Let's write, shall we...

I'm lazy... that pretty much sums up my life. However, I guess there are some other things going on other than just sleeping. In my art with sugar class, we finished my bouquet! And it looks great! After all this time working we got all of the pieces to fit together. 

Finished product

There's always Marinera of course which is going well. The schedule has been quite odd this week though because of Christmas and all of the holidays. I've been out with my friends a bit, but not much and with the holidays, everyone is busy with family. Tomorrow we'll be having a family celebration and nothing too fancy for the New Year.

Happy 2012 everyone!

L

Kassia!!

I'm seriously one of the luckiest people in the world. Not only do I have 9 awesome exchange sisters (Kassia, Sarah, Clarissa, Sonja, Carol, Vici, Manon, Valeria, and Paula), but the first of them all came to visit me from Brazil!
   I made sure that we would pick her up at the airport on Thursday morning and take her to her hotel! We just hung out and walked around Miraflores the first day. We shopped in the Inca Market as well. We saw Larcomar (a big, really nice mall) and we ended up seeing the sunset before dinner at Tony Roma's. The next day we hit up central of Lima with a trip to the famous catacombs of San Francisco church and many city squares. We walked like fiends that day, but not nearly as much as the next day we had in Pachacamac! We walked the ENTIRE ruins! It's quite large, and we walked about 3 hours in total.

I think my favorite though, was walking from Miraflores to Barranco. It's really not that far in retrospect, but it's about an hours walk. We walked on the beach a while and watched the surfers. It was fun to just walk and talk! We finally had to say goodbye that night which was quite sad! She got to feel a real Peruvian earthquake while she was here too! It was a wonderful visit from a great sister! 

L

Feliz Navidad!!

I just made sugar cookies for my host family! They are delicious!! It's Christmas here, but I'm sweating. We had Chinese food for lunch and shopped all day! A great Christmas Eve and in about 6 hours, Christmas Day!! I will be missing my family there, but I do have a great family here!
Merry Christmas!!
L

Prom!

I went to my first prom dance on Thursday night (and didn't wake up until this morning!) It was absolutely CRAZY!! I went to my friends house first where we all met up. I got all pretty and stuff... When my date finally arrived, we all hopped in the Limo and took about an hour ride! We all put our heads out the sunroof and took millions of pictures! When we did arrive, the driver took out a red carpet for us to walk down. Very glamorous!! After a million more pictures we went in and took more pictures lol! We finally went inside to a gorgeous party room! We sat, talked, and took pictures until about 11:30 when dinner was served. At about 12 we all got up and started to DANCE!!!! It was awesome!! I have to let you know that at Peruvian proms, there are open bars... It was nuts to say the least. I danced with all my guy friends and had a great time watching the mostly drunk boys dancing like maniacs! I danced Salsa, Meringue, and all sorts of other fun stuff.
    I didn't drink anything at all!!!! But by 5am when breakfast was served (I didn't stop dancing other than to go to the bathroom or take a drink) I was DED dead!! We all went home (Xiomara's dad took me) and I went straight to bed. I woke up a little bit yesterday, but soon fell back asleep. Mama said that she tried to wake me up, but I just grumbled at her! I woke up at 9 this morning and couldn't feel my legs from the knee down!! Dancing 5 hours then sleeping 27 is a bad mix, but I feel much better now! No pictures now because my camera is at Lesly's house. Tomorrow I shall retrieve it!!
L

Arte con Azucar

I started a class recently that is called Art with Sugar! I'm pretty much learning how to artistically decorate cakes. My teacher, Nestor, has been decorating cakes for some time now and his work is really beautiful! Here's some of my progress so far.

Finishing a drapery

About to apply bows

Finished model!!! I did all of that????

My roses and filler flowers. I really did make them!

L

Lake Titicaca

The rest of the trip to the Southeast of Peru was really lovely, but second by second posts are boring! I did take my first train ride ever from Aguas Calientes to Ollantaytambo. It was fun, but I thought I would get motion sickness. We didn't really do anything between arriving back in Cusco and driving the grueling 10 hours to Puno and Lake Titicaca.

Soooo pretty!! 

  Lake Titicaca was AWESOME!! I thought at first, 'what's so great about a big, high lake?' Then I realized that it's the people that are so awesome! They made their own land to live on in the Uros islands. The literally built the whole island. It's really quite neat! We visited the island of SuchiMaya in Uros and they gave us a demonstration about how they make the island. We got tours inside their houses. There was a really cute little baby there too named Milagros or Miracles!

