And then I got my butt massaged

Of many of the wonderful things here in Cusco, I would have to say food is the most wonderful. It's just so damn good. The rice is made with oil and salt and water and it's not typical white rice that is missing something. But let me just tell you about the PIZZA here. It's pretty much all thin crust, and DELICIOUS. It's served with a spicy sauce and a garlic sauce. While there is no ranch, these sauces really make up for it.

On Thursday night, I went with my host Mom and sibs to my host Dad's house where we made pizza. IT WAS SO GOOD I could've eaten all of it but instead I made myself stop. It was fun to spend time with the family. We talked about what superstitions we had and if we believed in ghosts. Pretty fun.

Friday night, a few friends and I went in search of this bar called Indigo where we had heard they have hookah. Well they did! It had been so long since I had hookah I was beyond excited to have it again! I tried blowing smoke rings and it only worked some of the time but I think I've mastered the French Inhale/Irish Waterfall. LOOK OUT WORLD BAD ASS COMING THROUGH. Ha. Jk.

Today everyone is doing fun shit besides my friend Molly and I so we are going to go back to Indigo and smoke some hookah, enjoy the happy hours, and possibly go out. Who knows. My time in Cusco is coming to an end, but I won't let my last days consist of me sitting on my ass!

Besos

When I Come Back

I'll be real: shit will be weird. My friend, Bryna, has a blog (she's in the Peace Corps and way more of a bad ass than me). She had an entry that talked about how she was eating breakfast, and there was a monkey and her first thought wasn't "Holy shit, a monkey!" it was "That monkey had BEST not try to eat my egg". She went on to say that a year ago she eating breakfast with a monkey would seem absurd to her and now it's just...routine. 


I think a lot about when I first got here: who I was, how ready I was to experience something completely new, how naive I was, how immature I was, how CRAZY I was to do something like this. Then, I think about who I am now: how this has been like a pandora's box for me-only in a good way, how privileged I really am, how much I've grown up, how completely different from the me four months ago I am now, and I can't help worrying that all this good and scary change isn't going to last.

I often wonder if it would have been better that I went to some fashionable, first world Spanish speaking country. I could have even studied in a bigger city like Lima, Buenos Aires, Valparaiso, etc. and had a completely different experience. But this is the experience I wanted...this is the experience I needed. I needed to go somewhere that was dirty, and see young kids who were obviously malnourished. I needed to go somewhere that I had to walk or take a sketchy ass bus to school. I needed to go somewhere where men pee on the streets only two feet away from you, where dogs run rampant, where there are no laws about driving, where pedestrians don't have the right of way. I needed to have a Service-work placement in a clinic where kids with mental disabilities stay. I needed to be reminded of how absolutely lucky I am to have the life that I do regardless of the problems I have. I look back on how upset I'd get about stuff before I came here and just want to smack myself. I am so lucky.

I feel such a mix of emotion when I think about May 12th at 3:30pm. With just about thirty days left here, I feel an anticipation to go home and take advantage of things I always took for granted before coming here, but I also feel this pang of anxiety knowing that I'll never get to come back and do this experience over. I see myself returning to Peru, yes, but will it be with the same people who have become some of my best friends? No. Will I ever get to live with my host family again? No. Will I ever get to eat the amazing authentic food every day again? No. If I ever come come back here, it will be as a visitor and not as a resident. This is what makes me so sad.

I miss my family and friends so much. I miss my country. I miss fitting in and not being an obvious gringa. But at the same time, my heart already aches for the things I will never get to do again once I leave. My Mom once sent me a video that Louis CK did about students who study abroad. He spent his time making fun of twenty-somethings who don't really do anything THAT important while they're abroad, or in general. While there is plenty of the stereotypical beer drinking and nights out, I whole heartedly disagree with him. Maybe my service at the clinic won't have a life changing impact on those kids, but the things that I've done and experienced have forever changed my life in a profound and irreversible way. And for that, I am glad.

Easter Sunday

Today was packed! After weeping like a small child for the majority of yesterday when my parents left, I woke up this morning to go to play some soccer and volleyball with my family. It was pretty fun, but I am really competitive and hate losing so I got kinda annoyed when we lost at everything.

