New Blog--My Trip to Ica and Nazca =)

If anyone´s interested over the places I mention(ed) feel free to check out these resource sites!☻

Lineas de Nasca (Lines of Nazca): http://www.crystalinks.com/nazca.html
Las Viñas de Tacama (Tacama Vineyards): http://www.tacama.com/
Las Islas Ballestas: http://www.paracas.com/turismo/atractivos-turisticos/islas-ballestas/
Chincha: http://www.precolombino.cl/es/culturas/intermedia/ica-chincha/index.php

¡WILSOOOOON!

So since my video blogs are in Spanish I feel like I should update in English =)

Right now I’m entering into almost 10 months of my Peruvian Rotary exchange. I still can’t believe how fast everything has gone by.

I can kind of say that looking back, my first couple months are a blur, I mean I still remmeber being lost in translation and now, obviosuly I can speak Spanish. I'm still striving for fluency..I've yet to catch up with the "ZOMG! So, you're NOT Peruvian??" kinda perfection with my accent and everything.
Sometimes I find myself ready to come home and see my family and get ready for college, and then another part of me just wants Time to back the Hell off and let me stay in Perú longer!
Right now it’s hard for me to imagine not being home in Perú.
Well, one thing I would love to update everyone about was my experience in this place called Máncora.
(I know, you can almost here the Sounding chorus of Angels and Trumpets just by merely READING the name)
I also went with one of the other exchange students, Lucas and a Rotarian from our district up. What was going on was Lucas and I were given traveler’s visas when we arrived that only gave us 6 months guarantee, when we traveled to Chile back in October, it was extended again at the boarder until about April.

WELL, essentially we had to travel again to another country to get our visas renewed. So we and headed off to another district in northern Perú called Tumbes for a couple days, then Ecuador for our visas, and then Máncora. I think this vacation was near if not actually the best week of my exchange. It´s this huge beautiful beach that being just after Holy Week, (the week before Easter Sunday when everyone's traveling with their Families)

so there weren’t many people and things were cheaper. Lucas and I spent the week swimming in the ocean, tanning, eating, shopping and exploring. This was your stereotypical island paradise complete with white sand, horse riding on the beach and drinking out of cold coconuts with a straw. It had a relaxed, beach bohemian feel where handmade trinkets and jewelry and other clothing items were sold. Never mind the mobs of savage mosquitoes who decided to make me the chefs special…every night, apparently according to the wise counting of Lucas, I came out with about 300+ mosquito bites by the end of our trip. Plus the whole time I was THE Most UNSEXY life form on this South American beach..I'm sure the sea lions would've looked better in a swimsuit than I did..which really added empahsis to Lucas' phrase of "Heh! You look like a balloon!" A time he attempted to take a picture... -.-

But all totally worth it!

OH YEAH...
I changed to my third Host family about a month and a half ago ☻
Right now I’m living in a new district of Lima called La Molina. I live with my host mom, Queta Rojas; with her daughter, Marisol. Queta is the assisstant to the owner for one of Perú’s biggest political newspapers. (It's like the New York Times of Perú). So..in other words..they do pretty well for themselves✌

☜Notice my box of Mac n' Cheese in the drawer?

LOL.

Speaking of which, I have been taking college classes that Rotary has set up for all the exchange students with the proper ages to attend university, to a free semester of college to study whatever we’d like. At first, when I was living in Pueble-Libre, I attended the school for International Business. Which I absolutely loved, I made some great friends fairly quickly. But since I changed to La Molina, the part in Lima where this particular school is way too far. So I switched to the School of Tourism to a closer district where I’m learning gourmet Peruvian Cooking, Pastry making, and Bartending.

Also I was asked to choreograph to my old class at Colegio Santa Rosa, a country line dance that me, Mariah, and Lucas choreographed and taught at the beginning of the year to our Promotion class. It was for a performance for El Dia de la Madre (Mother's Day).  Here Lucas and I had a mini-reunion with our old classmates too.
I'm not a dancer. I will never BE a dancer. But I really liked making this line dance up (they wanted somethign stereotyipcal of America..and suggested country...*sigh*)
They did really well at the performance and I thought it was the cutest thing that one kid, Josue, who's usually the quiet and shy one in the class, came to the peformance decked out in his cowboy attire complete with wranglers, red plaid button up shirt, boots, bandana and Hat.

WHERE'S GRINGA?

Now look very closely...no..closer..Can YOU pick out the whitest girl in this picture?

My Dancers.

