Election Day/Mira Flores

Sorry for the lengthy post. I have been too busy to upload my blogs so here are two days worth of blogs:

I can’t believe I have been in Peru for two weeks now. Part of me feels like it has been 2 days and another part of me feels like it has been 2 months. I’m having a great time though. This last weekend was pretty low key (we didn’t go to Lima as planned) because the election was today and they stop serving and selling alcohol three days before Election Day which means no alcohol Friday-Sunday. Needless to say, but there weren’t any big gathering of volunteers because of that. Haha. Yesterday (Saturday) me and Bj went to an internet café for about 3 hours and just showed each other pics of family and friends, watched YouTube videos and downloaded some stuff off of iTunes. We meant to do our Spanish homework, but it was time for dinner. After dinner we went to that coffee shop again and had the best coffee ever. We planned to split cake, but we were still full from dinner. There were some strange looking people in that coffee shop too, one person had their butt crack showing the whole time and it was slightly distracting.
Today (Sunday) was the most interesting day, just as it was last week too. Ha. I knew it was Election Day and my brother’s 22nd birthday. While my mom was voting, Lucho and I played soccer for a little bit and then my mom, Lucho and I had lunch together. My dad and sister were somewhere in Lima I think. After lunch it didn’t seem like anything was really going to happen so I went with Bj to Chosica on a mad search for picarones.
So because it was Election Day I knew the combis would be full, but not this full. I thought they shoved a lot of people on these combis before, but I was soooo wrong. We had at least 50 people in a 22 person bus. I was chest to chest with everyone and breathing down everyone’s neck. Every time the bus slammed on its breaks (which is every 5 minutes) I was slung right into Bj. We were the only people laughing about it. We finally arrived to Chosica and people were EVERYWHERE. We decided to go check out some of the stores before hunting for picarones. We found a DVD store that Bj’s sister showed and I bought 3 DVD’s for 9 soles ($3). I bought Alice in Wonderland, Despicable Me and Letters to Juliet. The quality is amazing AND they are in English. Win.
After wondering around to many stores, I realized that I can find basically everything and then some in Chosica for a pretty good price. I plan to get some shoes, a pillow and a few other things in the near future. In the park I did buy an awesome headband, new bracelet and necklace. Near the plaza we not only found an old lady pooping in the grass, but picarones and some other dessert similar to picarones. Now after hearing me talk about picarones many times I am sure you are wondering what they are. They are basically funnel cake with syrup and they rock my world. As if that wasn’t enough, we then got ice cream from this little old lady. While I was paying for my ice cream this random man started talking to Bj and we were a little weirded out and the old lady started giving me this look like we needed to go because that guy was a creeper. He kissed my hand (which was weird, but is common here) and then I grabbed Bj and we left. I came back and told the lady thanks. We aren’t sure if he is one of those people whose job is to distract you and his buddy robs you, but we were fine. It was just strange.
We went to the grass with our ice cream and played rummy. I lost 2-1 and then we shoved ourselves into combis one more time and it was even fuller than the last. Every time we stopped, we kept laughing and saying, “Al Fondo Al Sitio!!! Al Fondo Al Sitio!!!” In English it means, there is room in the back, but the people who collect the money in combis shout it all the time when there obviously isn’t room. It’s basically a big joke and people around us were laughing. Finally after a funny/horrible ride to Chaclacayo we hopped off later than we needed because we couldn’t see out of the windows to tell them where to drop us. In a combi they have one route and they pick people up anywhere on the street and you just scream baja when you need to get off. It’s really organized.
The rest of my night will now consist of Oreos (thanks to the donation from Bj) and one of my new movies! Another thing that is funny, I am still sick from my sinuses and cold that I have. Well that part isn’t funny, but what is funny is that my uncle and Lucho have heard me cough a lot and they keep asking me if I am ok or need to go to the doctor. I haven’t coughed that much either, but what I really need is a good pillow to prop myself up at night. I am going to Plaza Vea real soon for one. My pillow here is like a mini bag stuffed with cotton balls and my bed still has the bounce of a dining room table. Thanks to my iPod and sleep mask I can tune out the dog fights, roosters, sunlight and forget about the lack of a pillow and concrete bed! Tomorrow is Mira Flores in Lima for my Spanish class assuming it doesn’t get canceled again. Choa!!


Yesterday was Mira Flores and let me tell you that it was a crazy day. We took a combi ride to the main plaza area and once I met up with my Spanish class we learned how to talk to taxi drivers. Our first mission was to go talk with taxi drivers, which basically meant screw with them. We would ask them how much it was going to cost to go to certain areas and lead them to believe we were going to go and then just say no thanks. It was entertaining for a while. After that we were given pages with certain markets within 10 blocks of where we were. We had to figure out how to get to them and then answer all these questions about the market, what they have, how much it costs and who works there. It was fun , but we needed a lot more time to finish everything. I was in a group with Bj and our friend Kari and we did a pretty good job. Mira Flores is so beautiful and there is a lot to do. It would be awesome to live there one day. After our group finished Kari, Laura, Isa (my professor) and Juilet wanted to eat a Pizza Hut. Bj and I wanted to get something different and not so homey so we went to a sandwich place and had turkey and chicken sandwiches with these weird sauces. They were pretty good, plus it was fun trying to figure out all the things on the menu.
After dinner we figured we would be meeting with the rest of the health group and ride a combi back to Chaclacayo, but no, that was not the plan. Our professor told us what stops to take to get back to Chaclacayo and wished us luck. It is the first time for all of us to be in Mira Flores, our Spanish isn’t superb and we have to find out how to get to Chaclacayo which is an hour away. Awesome. We hop on an over packed combi and take off. We are squished in and ride for at least 30 minutes until we find our first stop. The next combi ride me and Bj snagged a seat which was awesome because it was a 2 freakin hour ride. We listened to music and comedians the whole way back on his iPod. Our combi stopped at least 200 times to pick and drop off people, but I assure he was one of the best drivers in town. One time I thought we were turning, but no, we were just going around the cars that were waiting for the light to turn green.
Once we arrived at Chaclacayo we had a good 30 minute hike up to our houses in the dark. I am glad I have an easy going family because it was 9PM and I told them I would be home around 6PM. They were totally ok with everything and laughed about it all. My family is seriously great and I am so happy I live with them. They never have a problem with me going anywhere at any time and if I am going to be out late they have offered to give me a key to get back in. I haven’t had to use the key yet, but it sounds like Wednesday nights I will need it because the health group and water and sanitation (at the other training center) are going to have pizza and beer nights in Chosica. Since we aren’t done with training until 5 or 530 we won’t be able to get to Chosica until 630 or 7ish and I won’t be back to my house until 1030 or 11ish. At least tomorrow while I am in Chosica I can get a pillow to replace my sandbag like pillow that I have now.
I am still pretty sick with a cold right now so my running routine has taken a downward spiral. Right now I am taking my showers at night to see if that helps, plus taking showers in the morning is making my hair look a lot nicer. Usually I look like I am about to audition for a role in Lion King. That is all for now, but tomorrow in Chosica should be a good time. Actually, anytime in Chosica is usually a good time. Que te vaya bien!