.: Day 6 :. Satur-daze

How does it happen that the day isn't even over yet, but this morning seems so far away?! Our day must have been filled with so many plans and tiring activities and new adventures, right? Wrong. Sort of. After lasts night bar adventure and a late bedtime, we had decided we'd sleep in. Although when 6:30 am is your normal wake-up time, "to sleep in" becomes relative. And sleeping in, relative to a 6:30 wake-up, is apparantly 7:30/8:00.  Even though I could hear Jays voice out in the hall and see the brightest sun I've seen yet on this trip coming through the tops of our windows, I decided sleeping needed to be relative to my bedtime + atleast 6 hours. So I channeled my sister and climbed out of bed to close our "black out shutters" and switched the fan onto high and climbed back into bed. Don't worry, I think I did my fellow bunk mates a favor too (right Lisseth and Morgan?). I don't even remember who made moves first, but somehow we all managed to be up and out of our room and sitting with our burlap bags full of our breakfast by about 9am. I'mgoing to go ahead and call the a great success.

Our plan for the day (which in our defense was figured out in the early hours of the am after fancy friday festivities) was to get what we had failed to sort out with Machu Picchu in order and then head to a beach called Punta Hermosa. We started strong with some online reservations, and the sourcing of  directions all before 10am. But moving tends to be slow in a large group and this morning we seemed to have a hard time to prep ourselves for a day of beaching. (You know, gathering towels and snacks and sunscreen and cameras and clothes and water and shoes and phones-for pictures-and money and hats and headbands and ...) I'm just trying to make it seem like a whole lot so our slow-moving selves seem less pathetic. We didn't leave the hostel until 10:30. Whoops.

Once finally out in the street, we realized it was by far the sunniest and probably warmest (and therefore greatest beach day) we've had in Peru yet. It is rainy season here, which doesn't really mean much rain, but does mean lots of clouds and cooler temps (think 70's vs. 80's). Today was beautiful and warm but with an amazing breeze. We tend to play follow the leader a lot here without much question as to where/why a final destination is what it is. Well today, our first stop was a Farmacia becuase as I learned then, Bill started to feel a potential cold coming on. eeek! No worries though because we are proactive in this group, and medicines were promptly purchased and are now being diligently consumsed. Bill, I do believe you will be in tip-top shape by Monday at the latest :) Our second stop was into a little shop for me to finally buy my postcards that we have been searching high and low for! I told Jay yesterday that I think a great business venture would be in the postcard world. A "take your own picture and make it a postcard booth" needs to be a thing here because to find a good postcard has been a 3 day project and the pictures we've collected in those 3 days could make many a great postcard. I hope someone reads this and makes that happen....you have my permission to use my idea and pay me lots of royalties :) Stop number 3 was intended to be a outpost to pay to turn our Machu Picchu reservations into tickets. We'll just say we're going to continue to work on that one...

No worries though, the beach was a waiting! We hopped onto a local bus to get a taste (and by taste I mean video footage) of some authentic local travel. Aka, to experience the extreme driving of a true Peruvian madman. It was fantastic. I bet you have no idea how quickly a standard the size of a schoolbus can pick up speed. or stop. or change lanes. Let me tell you, its pretty quick. If it weren't for its speed, I probably would have thrown up from car sickness. But our drivers ability to change lanes and fly through red lights and stop signs made it an alarmingly smooth ride (except for at every bus stop where the brakes came on and almost threw you from your seat...but you learn to secure yourself quickly).

Our  local bus experience ended when we got to a stop where we needed to transfer to another line in order to get on the highway to the beach. Punta Hermosa is about 40 minutes south of miraflores. Traffic systems are so very different here, and so taking a staircase from a bridge above a highway down to the breakdown lane of a highway where you find men directing busses and taxis for highway-side pickups is completely normal and totally expected. Oi vey. I've traveled enough to know it's best to just go with the flow, so none of this really bothered me and was pretty entertaining. Amazing how different places work. I can't imagine that being my daily rountine, but it was so easy to see how it IS the daily routine for so many. It just works.

But it didn't quite work for us.

We are with amazing tour-guides 100% fluent in the local language ( and Lisseth 100% Peru herslef!) but that doesn't keep the rest of the group for being easy target for price gauging and a little mis-leading. It's hard to always get people to be fair and honest when they know we are toursists. We got some misinformation and a bad taste in our mouths with some not so honest/friendly fellas and decided that at this point (at least noon) it might be best to got with plan two (do we even have plan two?) We didn't, but we made one on the spot. We walked ourselves away fromt he highway and into some beautiful neighborhoods. Wasn't long before we came to a street with taxis, and hopped in two to take us back to miraflores center. 10 soles later (~$3.00), and we had found ourselves a perfectly fine new adventure. We all had gotten ourselves into beach mode and been prepared for calm and tranquil and zen, so I think we all needed to do things to bring us back to grounded. For me and Morgan, that was a trip to the grocery store for some more mangoes and fruits and ginger and lemon, and then back to the hostel to chill and make smoothies and tea. For the rest of the group, it was sandwiches and street market (and smoothie for Lisseth!) before we all regruped back at the hotel around 4.

