Being Back in the U.S. of A.

It is different being back in the States. I am still staying at home with my parents and lookig for a room for rent with Jason in Santa Cruz as well as a job. I am board because I am not traveling and I am really excited to go snowboarding, visit my friends in Tahoe and have fun. I am a bit anxious moving onto the next step in my life but I am ready for it!

Southern Argentina

After leaving Torres del Paine we stayed in Puerto Natales, Chile for a day it was beautiful, because it had just snowed a bunch and the town was blanketed. When we left the next morning we had a huge problem with the bus. The heater did not work!! It was at least 25 degrees outside, freezing, I could not feel my feet about 40 mins into the ride we got off while bus got gas and all of us riders stood in the station. We then made about 3 more stops where we all had to get off the bus, because it was so cold. There was a women on the bus that I thought for sure she was going to die from th cold; she was about 75, had at least four layers of clothes on and two blankets and was still shivering. Finally, a new bus came to pick us up, the heater worked!!!! We eventually made our way to Rio Gallegos, Argentina. That bus ride should have only taken 6 hours but it took 10!

When we arrived in Rio Gallegos (RG) we made the mistake of not exchanging our Chilean pesos into Argentinian pesos; we had to go to the Carefour (which is like Walmart) and withdrawl money at an ATM. We did not want to stay in RG, because I read the city was ugly and there is nothing to do. We took an overnight bus to Puerto Madryn. This bus was supposed to be 15 hours, but because of bad weather and other road delays the bus ride took 23 hours!

We were also discrimated against as were boarding the bus in RG. I had bought two tickets for the bottom seats, which are the nicer and more expenisve seats for Jason and I, because there was promotion and it was going to be a long a ride. As we boarded the bus the ticket-taker told me there were no seats on the bottom left for us; that we would have to sit on the top of the bus in the back (oh, the buses in Chile and Argentina are almost always double decker buses). So, Jason and I go upstairs and take our seats. I keep thinking what am I going to say I paid for bottom seats and I wanted my seat. About 30 minutes later on of the drivers comes up top and says due to road delays we will not be leaving until 11pm it was 9pm. The bus was supposed to leave at 8pm, but it was late arriving to the terminal and then we sat in the parking lot or two hours.
So, at this point I was very upset. I went downstairs and asked the guy, Can you please help me understand why I bought tickets for the downstairs seats, but I am sitting upstairs. There are seats available downstairs, I see them. (Remember this is all in Spanish) He poked his head in where the other drivers were had some words with them and then told me it would be fine if I sat in my original seat downstairs. I couldn´t believe it; it was so strange, one guy said no you have to sit upstairs even though I bought the more expensive seats and then 30 minutes later I got what I paid for:)

We eventually made it safe to Puerto Madryn around 7pm the next day. We found a hostel and stayed for two days. The next day we exchanged out Chilean pesos for Argentinean pesos and sat on the beach and watched five wright whales play with each other. Right off the coast it was so cool!!! During different times of the year there are many different animals in the bay. Anything from killer whales, wright whales, penguins, dolphins and lots of birds. From there we went to Viedma only for a day and a half we traveled there to catch the train to Bariloche.
Bariloche was very pretty! The people there were a bit stuck up, but we stayed in a really nice hostel thanks to my Mom and Dad who traded in a timeshare. Unfortunately, we were unable to go snowboarding due to bad weather, the mountain was closed the entire week we were there :(

After Bariloche we went to Neuquen where we were supposed to see dinos!! But I got the days confused, it was Sunday and not Monday the museums were further away then I thought and the bus ran at a different time. This lead to us staying in the bus terminal for over 12 hours waiting to get the one and only bus that day to Mendoza. Mendoza was a great city. We went on the bike wine tour. We ended up getting super drunk and being out at the winerys until 6pm. We needed to have the bikes back by 6:30pm. The bike rental shop is across the street from the police station so the bike people sent two motorcycle cops after us, mostly to make sure us and their bikes were ok. We then got a police escort back to the bike rental place. It was so funny!! I told them no it is ok we don´t need help we know how to get back and the cop said to me, No it is my job, don´t worry about it. We were successfully escorted by two Argentinian police man, great night!

