Last Leg

Ok, way too tired to type anything. Ill see yall in a couple days. Im alive, just did Machu Picchu, Lake Titticaca and Colca Canyon in like 5 days, havent showere since wednesday, now i got a 15 hour bus ride to Lima in a tiny tiny tiny seat. Neeeed sleep. Hokaibai.

Cuzco

So Im ready to leave, haha. So many gringoes, over priced food and tourist attractions everywhere. I met up with my friend Ben this weekend which was really great, and am heading up to Macchu Picchu later today, seeing it tomorrow morning. Unfortunately my camera is still broken, so I wil be counting on my friends to take plenty of pics for me. On wednesday night I head to Puno for a 2 day tour of the lake, were staying on a hostel on a lake the first night which Ive heard is spectacular. From there Ill go to Arequipa and try to make a day trip to Colca Canyon (second deepest canyon in the world) and then make my way back to Lima the 12th or 13th and hang out with Scot, this crazy hostel owner Neto and Ellie know. Excited to see new things and to see everyone soooo soon, but really wishing I was back in Huancayo with my kiddoes. Miss and love you all! See you in 9 days holy crap!!

Goodbye Huancayo

Wow, so much to say for the past week. Our numbers have gone from 3 to 10 volunteers and everybody who comes is so interesting and fun, its going to be so hard to leave. Today was my last day at school and it was a special sports day which was so great because everyones parents were there and I could hang out with all the kids. The director called me up in front of the school and they all clapped for me and then gave me a beautiful alpaca gift. After I kicked the first goal during the opening ceremonies and then watched sports all day, hung out with kids and took photos (although my cameras broke luckily another volunteer was nice enough to lend me hers). Anyway, its been a really sad day to say bye to all the kids and leaving tonight will be veyr hard, but its time to move on. I will miss everything so much but will cherish all the great memories I have had here and how much Ive been able to grow. Now, 7 hours to Lima and a 2pm bus to Cusco (21 hours). I really just dont want to leave this place, but there are other things to see and do here. Until next time, nos vemos.

Packing Up

So the past week has been pretty awesome. 2 new volunteers arrived (finally) just in time for me to leave. Its been super nice to not tag along with the other couple here and have some other volunteers to make friends with. We went out dancing saturday and one of the new volunteers taught me how to salsa, and last night we went to a Cumbia concert (more or less salsa) and danced with some local Peruvians. Today and yesterday were Peruvian holidays so no school unfortunately, but I have 2 days left of class and then I depart thursday night for Cuzco via Lima. Going up to Macchu Picchu 5 and 6, Puno the 7 and 8, Arequipa 8 to 12 and return to Lima the 13 in time for my flight home. In total, 80 hours on the bus. Phew. Well, still cant believe Im getting ready to leave Huancayo, Im very much going ot miss this place and the kids, but, will be excited to see you all again and share all of my stories. Nos vemos.

What a Day: Bobby es un perro loco

So our family dog here is crazy. His name is Bobby, he is most defnitely an Alpha Male, but is also about 30 pounds soaking wet. So I'm about 10 minutes into my walk to school today when I heard a dog running behind me. Lo and behold, it's Bobby. Maybe I should have explained something first. Bobby is racist. Bobby likes gringoes, a lot. He is the most loyal dog in the world, but only to white people, its a paradox. So, hes following me, and Im already late so I cant carry him back to the house and he refuses to leave my side so, he comes with me. Along the way, the entire hour to school, Bobby picks fights with eveyr single dog we come across. I pick him up at one point and this man comes out and asks me "Are you peruvian or american?" Taken aback I say Im from the US, but my dog is Peruvian. He burts out laughing and starts telling anyone who will listen theres a gringo with a dog (on my way home I heard people saying "Thats the gringo with the dog"). Yeah, great, thanks Bobby as if I dont stand out enough. So then of course he refuses to stay outside and follows my every move in class. When we go out to play pato, pato, pavo (literally duck, duck, turkey (no geese in peru?)), every time I get picked and start running around the circle he sprints with me at my heels. The kids got a kick out of it. Yeah, so, thats my story. Im sick of typing, Im never going on the internet again. Love you all. Hasta luego.

Otros Voluntarios No Existe

So we were supposed to get 2 Candian volunteers this week and found out this morning that they were afraid the bus schedule wasn't going to work out for them so they switched their flights and went home 2 weeks early instead of coming here. LAME! Hoping that we get new ones this week as is planned, it would be nice to see some new faces although all is well here and we get along most great. Until next time....

