i can´t believe that it´s finally here.. i can´t say that i´m happy for the last day because so far i´ve cried most of the time. last night saw the first tear, i had to say goodbye to Anke, Lilo, Robyn and Sally. we´re definitely going to see each other again, but it will be a while which is the sad part. they all came into pisac to eat for my birthday and to hang out one last time.
this morning was the hardest. we ate panetón for breakfast, basically cake in a box with fruit chunks in it...livia started crying when she was telling us about how lucky we were to have great parents and then went into how she would miss us. pati gave us a sweet note and that´s when i lost it.. everyone was balling. we got our suitcases ready because the cab was going to come pick us up around 9. when he got there everyone was out of breath from crying so hard and no one wanted to leave. we passed the teachers on the way out too and got to say one more goodbye.
realizing that i would never get to see the sacred valley and the town of pisac made it hard to not cry on the way to cusco. i´ve really never seen any place so exquisite in my whole life. i keep praying that the image of the mountains overlooking pisac and the ruins above the city would be burned in my memory forever.. i will miss it so much when i´m gone.
libby and i have spent the afternoon getting last minute things in cusco. i honestly don´t know how we´re going to get everything home and if we do actually fit it all in the suitcases i´m still going to be nervous that it´s too heavy or that we´re not allowed to have some of the stuff in there. it should be interesting.
our flight tomorrow leaves around 2:30 from cusco to lima and then we wait till 11:45 p.m for our flight to miami. we´ll be in atlanta around 12 noon on friday. it´s never as simple as just jumping on a plane and poof you´re home....
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
birthday!
soo the beach ended up being the perfect addition to our time in peru. the second day was a little shorter than the first but we still got plenty of stares and sun. there was actually an earthquake too but it was a baby one. still cool. we all took showers after the beach and ate some amazing roasted chicken then headed to the bus station to catch a bus to arequipa to then get our bus to cusco. interesting story...
when we arrived to the station around 3:30 we had missed every bus by then and the only ones available were at 5:40 and later. our bus in arequipa to get us back to cusco left at 8:30 so we had to get going. at about 7:40 we´re rounding a huge mountain and on the other side there is a line of cars standing completely still in a line about 100 cars long. we all freak out. you still couldn´t see the city from there. time´s flying by and we´re still nowhere close. finally around 8:15 we´re in the city but still no sight of the station. the bus pulls into the station at 8:24. libby and i are sprinting to the check-in desk only to find out that we have to have a confirmation code that we of course don´t have. after all is said and done we´re getting on a bus full of annoyed people at 8:40. soooo close. we attempted sleep and arrived in cusco around 6:30 this morning.
it´s a rainy icky day and doesn´t feel much like my birthday... we are however going to eat at ulrike´s with the girls from calca and go out in cusco tonight so hopefully that will make up for the gloomy weather. i can´t wait to be home but so sad to leave at the same time. i went by the kindergarten one last time today and gave out jackets to all of the little kids. they´re brown and fuzzy and the kids looked like little bear cubs running around today. i´ll miss them intensely.
anyways, thanks for the birthday wishes today! hopefully we´ll celebrate more this weekend but for now wish me luck with the peruvians :) 3 days...
when we arrived to the station around 3:30 we had missed every bus by then and the only ones available were at 5:40 and later. our bus in arequipa to get us back to cusco left at 8:30 so we had to get going. at about 7:40 we´re rounding a huge mountain and on the other side there is a line of cars standing completely still in a line about 100 cars long. we all freak out. you still couldn´t see the city from there. time´s flying by and we´re still nowhere close. finally around 8:15 we´re in the city but still no sight of the station. the bus pulls into the station at 8:24. libby and i are sprinting to the check-in desk only to find out that we have to have a confirmation code that we of course don´t have. after all is said and done we´re getting on a bus full of annoyed people at 8:40. soooo close. we attempted sleep and arrived in cusco around 6:30 this morning.
it´s a rainy icky day and doesn´t feel much like my birthday... we are however going to eat at ulrike´s with the girls from calca and go out in cusco tonight so hopefully that will make up for the gloomy weather. i can´t wait to be home but so sad to leave at the same time. i went by the kindergarten one last time today and gave out jackets to all of the little kids. they´re brown and fuzzy and the kids looked like little bear cubs running around today. i´ll miss them intensely.
anyways, thanks for the birthday wishes today! hopefully we´ll celebrate more this weekend but for now wish me luck with the peruvians :) 3 days...
