Time is NOT of the essence:::::Cusco---Marco Antonio--INCAS

Our adventure to Cusco began last Thursday at 3am when I was rudely awakened by the screeching sound of my alarm clock signaling it was time to head to my good pal Jorge Chavez...International Airport. We have become very familiar with the airport here in Lima, but I'm not going to say I was sad that this Cusco trip was going to be our last flight on Peruvian Airlines. Peruvian Airlines served its purpose, but not in the easiest way possible. After one canceled flight, one delayed flight, and never leaving on schedule, one can rightfully be a little upset with the airline. That's all I'm going to say about that...

Cusco: MARCH 21-24

On the first day, we arrived late (naturally), so we only had a couple of hours to adjust to the altitude before we had to meet up with our guide Marco Antonio for a half day of tours. I can honestly say that Marco Antonio was easily the funniest english speaking Peruvian I have met here. I was laughing 3/4 of the day from funny little jokes I would catch. I think I was mostly just impressed that he was able to be funny in english, and somewhat jealous because I still have no idea how to be funny in Spanish. This first day we visited a few different places in Cusco and learned a lot of historical facts dating back to when the Spanish invaded and took over the Incas. Of course I was loving all of this information after taking a Latin American history class, but it was interesting to hear more details about the Incas coming from someone who's heritage is closely tied to the Incan culture.

The second day we woke up bright and early to make our way toward Machu Picchu. I had no idea how big of an ordeal it was to get to Machu Picchu. It took us nearly 6 hours to finally reach to the top (once again behind schedule), once we reached the top and got check in with our tour company we finally got to take the trek to the famous Inca ruins of Machu Picchu! Our tour lasted 2.5 hours and it was incredible! Easily the most incredible thing I have seen in my life. I cannot even describe to you how I felt seeing and soaking in the facts about the Inca ruins that I, Danielle Bartels, walked through. I would love to go back again, and maybe even stay at the hotel at the base of the trail...I will have to save up some serious money though because ONE night in that hotel is over $1,000USD. Insane!!

Saturday we got to take a traveling tour to other Inca ruins in surrounding cities outside of Cusco. This trip began around 8am and ended around 7pm. We were able to see a wildlife refuge area for Peru's protected animals like the vicuña, condor, puma, etc. It was incredible being up close an personal with such incredible animals. The condors especially! The Inca ruins from these little field trips were amazing, very similar to the architecture of Machu Picchu...which is mind blowing to begin with. Those Incas were incredible people. I am eternally fascinated with their knowledge. Even though they were not "civilized" like Europeans (guns, metals, etc.) the natural resources they used to build, produce, grow everything they did is impeccable.

Sunday morning we got up and went shopping in the markets and bought too many souvenirs...yay for you friends and family! Not so "yay" for the bank account...no in all reality souvenirs here are fairly cheap. The average price for a tshirt is around S/. 15 which is about $6 USD. Not too shabby! Sunday afternoon our plane was supposed to leave at 3:10 but...YOU GUESSED IT! We were delayed until 4:30...it really wasn't the biggest of deals but frustrating all the same. We were all tired from a long weekend and were ready to be able to sleep in our own beds.

This last week was regular class, and I think we have all started our countdown as to when we are going home...38 days...and school is winding down. Thursday we did not have class because it is Holy Week and here they shut everything down Thursday and Friday of Holy Week and just about 8million people skip town to go to the beach. Lima was dead quiet for the past couple of days, and that was wonderful. I have gotten used to the noise that Lima produces, but not having to hear a lot of noise was refreshing.

This coming week we only have class on Monday and Thursday...and they are the same class. Conversation with Liliana. We are going to get our Spanish talking in for the whole week that's for sure. I don't have much else to say, except that I have really been enjoying my time here in Peru and have made some pretty good friends while being here....and Peruvians are always late to everything.