All in all in ended up being a very different day from the one we had planned, but it worked itself out ok. The boys came back with amazing artwork and we still had so much day left! (So this post is also long?!, I swear I start each blog with the intention of being concise) We gathered ourselves and Morgan made another round of smoothies for Bill and Lindsey and we headed out again to make good on our plan for a least a little bit of beach. Miraflores itself is a beach town, so we have a beach downt the street. Punta Hermosa was only our target to get to the real nice one with sand instead of stones and handfuls of people instead of hundreds. But we did it again with the whole catching sunsets unplanned. By the time we had made it down to the water, we had just enough time to get set up for some stunning sunset photos. Morgan got to take her first dip in the pacific and Zach scored some cool time-lapse clips. While the boys were busy shooting, we chatted with some Columbian soccer players, practiced some more headstands, and regroupoed just in time to see a proposal happen!! It was pretty magical and so sweet and SHE SAID YES! phew.

Our walk back up to the hostel gave us a few minutes to reflect on how mishap mornings don't mean a spoiled day and how hiking up a mini stair-mountain is a great glute workout. Our slow moving selves kicked-back into action at the hostel and it took us a long time to shower/change/regroup for dinner. 8:20 and we headed out the door. Lissseth was our fearless leader on our dinner mission and we ended up at a place called Tanta. We sat and realized we were not the only large group of tourists! Unfortunately for the restaurant though, I think they only had one true english speaking menu-reader for a waiter. So our super friendly but very nervous waiter really had his work cut out for him. The fact that Jay and Lisseth could speak perfect spanish only seemed to confuse him more, but we ordered and were served with near perfection regardless. We got a top 5 meals ever in the group! (As in Zach said his meal here would be placed probably number 2 in his top 5 meals hes ever had) Zach was the dinner-envy order of everyone at the table. He had a steak of some sort over an egg frittata of another sort that was ontop of fried plantains mixed with a bean and rice and special peruvian suace heaven. just wow. We are going back.

We walked ourselves back for our final time of the day and thats where I find myslef here with you now. On my top bunk reflecting on my super long for no other reason than it just felt that way, day. I would go and post this but I have yet to steal the pictures I need from the people who actually have been good about taking pictures. So you will not be reading this until the morning, but I am still going to say--

Bueno

s Noches

.: Day 5 :. New recruits

Whoops. I did nothing over writing. Literally. We are at the hostel 3 times throughout the day when I could possibly write: First thing in the morning (which is very much occupied by as many minutes of sleep we can squeeze in, coffee, and dressing) 2. after volunteering (which has been the best time to type about the morning because its still so fresh) and 3. At night after we get back from whatever walk/exploring we decided to do all afternoon. I had all those same times fre yesterday I guess, but I was being lazy and tired. Two nights ago while we were hanging out in our courtyard before bed, the boys started chatting with two girls who had just checked in. Francey and Rianna (19 & 20 ) are childhood friends from Montana taking a gap year before college and doing some traveling through south america. Peru, and specifically this hostel, were their first stop! Long story short, we invited them to come with us in the morning (to yesterday's  volunteer day) and they said yes!

So this morning we packed two more into our two cars and made our way to the school. It was so exciting to walk in the gate and see learn that our little kids and english class were back! (thier scedule is m/w/f ). The kids were defintely excited to see us back and my little man, Jesus, clung to my hand(and feet) all day :) The kids love using all of us as jungle gyms and get a kick out of trying to make us  move with as many as they can fit clining onto our arms and legs. We don't have to gym after little kid day. Its a workout. We think word must have spread about our group of gringos, because there were so may more kids and we had to bring in two more tables and bunch of chairs. And all the older kids from our paint night showed up (I think mostly to flirt with Jay haha) but they were also being helpful with the little kids and really in to learning englsih with us, so it was great. All of us got in some little kid time to start, and then Lindsey, Zach, Rianna and Bill joined the English class to help Nelson teach! It was great to see Francey in our room get more and more interactive with the kids. It so overwhelming at first not being able to really communicate and feeling a little awkward, but they make you loosen up so fast and it was fun to watch their effect on her since we had all just recently been there too.

As the English class let out and the little kids got picked up, some of the towns kids who either don't have the funds for the camp or just didn't fall into the right ages to really join in either group, showed up for "free play". I PLAYED SOCCER AND DIDN'T BREAK ANYTHING. ok, so maybe it was witha  size 2 ball, and maybe it on concrete, and maybe my opponets were 3 feet tall. But it was fun to run all around with them with a ball at my feet. Jay taught them a game with a nerf football too and between all the objects flying and rolling around the courtyard, mixed in with all the bodies, we had our own little circus happening. We hung around a little late and made plans with Nelson (english teacher) to come back and hang out with us next Tuesday. We squeezed back into our cars and found our ride home very traffic filled and sleepy. Heads were bobbing up annd down, in and out of dozes, the whole ride home.....
      Which is why I chose to do nothing overe write. I tried to nap but am no good at that. So just layed in the dark and talked with Lisseth from our bunks. She's been catching up on blogs, so we were reminiscing over the last fews days. The reminiscing also brought to let some mis-types I'll sort out for you now
1. Morgan is the self-proclaimed "not morning person". Lindsey enjoys mornings.
2. Jay took our group shot at paint night
3. Morgan has a fancy camera too (so its just me and Lisseth in the not-so-cool-kid club)...its ok, we take lots of sneak shots of everyone else
4. Jay didn't buy anything at the clothes store. He tried to buy a Peru jersey---but his muscles were too big for the size they had.
5. LMHC- stands for "Lisseth's Mamas Home-cooked" [meals].
6. This isn't a mistake but an apology for numerous typos that I keep finding. But editing on my ipad (or any computer) has never been my favorite ( I like to watste paper and mark it all up with pens).

