ica

Huacachina. All of it. 

The weekend of the 23-25, we moved our Monday class so we could go to Ica. We combi'd to Lima right after teaching Saturday, and then hopped on a bus and drove 5 hours southwest to Huacachina, "a small little hipster back-pack town right over the dunes from the city of Ica," according to Alena. This is so accurate a description, I'm not going to try to do better. Huacachina literally consists of a few shops, restaurants, and hostels studding a street wrapped around a lagoon. The whole place is a clean, bright, comfy vacation pueblo in the middle of miles and miles of sand dunes which provide Huacachina's main attractions. Backpackers from all over travel there to sandboard, dunebuggy and relax.

We showed up to Banana's Adventure at about 7:30 and put our backpacks down. Banana's Adventure is the coolest, quaintest little hostel we could have found. It consisted of individual rooms (freshly constructed wooden boxes, actually) with bunks, outlining a common garden area dotted with banana trees (hence the name, I'm assuming), hammocks, and chairs for lounging. In the middle, next to the pool, there was a bar that served food, drinks, and desserts. The hostel was very outdoor-oriented. And now that I come to think about it, it wouldn't have really been possible to keep that same atmosphere if it rained. Going on two months, and I still haven't seen rain. The dependable climate makes it possible for a lot of the open structure of buildings and businesses here.

Banana's Adventure

After chatting with the bartender/cook, Alan, we walked down the street to see if we could find someplace to eat. It didn't take any time at all to find a little pub. Our waiter was from London, and it was his last day of work because had to head to Bolivia to renew his passport. To celebrate the occasion, he'd started off the day drinking Pisco, which is Perú's beloved alcoholic drink. Needless to say, he was quite friendly. 

Hammocking outside of our room at Banana's

After dinner, we went back to Banana's and relaxed in the hammocks. When the four guys and Binita from CAP (Change Agent Project, which is the other project organized by my boss at San Carlos) showed up, we went back to the same pub so they could eat and we could get cake. They had taken a later bus after they finished teaching classes that day, so they were starving after their five hour ride. When we went back to the pub, there was a band setting up, so we stayed and listened (it was so loud talking wasn't an option) for a while and then headed out. A couple of us bought bracelets or necklaces off the guy with a stand outside. There is no shortage of sidewalk displays of hand made jewelry, other nicknacks, or food in any city I've visited in Perú.

Lobos Marinos in Paracas

The next day we got up really early to head to Paracas for our boat tour of the shore. Paracas is famous for the rock islands filled with different birds (including adorable little penguins), lobos marino (seals), and guano (poop). The guano is gathered every eight years by some poor people that work at the reserva nacional. It was an awesome, cold, and only rarely smelly boat ride. After that, some of us headed back to the hostel to chill, and the others climbed the dunes. At four, we all climbed in the dune buggies. Each buggy held ten people including a driver. Our driver was around sixty and a part of the family that ran the hostel. I think he'd been taking people out for a long time. At least that's what I was hoping when we were flying through the sand and he was turned around, talking to us without a seatbelt on. The dunebuggying was indescribable. Not only was it fun because of the adrenaline rush of racing up and down very steep hills of sand, but we went out for around two and a half hours and saw the entire sunset while we buggied and sandboarded. Sandboarding was a new experience as well. It's like snowboarding, except on sand. But I've only ever been skiing, so it took some getting used to. You can also go down the hills on your board on your stomach, which can be more fun because it's faster. Everyone fell down a lot when we went down the slopes on our feet, but both Lemmy and I had at least one perfect run!

The next day the CAP trainees left really early in the morning because they had to teach that afternoon. Fortunately, those of us in English Impact had changed that Monday morning class so we didn't have to catch a bus until four. We took that opportunity to go on a pisco/ wine tasting. We went to two different bodegas, and learned about the process of making wines and piscos. Our tour guide was crazy, and we all had a really good time. After the bodegas, we walked around, sat in the dunes, and then had a leisurely lunch where we saw the British guy that was our waiter at the pub. He sat down with us for a while and we talked about his travels. Meeting people like him is definitely a highlight of traveling. These are the people that inspire and encourage you to do something different and amazing with your life. These are the people with the stories that you remember. 

the things we do for mati...

Barranco

Tuesday, June 19th, after classes, we headed into Lima for the afternoon because one of Mathilde's friends from college was visiting Lima. We had planned to meet up with some AIESEC Pacifico kids, but plans got rearranged and Lemmy, Ben, Alena, and I ended up roaming around Miraflores by ourselves while Mathilde hung out with her friend and his family. We walked around, bought a few trinkets, and stopped for lunch. We also went into every bookstore that we passed. Without fail. Lemmy has a special fondness for bookstores, and we usually indulge him. Afterward, we looked for an acceptable ice-cream shop for about four hours.  At least that's what it felt like. Every place we came to was either too American, too expensive, too weird with their ice-cream statues (that actually happened) or too sketch. But it was fine, we just wanted to look around.