Sunday, December 7, 2008
vacaciones
arequipa was a really fun town, the architecture reminded me of europe. we arrived there around 9:30 p.m. after taking a 6 hour bus ride from puno. i was sad to leave puno..the seats on the bus were super comfortable so we weren´t complaining. the taxi driver at the station showed us to this really cute balcony hostel, which is great and all and precious with its balconies overlooking the city UNTIL you realize that you´re right on an intersection that doesn´t have lights or stop signs = horns constantly honking ALL night. ridiculous.
our great friend sally came to Arequipa to hang out with us. we got a quick bite to eat at a restaurant that made their pizzas with plastic-looking cheese. we visited the Santa Catalina monestary. huge! it took us 2 hours walking briskly through the whole thing. after we went to see Juanita, the Incan Ice Daughter or whatever they called her. basically some guys found this girl who had been sacrificed and buried by the Incas to worship the gods, but she was so high up that she was frozen in a block of ice which in turn preserved her body for 500 years. she still had skin... and her clothes were all on display next to her body which sat in a freezing cold box. it´s a really sad story but cool that at one point in time she was sacrificed and buried and now we could look at her.
saturday we were picked up around 2:30 a.m. for our tour around the Colca Canyon. it was a little rough in the bus because you couldn´t lean the seats back and there wasn´t a lot of room in from of the seats. i had that sick-tired feeling all day. we stopped a couple of times to take pictures, but everyone really just wanted to see condors. amazing birds wth wingspans up to 12 feet. we arrived at the lookout point and it took a while but we finally saw 5 or 6. we got home that day around 5 p.m. About an hour later we were at the bus station trying to find a bus to the beach. we got to Mollendo, the peruvian version of Panama city beach during spring break, around 10p.m.
this morning we got up around 9 and had breakfast and then made our way to the beach. the ocean is beautiful and it was about 100 degrees. the sun is so intense here that i had to re-apply sunscreen 30 spf about every hour. the only down side to this day was that we are the only white people here LITERALLY and we got stared at all day. that and the fact that we were all wearing our underwear because no one brought bathingsuits. i swear they look like bathingsuits though. the staring doesn´t really bother me. i know it´s not because they think i´m attractive it´s just that they don´t get a lot of white people around here and i think there´s a reputation about us here that makes them think we´d like to get whistled at and called names (one guy today called us "carne" meaning meat...seriously guys?) it´s so obvious it´s funny and by this point in the trip it just makes me laugh.
the countdown continues... i can´t believe i´ll celebrate my birthday here...23 feels old and is my least favorite odd number. 5 more days till i´m home...
our great friend sally came to Arequipa to hang out with us. we got a quick bite to eat at a restaurant that made their pizzas with plastic-looking cheese. we visited the Santa Catalina monestary. huge! it took us 2 hours walking briskly through the whole thing. after we went to see Juanita, the Incan Ice Daughter or whatever they called her. basically some guys found this girl who had been sacrificed and buried by the Incas to worship the gods, but she was so high up that she was frozen in a block of ice which in turn preserved her body for 500 years. she still had skin... and her clothes were all on display next to her body which sat in a freezing cold box. it´s a really sad story but cool that at one point in time she was sacrificed and buried and now we could look at her.
