Sandboarding in Huacachina

John and I got out of Lima for a few day and headed south into the desert. We went to a little oasis called Huacachina which only exists for tourism, but with reason. It is a VERY fun place! The main activities available are laying around by the pool that every hostel and hotel is equiped with, dune buggying, and sandboarding. We did all three and had a great time. We took a bus ride back to Lima on Monday night completely covered with sand and I woke up this morning pretty sore from my wipe out.

I bought a bottle of pisco over the weekend that is mixed with grape juice, so it's more like a wine. I couldn't say no to this offer. While we were in a pisco kiosk tasting different types, I sneezed and blew my nose. The woman selling said that she had a pisco that would completely cure my cold. While I was tasting it, she also said that it soothes menstrual cramps. Done. Someone sure knows how to sell to ladies! Looking forward to seeing how this miracle pisco works out for me. I fact-checked it with Maria and she said that in the sierra they drink hot pisco or aches and pains and colds, so maybe there is something to it.

John and Mary Do Lima!

So, if you followed my blog while I was in the Dominican Republic, you may recognize this guy. John was one of my closest friends in the DR and he came here to spend ten days with me. It's been great so far! John studied abroad here the semester before we went to the DR, so he's been showing me around to all his favorite places in Lima and introducing me to all his friends.

He got in Monday night around midnight, so there wasn't much else to do besides grab a drink. Some of the fun things we've done so far have been going to the center of Lima and the top of Cerro San Cristobal, which offers a spectacular view of Lima, with John's friend Junior. It's really impressive how enormous the city is, which is impossible to realize when you're walking around. It's not very tall, but very VERY wide! That night, we went out to hang out with my friends.

Today, we went to the Peru vs Costa Rica soccer game with Junior, which was really fun, especially since both countries are near and dear to my heart. The final score was 2-0 Peru. After that, we got some dinner and headed out to the Circuito de Aguas Magicos. It's a park full of beautiful enormous fountains. One of them features a laser show to typical dances among other things. Another fun was a labyrinth that you could run through and the game was not to get hit by the water, but the water would shoot up and trap you inside the paths in the labyrinth. I got out of there dry and was in the minority.

We have some other things planned out today that I'm not going to ruin future blog posts by listing. All in all, it's great having him here and I feel like I'm on vacation too! It's funny because we're both from the States, but we've never hung out in there since we live so far apart -- he's from Washington the state. We met in the DR and now we're here together, so we're making it a rule that we can only hang out outside of the US, preferably Spanish-speaking countries.

Where did September go?

Last night, I had a much needed girls night with my friends Lorena, Urzula, and a bottle of red wine. We all got to wondering where September went and can't believe how fast the semester is flying by. In this post, I'm going to write a couple anecdotes of funny, awkward, and/or interesting situations that didn't make it into any other blog posts. Also, here are some pictures of a few of my friends that I hang out with pretty regularly. I feel really lucky to have made friends with such great people down here.
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Peruvians LOVE talking about there food. I, on the other hand, don't have to much to say about it except "Si, me gusta mucho! Es muy rico" (Yeah, I like it a lot! It's really good!) I've had this conversation countless times and usually after I say I like Peruvian cuisine, I have to list all the dishes I've tried (after being here for two months, how in the world can I remember everything I've eaten)and then they go on to tell me everything that I'm missing out on. It's not too painful, but my friend at work, Lucia, has an interest in my eating habits more so than most. Every time I go to the huaca, she asked me what I ate for breakfast and is ALWAYS disappointed when EVERY DAY the answer is bread, juice, and sometimes I go crazy and eat a banana. Apparently, I'm supposed to be eating much much more for breakfast.
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I pretty much spend most of my time at the huaca excavating. It's pretty funny for me, because when tour groups go by, they always stop to take pictures of the archaeologists at work. Multiple times, I've been asked to pose with my trowel or take a picture by a child. Being that most of my friends are archaeologists and so archaeology has become a very normal life for me. For others, however, some of them have never seen an archaeologist and have the romantic images of tomb raiders and adventurers that movies like Indiana Jones promote in their head, so I suppose it is exciting to see one at work. People also seem to get a kick out of how dirty I am all the time.
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Taxi drivers here hardly ever know where their going and it's one of the few things about Peru that I find incredibly annoying. Yes, I've had some very nice and knowledgeable taxi drivers, but the majority of my experiences have been hopping in a car and having to direct every turn and stop until we finally arrive. Fortunately, I don't have to take cabs very often. Being that Miraflores is easily navigable on foot and really safe, it's not too necessary. In fact, Peruvians continue to tell me that it's safer to walk alone at night than it is to take a cab alone at night, because they cabs here aren't controlled and finding a secure one can be tough.
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In Huaraz, I bought a stereotypical Andean textile purse. I love it! It's full of color, matches everything I wear, and full of space for anything I would want to carry. However, it sparked one of the most awkward conversations I've had yet while I was in Trujillo at La Festival de la Primavera. I was traveling with two white guys, so a multitude of people were constantly asking us where we were from and we'd have to go through the list of Francia, Italia, y Los Estados Unidos. One younger guy came over to talk to us, and after listing where we were from, he turned to me and said "you're not from Peru, why do you have that purse?" What in the world could I say to that? They're available to gringas too! So I just sarcastically said "Because I'm trying to look more like a Peruvian. What do you think? Did you think I was from Peru?" That made him laugh and it also ended the conversation, which I was happy about.
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Once, I was walking around with Lucia, the senora of my house, and we saw woman wearing bright purple lipstick that matched her bright purple sweater. We didn't say anything and just walked by, but as soon as she was a couple meters away, we both looked at each other and about died laughing. Part of me hopes that woman has a shade of lipstick for every sweater she owns.
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The other day I got off the combi at my first stop to catch another to get back to my house from the university. Usually, nothing eventful happens at this stop and I buy my sweet potato chips and just get on the next combi headed towards Ave. Pardo. This day, however, there was a very drunk man with crutches, a Beatles shirt, and a bottle of beer singing "Hey Jude" at the top of his lungs. I guess he was getting it all out of his system before la ley seca (the dry law) started (in Peru, you can't drink the weekend before elections so that alcohol doesn't effect your voting decision). Well upon seeing me, he insisted I join in and I found myself very awkwardly singing "Hey Jude" with this very drunk man with a ton of other people laughing and watching. Needless to say, I was pretty happy when my combi finally arrived!
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Well, that's about all I have for now. My days here are usually full of little moments that really don't fit into a blog post of their own, but I'll always remember of my time here in Peru.