Anyway, after that we went to ride horses! I was so pissed I didn't bring my camera! I've been waiting to do that here all semester. The horses were different and cooler though. They were like mountain horses and could climb on all these rocks and shit. They also had really long hair which was kinda kewl. But my host dad, host mom, and I were the only ones who really knew how to ride them and my host brother and sister freaked out and had to get off. On their behalf, the terrain on the trail was either muddy as HELL or rocky as HELL and there were a lot of steep hills so even I got a little nervous my horse was gonna take a tumble.

Even after THAT we went to see a game at the Garcilaso stadium! Cusco has a soccer team named Los Ciencianos. The game was kinda boring and the crowd was NUTZ! They cant have any alcohol in the stadium because otherwise there would be riots and fighting and such.

After the game we came home and all my friends got back from their vacation so I've been able to catch up with them. I also caught up with Miss Lisa Harrigan who I haven't talked to in LITERALLY months. On top of THAT lent ended today so I ate a shit ton of candy! This has resulted in a head/belly ache. So overall after a bad day yesterday, today has been pretty good.

Tomorrow we start school again -_- but there are only 35 days left in my journey. Insane. I am excited to leave, but also dreading it. It's the weirdest feeling EVER.

Besos

parents!

Hi all! As you all know, my parents are visiting! It has been a packed and fun week and I am so glad to be able to see them after 3 months! The day they got here, I dragged them to a festival at Lucia's school for all the sports teams. It was really cool and they met my whole host family/extended family right away. After that, we went to lunch up by Sacsayhuaman. It was deliiiicciiiooousss and it was nice to be able to get to sit as one big familia. After they were dead tired, so they went to their hotel and to sleep.

The next day (Sunday) we went on a tour of the Sacred Valley. So sites like Chincero, Pisac, Ollantaytambo, and one other place that I forgot. It was so cool to be able to have my parents see how incredible the ruins are and experience it all with them another time. I also felt very fit because I've been here for 3 months and they had been here a day so they got winded easily. HEH.

We had a day off, and Monday was 'La Procession' because Holy Week here is HUGE. They have a Jesus crucifix in the Cathedral of Cusco that they take out every Holy Monday of every year and parade him around the city. His name is 'El Senor de los Temblores' or the Lord of the Earthquakes. The rumor is, in 1650 there was a huge earthquake and all the people were terrified so they took this Jesus outside to the plaza and as soon as he was out there the earthquake stopped. That was prettyyy kewl. The next day, we were going to Machu Picchu and we were LEAVING at 4:30am, so we retired early.

sup, Jesus?

Machu Picchu was BEAUTIFUL this time around. The weather was perfect, I am so glad I have nice enough parents to let me go for a second time :]. We didn't hike Wayna Picchu because after I told my parents how hard it was they said they could do without it. We did go back to the Inca Bridge, though, and that was SO COOl in the daylight! Last time I was there, you couldn't see five feet in front of you due to fog so it was amazing to be able to see the river so far below instead of just hearing the roar of it.

cool pic of the clouds

haaayyyyyy  

advice: don't wear capris to the Picch. I have 69 bug bites.

Today is a very important day in Holy Week. Here in Peru, you eat TWELVE dishes for lunch. All of them were fish or seafood because they don't eat meat today, tomorrow, or Saturday. So my whole family even my host dad and host brothers came to eat lunch. My parents met Julietita finally, not to mention everyone else! It was a really fun day and I'm glad my host family got along so well with my real family. Tomorrow, I'm spending the whole day with my parents as it is their last full day here. I'm sad this week has gone by so fast, I think it's gonna be pretty tough saying goodbye to them again.

Room Change!

I forgot to tell you all last night that I changed rooms! They built a room upstairs and a bathroom to boot! I have pix of the room, but not the bathroom because I am a lazy blob. I get a great view of Cusco and the mountains from my room and I switched my bed around so I could sit and be pensive and ponder life and such. Hereeeeeeeeeeeeeee are the piccies!

my bed and window!

the closet/tv/etc

view from the windoww

other view from the window heh

Mom and Dad will be here tomorrow at 9am! I can't wait to see them!!

