(Huaca Mateo Salado, is only a few blocks from my host family's house!)
This week has gone by so quickly! Julian and I have had a lot of fun beginning to explore our new home for the next few months. On Thursday, we went to the university where we will have classes and met with a few faculty. It was a very hot day so we were glad to not be bustling around too much. That evening, we decided to cook dinner together in the hostel. To make it more interesting, we also bought a bottle of Argentinian wine for 7.80 soles (that's less than $3)When we returned to the hostel, we prepared our humble meal of rice, chorizo, and fried onions, with salsas. When it was time to eat, we were very excited to open the bottle of wine, but after numerous attempts of trying to open the bottle with a defunct opener, we set it aside for our meal (to save for dessert). After our meal, we eventually were able to open the bottle, only to find (not to much surprise) that the wine tasted approximately like armpit or old sneakers*. Luckily , we bought some watermelon also, which provided a nice balance of flavors (or so we thought). Half way through this second course, one of the women who works at the hostel approached us in passing and was very alarmed to see our table: "You're not supposed to drink wine with watermelon! In Argentina, doing this means you will get kidney stones and die!!!" Apparently, our "genius" solution to combat the flavors of this beverage FROM Argentina will kill us, even if the flavors don't... we laughed it off, but we were nonetheless both a little more skeptical of the wine after her announcement.
*If you've seen The Little Rascals movie, you'll remember Alfalfa and Darla's "romantic" dinner in the clubhouse, with the sneaker juice
Friday included quite the adventure as well. We decided to walk to the coast to see and swim in the ocean. After confirming our walking route down Arequipa Street, we left in the early afternoon for the neighborhood Miraflores and the coast. There were many interesting buildings to marvel at during our walk, and before long, we arrived in Miraflores, a bustling area with many shops and restaurants. We had to do a little navigating, but it wasn't too bad, since we had been there a few nights ago with the Carleton alumni, and soon found our way to the coast, where the view from the cliffs was amazing. I'd never seen the Pacific Ocean before. I couldn't stop smiling! We decided to walk along the cliffs to Larcomar, which is basically a mall built into the cliff (a consumerist equivalent of Mt. Rushmore) We didn't stay long, and eventually meandered our way down onto the beach. The great thing about Lima, I've found so far, is that people don't hassle me to buy things from them. When I was in Istanbul two summers ago, I was frequently on guard against pushy merchants and restaurant hosts. Instead, when we arrived to the waterfront, we were greeted by surfers saying "Welcome to Peru! Do you want to surf with us?" haha, it was great!
While the beach was more pebbles than sand, the water was perfect! It was relaxing to watch the waves and to go in the water. There was a little boy in a wetsuit running along the shore, testing how far he could get away from his parents. Very cute. After an hour or so, we became hungry and decided to start our long walk back to our faux-home. When we got back, we cooked some more rice for lunch and took naps. Later, we realized that we didn't add enough sunscreen, and thus labeled ourselves as typical, lobster-hued tourists.
Yesterday, we went with another visitor from the hostel to the historic center of Lima. It consists of some really amazing colonial buildings and two beautiful squares. We walked around a little, and got stopped by some students our age, studying English, who asked if they could interview us for a class assignment. It was very sweet, and the questions they asked were surprising, for example: "Where are you from? What is your first language? What are your life's biggest regrets? What are the major problems in your country, and how can you fix them? If you could swap something in your life for something else, what would it be?" etc. Needless to say, they threw us for a loop! I made note of these questions, to ponder more later.
The rest of the day was pretty relaxing. We watched The Descendants while waiting for two other program participants to arrive for the night to the hostel.
And Today. I'm a little sad to say goodbye to the freedoms of living in a hostel, but am very glad to unpack my things and to have the privacy of my own room. My family lives very close to the school, it's only four or five blocks away. We're also very close to a huaca that is being restored.
My hosts are very nice. My mom's name is Balbina, and she is very easy to talk with. She and her husband Rodolfo have three children, who are all grown, and one grand-daughter. Their son, Rodolfo, and his wife live in an apartment off of the house, and their daughter Sandra, lives in another (at least until she gets married in June). I met her fiance today also. I haven't met their other daughter, but I met her baby, Luna, who is 4, and her father (I forget his name!!) After I arrived, it was soon time to eat lunch, which was: Mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables, rice, and steak.
I really like being immersed in a different language. I watched Fast and Furious (5) with Sandra and her novio this evening, but we talked through parts of it, mostly about music and dancing. A good sign of fun times ahead! Tomorrow I go to University for our program's orientation. I'm excited to reunite with everyone and hear how their days went today. I know this post was very long, but thank you for bearing with me! Forgive me, also, for not having posted any pictures yet..I hope to have some up soon. I miss you all. xoxo Phoebe
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