Half way done, and why I don´t travel with other Americans

June 14 - 5:55 pm (Casa)
Well, the end of my first week in Lima is almost here. I´ve done a lot! I am a pro at convi-boarding and deboarding = jumping off. Classes are going well. There´s a good amount of work, but nothing too overwhelming. I have heard that the literature class is really time-consuming, so I´m glad I didn´t end up taking that one instead. After classes I usually meet up with different people and eat in LarcoMar. All the food is cheap, fast food restaurants, but we also have gone to a couple nicer, sit-down places. Yesterday, a couple of us went to Kevin and Aaron´s house to pick up his brother and then went to the ocean where they had basketball courts! It was so refreshing to get some actual exercise. The weather gets pretty depressing after a while. The fog is always swallowing the city. I think today was the first time I´ve seen the sun in Lima, and it was for about an hour, and then the clouds rolled in again. I´ve been reading through El Comercio which is the local newspaper here. Well, I guess I should say that I scan it because I usually flip to the crossword puzzle. But they are different! They have pcitures and the clues are on the puzzle; I can´t really describe it that well, but I´ll bring one home as an example. I learn a lot of Spanish by doing them because I look up the majority of the words in the dictionary. So it´s useful after all. What else? My family is still amazing. We have intense conversations, too. Like last night, they asked me all about getting the Park scholarship and that somehow (I´m actually not really sure how) led to them asking me my opinion about abortion. Whoa. I know. My dad was like, "Do you need a cigarette and cup of coffee for that one?" But they gave me a very in depth explanation of their beliefs, which are Catholic, to say the least. It´s not that I didn´t agree with them, but our views were slightly skewed in some aspects of the problem. Then they asked me about Ramón, because I finally got a chance to talk to him! I found out which number was his cell phone and I got his cousin who said he would get him for me. It was a very exciting day. And now I´m prometida. No, en serio. Obviously not soon, but it´s gonna happen. Oh! And the fool fractured his rib! This is why I don´t like the whole army thing. But he said he would definitely be able to visit me in Costa Rica and that makes me very happy. What else? I´m going to bake a cake for my dad here for Father´s day. Texas Sheet Cake. I´m really excited about that. And tonight I want to take Luciana bowling with a group of us gringos. I hope Aaron´s brother, Nico, will be there. He was the one who played bball with us yesterday (by the way, the girls totally dominated when we played the boys) and he´s so nice. He looks white, as I have come to find a lot of Peruvians do, and is super cute. And maybe Christine´s brother, too, because he looks EXACTLY like Ramón. And of course, problems have arisen with the roommate, but that´s a whole different story that I don´t´really want to get into right now. I have also decided not to see Marco again, but maybe Paul :) I just see how awkward things are between me and him, and the fact that I am basically using him as a Peruvian Ramón prototype is something I´m not too proud of. So that´s done. Gosh, I really like some of the people on our group. Just a little diddy: All white creams scare me. HaHa. What a comment. It´s ironic, too: When we´re in LarcoMar and we see a group of gringos, we get terretorial, like, "Hey, we´re actually living here, so get off our turf." Too funny. Another thing, I think tthis trip has really proved to me that I can be in foreign countires by myself and not be -ahem- killed or get homesick. That´s good considering this is for 6 weeks and costa rica will be for almost 6 months! Yikes!

June 16 - 7:00 pm (Casa)
On Friday (yesterday seems so far away), after classes, we went to Café Café for lunch, but ended up eating a bunch of tapas. They have amazing tequeños there, which are won-tons with cheese inside, and I also ordered a tapa with chicken and peach - also very tasty. Then, while the big group ate, Megan and I got gelato. YUM. Then Megan, Karen, and I got manicures and pedicures: for 25 soles. So cheap! That took like two hours though, so after that, we wanted to go home, but we made a quick stop at the Vivanda (equivalent of Whole Foods or Trader Joes) and bought bread and cheese to make grilled cheese sandwiches. And we saw José! He was in his tacky plaid jacket that he always wear, and he was still in town beacsue he was coming with us today to the historical center of Lima. He´s so funny. So we went home and made grilled cheese "piqueos" for ourselves and Luciana. Then we just hung out for a while. Luciana straightened my hair because we were going out with some people. It is a lot of fun just hanging out with her because she just is so nice and giggly and is always practicing English with us. I love her. I bought her some bracelets and Mariana a necklace, and they both loved them: I even got a hug from Marianita. Then we ate dinner, got dressed, and caught a taxi to LarcoMar to meet up with some people. When we got there, it turned out that it was about 2/3 of the group, and that they all wanted to go somewhere together. Bad idea in my opinion. We tried to split up which eventually worked and Aaron, Megan, Karen, and I had a drink at some bar while we waited for Karen´s brother and friends. Then we walked all the way back to LarcoMar to go to the club there. We took a really sketch way and ended up walking by Lovers´ Park which has a giant statue of two people making out. When we got there, it was bout 1:00 and the clubs were just opening, so we went for another round and then tried to get in (by the way, I wasn´t drinking then). But the boys weren´t dressed up enough - jeans and a sweatshirt won´t let you into any clubs, I guess, if you´re a guy. And then Megan and I were just fed up. So we left. Then this morning we had to get up to meet at Fátima at 8:30 for our tour of the historical center of Lima. We went to La Plaza Mayor and saw the presidential palace, took a tour of a church, which was actuallly better than all the other ones we´ve been to. I held a pigeon... Then we toured the convent of San Francisco and went into the catacumbs. There was a well full of bones 10 meters deep. Can you imagine? 25,000 people buried there. At one point, we were all squished in to a small room and I got really clausterphobic and couldn´t breathe. But I got out quickly and made my way to a place with more room. I was glad to leave though. Then we went to the Museum of something, which wasn´t very interesting except it had a room of mannequins all being tortured in various ways. Then: CHIFA. Wa Lok Chinese food was so good. And then we had some kind of coconut cake which was amazing. Then back to Fátima, with a stop at Polvos Azules, a Black Market for those who were interested = not me. I went home and slept a little, I just did some homework and we´re getting some kind of takeout tonight for dinner and them I´m going out with some people, dancing I think. And I think with Nico :)