Torres del Paine

We went hiking in Torres del Paine a very famous National Park in the Chilean Patagonian region. We went from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales on a four hour bus ride and stayed in a hostel for days making sure that we were prepared to go and hike for seven days. Every bus station in Punta Arenas told us that there were no buses to get to the park from Puerto Natales and that we would have to hitch-hike. Then we arrive in Puerto Natales and find out there is a mini-bus that goes to Torres del Paine every morning at 8am, which made us really happy knowing we had a reliable ride to get there. It also added to our frustration of the South American people who lie to us all the time and say they know\don´t know something when they really have no idea!

Jason and I bought fleece neck warmers from outside the supermarket the night before we left which was an amazing purchase because our ride in the morning and all our days camping were so super cold! We rode in to the park on the mini-bus with two other girls traveling by themselves and we hiked the first day with them. The first two nights we stayed in a camping area that had a covered gas stove for the campers to use and flushing toilets, it was nice but extremely cold and the camp site area never saw sun all day and had a permafrost! Our first day we hiked from the Administration center, the second day we hiked without our packs to glacier Grey and saw icebergs floating in the lake it was Amazing!! On our third morning we were supposed to hike up to camp Britannico but we had to hike up a super steep iced over river it was too scary and steep for my liking so we went a bit lower and camped in a different site. That day we witnessed three avalanches and heard nine all throughout the night. On the fourth day we woke up and there was gas in our stove and Jason came to the conclusion that our container leaked gas into the stove and we now had less gas then what we need for three more days. We then decided to cut our seven day trip down to a six day trip, because I wanted to be able to eat food and boil water for warm soup, the only thing I look forward to when camping in below freezing temperatures!! On the last night we were in the park we were in an organized camp site and during the night there were mice everywhere they pooped on our tent. We had our trash and food tied up in a tree but the mice were all over the place and Jason even got out and tried tramping one particular mouse under the trash can he was so serious and set on trapping the mouse I almost peed my sleeping-bag laughing so hard. Hiking Torres del Paine was a rewarding gorgeous experience and was very hard at some points but I am glad we did. Now I know that I can hike in below 25 degrees and enjoy doing so. Life is good in Chile and now we have made it to Argentina where EVERY bathroom has a bidet! Who uses a bidet ?

Patagonia

Southern Chile has been beautiful full of lakes, mountains, volcanos, trees, and the most beautiful sky I have every seen. The clouds are so low it looks as if you could reach up and touch them. The sunset looks like fiery orange and hot pink crayons melting, in between the fluffy pearl clouds. I absolutely love the sky here!!!
Jason and I have made it to the Punta Arenas which is on the Strait of Magellan it is as far south as were able to make it and is technically as far south as you can go while still being on the continent. All the people in Punta Arenas were incredible nice and I have decided that I cannot wait to move to Chile. Life is good :)

