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!