Peru, Day 9b: Wonderlust

For an ardent lover of nature, there is nothing quite like the discovery of an entirely new set of fauna. I see a tree here or there that I recognize, and the grass looks mainly the same, but for the most part, I am experiencing an entirely new natural world. It echos of the one I know, with similar colors, textures, angles, and shadows, but it affords the pleasure of new combinations. The wonderful natural beauty all around combines with the sense of newness to create the impression of a magical paradise in which one could explore and discover for endless hours, possibly even weeks or years. It is as if a whole new world opened and allowed me a glimpse into what I could see if I only kept looking. Looking into the eyes of the local llamas, the veins of each different flower petal, the clouds that hang low over the mountain tops in the morning, the lives the people who experience this new world every day.

This is why I have to travel. 

Peru, Day 9: ¡Vamos a Caminar!

When Raúl told us we'd be taking a walk this morning, we thought it would be a tour through the town, or maybe a walk along the river. It started out innocently enough:

It ended rather differently...

Here's some of what happened along the way:

So we hiked up a mountain. It was not really a "walk" per se, but worth every second, sunburn, and scratch.

Peru, Day 8: Hi-Ho to the Sacred Valley we go!

A Peruvian bus station and some luggage, obviously.

As it turns out, the school I attend here, Amauta, has a campus in the Sacred Valley, a short bus ride away from several of the biggest tourist attractions in Peru. So, naturally, I'm on my way there! It's supposedly peaceful, beautiful, and intense. I can't wait to spend an entire week submersed in Spanish, surrounded by rugged Andean peaks, and soaking up the sun. I promise I'll take pictures this week! But it may be a while before I can post them as internet is spotty at best...

Our group consists of Raul, Ursula, and Gimena. Raul and Ursula live on the campus and take care of cooking, cleaning, maintenance, tours, and everything else. Gimena is 4 and adorable. Pat and Amy, mother and daughter from Idaho; Pat speaks no Spanish, Amy at an intermediate level. Hugo, older man from Switzerland, the most advanced Spanish-speaker of the group. Nicolas from France has been here for 3 months, before coming he knew no Spanish. And then my sweet friends Nina, from Germany, and Sophie from London. Could this group get any more odd? Well yes, slightly. But it looks like we'll have an interesting time. Our teachers this week are Dorian, Dessirre, and Erika - I have yet to meet any of them.

I am excited for this week - and excited for the time (hopefully) soon when I can post all of the lovely pictures I'm going to take.

Bus ride through the Andes.

Yes, it's winter here.

All this beauty from a bus window.

Down in that valley...is Urubamba. A nice bustling town close to Machu Pichu, full of tourists, natives, things to see, and places to go, but surprisingly tranquil in spite of all that.

Peru, Days 4-6: I could've danced all night!

Wednesday: Barring the last couple times I've gotten to see Sam, I can't remember the last time I felt this elated. It's like this well of enthusiasm and enjoyment opened up and keeps bubbling, gushing out even though I left the club almost as long ago as I was there. Yes, dancing has always been one of my favorite hobbies, but I haven't danced in ages due mainly to time constraints. But here, I have so much free time, and the salsa lessons were free. Free! Salsa! I'm always up to try a new kind of dance and thankfully a couple of my new friends (Nina - Germany, Soph - Australia) were too. And now, I'm home, and showered, and in bed, and so very tired! But I can't stop smiling! I can't wait to go back!

Thursday: After thinking all day about how I excited I was to go dance I was a split second away from not going. It started when Soph wasn't feeling good and decided to go home. Nina and I went and ate a leisurely dinner together which consisted mainly of cheese, but finished a good half hour before the dance started. We walked as slowly as we could while still maintaining some type of body heat, then stood in the plaza for 10 minutes waiting for the doors to open. We felt cold and very awkward and had both just looked at each other and said, "I think I'll just go home," when one of the instructors happened to walk by. He somehow remembered us - tho neither of us remembered talking or dancing with him - and politely asked, "Oh! Are you coming in to dance?" We hmm-ed and haw-ed and pretended that we couldn't speak Spanish, until I managed to say something like, "Oh, we were just talking about it..."

Needless to say, we went. We were the only ones there, and since the instructors get paid to teach, Nina and I each got ourselves an hour long, free, private salsa lesson. I'll take it!

Naturally, I feel intimidated. These guys are professionals, I've spent less than 2 hours of my life salsa dancing. But, no worries. Not sure about Nina's partner, Francesco, but my instructor, Americo, was one of the best leads/partners I have ever encountered. The club, Methodology,  is unusual in that there are always more guys than girls and if I want to dance all I have to do is not be sitting in a corner and say yes. Most of the guys are patient and helpful, and all three of us already feel like we'll be pros in a few weeks... (Yea, right.) But really, we've all dancind enough before that we make fair partners if not amazing.