I think that about covers it for now.

Oh! Morgan just reminded me to add in our handstand pratice down here in peru. We've foud lots of places and times to get upside down. I'm happy to report we're annoying and impressing people all over the place :) Stay tuned for our highly anticipated photographed debut...

This posts is all over the place today, sorry, but I guess thats what happned when you're trying to back traack. I forgot totell you that zumba is also here in peru and that lindsey, lisseth, and francey got thier hearts pumping and sweat on before the kids showed up. Mirrored walls, neon spandex, and loud jams are universal.

---GUEST HIGHLIGHT/ FUTURE TESTIMONIAL FOR ABROADEN:
Francey, 19. Montana, USA

"After meeting Abroaden, which is made up of seven incredible souls while in Peru, my vacation changed. I've been wanting a taste of reality but I had know idea what that meant. They brought me to a place that I never would've guessed was a school. I felt out of place but soon the games began and it swept me away. Life was incredibly simple all of a sudden and I felt connections to not only what this mission is about but also to the people who make it possible. I don't speak spanish and for a while I thought "this is impossible" but the connection with the kids was there , I felt it through the way everyone smiled and laughed with eachother. It was an inspiring experience and I think what Abroarden is doing is worth so much more than just a simple vacation in Peru."

The afternoon, as I kind of hinted, was a lazy day filled with failed attempts at organizing our Machu Picchu plans and paperworks. Oh well. Organization is overrated when traveling anyway. We did manage to get our train tickets printed in advance and another amazing sunset session. So there's something.

AH! LMHC meal #6, lunch time chicken in cilatnro suace with corn and yucca and mango. Nailed it, once again. Which leads to dinner, which was another great success. We dressed and went out for
a Fancy Friday. ( fancy, thanks to our personal stylist Morgan who will be back and available in the Us soon for all your styling needs.) We made our way to a restuarant named "Haiti"--a place where Mr. Berman has had many a meal. Their menu was huge and with all the options, I was super excited to see Lomo Saltado since I had just been told by my friend back home I  needed to try. Thank you Brian! don't worry, theres a picture below. Morgan and I got that and a cooked vegetable "salad to share, and it was perfect. Peruvians know how to make some great sauces here. We got some cuzquenas (one of the local beers) in three different varieties to have little taste test...golden, wheat and red and like my prefefdnce for all other beers ever, it toally depends on mood/scene/number of previous beers :) Take away: All cuzquenas are good.

Post dinner, Jay was really excited to take us out to our first Peruvian night club scene. Boys just gotta dance. I'm going to leave a lot of the mystery about the club a mystery, because it adds to its appeal and because I know no where enough about the music I was hearing or the moves I was seeing to do it justice.  I can say everyone got a workout in (or atleast a good sweat) and Lisseth and Jay defintiely know how to dance.

We made it back home around 1:30 after a quick stop at the 24 hour grocery store for some big bottles of water.

Sleep.

.:Day 2:. Am I Awake Yet?

January 12, 2016

I'll try to keep this post shorter, but we'll see. I woke up to a knock on the door and Jay's voice calling my name. I forgot for a second where I was and why/how I was in a top bunk in a bright orange room. Once it all came back, I think it fianlly hit me that I had made it to Peru. Maybe it had something to do with heat that surrouded me like the blanket I had thrown to the floor. Or maybe the mild smell of mildew and rice and lingering perfume that can only come from high traffic hostel rooms. Or maaaybe it was the fact that I could see the sun coming in through the hall window and remembered the palm trees and shadows of buildings and narrow streets from the dreamlike night before and the travel bug came out and I couldn't wait to explore. Oh so exciting! Breakfast at this hostel (which is called Kaclla for all those that want to google stalk) is served from 8-10 every morning, so I narrowed the time of day to be between those hours. I could feel Morgan stirring in the bunk below me and see Lindsey across the room in her bed moving too. We made our way half asleep to the hallway where breakfast was...only to find it was already 9:40 and the boys were almost done eating AND SHOWERED! whoops. Breakfast is comprised of a couple different kinds of bread and homemade peanut butter and jams, plus home brewed coffe, granola mix, and oranges that aren't really oranges but something like an orange. We ate while making a game plan for the day.

