In short, is amazing.
I keep putting off writing because I have so much to write about, and yes, I realize this is really faulty logic. After sleeping for 11 hours, however, I am finally feeling up to the task of writing about the past two weeks.
I don't know where to start!! There is an incredible amount to see and do in the city, and I haven't even begun to scratch the surface but I love it already. The summer here is beautiful - the streets are lined with trees and there are vibrantly green parks filled with people walking dogs and napping and chatting (and making out...PDA is huge here, although somehow it doesn't seem nearly as gross or annoying here as it does in the US) all over the place. It seems like there is never an hour of the day where buses aren't running and people aren't walking around and vendors aren't selling papers or food or flowers.
My program, CIEE, is great. There are several that exist in Buenos Aires (Harrison is doing a different one from Layla, Laura and me) and from what I've heard CIEE is definitely one of the best. Although the orientation was tedious and (at least we thought) unnecessary at some points, the coordinators are all so friendly, open and helpful and I learned a lot through the process.
The most annoying part by far has been picking classes. We have the opportunity to take classes at three different places: FLACSO (our home-base university, very small but offers some really cool classes just for kids in the program...also where we take our required language courses), UCA (Catholic, private university in the city..also offers some classes just for foreigners) and UBA (huge public university, supposedly quite intimidating..). I've been trying to balance taking classes that will count for my major at Georgetown and taking classes that won't count but that I'm really interested in. What makes it even more difficult is that there's no ratemyprofessor.com here (I usually spend a good 5 hours on this site before picking my classes at home), so most of us have no idea what the professors or classes will be like except for looking at the limited information given on the registration pages. We're allowed to sign up for a lot of classes and try them all out, but I have a pretty set schedule in mind and I'm crossing my fingers that it will work out well. Most classes start on Monday. It didn't really hit me how late it is to be starting until I realized that Georgetown's spring break started...yesterday. So weird! But then again there is a reason why we have to stay here until July.
The other people on my program are a blast. I have to admit that when we first got to our hotel two weeks ago I was completely overwhelmed by Americans/English. I know this probably sounds silly considering I had just been traveling with a bunch of Americans, but I guess I was just used to being the minority. Anyway, after the first few days of traveling in hoards things got better. It's been really fun to hang out with people from other colleges (there are people here from Tufts, Brown, U of Colorado, Vanderbilt, and a bunch of other schools). I'm not going to lie, it's also been really nice having Layla and Laura on the program. I think we were all a little bit hesitant at first going with people we were already good friends with, but I think we've already found a balance of hanging out with each other and new friends - we're all pretty independent.
Exactly two weeks ago today we moved in with our host families, which, from what I've heard has been a really good experience for pretty much everyone. I love mine - they are incredibly nice and helpful, not to mention very patient with my broken Spanish (or Castellano, as they call it here). I have a mom, Martina, who is an incredible cook, a dad, Daniel, who is always smiling and asking how I'm doing, a sister, Delfina (19) who is adorable and a brother, Tobias (15) who plays the piano and is super into computers (he very nicely set up my wireless for me). I live in a neighborhood called Belgrano, which is kind of far away from where most of my friends live, but relatively speaking is very close to most of the places I frequent, considering how enormous this city is. It's a more residencial barrio (neighborhood) with lots of trees and beautiful apartments and houses, but still has a main street with tons of stores, restaurants and cafes. I still have a lot of exploring to do around here, but I really like what I've seen so far.
Getting around in the city was at first very intimidating but is getting easier every day. So far my main means of transportation has been the subte (subway), which is very simple and pretty efficient. The only problem is that it only serves a relatively small portion of the city. I fortunately live right near two subte stations (each about a 10 minute walk away) and a bunch of my friends and FLACSO are on the same line as me. The only problem is that the subte closes at 11 at night, which means that if I want to go out after that (which is usually the case when I go out since we don't eat dinner until 9:30 or 10) I have to find some other way. Which brings me to the collectivos. Collectivos are buses (numbered 1-749), each number with a different route in the city. They're kind of confusing to figure out, but really cheap, run 24 hours a day and basically everyone in BA uses them. It's kind of embarassing the first few times and you definitely look like a major foreigner, alternately looking at your Guia T (section by section map with grids of the entire city... aka the bible of study abroad students) and the cross streets you're passing so you know where exactly to get off, but they're not quite as intimidating as I thought I would be. Besides the subte and the collectivos, cabs are always an option. Compared to when I was here a year and a half though, they're kind of expensive (not as expensive as the US, but they still can dig a hole in your wallet) so I try not to take them except when coming back late at night, when you should DEFINITELY take them, and right to your doorstep.
