Day 2 - Culture Shock

Tuesday June Thirtieth

    Coming to a new culture will knock the wind out of you, you lose all sense of orientation, and feel totally at a loss, but if you just stop fighting it and move with the culture, you'll start to really enjoy the differences. That's what I learnt today.

        In the morning I had my first Peruvian experience, I went with the German Caroline to explore the city center. The culture was just so in your face it wasn't very enjoyable. It was very rude how all the street vendors came up to you and forced their goods on you, I was constantly defending myself against the next attack. I did have to keep reminding myself that it was coming from a place of extreme poverty and desperation.

       I most blatantly noticed how little street sense I had when I tried to take a picture with two women dressed up in traditional clothing, I got the picture and one of them asked for two soldi. I gave her five thinking that was 2.5 soldi for each woman, however when I tried to walk away, the woman that I hadn't given money to started asking for five soldi as well, however I only had a ten soldi bill. I tried walking away but she just kept bugging me and bugging me until finally I gave in and bought some chocolate from a nearby cart just to get change to pay her! A ten soldi picture in the end! I felt so uncomfortable in that whole situation, at least the picture turned out good,

    The streets were just crazy though, narrow, crowded, noisy, and sometimes very smelly. So different from the empty, desolate streets in the U.S.! I enjoyed the excitement of it all but it was sensory overload! It was a real workout going around those steep, mountainous streets. We saw some crazy things too!

This thing definitely haunts dreams

These giant Incan stones are so exactly matched they were stacked without mortar! 

Love these cobblestone streets!

        We got back just in time for lunch, another huge meal. You finish the first course feeling very full, and then she brings out a second overflowing plate! It was as usual delicious though!

         After lunch I tagged along with Mary, María, and Tommy to El Mollino, a black market... I guess I've always thought of a black market as a seedy, dirty, dank, underground operation, but El Mollino was a pretty much open air market that looked like any other! The only difference was that shop keepers weren't paying their taxes to the government. I didn't buy anything.

And this is what a black market looks like...

        Back home there was a really big football (soccer not American football) game on which was Peru vs. Chilie, apparently they've been super big rivals ever since some ancient land dispute, and mother María got really into it! Sadly Peru lost 2-1, and actually the one goal they did get was an own goal by Chile so they technically didn't score once. The football culture and spirit down here is really awesome!

         After dinner we all went Salsa Dancing! Which is with out a doubt the funniest thing I've done so far! Forget twerking, this was actual dancing! It was up in this hot, colorfully lit loft, that felt almost like a nightclub, the music was loud, and the dancing was awesome! Tommy's ballroom dancing experience paid off awesomely! The steps were easy to learn and combined with lots of twirls and even a few cool group dances! We came home very late but it was so worth it. At the start of the day the energy and craziness of the culture had intimidated me, but by the end I was embracing it and loving every second!

Day 1 - An Unexpected Day

Monday June Twenty-ninth

An unexpected day. I awoke on my first day at around two o'clock in the afternoon! But there was still no sign of the other volunteers. María had made me a delicious lunch while I was sleeping, once again proving how amazingly nice she is, and although I was hesitant about the yucca, it turned out to be delicious!

Here is my house, my room is the bottom left hand window.

And the view from inside, cramped or cozy?

     Then the others started to arrive. First was Caroline, a married twenty nine year old from Germany. The rest of the volunteers are all around 22. She is very mature, and a little shy, but that could just be because she speaks very little Spanish. Next a whole group arrived from a fourteen mile hike through Incan ruins that I so wish I could have gone on!

       Tommy: a slightly nerdy, but very intelligent medical student who enjoys ballroom dancing. 

       Mckayla: a petite girl with overflowing energy, a little crazy and emotional, but a lot of fun.

        Mary: the daughter of an Iowa farmer, she is steady and clear headed. She is a very relaxed person to be around and balances out Mckayla well which might be why they seem pretty close.

        Caroline: so confusingly enough there are actually two Carolines in the house. This Caroline is much younger and loves soccer, she seems very self motivated. Although we are room mates I haven't gotten to know her to well yet.

         I don't know what I was expecting on my first day in Peru, but it was definitely a lot more Peruvian than going to the mall.

       Mary and Mckayla were going to get a pedicure, and so wanting to get out of the house I tagged along. It was the first time I'd ever gotten one and it tickled a lot more than I was expecting! It was cool how amazingly smooth my feet got though, and it only cost ten US dollars! It's crazy how cheap everything is here, a taxi ride might be one or two US dollars, a meal at the food court less than a dollar! However besides the crazy prices and the fact that everyone looks different, I could've believed I was in the U.S.! From the mall, to the pedicure, to the fast food hamburger we had for dinner (it should be noted here that the hamburger was actually delicious and not at all like McDonald's) I actually ended up having a more American day, than I do most days in America! 

