Hello!!
Can't believe we are in Chile for only 3 more days - leaving for Tacna, Peru airport about 3 pm on Tuesday. We had a very nice ceremony yesterday, a little graduation and a lunch with our families and professors and helpers. Then we rested all day (because we worked so hard that last week of class :P ) and made a bonfire on the beach all night. It was a lot of fun - and who knew how difficult it would be to find firewood in Chile!! It took a lot of work, but finally we succeeded. Had so much fun we're doing the same tonight. Dinner in the centro for the last time with the group, and then we'll head out to the beach again and build another fire. Dancing maybe after - depends on how long I stay awake! Last night I came home 'early' at 3 a.m....oh boy. 2 nights in a row?? I shall try.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Final Week!
I can't believe we've begun our final week here in Arica! Where did the summer go? I'm excited to be home, but it feels like I should be staying here another month or so...
Lucky for me, I am literally all done with my school work. Since I had an extra project to do in place of the normal novel (I need a higher literature credit in order to have it transfer correctly back to UNI), I finished my presentation over that last week, and got my last composition and take home final done yesterday. I literally just go to class this week and call it good :) I'll try and live it up in my final days!
Yesterday, my family had a little barbeque special lunch for my 'sister,' my mom's daughter came home for a holiday week from Santiago. We had chicken, sausage/chorizo, beef, aaand this black meat in the shape of a hot dog. The family insisted we try it (Nolan was here for lunch too), so we obliged hesitantly. A few minutes after we'd finished the mystery 'meat,' that actually tasted pretty good, we worked up the courage to ask what it was exactly. The sole member of my family who knows English, my uncle Hugo, piped in and said BLOOD! Nolan was so startled that he dropped his on the floor under the table. Yep folks, ate cooked cooked cow blood yesterday - blood cooked until it solidified. Didn't eat much the rest of the day let's just say :)
Today has been a beautiful day - sun came out before noon and has warmed up since. I just ran and enjoyed the weather and the city we'll be leaving so soon!
Lucky for me, I am literally all done with my school work. Since I had an extra project to do in place of the normal novel (I need a higher literature credit in order to have it transfer correctly back to UNI), I finished my presentation over that last week, and got my last composition and take home final done yesterday. I literally just go to class this week and call it good :) I'll try and live it up in my final days!
Yesterday, my family had a little barbeque special lunch for my 'sister,' my mom's daughter came home for a holiday week from Santiago. We had chicken, sausage/chorizo, beef, aaand this black meat in the shape of a hot dog. The family insisted we try it (Nolan was here for lunch too), so we obliged hesitantly. A few minutes after we'd finished the mystery 'meat,' that actually tasted pretty good, we worked up the courage to ask what it was exactly. The sole member of my family who knows English, my uncle Hugo, piped in and said BLOOD! Nolan was so startled that he dropped his on the floor under the table. Yep folks, ate cooked cooked cow blood yesterday - blood cooked until it solidified. Didn't eat much the rest of the day let's just say :)
Today has been a beautiful day - sun came out before noon and has warmed up since. I just ran and enjoyed the weather and the city we'll be leaving so soon!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
A little more Cusco
By popular demand, I shall continue my writing about the free week (don't worry, nothing too exciting or crazy has happened here in Chile since then - just lots of class, homework, and I finished my humungous project I have been working on the whole time here - 17 pages!! IN SPANISH)
We of course took a trip to Machu Picchu - may have been my favorite day thus far in South America. I was a little stressed because the train ride was four hours each way to GET to the ruins, and according to our tickets we had just shy of 3 hours there. Plus we had to get tickets to the bus to GET up to the ruins, see them all, and you know how I get stressed about these things. Good thing Nolan was around to slap me around a little and tell me to chill (without the slapping of course).
We had plenty of time and found the ticket booth for the bus ride up, and we found a map right away when we got the ruins. Nolan navigated and I took most of the pictures - what an amazing sight. Even the 4 hour train ride there and back was awfully beautiful. We had the perfect amount of time to see everything we wanted to at the ruins, and then even had time to watch the football game - Germany vs. Spain?? I don't remember.
We didn't return to Cusco until about 9 or 9:30, and were STARVING. The train ride back had given us a little sushi snack (which shocked the two of us how much we like it), but we didn't have lunch and were famished. Lucky for us, we found a cute restaurant (looking over the plaza, view number 3) and had trout, alpaca, free wine, and stuffed hot peppers (I hope I didn't already write about this), and FREE wine!! The restaurants were so competitive for business that they would offer free drinks to those who came to their place. Good deal I'd say!