Southern Chile

Life in Chile has been really easy. It is nothing like traveling in Peru. The food is delicious, most water is potable, and you can even flush your toilet paper in some cities. We spent about a week and half in Northern Chile in Arica and National Park Lauca. We decided to take a 31 hour bus ride from Arica to Santiago because there was not much that we were interested in see in between. We loved Santiago it is a wonderful city everyone is nice and very helpful. The metro is clean and safe and walking around you wouldn´t know if you were in DC or Santiago everyone smokes cigarettes. Since leaving Santiago we took a 4 hour train to Talca, because that is as far as the train goes due to the earthquake that did some damage to the tracks about 6 months back. We did not stay in Talca, there is not much there, we then took a bus for two hours to Chillán. Which is the birth place of Bernardo O´Higgins the Hero of Chile.
We walked around Chillán, looked at the tile mosaic that depicts O´Higgins life and wanted to see murals that were donated by the Mexican government in 1923 after an earthquake, but due to the recent earthquake 6 months ago, the murals were being fixed and the upstairs of the building was closed. We were only able to see 2 paints they were very large and the one that was crumbling was gorgeous a large man, a compus and a rainbow with something else that I can´t remember. We ate at an amazing vegetarian buffet called Arcoiris which means rainbow in Spanish. Our first hostel in Chillán was absolutely terrible, it smelled of cigarettes, was really dirty and was freezing cold, plus they were charging way to much. The next hostel we stayed in was much better smelled clean but was still a bit a cold and expensive, 21,000 pesos, which is about $40. From Chillán we took a four bus to Temuco, where I paid a bit too much for first class seats because I thought I was getting deal. Then from the bus terminal in Temuco we had to take a taxi to the other bus terminal where the Jac bus took us to Pucón about an hour and a half away.
We have been in Pucón for five days and we are leaving tomorrow to Valdivia. Since we have been here we have walked and biked around town, had espresso (which can be hard to find because the only coffee here is instant), people watched, took pictures of Lake Villarica and Volcano Villarica and today we went on a tour of Pezones Hot springs and a few waterfalls it was a great day. I was sick for almost two days with some sort of upset stomach. I went to the pharmacy to buy Pepto Bismol, but of course that does not exist here so I ended up with some sort of if we were in the USA would be prescription medicine. I had to put 35 drops in to a glass of water and drink it, it tasted horrible, but made my stomach feel better. I cannot figure out what made me sick other then a random bug that I contracted. Everyone says the water is pure and is as good as it gets and Jason has been drinking it and feels fine, though he does not drink as much water as I do. But I now have a new rule that any town where you cannot flush your poo-paper and have to throw in the trash it is the best bet to not drink the water.
Traveling around has been great, it can get a bit stressful purely because dealing with money is stressful, not speaking Spanish as first language, and constantly being on the move is not easy. Jason and I have become much better at getting around. Life is good.
Sending all my love from South of the equator

Chile

We have been in Chile for almost four weeks now. We have been in Santiago for two weeks on this coming Wed. Santiago has been amazing! We have been all around the city with our friends. There are lots of parks where you can walk on grass and hang out in. The largest difference here is the culture for men and women. Women cook and clean and men work. I asked Jason to do the dishes and my friend said no never! Men are not allowed to do dishes! I was like what! Oh no Jason cooks and cleans we do it together. Men are served first here. When dinner comes at a home or at a restaurant it is always men first. I really do not like this part of the culture!! So I was a bit pissy having to do the dishes and cook because that was the custom. Well it is over now and tomorrow maybe Jason will have my back and say yes in the USA I cook and clean with Amanda!

Tonight we are going to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D and hopefully have a better day!

Traveling to Colca Canyon

We left Arequipa at 6am and had a slightly stressful ordeal getting bus tickets 15 minutes before the bus left. But we made it! Our tickets were 15 soles each then we went to the exit terminal and the guard told us, in Spanish, that we had to buy something, we couldnt figure out what he was telling us. Finally, about a long minute later we realized we had to buy an exit ticket for one sole each. We loaded and the bus and left only 15 mins late. The bus ride was a bruttle six hours long. Every time the driver shifted the whole bus felt it and Jason and I had bets as to how far the bus would go till it broke down.
The road was a bumpy dirt path for quite some time and then shifted in to very sharp turns; which were enhanced by the drivers swerving and tailgating. We made it safe and sound so neither one of us won. There was an old man on the bus who most definitely did not win, he pooed his pants. The bus driver had to stop and the ticket taker guy got out shovled dirt and then swept the poo off the bus. The entire time we were all still on the bus and it smelled terriable!! On the bus ride back a girl got on and she put her baby llama under the bus with all the bags. She then got off about 45 mins later and got out her pet and was kinda inspecting it for damages as we drove away.
The hike started out a bit confusing, the maps here do not give a great description of trails nor are there markers so we were kind of guessing. We eventually made it past the pampa (plane) and down the trail to San Juan de Chuchoo. Jason and I started measuring the width of the trails by how many donkies wide they were. Some parts were four donkies wide and others only one. The locals in San Juan can make it up to Cobanaconde in 1 hour 45 mins and down in one hour. Not to mention that they are hiking in sandles, well sandles whoses tread are made from Goodyear tires! It took Jason and I five and half hours down with 20 pounds or so on our backs. On the way down two boys passed us with a chair, it was a funny site. The locals also use donkies to carry down all the supplies they need for daily life.
We stayed in San Juan for 2 days it was beautiful very lush and lots of flowers! We then trekked over to Coshnirwa then to Malata. We stayed at Veronica´s in Malata. She had a museum and a place to camp for five soles. She also had a cute little puppy with huge paws that fell in love with Jason. The museum was full of traditional Peruvian tools and outfits for men and women.

