Like, I mentioned last time, Mariah and I went to Huaraz, which is about 6 or 7 hours away from Lima. From Madison to Minneapolis, you can take the Greyhound for $75. From Lima to Huaraz, you can take it for about $10.
Huaraz was weird and fun. The mountains were absolutely beautiful. Amazing. real, legitimate mountains, with crystal clear lakes and meandering farm animals. Mariah and I had a tour guide all to ourselves- Katiuska- who was incredibly nice, kind of goofy, and really patient. Hopefully, I'll put some pictures up soon. I also went to see some ruins. Unfortunately, I was a little unappreciative of the implications of this ancient civilization's ingenuity, and spent the hour and 40 minute tour (after the 3 hour bus ride up the mountain, which I actually enjoyed more) wondering how long it was going to last. Honestly, I'm sure most people found it fascinating, but part of my lack of enthusiasm had to do with the altitude, which made me want to sit down and take a nap every 5 minutes. It was like my face and my brain felt really tired and heavy and they were weighing me down. One thing that was absolutely crazy were the real, live Andean pueblos that were scattered along our path up the mountain... communities that don't have electricity and speak Quechua and wash their dishes and clothes in the rivers that begin in the Cordilleras.
Also, it was sunny every day and my face got sunburnt. It felt great.
Today, we enrolled for classes. It was a stupid, frustrating process (like figuring out how to type the @ on keyboards here or finding where the readings for my classes are). Instead of taking Peruvian Social Reality, I'll be taking History of the Modern World, which is fine with me.
Now, about the title. One thing I've noticed about Peru, is that the invisible "inappropriate" line is drawn somewhere else here. Peruivian boys (ages 12 to 35) seem to find a lot of things acceptable that are absolutely not ok in the United States when you first meet someone in any context, intoxicated or sober... obviously this is an unfair generalization to make, but I guess I'm making it anyway.
Now, after two weeks, here are some of the things that I miss about America (although, I am by no means in a hurry to get back):
- Madison's enrollment process
- Good coffee
- Clearly marcated bus routes and maps
- Letting my guard down
Pretty unimpressive!
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Funny thing about the whole altitude thing... Jon and Beth got altitude sickness while we hiked around Lake Isabelle... Also, I'm surprised that the coffee isn't good; aren't you right next to the coffee capital of the world (or at least USA)??? Either way, I'm pumped to see some pictures of this "crystal clear lake(s)..."
ReplyDeleteSo, I found your blog and happy to see I am in it. Hopefully you can deduce who this is. But more importantly and relevant to this post is the fact that a certain peruvian "boy" age 32 has emailed me.... very very weird and I am almost disturbed in way. Ha.
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