Which brings me to... safety!! Basically, Buenos Aires is a big city, and any big city has its fair share of petty theft. For the most part I feel really safe here. It's just a matter of using common sense, i.e. hold your bag in front of you on the crowded subte/buses, don't walk anywhere by yourself at night, don't walk anywhere really really late at night, etc. Two people that I know of (one a good friend) from my program have gotten robbed already. Both were walking along at night and threatened with a knife, but lost only their phones and money (they let the girl keep her purse and keys). Obviously it's not a pleasant experience, but I've definitely heard of much worse happening right in Georgetown. Which is not to say that I'm not being careful! I definitely am, and only bring out what I absolutely need to when I leave my apartment. Anyway, onto happier things like....
FUTBOL!!!!!!!!! If you know one thing about Latin America, it's most likely that soccer is life here. Argentina has its own league, and apparently as a new resident of the country (it's official! after 5 hours of waiting in a miserable office I have a visa) and a soccer player I am expected to pick a team and become an avid fan. My host family likes a team called San Lorenzo, but my friends and I went to a Boca Juniors game last Sunday and it was AWESOME. They played a team called Hurcan and after a rather boring and scoreless first half, play picked up about halfway through the second half and Boca scored three goals. The crowd was absolutely nuts, and literally no one noticed when the other team scored a goal after Boca's first two. It was also there was also absolutely pouring, drenching, bone-soaking rain (and a few minutes of hail) which made it even more fun (...except afterward when we had to wait for half an hour just to get out of the stadium and then another hour to find a cab). Anyway, someone told me that being a Boca fan is like being a Yankees fan, but the game was incredible, and sometimes it's fun to love the team everybody hates, right? So we'll see, I have yet to buy a jersey, and that makes it official, so I can still change my mind.
What else... weather? About 80 degrees and sunny almost everyday. Yeah, you're jealous. We've had a few rainy days, which are fine because I enjoy the rain, except that I keep forgetting to NOT wear my tractionless flip flops on those days and to date have spilled smack on my butt on the slippery sidewalkds (in front of random people) three times. But if that's the worst thing that's happened to me here, I'm more than fine.
Ok last thing, but it's important - time. Moving from high school to college definitely involved a time shift, but nothing this drastic. It's like everything is pushed 4-5 hours later and lasts 2-3 hours longer. People don't eat lunch til 2 or 3, and dinner isn't until 9 or 10 (11 or midnight on weekends). Bars and clubs don't open until 12 or 1 and don't close until 5 or 6 (yes am). It's crazy! For someone who values a really good night's sleep, it's taken some getting used to but I'm getting there. People are also just more relaxed about time here and it's really common to start meetings late or spend 3 or 4 hours sitting at a meal. It's a very nice change of pace coming from a country where everyone wears a watch and "time is money."
Alright well, I'm sure if you've made it this far you're probably fairly bored so I'll stop here for now and I promise to make shorter updates more frequently from now on!! I'm also going to add a page with pictures on it, so check them out if you feel so inclined. Unless you're a really random person, I probably miss you very much and hope you're doing well in the States or wherever your travels have taken you in the world!
Con mucho amor (with much love), un beso!
P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY HILARY!!!
P.S.S. I apologize for any egregious spelling errors in this blog, a certain brother of mine brought them to my attention (thanks Z!). In my defense...I am a horrible speller.
sábado, 7 de marzo de 2009
viernes, 20 de febrero de 2009
"Every new begining starts from some other beginning's end.."
Taking naps is usually one of my numerous talents, but I'm having trouble falling asleep in my hotel room in Buenos Aires. Plus, I haven't updated in a while so I figured now would be a good time so I don't forget the millions of things that I've done in the past week.
It's crazy how time works when you're traveling. Sometimes I feel like time is passing really slowly since we're cramming so much into each day, but at the same time it feels like just yesterday that we walked off the plane in Cusco to start our adventure.
Anywhere, where did I leave off? Ah, sandboarding. Definitely something to check off the "Do This Once in Your Life" list. I've never been snowboarding, but I plan to sometime in the near future and hope it's at least a little bit easier than sandboarding. Even Layla and Laura who are veteran snowboarders had a bit of a rough time on the dunes. So, you can only imagine what I looked like. I was by far the worst of our group, having two speeds: 1) really, really fast and 2) on my butt. Most times down I was in gear 1 for about 1/3 of the hill and then gear two for the rest. Apparently I'm "goofy" (meaning I naturally put my right foot forward on the board), and for some reason the only direction I could even go in was left. Zach and Hils, you're going to have to give me some lessons.