As we were hiking we ran across two girls and guy from CA that were also trekking around and heading to Malata. We passed rio colca and decided to jump in because it was a hot day. They proceded to strip down naked and jump in. It made for an awkard yet very funny experience. These same people passed through Glorias house (where we were staying) as we were leaving and asked to pick some fruit from the trees. Her answer was "go ahead they are not my trees." This gave Jason and I a long conversation to go over why socialism may not work. To me this is very disheartening, but there will always be people who do not put in any work and want to reap the rewards. This very same group of three told us they asked another man early in their hike for some of his fruit he said they had to pay and when they told him they did not have any money he said "Oh, you must be Isreali." Proving that the Jew joke makes it all the way down to the bottom of the Colca Canyon in Peru.

One of the fruits that grows wild, but is also harvested in the canyon is tuna. It is the prickly fruit on top of the cactus. It is sweet and has edabile seeds like a watermelon. There is parasite that grows on the cactus that kills the cactus but it´s blood is used for coloring makup. They get about 35 to 40 soles per 2.2 pounds. So they are intentionally harvesting this bug for the blood.
We hiked out of the canyon in about seven hours, should of only taken four and half but we were tired from six days of hiking and being sunburnt at the oasis.

When we finally got back up to Cobanoconde we ordered ravollis and we were so exicted about it. The menu had three options one with meat, the other two no meat but with white or red sauce. So Jason and I ordered the white sauce one with meat and one without. However, when our food arrived both ravollis were stuffed with meat!!! I was sad, but Ceaser (the cook/busser/hostel manager) made me a plate of spagettii that I had to pay for of course. Thankfully Jason was hungry and ate both portions of ravollis and I had my meat free spaghetti.

In Peru it is really hard to find change for anything so it is best to travel with small bills/coins if possiable. We were in a shop buying a soda so we could pay the internet cafe 80cents and the shop lady went outside looking for change. She ended up not finding any and just pulling some out of her own box! Why she didn´t just give us that change in the first place is beyond me. As I am reading there is an ambulance waiting behind a taxi! Only in Peru well maybe more of South America, but sirens and authority get no respect!

That was a really long post my neck is hurting from sitting here. It took three times longer to type because the German girl next to me keeps talking. It´s fine, just slowed me down.

Sending all my love from South of the Equator
PS there is no spell check that I can get to work on blogspot so excuse all the spelling errors!

Arequipa

We took a bus from Ica to Arequipa. The bus was late by about an hour, but this is very typical in Peru. We asked if there was wifi at the bus station in Ica, because Jason and I had about seven hours to kill an he has his iphone that we use to keep up with the world, but the lady said no there was not wifi. So, we walked around town for awhile sitting in the Plaza de Arams, ate lunch and went to an internet cafe. We leave the internet cafe with an hour before the bus arrived and just for the sake of it Jason takes out his iphone and what do you know there is wifi!! It was so funny, and very Peruvian.
We rode on the second story of the double decker bus in the very front so we could watch traffic, the roads and scenary. It was like a rollar coaster! The driver was passing milk and fuel trucks on an up hill and sometimes with blind turns, he tailgated every car and would speed up and hit the breaks. It was quite the experience. We did arrive to Arequipa safe at about 9 am we walked into the bus terminal and we were bombarded by taxi drivers.
We walked up to an information stand and the lady had hostels that she was recomendeing. After much debate (between Jason and I, as to what would be most efficiant a) to walk around and look for a hostel in town with our stuff on our backs or b) just take what she had) and hageling (between the lady and I on room prices) we decided to go to a hostel that she recomended. We thought she would call an book the room and we would show up. But oh no, she packed up her entire stand and went with us from the bus terminal in a taxi to the hostel. It was the strangest thing. Clearly she is making commission on booking rooms or why else would she pack up her entire stand and leave.
Our hostel is nice it has a real bed. By that I mean it is not made of carboard, hay/cotton mix or a foam pad. It has a bathroom and there is wifi and bread and butter with instant coffee in the morning.
We planned on staying for three days, but on the third night our plan was derailed by some shady chicken that Jason ate. He had a food poisoning and was feeling terriable that night and yesterday. Today we took it slow hung out in the plaza, had lunch, ran into friends from PSF and chated with two local girls for a minute, then decided to go get some cake. The cake was good but not what I was expecting. The layers were crumbly cookie and cool whip, alternating, very interesting.
We plan on going to Colca Canyon tomorrow (Friday) and staying for around a week in the canyon and then heading to Chivay where there are hot springs for a day. The bus ride to Colca Canyon is six hours so we are leaving on the 6am bus and arriving at noon. After Colca we plan to come back to Arequipa for a day and then either hike Mt. Misti or head South to Chile. We decided it would be wiser to go as far South as we can get before winter hits.

