New Friends

I've finally started to become accustomed to my new life in Lima. After returning from Punta Hermosa, I had time to soak in my new surroundings and get to know my roommates and the city.The day after the beach, Serena and I met with Jorge (our friend who we met at OU last semester) and we took a tico to Plaza San Martin. It was my first experience in the historical center of Lima. It was difficult to walk past without taking photos..but i got by with snapping just a quick few. I have to remind myself that I live here. I don't have to take pictures of everything, becuase they will still be here in 5 months...as will I!!!!

A few words about Ticos...Daewoo Ticos manufactured starting in 1991 are apprarently moving death traps...this i was told at international student orientation after already having ridden quite a few. Ticos were especially popular in Peru and run on some sort of alternative fuel. I don't know that much about cars, but all Ticos in Peru have what looks like a huge propane tank in the back compartment and apparently fuels the car. If rear-ended, this is not a good situation. For more information, I reference wikipedia...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daewoo_Tico

Calle Union connects Plaza San Martin with the Plaza de Armas. You can then make a large circle from the Plaza de Armas to Ave. Abancay where you find a lot of small tiendas and restaurants. Once to hit Parque Universitaria (a beautiful patch of green and intimidating trees amongst the chaos of the city...often know at the reunion spot for intellectuals to discuss politics and the state of Peru) you can connect the circle and return to San Martin. Probably the same path as those gaudy bright red tourists buses...but on foot and not obnoxious.

President's House in the Plaza de Armas

We entered just one of Peru's many churched. Because Lima was once the viceroyalty of

Spanish territories in the new world, there is no shortage of catholic symbolism in Lima. Its been stated that a any one of Lima's "churches" would be considered a grand cathedral in any other city..and its true. The church we entered, close to the Plaza de Armas is absolutely georgous. The huge mahogany carved alters and the golden tributes to the Passion were breathtaking. Because a lot of the artwork was commissioned by the Indigenous peoples of Peru, many "indino" influences can be seen throughout the church, including darker skinned figures and symbols alluding to sun (the Incan god).

Grand Cathedral in the Plaza de Armas

Apparently the other churches in Lima awaiting my visit include the catacombs housing over 75,000 bodies and the catedral housing the two patron saints of Lima. Jorge is a fan of theology and it was interesting to hear his take and information about Catholicism in Peru. The faith in Lima, as in many South American countries i'm guessing, is palpable.

One of the many "other" churches in Lima

I have now met with my "compañera de PUC" twice and she became a fast friend. Of course it helps that she already knows some of my friends from her experience at OU. And we can equally talk as much about Lima as we can about Norman. Last Friday we met Lisset at the Antigua Taberna Quierolo. Its located in Pueblo Libre near the more historic part in Plaza Bolivar...duly named because the plaza is centered around Simon Bolivar's house. Thats right, we live/d in the same neighborhood. Though I might be the only person who thinks thats cool.

My compañera de PUC Lisset and our Piscos!

Anyway, we sampled pisco sours and pisco Algarrobina (pisco with milk, egg yolk and algarrobina-a syrup from the algarrobo tree, go figure). After that we crossed the plaza to have a sandwich and met possibly the nicest restaurant owner in Lima. She had studied in Texarkana when she was 15 and was all too happy to talk to us in English. A taxi ride to El Centro followed for more pisco at a bar located on the square. If you don't know where the bars are, you won't be able to find them. Its uncanny how well they blend into the beauty that is Plaza San Martin.

Finally, this past Saturday we had our first party at the Casa Rio Grande. It was our roommate Emeline's birthday. Everyone in the house cooked different foods and we were told to dress oddly. I acheived this by wearing pink tights, a pair of boxers, a bat winged purple sweater and a scarf as a tail. My roommates did an even better job!

Some of my roommates (from left to right) Carolina, Serena, Moritz, Emeline (birthday girl), and Laura.

I sampled a German cheese spread, Taiwanese bubble tea, Patatas bravas, Italian stuffed peppers, Peruvian pisco, wine and beer and i made a Texas 7 Layer Dip. I had never made it before, but it was a hit!! I've been told to make it once a month while I'm here...I might open my roommates up to the wonderful world of fajitas soon..they are missing out!

Luz, Serena, George, Carolina, Monica and Laura sampling our buffet.

