UNIFÉ

Today was our first day at la Universidad Femenina del Seguridad Corazon (UNIFÉ), a private women's college in Lima. At UNIFÉ, we will be helping students studying English/Spanish translation as well as taking a culture class with one of the college's professors. Much like the Air Force school, we were greeted with a welcome ceremony and traditional dances such as La Marinera del Norte. FUN FACT: my host mom won a national Marinera competition last year! After each performance, the dancers made their way to the audience and pulled students up on stage. My favorite part was when the lead hombre in La Marinera grabbed my roommate Ally to teach her a few moves. La Marinera is a very sensual dance so it was pretty silly to watch my classmates attempt to move in a similar manner to the peruvians.

La Marinera del Norte

Work it

PUERTO DE CALLAO

Today was the first day so far that we got to sleep in. And by sleeping in, I mean 9:00. We met at the Mirabus kiosk at 10:00 for a mysterious seven hour bus ride. Once aboard the big beautiful vehicle, I was informed that we were going to Puerto de Calloa, Lima's main seaport. We made a few stops on the way. The first was to the Lima's naval museum. There we learned about the war against Chile and the importance of the Peruvian Navy. We then took a tour of a submarine. The sub was out of water so I didn't think it would be so scary...until we got inside..

There must have been at least 30 of us in there at one point and let me tell you, submarines are not very spacious. They're also not yellow (in case you didn't know). I thought the tour was going to be a quick in and out type of thing but no, it wasn't! I usually don't get seasick, but standing in a small, dark, metal box that is constantly lurching side to side for 20 minutes really takes a toll on el estomago. For some reason, the museum thought it would be a good idea to simulate what an underwater attack was like. I can safely say that dying in a submarine is probably one of the worst ways to go.

Our last stop of the day was to el Fortaleza Real Philipe, the fortress that was built to protect the port. It was exciting to walk through all the different tunnels of the fortress, although some of us did get a little lost towards the end of the visit. The architecture of the fortress was very similar to the one built in Thessaloniki, Greece. How interesting!

CARAL

Today we drove a total of ~nine~ hours to see more ruins. But not just any ruins! These were the special ruins of Caral, the second oldest civilization in the world! Caral hits at just about 5 thousand years old. That's older than Ancient Egypt! So old! Caral is located in the province of Barranca, 184 km north of Lima. That probably does mean much to anyone who is reading this. Essentially, Caral is located in the desert. This seems to be a reoccurring theme in Peru. Why are all major ancient civilizations here found in the desert? This just doesn't seem logical to me.

Anyways, after a long drive back to Miraflores, I took a big nap. Why didn't I just go to bed you may ask? Well, I didn't go to bed because our day wasn't over! Monica planned a field trip to a traditional Peruvian club called La Peña Carajo. The club featured live performances of Peruvian song and dance. After the performances, there were small competitions in which tables could win free beer and esnacks. We had many winners in our program including; loudest table; tallest girl; first boy wearing blue pants to get on stage; biggest boobs etc..

Ally and I didn't get back to the apartment until 4:00 in the morning, which is honestly early for the peruvians. Tomorrow should be fun seeing as how we have to wake up at 8:30 for a seven hour Mirabus tour. We have already taken so many tours with Mirabus that I'm not really sure what else we could possible see from the second story of a double decker bus. Stay tuned to find out!!

UN DÍA LIBRE

Today was our first free day! Other than our regular class schedule (9:00-12:00), we had the rest of the day to explore. A bunch of us went to "Punto Azul," a restaurant recommended to us by our host mom, Aida. Feeling adventurous, I ordered fetuccine with octopus ink sauce and seafood. It was delicious! At times, the ink also provided me with a deep, alluring lip gloss color. Food that looks like makeup..wow..great job Punto Azul!

Fooooooood

I think we were all very excited not to be eating rice and as an outcome, ate very quickly. Feeling v full, we walked around the city. A couple of people wanted to try paragliding on the coast, so we all went to watch. It was a little scary to see my friends strapped to large Peruvian men running off the city's 100ft cliffs. But they all came back in one piece! Except for Kate. Kate left a chunk of her butt on the park as she dragged along the grass trying to stop her parachute. Afterwards, we played a 4v4 game of frisbee! Yay frisbee!