Food here in Arequipa is good, because there are lots of choices, I am still really tired of rice. We think Jason got sick, because we ate around 9:30pm, the food was probably cooked at five and sat around for four hours and was then reheated when we arrived. He had chicken and I did not, but other then that we ate the same thing, I was totally fine. The resturants here are not like resturants in the USA they are just the front of people´s homes (well not all, not the nice expensive ones, which we are trying to avoid) but most.

Still Heading South

We hung out in Huachachina (sp?) for a few days before we decided to go to Arequipa. Huachachina was really nice, it is an oasis surronded by sand dunes. There is sand boarding and buggys everywhere. After two days there is nothing else to do; the town is so small, we walked around the whole city in ten minutes. It was originally built as an oasis for the wealthy to escape, there were some colonail looking buildings around the lagoon but a few that were out of comission. We ate a bunch of different food- sandwiches, lasgana, pizza, french fries, burgers and NO rice, it was GREAT!! We sat near the pool, but did not swim becasue I hurt my toe and did not want it to become infected by any strange something that could be in a Peruvian pool. And to top that off we did not bring bathing suits with us! I do not know why we decided not to bring them. Our pack weighted 28 pounds, that is very light for six months of traveling we could have squeezed in a bathing suit. We just didnt forsee a pool or clear lakes to swim in. So, now we have to buy one or have my lovely parents send me one of my own. The other item we both wish we would have bought were tevas or keens those sandel shoes that can be worn any where and would protect my toes from the rocks that sometimes jump out of no where.
On a more philosophical note Jason and I have noticed and now dubbed the Peruvian White Pant Revolution. This is the more upscale Peruvian individual that shows what they have by wearing it on there body generally there legs. We noticed these people few and far between in Ica and Pisco, but in Huachachina there were plenty. It is so interesting to notice a social class just by the color of their pants. Women here from age, one wear high heels and often the higher the heel the classier or wealthier she wants to project herself. Some women can hardly walk in their heels. And many of the streets are not paved, they are dirt and cobble stone, these women are CRAZY! So, more on the Peruvian White Pant Revolution as we research further in Arequipa. We leave tonight at 8pm and should arrive around 9am tomorrow morning.
Sending all my Love from South of the Equator

Heading South

We have decided to head South to Arequipa tonight and will arrive in the early morning tomorrow. The news says that the miners association has come to an agreement with the Peruvian government and will have futher talks in the future. Both sides have apoligized and the Pan-American is no longer blocked. I am excited to continue on with our travels and hike. I hope my big toe heals quick!!

Still in Pisco Itching to Travel

Frist things first, I just fell over. I was walking to the internet cafe, found it was closed turned around and began walking to the gas station which has everything, it is a gas station, internet cafe, resturant, bar, dance floor, gym and market none of which encompass the same space. So, I turned around to head to this all-in-one and looked up for a brief moment, which I never do, due to the rubal and rocks that are everywhere. And of course the one time I look up I fall over and skin my knee and take off a chunk of my big toe. This sucks even more than average, because the only shoes I have to wear are my hiking boots and sandles; now the sandels are a bit scary, because I would like to avoid getting dirt in my cut.

