Weekend in the Amazon!

Thursday night Jessa and I decided to get into bed as early as possible as we were to leave to our final ISA excursion at 4 am sharp Friday morning! Much to my surprise, I did not sleep a wink that night. I seemed to have developed some sort of insomnia the past week or so. What was good is I did a lot of thinking about what things I want to do in my time left here. So, when Jessa’s alarm went off at 3:30 and she slept right through it, I hopped out of bed and was ready for the trip.

It was an hour and a half flight to land in the City of Iquitos, which is located in the department of Loreto. Iquitos is the biggest city in the world that can only be accessed by air or boat. When we landed and got off the plane, all of us were waked in the face with heat and humidity, like I have never felt before. It reminded me of a hot hot day in Hawaii, except way way more uncomfortable. After we gathered in the airport, we met our guides for the weekend: Rey, Rudy and Daniel. We got in a bus and traveled to Nauta which took about an hour, but was a very interesting ride because we got to see some scenery that was so different than Lima and all the other places we visited. It did remind me of Kauai in a lot of ways. Very lush and green. Although, still different in a lot of ways. After riding on the boat for a while, and getting the feel for the Amazon river, we headed to the lodge which our guides work for, the Pacaya Samiria Lodge. We had a tasty buffet lunch and got ready for our first Amazon jungle hike through the Restinga forest which was the area directly surrounding our lodge. After covering up with layers of buq spray, I put on high socks, pants, a long sleeve shirt and a hat. Remember the thing I said earlier about it being extremely hot? Still true. It was definitely uncomfortable but I was NOT going to get eaten alive by the bugs. Needless to say I did my fair share of sweating this weekend. After the hike we showered, relaxed, swung on the hammocks on our porches and enjoyed the sudden downpour and thunder and lightining. The rain helped cool us down significantly and it was pretty fun to be in the rain, considering I probably haven’t been in the rain since April or so. Sleeping the first night was a little challenging. I think I had the creeps from the amount of bugs I could hear and see, but I woke up the next morning excited to keep seeing more of the Jungle.

We woke up and enjoyed a nice breakfast, then got on the boats to do a hike in the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve in the Nauta Caño zone. It was about 9:30 when we started the hike and this was more of a walk than a hike, so it was not as hot. After that, we got back on the boats and spent the rest of the day on the water. For lunch we ate Juane, which is a rice ball with chicken, olive and egg wrapped in a large banana leave. We drank fresh juice, we fished for piranhas and cooked a few for dinner back at the lodge later. We swam in the river, which was probably my favorite activity of the day because it was so fun and refreshing, and we saw some wildlife, such as monkeys, dolphins, sloths, and lots of pretty birds. ALSO, Jessa got bit by a piranha, which is definitely an experience and a good story, although I really would not use the word “exciting”. She is a okay, they really are just little animals with scary teeth. Check out my pictures for a better idea. As night fell, we went down a smaller river to try and find some spotted caymans by shining flashlights and looking for their red eyes. One of our guides caught one and passed it around so that people could see and hold it. It was a baby one so it was smaller and apparently a little easier to catch because they are more innocent. After that, we slowly made our way back down the narrower river to the big river, using out little flashlights to help guide the driver of the boat. Needless to say, it was a slow journey and we still ran into a handful of logs. It was definitely one of those “this would never be legal in the US” kind of things, and of course, I loved it. After we got back to the main river, I sat and enjoyed the beautiful sky we could see out there with no natural light. It’s been 3 months since I have seen the stars and I do not know if I have ever seen them that bright. It was so calming just to be out on the boat, going fast with the cool air rushing by. That was my favorite experience of the day.

The next morning we went to a nearby village and got to shop at a little arts and crafts market and play soccer with a bunch of the boys from the village. I had so much fun! I was slightly concerned I was going to pass out from heat exhaustion or get schooled by a 9 year old on the court, but in the end, I was extremely glad I did it and had a blast. We played for about 40 minutes till I needed a break and ended up playing volleyball with some of the young girls. I also chatted with some of the young girls, a young mom and a teenage boy. It was so interesting to think about how these people live. The lifestyle is just incomparable to anything I could ever imagine. After sweating enough for an entire lifetime, we returned to the lodge and me and 3 of my friends decided to utilize this outside shower spout thingy to rinse off in our swimsuits. It was quite refreshing and if I could have, I would have stayed under that water all day. But eventually, we had to pack up, eat lunch and head back into the city of Iquitos to do a few minutes of sightseeing, grab some dinner, ice cream, and head to the airport.