And we just can't get enough!

The do it every night, and so far we've gone back every night.

Friday: Last night when the music switched to some sort of stupid poppy crap at 11 like it always does, we hung around for a while. I can't say I enjoyed it much. It got a bit better when someone bought me a drink: rum, vodka, and coke. It was actually quite good. I wanted another one. (I actually got another one, but that's beside the point.)

Methodology is actually the first club I've ever spent any time in. It's a very new experience for me, and not like I'd expected. I actually enjoy it quite a bit, tho when the lights go down and the party tunes start up I just want to bolt.

I'm not sure why it takes travelling to push me to do things I won't do in the States. Maybe it's the fact that I can pretend I can't talk to anyone. Maybe it's that in 6 weeks I'll never see any of these people again. Maybe it's that I'm already somewhat uncomfortable all of the time, so another potentially uncomfortable experience really doesn't mean much. Maybe it's that I have more time. Maybe it's that I have different friends.

But whatever it is, I'm glad for it. So here's to many more nights of dancing and many new experiences!

Peru, Day 3: 12 hours in Qosqo

First of all, "Qosqo" is the Quechua spelling of "Cuzco." Second, my headache is entirely gone, and if I don't have any respiratory issues tonight, I think I'll start working out again in the morning. And third, in some more entirely too personal news, my face is as red as a tomato and feels as warm as someone with a fever of 102. I am neither sunburned, sick, nor drunk. I do not understand this phenomena, but I'm not complaining because it's keeping me warm in this heatless room.

This morning I found both a bank from which to withdraw soles, a store from which to buy an international calling card, a landline on which to call, and the international entrance code with which to call the US. (It's 001, cause we're number 1, apparently.) I successfully cancelled my card that thankfully had no new transactions on it, called my Mom, watched the Inti Raymi ceremony in the Plaza, bought a beautiful bag for 15 soles (approximately $5.50), found a wonderful cafe with internet, pastries, native bread, and a TV a short and gorgeous walk from the school, ate alpaca - at least that's what the ladies told me it was - from a street vendor, took myself out to dinner, watched two World Cup matches, found a market with clothes and fruit where there were no tourists (that means it's cheap because it's where the residents shop), met several new friends, studied Spanish for class tomorrow, and saw my first rocky, snowy, Andean peak. All in less than 12 hours.

Travelling in a country where I speak the language is truly thrilling! There is A LOT going on around me that I can't catch, but when people talk to me or I need to ask questions, or if I just want to make new friends at the school who don't speak English, my Spanish is definitely sufficient. And it's only going to get better!

Peru, Day 2: Everything they always warned you about

As far as safe travelling has gone, today has not been my brightest.

-- eating unpeeled, fresh fruit
-- forgetting to buy sunscreen
-- getting lost multiple times on the way to school
-- getting sunburned
-- failing to find my Spanish-English dictionary
-- not having a secret pocket for pencils/pens
-- eating raw vegetables
-- allowing my wallet to be stolen (Let's be clear here, that wallet held the card with all of the money I've been saving for 2 years for THIS trip.)

On the brighter side.

-- my altitude head ache has almost disappeared
-- my sunburn doesn't hurt
-- the taxi driver was safe and honest
-- I still made it to school on time
-- some people bring multiple pencils to class
-- I got a half hug from someone who felt really bad for me (I miss hugs greatly while travelling.)
-- I'm in the Advanced 1 Spanish class
-- I'm safe

Money is just money. Tomorrow, I will attempt to borrow money from someone who has it, buy an international calling card, and attempt to cancel the card before it can be swiped too many times. Honestly, it feels really...terrible. I have to go through a lot of trouble and I hate borrowing money! It's humbling. It's a bit scary to feel this vulnerable. I'll miss my pretty green Korean wallet. But it's just money. There is always more of it. I'm safe! After so many safety fails, that's nothing to be taken for granted.

Tomorrow's another day. With more mistakes and hopefully one successful international call to Skylight Financial...

Peru, Day 1: The first 48 hours

Somehow, BNA doesn't seem so small anymore. I believe the Cusco airport is the smallest one I have ever encountered, and Jorge Chavez, Lima, isn't much bigger. Again, I find myself overwhelmed by how many things are just...DIFFERENT. I cannot stop myself from comparing Peru (still have a hard time believing I'm actually here!) with Korea, Germany, and the USA. So many things. Each time I encounter something else that I never thought about before - because it was the same in every place I've been previously.

For instance...
...most of the roads here are paved with rocks.
...I have to use bottled water to brush my teeth.
...water pressure determines temperature - hot is lower, cold is higher.
...there are no heated buildings.
...people walk slowly here. Everyone.
...the streets are mostly deserted by 1900. (At least on Sunday nights.)
...there are so many bars, gates, locks, and keys!

Those are the ones I've encountered in the first 22 hours.