Today was a much needed day of relaxation. Tomorrow will be another early day. Ally and I have to leave the house at 5:30am to travel with the rest of the group to Caral, the oldest civilization in South America!

HOKEY POKEY EN PERÚ

Today was our last day teaching at the air force school. The theme of the lesson was American food and dance. When we got into our teaching groups to discuss the topic, we made a list of potential talking points. Here is what we came up with: hamburgers, hotdogs, mac n' cheese, and the hokey pokey. Yikes! Not much to work with. "It'll be okay," we naively thought. "We can google pictures of food, everyone likes looking at food," we thought. We also weren't necessarily too worried about needing to teach for the whole hour allotted to our class. Given Lima's traffic, we had been getting to the school later than expected and were teaching for 20 minutes or so.

But of course... today was the first day we got to the school on time!! So after talking at the kids about America's extensive menu without photoswe had no other choice but to do the hokey pokey for..too long. The kids favorite body part to throw into the circle was of corse the butt. Many of the little boys proceeded to twerk and crump into the circle. The girls weren't having it.

Because it was our last day at the school, 10x the amount of the usual selfies were taken. We also had a small ceremony with the director of the school! I was lucky enough not to trip during high school graduation, but somehow I managed to bump into a lot of chairs/backpacks/feet as I walked 10ft to receive my certificate. 

After school, some friends and I went to a restaurant in downtown Miraflores for Ceviche! It was very squishy! 

Selfie?

One of the many group photos taken that day

FÚTBOL

Today was filled with sports! Sports! Instead of giving a lesson at FAP, we joined the students for their P.E. class. P.E. is very different here compared to the states. We started with a 400m jog/sprint and proceeded to stretch. We circled up and followed the P.E. instructor in some deep breathing, lunging, and scissor kicking. Although the activities were widely different, it seems that P.E. instructors are pretty universal. I'm talking about you, Daniel Miller! Some of our activities included: jumping over horizontal bodies, zig zagging between squatting students, and crawling through small children's legs! they may seem silly but I was honestly feeling pretty winded afterward.

After P.E. we went to our history class. We learned about Perú's independence, the guano era, and some of the political/economic problems the country faced during the 1880s and 1890s. What is the guano era you may ask? The guano era was a time of economic prosperity and political reform between 1841-1870. Essentially, the peruvian government began to collect bird/bat/penguin poop from offshore islands to make and sell agricultural fertilizers. Unfortunately for Perú, the Spanish gained control over some of their biggest guano producing islands during the 1860s, which greatly slowed the country's production. The Chilean war did not help the situation. The period that followed took a toll on Perú's economy, which was already in serious debt.

Finishing up our history class, we took the fields again to play a game of fútbol: Americans vs. Peruvians! Us ladies went first. For those of you who don't already know, the last time I played soccer, I broke my wrist. Feeling a little bit of PTSD, I tried to stay as far away from our goal as possible to avoid being hit by any possible shots. My strategy must have been a good one because I actually ended up scoring one of our goals! Incredible! My goal wasn't enough to bring home the W...we lost by one. At least we did better than the guys who I think took a four point loss. Womp.

"Who runs the world? GIRLS."
          -Beyoncé

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER BLOG POST

This morning, Ally and I left the apartment at 8:10 in order to drop our clothes off at the Laundromat and still get to school on time. The place was only a few blocks away so when we got there it was closed. We weren't sure of when it would be open so rather than risk it, we decided to continue to school. Unlike the wise Alexandra, who put her dirty laundry in a duffel bag, I put my dirty clothes into a see through plastic bag. Not wanting to schlep the bag around, I decided to go back to the apartment and drop it off while Ally went to exchange money. Silly me for thinking I could be independent!! I got very lost, for a very long time. I'm not quite sure what happened --I tend to blackout in times of distress-- but I somehow managed to find a different laundromat, drop off my clothes, ask my way to the right street, and find the school! My only concern now is finding the laundromat again tomorrow....

After an already stressful morning, our grammar class began to learn new material that I had never been exposed to in high school or college. It was hard to pick up on some of the sentence structures at first, but by the end of class I think I was beginning to get the hang of things.