We of course took a trip to Machu Picchu - may have been my favorite day thus far in South America. I was a little stressed because the train ride was four hours each way to GET to the ruins, and according to our tickets we had just shy of 3 hours there. Plus we had to get tickets to the bus to GET up to the ruins, see them all, and you know how I get stressed about these things. Good thing Nolan was around to slap me around a little and tell me to chill (without the slapping of course).
We had plenty of time and found the ticket booth for the bus ride up, and we found a map right away when we got the ruins. Nolan navigated and I took most of the pictures - what an amazing sight. Even the 4 hour train ride there and back was awfully beautiful. We had the perfect amount of time to see everything we wanted to at the ruins, and then even had time to watch the football game - Germany vs. Spain?? I don't remember.
We didn't return to Cusco until about 9 or 9:30, and were STARVING. The train ride back had given us a little sushi snack (which shocked the two of us how much we like it), but we didn't have lunch and were famished. Lucky for us, we found a cute restaurant (looking over the plaza, view number 3) and had trout, alpaca, free wine, and stuffed hot peppers (I hope I didn't already write about this), and FREE wine!! The restaurants were so competitive for business that they would offer free drinks to those who came to their place. Good deal I'd say!
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Cusco
As I said before, we got to Cusco at about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. Not a whole lot to do, but we busied ourselves with a walk to find our hotel and then returned for the others to get some breakfast. An hour and a half walk around the area put us eating breakfast at only about 7:30 or 8 am. A great breakfast too! We found a little restaurant on a side street that cost each of us only about $2.50 USD. The service was slower than we're used to in the U.S., but we've gotten used to the laid back style of eating out here.
The day was spent wandering the city of Cusco, checking into our beautiful hotel, eating 2 very delicious meals, and a play that night called Kusikay (Koo-see-kiy). The places we ate both looked over the main plaza in Cusco, but from different angles. We made a goal for ourselves that we would eat from every angle in the plaza, and you better believe we accomplished it! Our dinner was completely authentic complete with a CubaLibre, Mojito, and 2 full plates of alpaca cordon bleu and alpaca nuggets - we weren't brave enough to order "cuy," but the man next to us was - it is a delicacy in Peru.....guinea pig. Literally served whole, hooves hanging off the plate and all. Sorry all you vegetarians, it wasn't a pretty sight for the carnivores either.
The play was amazing - it was performed only in dance and song - no words were used which allowed people around the world to understand the meaning of the play. It told the story through acrobatics of the indigenous culture and works its way through time until the Spanish came and conquered. It used a lot of humor too, there were several characters that acted as audience members in a way, and they included people from the audience often, too. Nolan was chosen to go up on stage in front of the whole audience to participate in a bull fight, and he was the matador! Another audience member was the bull who proceeded to chase him around the stage...very entertaining from my seat :)
The day was spent wandering the city of Cusco, checking into our beautiful hotel, eating 2 very delicious meals, and a play that night called Kusikay (Koo-see-kiy). The places we ate both looked over the main plaza in Cusco, but from different angles. We made a goal for ourselves that we would eat from every angle in the plaza, and you better believe we accomplished it! Our dinner was completely authentic complete with a CubaLibre, Mojito, and 2 full plates of alpaca cordon bleu and alpaca nuggets - we weren't brave enough to order "cuy," but the man next to us was - it is a delicacy in Peru.....guinea pig. Literally served whole, hooves hanging off the plate and all. Sorry all you vegetarians, it wasn't a pretty sight for the carnivores either.
The play was amazing - it was performed only in dance and song - no words were used which allowed people around the world to understand the meaning of the play. It told the story through acrobatics of the indigenous culture and works its way through time until the Spanish came and conquered. It used a lot of humor too, there were several characters that acted as audience members in a way, and they included people from the audience often, too. Nolan was chosen to go up on stage in front of the whole audience to participate in a bull fight, and he was the matador! Another audience member was the bull who proceeded to chase him around the stage...very entertaining from my seat :)
Monday, July 12, 2010
Back from Peru!
