Week 6: I Saw Dolphins and Felt Emotions

Emotions are a strange concept, and I think I felt just about all of them over the past week. If you've ever listened to an entire Taylor Swift album in one sitting, you have an idea of what I'm talking about. My life has been such a whirlwind the past two months that I haven't had time to do much more than just try to live in the moment and experience everything possible. I'm not sure if things have slowed down any or I'm just getting used to the fast-paced life I'm living, but everything hit me at once this week. I actually felt like I was in the movie "Inside Out" with all of my emotions going haywire. So without further ado, here's a sampling of what I've felt this week.

Festive

Tuesday was my host mom's birthday, so I got to experience my first Peruvian birthday party. We had a movie at school that day, so I was not able to attend the luncheon, but I made it for the evening festivities and brought Abby along. When I got home from campus, we found the celebration had already started. We drank homemade sangria (heaven), ate the best cake I've had in a while, and talked/listened to a lot of Spanish. The whole dining room was full of my host mom's friends and family and everyone was interacting with each other and genuinely interested in learning about Abby and I and our Peruvian experience so far. It was so nice being surrounded by such wonderful people whose faces weren't buried in their phones and feeling like part of the family. My heart is smiling so hard just thinking about it. By the time I went to my room for the night, my brain had been in Spanish mode for almost 12 straight hours and I think I fell asleep before my head even hit the pillow. Then Thursday was Shelby's birthday, so I got to celebrate two birthdays in one week! We went to one of our favorite restaurants in Peru, The Burrito Bar, and had tacos and margaritas. Then we went to "our" bar in Barranco for birthday drinks and more celebrating (but not too much, because we had to be on a bus to Paracas at 7 AM). Birthdays are great, I'm a huge fan.

My host mom's birthday cake and flowers she received. The ones in
the middle are from me and I totally got shown up by the dog bouquet on the right.

Homesickness

For the first time in my life, I understand what the term "homesick" really means. There's been times I've missed my family, of course, but never to the extent that I felt this week. I got the chance to FaceTime my Dad, Mom, Grandma, and my main girl (dog) Keleigh for the first time since being here, and it was such a bittersweet feeling. I don't think I even realized how much I missed them until I saw their faces. The next day I FaceTimed my best friends back home, so there was another wave of homesickness and by the end of the day, I wasn't sure if I trusted myself enough to watch an episode of Grey's Anatomy without completely losing it. As with most sickness, though, it passed and now I'm in the mode where I'm panicking because I'm already almost halfway through my study abroad experience and I don't ever want to leave. I know; I don't get it, either.

Disappointment

I consider myself so lucky because since I've been here, I've had nothing but amazing experiences. It was only a matter of time, though, before I had a negative experience, and apparently this was the week for it. First, we had a tour of the United States Embassy on Thursday which I was super excited for because I've always been curious what went on in that building. Well unfortunately, Abby and I went through the wrong entrance and got ourselves completely lost and stressed out and almost missed the entire tour. I'm sorry, United States Embassy. I'll do better next time. Which brings me to my next topic.

I Can't Decide If I Should Laugh or Cry

Even as I write this, I still can't decide how to feel about the next two situations. I was walking back to campus Thursday evening to go out and celebrate Shelby's birthday when something hit the back of my leg and almost knocked me to the ground. My first thought was that I had gotten shot, which probably would've inspired me to write an entire book and done wonders for my street cred, but then I realized my skirt was soaking wet. Um. Turns out a car of boys that drove by threw a water balloon at me and hit me. Like....what? As a former shortstop, I can respect the accuracy of the throw but seriously? I WAS DRESSED UP. I thought this might be the end of those type of situations for the week but nope, sure wasn't. The first night at our resort we were hot tubbing when me and my fellow blonde friend Danielle realized the water was turning our blonde hair green. Now, I have no one to blame but myself because sadly this has happened to me before. The first time, it ended with me getting my entire head coated in ketchup and pert near ruining it as a condiment for me forever, so I really did know better. Anyway, we didn't have any ketchup on hand at our resort this weekend and quite honestly I'd rather have green hair than do that again, so it remains a tinted shade until I buy some clarifying shampoo. What a mess.

