My Travels

I have a perfectly logical reason why I haven't updated my blog in about 3 weeks, I promise! I was traveling around Peru, getting to know more of this marvelous country. But, before I left for the first trip I went on, I went to the Congress of Peru (Sep. 23rd). The Vice President of Congress invited all of the Rotary Exchange Students, some Rotarians (Past District Governors, Current DG, President of Youth Exchange, and more) and some Rotex to come. We were on TV, as well! (Second time I've been on Peruvian TV in 2 months).

What happened at the meeting was, we all arrived and waited for the VP of Congreso to arrive and once he did, we started. We were on TV, so I tried my hardest to not look at the camera directly, was a little hard... even though it was in the back of the room. Some people gave speeches, and then we were called up to the front of the room with the table of all the important Rotarians and the VP and took pictures. Once that was done, we took a huge group photo. Then, we got a pin, and the VP had to leave before it was all done. The whole time, he looks preoccupied and that he had better places to be. He did paperwork half of the time, and talked the other half. But, he was there, and he invited us there. We took so many pictures that day, and I wore heels for the second time in my whole life. And, it just so happened that I had to stand a lot that day. My feet were in so much pain by the end. Also, they were showing the live television broadcast of the meeting in the room, out of sight of the camera. There was about  4 second lag, and that entertained me.

On the 26th of Sep. I went on a trip with all of the exchange students to Arequipa, Tacna, and Arica (Chile). Early in the morning of Thursday, at 6am, my plane left from Lima to Arequipa. I left for the airport at 3am; too early for me. Once we landed in Arequipa, we left immediately on a bus to the Colca Valley (area around the Colca Canyon). Combined with the altitude and driving on bumpy roads through mountains, i felt really sick. But, I just slept and it helped. And, I drank coco leaf tea and chewed coco leaves. The tea was just hot water with coco leaves in it. The chewing, was like tobacco chew, but with coco leaves. What are coco leaves, exactly? The plant that cocaine is made from. But, just the plant, nothing else. So, it's okay. The first night, we stayed in a really nice resort that had hot springs and was right next to a river. It was at the bottom of Colca Canyon, too. It had one of the prettiest views I've ever seen. That night, we swam in the hot springs, jumped in the freezing river for 0.5 seconds, sang around a campfire, ate at a restaurant with classic mountain food and watched classic dances from the mountains.

Day 2, we went to Colca Canyon early in the morning and took an hour hike there; which isn't even skimming the surface of what we could have done. After that, we drove back to Arequipa. Once we got there, we had the rest of the day free to explore the city, or to just stay in the hotel. In the evening, we went out to eat at a hostel that was nice enough to prepare us food.

Day 3, we went to a school in Arequipa where the Interact, Rotaract, and Rotary of Arequipa had an event for us. It was designed for us to get to know each other and the people from Arequipa. We were split up iot groups and had to get a name from each country that was present and the winner would go up to stage, (winner was who got the most countries). Me and my partner were the winners for my group, so we got bracelets. After, we had to do a little skit. My group and another joined up together. After our skit was done, they thought it would be funny to throw me into the pool.. with my shoes and flag. But, it's okay because everyone ended up getting thrown into the pool. And, I was the 3rd to get in the pool, but the first to be thrown in. Later that day, we went to a reception of a mayor of a district in Arequipa. We were given certificates of honor!

Day 4, TOURS! A whole day of tours around Arequipa. We went to see a mummy of an Incan princess that was buried on top of a mountain and was frozen. She was found, frozen and pretty well preserved for how old she is. She was frozen inside of 4 different glass cases, and the whole time I had the feeling that she was going to turn her head and look at me, and move her hand to scratch her head. The way her body was positioned was weird for mummies. She definitely ins't a regular mummy. Lunch was an adventure that day.

Day 5, left Arequipa for Tacna. Once we got to Tacna, we ate lunch at a really nice place. Then, we went to our hotel. We had free time until that evening when we went to a Rotary club. There, we met the 4 exchange students in Tacna. Each country had to preform one talent act, and the USA act, was singing Party In The USA by Miley Cyrus. Suits us pretty nice, I guess.

