Buenas!
I learned today from my wonderful friend named Google that "Buenas" is the most informal way of saying hello to someone in Spanish. So, to my understanding Hello=Hola and Hey=Buenas.
Well, somehow someway the month of March has snuck up on me today, so that means I really am going to have a lot to say in this blog than, huh?! I think it is because I have literally been living out of a suitcase for 4 weekends straight; but fear not, I will be living out of that same suitcase for the next 3 weekends to come! No complaints here though, I have loved loved LOVED traveling around this beautiful country and seeing all that it has to offer. Although this study abroad trip differs from others in that we do not have the opportunity to travel to other boarding countries; Peru is a MASSIVE country and has many different types of climates and landmarks including: the mountains, beach, amazon, dessert and many more! With that being said, let's back track to February 19, 2015 at the wonderful hour of 3:15am. If you know me at all, you know that mornings have never been my thing. I am a total night owl, so waking up only a few short hours after hardly falling asleep was a bit difficult. But as always, there is a story behind my waking up. As I have mentioned before Peruvian time is awfully loose, so when my host Dad said that we were leaving at 4am (already 30 minutes later than the recommended time we were supposed to leave according to my director) that usually means 4:20/ 4:30. But, there was no way I wanted to be late, so I figured that setting my alarm for 3:40am would give me a solid 20 minutes if not a little bit more to get ready. I mean it was 4am in the morning...I wasn't looking to glam up for this flight by any means. At 3:15am I heard a pounding on my bedroom door as I proceeded to shoot up in my bed, heart pounding, palms sweating. My host Dad peeks his head in and starts whisper yelling, "Majoirie, Majoirie!" (Yes, this is how my father says my name), so I jump out of bed wearing only a sports bra and shorts, absolutely freaked out thinking I overslept my alarm, just for him to ask me if I was ready at 3:15am????? YOU ARE PERUVIAN, YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE EARLIER FOR ANYTHING, EVER. Period. So, with that being said I got ready in a solid 8 minutes and then we proceeded to the airport. No worries, the story gets better. Sidenote before continuing, my host dad speaks zero Spanish. I actually am unsure if he knows the word for hello. We get to the airport doors and in Lima, unlike in Omaha, they actually do not allow people to go inside the airport doors without a ticket. My host dad goes into panic mode rapidly repeating to the man guarding the doors that I am his host daughter from America who does not know any Spanish and how will I possibly find my way around?? It's comical to me because I talk with him every night in pure Spanish, I am here studying Spanish, and I have traveled around Peru multiple times without him already. But, regardless, I am wondering what he thought he was going to do once we got inside the doors? Because if I apparently don't know any Spanish and he does not know any English, how were we going to get anywhere anyways? However, no matter how silly he may sound, I appreciate that he does care for me and is protective of me. :)
Once finally inside the airport we made our way to our gate, laughing at the fact that it was 4am and people were chowing down on pizza and burgers in the airport cafeterias. Many domestic flights in Peru are flown in very little planes that you have to actually take a bus to the plane and then walk up the steps of the side of the plane. I love when we get to do this because I feel like FDR :) Also, not one flight that I have had thus far has been on time and this trip did not fail to break the trend either. I sat patiently on the plane jamming out to Taylor Swift (I think I have a world record of listening to her newest album more than 100 consecutive times in a row). During the flight Mackenzie and I, the music crazies of the group, refused to take out our headphones and got in trouble at least 6 times throughout the flight. I will never understand how me listening to my iPod with the wifi turned off and in airplane mode is messing with the communication signals of a plane. Mackenzie and I tried to get creative putting the headphones strings underneath our shirts and then trying to fluff our hair and turn away from the isle but those darn Peruvian flight attendants are relentless and would not leave me alone! I suppose it is my own fault, but I just need my Taylor Swift and For King & Country 24-7. This was not the only time I got in "trouble" during this trip. My love of music and taking crazy photos seems to get me into trouble. While touring a multitude of different Incan ruins in Cusco I got whistled at by The Whistle Man probably a few dozen times. I am sorry whistle man, but the pictures are worth the risk and if I don't take the picture...did it actually happen? No.
