So one of the students that works in our ISA office, his family owns a very nice salon in Lima, so today we went over there. I got my hair cut for S./ 30 and a french tip manicure for S./ 15... which comes down to a whopping $15 total. And they all look amazing! I love Peru!
here, take a looksie!
6.25.2010
6.24.2010
what?!?
Today, I was hanging out with one of my friends from ISA. We ended up hanging out with her host brother, who goes to another university called La Pontificial Universidad Catolica del Peru. And it's sooooo much cooler than our university, La Universidad del Pacifico. I couldn't believe it! Guess what, they have deer that live on the campus! It's amazing. And because they've lived there their whole lives, they're used to being around people. So we could go up to them and we could pet them. They're like little dogs! She was licking my face, it was amazing. Wow, I don't think I'll ever have the chance to do that anywhere else.
6.21.2010
Viaje a Ica, Paracas, y las Islas Ballestas!
What a fun weekend! On Saturday, we left Lima and took a nice private bus all the way to Ica, which is this little city in the middle of the desert built around an oasis. Some people ran all the way up the sand dune behind our hotel as soon as we got there:
I, of course, got less than half way up and decided to come down. But it was pretty cool nonetheless. That night, we took dune buggies out to the dunes to go sandboarding!!!
The dune buggies themselves were sooo much fun! It was like going on a rollercoaster. Then we went sandboarding, which is pretty much like snow boarding, except on sand. First we went down our stomachs and then we tried going on our feet. It was so amazing. These are what the dunes were like:
So that was fun for the first day. The hotel we stayed in was really nice as well. Very clean, modern, etc. Until we changed our clothes and got sand everywhere.
So, today, we left Ica and went out to Paracas, which is this port fishing city. Some interesting things around town:
This is one of those creepy hairless dogs. He was gnawing and biting the ankle of this man and the man was just completely ignoring it. It was pretty funny.
Well from Paracas we took a boat out to las Islas Ballestas. On the way there, we passed by el Candelabro, which is similar to the Nazca Lines. It was carved? dug? built? by a pre-Colombian culture but no one is sure which one. It's dug into the sand. It is in the shape of what seems like a candelabra, but no one is quite sure what it was originally meant to be. The very coolest part, though, is that if you were to brush your hand through the sand, the sand doesn't change. That figure has been imprinted in the sand for thousands of years and it has not once changed or gone away. Pretty neat:
But the islands looked more or less like this:
A lot of caves, cliffs, etc. And a LOT of birds!
I, of course, got less than half way up and decided to come down. But it was pretty cool nonetheless. That night, we took dune buggies out to the dunes to go sandboarding!!!
The dune buggies themselves were sooo much fun! It was like going on a rollercoaster. Then we went sandboarding, which is pretty much like snow boarding, except on sand. First we went down our stomachs and then we tried going on our feet. It was so amazing. These are what the dunes were like:
So that was fun for the first day. The hotel we stayed in was really nice as well. Very clean, modern, etc. Until we changed our clothes and got sand everywhere.
So, today, we left Ica and went out to Paracas, which is this port fishing city. Some interesting things around town:
This is one of those creepy hairless dogs. He was gnawing and biting the ankle of this man and the man was just completely ignoring it. It was pretty funny.
Well from Paracas we took a boat out to las Islas Ballestas. On the way there, we passed by el Candelabro, which is similar to the Nazca Lines. It was carved? dug? built? by a pre-Colombian culture but no one is sure which one. It's dug into the sand. It is in the shape of what seems like a candelabra, but no one is quite sure what it was originally meant to be. The very coolest part, though, is that if you were to brush your hand through the sand, the sand doesn't change. That figure has been imprinted in the sand for thousands of years and it has not once changed or gone away. Pretty neat:
But the islands looked more or less like this:
A lot of caves, cliffs, etc. And a LOT of birds!
And a couple penguins:
and...SEA LIONS!