Excitement

I kept this part until last because it's my favorite and I'm all for ending things on a positive note. As far as field trips go, I didn't think I'd ever be able to top the sixth grade field trip around Nebraska (I mean come on, we got to sleep in the aquarium at the Henry Doorly Zoo) but this takes the cake. Going into this trip, none of us really knew what to expect other than we were staying at a resort and it was paid for. Sounds promising, right? Right. When we arrived at our resort in Paracas, I was completely blown away. Turns out UPC doesn't mess around and booked us a five-star resort with a huge pool, ocean views, private beach, and AIR CONDITIONING (can't stress the air conditioning enough). I was in heaven. It also had a volleyball court, ping-pong table, and trampoline (I can still do a backflip) that I took advantage of, along with tons of other amenities. On top of that, I got to paddle board for the first time, which was amazing. But that's not even the best part!

Another thing I get to check off the bucket list.

Wonderment

Saturday we had a boat tour of the Islas Ballestas, which turned out to be one of the coolest experiences I've had. It started with us getting on a boat and traveling out into the Pacific Ocean to the island. I didn't do any prior research, so I wasn't really sure what to expect, but even if I had it wouldn't have done it justice. On the way out, we passed a pod of dolphins and I could cry just thinking about it. I was that weird girl who did an entire presentation in fourth grade about dolphins for literally no reason, but Mrs. Brown let me present it to the class anyway. They're my favorite animal so to see them in their natural habitat for the first time in my life was just incredible. I pulled myself together for the rest of the tour where we saw hundreds of sea lions, a few penguins (!!!!), crabs, a starfish, and probably other things that I'm forgetting right now because I'm still thinking about dolphins. Anyways, it was unbelievably fascinating and I wish I could've done it five more times. I've never once claimed to be a photographer, but I'm pretty proud of some of the photos I took during this escapade. You can find a few of them at the end.

THESE ARE DOLPHINS. FOUR OF THEM. THERE WERE MORE.

Thankfulness

Above all the emotions I felt this week, I think thankfulness is the one that was the most prominent. Even during my most difficult week since being in Peru, I still felt so blessed. Not only am I having once in a lifetime opportunities every single week, I have family and friends back home who I don't even come close to deserving, and a God who never fails me. Life is amazing and I'm so dang thankful I don't even know where to begin. Thank you to everyone for your encouragement and for reading all the posts I throw at you. Your support is overwhelming and very much appreciated. Sending all my love!

"When my faith is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I." Psalm 61:2

Week 4/5: Spring Break (Peru Style)

I'll be the first to say I've had some pretty great spring breaks in my day. In high school, it was usually a ski trip and in college, a couple of road trips to Panama City Beach, Florida. As a senior, though, I can say I saved my best spring break trip for last. It's the first and only time I can say I spent my spring break in a foreign country on the beach for a week. What more could you ask for, really?

Our trip began with an 18-hour bus trip from Lima to Mancora, which was a walk in the park compared to the 20+ hours my friends and I have driven the past two years to Florida. The bus had seats that recline into a bed and each seat had its own television screen where you can take your pick of movies, so I was set. I even slept on this bus ride, which was a welcome surprise. When we arrived it Mancora, we got a ride in moto-taxis to our beach house in Los Organos, approximately 10 miles from Mancora. Moto-taxis are basically just motorcycles with carts attached to the back that people sit in. Very sketchy contraption and prone to rollovers, but "when in Peru," ya know.

Home base for the week.

After my first moto-taxi experience, we arrived at our house and I knew almost immediately that it was going to be an amazing week. The house was everything we could've hoped for with a pool outside the front door and the ocean a short minute walk over a sand dune. If I'm being honest, the days all kind of blur together between trips to the pool, ocean, and town of Mancora, but I'll sum up some of my favorite moments. The second night of the trip was National Pisco Day in Peru, so of course we decided to make the trip into Mancora that evening to celebrate. The nightlife scene there is almost surreal because the discotecas are on the beach open to the ocean, so you're basically just barhopping on the beach. It's definitely a different experience than the cement sidewalks in Nebraska and a whole lot sandier.