That's all for now, here's some pictures! :)
If you want to check out more picture: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151418187233355.1073741831.500473354&type=3

Marco Antonio--our guide 

STAY WITH ME...THERE ARE PICTURES.

Ica--Paracas.........AND...........La Selva!!!

First let's talk about Ica--Paracas. We left Lima for Ica on Sunday morning. Ica is around four hours South of Lima so we took a double decker luxury bus ride to Ica. It was surprisingly comfortable. I think anything would have been comfortable after the night of LITERALLY no sleep the night before! 

**TIME OUT**

Let me explain why I didn't get any sleep! My uncle Mancho was throwing a birthday party for himself at my grandma's house so my family and I got dressed up very nice and went over to my grandma's house for the party. It started around 8pm and I did not get back to our apartment until 5:30am and I had to be at the bus station to leave for Ica by 7am and it took around 40 minutes to get to the bus station...so I had not slept! But it was so fun, and definitely worth it! I really enjoy the times I get to spend with my extended family! They are all SO incredibly kind and helpful with my Spanish...even when I can't function at 4am!

**TIME IN**

We got to Ica around noon and I was cranky from not sleeping too much but overall I was very excited to just be out of Lima for a few days! We didn't have a whole lot planned for this trip, and for that I was kind of grateful. It was very nice to be able to just relax for a few days while still being able to see some really cool sites! Sunday evening we were able to go sand boarding in the desert as well as visit a vineyard where they make Peruvian pisco! It was interesting to learn about but I wish it would have been light out so we could see everything a little better! I did buy some really good wine to bring back though! Sand boarding was INCREDIBLE. At first I was terrified because I am not necessarily a daredevil but I always want to do cool things so after I let 5 people go ahead of me, I finally sucked it up and boarded down. It was AWESOME. Very sandy but so worth it!! The dune buggie ride out to the dunes was so much fun, and equally terrifying. I only saw my life flash before my eyes three times. Naturally we didn't start on the bunny slopes, we started on the black diamond of sand dunes which is a grand part of why I was terrified. Our boarding guides were very fun guys, they were crazy drivers but definitely made sure we were safe going down the dunes. 

 

Monday we woke up very early and drove around an hour to Paracas where we got on a boat to ride out to the Ballestas Islands. They were so incredible! I absolutely LOVED the lobos marinos. I would like one as a pet. A baby one. NOW. We were taken around the islands for a couple of hours before we headed back to land and from there to Ica. After we got back to our resort we cleaned up a bit and decided to head into town to grab some dinner. After dinner we played some cards games and called it a night! The morning we had free until around 3pm when the bus came to pick us up to head back to Lima! The weekend overall was very fun...but our adventures weren't over yet...we planned to leave for the Jungle two days after our return! 

LA SELVA!!! (The Jungle)

Let me just preface this section with: It was freaking HOT. Even though it was rainy season in the jungle, we somehow experienced a heat like never before. I would sweat every time I took a breath. It was disgusting. But being able to give myself a little slap on the cheek to remind myself that I was in the Amazon, erased any uncomfortable sweaty feelings I was having. The first day we met our guide, Ashuko. Ashuko took us to our boat we would be riding out to our camp, and after an hour ride más o menos we arrived to our camp and settled in. That afternoon we headed straight for the jungle and hiked for a bit and learned about a bunch of different types of trees and frogs and animals and even saw him dig a tarantula out of its hole in the ground! That evening we gathered up our flashlights and wandered out into the jungle to, what I was sure would be our death by snakes or jaguars, and managed to find a ton of spiders and one snake. I didn't necessarily enjoy that part of the trip, but looking back I'm glad I went. 

One important part I forgot to mention...things we take for granted in the US...electricity. We only had electricity for TWO HOURS a day. 7pm-9pm, other than that we were completely lit up by flashlights. It was an interesting experience, and kind of nice to be away from everything.