Despite being intensely sandy (I swear I was still finding sand in my ears/belly button for 3 days afterwards) we really enjoyed the rest of our "tour," which included walking through a cave followed by a little bit of a hike up to an absolutely incredible view of the sunset. Our guides took us to an aread further away from the normal tourist place where most people go which was awesome. The internet here is mediocre at best so I can't put up any pictures right now but promise to upload some once I get to my homestay. I have some great ones of the sunset (and of me spilling...)
On Saturday (our last in San Pedro) everyone was feeling a little bit restless from traveling, so we all split up and kind of did our own things. Layla and I ended up walking to the edge of town where, just 15 minutes away from a fairly touristy destination we found ourselves completely isolated except for a few occasional passersby on bike. We're both complusive picture takers and spent the afternoon experimenting with all of the different settings on our cameras. Some of them turned out really well (and I'll eventually put them up). In the evening we took a bus to Calama, another city in Chile to spend the night before our hectic day of travel.
Sunday/Monday ended up being a bit hellish, since Maggie and I while planning had the admitedly no-so-brilliant idea to take a flight from Calama to Buenos Aires, then take a ferry from Buenos Aires to Colonia, Uruguay and then a bus from Colonia to Punta del Este. All in all it was a 24-hour ordeal, but it saved us a couple hundred of dollars so I think it was worth it in the end (read: Mom and Dad will be appreciative!)
Punta del Este is a picturesque beach town where I'd been 4 years ago when visiting my friend Agustina (who's from Montevideo). I think we were all a little thrown off at first at its similarity to the East Coast in the US (it reminded me of Stone Harbor/Martha's Vineyard/what I imagine Cape Cod to look like), especially after we had gotten so used to blatently looking like foreigners in our previous travels. We got some good beach time in, and it was definitley a nice way to relax before we all began our semesters.
On Wednesday we met up with Agustina who was an amazing tour guide for us (and who managed to make us feel a little less tourit since we were with a real Uruguayan..). She took us around the old part of the city, which is incredibly charming, and then drove us along the coast and to a little park over looking the ocean and the rest of the city. It was very serene, and as we sat in the grass I kind imagined us taking this big collective deep breath before we dove into study abroad. Later, we got to hang out with some of Agustina's friends (who all play men's field hockey) which was a lot of fun. I'm amazed at how friendly everyone is down here.
Yesterday we took the ferry from Montevideo to Buenos Aires. Alex and Maggie split off to do their own exploring of the city while Laura, Layla and I began our orientation. It officially began today at FLACSO, which is our university/program headquarters (but we'll be taking classes at several different universities, kind of confusing). It was long but not too boring. I'm feeling a little bit overwhelmed by Americans at the moment (which I guess sounds dumb considering I'm American and was just traveling with 6 others, but I think I just got used to being the minority) but my two roommates at the hotel are really nice and we've been hanging out with 3 of the other girls from Georgetown who are all really cool. Tomorrow we move in with our host families! I'm really excited. I got an e-mail from them the other day - they're a mom, dad, daughter (19) and son (15) and they sound very nice and welcoming. I'm definitely ready to get settled/do some laundry/stop living out of a backpack.
Alright, well I'm sure you've all been tempted to stop reading by the point (I know I ramble), plus I should start getting ready for dinner (we're planning to leave around 11... I'll have to explain the Argentine concept of time in my next post). Hope everyone's doing well back in the EEUU, lots of love from BA.
p.s. Don't judge me for still liking that Semisonic song.
It's crazy how time works when you're traveling. Sometimes I feel like time is passing really slowly since we're cramming so much into each day, but at the same time it feels like just yesterday that we walked off the plane in Cusco to start our adventure.
Anywhere, where did I leave off? Ah, sandboarding. Definitely something to check off the "Do This Once in Your Life" list. I've never been snowboarding, but I plan to sometime in the near future and hope it's at least a little bit easier than sandboarding. Even Layla and Laura who are veteran snowboarders had a bit of a rough time on the dunes. So, you can only imagine what I looked like. I was by far the worst of our group, having two speeds: 1) really, really fast and 2) on my butt. Most times down I was in gear 1 for about 1/3 of the hill and then gear two for the rest. Apparently I'm "goofy" (meaning I naturally put my right foot forward on the board), and for some reason the only direction I could even go in was left. Zach and Hils, you're going to have to give me some lessons.