Once arriving in Cusco we took some rest time because we were all extremely exhausted from the early morning flight, but the altitude was messing with a couple of people's bodies. In order to help with altitude sickness they eat these awful mints made of coca leaves and drink tea with the same stuff in it. I think coca leaves are the same thing they use to make cocain or something like that? Either way, not my flavor. After rest time we ventured off to see the Basilica Cathedral. Wow. I have heard about cathedrals like this from people who have gone to Europe, but no words can actually describe them. They are so massive with so many paintings, statues, displays made out of pure gold, and stuff inside I do not think I even want to try and describe this experience. The best way I can think to describe this church was sensory overload. So much to see, hear, and smell it was overwhelming. After we ventured on to see some original temples of the Incans. It is amazing to think that these ruins were made over 500 years ago, yet they are still in pristine condition because of the intricate and ingenious way that the Incans constructed their buildings. The city of Cusco in general is beautiful as it is placed right amongst the Andes Mountains. Cusco actually used to be the Incan Capital of Peru before it was overthrown by the Spaniards. After the temples we went on to see some more famous ruins called Saqsayhuman in the native Quechua language, but pronounced Sexy Woman in English by our tour guide. These ruins were massive and they overlooked the entire city of Cusco. We wondered these ruins for awhile receiving quite a plethora of whistle blows. After venturing through these ruins I was able to get some precious photos with llamas who were as sweet as could be. Truly, if I could pick one strange animal to own, llama. Every time. We then were taken to a store that sold 100% pure alpaca clothing. I skipped on the overly ridiculously priced sweaters and opted for an originally priced $40 baby alpaca fur teddy bear which I bartered down to $20. This may or may not be the softest teddy bear I have ever felt, so I naturally had to bring her home with me. I am currently in a heated debate with myself about naming her either Lilly (lilly of the valley reference) or Ursa (Ursa Major Constellation reference), both obviously being Alpha Phi related considering she is our mascot, the Alpha Phi Bear.
Friday was also spent touring more Incan ruins. We got to see Pukapukara, Q’enqo, Tambomachay, and Ollantaytambo. All these places were constructed so magnificently that they will truly stand the tests of time due to their amazing architecture. We also went to the markets in the town called Pisac. These markets went on for miles and miles of people selling the exact same thing. I have become quite the barter if I do say so myself :) I actually have more fun trying to get a ridiculously low price than I do looking at all the "stuff" because lets be honest, in the end, it is all really just stuff. I have never been much of a souvenirs person, but the bartering aspect is so much fun for me that I have to spend some spare change to bring stuff home with me! After perusing the markets for a few hours we headed to a beautiful buffet restaurant in the middle of the mountains, and also took some pictures with their half tame half wild alpacas/llamas! These pictures may even be better than the illegal pictures I took in Machu Picchu! After lunch we were also able to watch the process of how the women clean and dye the alpaca wool to make the vibrant colors that all of the clothes/merchandise are made out of. The different plants and fruits that they use are amazing and the colors were all natural. It was definitely a unique and interesting process to watch.