The last 2 days have been full. And long. and tiring - I'd even be tired if I wasn't 3400 meters above sea level. I woke up at 0530 on Saturday to catch a flight in Nashville at 0800. Roughest flight of my entire life! But landed safely in Chicago around 1000. Some time later, after checking my second bag for free due to a crowded plane, we all set off for Miami. The flight started wonderfully with the little girl in front of my giggling uncontrollably with excitement when the plan took off. It went downhill from there. Scheduled to arrive at 1510 (EST), I was supposed to have 70 minutes to find my last gate and board for Lima. Not so fast! Literally. We landed in Miami at 1550, waited to dock, and I finally walked off the plane at 1513 - with 7 minutes til boarding time.

I'll admit, I was nervous. So nervous, I decided to attempt to talk to an airport employee, succeeded in getting ignored, impatiently "answered," and then told I could get in line. Hey, Lady! I don't have time for lines and it's not my fault either! So I just took off looking for my gate on my own and somehow managed to get there in 6 minutes, or something like that. I only ran on the stairs. I guess all that speed-walking people always tell me I do (do I really walk that fast??) came in handy.

Anyway, that flight was only 5 hours, so I arrived in Lima at 2130 (CST) where everything went smoothly - customs, baggage claim, currency exchange, and even immigration. I'd paid to have a taxi from my hostel pick me up, everyone was kind and understanding of both my tiredness and my Spanish. After paying, arranging for a taxi back to the airport at 0500, contacting who I could back home, cleaning up - some of my liquid items decided it would be fun to spill, but fortunately I'd wrapped them all carefully in multiple layers of plastic, and talking with my roommates (including 3 guys from France, a backpacker from the NE US, one Asian girl, and one girl from London who'd been hiking in the same pair of shoes and socks for over a month...at least her personality was pleasant.), I finally fell asleep around 0040. Or so I thought.
In actuality my phone had never reset from EST (it still hasn't) and I went to sleep at 1140, and woke up at 0330. UGH. It turned out to be ok in the end because I'd been thinking my flight to Cusco was at 0630 when it was really at 0610 so an 0500 taxi would've been too late. Again the hostel worker and taxi driver were kind and helpful and I hope to stay there again when I'm back in Lima. But again, Jorge Chavez is a small airport, so I got through easily and sat and waited to board for 40 minutes at my gate. I almost fell asleep and woke up to the last call for my flight, which also happened to be the first call as there were only about 25 people on the flight. For some reason 0610 on a Sunday morning isn't a popular time to fly to Cusco.

After arriving, I walked (again) past rows and rows of people stating/asking "Taxi, Miss?" And the endless string of "No, gracias" commenced. Fortunately my ride was there waiting so we got to my new home quickly and without any hassle.

My host Mom is kind and talkative and so far has been helping with my Spanish when I can't remember a word or a past tense ending, or really anything else I'm having trouble with. There are 2 others girls here for 2 weeks, both 14 - here with their Middle School class. Fortunately, when we got to the school I met a few other girls not in that group... Soph from Sydney, Jikke from Holland, Serene from Seattle, Sofia from London, and Nina from Germany. We're all travelling alone, all at a similar level in Spanish, and all similar ages. And we will all be here different lengths of time.

We walked and talked and found a cafe with internet where I tried carrot tea. Not bad.

And....that's been my weekend. Not too shabby, though a bit stressful at times and, again, very tiring.
The altitude things....well, let's just say that I am a semi-active person, I have normally run up a few flights of stairs with only slight effect on my lungs and heart. Not here! One trip up the stairs and I feel I'm about to start panting. Then just lying in bed, every once in a while I keep feeling my heart race a little. And my fingers are just going to be cold. A lot. During the day the weather is gorgeous, though most people found it a little cold. Mornings and night stay in the 30s, but as there is no heat in the houses, it means that it feels very cold. Yay for lots of blankets, fleece pajamas, undershirts, overshirts, socks, and slippers!

Also, YAY for 3 years of Spanish!!!

There are so many things I don't know. SO many words I can't remember. But after talking with someone for a few minutes, they always pick up on my level of knowledge and so far have all been kind enough to lower theirs to fit it. Normally, that just means speaking slowly and not using many "big words". As if they were talking to a 10-year-old. It's exciting. It's extremely nice that when things happen like almost getting lost on my walk home, I can just approach someone and say, "Hola, tengo una pregunta - ¿sabe donde está la calle xxxxxx?" What's even better is completely understanding their answer. Ordering food, finding places, asking directions, reading signs - I can do it all! Not perfectly, of course, but I understand them, and I can make myself understood for the most part. So it works!

But...now it's 2040, I have a splitting headache and have to be up before 0700 tomorrow to take an assessment test. Sleep is sounding like the best thing in the world! (Remember that line, all of you who were following this blog in the Korea days?)