Mis Bailarines.
SOOOOO Since my regression countdown seems to be going faster and faster, I've been put into the mindset to try to get as much in as POSSIBLE!  So my along with my group of exchange student friends always seem to be going out. We've done so much together. (If you've seen my video blogs I talk about the Beyoncé concert and things like that)
Whether it getting dressed up to go out to the dance clubs (DISCOTEKAS)
every weekend (or so) ;D
My friends and I actually ended up on TV being interviwed at one of the NightClubs we went too.

Typical Friday/Saturday nights
(Sometimes both)

karaoke nights, Beatles cover band concerts, trips around the city like this HUGE place called Gamarra. Which is famous for it's surplus of cheap clothing. Seriosuly, you can buy dresses and shirts for s./15 soles (about 5 bucks) or other things. It's a paradise for shoppers, barginers, and those who like to barter! ✔or just sitting around for a movie night together; (Never forgetting to eat something, like trying new Indian cuisine). I can definitely say i will miss these girls sooo much!

Kelsey and I at the Beatles cover concert in Barranco! 

A guy was doing tricks like this in a body ring thing and WE ended up being interviewed on TV..jaja

Where's Waldo?? (and by Waldo I mean a few months of Blog updates)

Hey Guys =)
So it may seem that I have quite a few blog entries from between January to now missing.
What I did was added my YOUTUBE account link Kaymay112
  to the right side →→→→→→→→
Here I have a series of "VLOGS"   (Videos + Blogs)

So if you missed what's been going on in that few month gap click to the side and listen to me butcher the lovely Spanish language =)



✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂



Hola Chicos =)
Bueno, aunque se parece que falta un par de entradas entre Enero y ahora, es porque he agregado mi cuenta  de Kaymay112 por YOUTUBE 
a la derecha →→→→→→→→
Aqui, ya tengo un serie de "VLOGS" q se puede ver

Por si caso que no han visto lo que paso en los últimos meses, miren a esos videos para escucharme y mis cuentos =)


 

Just Something I Made for this Years´ Outbounds =)

2010

WOOOW  it been again looong time since I`ve updated.
I cannot believe its January!! It`s 2010 and Im in my 5th month in Lima!
We did go to Machu Picchu and sailed Lake Titikaka (I know, horrible name...but its beautiful) for which I havent updated. So What can I say about it? Machu Picchu was pretty incredible. The trip to CUsco in general was incredible minus the fact I made the mistake of rolling up my pants while hiking in the heat and got literally ATTACKED by a mob of some sort of Peruvian flea.yeah I had about 30 swollen, red and sore bites on EACH leg with itching that drove me Koo-Koo Bananas! But I still say its worth it while looking at my remaining scars! We all got to see a lot of old ruins and the history gave you a real rush to know that an ancient civilization existed in the very spot you were standing. Then we traveled to Puno where we sailed on Lake Titikaka and saw the floating islands and natives that lived there. They were really inviting and welcoming but of course very touristical...meaning they wanted you to buy all theyre stuff. But it was fun trying on the natives clothing for pictures and seeing LIVE flamingos on the islands and trying this vegetable thing that tasted like apple and celery....it was pretty good. Everything was pretty awesome.
If you want to know a little more about these islands go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_island

So much had happened in 2009, it was incredible to reflect everything during the new year. Speaking of which, what a new year AND Navidad (Christmas)

Then there was Christmas. So it wasnt as hard as I though tit would be to have my first holidays so far from home. I mean its different to have it in the middle of a hot Summer where instead of snuggling up in fleece blanketss by the fire youre in shorts and tank top be the beach!

The tradition is a Thanksgiving like dinner with the family at MIDNIGHT on Decemeber 24. After you open your gifts, have wine/champange and light fireworks! My family had some fun lighting some of Gabriel`s DragonBall Z dolls with the fireworks
(by the way he taught me how to play video games and I love them! I had never really played playstation until now and its really fun. Im getting really good at Dragonball Z and Bakugan)

I helped Mary, my host mom, cook the dinner. I introduced them to mashed potatoes. They have something like that here but its like puree..so its more liquid and more salt (peruvians like their salt) so I made the fluffy kind which they really liked! We also had a turkey whom I named Carola for reasons unspoken but it was all yummy and afterwards its the tradition to eat this sweet fruit bread, Paneton, and drink homemade hot chocolate. It was a great Holiday. on New Year´s I spent it with my friends Mauricio and Sergio at this party where there was a lot of music and dancing. I absolutely LOVE those guys. They made me laugh and I have a lot of fun around them. Theyre the friends of my host brother, Jonathan so its cool I get to be friends with them too :D

Well thats it for now..prolly wont update for another while..did i mention Im on a no Piqueo Snax diet until my birthday? yeah wish me luck with that...
Until next time! CHAUUUU!

