Adios Peru!

   I'm finally back home in the USA! I got home on the 27th of June. Exactly one week ago. I'm so happy to be back with my family, but it was hard to say goodbye to my host families in Peru. 

My huge suicases... 

Last picture with Mama Yolanda and Papa Osmar 

Saying goodbye at the airport. 

Last picture with the cousins 

Martine came to say goodbye. 

Bye Mama Chana!

   After a long year in Lima, Peru I thought it would be easy to say goodbye to my host families and I'd be ready to just be with my real family. I was wrong again. I've grown close to my host siblings and it was weird knowing that I wouldn't see them for a long time. 

   My year made me a more sensitive person and made me realize how important family, blood or acquired, is. I learned how to travel efficiently after quite a few group trips all around Peru. I learned that I am capable of anything I really want to do from the Inca Trail. My life has changed for the better because of the time away. 

    I've seen the magic of Peru and the people of the wonderful country. I've realized the value of home and family and things that are comfortable. 

   Since I've been home, I've gotten back into driving, I've gotten to see much of my family, and I've eaten a ton of great food! My first meal was Steak and Shake! I hope to continue re-doing American things to feel even more at home. I start my senior year in August with a full college prep schedule. I'll be having a pretty great year though. 

   I hope to continue speaking Spanish with a conversation group in my home town sometime soon and to continue speaking about my experience. I know that I'll be giving presentations to Rotary soon and to future exchange students. I hope that in the future Rotary can continue to sponsor kids to learn in foreign countries.

   I think anyone who can have a year like I had will have a great life from it. 

I want to thank Rotary and Rotarians for my year!!

Adios Peru!! Te quiero...

L    

Viaje a Pucallpa

  I just said my good byes to my host cousins, which seems like it wouldn't be a problem, but they seemed like brother and sister to me too! The families here are very close, so I also was close to my aunt, uncle and cousins. We went with them to Mancora and this last time to Pucallpa. 

   Speaking of Pucallpa, I wanted to explain a bit about our family trip to Pucallpa for Father's Day. My host abuelo paid for my plane ticket so that all his grandkids could be there. I absolutely LOVE Pucallpa and it was such a calm, easy trip. We flew up on a Friday night with my cousins (Luz and Mariano) and my brothers (Paulo and Bruno.) I found out that it's kind of stressful flying with kids, even if they are responsible. We met up with some other cousins that live in Pucallpa that night for roast chicken.  

 

Me holding Joaquin. This was 3 months ago, but he's a cousin too. My papa's great nephew. 

Waiting on the jetway to board. 

Getting a little 'country' in Pucallpa.

   We spent our next 2 days in Pucallpa hanging out at the chakra of my abuelo. We swam, played ping pong, and played with the puppies. We visited my mama's parents too. Her dad lives with his newer wife and their 14 and 17 year old daughters and her mom lives with her great-granddaughter. It's a pretty interesting family!  

Butterfly friend by the pool!

Bruno rocking at ping pong! 

Paulo and Mati mati in the pool! 

Chilling with the other Dukie. 

Saying goodbye to my abuelos! Abuelo Pancho is a rotarian!

I had a great time chilling in Pucallpa!!

L

Un blog en Español

No sé si alguien puede entender eso, pero quería hacer al menos un blog en Español. Hace un año no hablaba ninguna palabra en Español y ahora estoy escribiendo un blog total en el idioma. Es sorprendente! Hace un año, yo fui una chica que era interesada en el mundo. Ahora estoy más consienta de que hacen mis acciones y como afectan todos. Mañana salgo de Lima, Perú y creo que he cumplido todas mis metas para mi año. He aprendido Español por supuesto. He conocido mucha gente nueva de todo el mundo.
   Quiero ahora agradecer a mi familia aunque realmente no entienden este blog. Mis padres han sido todo para mi por toda mi vida. Son mi roca, mi apoyo y la gente que siempre puede hacerme sentir mejor. Me apoyaron a cumplir mi año aquí porque siempre sabía que ellos me extrañaban igual que yo los extrañé. Yo no conozco muchas personas que creen que tienen los mejores padres en el mundo. Sus padres les dan vergüenza o están muy pesados. Yo tengo la suerte a poder decir que mis padres realmente son los mejores del mundo entero. Mi mama es mi mejor amiga y mi papa también. Siento como puedo hablar con ellos de cualquier cosa. También tengo una hermana mayor que, aunque peleamos, siempre me trata como soy la hermana perfecta.
   Yo amo a mi familia más que nunca antes y me significan mucho más!
Gracias por su amor!
L

Cena de Despedida

   On the 29th of May we had our goodbye dinner for all of the exchange students. We gave a presentation and we got a good dinner. We got special pins from the mayor of La Molina and the district governor said some words for us. 

Waiting and being lovely! 

Group shot with all the important peeps. 

