Emi explores Peru

So, it's been a while. I know, I know, I've been slacking but now that the shock of everything is wearing off, I can actually focus and write about my life here in Peru.

In the past four weeks that I've been here in Lima, I have seen a lot. I've adventured the district of Surco, hiked a mountain to a waterfall (Catarata de Antakallo) and taken a bus tour of the historical section of Lima.

Surco is where my house is and where I spend most of my time. I'm usually either at my house, on campus at UPC (Universidad Peruano de Ciencias Aplicadas), or walking around most likely in a shopping mall. Speaking of shopping, for anyone who knows about my “problem” you will be proud to hear that I've done very well and have only bought like 5 articles of clothing.
Surco is.. Not what I'm used to. I’m a farm girl, and as I first walked out of the airport and had my first look, it hit me that not only would I be adapting to a Spanish speaking country but also to the largest city I've ever been in. Lima has a population of roughly 8.5 million people and for the past two years I've been living in a city of about 32,000. Talk about culture shock. And with the big city, comes the usual big city problems. We'll start with traffic (God help me). It's a nightmare. Even if I could drive here, I wouldn't dream of doing it. So you know the dotted lines in the road that tell us where to drive? In the states we call those lanes and try our best to stay inside of them. Well here in Peru, they’re more like suggestions. My first night here during the ride back from the airport I seriously just accepted my fate and the fact that we were going to get hit. I mean, 80% of the cars that I saw on the road had at least one dent in them. But come to think of it, I haven't seen one accident, not even a close call. Another thing that is common for drivers is to just honk at everything. Back home, when you get honked at, it means that you did something wrong and ticked another driver off. But here, honking is much more casual and friendly. Also, it's not just other drivers that get honked at, which brings me to my next point. Just the fact that I'm American means that I stick out like a sore thumb. I dress differently, I look differently and every time I open my mouth it's painfully obvious that I'm not from around here. Very often will I be walking down the street and I get honked at, whistled at or shouted at. Taxi drivers just assume that I don't know where I'm going and that I probably need a ride. They will pull over on the street, wave at me and ask if I want a taxi. Also, anytime I've worn a nice outfit, a random man will tell me that I’m very pretty as I walk by. Some may take it as a compliment but it really bothered me at first so I’ve started to walk around with headphones every time I'm alone. I've gotten very good at ignoring people while walking down the street simply for self preservation.

The area itself is really beautiful. There are trees everywhere and the architecture is so unique. I thought I died and went to heaven when I toured the historical section of Lima because I love seeing old buildings like that. The most notable thing we saw was the St. Francis cathedral. First off, the outside is so big and magnificent and then you want in.. I don't even know how to describe it other than amazing. I was in awe for the entire tour. There was a rose garden in the center and a relic room. We went through the catacombs and saw the library with thousands of ancient books. Ahnika and I were the adventurous ones and we wandered off more than one time while our group was resting or waiting to go into a room. Needless to say, I will be going back there before I leave to see even more.

I've also experienced some of the night life here in Peru. Our first weekend we went to the highly praised Pizza Street. It’s nothing I've ever seen. All of the restaurants hosts stand at their own entrance and practically jump on you trying to get you to go inside their restaurant. I'll just say that being sheep-dogged into a restaurant is not how I like to choose where I'm going to eat. But it must work for them because they just keep doing it. As the night went on, we walked by a man offering us free pisco sours if we drank at the club he worked at. We got him to three piscos, went inside and had the drinks out of miniature sized glasses. After we finished the first one, we discovered that they would only give us one free round and that everyone who had one had to pay for a second drink. So I
definitely learned my lesson that nothing on pizza street is really free. Needless to say, I wasn't that impressed and the pizza wasn't even that great. Right across from pizza street is Kennedy Park or as we like to call it, the cat park. (There's at least 50 cats there at all times). But in this park there are a lot of unique vendors that only come out at night and they sell little Peruvian trinkets like bracelets and key chains.

We've also gone to another district called Barranco which is right along the ocean. We walked down to the beach and took off our shoes to stand in the water. While we were standing there, Shelby made a little friend. A girl came up to her and started talking to her and giving her shells and sea weed. When someone else in our group asked for a shell she said she couldn't have one because she was ugly. The little girl then proceeded to point at each of us and say if we were either pretty, ugly, or China (that was for Yurina.) I love that my first memory of going to the ocean involves a little Peruvian girl calling me ugly.

So in general, I'm really enjoying my trip. There are some cons of course like being away from the ones I love. However, Tyler is planning to come visit me in March so that will be a huge help. I'm starting to make a list of all the things I want to show him and the places I want to take him. Lima is my home for the next 3 months and I can't wait to share my home with him. It turns out, I'm not that great with communicating with my parents. I've been scolded a couple times for taking too long to email them back. But, I'm not used to emailing them once or twice a week. I'm used to calling them up and talking for a little while or just texting them. But like everything in my life right now, it's an adjustment.

Well, my next adventure has already begun, on the north west coast of Peru in Mancora. I've been tanning on the beach, reading and swimming for a week now and I will return to Lima tomorrow. So that means that my next post will soon follow and I'll have plenty to share with you!

Thanks for reading!