The little demo.

Milagros with our guide Estephany

We left the Uros to head over to the island of Amantani. It was about a 3 hour boat ride. The lake is huge!! When we arrived we were sorted into groups to sleep in different houses. I was with Julia and Addie!! We went to the house for lunch (quinua soup) which was delicious! Then we had some free time, so we went down to the beach to swim. I wimped out, but still have a picture! It was really cold!!

It was COLD!

They had a ceremony for us on Amantani that night with some boys from the town playing native music. They also put us all in native costumes and we danced all together. It was really fun and nice. We spent the night there and we got up really early the next morning to eat breakfast and head down to the boat! 

The woman I stayed with!

Next stop, Taquille. Taquille was really cool, but not to all the hype it got I think. It is a self governed island, so they have whatever rules they want. This includes that you can't give candy to the little kids. We just ate lunch there, but I did get a good picture of the rules on the way in. We headed back to Puno after on a 4 hour boat ride. It was a gorgeous day full of sunburn! 

The rules of Taquille 

Julia and Addie in the boat on the way back!

Lake Titicaca is so much bigger and awesomer that I had imagined! I would highly recommend it to anyone!

L 

What I do when I'm not doing anything!

Hi guys! It's been a slow day!

L

Marinera!

After three months of practicing Peruvian Marinera, this is the outcome! I wish I could've advanced more, but it's an improvement!
Hope you enjoy!
L

UNCLE LESTER!!!

It's probably the most important day of the year right now! Uncle Lester's birthday!! He must be like 35 by now! I love you Uncle Lester and Aunt Sue and I hope you have a happy birthday and Merry Christmas!!

Me, Uncle Lester, Valeria, Mommy, and Aunt Sue!!!!

Love Lydia

It's a Small World After All!

We've had some fun "it's a small world" moments here in Peru! In Machu Picchu, I was walking with Julia and we ran into a couple from Atlanta. We starting talking to them and it turns out the woman had gone on a Rotary Youth Exchange to Austrailia when she was young. It was really cool to talk about Youth Exchange in the middle of Machu Picchu! I also got an email from my dad today telling me about a woman that had graduated from UMR and is now living in Peru. I read the article and realized that she founded UPC, a huge university here in Lima. She's like the director of the University that about half of my Peruvian friends will be going to. It was so cool! I'm going to try to get in touch with her as soon as I can because I think that would be a great connection to have and a fun time. I put this video up just cause I like it and everyone should watch it!
L

Machu Picchu!!!!

I have changed my quote to a lovely Dr. Seuss that my daddy sent me!! I love it!

Machu Picchu... What else can I say, but that it really is wonderous! We got up at 3:30 and ate breakfast in the complete darkness. It was a delicious breakfast (pancakes) and we walked to the entry point of the last part of the Inca trail in total darkness. Now if I thought those crazy Inca stairs were scary in the daytime, they are pee-your-pants scary when you can't see them! We arrive there at about 4:40 and had to wait about an hour to pass through the gate.

Our early morning view from the waiting point

When we did get through to the trail, we walked for about 2 hours through the jungle! It was pretty cool to see all of the exotic plants and flowers on the path. It started to really heat up too! I finally reached the Puerta del Sol and really felt like crying! I was so happy to have arrived and to be able to see Machu Picchu at last, but I was exhausted.

The first view of Machu Picchu

From the Puerta del Sol it was only about an hour walk to Machu Picchu! What an amazing feeling it was to only have an hour left! We walked, I sang, and we finally arrived to see the crowded, but amazing site! To think about what was happening here only 500 years ago is mind blowing! Now it's just a bunch of rocks, but then it was a bustling city with temples that were visited by Incas from all around! I really loved to feel the sensation that I had done something incredibly important!

My very typical Machu Picchu shot!

It was beautiful! And an overall beautiful day, but I think that the pictures really speak better than words, and the pictures hardly to justice to the real thing!

L

Update-ish

This weekend was awesome! We had a required camp for handicapped people with Rotary! Now before we arrived I was NOT happy about a required work for my whole weekend. It turned out to be great though and I ended up learning a ton of sign language in Spanish! More detail later though! Today was my second "art with sugar" class and I finished the drapery on my cake! I'm having a great time and starting to get busier which is good! Goodnight for now though, colegio tomorrow!
L

We interupt this message to bring you...

