Peru 2016: Week 1

Well I have officially arrived in Lima and have really enjoyed my first few days here. It took me a total of about 18 hours of travel time to get here, but all of the flights went very smoothly. Here are the highlights of what I have done while I have been here.

Thursday
Thursday was a fun day, which I spent with my host mom. She wasn't home when I woke up so I unpacked and wandered around the apartment to look around. The apartment is on the 15th story and we have a great view of the city and mountains. I love the balcony and the rooftop pool, which I can get to by the stairs in our living room.

When my mom came home we started to make lunch together. We conversed as best as we could while we cooked. She knows less English than I know Spanish, but we make it work by combining the two. We made a drink called Chicha Morada by boiling black corn, the rind of a pineapple and a few spices. After she boiled and separated the liquid, she added a few cups of sugar. It was a very tasty drink to go with our rice, beef with veggies, and salad.

After lunch my mom took me around in her car and we went past the beach, which I cannot wait to spend my fair share of time at. We listened to Salsa music and giggled as we tried to understand one another. She really is a cute and sweet lady. She had me speak to her son, who speaks English, on the phone for a few minutes. He will be coming back in a few weeks to live here and he seems very excited to take me around Lima while he is here.

Friday
On Friday we had orientation at UPC at 9:30 in the morning. I had asked my mom the night before if she would walk me to UPC since I didn't know how to get there. She said that she would, but when I woke up the next morning she wasn't here. So I mapped out the route and met with one of the other girls to walk together. Neither of us really knew where we were going and we made so many wrong turns, which made it very stressful. We turned a 20 minute walk into a 45 minute walk and ended up being pretty late, but I was just happy we made it because everyone else's parents had walked with them.

After the presentations and a very nice lunch, I walked around the city with a few of the girls for about 3 hours. We tried to find a Claro to set up our phones to work in Peru, but without working phones it was impossible to look anything up. The markets here are very different than grocery stores in the U.S. The eggs, milk and meat are not refrigerated, so the whole market smells a little bit like dead animals. The traffic here is another thing that is completely different. There seem to be no rules of the road at all and it is very difficult to cross busy streets. Drivers turns when they are not in a turning lane, drive in the middle of lanes, and honk endlessly. Those on motorcycles zig zag everywhere and drive between the cars and try not to get hit. Riding in taxis has not been incredibly relaxing so far, but I'm sure I will get used to it.

Later that night a bunch of us girls went to Jockey Plaza, which is a very large and modern mall, to eat and have a few drinks. We figured out the hard way that in order to be helped by a waiter you need to signal to them. It probably took us over two hours to get out of the restaurant, but the burgers were very good!

Saturday
Saturday was my favorite day here so far. In the morning we met up at UPC to take taxis to another part of Lima to our UNK professors' house (Stephen and Barbara). We spent the day at a mall that is right on the beach and watched the paragliders. I have high hopes of paragliding while I am here! We ate at a restaurant overlooking the beach and I ordered a Peruvian dish that I did not really like, but I was glad I tried something new. I also tried some ceviché, which is sea food that is drenched in oils and vinegar and spices. It is one of the most popular dishes here and I was happy to find that I liked it even though it was very different than anything I have ever eaten. We then walked around and found Kennedy Park, which is swarming with cats. Danielle cried a little bit when she saw all of them and I was a little concerned about her, but she was just really happy and we stopped to hold them for a while. I have decided that I will go there and hold the cats whenever I get stressed out. I'm sure I can talk Danielle into going with me. We then stopped at a different restaurant to order drinks and then went to get ready to go to out for the night at Pizza Street. Pizza street is a long walkway filled with restaurants and discotecas. I was a little worried to go there because many of the locals have told me that Pizza Street is one of the more dangerous areas for us, but we all had a really great night dancing and drinking Pisco, a very popular alcohol that tastes a lot like Tequilla, and made it home safely.

Sunday
On Sunday my parents had a barbecue with some of their family members up on our rooftop and I had a few friends over to swim with me. The pool is in the corner of the rooftop so I can see all of Lima while I swim and sit by the pool to tan and read. It was very relaxing and I got to practice speaking quite a bit of Spanish. That evening we walked around and found a nice restaurant to eat at and then I came home and went to bed fairly early.

Overall this has been such an adventure and it has been fun to try and figure out how to get around, say what I need to say in Spanish, and try to function in a different culture. I am still nervous about walking by myself, especially at night, but so far there haven't been any problems. I really haven't missed home at all yet, and I wonder how long that will last. I am excited for classes to begin today, and I am excited for what is to come! I am with such a great group of girls, and I can't wait to make so many memories with them throughout the semester.

Sending love from Peru to all of you!