Although our school day was over as students, but was just beginning as teachers! Hungry for redemption, we arrived at FAP only 15 minutes late as opposed to the 30 minutes we took yesterday. Again, there was a band of school children waiting to escort us to our classrooms. As we walked across the playground, all of the children poked their heads out of the class room windows to greet us.

Each day, we change class rooms and topics. Today, our group focused on the major tourist attractions found in the United States. Before we started, five of our students gave us a quick presentation on Machu Pichu. Much to our surprise, none of them had actually visited to the cite. After their presentation, we talked about New York, Disney Land, the White House, etc.. We then broke up into small groups and answered their questions regarding the US. My favorite question one student asked one us was "Do you know of the Mormon religion?"

Tomorrow instead of teaching, we will be playing a game of fútbol, us vs. the students! Stay tuned...

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL AT FAP

Today was pretty low key in comparison to the past week we've had. But Monica's low key is an average person's high key. Our classes at El Sol went by fairly quickly. We reviewed when to use oraciones relativos and how to form the appropriate sentences. In our culture class, we talked about the various ceramic pieces from the ancient civilization, Chavín. For lunch, we had the usual peruvian dish "papa a la huacaina" (potatoes and yellow sauce) and chicken con pollo. I use to consider potatoes to be my favorite food but after living in Lima for one week, I'm not sure if my unconditional love for them still stands.

After school, we went to the city's Air Force academy to meet our students. As our bus pulled through the base's gate, a line of children were waiting to meet us. They showed us into a room where we were fed traditional peruvian snacks (or "esnacks", as many people here say) and given gifts. The students then performed a series of songs and dances. I think its safe to say that I now know what it must feel like to a be a member of the royal family. After the festivities, we split up into different classrooms to give presentations about life in the states. Our group's topic was national parks. We had about 20 minutes to prepare and no wifi, so our presentation was a little dissapointing. But tomorrow is a new day! #redemption

Traditional peruvian dance 

A WEEKEND IN ICA

Friday
Wifi has been spotty over the last few days, so this will be a condensed post of the weekend's activities in Ica. As I said in my earlier post, we woke up with the sun to beat Lima's horrific traffic. Little did we know, there is always traffic in Lima. Our 4 hour long bus ride turned into more of a 5 hour bus ride filled with beeping horns and sudden braking, a great environment for naps!

Feeling semi-refreshed from our semi-naps, we took to the dunes for sand boarding and buggy tours. The road trip feels continued as we all piled into our buggies. Similar to the chaotic driving of the Peruvian roads, our buggy driver took off into the desert town of Huacachina as some of us were still scrambling to put on our seat belts. The whole thing was essentially a scene from Mad Max minus the guitarist. After a good jostling, we pulled over on top of one of the dunes to sand board.  I wasn't about to try standing on the board so instead, I kind of just flopped down on my stomach and off I went...

I sense some hesitation here

A desert oasis!

Desert sun is especially draining. What better way to rejuvenate with...can you guess it..pisco! After a filling lunch of the classic arroz con pollo, we took a tour of a pisco and wine vineyard. We sampled over 12 different kinds of pisco, which to my surprise, were pretty tasty. Although the free alcohol was nice, my favorite part of the sampling was watching our tour guide pour Monica full shot glasses of every drink.

Our last activity of the day consisted of a tour of Cachine, a town where the most beautiful and powerful witches of Perú once lived. The best part of this excursion was seeing the seven headed palm tree. There is a legend that accompanies the odd shaped tree. The story was in spanish so this may not be the best rendition, but here's what I got from it. Basically, in order to know the secrets of the world, the witches needed to sacrifice one of their own. The witch that was chosen to be sacrificed didn't want to die, so she tried to run from the other witches. Like any rational witch, she jumped on top of a palm tree in order to escape. The other witches tried to catch her by cutting the palm tree. However, each time they cut the tree, a new palm head would emerge. As the fleeing witch jumped on the 7th head, it broke and she fell to her death. Before she died, she cast a spell on the tree stating that if the 7th head were to ever grow back, the city of Ica would be flooded. To this day, the people of Cachine will chop down any growth of the 7th head in order to protect Ica. 