Day 6, TOURS. We toured around Tacna, and went to some really cool pieces of history that makes Tacna what it is right now.

Day 7, CHILE! We woke up early and left Tacna to drive the 30 minutes to the Chilean border. But, it took us about 2 hours to actually cross. But, we eventually made it across, and it was kinda Chile out. (get it?) We drove to the city of Arica, and drove around the city before going to a museum about some old mummies, I forgot what they were from. But, it was a really nice place. After, we went to each at a really really nice and delicious restaurant on the beach. The food was awesome, and the view was even better. In between courses, and after the whole meal, we went to the beach and climbed on the rocks. It was a blast. After lunch, we drove up a cliff that had a military museum on top, along with a HUGE Chilean flag. The museum was about the Peru-Chile war, because Arica used to be part of Peru, but we lost it in a war. Peruvians and Chileans don't really like each other. After the cliff, we went into downtown, and unexpectedly joined a parade that we stumbled upon. But, it wasn't the normal parade that you first think of. It was basically a bunch of people dancing down the street in a big mosh. So, we canga lined through, with out different flags and just screaming, "AY! AY! AY! AY!" Everyone was dressed in crazy costumes, it reminded me of Disney World, on Mardi Gras. After that, we had a free hour in. So, I bought a Chilean flag, bought a couple bracelets, a keychain, and an icecream. Now I can say that I've eaten ice cream in 4 different countries! (USA, England, Peru, Chile!). The Keychain is on my blazer, one bracelet is on my wrist, and the other is on my teddy bear. We left to go back to Tacna, and renewed out visas coming back into Chile. That night, we slept because we were all just about dead.

Day 8, We had a free day to explore Tacna. So, we all slept in until about 10. Then, we went to go eat lunch. After Lunch, I came back and swam in the pool. After that, I just hung out in the hotel until I went and walked around again with some friends. After, We went to a different Rotary Club in Tacna and ate dinner with them. After dinner, we all sang Karaoke and made fools of ourselves.

Day 9, Drive 6 hours from Tacna to Arequipa and then went to the airport to go back to Lima. Viaje was officially over.

We got back home on the 4th of October, and on the 8th of October, I went to Pucallpa with my family. Between the 4th and the 8th, I relaxed and caught up on my sleep, and I also went to the zoo finally!

On the 8th, I left Lima for Pucallpa early in the morning. Pucallpa is a city of about 1 million in the middle of the Jungle. Pucallpa is really hot and humid, but I saw actual rain there for the first time in 3 months. In pucallpa, I met with the two exchange students that are there and I became their friend. I also met some people that live in Pucallpa. I met all of my family in Pucallpa, and I have a TON there. All of my aunts and uncles and cousins and great uncles and great aunts and second cousins and you get the idea. My great uncle has been part of Rotary for 50 years, so we went to his celebration for that with his rotary club, and I got to sit at the head table in the front since I was an exchange student. I also went to a rotary meeting of the club that the two exchange students belong to. After that, I spent the night at one of the girls' house. We passed my mom's birthday there, and we went out to lunch to celebrate it. The week that we were there was the Anniversary of Pucallpa, so every night there was an activity going on. One day, i went to a house of a Rotarians in Pucallpa and he lives on a really nice lake, that is a run off from a river that is a run off from the Amazon. The water felt amazing with the heat. I went with the other two exchange students and some other family members. We kayaked out to the middle of the lake and talked for what seemed like hours about random things. We also saw some dolphins. that was really cool. It was really peaceful out there. I returned to Lima alone the 13th, because the plane was too full and my mom and brother had to stay. It felt nice to be back in Lima because of the weather, but I missed being able to look up and see the stars and moon.

Now, I'm back in school and I can tell my spanish has improved a lot. I've been here for 3 months and I wouldn't say that I'm fluent, but I would say that I know more than I could ever learn in a classroom. I still think in English though. And, i was a translator for someone the other day for the first time! That made me feel really accomplished and proud. Like, with spanish, I can understand everything, I just can't say everything.

Okay, I need to go do my laundry.

Until Next Time!
Emily