 Part of our presentation was a little skit where we made a micro bus and acted out different things we've learned this year. I was a marinera dancer getting off the bus for practice. Some people were typical vendors. It got a lot of laughs too! Next we all had a speech to say thank you to our families and Rotary for this year. Mine was very short and sweet because I had to go change. I did a Marinera presentation with my professor Miguel and it was a big hit. I was super nervous to dance, but it went okay. 

During the micro.  

Accepting my plaque from the club president. 

Dancing Marinera with Miguel.

   We finished off the night by singing a famous song. We did change the lyrics though to match some of the memories of the year. It was a really fun night with a ton of great memories.  

Singing Un millon de amigos.

L

Ica Rotary District Conference

   Our last day in Ica was the day of the conference. We all thought that we would be stuck listening to a boring seminar all day, but all we had to do was present our thing and get out! We did a little skit about the micro buses here and about our lives in Lima. Then we had to give a short thank you speech. We also sang a revised version of a famous oldies song. It was a huge hit! They even gave us a standing ovation. After we were done, everyone went outside to play and I stayed to watch the GSE team from California. I loved hearing them try to speak Spanish. It was a short day for us before we got back on the bus to Lima. 

Waiting for our part anxiously.

GSE team. 

Waiting the leave for the bus. Hedley plays a mean piano!

L

Tacama and Nazca

   Friday was spent in the Plaza de Armas of Ica and a few wineries. We started out by seeking out tejas near the plaza. Tejas are a type of candy that have a chocolate or cream coating with a filling of pecans or anything they want to fill them with. I got creamy pecan ones. When our bus arrived we went out to the Tacama winery, which is famous throughout Peru for it's wines and piscos. There were some horses there and a grape nursery. The fields were huge. After we visited another, smaller winery, we went back to the plaza for fries and ice cream. We ended up having to wait for a while and made our own fun. 

The huge wineries. I was reminded of St. James! 

"The sale of alcohol to minors is prohibited." Everyone ended up buying something though.  

My pecan ice cream with Addie. 

'making our own fun.' In the plaza.

    On Saturday, we all took a couple hours in a bus to get to Nazca for a day of fun. 5 of us took the plane tour over the lines while the others took tours around the city. We had to wait a while in the airport for the plane. We were all so excited for the flight!! The lines are actually much smaller from the air than I thought. The flight was supposed to be about 35 minutes long. 

Our tiny plane! 

Everyone getting excited for take-off. 

Little did I know...

   While we were up in the air the plane was taking circles around the lines and I got super airsick. I actually threw up. But when one of the girls actually passed out, I realized I was lucky. I did get some awesome pictures of the lines though.  

The astronaut.  

The parrot. 

One of the birds. 

We had a great time in Nazca that day!!

L

First days in Ica!

   Our first day in Ica, we arrived in the afternoon and went strait over to the dunes outside of the city. We took a tour of the dunes in a dune buggy for 6ish people. It was like a roller coaster just driving up and down the dunes. It was so crazy and a bit scary, but soooo fun! When we got to the right place, we picked out our sand boards and got started. Sandboarding sounded scary to me before, but it was really fun! Everyone did it on the 3 slopes that get bigger and bigger. I didn't bring my camera on the tour because the sand is so fine and it finds its way into electronics and ruins them. I did get some good pictures from the second day though. 

   I had such a great time the second day though when we went to Paracas. We took a boat out to the Ballesta islands where we got to see Humbolt Penguins and sea lions! The boat decided to hit some waves though and I ended up getting pretty soaked. I loved seeing the animals though. 

Johnny!

Penguins!! 

Penguin buddies! 

Sea lion buddies! 

Boat hair..

   We went to see a Reserve museum next and learned about the animals of the area and got to see some flamingos that were REALLY far. It's was a nice museum. We drove to Chincha that afternoon to eat at Mamaine's restuarant. It was very yummy! 

My penguin boyfriend! 

I'm a flamingo too! 

This was the closet I could zoom!

L

Pucallpa- Lima

  The last day in Pucallpa was one of my favorites I think. We went to a place called Parque Natural where there were a ton of animals and they were building more exhibits. It reminded me of Gatorland in Florida. We got to see big birds, monkey, big cats, and a museum. 

Mototaxi 

AAAHHHHH! 

Baby and Mommy! 

Tiny baby and mommy!! It's face is right in the middle. 

Right before going to the airport to go back to Lima, we went to a market for hair wraps. I got red, white and blue because I was feeling patriotic! 

Waiting... 

Carter got one too!!

We left right after that and we got in around 9. I waited for my host parents in the Lima airport for a while and then we headed home. I had a really great time in Pucallpa!

L

Pucallpa: Day 5

   I skipped a day from 3-5 because day 4 I was pretty much not even alive. I got bad food poisoning and stayed in bed all day. I'm not even sure what the others did all day. However, day 5 was a ton more fun. We went to an ecopark that is run by the San Juan brewery. The underage exchange students waited in the park while the others took a tour of the brewery. Then we got to go see the plant nurseries and the animals. It was mostly jaguars. They were so beautiful and I was glad to see that they did have enough space. We just relaxed at the pool the rest of the day.

Welcome! 

So pretty!!

L