Saturday

Another early morning! Que bueno. We woke up around 6:30 to leave the hotel at 7:00. The main event of the day was our visit to the Lineas de Nazca, or Nazca Lines. We drove almost two hours into what seemed like the middle of nowhere. When we finally arrived at the foot of a large hill, we all spilled out of the non-air-conditioned bus. Eager to stretch our legs, we hiked to the top of the hill in order to see the ancient geoglyphs. Per usual, I forgot to bring my phone so here is a nice google image of one of the drawings we saw:

Humming bird in Spanish is "picaflor" which translates into flower biter

The Nazca Lines are very mysterious in that nobody knows exactly what purpose they served. One hypothesis is that they were created to be seen by the gods. It has also been theorized that they symbolize fertility or were used as an astronomical calendar. The most interesting aspect of the lines for me, was the fact that they were created without the use of blueprints (the Nazca civilization predated paper). The amount of precision and patience they must have in order to achieve such massive pictures is seriously inspiring. Like why can't I have that kind of motivation?

After our visit to the Nazca Lines, we went to two different artisanal shops where we first learned the process of making traditional Nazca pottery and then gold mining/refining. Because I took various ceramic and sculpture classes in high school, I really enjoyed learning about different techniques the people used in order to make such intricate pieces. The woman who held the workshop made a bowl in under 10 minutes...que incredible!

Nazca pottery workshop

What?

Gold filtration cite in the backyard 

Sunday
We woke up at 10 today! Just kidding! We woke up at 6:00...but it was worth it because we were headed to Paracas to see Las Islas Ballestas. Upon arrival, we took the family road trip to a family ocean trip. We boarded a small motorboat and headed toward the islands. We were immediately surrounded by pods of dolphins. We also saw massive amounts of birds, their poop, seals, and penguins! Animals are cool and all, but I especially enjoyed looking at the various rock formations! I love rocks ~Shout out to Professor Daniel Douglass and his class, Dynamic Earth~ I probably spent more time analyzing specific rock structures than I did looking for the rare penguin.

Rocks

More Rocks

Seal and rocks

We continued our journey home with a quick visit to an afroperuano family's house in the small pueblo of Chincha. There we learned about the history of afroperuano music and dance. After a few performances, the women took our hands and lead us through a series of dance moves. I was paired with one of the younger girls (she was maybe eight years old) and she could move her hips better than I could! Which isn't saying much--not to discredit her--she was dope.

Mis compeñeras

PACHACAMAC

Today we visited Pachacamac, an archeological sight just outside of the city. Pachacamac, meaning "spirit of the earth" in quechua, is considered to be the city in which the cultures of Perú were born. We were given an hour or long tour by a lovely woman named Sandra. Before we began our tour, some of us asked her questions about her life in Lima. I found it fascinating that she studied tourism in college. Clearly it payed off because (1) she had the tour guide aesthetic down to a T (2) she didn't sprint from sight to sight (3) she had an answer to everyone's question and (4) sometimes she spoke in English!!

Sandra <3

Anyways, Pachacamac was discovered fairly recently and therefore many of the structures appear to be your common sand dune. But if you look close enough you can see the potential outlines of temples and houses. As we walked through the city, we saw groups of archeologists working cm by cm to uncover the treasures of the past, ooh! Sandra said the project could take up to 20 years to complete. I'll have to come back in 2036 to check it out.

Archeologist friends

Now it is time to dormir. Tomorrow, we rise at dawn to take on the desert city of Ica!

LOTS OF MUSEUMS AND CORN

Today on our walk to school, Ally and I realized that we live right next to a preschool. As we passed its entrance, I noticed a little boy that clearly did not want to leave his mother's arms. While she was trying to push him onto the playground, he was shrieking and pulling on her hair saying "no quiero, no quiero!" I sympathized with the kid, I was also feeling pretty attached this morning (to my bed, haha). But just like the small child, I too ventured out into the mysterious land of education.

In class we reviewed different uses of subjunctive conjugations and started to learn about an ancient Peruvian culture called el Chavín. We also spent quite a long time looking at different types of corn. This is included: choclo, boiled choclo, Inka corn, popcorn, popped corn, etc...