       Even though I had only woken up a few hours ago, I was ready to go to sleep again once we got home, a mixture of the high altitude, still being tired from my plane trip, and a little culture shock. A surprising day.

Here is Mary (with the blonde hair), Mckayla and me getting our pedicure! 

Here is the finally result, I got purple, Mckayla got hot pink, and Mary got Red, White, and Blue, which I feel pretty accurately represents our personalities!

         

       

Day 0 - Leaving and Arriving

Sunday June Twenty-ninth 

Denver to Cuzco, Peru, the two day journey. It all started at Denver airport where I had to say goodbye to my Dad. I usually consider myself a pretty independent person so I found it harder than I was expecting to say goodbye to him. I just suddenly realized that he was the only person of the thousands that were there that day that cared wether I lived or died. As I walked through the airport and saw all the family units walking closely together I realized how special family really is. I guess this was the first thing I learnt on my trip, I wonder what's next!

Don't want to say goodbye to my cat, Ellie (she is actually there, just camouflaging into my jacket)

So early!

Excited to get to Peru!

      LAX. 10 am. The most terrifying airport you'll ever see. Luckily my Dad had given me a six hour layover, but told me that if I couldn't figure out how to get to my flight in that amount of time I should just give up on surviving Peru and come home! The airport consisted of seven unconnected terminals that lay in a sea of people, buses, taxis, and airport staff and security. All surrounded in the haze, smog, and stifling humidity of LA. The drivers are crazier than Miley Cirus and I almost got run over twice! Luckily I made it on the flight with plenty of time.

Crazy LA intersection! From the plane

I couldn't find the welcome to LA sign so took a picture of this shirt instead!

Beautiful clouds :)

      San Salvador. 1:00 am. Hot, hot, hot! My impressions of the country were only that it was dark at night, and it's airport was just the same as almost every other. On the flight there though I had meet Ivan.

When you realize why the seat you booked was the only window seat left on the plane...

Ever wonder if airplane food tastes just as bad on the ground?

Meet Ivan. He helped me so much, making sure I got through both the El Salvador and Lima airports! He is such a personality though it was really fun talking to him. He's the kind of Grandpa that yells at kids for littering and has very strong opinions on everything. He had all sorts of crazy stories from bar fights to rodeo stories from when he was in the military in the U.S. Thanks Ivan, you made my trip so much better!

       Lima. 5:00 am. Another long layover. At this point I had been awake for over 23 hours and was so tired that I was dizzy and the airport is just a haze in my memory! It is funny how exhausting traveling is, considering you're really just sitting around all day! On the plane to Cuzco I met the weirdest guy, just about the first thing he said to me was how he had managed to get five glasses of vodka on the previous flight even though he shouldn't have been allowed that many! And I was like, oh wow, we're so relatable... (not) I was glad when I finally got off the plane.

       Cuzco. 7:00 am. High, Dry, and Freezing Cold! The city was more run down than I was expecting, most houses were nothing more than crumbling brick boxes, and they looked so desolate. The houses that didn't look like this had gates on all their entrances, and bars on all their windows, reminding me how dangerous it really is down here. My home stay mother came to pick me up from the airport. María Elena is one of the nicest people I've ever met! She had been waiting for me since five o'clock in the morning just to make sure she didn't miss me! She greeted me with a big hug and talked to me all the way home! 

Sunrise on the flight to Peru. A very disconcerting sight when you haven't fallen asleep.

The majestic Andes, as I flew into Peru

This is Cusco, a fairly large town nestled high in the Andes.

       My house is one of the gated ones. It is quite big with room for six volunteers, María and her father. My own room has a bunk bed and another bed, so I will eventually have two roomies. I feel asleep almost as soon as I got home, at almost 8:00 am! Have yet to have met any of the volunteers...

Day 0 - Getting Ready

On Saturday June Twenty-seventh the alarm went off as it usually does far, far too early. I was still very tired from the previous night when a last minute fiasco had sent me to the pharmacy at nine o'clock at night trying to get a new prescription of malaria pills, and I then spent a frustrating, tiring half hour trying to fruitlessly negotiate with the heartless pharmacy workers who were more worried about working past the end of their shift than the fact that I could get a life threatening disease.

       Of course it was inevitable that some disaster like this would happen, Murphy's law still holds true, but it was also inevitable that once I returned home Dad found the pills on the kitchen table. Yes the kitchen table. Not in some crazy nook or cranny, the kitchen table. I don't know how I missed them there or if they magically appeared there, but I've never seen such beautiful, beautiful pills in all my life!

Just look at them! 

They are the last thing I need before I embark on the trip of a lifetime, to a place hundreds and hundreds of miles away.

First post!

I found my pills! Mosquitoes beware! This will make sense later...
(I also just figured out how to spell Mosquitoes! With an odd looking "e")