Despite being intensely sandy (I swear I was still finding sand in my ears/belly button for 3 days afterwards) we really enjoyed the rest of our "tour," which included walking through a cave followed by a little bit of a hike up to an absolutely incredible view of the sunset. Our guides took us to an aread further away from the normal tourist place where most people go which was awesome. The internet here is mediocre at best so I can't put up any pictures right now but promise to upload some once I get to my homestay. I have some great ones of the sunset (and of me spilling...)
On Saturday (our last in San Pedro) everyone was feeling a little bit restless from traveling, so we all split up and kind of did our own things. Layla and I ended up walking to the edge of town where, just 15 minutes away from a fairly touristy destination we found ourselves completely isolated except for a few occasional passersby on bike. We're both complusive picture takers and spent the afternoon experimenting with all of the different settings on our cameras. Some of them turned out really well (and I'll eventually put them up). In the evening we took a bus to Calama, another city in Chile to spend the night before our hectic day of travel.
Sunday/Monday ended up being a bit hellish, since Maggie and I while planning had the admitedly no-so-brilliant idea to take a flight from Calama to Buenos Aires, then take a ferry from Buenos Aires to Colonia, Uruguay and then a bus from Colonia to Punta del Este. All in all it was a 24-hour ordeal, but it saved us a couple hundred of dollars so I think it was worth it in the end (read: Mom and Dad will be appreciative!)
Punta del Este is a picturesque beach town where I'd been 4 years ago when visiting my friend Agustina (who's from Montevideo). I think we were all a little thrown off at first at its similarity to the East Coast in the US (it reminded me of Stone Harbor/Martha's Vineyard/what I imagine Cape Cod to look like), especially after we had gotten so used to blatently looking like foreigners in our previous travels. We got some good beach time in, and it was definitley a nice way to relax before we all began our semesters.
On Wednesday we met up with Agustina who was an amazing tour guide for us (and who managed to make us feel a little less tourit since we were with a real Uruguayan..). She took us around the old part of the city, which is incredibly charming, and then drove us along the coast and to a little park over looking the ocean and the rest of the city. It was very serene, and as we sat in the grass I kind imagined us taking this big collective deep breath before we dove into study abroad. Later, we got to hang out with some of Agustina's friends (who all play men's field hockey) which was a lot of fun. I'm amazed at how friendly everyone is down here.
Yesterday we took the ferry from Montevideo to Buenos Aires. Alex and Maggie split off to do their own exploring of the city while Laura, Layla and I began our orientation. It officially began today at FLACSO, which is our university/program headquarters (but we'll be taking classes at several different universities, kind of confusing). It was long but not too boring. I'm feeling a little bit overwhelmed by Americans at the moment (which I guess sounds dumb considering I'm American and was just traveling with 6 others, but I think I just got used to being the minority) but my two roommates at the hotel are really nice and we've been hanging out with 3 of the other girls from Georgetown who are all really cool. Tomorrow we move in with our host families! I'm really excited. I got an e-mail from them the other day - they're a mom, dad, daughter (19) and son (15) and they sound very nice and welcoming. I'm definitely ready to get settled/do some laundry/stop living out of a backpack.
Alright, well I'm sure you've all been tempted to stop reading by the point (I know I ramble), plus I should start getting ready for dinner (we're planning to leave around 11... I'll have to explain the Argentine concept of time in my next post). Hope everyone's doing well back in the EEUU, lots of love from BA.
p.s. Don't judge me for still liking that Semisonic song.
viernes, 13 de febrero de 2009
Chile!!
First, let me just say that it is so odd to be in 80/90 degree weather when it is the middle of February. But great, nonetheless.
Chile thusfar has been amazing. After a 9 hour busride from Puno we arrived in the beach city of Arica on the Pacific Coast. We had a great time there and almost contemplated staying, but couldn´t because we already had reservations in the next city. We spent pretty much all day Monday and Tuesday hanging out on the beach and on Wednesday we took a 3 hour surf lesson. I had tried surfing in Costa Rica last summer but pretty much forgot everything I learned so I was starting from scratch. It´s really frustrating and tiring at the beginning (definitely not as easy as it looks!) but once you get the hang of it you don´t want to stop. The only bad part was the plague of jellyfish ("medusas") which has hit Arica. I´m kind of freaked out by sea creatures in general, but I got over it after a little bit and luckily didn´t get stung.