And...then we went to Chincha for lunch. Chincha is home to many Afro-Peruanos, who have a very distinct culture, food, dance, etc. We ate at an Afro-Peruano restaurant that was incredible! The food was so good!
After we ate, 4 girls came in and started dancing. We had actually learned a lot of these moves on Friday in this little class we had, but oh my gosh these girls were ten times better than all of us!
Oh, also, our lunch was like this huge buffet just for us, so afterwards they packed up all the leftovers. We had like 10 boxes, it was ridiculous. So on our way out of Chincha, we stopped by a little group of houses that were, well, barely houses. A family came out and we gave them all of our leftovers. They were sooo happy! So that was nice.
Well, what a fun weekend! I wish I could have spent more time there.
6.20.2010
6.13.2010
The beaches of Lima
Today we took a quick drive through the beaches. Very beautiful, even in this gray, dull weather.
Nothing too special here, just an idea of what there mainly is to look at:
Here are these birds that are protected by the government from being hunted because people buy and sell their 'guano' to use as fertilizer. They are all over the beaches because, well, they eat fish and stuff.
And did you guys know that Lima is called 'La Costa Verde', or The Green Coast? Because there's just sooo much green!
There were also a LOT of people surfing. This is just one of many (and a good shot of the skyline in the distance, not shielded by clouds or anything):
And I just like this photo:
As we were driving, we passed by the perfect photo, but I couldn't be like, hey! let's stop on this super busy roadway so I can take this random picture! But there was this woman sitting in her little food vendor, looking out at the road, and to the right was a group of 4 or 5 men sitting in a circle eating, and it was just sooo perfect with the beach and everything in the background. But it's ok, I know I'll always have the image in my head.
Well this one has a pretty cool story behind it. So this is a restaurant called 'El Salto del Fraile,' which means 'Jump of the Friar.' Over to the right, there's a man dressed up as a friar that jumps off the rocks there, like cliff diving, I'm sure you've all seen. And we got there JUST as he was about to jump! It was crazy! I have a video but it wouldn't load unfortunately. It was very cool though. The whole thing is based on this story that a very long time ago, there was a friar here that had fallen in love. And, due to his commitment to God or whatever, he couldn't do anything about it. So he jumped off the bridge. So here we have it, El Salto del Fraile:
I just love how much history there is here. You don't come across very many things like this in the United States. There are so many stories, so many wonderful things that represent the history and culture. I was talking with my family here about why I chose to come to Peru. When it comes to Central/South America, Peru is one of the few places with a very distinct culture (with the exception of Brasil, Argentina, and Mexico, in my opinion). Of course, each place is different in its own unique ways, but Peru was the center of life at one point because of the Inca Empire. Everyone came from Peru, in a way. I mean, not that there's anything wrong with any of the other countries (I say this because I am a politically correct American speaking to other Americans..If I were speaking to a Peruvian I would not need this disclaimer), but when you think of Bolivia, Nicaragua, Uruguay...what do you think of? When you think of Peru, OH! The Andes, Incas, alpaca sweaters, gold, diverse food, diverse ways of life. At least that's how I see it. However, I will mention that Chile, while it may not be culturally ahead of Peru, it is intellectually and technologically advanced. Or this is at least what people tell me. Alright, well, that's plenty for today I think. Chau!
Nothing too special here, just an idea of what there mainly is to look at:
Here are these birds that are protected by the government from being hunted because people buy and sell their 'guano' to use as fertilizer. They are all over the beaches because, well, they eat fish and stuff.
And did you guys know that Lima is called 'La Costa Verde', or The Green Coast? Because there's just sooo much green!
There were also a LOT of people surfing. This is just one of many (and a good shot of the skyline in the distance, not shielded by clouds or anything):
And I just like this photo:
As we were driving, we passed by the perfect photo, but I couldn't be like, hey! let's stop on this super busy roadway so I can take this random picture! But there was this woman sitting in her little food vendor, looking out at the road, and to the right was a group of 4 or 5 men sitting in a circle eating, and it was just sooo perfect with the beach and everything in the background. But it's ok, I know I'll always have the image in my head.
