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!!