Saturday morning came all too soon as we had to leave the hotel at 5:15am to start our 4.5 hour journey to the magnificent Machu Picchu! We first rode in a van for 2 hours, then a train for an hour and a half, and then a bus for the last 30 minute trek up the mountain. Once arriving in Machu Picchu, despite the exhaustion from traveling at such early hours of the morning, I was so excited! I listened to Taylor Swift's song "Welcome to New York" but sang "Welcome to Machu Picchu" all the way up the mountain! Erik may have thought I was the most absurd human he had ever met, but that's ok. :) When first entering Machu Picchu the weather was as expected, cloudy. It was hard to even see the ruins at first, but as the day went on we ended up having beautiful, sunny weather! As you can see in my pictures I was actually in a tank top which is extremely rare to be able to do during this time of year! Our tour guide, Nacho (the most wonderful name for a tour guide in Peru in my opinion), first toured us around the ruins describing the significance of different areas and what they were used for. We then ate lunch and had time to explore. I wish my words or pictures could do justice of this absolutely breathtaking and extravagant Wonder of the World, but they cannot. I feel so fortunate and blessed to have had the opportunity to see something so majestic and wonderful. I could have easily sat and stared at these awe-inspiring ruins for hours upon hours. Unfortunately our time was up in the blink of an eye. I was lucky to have gotten a jumping snapshot of me with the ruins in the background without getting caught (although when I was taking it I did not know that it was illegal). The Whistle Man for Machu Picchu later threatened some kids in our group to call the police if they did not allow him to watch them delete a jumping picture off their phone. I was so sad for them because I love my jumping picture so much! We then headed back to Cusco and hit up some incredibly fun and fancy discotekas that night! They were extremely fun and worth the tiredness I felt the next day having to get up early for our flight back home!
Once back in Lima it was back to the homework grind as I prepared for our "test" in my Literature class on Tuesday. So here is the story, we were supposed to have the test last week, never did. Then we started the next class thinking we would have it, 2 hours and 50 minutes of the class pass by (our classes are only 3 hours long) and still the professor has not mentioned anything about a test. With a solid 10 minutes of class left the professor starts typing out questions "our test" on a word document. He was clearly extremely prepared to give the test. We then began answering the questions for maybe 1-2 minutes and then he told us that we could work with a partner, no wait, make that 2 partners. So now the test has turned into 3 students working together to answer questions about material that we talked about/just learned 5 minutes prior. To end this wonderful story he then starts putting up PowerPoint slides with the answers on them and says that if we need more help to ask him. The End.
After my 3 days of classes the group and I went to a town called Viasalvador to volunteer for the day. We were not exactly sure what all this experience would have in store for us, but I assure you there is no way to completely prepare oneself for experiences such as these. A pueblo that is literally falling to the ground, crumbling into pieces, sits on the tippity top of a mountain in Lima. Trash fills the streets and the buildings are deteriorating before our eyes. Our mission was to take a mountain full of rocks and remove all of them. This seemed close to impossible as we had no cranes or dump trucks, just our hands a couple of shovels for the lucky ones in the group. I was fortunate enough to be 1 of 5 people to have the opportunity to work in a children's daycare in the morning. When first arriving at the front doorsteps of the daycare all we could hear were shrieks of absolute terror. The children were all toddlers and the past week had been visited by another group of Americans. These people had come to vaccinate the children; so to these toddlers, all they knew of Americans was pain and sharp needles. I could not blame them even for a second as they cried and screamed in fear of us walking inside the doors. Our guide told us to begin singing a song, so we picked The Itsy Bitsy Spider and sang to the children from outside. They heard us and to my surprise began to calm down. We continued singing as we walked inside, but the screams started again. It took a lot of time and coaxing to convince these 2 year olds that we were not here to stab their arms, but eventually we got them all to come down the stairs and play with us. After a morning of play we went to eat a Peruvian style Aji de Gallina lunch with the rest of the group that had worked on the mountain all morning. I was hoping for some other people in our group to have a break and go play with the kids, but unfortunately that was not the case. After lunch we were all sent back to the mountain to continue breaking up giant rocks with picks that were embedded into the sides the mountains, pick up the rocks with our bare hands, throw them on to large cloths, and then 2-man carry them to the edge of the cliff to rid of the rocks. It was tiring and strenuous work, and this was actually the first day that volunteers had ever started working on this project. They are hoping that eventually all the rocks on the mountain will be cleared the land will be flattened out, and then a hospital will be built, all by the hands of volunteers! I really hope once this project gets done in 5 or 10 years that I will be able to see the final product!
I think that is all for now since my blog has yet again gone on for far too long!
Chau todos!