Since Jay knew we would be getting in late last night, he had a "rest and acclimate" day scheduled in so we wouldn't have to jump right into volunteering at the orphanage. It was great to have a slow start and settle in a bit to the hostel. We made plans to head to the downtown area outside of Miraflores to the Plaza de Armas, known as the birthplace of Lima where you can see the changing of the guards every day at noon. We agreed to take the metro into the city since it's only about $1.50 round trip and supposedly faster and less hectic than city busses. Well, I have been on some croweded trains (Age, Caz...Cambodia), and some croweded NYC subways, overstuffed taxis, and even an over crowded motorbike (that was terrifying), but something about this crowded train will leave a forever memory. First off, we had to wait about 20 minutes for our bus to show. When the first came it was so packed we couldn't even get through the doors. Then, we had to wait about 15 minutes for another to roll up. Jay told us we were getting on no matter what--- "Just shout PERMISSO PERMISSO PERMISSO and push!", he said. I don't know if it was the best instructions, but we follow directions like A+ students and made it on. Somehow I ended up to the right while everyone else moved left. Luckily Bills head is a solid foot above the crowds, so I could keep an eye on them. I tried to create a little space for myself and keep a handhold in reach since it was standing room only. It worked out well for the first two stops, but for every stop after that it seemed as though 5 people squished in for every 1 that got off. DIOS MIO. I had an armpit in my face, a butt constantly trying to buckle me at knees, multiple shoes attacking my sandle wearing feet, and abosolutely zero ability to rememdy any of it. My saving grace was a really cute kid sitting on his moms lap that didn't care I couldn't speak spanish and at least smiled a lot. All I heard was noise, as none of the words made any sense to me, and as uncomfortable and claustraphobic as it was, I loved every second.

We finally reached our stop and the entire bus emptied. We found ourselves on the streets of the business sector. Banks, and fancy clothing stores, and men and women all in business clothes. Very city like. The Spanish style architecture on the bulidings was beautiful and the stone sidewalks and bright yellows and greens made the whole plaza feel kind of like disney land. (Which speaking of disney, its a big thing down here. Like how hello kitty has a following...disney is here. Mickey license plates, and donald duck car stickers, and a xmas tree that had mini and mickey ears and gloves all over it. interesting). Bill and Zach and Jay and Lindsey all have nice fancy cameras (like the two I have at home but didn't bring) and actaully know how to use them (unlike the two at home I didn't bring), so we spend a lot of time taking great shots and I will have a whole album of pictures of people taking pictures that I am so excited to share  :) They are good at noticing things which is great because it makes me notice and appreactiate things I might have otherwised missed. It's gonna be good, I suggest you find them all on facebook and follow their work haha. But really.

We popped in an out of some stores in search of sunscreen and sunglasses for Bill. It's hard not to be a tourist at times and ooh and ahh over all the alpaca gear and t-shirts and shot glasses and trinkets. But having Jay here with his perfect peruvian and wooing demeanor means we all luck out in getting great deals thanks to his bargaining abililties. I'm skipping over lunch real quick to share my most exciting shopping feat...handmade/customized hiking boots! Yes, you read that all right. We pick em up next week, and I'll post a picture later when I have someone teach me how to add photos to blogs. But for 50 soles (i'll let you go search that conversion) its the deal of life time and I can't wait. We all made out at this precious mans  shop and I'm excited to go back to pick up my boots and wander around some more.

Ok, so lunch. Jays been talking about this place called Pardos since before we left so it was only fitting it was the place we stopped for our first group lunch. Far from street food or what i had imagined as a Peruvian dining experince; Pardos had better service and a cleaner, friendlier vibe than most places I eat at back home! Rotisserie chicken is a big thing down here. Seasoned with the local beer and served as 1/4, 1/2 or whole portions, I can't say that I'm the least bit upset with this discovery. Pardos delivered and we were all stuffed. The hour and a half we had for wandering was perfect for digesting and taking some more pictures ( and finding the boots!) before heading back to the metro.

Thankfully this time around the metro was WAY less crowded and we all  stayed as a group and it was great. We arrived back to the hostel just in time to meet Lisseths mom who is an angel and will be cooking all our lunches and dinners for the rest of our stay here. One of Lissesths cousins will be volunteering at the orphanage with us each day and bringing along the meals for us to eat each morning so they will be at the hostel when we return.

Since we had a late lunch  no one was really ready for dinner, so we decided to take advantage of the cool afternoon and free hours and go for a run to explore the neighborhood. WE ARE SO CLOSE TO THE OCEAN. One blockaway from our hostel is the cliff coastlines with a walkway running farther than we could see. We ran along against the flow of the crowds and realized we couldn't have picked a better time to run because we caught the most beautiful sunset and now know what we will be doing probably every night at 6 pm. Don't worry, I'll take some pictures of that too :)

Tonight ended with showers and eating our first Lisseth's-mama-home-cooked meal. two thumbs upfor baked chicken in some sort of carrot and pea sauce and peruvian rice. I alsmot don't even want to tell anyone about the magic of the mangoes down here because I'm now on a mission to hoard them all for myself. I didn't know I could love mangos more than I already do. Come to Peru, if for no other reason than the mangoes.

