Trip to Ica

June 23 - 4:15 pm (Ica)
Well, since I last wrote, not a bunch has happened. The whole crazy drinking thing is done with - never to be mentioned again. I had my first round of tests and they went really well. In Leo´s class, we just had to talk about a topic that he picked, and Tyler and I were able to improv off of each other, and we actually pulled off a good presentation. Kay´s written test was long, but pretty easy. I knew almost everything, and the things that I didn´t know I´m not too worried about. We played Yatzhee with our parents one night which was fun. Our dad kept saying "Celebra de nuevo" when our mom would get happy. They´re so cute together. But I think the biggest news of the week was our night out with the boys. Crazy, as always. And flashback to 7th grade. But oh-so-fun. We met up with Marco and went to a casino for about an hour to try our luck at the slot machines. Megan got enough credits for 20 soles, and by the end, we cashed in 8 soles worth. So, yes, we lost some money, but I won a bunch, too. Then we tried calling Ruben and Paúl again ;) and they finally decided to meet us at the first place we went with them: Eka. Not Playa as I though: "playa" just means parking lot. It was the most fun of the night because we just say and talked with all of them. And we met a new guy, Mario, who is Ruben and Paúl´s cousin. He looked like he could be 17, but he was of course 25. We found out that Marco had lied about his age - he´s only 23. I don´t know why you would want to be older when you´re taking younger women out, but oh well. And I got my sweet, sweet Paúl who I love so, so much. He has the goofiest smile and is the first gentleman I have really run into here. He´ll hold the door open, make sure I got first, etc. And since I know of made it clear that I like him over Marco, Ruben was so proud of himself for bringing Paúl along. He kept saying, "Elena, yo lo llevé para ti. Para ti." And Marco got so mad at me because I was trying to lose him to be with Ruben and Paúl. Ruben and Megan were having their usual love connection so I was just chilling and being "one of the guys," which I really enjoyed. Ruben decided that the four of us, not Marco, are going to a movie on Wednesday. Yay! 23, which I´ve wanted to see. Well, we went to another club, which looked like a frat house turned into a disco = sketch. We left quickly and at that point Ruben and Paúl had to leave because they had to get up early for some family function. After, things got a little bit crazier. Marco drank a lot and was pretty tipsy and started to hit on Megan because I wouldn´t do anything with him. So while he was whispering in her ears to get her to kiss him or something like that, he would be staring at me and giving me the look that said, "I can gt her just as easily so HA!" I took advantage of the situation and talke to Mario and explained the deal to him. He was awesome. Then I met a guy named Gabriel, who had a braid, but a little tiny one. I asked him about it and he said he used to have a mullet and he wanted to keep part of his past with him. He offered to help me with my problem, which meant he offered to make out with me so I could make Marco jealous back. But, I didn´t want Marco to do anything with me so I said a No Thanks. But Marco was all over Megan, who was really confused, so I just pulled him aside and said he can´t play with her just because he´s angry with me. And he thought that meant something else because he grabbed be and tried to kiss me. What a dick. All he wants is American booty, and he wants me, but he said he´s settle. He´s just an annoying boy. I refused to talk to him in the taxi and I really am mad at him now. I just want to go out with Ruben and Paúl, because there is zero 7th grade drama with those boys. I just want to be treated like a person and not an object, and for taht I will see Paúl and not Marco. Done. We got home at 4 or so and slept until 6:30, but I was up twice because I was so nauseous and felt like I was going to throw up. I haven´t felt like that for a long time, and I didn´t like it. It wasn´t from drinking either, because I really did not have that much to drink. But I slept for the majority of the 5 hour bus ride to our Hacienda in the middle of the desert. We ate a buffet-style lunch, but I just ate rice. Then we went dune-buggy riding, which was so much fun. Ours broke down: Cool. We stopped halfway so we could go sand-boarding which was hard, fun, and scary all at the same time. But I managed to not fall which is a big plus. Then we headed back to the hotel, where I am currently... :)

June 24 - 10:45 pm (Ocucaje)
Mad at myself! First, last night was terrible. They handed out some pisco because this place is one of the largest wineries and pisco producing places around. And it was strong. People were gone after only two. I didn´t drink any because drinking is the last thing I want to be doing. We went to eat dinner in this place which I guess was supposed to be a replica of the real winery. I was really not in an eating mood and on the verge of tears, so when dinner came - fish :( - I kind of just bolted out of there. I went to my room and cried. I tried to call home, but my card won´t work because I only have the local access code from Lima. And I went to sleep at about 9. I didn´t even hear my roommate come in when she did. Or get up for that mattr. And guess what we had for breakfast! Bread! Like every other day! Yipee! There was a group that was going to do some more sand boarding and trek across the desert, but I was still feeling a little under the weather, so I stayed in the hacienda with Anna and Megan and laid out in the sun. STUPID STUPID STUPID. 1) I didn´t bring sunscreen. DUH. 2) I didn´t bring a bathing suit, so I was out in my bra, which actually wasn´t as bad as it sounnds. 3) I DIDN´T BRING SUNSCREEN. 4) I didn´t bring aloe to sooth my stomach and chest which now resemble a ripe tomato and radiate heat. I´m such a doof. My mom doesn´t get too upset with my night of wreckless drinking, but I know she will get mad at me for this. Argh, I´m so stupid. But, I´m living with it. I´m not complaining, because I know it was my own stupid mistake. Then we were supposed to tour the winery, but someone planned badly b/c they close on Sundays, so we didn´t go. We ate lunch and found a group of people to stay out of the sun and played a rowdy game of Egyptian Ratscrew. Oh quick side note: paley, stauntered, and frigg or something. Some new words I made up. Oh Ellen. Then, after what seemed like forever, we ate dinner. And my oh my was it interesting. Out appetizers: cow heart on a kabob. Yum. But I tried it b/c who can say taht they´ve eaten cow heart in Perú? And it was the exact texture that I would think a heart would be, hence the reason for the lack of heart that I ate. But the main course: a HUGE piece of roasted chicken, was mighty tasty. After dinner, the non-drunk group chilled in the game room by the fire and now we´re all going to sleep. Tomorrow we get to see the penguins! All 5 of them... Oh! Happy Birthday, Che! And it´s my 2 year anniversary from my first day ever in Nicaragua. Oh how time flies by... Wow.