Saturday morning had planned to go piranha fishing and bird watching, but when we woke up it was raining so we ate breakfast and took a nap in the hammocks while we waited for the rain to clear, and even changed around our itinerary to going to MONKEY ISLAND (eeeeek!!!) and the other things the next day. 

There was a room full of hammocks where we spent a lot of our break/down time. I took approximately 5 naps in a hammock in the Amazon jungle. Have you? No, you haven't. It was incredible. 

We got to monkey island, and out of the jungle walked the CUTEST monkeys I have ever seen. They were so friendly, but still wild...obvio...they live in the Amazon jungle...anyways, they jumped all over us and played with my hair because it was in a bun and apparently looked like too much fun for them to pass up. There was also a SLOTH!!! I got to hold him and watch him smile at me and I just know he wanted to be my friend, but I don't think I could get a sloth through customs. After the monkey island and lunch we went to go looking for pink dolphins. Everyone but me saw the damn dolphins, I'm still a little bitter about it pardon my french. Then some crazies from our group (everyone but Haley and I) swam in the river. It was brown and surely full of bugs and only heaven knows what else, but they all had fun! 

The next morning we woke up early and went out to go fishing, and only Haley was successful...but she didn't catch a piranha, she caught a catfish! After fishing for an hour or so we were "bird watching" which we did a majority of the time anyways, there were some really cool birds but it's hard to get pictures of birds because they fly right by you! 

A group of us had to be to the airport Sunday by around 5:30 for our flight home to Lima so we hopped on our boat back to Iquitos after lunch and it was a 3 hour boat ride against the current so we made the best of it and stacked some suitcases for a makeshift table to play cards on. It worked out pretty well! 

Everything was going well until we boarded the plane an hour late and sat on the plane for another hour before we were told we had to get off of the plane because the window wouldn't seal. THEN we found out our flight had just been canceled all together. After waiting in line for a few hours we were finally put up into a hotel in town by the airport and were given ticket for a 2pm flight the next day. We were all tired sweaty and cranky so it didn't help any when we hadn't eaten dinner and it was 2am AND our sink in our bathroom probably had more water pressure than our shower head did. It was an interesting experience. 

The trip to the jungle was a once in a lifetime experience and I am so glad I got to experience it with the people I did. Bug bites and all, I enjoyed the jungle. 

NOW: We are off to Cusco/Machu Picchu in t-minus 6 hours so I need to get at least a little bit of sleep!!

Until next week mis amigos! Un beso :) ¡Ciao!

See you in 63 days America!

The other day Lanisa and I were talking, and in the midst of conversation Lanisa said, "Oh, I need to write a blog too..." (I think we were talking about what homework we had to do this week...) and to that I responded, "Why?? We JUST wrote a blog, you're being an over achiever." Little did I know, that is has, indeed, been a week since my last post. 

I wish I could tell you that I knew where all of the days go, but they go by so quickly that some days I don't even remember what I eat for breakfast. The other day I was chatting with my mom on the phone and she said, "Your English in your blogs is bad, your sentence fluency and sjkgheughreighfosgjkfhgkldsfh..." (which I already knew, but having someone say it made me realize that I should put forth more effort...cuz I aint no dummy) so I am making a conscience effort to sound like the educated person I am, in this blog. Although it is painful to write complex sentences in English, I will try my hardest. 

To think that in 63 days I will be stepping off of my plane in Omaha, Nebraska, absolutely blows my mind. Would you like to know what blows my mind even further? The fact that I have been here for approximately 66 days. Peruvian life is becoming my norm, and when I have to get back into the swing of things (work...work...school...work), I am going to be hurting. Why am I going to be hurting, you ask? Because; I will have to wake up before lunch is ready, I will not be able to watch Netflix, I will not be in Lima, I will have to make my own food, I will have to buy gas. THAT is why I will be hurting. But as much as I don't look forward to changing my routine upon arriving back home, I must say I miss America. While talking with my mom, I mentioned how I miss America and how hard it is to be "American" here. By that I simply mean, that not everything is a simple phone call away and you can't just hop into your car and drive to WalMart really quickly. American's are such fortunate people, and living in Peru has taught me that we are also extremely greedy people. We take SO much of what we are offered and given for granted. For example, cars. There are 9 million people who live in Lima and there are approximately 1 billion cars. How many of these cars are owned by families? MAYBE 20%. The other 80% is taxis. For people here, in Peru, to hear us say that most members of every family has their own car is absolutely absurd. If a family has ONE car for all 8 of them, they are very lucky. 