Wednesday night we took a pretty horrific 12.5 hour non-airconditioned bus ride with really uncomfortable seats from Arica to San Pedro de Atacama, which is smack in the middle of the Chilean desert. Yesterday we explored the town and then celebrated Liz`s birthday at night. After dinner we were walking around and ran into a bunch of Chilean and Argentine guys with a nice telescope who let us look at the moon stars. It was pretty incredible, especially because the night is so clear out in the desert. We ended up hanging out with them for a while and talking about politics (a topic which never ceases to intrigue most Latin Americans I´ve met nor prove how much I need to work on my Spanish).
In a few hours we´re doing a desert "tour" which includes sandboarding (like snow boarding but on huge sand dunes), a cave exploration and viewing the sunset in the desert. Should be pretty awesome (assuming we don´t consume too much sand while boarding).
Well that´s it for now, I need to go hydrate and find something to wear that will protect me from the hundreds of spills I am inevitably about to take.
Besos!!
Chile thusfar has been amazing. After a 9 hour busride from Puno we arrived in the beach city of Arica on the Pacific Coast. We had a great time there and almost contemplated staying, but couldn´t because we already had reservations in the next city. We spent pretty much all day Monday and Tuesday hanging out on the beach and on Wednesday we took a 3 hour surf lesson. I had tried surfing in Costa Rica last summer but pretty much forgot everything I learned so I was starting from scratch. It´s really frustrating and tiring at the beginning (definitely not as easy as it looks!) but once you get the hang of it you don´t want to stop. The only bad part was the plague of jellyfish ("medusas") which has hit Arica. I´m kind of freaked out by sea creatures in general, but I got over it after a little bit and luckily didn´t get stung.
Wednesday night we took a pretty horrific 12.5 hour non-airconditioned bus ride with really uncomfortable seats from Arica to San Pedro de Atacama, which is smack in the middle of the Chilean desert. Yesterday we explored the town and then celebrated Liz`s birthday at night. After dinner we were walking around and ran into a bunch of Chilean and Argentine guys with a nice telescope who let us look at the moon stars. It was pretty incredible, especially because the night is so clear out in the desert. We ended up hanging out with them for a while and talking about politics (a topic which never ceases to intrigue most Latin Americans I´ve met nor prove how much I need to work on my Spanish).
In a few hours we´re doing a desert "tour" which includes sandboarding (like snow boarding but on huge sand dunes), a cave exploration and viewing the sunset in the desert. Should be pretty awesome (assuming we don´t consume too much sand while boarding).
Well that´s it for now, I need to go hydrate and find something to wear that will protect me from the hundreds of spills I am inevitably about to take.
Besos!!
sábado, 7 de febrero de 2009
Puno, Peru
So it's been almost a week since I've left the States, but it feels like we've been here for about a month. I think I can say by now that Peru is by far one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. The mountains are unreal - it still seems to me like someone painted them in - and absolutely everywhere we travel everything is green and alive, although that might have something to do with the fact that it's the rainy season (apparently summer and winter don't exist here, only "rainy" and "dry" season).
On Friday (yesterday) we left in the morning on a "tourist" bus from Cusco to Puno. We had planned on taking a regular bus overnight, but the owner of our hostel in Cusco told us they weren't very comfortable and that we would get into Puno around 3 or 4 in the morning and would have to wait around until noon to get into our next hostel. We decided that probably wasn't the safest idea so we took this other bus instead, which ended up being great because it stopped at a few cool sites along the way (including another Incan city) and the entire ride was through the mountains so we would have missed out on some amazing views.
Puno itself has definitely been an interesting experience. We didn't plan it intentionally, but we ended up coming here over a huge festival weekend in the city (Festivadad Virgen de la Candelaria), and there have literally been marching bands in traditional costume in the streets every minute of the day. We thought they stopped around 3 am, only to be woken up by the same exact music right outside of our hostel at 6. Pretty crazy, but cool at the same time to see so many people celebrating in one place (kind of reminded me of inaguration... except a lot more music and a lot less police).
