Peruvian vacation

Well, I took my time, that's for sure! I am now in Lima for about a week for our two year volunteer medical exams and end of service conference. It is a final goodbye (three months in advance) for a lot of us, and has been a fun reunion so far. It will give me some time to catch up on some seriously set back emailing and updating and contacting!

So to start, I'm sure most of you have already heard but it has been officially announced in the Peace Corps Peru community that I have been selected to stay a third year as a volunteer coordinator for the Environment program in Peru, working out of the capital city of Lima. In other words... I'm not leaving! Somehow, Peru has sucked me in and I wasn't ready to go yet. I was looking for options to stick around for a while (travel, teaching English) and I somehow got offered a great position that will offer me some great office work experience, as well as a LOT of traveling to visit volunteers in the field. Fortunately, Peace Corps offer's third year volunteers a month to go home right around the holiday's! So I'll be around for Christmas and New Years and look forward to seeing as many friends and family as possible before I leave for another year.

So how was that trip I went on with my parents, Jackie, Steve and Carol? It was almost a month ago that it ended and none of us have written a thing about it (that I have seen anyway). Jackie, thanks for putting up a little bit of photographic evidence that the trip DID happen and my aunt, uncle, parents and sister didn't just get lost in the Peruvian wilderness for a month!

The trip started with my being broke and the family arriving in the Lima airport. I admit it, I cried out of joy (or was it relief? I had just taken the GRE that morning....) when I saw them and wrapped everyone in my arms with a giant smile on my face. We got to our hotel nice and late at night and were soon all asleep after a little night cap of gin and tonic... Oh how I felt like I was in America again! Things started out great food-wise. The breakfast at our Lima hotel was one of the best, complete with the regular bread and egg selection, but including special things like cake! We explored the city by foot, and by the afternoon I was dragging my family to a restaurant/bar to watch Peru play in the America Cup. They ended up placing third out of all the Latin America teams and Peru as a whole was very proud. This served as a great conversation starter from then on with all our guides and people we met. The family as a whole was unimpressed with Lima weather, which is constantly overcast and drizzling. The "bet you cant wait to live here for a year, huh Carolyn?" jokes never got old!

Soon we were off to our first tourist destination, Arequipa. Arequipa is one of the largest cities in Peru, in the southern part and in the mountains. In Peru, the south is much colder then the north (farther from the equator), we we were instantly breaking out our scarves and jackets. We were tired by the altitude, so we did a little exploring and were quickly worn out. Luckily, the tour my Dad planned for us meant that we got to be shuttled around in cars to various destinations most of the time, while different tourist attractions were explained to us (in English). We saw volcanoes and and beautiful churches and listened to more soccer games on the radio. Soon, we were up super early and headed off on a nice long drive through the country-side to Colca Canyon, where we were to bath in hot springs and see condors in flight. The views were beautiful and our guide was a riot. He was my age and spoke great English and had even lived in Kentucky! Small world. He told us all about the llamas, alpacas and vicunas, stopping along the way to let us take pictures and look for interesting wild life. Upon arrival, we were exhausted from the altitude and everyone went to take a nap while my Mom waited for our passports from the hotel reception. However, she herself got tired and went to close her eyes for a minute. That minute turned into an hour, and when she woke up she realized Dad was gone (thinking he had been in the bathroom all that time). Soon, when the haze of the nap faded away, she also noticed that none of her things were in the room! Woops. Wrong room! We managed to mess up quite a few beds that morning! That night was a blast when the guide took us to a tourist restaurant and I ended up dancing a traditional dance (that aunt Carol has named the "shakey shakey" dance). Dad got video footage, and I'm sure some of you have already witnessed it. I get to whip a 14 year old boy, and then get whipped in return. Always appropriate, right? Later that night, Jackie and I hit the "town" (really, just a tiny little village) with our guide and driver and danced the night away in a tiny hole in the wall where we were the only people there. It was a blast. In the morning, only a little exhausted and hung over, we went off to see the Condors! It was a beautiful site, but not the romantic alone "us with nature" that I sort of imagined. There were a TON of people there. But, when you saw the condors in flight, souring in the canyon, it didn't matter how many other people were there, it was a special moment for sure.

We had another day in the city of Arequipa after that where we had a walking tour of the city (I guess they assumed we were used to the altitude by then!) We learned about the different qualities of llama wool and visited a convent where were quizzed on exactly how many nuns lived there, and taught a little about the history of the place. While in the city, the food was delicious and my family got to experience a S./ 3.50 "menu" which is a cheap plate of traditional food that comes with a soup as a starter, a lot of rice and a (most likely) unboiled barley drink.... yum!

Then we were off to Puno! The family did not seem to love the city because the buildings were all half done and it was pretty small with very little to do. However, the main attraction was that it is the lake-side city of Lake Titicaca! The famous lake that Peru shares with Bolivia, the highest navigable lake in the world! We spent one whole day on that beautiful lake on a boat. We visited floating islands, where people actually build their homes and lives on compacted piles of reeds! They made a lot of jokes that when their neighbors don't want to help out with the community work, they just cut off their chunk of the island and watch them float away! My family was the most thrilled, however, when we saw some young boys, not wearing the traditional dress for the tourists for everyone else, chasing after and successfully catching a duck out from their canoes. It was funny and a treat to watch people acting normally. We went to another island called Tequille I believe, where we had one of the best lunches we had in the entire trip of trout while looking at the snow covered mountains of Bolivia across the lake. That night, we ventured out to find cheap-ish food and found a restaurant with giant plates of Peruvian food with the most hilarious translations I had ever seen!