Well this one has a pretty cool story behind it. So this is a restaurant called 'El Salto del Fraile,' which means 'Jump of the Friar.' Over to the right, there's a man dressed up as a friar that jumps off the rocks there, like cliff diving, I'm sure you've all seen. And we got there JUST as he was about to jump! It was crazy! I have a video but it wouldn't load unfortunately. It was very cool though. The whole thing is based on this story that a very long time ago, there was a friar here that had fallen in love. And, due to his commitment to God or whatever, he couldn't do anything about it. So he jumped off the bridge. So here we have it, El Salto del Fraile:
I just love how much history there is here. You don't come across very many things like this in the United States. There are so many stories, so many wonderful things that represent the history and culture. I was talking with my family here about why I chose to come to Peru. When it comes to Central/South America, Peru is one of the few places with a very distinct culture (with the exception of Brasil, Argentina, and Mexico, in my opinion). Of course, each place is different in its own unique ways, but Peru was the center of life at one point because of the Inca Empire. Everyone came from Peru, in a way. I mean, not that there's anything wrong with any of the other countries (I say this because I am a politically correct American speaking to other Americans..If I were speaking to a Peruvian I would not need this disclaimer), but when you think of Bolivia, Nicaragua, Uruguay...what do you think of? When you think of Peru, OH! The Andes, Incas, alpaca sweaters, gold, diverse food, diverse ways of life. At least that's how I see it. However, I will mention that Chile, while it may not be culturally ahead of Peru, it is intellectually and technologically advanced. Or this is at least what people tell me. Alright, well, that's plenty for today I think. Chau!
6.12.2010
El Museo Nacional de Arqueologia, Antropologia, e Historia del Peru
Hello! Sorry it's been a while, I have been taking it easy this week, and I was sick for about two days. Just a stomach thing, no big deal. All better now, don't worry! Well yesterday I went to the museum with some friends. It was very interesting, they had a lot of things, like ceramic objects, from pre-colonial people in Peru. One of the most interesting collections they had were these ceramic vases, or vessels, from the Moche people. Each one is different and depicts a different part of society, from food to people with diseases to animals and classes of nobility and fertility rituals and I don't even know what else. There's a lot. Just about anything you could think of, of a pre-colonial native american person doing, there's a vase to depict it.
Oh, and this guy:
These are some that show, for example, the nobility is in the back higher up, and some of the others show different jobs that people held.
They had some other stuff, too, like jewelry and gems:
And textiles too:
Oh, and this guy:
There were also a few other types of things, they had a part displaying info during the conquest, colonial and revolutionary periods and all that good stuff. So yeah there's a lot more but these pictures take forever to load! Oh well. Hasta luego!
6.05.2010
I'm sure you guys have heard...?
So, I assume it's news in the states as well, but here this story's really big. So have you guys heard that the guy who killed Natalee Holloway in Aruba came to Lima and murdered a Peruvian girl? Yeah it's definitely all over the news here. Apparently he never did any real time for the first murder because there wasn't hard evidence, but after all this I guess he confessed to her murder. Yeah he was in a casino and I think the girl had won a lot of money. We actually passed by the casino the other night on the tourbus i think. After he murdered her he bolted for Chile but they caught him. I'm just glad he's caught. Pobrecitas.
Also, Alan Garcia, the president, recently visited with President Obama in the White House and the Peruvian actress Q'orianka something protested outside the White House. She played Pocahantas in The New World with Colin Farrell and Christian Bale. Really good movie, she's a good actress. And there were people from some group protested alongside here for something about the Amazon and conserving the rainforest.
Just a little bit of noticias for you!
Also, Alan Garcia, the president, recently visited with President Obama in the White House and the Peruvian actress Q'orianka something protested outside the White House. She played Pocahantas in The New World with Colin Farrell and Christian Bale. Really good movie, she's a good actress. And there were people from some group protested alongside here for something about the Amazon and conserving the rainforest.
Just a little bit of noticias for you!
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