We also took a tour of these floating islands in the middle of the lake on which the city is located (Lake Titicaca, highest lake in the world) which is something I've been interested in for a while. Basically back in the day some of the indigenous people from the mainland decided to build these islands (in order to protect themselves from other populations) out of this water grass (and they literally float but are connected to one another so they don't separate). When we first got to one of the islands they explained how they were made and how the people lived on them, and afterwards we got to walk around a little bit and saw the inside of this guy's house (room). He told us about his life and then led us outside where bunch of people were selling jewelry, art, etc. that they had made (and pretty forcefully). It was really interesting to see how these people live, but I couldn't help but feel this sense of mutual exploitation. I guess it's hard to describe, but on one hand I felt like we were intruding on their culture and their everyday lives, but on the other hand I felt like they were taking adventage of us as tourists and in doing so exploiting their own culture. I'm not really sure how to put it well, but everyone in the group was kind of feeling the same way.
Anyway, it was a good experience, but we're ready to leave the craziness of the fesitval in Puno and get to the beach in Chile! We're about to leave on an overnight bus to the border of Peru and Chile and should be in Arica in the morning.
Hope all is well in the States, besos!!!!
View coming into Puno
On Friday (yesterday) we left in the morning on a "tourist" bus from Cusco to Puno. We had planned on taking a regular bus overnight, but the owner of our hostel in Cusco told us they weren't very comfortable and that we would get into Puno around 3 or 4 in the morning and would have to wait around until noon to get into our next hostel. We decided that probably wasn't the safest idea so we took this other bus instead, which ended up being great because it stopped at a few cool sites along the way (including another Incan city) and the entire ride was through the mountains so we would have missed out on some amazing views.
Puno itself has definitely been an interesting experience. We didn't plan it intentionally, but we ended up coming here over a huge festival weekend in the city (Festivadad Virgen de la Candelaria), and there have literally been marching bands in traditional costume in the streets every minute of the day. We thought they stopped around 3 am, only to be woken up by the same exact music right outside of our hostel at 6. Pretty crazy, but cool at the same time to see so many people celebrating in one place (kind of reminded me of inaguration... except a lot more music and a lot less police).
We also took a tour of these floating islands in the middle of the lake on which the city is located (Lake Titicaca, highest lake in the world) which is something I've been interested in for a while. Basically back in the day some of the indigenous people from the mainland decided to build these islands (in order to protect themselves from other populations) out of this water grass (and they literally float but are connected to one another so they don't separate). When we first got to one of the islands they explained how they were made and how the people lived on them, and afterwards we got to walk around a little bit and saw the inside of this guy's house (room). He told us about his life and then led us outside where bunch of people were selling jewelry, art, etc. that they had made (and pretty forcefully). It was really interesting to see how these people live, but I couldn't help but feel this sense of mutual exploitation. I guess it's hard to describe, but on one hand I felt like we were intruding on their culture and their everyday lives, but on the other hand I felt like they were taking adventage of us as tourists and in doing so exploiting their own culture. I'm not really sure how to put it well, but everyone in the group was kind of feeling the same way.
Anyway, it was a good experience, but we're ready to leave the craziness of the fesitval in Puno and get to the beach in Chile! We're about to leave on an overnight bus to the border of Peru and Chile and should be in Arica in the morning.
Hope all is well in the States, besos!!!!
View coming into Puno
miércoles, 4 de febrero de 2009
Arrival, Cusco and Machu Picchu
AH I cannot believe I am here already! I wanted to post before I left, but the month I had at home which I thought would seem like forever actually went by super quickly. It honestly seems like a week ago that my friends and I were sticking tacks onto the map on my bedroom wall, deciding all the places we wanted to go on our South American adventure. Even when we were doing the actual planning for the trip it seemed like it was so far away, and it didn't actually hit me full on that I would be spending the next 6 months here.
Anyway...before I get into the million things we've already done in the past 3 days, I guess I should explain the (two-fold) purpose of this blog. First, I'm awful at e-mailing, but I want my family/friends to know what and how I'm doing down here and I figured this would be a perfect way (plus I can post pictures and blogs are prettier than e-mails). Second, even if no one except myself ends up looking at this, I will be extremely happy to have evidence of this incredible opportunity that I have. I've been really fortunate (largely thanks to my parents!) to have traveled to a bunch of really cool places in my life, and every time I go away I always promise myself that I will keep a journal but I always end up forgetting about it or getting too lazy. So I hope somehow that knowing that this is potentially going to be read by other people will compel me to keep writing about my experience.