Miraflores

We finally decided that we'd seen enough of Miraflores on our ice-cream search and took a taxi to Barranco. Talk about a cool place. Barranco is on the beach, and it has a mixture of old and new architecture that all combine to create a really attractive atmosphere. I only got to see about an hour of it, but I can't wait to go back. From the restaurant at which we met up with Mathilde, we took a taxi, a colectivo, and a combo in order to pick our stuff up from our boss' house and get ourselves home. All in all, it was a very good day. 

fathers' day

Father's Day weekend began Friday the 15th with an actuación at San Carlos. Every grade, from los niñitos in Primeria to the kids about to graduate from Quinto Secundaria, prepared a dance or skit for the fathers. We all headed to the school that evening, where the sports court was filled with chairs and decorated with curtains. Little kids in costumes ran around the rows of seats and props were being placed in the center of staging area. Before we knew it, we were treated to the absolutely most adorable collection of dances from little animal-costumed choices to older kids doing traditional Peruvian dances. And everything in between. There was even a quite thorough skit retelling the Lion King, which I don't completely understand since his dad dies pretty early (Happy Father's Day Mufasa!), but it was beyond cute. We also watched a excellent version of Rapunzel (again, not exactly sure of the tie in exactly). There were also a couple of dances that the mom's had rehearsed to perfection for the dads, and at different points in the night, moms or kids would give short speeches to their husbands/dads. The trainees didn't just sit and listen, though. José sang a Mexican song while one of the classes danced their Mexican style dance. Carlos (one of the two columbian trainees) also danced a columbian dance with another class. Hugo dressed as a prince and read a little poetry/ played harmonica, and the trainees from English Impact danced a bit as well. We had made up a little routine at the request of the staff at San Carlos which we followed with a little speech to the fathers in general. Our dance to "Step by Step" by New Kidz on the Block was in stark contrast to all the performances but the Quinto Secundaria's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go." Quite a mixture of cultures and musics. Disclaimer: we did not chose that song. It was assigned to us. In fact, we originally planned to play/sing "Last Kiss" by Pearl Jam, but that unfortunately fell through. The night ended with a mariachi band and some spontaneous dancing with the older kids while everyone talked and eventually vacated the premises. 

Sunday was real life Father's day, and it was awesome. I was woken up by my very lively three year old hermana de host. We drew yellow elephants with my other host sister until breakfast was ready, and then sat down to a delicious meal with the family. After that, my host grandma's daughter came with her husband and kids to spend the day with us. We chatted for a while and then headed to lunch at a really good pollo a la abraza restaurant within walking distance. After we couldn't hold any more, we all returned to the house and visited some more. I tried to call home but my parents were out at the Christ Church home bell concert that I unfortunately couldn't attend this year. Luckily I was able to contact my dad to talk for a while after we has tres leches cake. Various family members stopped by during the day to wish my abuelo a happy father's day. When everyone had left and we started to wind down for the day, I realized that it was the first day I'd gone without seeing the other trainees at at least SOME point, meaning that besides Facebook chat, I'd spent the whole day talking in spanish. That I was able to do that made me feel great. I finally feel as though I'm at the point that I've progressed a lot with the language. Gaby told me when I was chatting with her on Facebook that she can see the improvement. I've got a long way to go, but it's good to know my work's paying off already! 

typical lima fin de semana

The inspiration of
the balloon party

Close enough. 

The weekend of June 9-10, we headed into Lima. Pacifico had a random balloon hair party inspired by some photo someone found online. Basically we all hung out at Tati's apartment and tied helium balloons into small braids in our hair to make them float. It was such a random awesome thing to do. Haha I'm so glad that AIESECers are so nonjudgmental and open people. We (of course) took pictures (outside, where we lost many a balloon to the wind). Then we went to karaoke. This was so much more fun than I anticipated. I claim no great music ability, but then again, I don't think anyone else in the room could either, so it felt like a pretty level playing field. We spent hours that night in a private karaoke box at some restaurant, belting out spanish and english songs. There was no shortage of passion, and songs like "Someone Like You" were shameless favorites. 

Ice cream with Mathilde
and Alena (and others!)

All of us slept at our buddy's houses like usual, and Tati, Alena, and I went to church in the morning. Tati's church is tiny and welcoming. The sermons are, of course, in spanish, but the first time we went, there was an american who had been in Perú for a couple of years giving the message so his spanish was very easy to understand. The other times, we do the best we can. I know I can pretty much understand everything the speaker says, I just have to really pay attention. After church, we met up with the others and got ice-cream (a favorite ritual of ours). Then it was back to Chosica.

natco two

Unfortunately, I was still down for the count come the second morning at the conference. I stayed in bed all day and drank a water/electrolyte mixture that tasted like the sea. But I'm not complaining, I felt better and better all day until my only problem was weakness and the tiniest bit of nausea if I moved around long. The others were absolute dears and made sure I had everything I needed. They slept in and then headed to breakfast in the Roman Warrior outfits we'd rented for the second party night (which they hadn't worn because they'd been too tired to change after the Gala dinner). They apparently got quite a reaction from the other sleepy AIESECers straggling into breakfast. Mostly "Whaaaaa..." When it was time to go back, we piled onto a bus to Lima. I'm pretty sure most of us conked out. The others hadn't gotten much sleep that weekend. 

The silver lining that I can take away from that experience is that I no longer have the urge to buy Sublime chocolate bars every time I pass a stand (which is like every twenty feet here) since it was the last thing I ate before I got sick. Sublime bars are a pretty sweet variety of chocolate bars with some nuts mixed in. They were actually one of the specific examples we used in one of our Saturday classes about knowing what's in the food you eat as a part of respecting your body and making yourself feel beautiful by your standards. 

natco

First night costumes

The beach in front of the pool

The weekend of the first through third was my first AIESEC conference abroad. All of the trainees piled onto a huge bus with the AIESECers from Pacifico and headed to el club de la Marina en Ancón, Perú (some sort of Marine family or training retreat I believe) for three days of AIESEC, AIESEC, AIESEC. We taught classes on Friday, but took that Saturday off so we could attend the conference. When we stepped off the bus that night, it was to the sound of shouting and chanting. Different LCs were hanging off of the balconies welcoming us as energetically as possible. That night, we watched every LC present their roll call. I might be biased, but CLPA definitely killed it. The trainees then presented our own (awesome) roll call. This apparently hasn't been done before in Perú conference history... so everyone was pretty impressed. We had choreographed it that afternoon, so it was a bit rough, but I think it went relatively well. We all knew the moves, even if we had to look to Alena fro timing. I'm pretty sure that even though it wasn't perfect, everyone loved that the trainees took the time to make up their own roll call.

The view of our hotel/resort from the lighthouse island

After the plenary, we searched in vain for food. It was around midnight and most of had only eaten an early lunch. Luckily Fio came to our rescue with a cardboard box of Inca Corn and Tampico. Mmmmm. Delicious *ahem*. But we barely had time to worry about it. That night, there was a themed party. And we hadn't come unprepared. The trainees all dressed up like pirates (we all had matching costumes that we rented in Chosica). We all had our share of struggling with understanding slang spanish over blaring music, but by then, my listening skills had sharpened a bit, so I made it through with minimal "Más despacio, por favor"'s. A patient AIESECer from Lima even taught me a little more salsa. 

Los trainees

After the party, we were beat. We all passed out on top of our sheets and tried to grab a couple hours of sleep. The next day was chock full of sessions. Although most of the trainees are decent with spanish, we learned very quickly that sitting listening to hours of spanish on end was extremely draining. So we spent part of the day roaming around. We were situated right on the beach, so Jose took a dip, then we walked across a board walk to the faro. The faro (lighthouse) was on a rock island with steps leading to the top. The view was beautiful, but the smell was awful. The island is home to a rather large bird population, and you can imagine why the island was almost unbearably smelly unless you were on top where the wind kindly took care of the odor. Needless to say, we didn't stay long. 

Gala dinner

That night was a gala dinner and another themed party. Everyone cleaned up and brought out the dinner jackets, ties, dresses, and heels. I must say, we didn't look too shabby. Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling too well, but I didn't want to miss the festivities, so we all headed down to dinner. It was held on the covered outcropping in which we always ate meals. This room was special because it was entirely windows except on the part that directly connected to the building. From there we had an unobstructed view of the beach and the ocean. I can tell you that the first course looked nice, but I wouldn't know after that because I apparently looked as bad as I felt, and it was deemed necessary that I take a little trip to the doctor. I can only guess it was a combination of the foods I ate that weekend. Whatever it was, it was not getting along well with my stomach. 

last week before work starts

Chri Blanco

Over the Río Rím

Before we started classes, however, we spent a week touring Chosica and planning for our two months of work. As far as I've been told, Chosica is settled in the shadow of the foothills of the Andes Mountains- which look more like actual mountains for someone who has lived in Flattsville, GA her whole life. We saw the Cristo Blanco, some beautiful mosaics, the central park, and walked through a mercado. We also crossed the Río Rímac, stopped for Inca Cola (the bubble gum tasting yellow soda), and generally got to know one another. Besides myself, two of the students here are from GT, so I knew them to some degree already, but this trip has proven to be quite the bonding experience. 

El Calle San Jose in Chosica

On the thursday of that week (24 de Mayo) all the trainees went to Lemmy's host family's house to hang out and jam. Lemmy and some of our Peruvian friends can play the guitar, I can play a few songs as well, Ben played piano, and Binita played the cajon. Here's a link to a video of us playing wonderwall (Yeah yeah yeah, original I know. It was an easy song for us all to pick up) if you'd like to witness the perfection of our voices and instruments.