*Gourmet

After an extensive lesson about corn, we took a field trip to Lima's capital where we toured the Congress of the Republic. In three weeks, the presidential election will be held. As of right now Keiko Fujimori (daughter of former president, Alberto Fujimori) is the popular vote. In Perú, voting is mandatory. If someone fails to vote, they receive a very large fine. I'm not sure what to think about this law. On one hand, I'm sure it encourages more people to vote. On the other hand, it may cause people who don't necessarily follow politics randomly  vote for a candidate. Ally and I had a long conversation about this with our host mother, Aida over some pan y mantequilla. She seemed to more or less agree with the law.

Our field trip didn't end there. We walked down the street to el Museo Afroperuano. At the museum, we learned about the history of slavery in Peru. After a depressing history lesson, our group continued down the street to the church of San Iglesia where we visited the catacombs. The majority of the bones we saw were legs, arms and skulls. The only thing I could think about as we walked through the cemetery was..what happened to all the other parts of the body..?

UNA DÍA DE ARCHEOLOGÍA

Today was another long, but exciting day in Lima. Ally and I got to El Sol three minutes before the first bell today. We're learning! In class, we talked again about Caral, the oldest civilization in South America. Although pictures and videos of the city are nice to look at, I'm very happy that we get to visit the actual ruins in just a few days!!

After school, we took a trip to el Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Perú where we learned about the country's ancient civilizations. My favorite part about the museum was its extensive collection of intact ceramic pieces. Here is a picture of one in particular that caught my attention...

Como se llama

When we finished our tour at the museum, we stopped by a small winery to try various Peruvian drinks. I also found some cake to eat.

The night was young! We proceeded to el Museo Circuito del Agua, a park of 30 giant water fountains/exhibits. We all had lots of fun running in and out of the fountains, trying to avoid being sprayed by the random bursts of water. Some were not as lucky as me, and either got soaked by a sneaky spout, or fell in a puddle as they ran toward dry land. Either way, it was an interesting sight to see! Wet or dry, we continued on to the last event of the night: the water show. So far, I think the water show has been my favorite part of the trip. During these aMEIzing 15 minutes, Peruvian dances, food, and notable monuments were projected on the water as well as funky patterns and shapes (similar those shown at a Beyoncé concert). There was also pump up music playing in the background, which really added to the show's overall grandeur. I know many of my blog followers couldn't experience the overall aesthetic of the experience. Therefore, I have decided to share this picture of my friend Ralzaly to hopefully bring out some emotion in all of you. 

Who is prettier, Ralzaly or Maya?

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

Today we started school at El Sol in downtown Miraflores. My roommate, Ally and I got very lost on our way to class and ended up being the last students to arrive at El Sol, whoops! Don't worry, we still made it with one minute to spare and from what I can tell, that's pretty early in South America.

I started the day with a two hour long grammar class where I reviewed affirmative and negative words and phrases. After reviewing --which felt more like learning for the first time-- I was feeling rather sleepy. To feel more awake for conversation class, I ventured into the coffee/team room and poured myself a warm cup of Mate de Cocoa. Mate de Cocoa is a traditional Peruvian drink made from cocoa (cocaine) leaves. I highly recommend.

After escuela, some friends and I did some exploring! Here are some photos from our exploration...

I spy surfers

I think they're in love

I hope this is a metaphor!

Street art along el Parque Kennedy

On the cliffs of Lima

After extensive exploration, the entirety of our program visited la casa de Ricardo Palma. Supposedly, one could learn the history of Lima just by studying his work. This is not all that surprising, given that Palma has written over 500 stories. He is generally known for mixing historical events with his own mystical tales. At the end of the visit, some of us were given a book of short stories by Palma. Perhaps I will read one tonight!

Ally and I continued the night with a romantic dinner for two at La Paz Cafe. The day had taken a toll on us, so we turned to another traditional Peruvian drink, el Pisco Sour! Pisco Sour is made with pisco (a type of brandy), lime, and egg whites. Basically, they're really healthy and good for you!

Feeling rejuvenated after a large pizza, el pisco sour, and a chocolate bar, we boarded a double decker tour bus for a three hour long ride around some of Lima's major districts including, Barrancos, Chorrillos, and San Isidro. Unfortunately, my phone was dead so I was unable to document the tour. To make up for this devastating detail, here is a photo of my host mother's dog, Maya! 

Que bonita