My wish for every American, is that they challenge themselves to live abroad...not "vacation" for two weeks...stay a couple of months. Learn that our "first world problems" are not at all problems. I have found a whole new appreciation for the little things in life just from being here for two months. Air conditioning being an example...in the United States air conditioning is expected. Here? I have felt air conditioning in two places...one classroom, and one privately owned car. Homes here tend to not have air conditioning. At first, I was a negative nancy about it and I thought I would die without it. Now? My balcony door is always open and fresh air is always flowing into my room. Granted, it does not replace air conditioning, but I have adapted and learned that air conditioning is a commodity. 


Enough of my chit chatting and onto the good stuff! This past week, Sam's host brother Kevin took us to a market called Polvos Azules. Now let me just tell you a little bit about what we THOUGH Polvos Azules was...we thought it was going to be a place where we could buy cheap knock-off brand name clothes and shoes. What we did NOT think it was going to be was thousands upon thousands of imported brand name shoes...and a complete mess. It was back sweating hot in this HUGE building with...you guessed it! NO air conditioning. Needless to say, the girls were not enjoying the sweat, but Luke was LOVING the shoes. 

This Sunday, our class leaves for a trip to Ica. Ica is a desert oasis about three hours South of Lima. We will be traveling by bus there and back. In Ica we will be able to sand board down the sand dunes as well as ride in dune buggies through the dunes. I'm sure there is plenty of other fun stuff we can do there, but so far that's all we know of! One of the days we will be taking a boat ride out around the Islas Ballestas where we will see lobos marinos (sea wolfs...look them up they are cool looking) and penguins and some other really fun animals. My mom said she saw a picture of a killer whale eating a lobo marino on the shore...so WHO KNOWS!??! Maybe we will be in for a treat :) Hoping just the sighting of a whale and not the eating of the pobrecito.

Here's the timeline...

Ica: March 10-12
School: 12-13
Daniela's (host sister) Birthday! Woohoo!: March 14
Iquitos (Jungle): 15-17
My high school friend Abby will be in Lima week of March 18th!
Peru vs. Chile fútbol game: March 22 (in Lima)

....we are in for a busy month of March!

So many exciting things to look forward too in this coming week...I know I have promised some pretty great pictures, but don't hold your breath because it will still be another week or so before I can upload some incredible pictures! But I PROMISE you will get some :)

Until those beautiful pictures come, I have some that I would like you all to enjoy. A few of them will be some comic relief, per say. Others, I just find interesting

This first picture is from the week before we were SUPPOSED to go to Cusco and my mom was a little concerned...rightfully so. BUT good news for Cusco, we believe that we have around $400 back from our original trip!! Good good news!













This next picture, with the kind fellow blowing up daffy duck blow up animals...he is just a guy trying to make a living...selling daffy duck blow up animals on the side of the street. These types of vendors are all over the place. Sometimes at stop lights, people will do dances or juggle then go down the line of cars hoping to collect tips for their performances. 



















The picture with the men standing in a group? Those are men in a mall stopping their shopping to watch the fútbol game on DirecTV tv's. Probably the funniest thing I have seen this week. 

Last, but certainly not least!! My friends, FaceTime-ing me with their beautiful faces because our Wi-Fi connection sucks. Miss these fools. 


Until next time :)