A more recent message. I thought I'd share with you the crazy day I had today (technically yesterday.) I started of the day with breakfast and hoping in the van that I take to school. As we were driving along, we had to exit onto a bigger road. In the exit a man had stopped his truck to wait for the traffic. Needless to say, we had to stop very quickly to avoid creaming him. I breathed a sigh of relief when we missed rear ending him by inches.... until.... I feel that horrible jolty crunch from behind. Another van going to school rear ended us.. And HARD! We were pushed into the truck in front too!! Luckily there was no damage to the truck in front, but our back end got crunched good!

Our poor Movilidad

Nobody was seriously injured either. One girl who was sitting in the back did hit her head pretty hard and was crying for a while, but I think she's ok now.

   After school was the really fun part of the day though. I walked with my friends Lesly, Xiomara, and Cinthia to Lesly's house. Her mom made us Arroz con Pollo and it was delicious of course! Then we went to Wong, a huge supermarket, to buy sandwich fixings! We bought 4 huges baguettes (1 sol each) and ham and cheese and tomatoes. Ricisimo!! We went with our friend Ana back to the house after (Cinthia had to go home early) and we made huge sandwichs!

WONG!!!

Sandwichs!

We also watched a chick flick and hung out in the park! It was a really fun night!

Xiomara, Ana, and Lesly

L

Day Three of the Inca Trail

The third day of the Inca trail was over all easier, but it was definately the longest day. There was a lot of downstair walking which was quite hard for me. I'm pretty sure that I strained a muscle in the back of my knee on the second day, so walking at all hurt. We climbed more stairs for about two hours before we reached the part of all downhill. When we reached the top we could see Aguas Calientes, the town of Machu Picchu and the mountain of Machu Picchu.

Far away Aguas Calientes

It was also a big day of ruins. We visited quite a few, and of course past Lydia took no notes! Idiot... The fog was fanastic all day. I actually saw my life flash before my eyes one time that day too! I tripped on a stair and almost fell off a cliff! I started crying I was so scared, like I was inches away!! But I didn't fall to my death despite falling a few more times. We stopped at one ruin that was full of llamas and that was fun too!

We got closer and closer, but very slowly... We finally got to camp and slept like crazy for Machu Picchu the next day!

Addie and Julia goofing around. We had gone down 1388 Inca steps

L

Day Two of the Inca Trail

Day Two of the Inca Trail really sucked... Well, it was incredibly awesome, but it was so hard. They all say that the second day would be the hardest, and after the first exhuasting day, I was scared!! We started the day with a presentation of all the porters that went with us and carried all of the tents and food, and everything!! They all stepped up and said their names, ages, and what they were carrying. It was very interesting. We headed out after breakfast onto a fairly flat trail and at an altitude of 3,500 msnm, but in about 5 minutes in turned into climbing stairs for about 7 hours.

 It was crazy hard, but it was still fun to walk up the old stairs through the rainforest. I walked with India most of the day because we were at about the same speed.  We also walked near to a couple from England (Oliver and Gema) who weren't too keen to be stuck in a group of teenagers. We walked up and up and up, until we finally reached the top. When we looked down, we had literally climbed a mountain and were at 4,200 meters above sea level. 

Finally at the top! They are Oliver and Gema on the right

 We got to walk down super jenky stairs for two hours more until we reached lunch and the camp. We got to see some deer though, which I thought didn't exist in Peru, and I got a little taste of home. 

 It was a crazy day and I could hardly move, but the accomplishment was amazing! I slept very well that night! 

L

Day One of the Inca Trail

Ch'askañawi en Quecha = Ojos de estrella en Español = Starry eyes in English
The first day of the Inca Trail is something that is so awesome, and so weird to think back to. The trail starts out pretty flat, and then there is a huge freaking mountain that you have to climb. I found out that on flat ground, I can walk forever, but as soon as it starts to incline, I'm dead. We reached the lunch area in about 3 hours and had spagetti for lunch!! We saw the Inca trail bathrooms for the first time there too... It was like a porcelin hole in the ground, very nice... I think we walked another 4 hours that day until we reached camp. It rained a bit on the way there. I can't remember a huge amount of detail, but the view the whole way was beautiful and wonderful!! I loved the feeling of accomplishment I got the whole way too. I know we saw three ruins that day. I didn't take hardly any photos though because I wanted to make sure I'd have enough battery for Machu Pichhu.