Machu Picchu is NOT a Pokémon

So I haven`t updated my blog in...a reallly reallly long time sorry! But things are going pretty well.*scratches out* near perfect =)
 I did change my host family about 3 weeks ago (wow it HAS been a while) and they are wonderful! I have a little brother too named Gabriel. He`s 9 years old and he`s so smart and quick with his words he makes me laugh. We love to watch movies together with our traditioanl bag of Heaven..I mean Piqueo Snax!  My host parents are super too! We laugh and joke together (or at eachother..lol well mostly them to me! My host father calls me Rubia Loca (crazy blonde) and my brother calls me La Conejita (Little Rabbit girl---its becusae of my cheeks he says ha!) and pretty much I can talk to them about anything and I`m learning so much from them. Oh yeah! I`m also taking those really scary cramped and crazy city buses to school by myself! Its about a 45 mintue trip from my bustop near our apartment in Pueblo-Libre to the bus stop near my colegio in San Borja and then about a 10-15 mintue walk to my school (traffic determines time). But yeah I`m kinda getting the hang of being Peruvian =)
Im speanding most of my class time in school hardcore studying my Spanish vocabulary. I can speak so  much better. Although its not even perfect Spanish it now feels natural to speak, like english.
So I officially passed my first Holiday test. It was my first Thanksgiving without my US Family. That was hard I got to admit and I know that step 2 is Christmas.
But I can definitely say I didn`t lack a family for Thanksgiving (El Dia de Acción de Gracias)
The exchange students and their families all came together for the American exchange students to have their celebration feast =) It was incredible. We did have a turkey and it was yummy. Althgouh I believe it was the only American like food we had there. It was a very Peruvianized Feast. But yellow potato purée with ensalada roja con betaregas and arroz con leche and Panéton made it very special. I still had the "a tick who consumber too m uch blood and is ready to pop" feeling afterwards. We even got up and made speeches about our home traditions and the things we`re thankful for. I`m thankful for my one great big International family this year.

Muchas Gracias a Todos.

December is coming up so this means SUMMER VACATION! I already got my first sunburn all on my face from helping out at a Rotary function at a camp for people with Autism and Down Syndrome for 2 days. It was nice to be helping people along with the other intercambistas and playing with them like soccer, volleyball, and basketball or arts and then in the night we had like this mini talent show were everyone sang and danced. These are really loving people.
I`m also really excited becuase I`m GOING TO  MACHU PICCHU!
(one more time..i feel like i wasn`t too clear with my last phrase..;D)
I said, "MACHU PICCHU!!!"
..On Wednesday! (Today is Monday!) I bought a new camera and am ready to make some memories! It is ON like Donkey Kong for Machu Picchu!
So, Ojala, I will update afterwards about my trip!

Arequipa and Tacna and Chile, ¡Oh my!

¡Wow what an incredible first trip! Our bus trip to Arequipa (a department in Peru south od Lima)
commenced at 4:30 pm on Saturday, Oct. 3rd
20 hours on a bus is totally worth the destination! Plus this bus had huge squishy and spacious seating where you could plug in your headphones to listen to a movie. Did I mention this was a double decker bus and we all got to sit on the top! They even gave you Cruz del Sur logo marked mini-pillows and fleece blankets (i helped myself to the blanket..)
We pretty much occupied our ample time by talking/singing, taking random photos, or finally chilling back and listening to our iPods and jusst watching the amazing sights of endless sand dunes cross our vision. The further you get away from Lima, we noticed, the more of a blue sky you can see.
On Sunday at around noon in Arequipa where we met the host families we were going to be staying with for the next 4 days of the trip. Mine was fortunate enough to catch me off gaurd with a mouthful of Piqueo Snax in my mouth after a long trip.
(I seriously cannot stop eating those things!)
They were so nice! They´re names were Raul and Cecilia and they ran a colegio there in Arequipa and their daughter, Francesca, who is 17 and I ended up speaking French the times we were together and then Spanish, of course, with everyone else. I stayed in their Granmas apartment. It was a pretty sweet set up for an older woman. Everything was so clean and modern! Big screen TV and my room was like hotel clean and white with a fluffy bed containing like 6 huge pillows and a big window with a great view of the city.
The next day on Monday we were all taking a tour bus up into the mountains of a village called Chivy. However, the altitude of Arequipa is MUCH higher and dryer than Lima so I woke up with a pretty epic nose-bleed that morning. I mean it was like someone attatched a faucet to my face and left it running.
Of course if a faucet actually ran blood like my nose, did people would declare a biblical plague..but it was this imperfect metaphor that quickly crossed my mind as I lunged for the box of tissues next to my bed before I got anymore on the white sheets.
So this tour bus was run by a guy named Wilmer. We understood his Spanish better than his English but he had some pretty interesting things to show us. For example the scenery near Chivy was EXACTLY how I first pictured a stereotypical Peru. It was layed out with huge green canyons and mountains with rustic architecture and people dressed in the traditionaly colorful Sierra (mountain region) garmets; like the skirts and brimmed hats and blouses with a decorated llama, alpaca, or lamb in tow as the sell they´re alpaca made clothings, blankets and other trinkets on the side of the road. Part of this altitude change is you get the chance to purchase the Coca leaf (yes cocaine) it came in a chewable leaf, tea and an assortment of candies. We all went for the candies, chewable and or hard-candy. We stopped at this one site for a nice little hike. Of course this hike included a stone staircase of DEATH up the side of the mountain to visit an old stone tower and a theatrical stadium where animal sacrafices used to take place on a stone table in the center.
Anways with the high altitude and thin air, everyone was having difficulties sometimes breathing but it was all worthi it in the end to a relaxing dip in the local Hot Springs.
Tuesday we all woke up early to leave at 6 am to go up into the mountains to hike up above where the Condors nest in the canyons of Colca which apparently is the world´s deepest canyon!