Another Week Down

Wowza half of my time here in Huancayo is already up. Said goodbye to some friends last weekend and have been lonesome with the three of us left this week. Were hoping to add two more volunteers tonight and Neto and Ellie return tomorrow. I had a full week at school (minus monday as my bus never showed up) and taught 3/4 grade, 5th, and 6th grade, all sorts of things ranging from clothing and colors to simple verbs. My daily schedule is walk an hour to school, teach for 3.5 hours, walk the hour back, eat, hang out and read on the roof, and then go play with the kids again from 3 to 5. Its really a great setup I have here. Dont have a whole lot to say except that I hate that ref who called back our goal today, but I miss and love you all! See you in 4 weeks!

The First Week

Hard to believe Ive already been here a week so far, I know my time here is going to fly by. Anyway, monday I went to go work at the clinic and it was a very tough day. I watched and assisted with patient exams for about 4 hours, and because it was so busy we averaged maybe 5 minutes per patient. The doctor I was working with would check their throat, check their lungs and then prescribe an antibiotic, no matter what the ailment. It was really hard for me to watch so many people getting so little care, and feeling like I was in the way the whole time rather than helping. There was very little I could do to help these people, and because we spent so little time with each patient, I could do nothing to connect with them. Anyway, tuesday we hiked to the top of a glacier (15,700 feet!) and almost all died because of the altitude. Phew that was tough but soooo beautiful. The past two days I have been able to switch to working in a school here and have fallen in love with it. From now on 4 days a week I will teach english in the mornings, and everyday go back in the afternoons for the after school program where we do english worksheets, play games and just have fun with the kids. I think this is the perfect opportunity for me and I actually feel as if I am accomplishing sometihng now. The kids are so smart and amazing (and sometimes really crazy) I just love it. Im the only "gringo" at the school and they all ask me for my autograph every class. Its awesome. Anyway, got a little sick yesterday so Ive been taking it easy. Our host family and 9 of the volunteers are leaving tonight for Macchu Picchu and after sunday there will just be 3 of us in the house on our own for the week. Neto and Ellie come back next friday with 2 other new volunteers. Miss you all! Please email me if you want to talk its very easy to get internet access here so I should be able to respond within a day or so.

The Valley

So today is a lazy sunday so I figured I might as well give you guys an update. Yesterday we drove outside of Huancayo and went to this restaurant slash summer camp type place, which I doubt it was. 9 of us decided to ride horses and of course I was given the largest, Saltan, who just happened to be absolutely insane. We rode through some small pueblos and then up to this ravine, Saltan would stop intermittently and refuse to walk at times, other times he would neigh his little heart out and scare the crap outta me. Anyway, we got off the horses and started to climb up this ravine, through small little caves and in between huge rocks, crawling, climbing and bushwhacking the whole way. When we reached the top the view was unbelieveable, cant wait to show you guys the pictures. We could see the whole valley and a giant glacier on the other side that we will be climbing this week (apparently you need coca leaves and cotton in your ears to climb it). Afterwards we rode back and Saltan tried to bite my foot off a couple times which was interesting, but we ran the horses and I felt like a cowboy. Afterwards we drove to this trout farm (trucha) and had amazing, fresh trout for lunch. Mine was fried, but I also tried ceviche, which if you dont know is, in this case fish, cooked in lemon oil and the acid cooks the fish, so its very much like sushi. After our great meal we went to a womans house who hand makes silver jewelry and we saw her process of making it and then were able to purchase if we desired and then drove to an alpaca store where there were tons of clothing, bags and statues. When we got home at 630 we were all far too tired to go to the discoteca, and I was too tired to go out to eat dinner even. A couple of us just sat on the couches and chatted for awhile, but were too lazy to get up and go to bed so I didnt even sleep till 1am! Well at least I got to sleep in today. We are going out to another great lunch today where they cook the meat in the ground, and then going to the giant sunday market where you can buy even more things than at the mercado libre. Ok, thats all for now, dont know when Ill get to update again but dont expect these too often now. Bye!