L

Day Two - Chinchero y Maras Moray

Population of the Department of Cusco: 1,205,000
Pop. of the City of Cusco: 250,000
Number of tourists every year: 2,000,000
First stop was the pueblo of Chinchero in the Sacred Valley. We got to see a really cool demostration of how they make natural dyes and then use them to create llama blankets and scarves. It was really interesting how they still use the old methods! I liked the cute llama out back too! Everything there was very expensive of course because it was all hand made.

I was so excited for the next part because I had learned a bit about it (thanks Luke) and it seemed really awesome, and it was!! Moray was next on the list and it was super cool! It was huge! Way bigger than I had imagined. It's made up of a bunch of leveled terraces, each with a slightly different climate. The Incas used this to test which plants grow in which climate and whatnot. It was so cool. I couldn't feel the difference that much, but it was still super fun to walk down and up the crazy inca stairs and to sit all in a circle in the very center!

Straight to the natural salt flats next in Maras! The cool thing is that nobody knows where the salt comes from, but the salty river runs through and the built to flats to collect and sell the salt. It's very cool! The place doesn't have a tour or anything, but we got to walk around for a while and we tasted the salt fresh too. Really bad tasting!!! We headed back to Cusco after Maras to celebrate Luke's 19th birthday! What fun!

L

Trip to Southeast Peru - Day One - Cusco

On the first day of our second trip I literally wrote one sentence in my diary. (Gee thanks past Lydia) I can only look back at pictures and our intinerary for evidence of what happened that day. We went to the Temple of the Sun and Moon first. It was epicly constructed. You could see even today the precision and hard work that went into everything the Incas did. There was no mortar used to hold together the stone structure only a peg and hole system (macho and hembra). Each stone was perfectly fitted with it's neighbor. The sad part was that when the Spanish conquered Peru, they tore down about half of the temple and built a church above it.

The walls are perfectly made.

We drove a ways in bus to Sacsayhuamán. It was again breathtaking to see what the Incas did for their gods. It is thought to have been more of a guard post between different temples. It was built into a zig-zag shape to represent the serpent of the Inca world. The emense stones make up Sacsayhuaman and it's just gigantic.  



Mattieu and I by the biggest stone in the wall.

We went to sacred waters next in the temple of Tambomachay. In order to enter Cusco from the outside, an Inca had to be washed in the sacred waters to purify himself for the sacred city. It was very cool and I really wanted to drink some, but we weren't allowed to. It's very lucky! We couldn't stay very long because the sun was going down and we still had stuff left to visit. We drove by Pucapucara on the way out, but we just stopped to take pictures from afar. 

The windows and fountains from afar.

I think the coolest spot we visited was Qenqo though. We arrived at night, so we couldn't see it that well. It was kindof like a maze. They said that virgens were kept there for sacrifice to the gods. It had a great view of Cusco from the top and it was really good and creepy.

A table for sacrfice... It was super cold...

The hotel bed was so wonderful that night!

L

 

Follow up...

In the month that followed our trip to Arequipa and Tacna I feel that not many things happened. We had a few classes for dance and Spanish with Rotary. We learned a few passes of Salsa. Also in class, we are dancing a fun samba that is crazy sexy!! It's just like how I picture Brazil!

Dance teacher showing us the moves.

    I also went to my first party EVER and it was awesome! Don't worry, I didn't drink or do aything stupid. I did dance for about 4 hours without stopping though. I danced with a ton of different guys. I learned more salsa, a little reggaeton, and how the peruvians get down. When describing how they dance in my diary, I put 'con caderas' or with hips. I learned that dancing with slightly drunk people is HILARIOUS!

   The School of Parachuting was also in that time between trips. I also established that my school is a zoo with the constant screaming and occasional real animals.

Roy suited up for parachute practice

Torture time for Anthony

I love Peru so much!!

L

Day Nine - Rotary Reunions

We got to visit the Chilean consulate with meant free breakfast and a nice video about the dances and cultures of Chile. Peru and Chile are pretty much enemies still, so it was very nice to have a nice peaceful, amicable breakfast with a Chilean. It was a very interesting presentation and the consulate was beautiful! We then went to go talk to a group of interested students about youth exchange. We went up and said our names and did a little intro, but after we just sat in the back and were bored. A couple actually slept because after that hard trip, a meeting was just to boring to stay awake.

4 sleepy intercambistas

   It was finally time for lunch when we finished the meeting and we went to a district meeting of the Tacna area for lunch. It was a wonderful lunch (lamb again). There was dancing and music and it was very festive. Us kids walked over to the close park and played on the equipment for a while before heading back to the hotel to pack up and catch our bus. 