XOXO,
Mal
I learned today from my wonderful friend named Google that "Buenas" is the most informal way of saying hello to someone in Spanish. So, to my understanding Hello=Hola and Hey=Buenas.
Well, somehow someway the month of March has snuck up on me today, so that means I really am going to have a lot to say in this blog than, huh?! I think it is because I have literally been living out of a suitcase for 4 weekends straight; but fear not, I will be living out of that same suitcase for the next 3 weekends to come! No complaints here though, I have loved loved LOVED traveling around this beautiful country and seeing all that it has to offer. Although this study abroad trip differs from others in that we do not have the opportunity to travel to other boarding countries; Peru is a MASSIVE country and has many different types of climates and landmarks including: the mountains, beach, amazon, dessert and many more! With that being said, let's back track to February 19, 2015 at the wonderful hour of 3:15am. If you know me at all, you know that mornings have never been my thing. I am a total night owl, so waking up only a few short hours after hardly falling asleep was a bit difficult. But as always, there is a story behind my waking up. As I have mentioned before Peruvian time is awfully loose, so when my host Dad said that we were leaving at 4am (already 30 minutes later than the recommended time we were supposed to leave according to my director) that usually means 4:20/ 4:30. But, there was no way I wanted to be late, so I figured that setting my alarm for 3:40am would give me a solid 20 minutes if not a little bit more to get ready. I mean it was 4am in the morning...I wasn't looking to glam up for this flight by any means. At 3:15am I heard a pounding on my bedroom door as I proceeded to shoot up in my bed, heart pounding, palms sweating. My host Dad peeks his head in and starts whisper yelling, "Majoirie, Majoirie!" (Yes, this is how my father says my name), so I jump out of bed wearing only a sports bra and shorts, absolutely freaked out thinking I overslept my alarm, just for him to ask me if I was ready at 3:15am????? YOU ARE PERUVIAN, YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE EARLIER FOR ANYTHING, EVER. Period. So, with that being said I got ready in a solid 8 minutes and then we proceeded to the airport. No worries, the story gets better. Sidenote before continuing, my host dad speaks zero Spanish. I actually am unsure if he knows the word for hello. We get to the airport doors and in Lima, unlike in Omaha, they actually do not allow people to go inside the airport doors without a ticket. My host dad goes into panic mode rapidly repeating to the man guarding the doors that I am his host daughter from America who does not know any Spanish and how will I possibly find my way around?? It's comical to me because I talk with him every night in pure Spanish, I am here studying Spanish, and I have traveled around Peru multiple times without him already. But, regardless, I am wondering what he thought he was going to do once we got inside the doors? Because if I apparently don't know any Spanish and he does not know any English, how were we going to get anywhere anyways? However, no matter how silly he may sound, I appreciate that he does care for me and is protective of me. :)
Once finally inside the airport we made our way to our gate, laughing at the fact that it was 4am and people were chowing down on pizza and burgers in the airport cafeterias. Many domestic flights in Peru are flown in very little planes that you have to actually take a bus to the plane and then walk up the steps of the side of the plane. I love when we get to do this because I feel like FDR :) Also, not one flight that I have had thus far has been on time and this trip did not fail to break the trend either. I sat patiently on the plane jamming out to Taylor Swift (I think I have a world record of listening to her newest album more than 100 consecutive times in a row). During the flight Mackenzie and I, the music crazies of the group, refused to take out our headphones and got in trouble at least 6 times throughout the flight. I will never understand how me listening to my iPod with the wifi turned off and in airplane mode is messing with the communication signals of a plane. Mackenzie and I tried to get creative putting the headphones strings underneath our shirts and then trying to fluff our hair and turn away from the isle but those darn Peruvian flight attendants are relentless and would not leave me alone! I suppose it is my own fault, but I just need my Taylor Swift and For King & Country 24-7. This was not the only time I got in "trouble" during this trip. My love of music and taking crazy photos seems to get me into trouble. While touring a multitude of different Incan ruins in Cusco I got whistled at by The Whistle Man probably a few dozen times. I am sorry whistle man, but the pictures are worth the risk and if I don't take the picture...did it actually happen? No.