Overall, it was a very nice weekend. It was relaxing and warm and different and fun. I am really glad I went and really glad for the experience.

Daily Life

Last weekend a few of my American friends through a little Fall party where we had pumpkin bread and apple cider and pumpkin carving and it was a great time! I am definitely missing Fall and lots of things about Fall. Such as candy corn! But this little get together definitely made me feel a little better and was also a great time to catch up with some of the other people in my program who do not go to USIL with me because I do not see them very often! Also, on Tuesday night, I went to Karaoke with some of the same people and had a blast singing old 90s songs in English, and attempting to sing radio hits here in Peru in Spanish!

Speaking of school, I will write a little about my classes here in Peru since I have yet to do that. First, I am taking Introduction to Gastronomy. This class is fairly interesting, although pretty basic, general and it often feels like our professor copy and pastes info from Wikipedia and puts it on slides then continues to make generalizations about food, culture and history. However he is an entertaining guy, and his English is decent which makes the 2 hour class (that usually gets cut to about an hour and 20 minutes) bearable. There is about 12 of us in the classroom, me, Leah and other Peruvian students. All of the classes here are generally small, although this one is particularly small, probably because the first project and test we had were both pretty hard. I cannot even imagine taking this class if English was your second language! I have gastronomy 2 times a week.

On Tuesday s, Wednesdays and Thursdays, I have Advanced Spanish class which is probably the easiest Spanish class I have ever taken. The teacher is an oddball and very nice, but he is just too nice and wastes so much time. Last week, he spent at least 30 minutes trying to get the movie ‘The Incredibles’ in Spanish to play on the projector, while we sat and just talked to each other, most likely in English the whole time, since the class is almost completely composed of American students. There are 3 girls from other countries as well, but their English is pretty darn good. Makes me realize how dumb it is that a can only speak a language and a half while these girls speak at least 3 languages. Darn.

Then, on Wednesday mornings, I have History of Contemporary Peru. I still am unsure about how I feel about this class, because I am interested in the topic, however the readings have generally been dry and the teacher’s English is horrific. Which, is sometimes entertaining, and she flip slops back and forth between Spanish and English or some sort of combination of the two. Again, I am in that class with a large group of American students, but I have made friends with the Peruvians in that class as well. History is probably the class I like the least.

The best, but also busiest day of the week is Thursday, when I have bar tending class, which has turned out to be even more fun than I originally imagined it would be. Every day, a group does set up, squeezing fresh orange or lime juice, cleaning classes, slicing fruit, etc. Then, our professor shows us how to make 4-7 drinks as we take notes, and passes each one around for us to try after he makes them. Then, for the next two hours, we practice making the drinks ourselves! It is very interesting because I am in this class with a lot of Peruvians who are studying hotel management, tourism and gastronomy and many of them plan to own or run their own restaurant or hotel one day, so the skills they are learning in this class are really important. Obviously, it is more just a fun class for me, but I have learned a lot and maybe will be able to get myself at a bar sometime in the future! Is anyone looking to hire a Spanish speaking American bartender in California???

tequila sunrise

bloody mary

Overall, my day to day school schedule is fairly boring but I am trying to make the best of it by making friends with the people in my class, and just enjoying being here as a break from real life school. Part of me is really looking forward to going back to UCSD and working hard and learning a lot, but the other part of me really is enjoying these mind numbing classes.

UPDATE: JUST GOT CANDY CORN IN THE MAIL FROM MY PARENTS. YESSSSSSSSSSSSS

This week at the Hospital del Nino

I work at a children’s hospital 2 or 3 times a week and so far on this trip, these days have been some of my favorite. Today was definitely one of the days I am going to remember. The thing I struggle with the most at the hospital is language. Not in terms of helping the kids with their homework or holding simple conversations, but really being able to express properly how much I care about them. Last week when my mom was here she told me not to worry about it. She said that when she watched me, how I acted, smiled and treated the kids truly showed I cared for them (and I believed her because she doesn’t speak a word of Spanish and therefore understood nothing I said to those children). Today, with that in mind, I turned on some music for the kids and danced with those who were able to. One little boy, Mauricio, was reluctant to dance, he seemed to think he was too cool for school. Mauricio is 8 years old. However, after a few minutes, he runs over to me, grabs my hands and starts dancing. After A few minutes, I had to go do some rounds and check on some other kids, but he did not want me to leave. He wrapped his hands around my waist and would not let go. For the next hour I had little Mauricio wrapped around my waist like a sweatshirt and I could not stop smiling. They know I care about them, and that is really the only goal I need to accomplish.