saturday we were picked up around 2:30 a.m. for our tour around the Colca Canyon. it was a little rough in the bus because you couldn´t lean the seats back and there wasn´t a lot of room in from of the seats. i had that sick-tired feeling all day. we stopped a couple of times to take pictures, but everyone really just wanted to see condors. amazing birds wth wingspans up to 12 feet. we arrived at the lookout point and it took a while but we finally saw 5 or 6. we got home that day around 5 p.m. About an hour later we were at the bus station trying to find a bus to the beach. we got to Mollendo, the peruvian version of Panama city beach during spring break, around 10p.m.
this morning we got up around 9 and had breakfast and then made our way to the beach. the ocean is beautiful and it was about 100 degrees. the sun is so intense here that i had to re-apply sunscreen 30 spf about every hour. the only down side to this day was that we are the only white people here LITERALLY and we got stared at all day. that and the fact that we were all wearing our underwear because no one brought bathingsuits. i swear they look like bathingsuits though. the staring doesn´t really bother me. i know it´s not because they think i´m attractive it´s just that they don´t get a lot of white people around here and i think there´s a reputation about us here that makes them think we´d like to get whistled at and called names (one guy today called us "carne" meaning meat...seriously guys?) it´s so obvious it´s funny and by this point in the trip it just makes me laugh.
the countdown continues... i can´t believe i´ll celebrate my birthday here...23 feels old and is my least favorite odd number. 5 more days till i´m home...
Thursday, December 4, 2008
work hard, play hard
last week was the end of our time in the kindergarten :( i must say that we ended with a bang.
thursday of last week libby and i went to cusco to buy presents for the kids for Christmas and just to say that we love them and will miss them. we went to a peruvian wal-mart pretty much where barbies were less than $2 and everything was displayed in huge brown boxes like it was straight out of a warehouse. they did have a huge selection though. it got a little out of hand, considering there are 120 kids in the kindergarten and we wanted to get each one a couple of small things. we ended up with.... 60 barbies, 60 plastic colorful purses, 60 cooking play sets, 60 toy cars, 60 toy robots, 120 balls, balloons, whistles and coloring books. to say that we had a lot to take home is an understatement. the taxi was so full that libby and i had to lean forward because the back seat wouldn´t click back into place. the taxi driver was a good sport though and we bought him french fries from McDonalds.
after we returned home we set up an assembly line and everyone in the family helped pack bags. livia(the grandmother) opened the plastic bags, juliana helped count and pack finished bags in a box, patti and i stuffed the bags and libby helped count and tie ribbons on the sacks. it was quite humorous to watch but gets five stars for family bonding moment.
the next orning was our party so we had to rent a tricycle to take all of the stuff to the kindergarten. i picked up 15 2 liter coca colas and 5 chocolate cakes and we partied the day away. the kids we so precious receiving the presents. i think this day made everything worth it.
the weekend was really chill. libby and i went to cusco to do some last minute shopping and hang out. we got home and ate lunch with kathleen as our last meal together. i can´t believe that everything´s winding down and people like kathleen are gone...
now we´re on vacation! we took the most amazing tour bus from cusc to puno. there were four stops along the way which made for a 9 hour bus ride, but the bus was super comfortable and libby and i sat in the first two seats so we had the best view . thanks dad :) libby got a little sick on the bus so she didn´t feel like doing much later. after we arrived in puno i met up with a friend and we went out on the town.. and by town i mean the most drab, icky, rundown city. yuck. there was a really fun rock and roll bar and they played a lot of 90´s hits and coldplay. amazing to hear those.
yesterday was our tour of lake titicaca. absolutely beuautiful. there´s one huge island called Taquile, if you´ve seen Lost, that´s where i felt like i was. families just live out there on this magnificent island and once a day tours would come and they would get business. because it´s so big you can see out to bolivia. ha! there´s another island named Uros and it´s actually a floating island, meaning they use some kind of reed and build the island so that there´s nothing underneath it, it just floats. kinda creepy. they told us that if they wanted to they could cut the island in half or move it to a totally different place. there´s a school, hospital, church and a little market on it. i don´t get it. unfortunately the tour lasted all day so we were exhausted by the time we got home. libby and i watched a movie and just had a chill night.