We were supposed to leave for Arequipa last week and decided not to because of the increased cost of travel during the week of Easter. So, we then decided to leave on Tuesday April 6th, but there were large protests going on in Arequipa due to the passing of some new enviornmental laws and taxes imposed on the mining community. The protests have been violent and have blocked the Pan-American highway, so we decided since we still have five months here in South America, there is no rush to head down south. We can hang in Pisco a couple more days untill this all blows over and continue the work we are doing here.

The biggest project Pisco Sin Fronteras (PSF) is working on now is the expansion of the new house. We are currently in three houses and we have out grown all of them (two weeks ago there were over 100 volunteers)and the landlord of one of the houses wants to sell. PSF found a hostel that was for rent and we are working on expanding it. We are adding a kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, and pouring more concrete so we can have our meeting area. The work that we do here in Pisco is manual labor, anything from cement floors, brick laying, digging trenchs, rewiring houses and everything in between.

Jason has found his favorite resutant here called El Pollo Gordo (The Fat Chicken), we went there this past weekend and he ate an entire half chicken and huge plate of fires and some salad. I had a heaping pile of fries and a salad for only 3 soles, that is one US dollar. That is when I knew he was feeling better. He was only eating once a day, mostly and I would have to beg him to go with to eat dinner or to boil water for soup. Now he is back on his two large meals a day, he never eats breakfast, and so am I so we are doing good. We went to a really nice resturant on Sunday where I ordered a capress salad :) and penne pasta with garlic, cheese and parsley. Jason had a chicken breast stuffed with cheese, he loved it. The food was delicious and tasted nothing like Pisco Peruvian food which was GREAT! On a daily basis I eat pasta, fired rice, beans and rice or a tortilla, which is like an omlete with vegtables, it is very good and served with, of course, rice. All resturants have aji which is a hot sauce and no two are alike the other day we went for lunch and the aji smelled so good and I was hungry after busting up concret and I ate an entire fork full of it. Terriable idea the aji was so spicy my ears were on fire, I could not believe it.

Every other house here sells something out of there front window at first it is very strange, because you sometimes have to knock on the window or yell HOLA to get someone to sell you something. I did learn a trick; all the locals tap there coins on the metal bars that cover every homes front windows. The other day one of the girls I was with was yelling and no one would come to the front, but I tapped my 50 centimos on the metal and the shop owner came right away, it was so funny. There is a lady on the end of our street that sells fresh baked cake out of her house it is scrupmtous and as I found out last night she sells beer as well. The locals seem receptive of having all us gringos here, I think they have heard of us or someone they know has been helped by PSF and everyone says hi as we walk by and the young kids say good morning in english then giggle. A strange thing that does happen here in South American culture is that people have no problem calling others, even complete stranges, by their outward phyiscal charictristics, such as us Gringos, or chubby kids gordo or some of the homeless loco. It is very interesting, we were in the Plaza de Armas which is the center of all Latin American cities and there was a homeless man walking around mumbling to himself and the adults and kids alike had no quams about teasing him out loud as he walked by, it was quite a different experience.

I am really itching to travel and get out of the desert, but Jason is sucked into the consturction that is going on and now with the road blocks down south, who knows when we will leave. I am really excited to try different food and different weather.

All my love from South of the equator!!