Besos

SpRiNg BrEaK 2012!!!1111one

Okay so today was my official first day of Spring Break. I did nothing. KEWL SWEET LYFE! I feel like a slug. All I did today was watch tv, eat, read, and go on the computer. I worked out tonight but I also found out my month at the gym is up. I still have 3 classes I can go to I think? Idk, I didn't really understand her. Mom and Dad get here in a few short days and things will pick up for me then. We're gonna go back to Sacsayhuaman, Machu Picchu, and take a city tour, among other things.

I'm bored and about to go to bed at 10PM on SPRING BREAK because all my freends are travelling to a bunch of really cool places like Paracas, Ica, Nasca, Arequipa, a bunch of really cool cities. I'm actually incredibly jealous, but I'm excited to spend time with mis papas. I'm gonna also take them to all my fave restaurants, they're gonna get to meet mi familia peruano, it's gonna be great.

Yesterday, Lucia tried to teach me how to somersault. I can only do it backwards I was too afraid to do it forward is that weird? I also cant cartwheel for shit. It's hard and scary! It was nice to be able to get to spend some quality time with the fam though sometimes I feel so awkward around them. It's not their fault! I am just weird.

Not that anyone's counting or anything but I only have 45 days left here. I also think that the seven days my parents are here is gonna go by super fast so its really more like 38. WEIRD. Weird weird and too weird. I am so excited to go home, but I also get a knot in my stomach when I think about leaving. The thing is, I've realized so much about myself while I've been here that I want to take back with me to the USA, but I feel like once I'm back it's gonna be so easy to fall back into old habits. For example, I rarely ever drink pop anymore. As a matter of fact, when I have the option to have pop or water, I always choose water. I never wake up later than 9 anymore, unless were counting today where I made myself sleep more. I'm organized & clean, well more clean than I was...I floss TWICE A DAY, which before-Peru-me would have laughed at. I DUNNO. I just dont wanna go back and fall back into the whole unorganized, sleepy, junk-food-eating old me when I get back. I feel like I'm sounding strange so I'll shut up.

OH I also got a hair wrappppp feeling so HiPsTeRy and hippie-like! Check dis shit out:

I am officially a huge GRINGA and loving every minute of it s0rr! h8Urz

Love yaaaaaaaa

Visiting the Lost Island/Jurassic Park

Here it is: the long awaited Machu Picchu post! Or at least it's long awaited for me. Last weekend we went to the very well known Machu Picchu for Saturday and Sunday and let me tell you, it was in-effing-credible. I will be very honest, I enjoyed the views probably more than the ruins, but only because I am an ancient aliens enthusiast and also don't really believe that archaeologists can just 'figure out' what ancient cultures were like by the buildings they had. It's never made sense to me. Anyway, let me recap the weekend.

secret garden WHAATT

So we had to take a train from Ollantaytambo (a place in the Sacred Valley) to Aguas Calientes (the city below the mountain of Machu Picchu). The car ride to Ollanta was looongggg and by that time we were all hungry. Actually, scratch that, we're always hungry. Bottom line, we wanted lunch. We found this really pretty restaurant that I want my future home to look like when I am a grown up with money. The garden outside of it was over a river and reminded me of a fairy tale. We then hopped on the train, which was another long, boring, ride and this time it was bumpy as shit too! It made sleeping pretty much impossible for everyone but ME because I can sleep anywhere. Heh. But I still only slept for a little bit. Otherwise I read. This is really boring, I have no idea why I'm telling you it.