Celebrating Peru's National Pisco Day.

One of the days, we were casually hanging out on the beach before we decided to ride a banana boat tube on the back of a jetski into the ocean. Naturally, I was beyond excited because it reminded me of the lake lifestyle back home, but I quickly changed my mind. The waves when we went out were high and only getting higher, and I vividly remember thinking for most of the ride that I was going to break my right leg and be left to fend for myself in the Pacific for the rest of my life. Eventually we went back to shore and the waves were so bad that as we pulled into shore the guy flipped his jetski. Great way to end that ride, bye.

Our second to last day, we went on a tour of beaches north of Mancora all the way to Tumbes, which is only about 16 miles from the Ecuador border. I would have liked to cross over just for the experience, but unfortunately we didn't choose that package. In Tumbes we got on a small boat and went out to a crocodile exhibit. I have never seen so many crocodiles in one area in my life. I'm not sure how many there were in total, exactly, but it seemed excessive. Crocodile fun fact: they don't have tongues that move because they would swallow them whole and they open/close their mouths to control their body temperature. That leads me to our last day and, hands down, the best day of all.

"If there's sand that you ain't wrote your name innnnn..." (Keith
Urban voice).

Our final day, Claire, Shelby, and I decided to try surfing. I was somewhat skeptical because I wasn't sure how much I'd be able to learn in the course of one day, but I decided to do it anyway. I'm so glad I did because it turned out to be one of the best experiences I've had since coming to Peru. For my surf lesson, you get 20 minutes of instruction on the beach and then an hour of instruction in the water. Well my surf instructor was M.I.A. for 15 of my 20 minute lesson before we took the board out into the water, so my expectations for how well I was going to do were fairly low. I mean I was basically going into it blind but off we paddled, my instructor told me to stand so I did, and to my amazement I actually stood up on my first try and rode the wave until I got close to rocks and jumped off my board. It was the COOLEST THING OF MY LIFE and I think I may need to pursue surfing as a hobby. Also during our lesson a sea turtle swam right up next to my board and I got to touch it, so now I can say that I surfed with sea turtles. It truly was an amazing experience.

My surf instructor Favio and I. He said I was an excellent student.

After my lesson, I finally took the plunge and went and got the tattoo that I've wanted for years now. It's simply the word "fearless" on my side, but it means more to me than I could put into words. Anyone who knows me knows how much I like love adore Taylor Swift. She has been my idol since my freshman year of high school and gotten me through some of the most difficult times in my life. On the front insert of her "Fearless" album, she has a quote that has echoed in my head for years. Coming to another country and having to speak a foreign language was the scariest thing I've ever done. I wanted to back out so many times, but I set my fears aside and got on that plane, and it was the best decision I've ever made. So often we live our lives scared; scared of rejection, failure, walking away, growing up. Having this word in my handwriting serves as a constant reminder to have the courage to do the things that scare me the most and live without regret. That is fearless to me. 

"Fearless is not the absence of fear. It's not being completely unafraid. To me, fearless is having fears. Fearless is having doubts. Lots of them. To me, fearless is living in spite of those things that scare you to death."--Taylor Swift

After our last day, we got on the bus to head back to Lima and I had to put my "fearlessness" to the test fairly quickly. On the bus ride back, I watched the movie "San Andreas" which, for those of you not familiar, is a fictional movie about a huge, deadly earthquake in San Francisco along the San Andreas fault. So please keep that in mind. Sunday night, thanks to my insomniac self, I was still awake at around 3 A.M. when I felt my bed start shaking, and then the whole house. I instantly panicked because I JUST saw a movie about this and what are the chances?! It must be a sign. I was 100% prepared to get out of bed and run up to the roof, using my recently acquired earthquake knowledge I knew it's better to be higher up, but it was over after only a few seconds. Turns out it was only a "temblor," like a trembling of the ground, of 3.9 degrees (so not actually an earthquake), but needless to say it didn't exactly rock me to sleep. So here I am writing my blog :) Sorry it got so long this time, but I was having a hard time choosing what to include and what to omit. Also, I realized I took barely any pictures during this trip so I wanted to write a little more than usual so I wouldn't forget some of my experiences. So if you're still reading, thank you. I have another crazy busy week ahead and time seems to just be flying by! As always, sending love from Peru!