.:Day 4:. Feeling settled

What a difference a day makes! I think a mixture of jetleg, settling in, and the anticipation over how our interactions with the kids would go over was definitely keeping me in a funk until today. Even with birthday celebrations and all the amazing things our first few days, I was feeling out of it. This morning we set our alarms for 6:30 to give us some extra time to be able to make coffee before leaving. Not feeling rushed helped set the right tone for the day and even conversations in the car with Juan were more successful! We also found a taxi driver that Jay convinced to "work for us" for the rest of our stay. So we now have his personal phone number and a definite second driver to and from our school each day (and probably anywhere else we'd like too). Nicely done Ricosuavejay.

We hit some traffic this morning on our drive in, so  intead of about 30 minutes to our site it probably took us 50. We still got to the school a little before the kids, and found out the little kids room and english classes weren't even happening! Come to find out, they have a very set schedule ( similar to the rec center type day-trips we always had going on during school vacations back in they day--I can say that now since I'm getting old :) , and we three girls were in for an unexcpected spa treat.

We found todays teacher in what was the English classroom of yesterday. The two long tables were placed together in the center of the room with about 10 chairs around. There were already a couple girls around the table checking out hairstyles from a magazine. Judging by the lovely styles these models were rocking, I'm going to guess the pages were straight out of the early 90's. The teacher started smiling and pointing at us while talking at a rate I had no chance of pulling any words from. Jay jumped in interpreting as we were all ( Lindsey, Morgan and I) ushered into chairs. If you haven't yet figured out what was going on, I won't judge, becuase at this point it still hadn't registered. What happened for the next hour was a tad scary, a little uncomfortable, a whole lot fun(ny). Let me start by reminding/pointing out that pretty much all peruvian genes seem to produce men and women with beautiful, smooth, and straight dark hair. If you're reading this chances are you know me, and know my hair is the complete opposite of this. And Morgan's not too far from as curly as me. And Lindsey has light-almost-blonde hair with fading purple at the ends. The teacher looked excited, but our poor young hairdressers seemed a bit terrified. Luckily, teacher was amazing, and our hairdressers were quite skilled. It took a while for the combing (and some explaing via Jay translating that there was no way my stylist was going to hurt me with her hairbrushing) before we all ended up with some pretty fancy braids. Bill's promised to help me add photos tonight, so you'll get to see some of thier handy work. And don't worry about the guys, they were content to film and make fun and encourage, and they also got some free time to talk with yesterday's English teacher who stopped by (who we learned is 22 and in college and the son of the school's owner). Oh! And while the girls were doing our hair, Jay offered up our nail-polishing skills and we got to paint some nails while getting our hair done...a true spa day.

After our hour with the girls, our English teacher friend (I'll make sure to find out his name tomorrow) told us some more kids were coming in and asked if we'd like to do some sort of painting project with them. A little bit of shuffling of classrooms and chairs--and quick check of supplies later--we had 13 new kids in our little kids room all set up for our very first 'Paint Day Peru'! Lindsey and I have both done some paint with a splash type events where you drink while being instructed step by step on how to paint a particular picture. We had about 2 minutes to think our strategy through and I have to say I'm 110% impressed with the way we pulled it all off and 200% impressed by our little artists. With only red, orange, yellow and blue paint to work with and only enough of those colors so that groups of 4 and 5 had to share, these kids worked seemlessly and with zero arugments. Everyone was SO into it. The best part was when we ran out of orange for one of our little clusters and I went over to mix some yellow and red together for them....it was like magic had happened and we realized we had a really cool chance to teach about mixing colors! They loved seeing purple come out of blue and red and were amazed green could come from yellow and blue. It was just as exciting for us, I promise. We finished our masterpieces with zero mishaps and even had all hands in to help clearn brushes and table tops and the floor. WHOOPS, that mighthave been the seond best part. The FIRST BEST PART was when LISSETH MAGICALLY APPEARED. (ok, maybe it wasn't magic and was with her dad via taxi) but so exciting! Groups finally all together!  Zach (or maybe Jay?) got a couple of amazing shots of the whole group (so hopefully I'll be able to snag one of those to throw in here too) And we're taking recommendations for next weeks 'Paint Day 2 Peru', hopefully featuring the colors green, purple and orange....

No idea what will be in store for us tomorrow, but I'm kind of a fan of the surprise factor.

Our drivers arrived promptly at noon and we were back at the hostel by 1:00. A little less trafficky which was really nice, just the way the roads work here, the home ride is a bit longer (and a whole lot more bumpy because of the unfinished streets). LMHC meal #5 was the best one yet (which to be honest I didn't have until dinner) but it was like a chicken curry but instead of curry its spiced with a peruvian golden pepper. Best part is Lisseth said she could make it for me back at home too (and now its blog-official, so I'm totally going to be able to hold you to this) <3

Afternoons all week are panning out to be a perfect mix of relaxing, blogging, video uploading, working out, showers, exploring and randomness. Todays mix included a run along the cliff walk again, some catching up as a whole group, and then some exploring out in the city. Jay was last  here 2.5 years ago and is finding that things have changed  A LOT. He and Lisseth keep finding new restaurants in place of old ones, and some new buliding in place of old parks and new roads that fit around the new places. I know it's a little sad for them to see, but its also a good sign that the city is flourishing. It also makes it even more impressive when they can still guide us around so smoothly, knowing right where everything we need to find is.