The condors are pretty amazing. Their wing spans up to about 3 meters (9 ft) The deep green and rocky canyons totally gave me the feeling of being somewhere in a Middle-Earth setting in Lord of the Rings..
By the way..these canyons are part of the ANDES! I hiked in the ANDES! Then we returned in Chivy for lunch. The food spread was incredible. At one point we thought we were eating fried chicken...no it was either guinea pig or..Alpaca! And I ate them! Makes sense though..it was copious Alpaca that lined the roads without a chicken in sight...
Afterwards we made the return trip back to Arequipa where we found ourselves rope into another Rotary meeting. But we all took turns singing or playing guitar for the club there, Yanhuara.
Thursday: Honestly not my best day. In the morning I woke up to non stop vomiting and stomach pains. However I still had to make the bus trip to Tacna with the others. Everyone was so helpful that morning. Francesca packed my suitcase and got everything ready for me as i just flaied uselessly in my bed. The bought me medication for the pain but the bus trip didn´t prove much better. I ended up throwing up all over the seat next to me on the bus too. It was my friend, Elisa´s seat but man not a drop on her. That girl saw the warning signs and moved like lightning out of my line of fire. But everyone was so helpful. Adele, the girl from France and others had me sit in another seat as THEY cleaned up after me. Luckily there was never anything in my stomach this whole day so it was just like pretty much throwing up my stomach.
We arrived in Tacna where I met my host family there. They were waiting for me with a welcome sign and a bouquet of pink lilies. And here I was...pale, nauseous me sloshing out of the terminal. I ended up going to the hospital there that night for a fever and stomach infection. Too many injections for my comfort zone. One took my blood, other was for a 4 hour medication drip into my arm and another in my...hip...for the fever. Luckily so miracle allowed me to understand and converse with the doctors about my condition. I was alone during this by the way. So i stayed during the night and early the next morning my host family took me home to rest up for the trip to Chile.
Friday: Still sick but was NOT going to miss a chance to travel to another country! So That morning we took yet ANOTHER bus and drove down to a city in Chile called Arika. Money there was nuts. They have Pesos there which one peso = 180 soles which is about..547 pesos to $1 US. So Arika was beautiful. Blue sky and the city had a lot of clear views of the ocean, cliffs, and trees in the city. (We´re all used to the grey skies of Lima) we visited a market where I got to buy Ice cream for $1,980 pesos and keychains for $300pesos and a nose stud for $1000pesos...I´ve never seen numbers that high for prices before..I kept a $2000 peso note (about $4). It was beautiful. We also visited this museum...28 exhibits...with a tour guide named Maria..who explained EVRYTHING! My goodness that woman could talk. I haveve never heard so much about the origin of a stone before...lots of information but she just kept goin!

Saturday: Our last day of the trip. Our day began taking a tour with Maria again out in the desert for a nice long walk...a FOUR hour tour. Wouldn´t have been so bad if she hadn´t kept toting us around overenthusiastically. A good handful of us were still sick, including me. Kristen, Lizzie, and I ended up having more sicknesses. But I got to know Lizzie a lot more as we sat in one of the host families living (making sure a bathroom was really close) with multiple bottles of gatorade within reach. So we were sick here and there; still quite an amazing trip! So at around 5pm we all boarded ANOTHER bus in preparation for our 23 hour trip. Not so bad. We all slept most of the way and watched movies and talked together. That´s always the best part.
Muchas gracias, Chicos por uno viaje increible! Los quiero!