Parents in Lima

My parents came this weekend and I have been looking forward to it for such a long time, I can't believe it here! This also led me to realize that my trip here is halfway over. Which was extremely sad...but, back to the happy: Parents are here! They arrived late Thursday night so I first met them early Friday morning at their hotel about a 15 minute bus ride/walk from my house. We spent the morning walking around the coast and visiting Larcomar, the upscale mall right near their hotel. Maybe, the Santana Row of Lima? We then walked to meet Leah and Jessa and we all took a cab to La Bistecca, a buffet that Jessa and I ate at with our family a few weeks ago and LOVED. The food is spectacular, with all kinds of stations including a giant meat grill, fresh pastas, a wok, ceviche and pizzas. Do not forget the chocolate fountain for dessert! Needless to say, we were happy and far too full when we left the restaurant 3 hours later...

Jessa and Leah had to take off but mom and I decided to walk around for a while and we ended up walking all the way back to the hotel which ended up being about 3 miles. After that, we went back to my house to drop off some stuff then took a taxi to central Lima to go to the water park and see the fountains! I enjoyed seeing them again and I think they had fun too! It was not as cold as the last time I went, so I was thankful for that! We returned back to the mall, got gelato and headed back to the hotel for the night!

Saturday we woke up and Dad and I went for a run along the coast which was great. I have not had a chance to head down there yet for a run and the air felt significantly better. Afterwards we ate a hotel breakfast and then headed over to visit Huaca Pucllana, which is a pre Incan ruin site in Lima, very close to my house. It was pretty interesting to learn and the weather was great! Lots of sun for the day. I then took my parents on their first Peru bus adventure! It was not all that adventurous, but we took a bus to Parque Kennedy then got off to eat lunch at Astrid and Gaston, one of the world’s top restaurants. I believe it lived up to my expectations. I had a delicious cocktail, I had a delicious meal. I will post pictures later. Eventually… I hope.

Sunday, we met with my Peruvian family for yet another, buffet lunch. We had a nice time, finished around five then went to see a movie! Just me, mom and dad. We saw Friends with Benefits, and it was pretty entertaining, and the most interesting thing was how I completely forgot what country I was in. Sitting in a theater with my parents watching a movie in English… At the end, when we were walking out and I heard people speaking Spanish, I finally remembered where I was…

Afterwards, we went home, my parents got packed, and I said goodbye to them for they took an early flight to Cusco! Speaking of which, I now have to go pack! I am going to meet them there tomorrow! YAY.

Ica y Paracas

This weekend’s trip was another great one filled with sunshine and exciting adventures. Once again, I only wish we had more time! About a four hour bus ride took us from Lima to the department of Ica, which is a desert coastal department in Southern Peru. We arrived at the Huacachina Oasis to ride dune buggies and sand board which at first I was not all that excited about for whatever reason. However, when we got off the bus and I felt the perfectly sunny 75 degree weather, I decided it didn’t really matter what we did that day, I was going to love it. We were told “no need to bring anything!” as we all jumped into dune buggies, buckled our seat belts and were excited about doing whatever it was we were doing even though I think few of us even had a clue… We started driving and I was almost instantly reminded of the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. With the sound of the cutting engines and then the jostling of the buggy that turned into an all-out insane adventure ride brought to us by our awesome driver. It was soooo much fun. I was in the back with Kyle and Kristen and we were just laughing, laughing and laughing our heads off, with others screaming and some waving their hands in the air, when really all I wanted to do was hold on for dear life! It was pretty crazy. We eventually stopped, hopped out at the top of a giant sand hill, and were handed boards. They said, lay down, elbows in, legs apart and pushed us down the hill. It reminded me a lot of sledding except dirtier (covered in sand…) but slightly less dangerous feeling. I don’t think wiping out in sand would hurt as much as snow or worse, ice. It was really fun the only disappointing thing was we only did three sand hills… so I didn’t get to do it very many times, but I think I enjoyed the buggy ride the most anyways!

