, and were sensibly in bed by 4 am.
Sunday I awoke to nervous messages from my family. i was so busy with party planning that I had forgot to message them woops, Sorry if you guys were worried about me! There's so much to say about Peru, that its hard to cram it all in. I am happy, I love that I'm travelling again. I hope that you all will travel too someday. It's scary and uncertain sometimes, but most of that is just in your mind. Once you arrive you realize its life, just like everywhere else, only different and new. It challenges you, and mystifies you and I'm just reveling in it! OKay, tired of typing, i'll try to keep it up more regularly!
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