I don't even know where to start about our week in Peru, it will have to be a daily series of posts to keep everyone guessing and to let my typing fingers rest :)
Last Sunday, we got up, headed to the bus station, and caught a taxi to cross the border to get to the Tacna bus station. Everything went very smoothly, until the near fatal end to the trip (ask me in person for the details. Bottom line: everything was ok!!) We took our 6 hour bus ride in a very comfortable and nice bus line where we got to watch movies and play bingo. Lucky Nolan, won the first round of bingo, which bought him a free return ticket!!
We got into Arequipa at about 8 or so that night, and he and I had to choose the taxi driver that didn't have a clue where our hotel was. After 8 stops to ask for directions, we made a stop at the Peruvian police station, who also didn't know where the place was. Frustration was seeping from my pores not only because it was taking 2 hours to get there, but also because no one had heard of this hotel before...so FINALLY we called it, and the reason no one could find it was because the AREA of town it was in (like NYC has Bronx, Harlem, etc.) was the same name as the actuall street. Once we found it, it was a really nice little place with great service and a nice room. We were so strung out that we found the nearest restaurant, ordered familiar American food, and went to bed before 10:30. Sleeping off the stress was what we needed.
Day 2, an early sunshiny day in Arequipa! We woke up and went to the patio for our free breakfast where we met a man from San Diego who had travelled to Cedar Rapids before for business, and his daughter lived in Iowa for a year! This hotel maybe held 30 guests, and here we were eating with people familiar from Iowa. Small world :)
The rest of the day was spent walking walking walking walking and exploring the Plaza de Armas, the main square. We found a great little restuarant to eat at, and then took a tour of El Monasterio de Santa Catalina (Monastery of St. Catherine) - it was a place where nuns used to live who took a vow never to leave it once they entered, can you imagine? It was like a city within the city, incredibly huge and over 400 years old. The newer addition was not open to public, but was the home to 30 nuns who still lived like that and never saw the outside world once they entered. What a way to live.
Our bus left that night at 8:30 for Cusco, and was a 10 hour overnighter - brutal for sleeping, but better than wasting a day to travel. More to come later about city number 2!
Last Sunday, we got up, headed to the bus station, and caught a taxi to cross the border to get to the Tacna bus station. Everything went very smoothly, until the near fatal end to the trip (ask me in person for the details. Bottom line: everything was ok!!) We took our 6 hour bus ride in a very comfortable and nice bus line where we got to watch movies and play bingo. Lucky Nolan, won the first round of bingo, which bought him a free return ticket!!
We got into Arequipa at about 8 or so that night, and he and I had to choose the taxi driver that didn't have a clue where our hotel was. After 8 stops to ask for directions, we made a stop at the Peruvian police station, who also didn't know where the place was. Frustration was seeping from my pores not only because it was taking 2 hours to get there, but also because no one had heard of this hotel before...so FINALLY we called it, and the reason no one could find it was because the AREA of town it was in (like NYC has Bronx, Harlem, etc.) was the same name as the actuall street. Once we found it, it was a really nice little place with great service and a nice room. We were so strung out that we found the nearest restaurant, ordered familiar American food, and went to bed before 10:30. Sleeping off the stress was what we needed.
Day 2, an early sunshiny day in Arequipa! We woke up and went to the patio for our free breakfast where we met a man from San Diego who had travelled to Cedar Rapids before for business, and his daughter lived in Iowa for a year! This hotel maybe held 30 guests, and here we were eating with people familiar from Iowa. Small world :)
The rest of the day was spent walking walking walking walking and exploring the Plaza de Armas, the main square. We found a great little restuarant to eat at, and then took a tour of El Monasterio de Santa Catalina (Monastery of St. Catherine) - it was a place where nuns used to live who took a vow never to leave it once they entered, can you imagine? It was like a city within the city, incredibly huge and over 400 years old. The newer addition was not open to public, but was the home to 30 nuns who still lived like that and never saw the outside world once they entered. What a way to live.
Our bus left that night at 8:30 for Cusco, and was a 10 hour overnighter - brutal for sleeping, but better than wasting a day to travel. More to come later about city number 2!
Friday, July 2, 2010
Adios for a week!
This the last post I will have for a week - today starts our travels. First as a class we are all going to Putre, a place in the mountains of Chile where the indigenous people are still living. Then we'll come home tomorrow to leave again for Arequipa, Cusco, and Machu Picchu!! We'll be gone a whole week and won't have our computer or internet, so look out in about a week for lots of stories and pictures!
Take care,
Anne
Take care,
Anne
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