Lima

The weekend flew by! I am exhausted today from all the activity and Spanish practice. On Friday, the entire training group went to the city of Lima together for the first time. The experience of simply getting there was interesting enough. We rented out combi’s (busses) and filled them with gringos. Needless to say, we got a lot of interested looks from Peruvians in passing cars and busses. One bus of people actually took pictures of us because we are apparently a big spectacle. Also, an interesting thing about Peru (or at least the Lima area) is that they are about 20 years behind in terms of what kind of American music they listen to. I have heard more 80’s music and Michael Jackson recently then I think I have in my entire life. I thought it was pretty hilarious that on the way to Lima, the driver put in a special “gringo mix” of all 80’s music that… I’m not going to lie… we all really enjoyed and maybe even sang along to. It always feels good be able to sing along to music, even if it is something you would probably never listen to at home.

In the actual city of Lima, our teachers scared us silly about possibly being robbed. They made us walk around parts of the city, asking strangers about the safety of the areas we were in and what the most popular places to visit were. It was mostly awkward, but probably good practice. For lunch we ordered three whole chickens with fries (because they said they wanted to protect our stomachs by now feeding us raw food or veggies). It was deffinately interesting. Interesting fact, because lettuce is 95% water, we are advised not to eat it here in Peru because the water is contaminated. I have already internally said my goodby to fresh salads and hello to 200 varieties of potatoes!

The food continues to be delicious in my host family’s house. My host Mom is most definitely getting tired of me telling her that everything she makes “esta rica!” (it’s tasty!). I think she expects me to have a favorite food by now, but it hard to choose! I actually like all the potatoes, sauce, rice and chicken! I’m just glad I haven’t had choke down something that I really didn’t like it! Unfortunately, I continue to feel like a guest in my host house. I’m not home a lot, and when I am I try to spend time with the family. However, I always get served first for every meal, which I don’t like and don’t know how to change. I also always try to do dishes when I can, but my host Mom is always waving me away. Today however, I got the low down on local gossip from my host Mom. I´m guessing I understood less than half of it, but it was still really interesting to feel like I was getting to know things about the people and places in my pueblo.

Funny story of the week: When I actually did go out last night (Saturday), we went to a restaurant that was basically empty and filled a table with about 15-20 volunteers. While chatting and socializing, the bar was filled with (surprise!) 80’s and 90’s music such as YMCA, as well as some good old Peruvian tunes. What was really awkward was the large TV screen that was playing clips of really disturbing or sexual youtube videos! None of us could even talk because they were so distracting and hilarious.