I'm in Aguas Calientes bitch

When we got to Aguas Calientes, it was this quaint little town in the middle of a place that looked like it could either be a.) the Lost island or b.) Jurassic Park or even c.) a mixture of both. I'm gonna go with c. It was the running joke of the weekend. It didn't take long for us to find our hotel, the Killa Inn. It smelled like mold but it was nice enough. A few of my friends and I got the best room. It had a shit ton of windows and overlooked the Urubamba river, which ended up being more annoying than anything because it was rapids that rushed too loud to get a decent amount of sleep. After we settled into our hotel, we wanted to go get drinks because it was only 3 pm, we weren't going to Machu

Picchu til the next day, and we were a bunch of
20 somethings with nothing better to do. We went walking around looking for a bar my friends Mom said had 4 drinks for 20 soles when she was here. Remember, 20 soles = about 8 dollars. We didn't find it, but we DID find a place for 5 drinks for 20 soles AND free chips and guac with every order. Clearly, we were sold. We spent a few hours there and after spending too many soles, we wanted to go to the natural hot springs in Aguas Calientes. If you need the hot springs explained to you, get it together. Anyway, they were just a bunch of different pools that were naturally heated. We changed to our swimmy suits and headed over. It was ok, but the water smelled like a mixture of chicken broth and metal. One good thing is that I saw my host family because they went to Machu Picchu the same weekend! It was good to see them! :]

just entering Machu Picchu NO BIG

After that, we headed back to the hotel, showered, had a dance party, and then went to bed as we had to get up at 5am the next morning. Like I alluded to earlier, the river made all of us wake up every few hours, and at 4:45 a peruvian man came pounding on our doors "waking us up" but it mostly just made me want to murder him because I am a grouch in the morning. We ate breakfast, and then piled onto the bus. After a half hour weaving up the mountain, we finally made it to the Picch. The only bummer is that it was super foggy, but it's a wonder of the world so I got over it...kinda. Actually everyone else was over it, I was the debbie of the group. Sorry, I'm a complainer, working on it.

Like I said; incredible. We went on a tour through out all the ruins and got a little background on the place. It was "discovered" buy Hiram Bingham, but there were already farmers living here so not really. Also, Machu Picchu is not finished. There are places where the stones were clearly not carved thus making it not finished work. Long story short, when the spaniards came the incas were like OSHT and went to Machu Picchu to hide but the spaniards found that as well so then they escaped to another place, I forgot the name though. There are several different places of interest. The first is the sun temple,  on this summer equinox, the sun shines perfectly through the window on the front, in the winter it shines perfectly through the window on the right. KeWl. But seriously, it is. There is also a place called the three window temple I think, and when the sun shines through it it casts a shadow of the Inca Cross which represents the 3 levels of live the Incas believed in. Pretty neat.

sun temple YO

three window temple

climbin wayna

After the tour of regular Machu Picchu, we climbed a mountain. Yep, read it again, WE CLIMBED A MOUNTAIN. This one is called Wayna Picchu or "Young Mountain" to contrast Machu Picchu or  "Old Mountain" It was the single most challenging thing I think I've ever done, but maybe that's because it was so rewarding. We climbed almost vertically for just about an hour to reach the top. Literally the tippy top of the mountain. It was terrifying/mystifying/breathtaking. It's places like that that all the sudden you feel so small and it knocks the breath out of you. I think climbing it was my favorite part. It also had a sick view of Machu Picchu and we got some saweett pics.

at the top bitches!

sweaty AF enjoyin the view

mountaineers

We came back down the mountain and took a rest went to the bathroom etc. and then went to this place called the Inca Bridge. It's not really a bridge but I think it was? It's really narrow and easy to fall and the rock was f*cking HUGE. Fernando, our tour guide, told us a lovely story of a man who came by himself and was taking pictures and walked off the edge. It took three days and a dog search team to find him, but they did. Luckily he only suffered a broken leg and arm. By then it was pouring and I actually couldnt tell if I was drenched in sweat or in rain. We had spent literallllyyyyyy 8 hours at Machu Picchu so we were all excited to go back and eat.

wouldja lookit that!

We changed, ate, then headed to the train where I was excited to tiger snooze, except four incredibly drunk people were in our area as well so that didn't happen. I think one of the girls was famous cause there were paparazzi taking pictures of her. If she is famous its for being either a porn star or a play boy bunny cause her fake boobs bleach blonde hair thing she had going wasn't something a normal person would do.

ALL IN ALL. It was a great weekend in Aguas Calientes, I'm excited to go back next week when my parents get here! They actually get here in THREE days I'm so excited!

I leave you with this: