Horseback riding, nightlife

So I could never be having this much fun at home. I never go out back in the States, and even if I wanted to, there's no one to go with me, no place to go, and everywhere costs triple what it does here.

Earlier today we went horseback riding up at Saqsayhuaman. It only cost 25 soles, and it was a great day. I forgot how much I missed horseback riding. I went with a different group, separating from my roommate for the first time in a while, but I still had a lot of fun. We also had lunch at the Inka Grill where I tried alpaca for the first time. It was absolutely delicious. I think I ended up sharing a taste with everyone at the table (like 10 people), because everyone was so curious.

I just got back from a night out. We tried karaoke, but they wanted to charge us a ridiculous fee just to participate, so we took off. Later we split into two groups, and I stuck with the people at the hookah bar, where we gradually got more and more drunk, and eventually shared a mint hookah. Then over to join up with the other group at another bar, where the band was playing nothing but classic American rock. The Doors, The Beatles, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, even Pink Floyd towards the end there. It was a fun time, and we all danced and sang at the top of our lungs.

I guess I should mention that today is the second day of the Independence day festival, and thus, a day off for everybody.

Jungle time!

So I went to the Amazon rainforest over the weekend. It was pretty intense. It was like when I get grossed out back home because of large ants, or cause there might be mosquitos or spiders, but like tenfold. So much so that I pretty much just quit worrying about it because I was completely surrounded.

It was also very hot and sticky. It reminded me of the butterfly house at the Wild Animal Park, and a butterfly did, in fact, land on my arm. The first day we were there, Friday, we had a lazy lunch, and then went down to the river to do some kayaking. That was so much fun it makes me want to take it up when I get home. Then we went on a night walk through the jungle, during which our guide was kind enough to point out baby jumping spiders, stick insects, more spiders, and fire ants, which had to repeatedly stop and check us for, just to make sure.

Then, when it was time for bed, I found a termite nest under my mattress. Somehow, I still managed to sleep once they switched our room.

Early to rise the next morning, to the parrot clay lick. I was a little disappointed, because it was farther away than I thought, so I couldn't really see the birds that well, but there were zillions of them and they were all making noise. After that we went down the river to Lake Sandoval. We saw where they're building the bridge for the road to Brazil, which will cross the continent from Atlantic to Pacific ocean.

The walk from where we landed the boat to the lake was about 5 km, and along the way we saw this nifty looking squirrel and a bunch of leafcutter ants. I must say, the ants were one of the coolest things to see because of how organized they were, and how neat they looked. Once we got to the lake we ate this massive lunch of arroz con pollo packed into these big leaves. I couldn't even eat it all.

Our guide then took us on the canoe ride from hell out on the lake. There was zero shade, and it felt like it was about 110 degrees out there, and it was sticky, too. We saw macaws, and river otters, and this huge caiman that tried to take down a bird as it flew off across the lake. We finally slipped into this canal and went through this swamp, where it was nice and cool. The whole time we were out we could hear various strange animal noises, punctuated by the occasional total silence.

On the way back we saw a monkey, jumping from palm tree to palm tree and making a ton of noise for how small and cute he was. There was also Sam, the dog, who showed up as we entered the park and trotted along more or less beside us the whole way. He was a sweetheart, and I was surprised that he'd survived running loose in the jungle.

The boat ride back was also a bit hellish. It was much longer, since it was upstream, and we were wet, sticky, hot, and somewhat sick to start out with, but as night fell it got cold. When we finally returned to home base, we had to slog through the mud, up to the tap where we had to wash our feet in the dark, and then across the road to the lodge.

This morning again we woke up very early, hoping to go ziplining before breakfast. For a while it looked like we weren't going to be able to, but our guide pulled it together and we speedwalked through the jungle to get to the platform, where we then used ascenders to climb a rope all the way to the top of a tree with a platform. It was pretty physically demanding, but also definitely fun.

Then the airplane ride from hell this morning. Two and a half hours waiting in the unconditioned airport, followed by the bumpiest, most insecure feeling flight I've ever been on. I'm glad to go to bed tonight.

Molino

So today was the first day that I've been here (not counting arrival day) that ISA hasn't had a single thing scheduled for us. So, I woke up around 9am, ate a leisurely breakfast, and me and my roommate headed to the panaderia down the street. I enjoyed a mocha for 7 soles and read my book for a couple hours before we decided to head to the main event of the day: El Molino.

Molino is basically a huge open air shopping mall. There are hundreds of stalls, most of them selling bootleg DVDs and CDs, shoes, and clothes. While we were there, we stopped at a Cebicheria just outside the main area, and tried ceviche for the first time. While the word "sketchy" immediately comes to mind when trying to describe the area, our host mom said it was a good place to eat and I haven't gotten sick yet, so I figure it's all good.

The Real McCoy

So for a while tonight I completely forgot I was in Peru. School was the same, stayed at Tinku messing around on the computer and enjoying my half of the crepes until around four. Then we all went to run some errands, post office etc. We had to cross a picket line to get in, (which for the record, I was totally against) and then we wandered about some more, before ending up at The Real McCoy early.

The Real McCoy is this British pub we heard about from the Summer 1 students yesterday. On Wednesdays they hold trivia night which is just what it sounds like. Their slogan is something like "a little slice of home", which it was. Everyone there spoke English, and they had magazines, books, and newspapers in English too. Everything was very comfy feeling and it really did feel like home. About fifteen of us ended up there for the trivia game, eating dinner, getting drinks, and just generally enjoying ourselves. It did not fit in with my budget, although I suppose it was more than reasonable if I translate it to American dollars. Must say it was worth it though.

