Its Friday. How wonderful. No classes and I'm going to hang out with some girls tonight and get Bubble Tea. I'm not really sure what that is, but I'll let you know.
Sorry it has taken a while for me to write about my weekend. During the school week I get up early, get home late and usually all I do is eat and sleep. So here it goes...
THURSDAY morning I woke up wicked early. 5 am to be exact. My host uncle Panchi has a taxi service - sort of. He only does it for friends and family. So he picked me up, then we headed to Barranco to get Amelia and then to Parque Kennedy to pick up the Miraflores chicas. We then got dropped off at the Ormeño bus station and checked it. While we were waiting for the bus I'm facing the door and all of a sudden in walks our friend Chris. I pointed with a surprised look on my face and everyone else turned around to look. We had just been talking about him and how he had told us that he might meet up with us in Ica and then he just strolled right in. So he was able to get on a bus that left 2 hours after ours! Craziness. So we got onto this double-decker bus. Audrey, Amelia and I ended up sitting right in front. I was in the driver's spot on the second floor. So we had like a huge windshield in front of us and could see everything. It was so cool. The movies that played were the Blind Side and Ice Castles. I watched the first and then drifted in and out of sleep during the second. The seats were nice and comfortable and we even got a sandwich and juice. Pure luxury. When we arrived in Ica we took a taxi to our hotel to drop off our bags and wait for Chris. When we were checking in the Señora of the hotel realized that we were 5 girls and had reserved a room for 4 people. Oops, she figured us out. So instead of trying to sneak one of us and Chris in each night, we decided to be honest with her and tell her that we would be 6 people total. She then sat us down and explained that we would have to pay for the extra people. Alright. She was also upset because she was actually losing money because we weren't about to pay the rate for a holiday weekend. So it was a bit frusterating, but it all turned out ok. So we're up in our room chilling out and wondering when Chris is going to show up and if he'll even be able to find it. Then there is a knock on the door and guess who it is. Second time in one day. So we catch up and decide to go to the Plaza de Armas to walk around and get something to eat. We end up eating at a chifa (chinese restaurant) and drinking 3 liters of peach fruit juice. Delicious. We finished our food but spent a while hanging out in the restaurant playing marry-kiss-kill. A game that Lauren Imke taught me where you are given three options and you have to choose who you would marry, who you's kiss and who you're gonna kill. Its quite interesting and very funny. Then we walk around and head over to a travel agency and book some tours for the coming days. We then went back to the hotel and then headed to Plaza Vea (supermarket) to stock up on water and snacks. The Señora told us it was only 100 meters away. That was incorrect information. Oh well. Then we played the question game before going to sleep.
FRIDAY we went on a tour of Nazca. We got picked up by the agency and then started a looooooooong drive. The tour guide was talking pretty much the whole time, but it was hard to not fall asleep. Our first stop was in some valley to appreciate something. Who knows what.
Then back in the van. Then we saw our first lines!! These are from the Paracas culture. Made about 2000 years ago. We climbed up this rickety tour to see them better. The we got to go and see the famous Nazca Lines. Not quite as impressive as I thought they would be. I guess because I thought they would be bigger. But I guess some others are more impressive. We only got to see two from the tower. There was no way that we were going to go up and fly over them in one of those little airplanes of death. So seeing them from the tower was sufficient for me.
The tree
The hands
Then we went to see lines made by the Incas. Not as creative or exciting as the previous cultures, but still impressive. Totally straight lines that seem to go on forever and ever. Bad news, before a lot of these things were even discovered they decided to build the Panamerican Highway right through them and ruin them without even knowing it. Oh well. Live and learn.
Me with some straight Incan Lines. Woohoo!!
Then we drove to the airport to drop off a man from our tour who was going to fly over them. While he was risking his life, we shopped around in the market and went to a ceramics place. This husband-wife-son team works and creates exact replicates of Nazcan pottery using the same ancient methods. It was pretty cool.
They even gave us a student discount and the wife introduced Laura and I to her son. Funny and awkward, but nice.
