High, Lows and Lessons

Guinea Pig is a delicacy here!

This last week has been a week of highs and lows to say the least.  I will start by telling you about where I left off last time, last Friday at Mistura.  Mistura is a annual food festival that happens in Lima that offers basically every type of Peruvian food imaginable.  They call each section its own "world" which tips you off right away that there is going to be a lot of food. There was an Amazonian World, Bread World, Coffee World, Chocolate World, Ceviche World and more worlds than I could visit! My taste buds were thanking me, and my stomach was reveling in the richness.  At Mistura, eating is like a sport; you have to pace yourself, take breaks and strategize.  It was definitely not an experience I will forget.
Mistura was one high, and the next day I got up super early to  go with my study abroad group to Caral.  Caral is the most ancient city in the Americas, complete with pyramids and breathe taking mountain backdrops.  The bus ride to the city itself took several hours.  This was partly due to the distance, and partly the fault of our driver who was very slow and had to ask for directions several times.  We were all ready for the bus ride to be over, but I also found it to be a fun chance to get to know more of my fellow international students.  Caral was definitely worth the trip, but then that night began the lows of my week.

One of the ancient pyramids of Caral

Saturday night I got sick with a form of Montezuma's revenge.  It's something that was bound to happen at some point, but is miserable while you are going through it. After two days of staying at home, I decided it was time to go to the local clinic to get rid of the bug I had gotten. Luckily, I have been blessed with a great director, who gave me all the information I needed for the local clinic, and an awesome host dad who took me to the get checked out.  Within 24 hours of going to the clinic I felt immensely better and started moving from my BRAT diet, which consisted of crackers and liquids, to real food. On Tuesday I was back at school, and by my class that night I was craving something substantial, like a nice big tasty burger.  It is amazing how much more you appreciate food after not being able to eat it for a couple of days!

A sample of the awesome mountain backdrop of Caral

I have now returned back to normal and am getting back into the swing of things.  The time while I was sick was a definite low, but I also found that it gave me a chance to think.  While I was sick I did a lot of sleeping and watching Netflix, but what I didn't do was spend time with God.  I could see how that affected me other areas of my life such as what I thought about, or my daily priorities.  After I had gotten better, the part of the Lord's Prayer came to my mind where Jesus said "Give me this day, my daily bread."  I had always heard that phrase applied to physical things; we should rely on God's provision for our needs. But it just struck home this time that maybe Jesus was also talking about our spiritual needs too.  Just like physical food is important for our bodies, we have to have daily time with God to be able to grow spiritually.  When I wasn't able to eat, I felt physically weak and I think that spiritually speaking it isn't really all that different.  Anyway, that is what I have been going through here in Peru. Life has all sorts of twists and turns.  Who knows what will happen next!

Never Taking Things For Granted

Miraflores on a sunny day.

If there is one thing that Lima has taught me so far, it is to appreciate the sun.  Growing up in southern California, I never quite understood how spoiled I was to be able to enjoy the sun during any given day of the year.  Today is one of those days here that the sun has decided to make its appearance.  It is one of those days that you decide that it is better to walk than take a combi because you want to be able to soak up the rays.  Aside from appreciating the beautiful weather outside, I am also beginning to figure out what a Lima student study schedule is like.  Yes, I know that it is hard to believe that the word "study" in study abroad is actually a real thing, but it comes with the territory of cultural immersion. For me, my study habits vary with location.  If I am at the university, it is the library.  The library is quiet, for sure, but if you can snag it, it also provides a great view of the university while you are hitting the books.  For all those days I am not at the university though, I have had to be a bit more creative.  One gem I stumbled upon is a coffee shop called Arabica.  It is a one of those off the beaten path locations that is definitely worth the effort.  From the street, it would be pretty easy to miss as you shops here aren't as prominently advertised in the States.  I found this last week, Arabica to be a place of magic as I entered with lots of reading to do, and left a few hours later with a good chunk of work done and my stomach satisfied with a cappuccino.

A sample of what Arabica is like.

Speaking of satisfying one's stomach, the food here in Lima has two consistent qualities delicious and cheap.  What more could a college student ask for?  However, because I have been so spoiled, I and my other fellow American students have found that our ideas about what constitutes expensive have changed dramatically.  A usual meal for us will cost anywhere from 4-12 soles which translates to $1.50 to $4.50.  Now whenever we see a meal that cost 15-20 or more soles ($5.60 - $7.40) we immediately think that it is too expensive.  An average meal in Subway would cost more than our 15 sol expensive threshold!  It is amazing how much the concept of "normal" can change.