today we´re headed to Arequipa! it´s supposed to be beautiful and they have beaches and sunshine so maybe i can get some color back. por favor. i´ll be home in 9 days. so strange.
thursday of last week libby and i went to cusco to buy presents for the kids for Christmas and just to say that we love them and will miss them. we went to a peruvian wal-mart pretty much where barbies were less than $2 and everything was displayed in huge brown boxes like it was straight out of a warehouse. they did have a huge selection though. it got a little out of hand, considering there are 120 kids in the kindergarten and we wanted to get each one a couple of small things. we ended up with.... 60 barbies, 60 plastic colorful purses, 60 cooking play sets, 60 toy cars, 60 toy robots, 120 balls, balloons, whistles and coloring books. to say that we had a lot to take home is an understatement. the taxi was so full that libby and i had to lean forward because the back seat wouldn´t click back into place. the taxi driver was a good sport though and we bought him french fries from McDonalds.
after we returned home we set up an assembly line and everyone in the family helped pack bags. livia(the grandmother) opened the plastic bags, juliana helped count and pack finished bags in a box, patti and i stuffed the bags and libby helped count and tie ribbons on the sacks. it was quite humorous to watch but gets five stars for family bonding moment.
the next orning was our party so we had to rent a tricycle to take all of the stuff to the kindergarten. i picked up 15 2 liter coca colas and 5 chocolate cakes and we partied the day away. the kids we so precious receiving the presents. i think this day made everything worth it.
the weekend was really chill. libby and i went to cusco to do some last minute shopping and hang out. we got home and ate lunch with kathleen as our last meal together. i can´t believe that everything´s winding down and people like kathleen are gone...
now we´re on vacation! we took the most amazing tour bus from cusc to puno. there were four stops along the way which made for a 9 hour bus ride, but the bus was super comfortable and libby and i sat in the first two seats so we had the best view . thanks dad :) libby got a little sick on the bus so she didn´t feel like doing much later. after we arrived in puno i met up with a friend and we went out on the town.. and by town i mean the most drab, icky, rundown city. yuck. there was a really fun rock and roll bar and they played a lot of 90´s hits and coldplay. amazing to hear those.
yesterday was our tour of lake titicaca. absolutely beuautiful. there´s one huge island called Taquile, if you´ve seen Lost, that´s where i felt like i was. families just live out there on this magnificent island and once a day tours would come and they would get business. because it´s so big you can see out to bolivia. ha! there´s another island named Uros and it´s actually a floating island, meaning they use some kind of reed and build the island so that there´s nothing underneath it, it just floats. kinda creepy. they told us that if they wanted to they could cut the island in half or move it to a totally different place. there´s a school, hospital, church and a little market on it. i don´t get it. unfortunately the tour lasted all day so we were exhausted by the time we got home. libby and i watched a movie and just had a chill night.
today we´re headed to Arequipa! it´s supposed to be beautiful and they have beaches and sunshine so maybe i can get some color back. por favor. i´ll be home in 9 days. so strange.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
hospital
a few words of wisdom: don´t get salmonella in a foreign country unless a. you speak the language fluently or b. have time to kill and don´t mind slight discomfort. the only positive thing i have to say is that my hospital "suite" was slightly larger than the nicest hotel room i´ve stayed in since i´ve been here and libby came and stayed with me the whole time i was there..
it started saturday, libby and i were forced to eat lunch with he director of our kindergarten. this was of course after we stuffed our faces at Jack´s Cafe (only because we didn´t know about lunch at her house). she decided to cook us spicy sauce on top on green rice and potato balls with fried chicken. i thought i was goign to puke looking at it, but then i had to smile and act like i wanted to eat it. i could only get through half of it before i had a food baby in my stomach. not pleasant. ok, so i thought, this could create some issues later today.. i had no idea.