**Side note about the ceramics place, they included a little pamphlet about the shop in the bag when I bought something. And the English translations are hilarious. "We invite you to urs workshop that you will be to take care of with much cordiality and we watch it the process of the manufacture of the huacos, with origninals tools of the Nasca."**
Then we went and picked up the guy at the airport. He had survived. Then we continued on to various sites of ruins. Our guide kept using the word "appreciate" but to be honest the only thing I was appreciating at that point was shade and getting back into the van. We finished up the day at a restaurant with the tour group that had mediocre Italian food. Once again, live and learn. I'll wait for some Bertucci's. It'll be worth it. Then we went back to our hotel all hot, sweaty and tired. When we got back we were disappointed to find that the water in our bathroom was not functioning at all. So we let the Señora know and she had a bucket of water sent up to us. Just one. For 6 people. Haha. So a few of us washed our feet. Then we just sort of waited. Played some Uno. Then the water finally started working again. So some of us were able to get showers. Then before bed we had story time and I shared some funny stories from my family. The story about Pepper was a big hit. Especially with my Boston accent. =)
SATURDAY we got to sleep in a bit. But we were woken around 8 by the vendor walking up and down the street selling tamales. It made for a good joke the rest of the weekend though. So we got up and went downstairs to have breakfast that we were told was included. Turns out is was included, but at the price of 8 soles per person. Oh well. After that we watched some of Pocahontas and then had to leave right was Aladdin was starting. We went to the Regional Museum of Ica. Pretty interesting stuff. Except the mummies. Gross. I'm not a big fan. Amelia is though, so I'm glad we went. Everyone else thought it was cool. Then we headed to the Plaza de Armas for lunch. After lunch Laura and I hung out by one of the fountains and did some people watching. Around 4:30 we left with the travel agency again to head to Huacachina, an oasis just outside of Ica. There we were able to go for a ride through the dunes in a sand buggy and we also went sand boarding. It was wicked fun.
Chris, Aprill and I in the back of the buggy
Laura, Amelia, me, Aprill and Chris in the dunes
Amelia and I looking a little windblown
The first dune we went down on the board. We laid on them
like sleds and flew down the dunes! Got sand everywhere!!
We ended back in the town of Huacachina with sand all over us. We did a little shopping and then hung out by the lake. We went to a hostal restaurant for dinner and had ice cream sundaes as our meal. Yum! Then we took a taxi back to the hotel, played some Uno, tried to get in some showers with the small trickle of water in the shower, played never-have-I-ever, and told some life stories before bed. (Reminded me of telling life stories during my Discovery trip. Good memories)
SUNDAY we had to get up super early because they were picking us up at 6:30 for a tour of las Islas Ballestas.
el Candelabro
So we got there and went on a boat tour around the islands. We saw lots of birds, some penguins and sea lions. It was nice. I really enjoyed the boat ride and it made me miss going out on my brothers' boats during the summer in Gloucester.
Gloucester? Nope, Pisco.
We got back from the tour and met up with Laura (who didn't go because she went last semester) at Plaza Vea. Everyone bought some food to share and we had a nice little picnic. Then Aprill, Chris and I headed over to the bus stations while Audrey, Amelia and Laura went to the Plaza de Armas to buy some chocolates. Chris got a bus ticket and left around 2:30. Aprill and I met up with the other girls at the Cruz del Sur station where we waited until 6:30 for our bus back to Lima. Christ texted me when he got back to Lima and we were still waiting in Ica. Little stinker. But we did watch Hook and some of Shrek while waiting in the bus station. The trip back was good, but the food was not. The movies were Nim's Island and UP! But I slept through most of them. Then Uncle Panchi picked us up and brought us all to our houses. Finally home. It was nice coming back to Lima, it felt like home. I like it.
Then it was up early for another week of school. So now we're pretty much caught up. But here are a few random thoughts:
*Ms. Sano is coming down next week with a group of adults. I'm going to meet up with her and she is bringing down a bag of goodies from my mom. I'm wicked excited.
*I went to the supermarket with my host mom last night and we bought ROSCA! The sweet bread that we always eat at la Casa for 3 Kings Day. It was yummy as ever.
*Amelia and I have been going to the CBU group and I'm really enjoying it a lot.
*I'm going to try and make pretzels tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be successful like with my chocolate chip cookies.
Nice images!
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