We got back to the oasis entrance area and had lunch, I tried a little bit of everything we had, chicha morada for drinking, appetizers and arroz con pollo and sopa seca. After we ate, we got on the bus to return to our hotel where we were to have free time for the rest of the day. We arrived at the hotel around 3pm and I am thinking “what on earth are we going to do all day?” but, upon entering the grounds, we discovered there was a TON to do. I swam in the pool, went on the water slide and then did some more sand boarding on the hotels giant sand dune in the back   of their lot! We also went on the playground and enjoyed some extremely comfortable swings! There was a gold course, horseback riding, karaoke, and tons more to do. It was a really pretty hotel. When dinner time rolled around, a few of us grabbed a taxi and said, “take us to somewhere good to eat” which he did, but we pretty quickly concluded was too expensive. We then spotted a place called ‘Mango’, which looked like a fruit stand with a little more to offer. We ate some delicious sandwiches and I had my first chicharrón sandwich in Peru and I was in heaven! After that we meandered and purchased some dessert and sweet wine and headed back to the hotel for a relaxing night.

Sunday morning we awoke to an amazing hotel breakfast buffet. A chef at the grill to make to order omlettes, there was also maybe 10 different types of bread including chocolate croissants, there was French toast, tamales, an array of meats and cheeses, a cauldron of delicious hot chocolate and many more things. The hot chocolate here is so interesting. It has this slight hint of chai every time I drink it, but whenever I ask how it is made, they always tell me “chocolate and milk”. So I think I have concluded that the type of chocolate they use for hot chocolate must just be slightly different then whatever we use at home but I just cant place it yet. Its chai-esqe…

Anyways… after that paragraph on food… we got on the bus to go to Paracas, a coastal town where we boarded large motor boats to head out to see the Islas Ballestas. These islands had lots of sea lions, lots of penguins. Lots of birds and mostly importantly-lots of bird poop! It was really interesting to see these guano islands after I and a few other of my friends in the program, have learned about the guano boom in Peru in our History of Peru class. The use of this bird poop as a fertilizer and economic stimulus for the Peruvian economy in the middle of the 19^th century is a very important piece of Peruvian history but was also just very, very smelly. After taking way too many pictures of sea lions and birds, we headed back to shore to have a delicious lunch and do some shopping in the outside markets. We then took the bus back to cloudy Lima to continue our lives here!


Pictures can be found in my Facebook album here:Pictures of Ica y Paracas!

Machu Picchu

We started our day early in order to be one of the 400 visitors of the day to climb Huayna Picchu which means “smaller mountain” in Quechua. And by smaller, it does not mean small… The sun was out bright and early and five minutes into the hike, everyone in our group had stripped to their last layer of clothing, which luckily for me was workout pants and a tank top, in comparison to some who were in jeans. No matter what outfit you were wearing, that hike worked up a sweat! It was 45 minutes more or less up, up, up the mountain with lots of stairs, and lots of precarious edges and one very small, very dark cave. I struggled to get through that little cave, and there are many people on that trip taller than myself. I was quite impressed! Once we got to the top there was an amazing view. I don’t know if I have ever hiked to the tippy top of a mountain before and it’s really awesome to look at all the pictures of Machu Picchu now and say hey, see that really tall mountain up there? I was on the top of it. After taking copious amounts of pictures at the top, we started the hike back down. That was the part that got me. It was definitely difficult, it was definitely hard. Probably the second hardest thing I have done in the past year after racing an 800 on my home track. Finishing that hike with no falls, cuts or bruises, was enough for me to pack up and go home 100% rewarded and thrilled beyond imagination. But don’t worry, I didn’t go home yet. We then got a tour with our same guides we have had all weekend in Cusco and Ollantaytambo and we learned about various myths, facts, assumptions and knowledge they had about this ancient Incan city. It was really interesting to hear about and we did tons more walking. After that, we had about two hours of free time to just walk around and explore. That time was fabulous as well. We took pictures, sat on ledges and enjoyed the view, talked, met other travelers from all over the world and ate some snacks that we brought for the day (obviously). The scenery was just amazing and I wish I could express it in words but I just can’t. Look at the pictures, go visit yourself. I highly recommend it. I am so excited for my parents to come and see it.