June 25 - 4:45 pm (Hacienda San José)
Today we woke up, had our breakfast of bread and tea, and then drove for about an hour or so to the ocean. It is pretty incredible how expansive and... dry the desert is and then all of a sudden there´s the ocean. We were greete by a flock of pelicans and the overwhelming smell of fish and salt. Then we split into three different boats and went on our tour of the Islas Bellestas. Before we even got out of the shore area, we saw four or five dolphins swimming alongside of the boat! They were preciosos. The ride out was pretty smooth, but once we got closer to the islands, we turned off the engine and let the waves throw up around. I usually never get motion sick, but it was pretty bad. Dr. Bob´s wife had to give me some dramamine. But the islands were pretty impressive. They are literally big rock formations, that should be a red or brown color, but are a bright white because of the guano. Guano used to be a main source of export for Perú, as it makes excellent fertilizer. And the birds are everywhere. We even saw some penguins! There weren´t many, but the ones that were there were adorable. Then the sea lions! There also weren´t as many as there had been in past years, but they still covered a beach. And there were also some laying out on a rock that we got really close to and they looked like big dogs. But back to the guano, because that was pretty impressive. Supposedly every four or five years people work for 3 months, Monday thru Saturday, 10 hours each day and harvest 7,000 tons of guano. That´s pretty impressive. The ride back was bad, too, but I tried to think of something else and that really helped. We drove a little more to our next stop: the beautiful hacienda San José. I guess it was a cotton plantation back in the day. We were commenting on the continuation of the slavery traditions as the "Aaafriiicaaa" music played in the background during lunch.

June 26 - 11:10 am (San José)
After lunch, some girls played some basketball, after the court was sweeped clean of the piles of sand that had accumulated. We still got pretty dirty because of all the dust, so I went and took a shower, which hurt! But I´m not complaining. Then I joi8ned the first group who was getting a tour of the hotel and the catacombs. I just waited outside because Kay said they would be really small and dark = no breathing for Ellen. After that, Anna and James and I raided the kids´play room and painted a poster of Leo with his sweater over his head in the desert. It was really cute, and when we showed him the finished project, Kay said that she was going to put it up in their office. It was kind of late, but we had heard rumors of an internte café right outsie of the hacienda so about 5 of us adventured out to check it out. And lo and behold, in the shanty town of San José, there was a really nice internet café. When we got back to the hotel, we were greeted by a very upset Leanne, who had 150 soles stolen from her room. As we entered the hotel, there were about 20 more or so people who had money stolen as well - anywhere from 10 to 100 soles, and some even American dollars. I ran to my room and found that 50 had been stolen out of my jacket pocket. And so the blame game started. It obviously had to be one of the staff members because they have access to all the rooms, but the manager said that he trusted the women and then blamed one of our group members. That made a lot of people mad. But the manager kept insisting that the only people that go in the rooms are the women and that he trusted them completely. Then Kevin and Anna remembered seeing a male staff worker in Kevin´s room and tried to describe him to the staff, with no luck because they couldn´t really find any important details. Then Anna remembered that she had seen him another time, and I had taken a picture of him when James was posing outside the catacombs. A guy, fitting the vague description that Kevin had given, had popped out of the entrance, and I had got a picture of him. The best part: the catacombs run underneath all the rooms, and can be used as a passage way. So I ran to get James´camera to show them the picture. When I did, all of the staff started shaking their heads, like they could understand it was him. Oscar. Oh Oscar. So while we ate dinner, the staff and manager tried to track him down, since he´d apparently gone home for the night. We had a tasty meal of lasagna and pasta and listened to Afro-Peruvian music as well as watched Afro-Peruvian dancing. It was all very amazing, but you could tell everyone was still angry about the money. Then Carlos came and made the announcement that the money had all been recovered. After that everyone was in such a good mood and we all danced and had a great time. And Anna, Kevin, and I all felt like little Nancy Drew´s!! We asked Carlos what had happened, and I guess the manager literally ran after the guy and got him before he got home. He gave him two options: either he gives the money back or the police get involved and he spends a long time in jthe system or in jail. He gave up the money. Supposedly, he was a newly wed and about to have a baby. So that made us feel guilty... for about a second. And he had only been working for about one week at the hacienda, so I´m guessing we were the first big group to come by and he seized the opportunity. We heard that the manager gave the entire staff a talking-too. More or less that they can´t make any more mistakes while our group is still here. We then had a bonfire waiting for us which was fun for all of two minutes. Anna and I went inside in search of TDH. He has got to be 6´3" with beautiful chocolate skin and big brown eyes. What a cutie. But he was busy being bartender, so we played some pool and then watched Grey´s Anatomy with Ashely and Megan. But I was falling asleep, so I just went to bed. Then when I woke up this morning, I couldn´t move. My sunburn is in the tight and extremely painful stage. I couldn´t sit up, so I just laid in bed for another hour or so. I finally decided that I would have to get up because I had to eat breakfast before they put everything away. Almost everyone had gone on the tractor ride, so there were only four of us eating. Bread and eggs. How exciting. Now I´m just sitting outside waiting for them to all come back and basking in the glory of being a real Nancy Drew I still can´t get over the fact that we got that guy! We rock!