i started to get "sick" around 4 but it didn´t stop all day. i woke up in the middle of the night, decided to take a shower and threw up chunks while i was in there. not normal for me. so i went to the hospital at 3:30 in the morning. the doctor did a check up on me and said that i had a bacterial infection. i got hook up to an IV and put in what could be described as the hospital penthouse. i had to get blood taken, poop in a cup and lay in my bed for 36 hours watching peruvian television eating runny jello and chicken noodle soup. libby came in and thank goodness because i was going crazy in the room by myself. it´s kind of funny about the people who work there-- it felt like there were 5 or 6 groups of people who would come visit me once and hour. i never felt like i had a window of time for myself. even the lady who clean beds came in at 7:30 a.m., woke me up to tell me she was going to fix my sheets and basically straightened the sheets on my bed while i stood up half asleep. the cleaning lady came in and was mopping the floor that i had only been using for 10 hours and at one point even stopped to watch the TV show that was on. like, could you GET OUT?! i didn´t get it.
thankfully i got out alive and feel ok now. it ended up that i tested negative for all kinds of bacteria but my count for salmanella was really high so they gave me antibiotics through the IV and kept me overnight.. i was incredibly happy to get out.
now libby and i are thinking of stuff to buy the kids in the kindergarten. we´re having a going away party on Friday. our last days are quickly arriving :(
it started saturday, libby and i were forced to eat lunch with he director of our kindergarten. this was of course after we stuffed our faces at Jack´s Cafe (only because we didn´t know about lunch at her house). she decided to cook us spicy sauce on top on green rice and potato balls with fried chicken. i thought i was goign to puke looking at it, but then i had to smile and act like i wanted to eat it. i could only get through half of it before i had a food baby in my stomach. not pleasant. ok, so i thought, this could create some issues later today.. i had no idea.
i started to get "sick" around 4 but it didn´t stop all day. i woke up in the middle of the night, decided to take a shower and threw up chunks while i was in there. not normal for me. so i went to the hospital at 3:30 in the morning. the doctor did a check up on me and said that i had a bacterial infection. i got hook up to an IV and put in what could be described as the hospital penthouse. i had to get blood taken, poop in a cup and lay in my bed for 36 hours watching peruvian television eating runny jello and chicken noodle soup. libby came in and thank goodness because i was going crazy in the room by myself. it´s kind of funny about the people who work there-- it felt like there were 5 or 6 groups of people who would come visit me once and hour. i never felt like i had a window of time for myself. even the lady who clean beds came in at 7:30 a.m., woke me up to tell me she was going to fix my sheets and basically straightened the sheets on my bed while i stood up half asleep. the cleaning lady came in and was mopping the floor that i had only been using for 10 hours and at one point even stopped to watch the TV show that was on. like, could you GET OUT?! i didn´t get it.
thankfully i got out alive and feel ok now. it ended up that i tested negative for all kinds of bacteria but my count for salmanella was really high so they gave me antibiotics through the IV and kept me overnight.. i was incredibly happy to get out.
now libby and i are thinking of stuff to buy the kids in the kindergarten. we´re having a going away party on Friday. our last days are quickly arriving :(
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
birthday
today was sally from australia´s 32nd birthday. we went to calca to have cake and eat dinner.. her host mom cooked lasagna and we had coke and wine and danced the night away.. haha, the host dad was the sweetest little man and he danced with all of the girls who came over.. it was hilarious to see him dancing to 50 cent. something you don´t see often for sure.
