Dear Blog Readers (too formal?),
I realize I haven’t been doing the best job of keeping up with my blogs, or letting any of you know what in the world is happening with my life. So while I prefer to write about specific issues, or events, I figure I owe you all a bit of an update.
I spent Christmas here in Huancayo. Christmas in Peru is very different – we ate turkey at midnight on the 24th, went to mass, set off fire works, and drank champagne. Think New Years meets 4th of July meets fake Christmas tree. The next day we made hot chocolate, and stuffed ourselves full of the Peruvian version of fruitcake.
On the 26th my two-week vacation started, so I hopped on a bus, wound up, down, and around, mountains for 7-ish hours, and found myself Lima. There I met up with Ginna, Baja, and Alta, and the next day we were on the road again, headed to Arequipa. 15 hours via bus. In Arequipa we met up with Joe, Erica, and Stacey, and spent 2 days meandering through the streets of the city- mummies, hookah, monastaries, good espresso.
We left Joe and Co. in Arequipa, with dreams of spending a day on the ocean in Paracas before heading back to Lima. Plans changed last minute, and 18 hours, canceled bus, failed attempt to refund us with a fake 200 soles bill, and bus crash (not serious, no one was hurt) later, we found ourselves in Lima again. There we met up with my mom, who had come to visit, and rang in the New Years – yellow-themed things, beer, things that made noise, people that made noise, good times were had by all.
Next, after switching Baja out for Alissa, we headed to:
Trujillo – lots of ancient ruins, colonial buildings, gringos with stomach issues
Huanchaco- gorgeous beach, ridiculous sunburns, late night card games, hippy restaurants, sand everywhere
Huaraz- snowcapped mountains, hanging out with PeaceCorp volunteers, hiking at 15,000 feet, glaciers
The end of vacation. Everyone went back to their respective homes, I stayed in Lima and a few days later headed to Sucre, Bolivia for an Environmental Conference, where I was a part of the Peruvian delegation. Somehow it took us 32 some hours to arrive at our destination- I’m still not sure why… Of the 70-some youth that were there, there were 4 Whitworth grads present – 2 of us on the Peru delegation, one as a part of the Bolivian delegation, and another representing the US. It was a good reminder of just how small the world is.
Once back in Peru I spent 2 days in Puno – Lake Titicaca, floating islands, alapca everything, folk dancing.
Back to Lima, stuck there for about a week due to a transportation strike, and another 7 hour bus ride back to Huancayo.
So here I am again. I’m sitting in an internet cafe, it’s raining outside, and in two days I’ll be back on the road. My brother Ben is getting married in Alaska on the 20th, so I’ll be making a quick trip back to the frozen north. Needless to say, these last few weeks my head has been filled with dreams of snowy mountains, northern lights, and old friends. It will be good to be back for a few days.
When I get back to Peru, I’ll be heading off to a beach retreat with the other volunteers, in Mancora. We’ll see who wins the sunburn competition this time. We’ll also be taking a day trip to Ecuador, in order to renew our visas.
On the 8th of March I’ll once again be headed back to Huancayo, where I will be for only 3 days before hopping on a bus to La Oroya. There I will be chaperone/translator for a group of college students who coming to learn about environmental degredation.
Then I’ll be back in Huancayo and might do a better job at making regular blog posts. In the meantime, I’ll write when I can, and hopefully get some photos up soon!