I of course had to have my pictures with the Arch of Tacna because of the St. Louis Arch. It's not nearly as big or awesome, but it's also a gateway. It's like the gateway to the rest of south America from Peru. It's very pretty though.

We left on the bus right after I squeezed in my visit to the arch! 27ish hours later our trip was officially over and we arrived in Lima.

L

Day Eight - Cambaya

After the crazy festivities of the previous day with the uncomfortable ceremony and very excited people. We were so happy to leave Ilabaya for a while to chill out and swim in a waterfall. When we headed out that morning, that's what we thought we'd be doing... Turns out that the president of the Tacna/Arequipa district "forgot" to tell us that we were going to Cambaya (another tiny town) and there we would be greeted by a huge ceremony as well. That whole situation was very uncomfortable for us, because not only were they treating us like kings, but also there were cameras everywhere to track our every move. There was chicha and confetti and we danced. They grow a special oregano in Cambaya that's supposedly the best in the world. 

Women of Cambaya in traditional dress

When we finally could leave though it was very nice. We drove to a parking spot and had to walk to the waterfall. We walked for about 30 minutes in the sun and dust on a narrow path, on the side of a mountian. When we finally arrived it was the best thing in the world! It was really beautiful and huge! We of course had to swim! It was so much colder than I had imagined. It felt like stepping into an ice bath and I lost feeling in my feet and legs very fast. As soon as I got in though it felt refreshing! The cameras followed us there too which was very uncomfortable in swimsuits.

Carter, Me, and Martine

 We walked back up the beaten path and took the bus back to Ilabaya to pack up all our stuff and for a final meeting to say goodbye. We recieved gifts from the officials of Ilabaya. Huge pieces of bread and a little statue scene of Ilabaya.

  That day was also the birthday of one of the exchange students from Arequipa, so we had a little cake for him. I was a great day and I think I remember this one better than most of the others.

L

Day Seven - Ilabaya

The first thing on the agenda was a tour of Tacna before we headed out. We got to see an old train station that was the gateway to all of Peru back in the day. We also walked to a beautiful old cathedral in the center of Tacna. It was gorgeous and for some reason super cold inside. We saw the arch in Tacna too. We took our drive to Ilabaya next, a few hours in bus. When we got there, there was a freaking huge reception of us. We were greeted with confetti and a band and the whole town there. We danced with some important people of the town while some camera crews taped us for a tourism video. It was so weird! We went to the church in the town for a much calmer reception. But lunch/dinner was another grand occasion with a professional chef and a ceremony. We got served a wonderful salad there and a dish with lamb (which I hated). We danced there too after dinner. Not a very eventful day, but we ended singing in the town square. Oldies with just a guitar. It was very nice.

L

Day Six - Tacna Reunions

I know the first guy we met today was an important dude in Tacna, but honestly I had no idea who he was... I just gave him my pin and smiled. We all split into groups after that to go visit schools and talk about Rotary Youth Exchange. We ended up in an all boys school and we went into a senior classroom to talk. We all said our names and a little something about ourselves. I of course said that I love Peru which actually got an applause.

 Girls school next with everybody, but that was pretty boring. Lunch was fun though, we had a singer and a traditional dancing pair for entertainment. This day was awesome because we got to rest between lunch and dinner (pollo a la brasa). We had a little dance party after eating which was super fun! Not a big day, but a nice rest!

L

Day Five - Arica, Chile

We got to get up late on this day... 8 o'clock. Then we waited to depart for about 2 hours. When we finally get moving, it really wasn't that far. We got to the border and it maybe took us 30 minutes for all 20 of us to get through. Then we headed to the center of Arica and visited a cathedral designed by Gustavo Eiffel. It was absolutely beautiful, but still very simple.

 We headed to lunch after that for a bit of Chilean, rice... potatoes... meat... Wow, what a suprise! We hit an art museum with an exhibit on wooden modern sculpture. We went to a market after to buy souveniors, but the money is crazy! 20 soles was 3,500 Chilean pesos!!! 20 soles is like 7 dolars. It was crazy!

The rest of the day was spent in a museum about the war between Chile and Peru. In that war, Peru lost Arica to Chile. We watched the sunset on the beach, and headed back to Peru. There was a Rotary meeting that night, and we had a talent night after. I tried to sing in the talent night, but it ended up horribly when I forgot the words. Oh well! We all slept well that night.

L