Okay, where to start? I guess my departure began on Saturday when I took a bus up to New York so that I could stay the night with Layla (my roommate) who lives just outside of the city. We left from JFK Sunday night and fortunately my perpetual bad travel luck was non-existent and we got through Lima and then to Cusco without any problems. The view of the mountains on the flight from Lima was incredible. When we got to the tiny airport in Cusco on Monday morning we were greeted by (almost) the rest of our group, which included Maggie, Laura and Liz (all friends from school, it was great seeing Liz who's been in Argentina for the past 6 months) and Alex (Maggie's friend from high school who goes to UNC). After being hounded by about a hundred taxi drivers and women selling coca leaves (to help adjust to the altitude) we found the driver sent from our hostel which was only about 15 minutes away from the airport. Cusco is a small city nestled in the mountains. It kind of reminds me of San Jose in Costa Rica (where Layla and I spent a few days last summer), except with these crazy mountains in the background. We spent the rest of the day walking around the city, trying to figure out booking train tickets up to Machu Picchu and ate at some cool restaurants (where you can get a three-course meal for about US$ 5).
On Tuesday we got up very early (okay maybe 5:45 isn't early for some people but it is for us) and took a train up to Aguas Calientes, which is a small town right near Machu Picchu. I wish we could have stayed there for more than one night, everyone was really friendly and the surroundings were absolutely beautiful. Apparently about 15 years ago the town was basically non-existent,but tourism from Machu Picchu has been really beneficial (you can tell, there were about 6 different construction sites in a town probably about a quarter the size of Wyomissing). After eating lunch we asked what there was to do around town, and the owner of our hostel told us that if we wanted to go for a hike we could take a nearby trail up to a view of Machu Picchu from this mountain called Putucusi. We were all up for some exercise so we found the trail even though it was kind of hidden and started up the mountain. About 15 minutes in we got to this ladder hammered into the side of the mountain which was at least a 320 foot completely vertical ascent. And it had just been raining. But, being the young adventuresome people that we are we decided to keep going, only to run into 3 more of those ladders (except they were shorter). I'm definitely not in great shape, but I though I was at least in decent shape. Nope. (although we've decided to blame the altitude for our collective lack of stamina). After about 2 more hours of pretty intense hiking, a few breaks and a lot of thinking about just turning around, we finally rounded the corner at the top to find this indescribable view of Machu Picchu that was more than worth the hike. It was honestly straight up out of National Geographic/the cover of your 7th grade Spanish textbook:
After our hike down we took some freezing cold showers before heading to dinner and then going to bed early so we could get up at 4:45 (!!!!) to take a bus up to Machu Picchu. Again, words really can't describe how incredible it was. I didn't know much about the sacred site before we got there, but it was apparently very secretive and exclusive to a certain portion of the Incan population. I was in disbelief as to how an entire city and society could be built in such an obscure place that is literally among the clouds. Later in the morning we did another pretty strenuous/precarious hike up a mountain called Waynapicchu which was made even harder by the insane weather in the mountains (it will go from warm and sunny to rainy and 10 degrees cooler, then back to warm and sunny in a matter of 30 minutes). It was worth it though, since we got another amazing view of Machu Picchu from above as well as got to see some more ruins.
Needless to say we were exhausted afterword so most of us passed out on the train ride back to Cusco later yesterday afternoon and fell asleep pretty early last night. This morning we slept in and then went out and explored the city a little bit, ate lunch at this restaurant with a panorama view of the mountains and found an area of town with lots of artisans. In other words we went into a bunch of little stores where we were tempted to buy jewelery, bags, clothes, etc. ("Oh but it's so cheap in US dollars, why not!?"). Oh, and apparently it's "carnaval" here, so we were attacked (I kid you not) 4 different times by little kids with water balloons. I'm pretty sure it's just because we're a big group of blatantly foreign people.
Now we're about to head out to the center of town for dinner and to meet up with some American friends we made at the hostel who we also hung out with at Machu Picchu. Tomorrow we're heading down to Puno (south of Cusco but higher up in the mountains) which is on lake Titicaca and supposed to be beautiful.
Hope everyone at home/school is doing well, besos!!!
Anyway...before I get into the million things we've already done in the past 3 days, I guess I should explain the (two-fold) purpose of this blog. First, I'm awful at e-mailing, but I want my family/friends to know what and how I'm doing down here and I figured this would be a perfect way (plus I can post pictures and blogs are prettier than e-mails). Second, even if no one except myself ends up looking at this, I will be extremely happy to have evidence of this incredible opportunity that I have. I've been really fortunate (largely thanks to my parents!) to have traveled to a bunch of really cool places in my life, and every time I go away I always promise myself that I will keep a journal but I always end up forgetting about it or getting too lazy. So I hope somehow that knowing that this is potentially going to be read by other people will compel me to keep writing about my experience.