Oh, and our professor at Tinku showed up for drinks and trivia, and brought his dog along! Definitely a character.

And tomorrow is SALSA!

Machu Pichu, classes, etc.

I have to admit that today was fairly boring. It was the first day where all we really had was classes. I feel like all I did today was get up, eat, go to school, homework, errands, and laziness. Nothing exciting really happened at all.

Over the weekend we went to Machu Pichu. It was different. I don't want to say it was amazing, even though it was, because everyone says it's amazing. Something about being above the clouds, in an ancient abandoned city defies explanation. There were moments when I felt like I could almost feel the weight of years pressing down on me. We had a lot of fun though, and I'm glad that I like everyone in our group.

Now it's just starting to kind of hit me that I'm gonna be here for a while. Other people around me are getting homesick. One girl told me she was counting the days until she could go home. I'm trying really hard to stay positive and take things one day at a time, but it's hard when I look at my calendar and realize that I really do have five weeks left to go.

I think I'll just look forward to salsa lessons on Thursday and Friday. :)

Bones in the catacombs

Short post today, since I'm exhausted. The church was amazing--I couldn't take pictures because the flash degrades the paintings or some such nonsense. Which means that pretty much everything is going to be forgotten. Except the catacombs, where I seriously creeped myself out by picturing the monks in the dark with torches, burying these rotting corpses. I did get one picture of the bones when the tour guide turned his back. My stupid camera ran out of batteries shortly thereafter though.

The church (Iglesia de San Francisco) was towards the end of the bus tour we took today. It was cold as hell all day, and I wished I brought toilet paper when I encountered the restroom at the church. It was missing a toilet seat, too, but I think those are too heavy to carry around.

Twelve dogs in sweaters today. I think I'm going to have to stop counting.

Today a Peruvian guy saw our bus, and broke into a big smile, shouting "Hello! How are you!" at us. I got smacked in the face by many, many tree branches because we sat on the top level of the bus.

By the time we got to the art museum, I was too exhausted to care too much, and wasn't able to translate many of the guide's words. But again, I got the gist of most things.

We ate at Bembo's again for lunch, and this Arabic restaurant whose name I still can't remember for dinner. I'm definitely adding chorizo to my favorite foods list. I may have screwed myself up when I had a salad for dinner, but it's too late for that now (they rinse the lettuce in the water). I also loved the chincha morada I had with dinner.

But I'm definitely ready for bed, since we're leaving tomorrow at 2:45am.

Cats in the park

Today was insanely busy. We got to go to Huaca Pucllana (pictures to come), which I had wanted to go to since before we came here. We saw where they ate sharks as part of a ritual, and where they made human sacrifices. They even had a section showcasing the native plants and animals, including llamas, alpacas, and guinea pigs, all of which were completely adorable. And all of which are considered delicacies. The whole tour was in Spanish, but I understood pretty well, and that was encouraging for me.

We also took a walk in the park, where there were like, bajillions of stray cats for no apparent reason. There were even signs saying not to leave your cats in the park.

I ate at a Chinese restaurant, and we had ice cream on the pier. Me and some friends went to see Toy Story 3 in Spanish, but I have to admit that I don't know how much I got from the language and how much I got from the visual cues.

Dinner was delicious, and I got to try the Pisco sour, which was very strong. There was a fabulous dinner show, with dancing and beautiful costumes and crazy masks (pictures also to come). I considered going to the club with some of the others, but I was so exhausted it seemed better just to get in my PJs and relax.

Oh, and we're up to 5 dogs in sweaters.

First (well second) night in Lima

I'm calling this my first night because it's my first night and because technically, I arrived in Lima at 2am this morning. Still having trouble with the time change. When they called me this morning to tell me I had to switch rooms, my watch said 7am, so I told them I'd be out at one. Then I thought about it, added three hours, and realized it almost WAS 11. Thank goodness that the lady at the front desk spoke English.

I'm now in a double room, with my roommate, Jennifer. I also realize that it's two hours, not three hours ahead because of daylight savings time. She and I spent the afternoon napping, and then walked down Avenida Arequipa for a couple of hours. We stopped at a place called Plaza Vea, which reminded me of nothing if not a bright yellow Walmart. Inside, we ate lunch at Bembo's, which as far as I can tell only cost about four dollars for a soda, fries, rice, and a (delicious) entree of pollo y chorizo. Then we continued walking down the Avenida, looking for the Huaca Pucllana, a temple where they used to worship the rain god. We never found it, but we did almost get run over by cars several times. People here drive like they're TRYING to run down pedestrians. It's also pretty smoggy. And kind of cold. But there are lots of people on the streets, and I even saw one lady jogging, which I didn't expect.

So far I have seen two dogs wearing sweaters, which I was expecting, based on prior reports of Lima. Yes, I am keeping track.

When we got back, Jennifer and I tried to get dinner. I say tried because she ordered a sandwich and I ordered ceviche. She got her sandwich, and we waited about an hour for the ceviche before I asked and realized it wasn't coming. So, we split the sandwich, then looked up Jeffrey, the only other ISA student to arrive so far, and took him to the gas station to get food with us. If my food ordering skills don't improve, it's safe to say I'm going to lose a ton of weight.

Since then, we have had to call the front desk to figure out the hot water, and realized that we do, in fact, have wi-fi here. Tomorrow we are supposed to meet Jeffrey for breakfast at 9am, and then the day is pretty much planned from there. Exciting stuff.