Huancayo

Where to start. Well, how about the bus ride. 7.5 hours or so of ear popping, mountain scaling action. I slept through most of it. Apparently a woman passed out in the bathroom due to the altitude but I missed it. Arrived in Huancayo around 9pm and was greeted by my host family, Neto, Elli and their daughter Marife who is absolutely adorable. We drove back to the house (more like a compound) and I was greeted by 6 other volunteers drinking wine and playing cards and all very cheery. I put my stuff down in my room (all to myself, I even have keys to it!) and then met a lot of drunken people. There are 15 volunteers right now I believe, 9 are med students at Creighton and they are leaving next week, 2 girls from England, and a couple other randoms. After next week there will only be 4 or 5 of us volunteers left. Its a very cool setup, we all live with Neto and Ellie, except the Creighton students who have an apartment a block away. We all eat in Neto and Ellie{s house and hangout here a lot.
So far the altitude hasn{t been bad. I feel a little winded after going up stairs, and last night woke up and didn{t know my name or where I was, but besides that I feel great. Today Neto, Ellie and Marife and I went to the "mercado libre", or the open air market. Poppadop you woulda loved it. Every kind of animal hung up, including guinea pig, so you know exaclty what kind of meat youre getting and can hand pick your bit of meat. They have everything from meat, to a million different types of potato to everday household items. I ate a caramel, jello type thing made from cow hoof which was really good. After we drove to the city center and I got to see more of Huancayo. It is better off than Lima, but still very poor. There are street vendors, stray dogs and we saw a random fire on the sidewalk tonight. Overall, I love the city though. There is a really weird mall just like out of the US that has KFC and Burger King, which is nice for some things but I think I will avoid it. Everything is SO cheap. Taxis are about a sole per person for a 10 minute ride or so, which is about 33 cents. I had a full dinner tonight for 6 soles, or 2 dollars. Its crazy. I ate cow heart, stomach and intestine. Some of it was pretty gnarly but it was super cool to try it out. Tomorrow we are riding horses through the valley (no work on weekends) and then going to the discoteca. Its a pretty funny, crazy, awesome group and I think I will relaly enjoy my stay here. I know I forgot a lot but can{t wait to tell you guys all about it. Miss and love you all!

Lima

So you will all be very happy to know I did not spend the night in the bus station, despite my efforts. It was all locked up and closed so my taxi driver took me to MiraFlores where I stayed in the MiraFlores hotel. This place is very interesting, it looks pretty upscale but then you enter the rooms. Theyre different. Holes in the sheets, the lights dont work and I tried to take a shower this morning but the shower head was rusted shut. Anyway, its great. Took a stroll around Lima and ate at a pasteleria wher I had a delicious chicken empanada. Ive been drinking the tap water here so lets hope for the best. Anyway, my bus leaves Lima at 1:30 and hopefully my host family got the message that my travel plans changed slightly. This traveling alone thing is really cool and exciting and Im loving eveyr minute of it. Love and miss you all!

Packin'

I just bought $100 worth of drugs at the pharmacy and I don't think anyone understood me at all there. The packing has begun. A nice family + friends BBQ today/tonight and then LAX tomorrow and onto Lima the next day. The day is finally here! Wish me luck!

Update

Just booked my flights to Canada. Leaving Portland July 26 for Whitehorse, Canada and returning to Portland August 26. Hopefully I can find a way home to Seattle :) :)

Oh still figuring out how this thingy works

If you got an email to see this post, you all should "Follow" it (I think you can do this on the side or somethin) so that you get updates when I make a new "Post". Phew this is complicated.....

The Plan

Ok so first off, I find it really weird that I have a blog. I just sent out an email to a lot of you guys, but I figure this will be a whole lot easier to update you all on my doings this summer than remembering who all to send emails to. Anywayyyyy, in case you missed it, here are my travel plans this summer:
June 2nd - Fly to Lima, Peru and catch the next bus to Huancayo, Pero
June 2nd - July 2nd I will be working in rural clinics and helping out in the street children program with this organization (carismaperu.org)
July 2nd - Find a way into Machu Picchu (the details on this one are sketchy at the moment)
July 5 (-ish) - Bus to Pisco, Peru and help build houses with theses guys (http://www.piscosinfronteras.org/)
Hopefully I will make it to Lima by July 14th and beg, borrow and steal my way home.
Promptly upon arriving back in the States, I will again depart. July 25 I fly to Whitehorse, Canada for my 30 day backpacking/whitewater canoeing Outdoor Educator course. Check out NOLS.edu if you're curious, and I will get back August 26th for the start of my Fall semester. Hopefully I will find time to see you all over the summer, but at the very least, this silly blog thing-a-majigger will let you know how I'm doin. Love you all lots and expect some updates to come when June rolls around!