I have now seen 2 of the 7 wonders of the world and that’s so exciting to me! That was never a goal of mine in life but, I might make it be. After being there, after being here, I just feel like there are so many things in the world that I still need to see and still need to visit. I have always loved to travel and I have always wanted to go all over the world but the longer I stay here the more I realize how much I have to learn and how much I have to see.

In addition to my own amazement and enjoyment of the day, being around my new friends and seeing the wonder on their faces after every turn or climb made me so happy. We have such a diverse group of people here. Some people have traveled all over, some people have never left the U.S, some people are 19, some are 28 and I loved the clashing of experiences and watching everyone go through the day. Leah’s voice was in the back of my head all day, or wait, Leah was probably just right behind me all day which is why her voice was around all day and it was amazing because every few minutes would just come a deep breath and a “wow” or a “holy crap” or “check this view” and I loved it. I loved enjoying it and feeling other people enjoy it and just feeling magnificently high.

Speaking of high: Here is a fun Peru facts paragraph about the coca plant and coca leaves. Coca is the plant that cocaine is made from. Here, it has a deep history and was used by the ancient civilizations as a multi-purpose plant. It curbed hunger, it gave you energy and for those of us who are not accustomed to altitude, we drink mate de coca tea like cocaine addicts (which maybe is a small possibility), we suck on coca candies, or chew on coca leaves to help prevent altitude sickness. We used the leaves as a remedy for our train trip to Junin a few weeks back as well and the tea is served at all the hotels, planes, trains and whenever we are traveling to somewhere with altitude. Some people thought the flavor was really bad but I thought it was pretty good. It was definitely a different flavor than I have tasted before but it’s something I will never have in the states so might as well have it here!

After Machu Picchu everything just seemed a little better. We did some more shopping at a market full of alpaca fur things, held some baby llamas, fed some alpacas and vicuñas at a little petting zoo/animal park thing and we returned home to cloudy cold Lima late Monday evening. But even the lack of sun didn’t damped my spirits because even as I write this now, I feel slightly warmer and can get butterflies in my stomach when I remember jumping into the air with the most beautiful backdrop in the world behind me.

*All Machu Picchu pictures can be found in my Cusco and Machu Picchu album as well as on my Facebook!*

Cusco and Ollantaytambo

We started our weekend arriving to Cusco in the beautiful sunshine! We checked into our hotel, walking slowly everywhere as most of us felt the altitude whack us in the face… We then got a city walking/bus tour and saw Sacsaywaman, the Cathedral in Cusco and Qoricancha. Qoricancha was a religious temple built to worship the Inca’s more important God, Inti, the Sun God. Sacsaywaman was the former capital of the Incan Empire. There was a lot of walking, a lot of stairs and one very small, pitch black cave that we walked through. Still feeling the altitude, it was definitely a lot of work to get around. The Cathedral was beautiful and we spent a ton of time listening to the guide talk about different paintings and statues and walking around inside. I love visiting churches so much more now than I did when I was young. These cathedrals in themselves are works of art and are filled with history and even more art! I also love the blending of cultures that can be seen in the religion and the churches here. For example, in a giant portrait of the Last Supper in the Cathedral, the food in the center piece of the table is a cuy (guinea pig) which is a traditional Peruvian meal, and not so traditional in other Catholic countries… After that we grabbed dinner and I crashed from exhaustion in the hotel to prepare for the next day!

Saturday, we bused to and through the Sacred Valley watched a wool dying and weaving presentation, walking through the Ollantaytambo Ruins and eating a tasty lunch buffet. The walk through the ruins of this Incan city was like a mini warm up for Machu Picchu! There was a plethora of stairs and beautiful mountains to be seen and more interesting facts to be learned about from our awesome tour guides. After lunch we went to a bar where we learned about a common drink in the Cusco region called Chicha, which is a fermented corn beer. It tasted okay but the Chicha with strawberries and sugar that they drink at parties, birthdays and special occasions was much more delicious. We then hung out playing this bar game where you try to throw a coin into the mouth of this frog mouth (not a live frog) although, it was pretty hard. We ended our day in the Sacred Valley by getting on the train to Aguas Calientes, the city of Machu Picchu, where we checked into our hotel and slept, again in preparation for our next big day to come!