Off to Cuzco!! The biggest tourist destination of them all, because from Cuzco we connected to Macchu Picchu. In Cuzco we requested to have very little guidance so that we could explore on our own. A lot of time was spent shopping shopping shopping, but on our first time we went straight to the central plaza to see some traditional, Spanish influenced, dancing and music from University groups all over Peru. The next morning, we toured around the nearby ruins with a new hilarious guide. We saw more llamas and alpacas, more tourist shops, and more beautiful views. In the evening we headed off to "Aguas Calientes" or "hot waters" where we were to spend the night so that we could to go Machchu Picchu NICE and early in the morning. We arrived at out hotel, Gringo Bills, pretty late and went straight to sleep. In the morning, bright and early before the sun, we chugged back some coffee and joined the masses in lines for buses going up the historical and famous Macchu Picchu. It was, of coarse, beautiful. The view was more incredible that one can imagine and we spent the entire morning walking around it, or just sitting and staring at the view. Jokes were told, stories remembered, but we were all entranced by what the ancient Mayan civilization left behind. I personally kept trying to imagine how they would live so high up! They must have been very strong. Afterwards, Jackie, Dad and I decided to hike down (yes, only down) to get some exercise before we started drinking beer to celebrate a successful trip! None of us could believe that the trip was winding down, but Jackie was getting more and more excited each day because we would soon be going to my home village.

So we spent another day or two Cuzco, taking it easy, exploring local markets and (me) thoroughly grossing out my family members with things in the market. And of course, shopping and eating! We watched two robberies happen, drank an excessive amount of coffee and talk about the things we had seen. When we headed off to Lima I think we were all happily exhausted. There we had to say good bye to Carol and Steve. It was sad to watch them go, but the silver lining was that it marked our next adventure to the North of Peru! The heat was awaiting!

We spent the night on Peru's luxury bus, the equivalent of $30 for an almost bed-like bus seat, dinner and breakfast. I got the hostess to put in Harry Potter so I finally got to see the second to last one! In the lovely city of Chiclayo, we had a relaxing day of eating some of the most amazing ceviche and exploring their large and famous market. That night, Jackie and I had big plans to hit the town but we ended up sleeping instead, worn out from the long trip we had only recently finished. The next day we jumped in "combis" or vans up to my city of Olmos, where we met up with my closest volunteer friends for lunch. We had a good time chatting and joking around until it was finally time for my American family to meet my Peruvian family. We loaded up all of out things in one moto (my Dad did not believe it was possible), piled my dog Botas on top and were off! We arrived to a soccer game that was about to start right outside of my house, no rest for my family! It reminded me of last year when the second my brother arrived in my town, I threw him in the back of a car to go to a soccer game in another time. No adjustment time with me! My parents were troupers, spending two nights sleeping on a mattress on the floor of my room, with my dog taking up all of their leg room, and roosters crowing all night long! They witnessed soccer game upon soccer game, my Dad attended his very first cock fight where he amused the spectators by attempting to bet only 3 soles! Most people bet above 10! He did manage to loose a sandwich and two beers to my volunteer friend, who also came out for the festivities. They were also good sports about going to a town dance and drinking ten beers with 12 people and only one cup. My Mom struggled a lot not being able to communicate in Spanish, so she decided she would just speak to everyone in English. Sometimes I would walk in on her telling an elaborate story to one of my little host siblings, looking at her blankly but respectfully and I couldn't help but want to burst into laughter. Translation was exhausting but rewarding, and I often found myself forgetting what people could and could not understand. My family also spent two nights in the town of Olmos, hanging out with my volunteer friends. My Mom even cooked us up some white bean chili! We spent a lot of quality time together, attempting to drink Peruvian wines (ouch!) and commenting on the awesome-ness of my adorable puppy!

It was really hard to say goodbye when they finally left. Everything went by way too fast and I felt like I still had way more I wish I could have shared with them. I'm grateful, though, that my family at home now has a link to my family here in Peru. It is something I don't think either family will forget.

On a personal note, things have been moving along fine. I felt a little lag on getting back into my work and now I am again dragged out of my town for Peace Corps reasons (and hence, more time for internet!). But, my local school recently bought its own computer, and I am donating two more thank you to Cornell University and my Dad's coordination! I'm excited to be a part of the technological education that will take place in my final months. My host Mom also had her 7th baby, a little girl, on September 1st at 8:45pm. They haven't chosen a name yet, and want me to make a list of all the girl names I can think of to help them decide. My life feels like its on a fast track and I cant believe that in less than 4 months I will be coming home for Christmas and saying goodbye to my little village for good. It will be a stressful and emotional time to get through the next few months of goodbyes, but I look forward to sharing the, what are sure to be, amusing, comical and tear filled goodbye stories with you all.

Thank you for reading and writing and being always present in my life abroad! All my love,

Carolyn