Well, that is all of my updates for you right now.  I am sure I will have more coming soon as tomorrow is Mistura (a huge food festival here in Lima) and on Saturday I will be going to Caral, the oldest cities in the Americas and the second oldest in the world, with my study abroad group.  Until my next post!

Nature and Real Life

Nature has always had a special place in my life.  Ever since I was a kid, my dad would take me and each of my siblings on our own back packing trip.  For me, being up in the mountains is calming and exhilarating at the same time.  I look out at a vast ravine, or serene mountain lake and am in awe of God's creation and how much He loves me.  Yesterday,  I got the chance to go out and explore the mountains around Surco, a town that is around 3 hours east of downtown Lima.  Our destination: Palakala cascades.  I met up at 6:30 AM in Kennedy Park with a small group of other study abroad students and we started the journey to the mountains.  There are no direct buses to get to Surco from Miraflores, so we had to hop from combi to combi to taxi to another combi to get there.  It was an adventure to say the least, and by far worth it.  As we travelled farther from the city, the sky gradually transformed from the ever present Lima gray, to a breathe-taking deep blue.
We arrived in Surco around 11:00 AM and after getting our ticket to enter the trail, we started up, and the trail was literally uphill the entire way.  These were not little hills that I am talking about, but full scale mountains.  Bailey, one of the girls on the trip, and I tried to figure out how tall they were.  After a rough estimation converting meters to feet, we decided that they were about 13,000 to 14,000 feet tall!  The trail led us through a series of mountain side subsistence living farms. It was a very cool way to see how people in the country side lived.   What a contrast from the very urban Lima!  We decided that if we ever lived in Peru permanently that Surco would be a great choice because of the mountains, blue sky, and how clean the town was.  On the return trip back to Lima, we made amazing time.  The day was a blast, but we were all pretty ready for showers and dinner.  What a day!

After a day like that, you don't want to have to do work, but the reality of school is starting to hit and the honeymoon season of the semester is over.  I have been assigned my first essays, and been given a mountain of readings to do.  It is a lot, but I enjoy the subjects and what I am learning.  I also finally have my NGO figured out for the semester.  As a part of the program I am with, I have work with a NGO to help give me a broader perspective of Peruvian culture.  I am going to be working with a small, Catholic medical clinic called "La Parroquia." I start my first official day next Thursday.  I met with the doctor who runs the clinic this last Thursday who gave me a few details and helped me figure out my work schedule.  I am not sure what to expect, but I guess I will see what comes.  

Lima Life

The group that went to the Museo del Arte

Today was the start of my third week of classes.  I have settled down on the four courses that I am taking: Advanced Academic Spanish and Culture, Peruvian Social Reality, Amazonian Ethnography, and Ethnicities and Ethnic Minorities.  The next step is to start working with the NGO I have chosen, but more info on that will come later.  For right now, I am just focusing on getting connected with student life.  One opportunity that has come up is the chance to do some intramural sports.  A friend of mine from my Ethnicities class has been trying to convince me to join.  I sounds like a lot of fun, but I am trying to weigh my time between school, my NGO, and possible travel plans.  I want to join because it sounds like a great way to get plugged into the school, but I will just have to see how my schedule falls into place.

One of the buildings in the park outside of the museum.

In contrast with my weekend in Nazca, this last weekend was very relaxing and gave me the chance to catch up on some much needed rest.  It made it even better that it was a long weekend due to Santa Rosa de Lima. One night I fell asleep at 8pm and woke up at 9 the following morning.  Needless to say, I was tired!  Even though the theme of this last weekend was rest and recovery, I did get out and do a couple of things.  On Friday, I got chance to visit the Museum of Art with some friends.  It was fun to get out and see a little more of Lima.  Just outside the museum, there was a park was also dedicated to art.  It was interesting to say the least.  It had everything from architecture to a live Elvis impersonator!  On Sunday, I took up the church hunt again and visited Emmanuel Bible Church in San Isidro.  The church was actually pretty big and seemed to have a lot of resources to offer.  I met with one of the staff (Ricardo) to find out about small groups, and on the wall of his office I saw a map of Lima with a whole bunch of pins on it.  I was intrigued by it, so I asked Ricardo what it was and he told me that it was a map of the church's small groups.  It was so cool to see in a visual way, how God is at work in this city.  That is one thing that I have consistently noticed while I have been in Peru, that the Christians I have met are on fire for God and I can see Him working powerfully in their lives.  This next week, I am going to go with Ricardo to one of those small groups.  I excited to finally have community to get plugged in with here in Lima.

This week didn't have the glamour of travel, but I do like that I am finally seeing things how life in Lima is unfolding for me, and it is no less of an adventure.  This week I may have done less exploring of tourist sites, but I did delve deeper into life in Lima!