Pisco

We have now been in Pisco for over two weeks and things have had there ups and downs. Pisco is a very poor yet fullfilling place. We moved into to the Pisco Sin Frontares (PSF) house on the roof in our tent. We had to deal with some serious wind getting the tent up at almost 6pm, but we managed and nothing blew away. We began work the following day digging a trench in El Melino a very poor community of Pisco, where there homes are made of tarps and asteria (bamboo woven together). They do not have running water or toilets in there homes , they have a few community water spickets that are only on for a few hours during the day. The trench we dug was for a water supply to the community bathrooms 2 toilets and 2 showers for everyone to use. It was a great day getting dirty and really experiencing manual labor. However it was heartbreaking to hear that the pipe that was layed was sealed together by heating up the two ends with a lighter and then holding them together. I am not a plummer and I have very little skill, but I do know that was a bad idea and not a long fix. Of course they burried there lighter fused pipe and I esure you it will burst in the near future. This is just one example of how I have seen PSF or maybe even Peru in general operate.
Nothing is a perment fix it is all half assed and temporary. Another huge problem in the pisco area, there is no landfill. There is no central location for everyones waste to go and therefore there is trash EVERY WHERE!! I get really frusterated because we do beach clean ups and then watch the little kids eat there popcicle and drop the wraper on the ground. Until there is a central dump how do we expect to change the mentality of these individuals? Is it a luxuray to not live in trash? I think I have decided it is. This was only our first two days here.
We have been taking spanish lessons, forgeting to take enough pictures, eating good food and becoming really tired of rice. We are going to stay in Pisco for at least another week because Easter is a huge deal in Latin America and everywhere will be packed and charge twice as much money, because everyone who can travels and has the whole week off.
I was really sick for almost a week and feeling better now I am taking antiboitcs and eating bland food. It is lovingly called Pisco belly something like food poisoning but worse!!
Our pizza is almost here. Hope all is well in the states! Sending my love from South of the equator!!!

First few days in Lima

We arrived here in Lima after midnight, because our plane was delayed before take off. It took 7 and half hours to get here and for some reason we did not get out of our seats to use the restroom. On the flight we were fed cheese raviols with meat sauce and then four hours later a turkey and lettace sandwich. Where Jason and I traded turkey for lettace. He ate double turkey and carrot sando and I had double lettace and carrots, it turned out to be not so bad. After landing we were picked up by a guy who works for the hostel and taken to Pirwa the hostel where we are staying at. The people here are nice and only speak a bit of broken english. So our spanish has already improved.
We slept in a dorm style room one the first night, because of some confusion, then the next day moved to a private room with two twin beds, where mine smell like pee!! (Mom, you could NEVER stay in a hostel because there is other peoples hair everywhere) So, I made jason share :) We went out the first day in Miraflores the district of Lima we are staying in. We walked around the park and ate some pizza, which tastes nothing like pizza in the states. The bread here is different, it is sweeter, but good and Jason thinks it smells like eggs. We have not eaten a ton, just a bananna for breakfast and a late lunch, we are slowly working our way into the new food.
Today we went to el centro, the Plaza de Armas, it was pretty, everything was yellow. There were tons of police with shields ready for battle at any second. Jason suspected some guy was watching us so we moved around a few times. When we were on the church steps we bought a map and partook in our first real hageling!

For lunch we ate some chicken with rice and fries and a salad. I gave Jason my chicken and we were both too
afraid to eat the salad because of everything we read (ie bugs from people not washing their hands). The bus ride to get from Miraflores to el centro was one sole (s1). And it was quite an experience!! The bus is more of a vw van than a bus, with seats meant for people 5 feet six inches or less. Our knees where fully pressed into the seat in front of us and Jason had one leg in the esile. The people drive here like they are 15 mins late, which is ironic for a laid back culture. Everyone honks there horn at everyone else for absloutly everything!! The city smells like smog and fuel everywhere mixed with some plesant parts that smell of rottten fish. The city is just not for us. We will stay here till Thursday then take a bus from here to Pisco which should be about s14 and take 4 and a half hours.
I want everyone to thank there spacebar for working, because at this computer you have to drop bows for a space after every word. haha
Sending all my love from Lima

2 days before I leave

Today I dropped my friends off at SFO, was able to hang out with Jessica one more time before I leave. I went to the bank to look into travelers checks and dealing with my money. It is so expensive to withdrawal money in a foreign currency, CRAZY! Picked up Jason in Santa Cruz and getting ready to pack up all my stuff. I am getting really excited!

Four Days to Go

I am still in Brentwood hanging out with my friends from Boston, getting ready to go wine tasting in Napa; four days before I leave. Yesterday, we went out and bought all the last minute stuff I needed and I only one cup away from being fully prepared!!