Week 3: Huaraz Highs and Hardships

As another week comes to an end in Peru, I find myself yet again completely in awe of this country. I continue to fall a little more in love with its beauty, culture, and people every day. My adventure of week three was a weekend bus trip to Huaraz in the Andes Mountains, and it was, hands down, my best experience yet.

Our travels began on Wednesday night with our bus leaving for the 8 hour bus trip to Huaraz at 10 PM. I knew from the start that this was going to be a rough evening for me because I tend to lean towards the insomniac side and any night not spent in a familiar bed is a struggle, let alone a bus seat. Add a screaming toddler for 6 out of the 8 hour trip and I basically pulled an all-nighter, which hasn't been enjoyable since like 8th grade. Thankfully, we didn't have anything planned for Thursday so that we could get acclimated to the elevation, so I spent the morning catching up on sleep. We then ate lunch at a small restaurant where we got our entree, soup, and beverage for 5 soles, or roughly $1.50. Peru prices on food are awesome. The rest of the day we shopped downtown, explored the city, and most importantly, found our first llamas (a photoshoot ensued). (I would also like to point out to my Dad the word "ensued" that I just used correctly in a sentence. During Christmas break we were playing Scrabble and he tried telling me "ensued" wasn't a word after I played it. Embarrassing, really).

How cool is this animal?!

The next day was our first of a three day package we purchased, meaning every morning a tour bus would pick us up and take us to our tour of the day. The best part was we never actually knew where we were going until we were en route that day, so that made it even more interesting. The first day we went to the Pastouri Glacier in the Huascaran National Park, about 3 hours outside of Huaraz. Here is where we get into the highs and the hardships, as the title of this blog suggests. Hardship: I did not pack any warm clothes. We ended up hiking through a blizzard. Bless the woman's heart who rented me a jacket at the bottom of the glacier for 5 soles because I honestly wouldn't have made it. High: I got to ride a horse up part of the mountain to the glacier which helped with my coldness immensely and reminded me I should've been a cowboy. :) All in all, the glacier was completely worth the cold, snow, sleet, etc. and it was a great start to our trip. How many countries can you visit a glacier and beach all in the same week?

                 

Day two was easily the most challenging and rewarding day of all. Our bus left at 5:30 AM to head up to the Laguna 69 hike to see a hidden gem of a lake in the Andes. Hardship: Going into the hike, I don't think any of us had a clue just how difficult it would be. I'm SO proud of everyone because we all made it up the mountain after about 3 and a half hours and the view was phenomenal. That same day a group of 30 attempted the hike and only about half of them made it, so it really is an accomplishment. High: Words cannot describe how beautiful the hike and lake at the end were. I know, because I've tried to do so in two languages and neither does it justice. I'll let my photos do the talking. After the hike, I don't know if I've ever been so tired in my life and was in bed by 9:30 PM with no regrets.

We did it! Now throw your Lopes.

After our hike Saturday, we were all still feeling a little drained the next day, so thankfully our third day was a laid back trip to Chavin de Huantar to the pre-Incan ruins. High: It was a neat area with a lot of history and the perfect way to end our trip. Hardship: By the time we got back to Huaraz that night, we had a little less than two hours to pack all of our stuff and get on our bus back to Lima. We made it in time for our overnight trip and although I didn't sleep much on the way home, it was an amazing weekend filled with memories and experiences I'll never forget. Sending much love to everyone back home and good luck with the blizzard this week! I will be here in Peru tending to yet another sunburn, pondering why I never learn my lesson, and preparing for my week at the beach. :) God bless and happy February!