Once arriving in Cusco we took some rest time because we were all extremely exhausted from the early morning flight, but the altitude was messing with a couple of people's bodies. In order to help with altitude sickness they eat these awful mints made of coca leaves and drink tea with the same stuff in it. I think coca leaves are the same thing they use to make cocain or something like that? Either way, not my flavor. After rest time we ventured off to see the Basilica Cathedral. Wow. I have heard about cathedrals like this from people who have gone to Europe, but no words can actually describe them. They are so massive with so many paintings, statues, displays made out of pure gold, and stuff inside I do not think I even want to try and describe this experience. The best way I can think to describe this church was sensory overload. So much to see, hear, and smell it was overwhelming. After we ventured on to see some original temples of the Incans. It is amazing to think that these ruins were made over 500 years ago, yet they are still in pristine condition because of the intricate and ingenious way that the Incans constructed their buildings. The city of Cusco in general is beautiful as it is placed right amongst the Andes Mountains. Cusco actually used to be the Incan Capital of Peru before it was overthrown by the Spaniards. After the temples we went on to see some more famous ruins called Saqsayhuman in the native Quechua language, but pronounced Sexy Woman in English by our tour guide. These ruins were massive and they overlooked the entire city of Cusco. We wondered these ruins for awhile receiving quite a plethora of whistle blows. After venturing through these ruins I was able to get some precious photos with llamas who were as sweet as could be. Truly, if I could pick one strange animal to own, llama. Every time. We then were taken to a store that sold 100% pure alpaca clothing. I skipped on the overly ridiculously priced sweaters and opted for an originally priced $40 baby alpaca fur teddy bear which I bartered down to $20. This may or may not be the softest teddy bear I have ever felt, so I naturally had to bring her home with me. I am currently in a heated debate with myself about naming her either Lilly (lilly of the valley reference) or Ursa (Ursa Major Constellation reference), both obviously being Alpha Phi related considering she is our mascot, the Alpha Phi Bear.
Friday was also spent touring more Incan ruins. We got to see Pukapukara, Q’enqo, Tambomachay, and Ollantaytambo. All these places were constructed so magnificently that they will truly stand the tests of time due to their amazing architecture. We also went to the markets in the town called Pisac. These markets went on for miles and miles of people selling the exact same thing. I have become quite the barter if I do say so myself :) I actually have more fun trying to get a ridiculously low price than I do looking at all the "stuff" because lets be honest, in the end, it is all really just stuff. I have never been much of a souvenirs person, but the bartering aspect is so much fun for me that I have to spend some spare change to bring stuff home with me! After perusing the markets for a few hours we headed to a beautiful buffet restaurant in the middle of the mountains, and also took some pictures with their half tame half wild alpacas/llamas! These pictures may even be better than the illegal pictures I took in Machu Picchu! After lunch we were also able to watch the process of how the women clean and dye the alpaca wool to make the vibrant colors that all of the clothes/merchandise are made out of. The different plants and fruits that they use are amazing and the colors were all natural. It was definitely a unique and interesting process to watch.
Saturday morning came all too soon as we had to leave the hotel at 5:15am to start our 4.5 hour journey to the magnificent Machu Picchu! We first rode in a van for 2 hours, then a train for an hour and a half, and then a bus for the last 30 minute trek up the mountain. Once arriving in Machu Picchu, despite the exhaustion from traveling at such early hours of the morning, I was so excited! I listened to Taylor Swift's song "Welcome to New York" but sang "Welcome to Machu Picchu" all the way up the mountain! Erik may have thought I was the most absurd human he had ever met, but that's ok. :) When first entering Machu Picchu the weather was as expected, cloudy. It was hard to even see the ruins at first, but as the day went on we ended up having beautiful, sunny weather! As you can see in my pictures I was actually in a tank top which is extremely rare to be able to do during this time of year! Our tour guide, Nacho (the most wonderful name for a tour guide in Peru in my opinion), first toured us around the ruins describing the significance of different areas and what they were used for. We then ate lunch and had time to explore. I wish my words or pictures could do justice of this absolutely breathtaking and extravagant Wonder of the World, but they cannot. I feel so fortunate and blessed to have had the opportunity to see something so majestic and wonderful. I could have easily sat and stared at these awe-inspiring ruins for hours upon hours. Unfortunately our time was up in the blink of an eye. I was lucky to have gotten a jumping snapshot of me with the ruins in the background without getting caught (although when I was taking it I did not know that it was illegal). The Whistle Man for Machu Picchu later threatened some kids in our group to call the police if they did not allow him to watch them delete a jumping picture off their phone. I was so sad for them because I love my jumping picture so much! We then headed back to Cusco and hit up some incredibly fun and fancy discotekas that night! They were extremely fun and worth the tiredness I felt the next day having to get up early for our flight back home!
Once back in Lima it was back to the homework grind as I prepared for our "test" in my Literature class on Tuesday. So here is the story, we were supposed to have the test last week, never did. Then we started the next class thinking we would have it, 2 hours and 50 minutes of the class pass by (our classes are only 3 hours long) and still the professor has not mentioned anything about a test. With a solid 10 minutes of class left the professor starts typing out questions "our test" on a word document. He was clearly extremely prepared to give the test. We then began answering the questions for maybe 1-2 minutes and then he told us that we could work with a partner, no wait, make that 2 partners. So now the test has turned into 3 students working together to answer questions about material that we talked about/just learned 5 minutes prior. To end this wonderful story he then starts putting up PowerPoint slides with the answers on them and says that if we need more help to ask him. The End.
After my 3 days of classes the group and I went to a town called Viasalvador to volunteer for the day. We were not exactly sure what all this experience would have in store for us, but I assure you there is no way to completely prepare oneself for experiences such as these. A pueblo that is literally falling to the ground, crumbling into pieces, sits on the tippity top of a mountain in Lima. Trash fills the streets and the buildings are deteriorating before our eyes. Our mission was to take a mountain full of rocks and remove all of them. This seemed close to impossible as we had no cranes or dump trucks, just our hands a couple of shovels for the lucky ones in the group. I was fortunate enough to be 1 of 5 people to have the opportunity to work in a children's daycare in the morning. When first arriving at the front doorsteps of the daycare all we could hear were shrieks of absolute terror. The children were all toddlers and the past week had been visited by another group of Americans. These people had come to vaccinate the children; so to these toddlers, all they knew of Americans was pain and sharp needles. I could not blame them even for a second as they cried and screamed in fear of us walking inside the doors. Our guide told us to begin singing a song, so we picked The Itsy Bitsy Spider and sang to the children from outside. They heard us and to my surprise began to calm down. We continued singing as we walked inside, but the screams started again. It took a lot of time and coaxing to convince these 2 year olds that we were not here to stab their arms, but eventually we got them all to come down the stairs and play with us. After a morning of play we went to eat a Peruvian style Aji de Gallina lunch with the rest of the group that had worked on the mountain all morning. I was hoping for some other people in our group to have a break and go play with the kids, but unfortunately that was not the case. After lunch we were all sent back to the mountain to continue breaking up giant rocks with picks that were embedded into the sides the mountains, pick up the rocks with our bare hands, throw them on to large cloths, and then 2-man carry them to the edge of the cliff to rid of the rocks. It was tiring and strenuous work, and this was actually the first day that volunteers had ever started working on this project. They are hoping that eventually all the rocks on the mountain will be cleared the land will be flattened out, and then a hospital will be built, all by the hands of volunteers! I really hope once this project gets done in 5 or 10 years that I will be able to see the final product!
I think that is all for now since my blog has yet again gone on for far too long!
Chau todos!
XOXO,
Mal