Okay, where to start? I guess my departure began on Saturday when I took a bus up to New York so that I could stay the night with Layla (my roommate) who lives just outside of the city. We left from JFK Sunday night and fortunately my perpetual bad travel luck was non-existent and we got through Lima and then to Cusco without any problems. The view of the mountains on the flight from Lima was incredible. When we got to the tiny airport in Cusco on Monday morning we were greeted by (almost) the rest of our group, which included Maggie, Laura and Liz (all friends from school, it was great seeing Liz who's been in Argentina for the past 6 months) and Alex (Maggie's friend from high school who goes to UNC). After being hounded by about a hundred taxi drivers and women selling coca leaves (to help adjust to the altitude) we found the driver sent from our hostel which was only about 15 minutes away from the airport. Cusco is a small city nestled in the mountains. It kind of reminds me of San Jose in Costa Rica (where Layla and I spent a few days last summer), except with these crazy mountains in the background. We spent the rest of the day walking around the city, trying to figure out booking train tickets up to Machu Picchu and ate at some cool restaurants (where you can get a three-course meal for about US$ 5).
On Tuesday we got up very early (okay maybe 5:45 isn't early for some people but it is for us) and took a train up to Aguas Calientes, which is a small town right near Machu Picchu. I wish we could have stayed there for more than one night, everyone was really friendly and the surroundings were absolutely beautiful. Apparently about 15 years ago the town was basically non-existent,but tourism from Machu Picchu has been really beneficial (you can tell, there were about 6 different construction sites in a town probably about a quarter the size of Wyomissing). After eating lunch we asked what there was to do around town, and the owner of our hostel told us that if we wanted to go for a hike we could take a nearby trail up to a view of Machu Picchu from this mountain called Putucusi. We were all up for some exercise so we found the trail even though it was kind of hidden and started up the mountain. About 15 minutes in we got to this ladder hammered into the side of the mountain which was at least a 320 foot completely vertical ascent. And it had just been raining. But, being the young adventuresome people that we are we decided to keep going, only to run into 3 more of those ladders (except they were shorter). I'm definitely not in great shape, but I though I was at least in decent shape. Nope. (although we've decided to blame the altitude for our collective lack of stamina). After about 2 more hours of pretty intense hiking, a few breaks and a lot of thinking about just turning around, we finally rounded the corner at the top to find this indescribable view of Machu Picchu that was more than worth the hike. It was honestly straight up out of National Geographic/the cover of your 7th grade Spanish textbook:
After our hike down we took some freezing cold showers before heading to dinner and then going to bed early so we could get up at 4:45 (!!!!) to take a bus up to Machu Picchu. Again, words really can't describe how incredible it was. I didn't know much about the sacred site before we got there, but it was apparently very secretive and exclusive to a certain portion of the Incan population. I was in disbelief as to how an entire city and society could be built in such an obscure place that is literally among the clouds. Later in the morning we did another pretty strenuous/precarious hike up a mountain called Waynapicchu which was made even harder by the insane weather in the mountains (it will go from warm and sunny to rainy and 10 degrees cooler, then back to warm and sunny in a matter of 30 minutes). It was worth it though, since we got another amazing view of Machu Picchu from above as well as got to see some more ruins.
Needless to say we were exhausted afterword so most of us passed out on the train ride back to Cusco later yesterday afternoon and fell asleep pretty early last night. This morning we slept in and then went out and explored the city a little bit, ate lunch at this restaurant with a panorama view of the mountains and found an area of town with lots of artisans. In other words we went into a bunch of little stores where we were tempted to buy jewelery, bags, clothes, etc. ("Oh but it's so cheap in US dollars, why not!?"). Oh, and apparently it's "carnaval" here, so we were attacked (I kid you not) 4 different times by little kids with water balloons. I'm pretty sure it's just because we're a big group of blatantly foreign people.
Now we're about to head out to the center of town for dinner and to meet up with some American friends we made at the hostel who we also hung out with at Machu Picchu. Tomorrow we're heading down to Puno (south of Cusco but higher up in the mountains) which is on lake Titicaca and supposed to be beautiful.
Hope everyone at home/school is doing well, besos!!!
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