June 18 - 6:35 pm (Casa)
AH! Frustration! I´m starting with Saturday night. Plan: meet people at Dove Vai at 9:30 to go bar-hopping and dancing. Problem numero uno: I didn´t finish eating dinner until 9:00 and the next available "safe" taxi couldn´t pick me up until 11:40. Hmmm... But my dad called our neighbor Pepé, and he took me. I was going alone because Megan hadn´t been feeling well and was sleeping. So I get there at 10:15 ish and only the cool people had waited for me: Sarah, Tasha, and Cara. We went to a bar place called Rustica and I took my first shor ever: tequila. It burned, but it was fun with the salt and lime and everything, I guess. Then we all (17 of us) went to Kevin and Aaron´s houe to find their brother so he would take us to a dance club. He wasn´t there, but we found out where to meet him. We went to the bar district in Barranco and found the place after a few tries. Um, everyone in there looked like they were 12 years old. Bad situation considering that we have a 31 year old in our group. But it was 20 soles to get in and get free drinks from 1 til 2, so we used them for their drinks. I got an actual buzz, which I´m not proud of, especially since my entire family will be reading this, but I guess it was one of those things that I can say, yes, I´ve been srunk but I don´t plan to be again. I didn´t like it because I was still conscious and could feel myself about to tip over. But I quickly sobered up after we left to go somewhere else at 2. At this point, there were a couple girls who were really driunk, and my motherliness or maturity or confusion kicked in, and I kind of took charge and made sure everyone was okay. I wasn´t really sure who had been drinking, or hw much people had had, but I decided better to be safe than sorry. BIG MISTAKE I guess. I saved Kevin from getting kicked out of the second place ("El Monastario" where the bouncers were dressed as monks) and he later thanked me for that. But when I started trying to get taxis according to where people lived, some people were yelling at me because they could "take care of themselves" and they didn´t want " a 19 year old taking cre of them because they were 21, 22, blah blah." I meant no disrespect to anyone, I just had no idea what to do in that situation. I had never been with drunk people before, or rather drinking in general. There are obviously unwritten rules about taking care of people, and, as I was still under the influence, I had no idea who was drunk vs. tired vs. angry, etc. But then someone lashed out again, and I just broke down. So, I was just sobbing in the taxi on the way back, and of course was left alone because the other three lived by each other. They just made it a terrible night for me, and it was partially my fault for feeling responsible, but theirs too for being so darn mean about it. But I talked to Cara about it today and we bother apologized to each other, so that´s all I care about. Except, I got a call, at my home here, from the other girl. I thought she was going to apologize too, but no. She starts saying that I was telling people that I had to carry people out because they were so drunk. Funny, because I was drunk myself... Also, she said that other people were angry with me, but I talked to everyone and they all thanked me, with the FRIENDLY advice of not worrying as much next time. So I think she´s the only one mad, and now spreading bull about me. But, I´ve decide that it´s okay. Because anyone on the outside should be able to see that I was just trying to help and that I obviously didn´t know what to do in that situation. And I don´t gossip, and hadn´t talked to anyone about that night except Megan who´s been too sick to tell anyone, and two other people, but I did not go into any detail, so.... I don´t think anyone really thinks I said all that crap. Still, it´s frustrating. But oh well. Chapter done and book shut. The next day was Father´s Day, and we spent it taking care of Megan who had been vomiting and feeling v0ery nasty in general. There is another girl in our group who got salmonella poisoning so we thought it might have been that. But she slept for most of the day. I made my Texas sheet cake while the family went to church and we ate lunch with our grandparents. We had salad with real Italian dressing and lasagna. SO GOOD! And of course, the conversation was entertaining: Another granddaughter was there, and they were all talking about her brother again - the 18 year old who is daying a 27 year old French woman who he met in his English class in the States. They have so much to say about that, it´s pretty funny. Then, sleep, school, nothing too exciting. Although, my dad said that he can´t tell if I´m having fun here or not. I´m definitely not homesick or longing to be home, but it is definitely a different experience for me. I don´t really like hanging out with large groups of Americans if I´m in Latin America, but they all seem to stick together. I wish we knew non-sketchy Peruvians, or that we went to classes with Peruvians, too. I sometimes feel like I´m in Chicago - Miraflores is a very western place. But, aside from all that, I´m in Peru! My family is amazing, and whenever I´m with them, I love it. Whenever I´m alone I´m loving it; it´s just the group that causes problems for me. So, new goal: BE MORE INDEPENDENT. Peace.