i realized tonight that i´m going to genuinely miss those girls when i leave here. only 3 more weeks to go but i feel like everything is speeding up and going by so fast. tomorrow sally and i are going to play volleyball and i can´t wait :)
i realized tonight that i´m going to genuinely miss those girls when i leave here. only 3 more weeks to go but i feel like everything is speeding up and going by so fast. tomorrow sally and i are going to play volleyball and i can´t wait :)
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
long day of sunshine
yesterday was the anniversary of Pisac and in that tradition exists many activities in the sun. as fun as the day was i felt like i was in a microwave oven the entire time.
we started the day with fun in the plaza. all of the schools from neighboring communities were honored so there were approximately 34,567 kids in the plaza. it was a huge to-do. teams of dancers showed of their traditional dancing skills to the audience of pretty much every governing official in the sacred valley, all adorned in sashes specifically from their area. once the dancing had commenced a group of nine adults dressed up like Incas did what i thought was an interpretation of what those times were like and a lady sang a most interesting song in Quechua.
our kids were up next so we organized them in lines to march down the plaza. they all had their uniforms on which made them 198 times cuter. they went down one by one then it was the teachers´turn. by teachers i`m talking about myself as well, not that i knew that until 5 seconds before we started walking. the other teachers had on nice green tweed suit jackets and heels and of course i wore raggedy jeans and a gray wifebeater from Walmart that day. classy, i`m aware. i was surprised when they started calling out names and i heard "señorita Sarah"... it`s funny though how awkward it is when you aren`t looking at anything specific except the ground you`re about to walk on. i didn`t know where to look and scanning the audience was even more awkward. thank goodness it only took 20 seconds...
after, we found our host family in the plaza and waited while another family member was presented for her work in one of the community organizations. we ate lunch really late and took naps. around 5:30 we headed to the athletic complex for another party.. this time complete with crazy peruvian dances and costumes galore. it took forever for them to get the lights working but we had fun laughing and talking with our family. we ate CANDIED APPLES, dad, and had popcorn... i felt like i was at the circus.
libby and i slept till 11 today because we didn`t have school and watched Grey`s Anatomy in bed. ha, it was really nice to shake up the routine for once. i found out that i`m going to be home DECEMBER 12th for sure so everyone get ready to be harrassed!!! i`ll be bothering you until i`ve caught up from the last 3 months :)
we started the day with fun in the plaza. all of the schools from neighboring communities were honored so there were approximately 34,567 kids in the plaza. it was a huge to-do. teams of dancers showed of their traditional dancing skills to the audience of pretty much every governing official in the sacred valley, all adorned in sashes specifically from their area. once the dancing had commenced a group of nine adults dressed up like Incas did what i thought was an interpretation of what those times were like and a lady sang a most interesting song in Quechua.
our kids were up next so we organized them in lines to march down the plaza. they all had their uniforms on which made them 198 times cuter. they went down one by one then it was the teachers´turn. by teachers i`m talking about myself as well, not that i knew that until 5 seconds before we started walking. the other teachers had on nice green tweed suit jackets and heels and of course i wore raggedy jeans and a gray wifebeater from Walmart that day. classy, i`m aware. i was surprised when they started calling out names and i heard "señorita Sarah"... it`s funny though how awkward it is when you aren`t looking at anything specific except the ground you`re about to walk on. i didn`t know where to look and scanning the audience was even more awkward. thank goodness it only took 20 seconds...
after, we found our host family in the plaza and waited while another family member was presented for her work in one of the community organizations. we ate lunch really late and took naps. around 5:30 we headed to the athletic complex for another party.. this time complete with crazy peruvian dances and costumes galore. it took forever for them to get the lights working but we had fun laughing and talking with our family. we ate CANDIED APPLES, dad, and had popcorn... i felt like i was at the circus.
libby and i slept till 11 today because we didn`t have school and watched Grey`s Anatomy in bed. ha, it was really nice to shake up the routine for once. i found out that i`m going to be home DECEMBER 12th for sure so everyone get ready to be harrassed!!! i`ll be bothering you until i`ve caught up from the last 3 months :)
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