After the house celebrations we took a carivan of taxis to Barranco, the club district of Lima, no joke. Music spilled out from every building of every street. Vendors sold cigarettes, snacks and sandwiches :) from the street corners and apparently if you want drugs...Barranco is the place to get it. Apparently also if you want to be roofied or robbed, Barranco is the place for that to happen as well. As our unfortuate birthday girl will tell you, as her purse was taken before the night was through.

I salsa'd. And I salsa'd my little heart out. My roommate Jorge (George, from Austria) was my dance partner/victim. It was awesome getting to know my roommates. While I was slowly but surely getting to know them, after Saturday we are all the best of friends.

George "dancing"

I am also due to start my German exchange program soon lol. This entails me and Serena teaching George and Mortiz english slang and them teaching us common German/German slang. I've learned Shlack-tee (obviously spelt phonetically) which means "going away." Careful though, because if you say it more like Shleck-tee it means "lick me." I have to take a second foreign language for my Spanish major, and I've been increasingly more interested in German listening to my roommates converse in their native tongue.

On the way back from Barranco on Saturday, sweaty, tired, and flushed...I thought to myself, I can't wait to get home and go to bed. Then I realized, I'm calling it "home" and it hit me I'm really here to 5 months. I am very happy :)

Things I can now successfully do:

-navigate the streets around my house

-walk to the grocery store, market, and centro commercial

-catch combis (the crazy buses) to my university and the historical center of lima

-pick out the safe taxis from the ghetto ones and negotiate my way home

Things I can now say I've done since being in Peru:

-surfed

-drank pisco sour

-salsa'd in Barranco

-ate anticucho (cow heart...I know)

-become addicted to Inca Kola

Classes start today...lets hope they go well!!!!

Punta Hermosa

Ahh, I keep getting woken up in the mornings before I would like to be awake. For the past three days, its been because the sun was streaming into my room and the sounds of the waves crashing and Peruvians splashing stirred me from my dreams. Today, it was because theres construction going on in some godawful "building" thats behind my house. Its complete concrete, i don't know how they'll ever turn it into anything. But that might just be my annoyed and tired self talking.

View from my house in Pueblo Libre, Lima

So for the weekend, Serena and I went to Punta Hermosa. A beautiful beach town in the South of Lima. Its one of the most reliable places to catch some good surf waves. We took a city bus there, for for 4 soles or $1.40 we took a 2 hour bus trip to the beach. The traffic in Lima, well, *#&$(#*&@. Its crazy. There is no such thing as stop signs or pedestrian crossings or lanes for that matter. The number of near accidents we got in was ridiculous. And this isn't somebody talking whose just used to Oklahoma blue hairs driving 20mph all over town. I've been around, and traffic outside the U.S. is pretty bad, but Lima...beyond words.

"Care for your life, Don't Cross!"

We got to see some of historic Lima on our bus trip. I'm looking forward to touring the more colonial areas of the capital. From what i glimpsed on Thursday, the colonial architecture is beautiful and brightly colored--although heavily gratified. It was a shock going from seeing hundred years old statues and buildings in their grandeur to the "publeos jovenes" or shanty towns built up on the hills of Lima.

View of the slums from the bus

The quick change from wealth (as defined by Peruvian standards) to extreme poverty was definitely an eye-opener. I thought I knew what to expect being in the huge South American capital city and in a way its what all the books say, but actually seeing it, and smelling it. It really makes me feel like something has to be done to change the stituations as they are...specifically by the Peruvian government. I'm a big fan of the new regional alliances being created in South America and of U.S. non-intervention in Latin American affairs. But don't get me started..

View from our room on the beach

Anyway, Punta Hermosa was amazing. What a great choice for the beach. Serena and I must have been the only "norteamericanos" there. Which was nice. There weren't any ritzy hotels or gaudy bars, just Peruvian families out enjoying the rays and waves. And thats exactly what I did as well. Our room was amazing. It was above a restuarant and have a magnificent view of the beach. The smell of delicious food often wafted up through our open window and the sounds of the waves lulled us to sleep embarrassingly early.