One store that hadn't moved was a clothing outlet-garage-type shop. It looked like the front of the Express store when they are having their super clearance sales and all the clothes are heaped into boxes on a table with signs hanging above with their prices. So many different shirt/pant/dress/pj/bathingsuit stations where you literally dig through piles of clothes to find hundreds of differnt styles and sizes and colors. It's a nightmare and game all at the same time. We spent at least an hour rumaging and I'm happy to say we all left with some superior Peruvian cotton clothes!

We made a quick stop a Jays old favorite grocery store, Metro (the Peru version marketbasket!!) And then made it back to the hostel for dinner. Oh, and we might have broken my number one rule when traveling out of the country. But when a true Peruvian herself is into stopping at an american super-chain (Starbucks) for a special 2 for 1 frappacino deal on newly relased Peruvian flavors, you go along and stop at starbucks. Not even a little upset.

Tonights coming to a close with just enough time to figure out the picture situation. Oh...and we also recruited 2 Montana-ites straight out of highschool to come volunteer with us tomorrow. Gotta love hostel living and people who ove helping people.

Hasta mañana xo

.:Day 3:. 28 is Great

I stayed up too late writing last night's post. Morgan stayed up too late reading the state of the union address. Lindsey is a self-proclaimed "not morning person". These are my excuses for all our half alseep states this morning. My alarm went off at 6:58 and 25 minutes later we were into our two cars on the way to our first day at our volunteer site!! One of our drivers was Juan, Lisseth's cousin and the other was an UBER driver beaucse yes, uber exists in Peru (and isn't banned like in Portsmouth). Our hostel morning man had all our breakfasts packed in brown paper bags, ready for us to take on our ride. Morgan, Bill and I road with Juan, and were probably the most boring car guests he's ever had to drive. We tried broken spanglish talk for about 2 seconds before we all just gave up ( we still weren't awake yet).

The drive to the school brought back so many images I have in my head from travels in south east asia. As soon as we got out of Mireflores, the landscape completely changed. Instead of high rises, hotels, and the ocean...you see mostly unfinished concrete-block-stacked houses alternating with store fronts that are almost all convenient stores of some sort...

>>>>>Ok real time interruption: its 1:37 here, and we came back to the hostel for lunch. I came in my room to type up about this morning and in walks Jay with presents all wrapped and with a card and everything....FROM MY SISTER! aka superhuman aka genius, aka thepersonweallwishwasoursister.....well she is mine and she's the best!! and now I have crystalized ginger and dried mango and my very own swell bottle for the rest of my adventures :D ( now it makes sense why you were telling me to just bring a junky water bottle I could throw away, so sneaky) I love you and have officially immortalized you forever xoxoxox<<<<<

now i'm out of my writing mood. TBC....

ok, back. Pretty much where I think I was going before is thaat: Peru is beautiful, no doubt. And some of its beauty is in the areas that are pockets of wealth with very americanized structures and amenities that we tend to take for granted at home. Miraflores is one of those pockets. We are very safe here and its easy to be super comfortable because you don't feel like you are missing anything. But once you get out of the city, it's instantly uncomfortable. It's not that it's unsafe or ugly (although I have heard those words used), its just so very different, and beautiful in its own way. Dirt roads and no sidewalks. People everywhere outside their homes because really their homes are also their business/livelyhood. Kids running around literally in and across the streets. Builidngs with no real windows, only curtains hanging or boards of some sort. Clotheslines everywhere with laudry drying in the breeze. It's a third world country, and even though it doesnt seem so polished and organized, each person still has their system and their routines. And maybe it sounds surprising, but their routines are very similar to ours---just carried out a little differently.

Like school. So right now in Peru kids are on thier "summer break" until March. Because of this we get to see tons of kids and teens on a daily basis just being kids in and aroudn Miraflores and everywhere else we wander. But for our voluunteer work, this means we are assisting at a daycare/summer school program. The kids that come in range from 3-17. It's only been one day so we still are a little confused of the details of who comes and how/why, but from what we saw today, it seems like the 'scheduled' day is from 9-11:30. The little kids get to do a  craft, have some free time with the toys at the center, eat snack, have some outdoor recess time, and then its already time to get picked up. The reality is that parents and kids started showing up around 8:15 and milled around outside since the classrooms were locked. The teacher came around 8:50 and set up the tables and chairs. Kids filtered in til about 9:15...some with parents or siblings that never ended up leaving (I kind of think that maybe 6 american strangers had something to do with this).  The kids find it hilarious that we can't actually communicate. They don't care, or seem nearly as frustrated, over the fact we can't tell them to listen to the teacher and pay attention :)

The kids are all adorbale, and for the most part, very well behaved. The majority of them today were 4 and 5 years old and were so excited to have visitors. Morgan was getting lots of gifts at snack time from all the little boys who were fighting over who got to share with her. Lindsey and I attempted to learn  the name of some animals, but the kids didn't seem too interested in trying to teach us. This is about to get sappy, but its seriously so rewarding and each time I caught a glimpse of one of our group members, I couldn't help but smile because you can just see how happy these kids were making everyone. Jesus and Luciano were my little shadows all day. Jesus informed me they were best friends, and I'm pretty sure he wasn't lying because they were inseperable all morning. I took out my phone at one point to get a picture of them, and now I'm pretty sure I have two new bffs. Just like any kid I'd find back home, they were iphone pros and found the only game i have on my phone in a matter of seconds. (Dear Wilson's, I think I might need to get some app suggestions for productive games!) They also managed to take some pretty amazing selfies. The guys had made their way nextdoor to the older kids room where English lessons were happening, and as much as I already love my little guys, I'm excited to see some teaching going on tomrrow.

The morning was pretty awesome, and the only downfall is that the time we get out is prime time lunch traffic apparantly, so our ride home was pretty long. And I'll save talking about the crazy drivers for another time, (close your eyes mom)  but just know it's more thrilling than a roller coaster with the added bonus of no seatbelts....

We were back at the hostel for lunch around 1:00ish which is when we ate our second lisseth's-mamas-homecooked-food of a peruvian style stirfry with eggs and veggies and rice. bueno. This is also when jay delivered my sisters bday gifts <3 <3 <3 and then for the next couple hours we filmed and uploaded film for Abroaden's future website. Lindsey tried her best to motivate us all to go for a run, but instead we settled for a walk to the grocery store to start our mango hoarding. (for $5 i walked away with two massive mangoes, 2 avaocados, a box of tea, a massive water, and some espresso beans). We made our way back by dinner time LMHF meal #3 chicken in a veggie and onion sauce with rice and potatoes which is waiting for me in the fridge because I decided I needed a shower over dinner :)

For all those intrigued by hostels and their amenitites, this one ranks pretty high up in the cleanliness and efficiency department. They are communal but have been free anytime we've needed them and theres a really precious lady who I have already seen cleaning and restocking 2 times in our last day and a half. Warm water, toilet paper...hostel luxury.

Post shower and prepping for a night walk to find pisco sours (perus acclaimed natinal drink) Andres showed up and brought me a birthday bottle of wine!! And Peruvian wine. And a Malbec! So sweet, and amazing...thank you again, Andres! We found a place a couple blocks away in the defintely nightlife area of town where we cold sit down outside and get our drinks. I've had pisco before and haven't liked it, and couldn't be convinced by Jay that is would be way different and great since what I had def wasn't peruvian before, so I ordered a drink that had ginger as one of the ingredients and and wasn't disappointed :) There were enough pisco sours ont he table for me to try a sip, and even thogh I'll give it to Jay that it was beter than the one I had in the US, I still can't say that I really enjoyed it or would order one myself...but I also don't like sour mix, so I'm really not a fair critic.

We drank and chatted and debated over the maturity and life expectancy and responsibility of a 16 year old 300 yrs ago vs todays youth (yep, real convo) and took in the ocean breezes before calling it a night and walking our way back to the hostel. WHAT A DAY! Ending it now with the lovely last blurb to say 28 has started out great and I promise that tomorrows blog reall and truly will be shorter xoxo

.: Day 1:. Coming for you, Peru!

Day 1 

**FYI: This is intentionally the worlds longest accout of one day in an effort to give you a true representation of how long my day really was. You're welcome.**

3:45am comes far too fast when you don't fall asleep until midnight. First step was C&J, thanks mom for the ride! I don't generally mind a full bus (more exciting), but knowing my airline was at terminal E and that terminal E is the last stop for C&J, I was a little nervous about what time I would actually get to check in. I never follow rules about the whole "be there 2 hours in advance" but after seeing how full the bus was, I was a little nervous about how many people would be trying to get through security too. Well, I got off the bus at 6:42, walked straight to the ticket counter to drop my bag, and made it through security in 7 minutes! I guess I could have slept the extra hour and taken the 6 am bus...next time :)

Now that I had over an hour to kill, I decided I would treat myself and hopped in the 20 person deep line at starbucks (the only place open in our terminal). The line was slow but it gave me plenty of time to go back and forth about what I wanted to order as my drink...the internal debate ensued kept me occupied for the remainder of my wait time. To be honest, I hadn't made a final decision, but figured out a strategy where if they didn't have gingerbread syrup, I'd be forced to option 2. Well, not only did they have gingerbread (for my black tea soy gingerbread latte---yes I know, I turn into one of "those people" in the starbucks line), but when I went to pay (from my app, becuase I'm saavy like that) I had A FREE BIRTHDAY DRINK! It was January 11th, aka not my birthday, but what an extra special treat! The barrista even switched it into a large cup and gave me and extra tea bag becuase as she pointed out...its free! I'm all about good signs, and this one seemed like a great one to start off my trip. CIAO AMERICA!

Boarding call! I'm going to take a second to praise CopaAirlines upfront. From the second I got to the gate, through security, on to the plane and through both of my two flights, every person I encountered had a smile and only patinece when it came to my lack of spanish and lots of questions. The first plan to panama was brand new. I had my own personal TV and a blanket and an aisle seat. I watched some circ du soleil and spanish music videos, took a couple walks up and down the aisle, got served french toast and fruit, and did some crosswords and then it was time to land! The whole making friends with your neighbors on the plane usually works for me, but when you are sitting next to a couple that just wants to sleep on each other the entire flight (and ask you to move so they can get to the bathroom every 20 mins), the friend thing doesn't pan out so well. Oh well, at least they didnt snore. or smell. 

Made it Panama city around 2:15 and my second flight was supposed to take off at 3:57, but thankfully I walked straight to my terminal because the plan had come in early and we boarded 10 minuntes later! Once it was clear that everyone was on board, I noticed the aisle seat in front of me was free, and after getting the attention of one of the super nice attendents (and some appartnly very wrong spanish words and lots of pointing and laughs) she figured out what I was asking and I got to move to the aisle and with a seat in between me and neighbor! woot woot! I had a sinking feeling that our earlier than scheduled flight might have been the reason why the Morales couple didn't make it to their seats, but I'm thankful to them for giving up their seats for my little upgrade :) 3:00 and up in the air again! This plane was much older and with no persoanl TV, but there was a TV that dropped down and played the Intern...one of the many movies on my movies to watch list, so that was lovely. I wasn't expecting another meal, but soon after we were in the air they came strolling up the aisle with their cart. My tiredness was at its peak at about this time and even eating seemed like it would take too much effort, so I passed. But I think I made the stewardess really concerned beaucse after that she kept coming and offering me beverages...which was SO great since I hadn't had time to buy or refill my water bottle in Panama. Again, A+ CopaAirlines.

Because we got in the air early, we landed at Jorge Chavez airport in Lima 40 minutes ahead of schedule. Customs was more than a breeze (first stamp in my new passport AND another Happy early Birthday wish!) Way to be observant customs guy. I followed the crowds to baggage claim, grabbed my backpack and headed to the Salida(exit, i'm learning) signs. I wish I had a picture of what I found on the other side of the doors. It looked like the crowds at red carpet when you see if from the stars view out of the limo. I was the star and in front of me were hundreds of people holding up signs and waving frantically. My very American look apparantly made me every Anne, Mary, Katherine, and Allison on everyones signs. Talk about overwhleming. I strolled myself  down that runway as fast as I could and took cover in the first place I could think of...the bathroom. Thankfully it was spacious and empty so I sat on my suitcase and attempted to get some wifi so I could let someone know I was alive. Wifi, no bueno. But atleast it distracted me enough that I had calmed down and realized I probably had more important things to worry about, such as what was I going to do now that I was early and had no idea where I was supposed to be going or who I was supposed to be meeting. oops. I entered the crowds again, but this time on a mission to maybe find my name on one of those signs for real. I didn't. I was beginging to think I might just need to find a spot and post up until the rest of the groups flight landed at 10:30 when I felt a hand on my shoulder and someone saying my name. Andres! He found me! Andres is Lisseth's friend from  Peru who I met for all of 20 minutes this past summer when he came to visit in Portsmouth. I most definitely would not have been able to pick him out of the crowd, so I'm so thankful hes a solid where's waldo player and spotted me.  

We left the croweded airport and Andres informed me he talked to Lisseth and the rest of the group was delayed 2 hours and wouldn't be in until 12:35! oi vey! We had about 5 hours to kill and as tired as I was, I had no idea how I'd be able to stay up that long. But l should have figured a friend of Lisseths would be the nicest person ever and have a bunch of ideas. We took a quick tour of a couple neighborhoods and the main street near the aiport to give me a feel of my new surroundings, and then found ourselves a La Lena for dinner. I still didin't think I was hungry, but after Andres ordered for us and the food arrived, I realized I was very wrong. We had brick oven rotisserie chicken and cooked vegetables  and some sort of herbal iced lemonade that was soooo good. It wasn't until the end of dinner that I remembered I still had no soles since Jay said we'd convert our money once we were all together. I felt like a jerk and had to tell Andres who looked at me like I had ten heads and told me it was on him anyways because " didn't I know it was my Birthday in two days?!" All these nice people and birthdays!

The next three hours were a sleepy blur of conversations about Peru and work and school systems and foods and activities and a drive to Punta where the navel academy is and a walk along the beach and science lessons about why there is no lightning or thunder in Peru (this part I actually need to google becuase that is just crazy talk, no?) Anyways, it was all so nice and by the time we made it back to the airport (and watched a couple music videos and maybe taken a 15 minute car power-nap), the other's plane had landed and we could go collect them. It was more fun to be on the opposite side of the greeting line and I got to run to Jay like I had been watching all the crazies do before and give him and Lindsey and Zach and Morgan and Bill all hugs and welcome them to Peru. The whole experience woke me up just enough to stay awake through  the drive back to the hostel, wash my face, brush my teeth, throw on pajamas and get into bed. I didn't even explore. or organize my bags. Or say goodnight to the boys room. So tired.