Peru 2016: Country music + Beaches = Perfection

I spent another incredible week in this beautiful country that now feels like home. Classes went well and I spent my free time shopping, hanging out with my girls, meeting up with Gio in Miraflores, staring out at the ocean from the malecón, and going to discos on Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday I went to a disco called Gotica and it was incredibly packed. I felt like I was on Spring Break in Florida again. It was really fun and I got to practice my dancing skills with Gio for a few hours and meet some of his friends. In the stores in the mall they have put out their fall clothes, which include sweaters and coats. It seems crazy to me that people actually wear such warm clothes here since during the winter it is still about 60 degrees on average. Needless to say I had no luck trying to find a swimsuit and dress to wear to the beach.

Thursday morning I got to Skype with Hannah, Zach, and our best friend Lesley. It was so great to see their faces and catch up on our lives over the past few months. It made me really miss them, but also thankful that technology allows me to talk to them from so many miles away. That afternoon my friend Mariah came over and we swam and then played her guitar and sang every country song we knew for a couple of hours. It felt so good to play the guitar again even though my fingers hurt since my callouses have disappeared. I have missed my guitar jam sessions with my siblings back home. My host mom has been suffering from pain in her back and her right arm has been falling asleep. So that evening I went with my parents to the house of my dad's brother-in-law who is a Physical Therapist. He speaks English, but he looked at my mom's x-rays of her spine and explained everything in Spanish first, and then added a few things in English for me. I was so proud that I knew exactly what he was talking about when he spoke in Spanish. It was really interesting and he talked about how her vertebrae don't have enough space between them so the nerves are being pinched. He invited me to come to his clinic this coming week, and I am very excited to be able to see what Physical Therapy is like in Peru.

I spent Friday catching up on sleep and also began to feel sick that evening. Thankfully I felt better on Saturday because my class went to a show where we got to eat lunch, listen to a live band, and watch dancers perform traditional dances. We also got to go out on the dance floor and try not to look too white as we struggled to copy the movements of those around us. It was a really great afternoon. That evening I hung out with my brother for a few hours and he told me about all of the places I still need to visit while I am in Peru. I am hoping that I have the time and money to go everywhere he told me to, but it will be difficult to do.

Sunday I got to go to the beach, Punta Hermosa, with Danielle and her mom who came to visit from the U.S. We took a little bus that was so packed that we had to stand up most of the time and were butt-to-butt with the other people around us. It took us about an hour to get there and when we finally got there I was so ready to lay by the ocean. We rented an umbrella and chairs and spent the whole afternoon drinking beer and pisco while talking about life. Spending time with her mom made me really miss spending time with my parents, especially when we drink together :) We found some really cute babies and spent a lot of time playing with them while their parents kind of laughed and were kind of annoyed with us. One of the moms had us each hold her little boy, Nicolas, so she could take pictures of us. Nicolas really liked me and stared at me for an hour, which his mom thought was hilarious. Danielle's mom gave the group of guys next to us a few beers, so they returned the favor later and gave us a really big beer, which we struggled to finish together. I do enjoy Peruvian beer more than I do Busch Light, that's for sure. In the late afternoon we met up with a guy named Angelo, who is the friend of Danielle's host sister. He was really nice and let us come see his house that he shares with 6 other friends. He has invited us to go to the beach with him the next few weekends and I really hope some of my friends will go with him since I plan on being in Asia with Gio, Shelby and Rodrigo. We eventually got into a bus that took us back to Lima and I finally ate for the first time since breakfast. The beach had exhausted me so I went to bed at 9:45 and slept longer and better than I have for a long time.

Since I didn't have a lot to talk about this week or many pictures to add, I decided to put up a mixture of pictures from my time here in Peru to remember all of the amazing things I have done in the last few months. I have found that I have less to talk about each week because things that used to be blog-worthy, such as the food, traffic, taking taxis, going to class, and getting stared at, have now become a part of my normal life and don't stand out to me anymore. But I think that this is a sign that I am really becoming a part of the culture here and can live like a Peruvian.

I miss you all at home! I hope the Spring weather is treating you well. Hugs and Kisses.