Serena, fresh juice, and a tamal

We were up by 7 everyday, walking to the center of the city to get freshly made juices and testing our nerve in the ice cold water. The first day was overcast, but the cold water was surprisingly refreshing and easy to become accustomed too. Serena was anxious to try her hand at surfing again, and I was convinced to try as well. (although i'm a pretty poor swimming, so i'm surprised i'm not at the bottom of the pacific right now). We rented boards and truly made fools of ourselves for about 10 minutes until Alfonso, the surf instructor came out and decided to give us lessons.

Me surfing, NOT

The idea of surfing is relatively easy, as long as you have a good sense of balance and timing....which I was positive I had, until I tried to surf. Alfonso was a great instructor though and became our first Peruvian friend. They took some pictures of us out on the waves to advertise their surf camp and we all exchanged information to meet up in the city sometime. I ended up riding a couple of waves on my knees, but the few times I actually got up on two feet, I feel off pretty soon afterwards. He could tell we were afraid of the waves, some of them were really big, even as close to the shore as we were. But overall it was a really fun experience and we plan on trying again before the summer is officially over.

Punta Hermosa during the height of beach activity

Didn't plan on being as sore and sunburnt as I was the next morning. We still had two days left on the beach and I was in pain. We made the best of it. I don't know if the air is thinner up here or the sun is just more fierce this close to the equator, but getting that burnt on an overcast day was not expected. The sun came out the nextday. The cold water felt good on our sensitive skin and we managed to survive the rest of our stay at the beach with generous amounts of sunblock and renting a beach umbrella (which every Peruvian on the beach needed, and for good reason I guess.)

View from under my umbrella

The ride home was crazy, as it goes on combis (Peruvian mini-buses). Serena threw up, poor girl. Motion sickness is surely a pandemic on Lima public transportation. The door to the bus is located right in the middle, where the exit usually is. A worker stands there, hanging on to the pole and constantly swings the door open and closed, even at high speeds, yelling out where the bus is going and screaming for people to "sube" (get on) or "baja" (get off). Even little old grandmas who can bear stand up straight are command to "Sube, sube, sube, sube!!!!" Its crazy. They even have a game called "Crazy Combi"!

See the guy hanging out of the bus..he's the one yelling.

But, I'm already getting used to the challenge of it (public transportation) and am looking forward to taking the bus to school everyday. They each have so much character, and no two bus has the same picture of Jesus pasted on the ceiling.

More of my roommates are returning from their vacations. The house is almost full! I've now met the two men of the house, a German and Austrian. Their spanish is a little hard to decipher from their thick accents, but they are very nice. As is Emilen, one of my French roommates. She just returned from Bolivia and apparently is the one who brings the pretty potted plants into the house. Heading to the Plaza de Armas tonight and orientation for "La Cato" (slang name for our university) tomorrow. School starts soon!!

Miss you All!!

First Day

WOW...what a start to my time in Lima. Nothing too enthralling happened today so i won't bore you with too many details. I'm also dead tired and heading to the beach in the morning, but just to give this day some justice..here goes.

*I went to the supermercado with my 3 Taiwanese roommates: Luz, Carolina and Monica. They are all very nice and helpful. My other roommates are Laura ( a wonderful girl from italy who studies Indigenous Human Rights..we have a lot to talk about!), and people of the following ethnicities whom I have yet to meet: 1 Austrian guy, 1 German guy, and 2 French girls. There is also Lucy, she cleans in the common areas in exchange for rent. She is Peruvian and really nice as well.

*Serena and I got lost every time we attempted to walk home. Its difficult when you think you recognize everything, and most of it is things you recognized when you were going the wrong way and didn't know it and still dont. If anybody knows me, they know I hate being lost.

*Tried both the national ham (?) and national non-alcoholic drink of Peru: Chicha, a sweet juice made of black corn. It was ok, a little too sweet and not my cup of tea at the moment. Also had my first Inca Kola, tasted subtly like bubble gum, but quite quenching.

*Met with Lisset, my University friend. She took us to the Plaza San Miguel and I took the craziest taxi ride of my life. Almost crashed (no exaggeration) and barely slide by, and saw a completely naked man walking down the side of the road while "Don't Want to Miss a Thing" by Aerosmith playing on the radio. I wouldn't have minded missing that "thing."

Blisters galore on my feet and I'm about to pass out, but thats ok because tomorrow its off to Punta Hermosa and Playa Santa Maria for 4 days of beach lounging, pisco drinking, and ceviche eating. Not in any particular order.

Miss you all!