MINION weekend. :)

Time has been flying by. I want it to slow down! This weekend I went to my first theater play in Lima! It was called TOC TOC and it was allllllll in spanish :). I was very happy and proud of myself that I could understand most of what they were saying! It was about all of these different people that came into a doctors office and were waiting for the doctor. They all had different problems for ex. one had the tics, one had OCD, another had a problem with germs, another repeated everything two times, one was obsessed with numbers and dates, and the last one was always thinking that she was forgetting things. It was a comedy and it ended up being extremely funny with many different twists at the end! I am very happy I went and my father even packed up snacks for us to take in secret to put in our purses! Saturday and Sunday I was the bum at the beach and I enjoyed it very very much. I can not imagine coming home and not having the option of going to the beach anymore. It makes me sad and jealous because they live so close to it here! This past Thursday my sister and I went out shopping at Larco Mar. We took little buses to get there, which never cease to please me....and then arrived at these little shops! First we walked around a lot and saw lots of interesting things!  We stopped to get a

manicure and it was only 4 US dollars! There they also had these tanks where you put your feet in and these little fish in the tanks suck on your feet! They do not have teeth but I found it insane! I have never seen anything like that before but it is supposed to be very healthy for you! After that we kept walking around and at one store I bought myself a Peruvian Jersey for the soccer game that we are going to go to March 22! I am very excited because it has been on my bucket list to go to a big soccer game in a professional stadium. This game between Chile and Peru is a qualifying match to enter into the World Cup. I heard these games are crazy and it doesn't help that Peru and Chile are rivalries!! But I am excited either way ! Later that night  a couple of us went to a very classy pub and hung out there for the night, it was called Aura. This week here has already started up I am once again busy as ever. Spanish is starting to stick a little more everyday but it is deff. something I have to study everyday. Loving it here. Not wanting to leave. Bueñas :)

Un Carnaval de Pintura!!

Friday, 22 of February some of our friends and our conversations partners went to a paint carnival down in Lima! It was amazing and very interesting to experience. We arrived there and waited in line and payed 15S to get in. Once we arrived we made our way up to the front of the stage and started dancing and having fun! There was un monton of people there and it was very hot for awhile. They played a lot of fun songs and old ones, some in spanish and some in ingles. Songs from the Backstreet Boys, Mariah Carey, and many others! After awhile of dancing men in white outfits came on stage with paint guns. They started spraying the crowd with all different colors or neon paints. I was not paying attention to what was happening until after the paints were in my mouth and my eyes. Was not prepared for that but after it was so funny to watch everyone get hit with paint. We danced around with everyone and they kept spraying paints and playing music. They then emptied a big bag of confetti and balloons out to the crowd. The stage was all decorated and they had decorated flags that they also let loose after the confetti. It was a blast and we stayed and danced until the paint was uncomfortable and we needed showers haha. The next day I went to the beach with my parents and my brother 

Andres. We stayed there all day and then in the night Danilelle came over and we had a barbeque with my family on our deck upstairs. We took chorrisos, hamburgers, and cheese on sticks, all really good food! Sunday my family and me went to Jockey and had Pizza Hut, and then went to a movie! My first movie in Peru! It was called- Duro de matar-Hard to Kill. It was an action movie so I enjoyed it a lot! It was in 3 different languages and I am very happy to say I understood all of it-Russian, Español, y Ingles. It was another amazing weekend in Perú 
and I cant wrap my mind around how long I have been here and how much longer I have! This week has been crammed with examens and I learn more and more everyday. Speaking is the hardest part because there is so many ways to say the same thing. I hope to figure it out soon enough. I can understand a lot though which is extremely exciting, now its just putting it together in my head! This week I met some more of my family here, my cousins and aunts and uncles, all extremely nice people and we also celebrated my cousin's birthday! I love how everyone has a lot of family time here, something I wish people in the states did more. Puesssss, Hasta Luego!

Never waiting for más adventure!

Kidnappings in Cuzco...no bueño. :( I was so sad that we were not going to Cuzco this weekend but I have discovered other fun things to do around Lima that I was not sad for long ! We were done with classes early this week and decided to go hang out after class Wednesday in Mira Flores with our companeros de conversacion! We passed by a very pretty park area where they have a bunch of chess tables! It was really cool looking and reminded me of the movies :) We took a snack and drink at this famous place called La Lucha-it was an outside restaurant! After we went to this place called Huaringas for a drink and it was in a cool house, tons of stairs and levels, and we went all the way into the attic. It was decorated very neat and had great drinks! The next day we all decided to go check out las tiendas that we would have seen in Cuzco. We went and shopped all around and I bought a couple things which was good because everything was so cheap! Later that evening I made my family lonche!! It was a mad mess going to the store and trying to find these items to make my food. The store was huge and when I tried to explain I needed chocolate chips and butterscoth chips....well it was a lost cause after awhile. I made it work though with different ingredients and thankfully it worked just fine!  They wanted an American snack and so I prepared Little Smokies, Scotcharooes, and Deviled Eggs! I was surprised but they loved all of it and thought it was all really weird until they tried it. Tonight I am very excited, Me and some of our Peruvian friends and american friends are going to go to a Carnaval Dance :) It should be a lot of fun and I can not wait. I will write more when this never ending weekend...ends. :)  

Perú el Zoologico !

After a long week at school I decided to take a more relaxed weekend at home, it was amazing. Friday I got up early and went to the Zoo!! I didn't know what to expect but when we arrived we got trampled by mobs of people trying to sell us umbrellas and hats due to the sun! We entered and started walking around. They had lots of play areas for kids, penguinis, a ton of monos (monkeys), birds, and tigers. We walked through a tree/plant garden which was interesting, and also a fake "selva" jungle. It was exciting to see the fake selva because it got me excited to see the Amazon when we go this march!! I think my favorite part was when we got to see a huge lake of lily pads. It was so pretty and we walked along it and looked at different animals and baby monkeys! They had huge bamboo trees all throughout and on them people wrote their names and who they loved, I thought it was cute so I wrote an L.. for myself hah. We walked through the whole zoo, smaller then ours but still pretty big, and we were exhausted. I went and had lunch at home and then went to mass that evening with my family! I also didn't no what to expect for this either! When we walked up they didn't have doors, so people can go and leave as they please. It was   more relaxed then our churches in Estados Unidos porque all the people dress down more here. My dad said people here can wear swim-trunks and it will be okay to wear. Crazy! Mass started and everything, that I could understand, was in the same order so that was nice! They had fun music with tambourines, bells, and drums and it sounded very pretty in español! They take confession before being able to receive the Body of Christ which I thought was interesting, but also kind of neat. We made the sign of peace, and here they hug and kiss on the cheek which is also what we kind of do! When it was time to receive the host, they do not wait here to go row by row but instead everyone that  wants/has had confession, stands and just gets in lines! After mass was over my mom took me to the front because after the priest uses holy water and sprays you with it and puts it in your hands if you hold them out. 
We did this and while we were leaving the group still

there was singing feliz cumpleaños to the priest! It was quite an experience. On saturday I went running and site seeing with my parents and ate a really nice restaurant, and Sunday I went to the beach :) I love when we go because it is so relaxing and getting a tan is never bad :) After the beach we had a big dinner at the best sushi place I have ever eaten at. I can sadly say it was better then BLUE. For 45S we got a buffet of sushi and ate and ordered all different kinds until we couldn't move. It was heaven and really good because it was sushi with all different kinds of Peruvian sauces. I will be going back there for sure! This week is going to be really exciting and really busy because this thursday were going off to CUSCO!! I can not wait....Write more this week :) Hasta la proxima vez! 

Arequipa,Llamas,Condors,Pisco,y amigos :)

Our first viaje alone!! Well, it sadly was not supposed to be but Marta got food poisoning from eating duck. No bueno! Regardless we traveled our way to the airport at 2 in the morning and waited for our flight. In order to get to the plane we had to take a packed bus (terrible) to the plane to board outside. We took the baby plane out to Arequipa and it had breakfast but I was a zombie and fell asleep so I missed it! Once we arrived we waited in the airport until our Johnny Depp look alike came and found us saying that he was our tour guide! He spoke really good english and right from there we started our tour to Colca Valley and Chivay. We had others on the tour with us and they were from Chile, really nice people :). We started our site seeing of volcanoes and beautiful mountains. 

Along the way we got to see alpacas, llamas, and another kind of llama just roaming around the land. When we made a stop at a restaurant they had a little shop where they sold llama and alpaca fur clothes. It was amazingly soft and I bought socks and other things there! We mainly stopped there to drink coca tea. The tea was supposed to help us all with the altitude sickness that some of us were feeling. For some of us it made us more groggy but Im so thankful that I was feeling okay. When we reached the highest point where the volcanoes were, we took a stop at some open huts. These huts were our bathrooms :) and a hole in the floor. Here we felt the worst I think haha and we had to jump over a little creek to get to the bathrooms and that is when I felt weird. Danielle had to put her head between her legs, and I had to eat about 20 lemon drop candies to feel better! It was an amazing view but a little painful! 

Finally we arrived to Chivay. Here we took lunch and we had alpaca meat! It was nothing to brag about thats for sure but I am glad I tried it! Our hostel was actually connected to the place where we took lunch and so we went and got situated and then off to the hot springs we went! This tour/ trip really did not allow sleeping, it was unheard off actually. The hot springs were very cool! We walked down thousands of stairs and the hot-spring looked like an actual pool. It was extremely warm and it relaxed us all for awhile until we thought our bodies were cooking from the openings in the pool that shoot out water (im lost of this english word. . . really thought about it for a good 10min. and now I give up)

 After the hot-springs we traveled back to the hotel and it just seemed like the day was never ending. Our tour guide told us he would be back to pick us up in an hour in half. Me and Danielle went to our room and pretty much pretended to sleep and then we got ready for a dinner and a show! We ate at a restaurant that had peruvian music and dancing! It was very cool and Luke and Whitney got pulled into dancing! The dances told stories and they were funny at times too. I had alfredo con tomato soup and a cake for dessert! It was all very good and by the end of the night we went to sleep but only till we had to wake up at 6:30 :) Saturday we went and traveled to Colca Valley to see condors!! THE BIGGEST FLYING BIRDS IN THE WORLD. Once we arrived it was unfortunately foggy but I did see a huge rabbit thing :) Me and Danielle saw more of their stacking rocks around this area and I decided to stack some rocks too and make a tower to honor gods. (the reason why we saw condors later) Once we left and headed back to Chivay, we stopped at two more site seeing places where we eventually saw condors, held huge hawks, and took pictures de the landscape and cute llamas! Our tour guide told us stories about the land and everything and how Colca Valley is the biggest canon in the world. He dropped us off at our hotel in Arequipa which was an amazing place with a huge REAL WORLD looking kitchen. Once we got here it was around 5:00 o clock and we decided to walk around La Plaza de Armas to see shops and gather food for an American styled dinner. Macaroni and Cheese with sandwiches. 

We ate them up and then we played card games and finally went out on the town in Arequipa. The downtown area was a really fun place and the dancing was non-stop. Definitely made some memories down there. After our fun night out we went to bed and woke up early to check out and go shopping around Arequipa. After we got attacked by children with water buckets and cans of spraying soap, we ate a little restaurant and then headed back to the hotel.

 ATMS are impossible to find in Arequipa, and children attack GRINGOS,  heads up for everyone!!

We had taxis called for us to take us to the airport and at the airport we all bought the famous chocolate from Arequipa-Iberica. It was really good and to top it off we got food on the plane again, and this time I was awake. I was awake because someone had to be due to our flight attendant was falling asleep showing the safety procedures, and our plane roof was falling down. :) It was a great trip and something I will never forget !!

Camping a la playa!!

Que bueno! Que lindo! Que gracioso no?

Loving the spanish language. Even though at times I like to rethink what on earth am I doing here, I honestly enjoy everything about Peru. This weekend I got a full ear full of spanish because I was with my family, my cousin and my sisters friend camping a la playa! It was an amazing experience. We arrived there and set up our tents just like you do if you were en un bosque, and then we unpacked all our stuff! We got settled in and my father started making us some hamburgers for dinner! 

Friday night my sister, Natalia ( her friend) and I got ready and went out to the clubs near the beach we were camping at. First we went to her friends house where they had an outdoor pool! ( soo cool, looked like the ones that fall out over the edge!) We then went as a big group out to the club strip. They had a bunch of little places to go and dance and eat and it was all outdoors! We stayed out till 5-am and then we all took a charter bus shuttle back to the beach and went to sleep right away.

 We were in the tent and I only slept for about 4 hours until I started getting hot from the sun. We all woke up about the same time and we grabbed our pareos, laid them down on the sand under shade, grabbed our pillows and slept some more outside. It was definitely something I could get use to- falling asleep to the sound of the ocean. After there was not a lot of breeze and the sun was getting hotter we were forced to wake up. My dad made us cheese sandwiches for breakfast and then we changed and fell asleep by la piscina. We took lunch at Del Abuelos where me and my sister had hawiana pizza! My cousin joined us in the night and we had a BBQ with chorizo y hamburgers and a little bonfire. My family had never heard of SMORES before so I went and bought some supplies at the mini market in the beach and I taught them how to make them. They loved them which was good and they thought it was the weirdest combination. How? I have no idea because sometimes I wonder in my head how they come up with some of their creations. Always good though :) 

Mi cousin! Making us a bonfire for SMORES

By sunday I didnt think it was possible to listen or try to comprehend anymore spanish. It was SUPERBOWL sunday and when I got home and showered I watched the game. . . in spanish none-the-less. It was a great way to end my weekend though and I cant wait for more adventures. Spanish is slowly creeping in my brain at all times. When I am talking to my friends I forget english words and im constantly making words and phrases in my head. Scary but interesting haha. 

Pueesssssss..........buenas noches! ;)

La Iglesia de San Fransico, Matucana, LOVE PERU

This experience will never be long enough...

This weekend was filled with lots of exciting trips and amazing sites! On friday we went to La Iglesia de San Fransico in central Lima. We arrived on the metro busses and it was an experience ill say. They cram as many people into those things that the doors could be hitting you and trying to clamp you in because you have that much room. Personal space, what is that here? It is very interesting how people do not care how close they are to your face and in your "personal bubble". It doesn't bother me but for people that are not use to being that close to someone it would be eye opening! From the bus we walked awhile till we got to the church! It was a beautiful area with a lot of old architecture buildings. We payed 7 soles to have a tour and our tour guide spoke in english and spanish. We were not allowed to take pictures inside but I managed to take one of the outdoor area and the basement of the church where the catacombs were with all of the bones and bodies! Very scary but a very cool thing to experience. The library was my favorite part of the whole church. It reminded me of churches in England that I got to see and it had 2 winding staircases with chandeliers and a lot of old books inside that dated back years and years. I wish I could have gotten a picture but I think Sam snuck one so check on Facebook ! After the amazing tour we went and looked at the little vendors outside the church and then walked to get some lunch! We went to a food court and got some refreshing food (meaning american food ;) ) Subway! After we headed back home and everyone was extremely tired from the walking and we called it a night. The next day woke up and left for Matucana on our own bus at 7am! It was around an hour and a half drive to our destination! Once we arrived it looked just like a hidden paradise. I felt like we were in the middle of nowhere and it was so beautiful because we were deep in the middle of the Andes Mountains! The scenery was unforgettable and we started our hike with our tour guide Coco (I think was his name) and our two dog companions that decided to make the walk with us! It was a workout right from the start and we traveled up the mountain on rocky paths that were kind of hard to get up. We went through un bosque de piedras and that was interesting because we decided to take the hardest way possible to get up it. People were jumping from rock to rock dodging cactuses as best they could lol ! We came to a creek and Luke filled his water-bottle with the water because our tour guide explained to us how it is clean and that everything here was natural ! I tried it and it was a nice taste of water with mud particles, very interesting but I guess you have to try everything once! We continued our way till we had to cross a bridge and over to the waterfall we were! We took off our shoes, walked through the water and Sam actually got in the waterfall! It was an amazing experience and to continue it on our way back we decided to cross a log bridge and it was very scary. I moved over it like a snail because I could barely get my feet to move on each log because I was nervous of falling! We all made it though and then went into town to have lunch before driving home. I ordered trucha con papas fritas y arroz! It was amazing and the ride home felt amazing because after 14 miles it was nice to sit down. That night we had a little get together at Sam's house and had some fun with friends and DJ Agua. Homework time is upon me now though but learning is half the fun! We are planning our trip to the Amazon and other places and I hope we get it figured out soon! :) Write again soon!