I've Arrived!

Woke up at 6:00am on July 22nd to get in the car to drive to LA.

Arrived in Cusco, Peru at 9:45am on July 23rd (only a two hour time difference, so that is technically 7:45am July 23rd)

≈ 24 hours of traveling. I was EXHAUSTED.

Jacob, who is the director of Maximo Nivel, and who also reminds me of Napoleon Dynamite picked me up at the airport and took me on a mini tour of Maximo Nivel. It is an international facility that connects volunteers and teachers to projects and placements in various Latin American countries. It is also the facility that I will be receiving my TEFL certification from- I will write more about that once i know more about it. Anyway, after a quick tour of MN, Napoleon took me to my "Family House" which is an awesome set up that I will be staying at for the next month.

I felt okay, just a little short of breath, but I decided to go get money and buy an adapter for my computer charger. We went to the local "black market" called El Molino. It is a huge maze of store after store selling imported and imitation backpacks, electronics, toys, games, CDs, DVDs, clothing, shoes, jewelry, leather, for INCREDIBLY cheap prices. I got an adapter for 3 soles = 1$ and i bought 2 DVD's for 3 soles each as well.

After returning to the house I took a nap for a few hours. When I went down for dinner, I could barely eat and felt nauseous. I guess I was feeling the effects of altitude sickness since Cusco is around 10,000 feet and most people start to feel a little something at 8,000 ft. Anyway, I had some "Coca Tea" which is tea made from the Coca plant (same plant that cocaine is made from). This is a traditional remedy to help cure Altitude Sickness. I also took a Diamox which is a prescription for it as well. Anyway, I really wanted to go out with my house mates but I went to bed and slept for about 12 hours. Waking feeling even better.

Anyway that was my first 24 hours in Cusco.

My ba-ags are packed...I'm ready to go-o

It's two o'clock in the morning and I can't sleep. More like I don't WANT to sleep. I leave for Peru at 7am. Which means waking up before 6am. Of course, I left everything to the last minute, even making this blog. I am actually re-creating what was my Italy travel blog from 2009, that I of course never kept up. Hopefully I will do better this time. I never really liked the idea of spending time typing away at a computer, when you could be exploring the interesting places you are visiting. However, I realize it is kind of selfish to think that way since some people may be wondering what you are up. Who are they? I'm still not really sure :)

Baggage:

I am taking ONE suit case/duffel bag that I got for my birthday. It is packed with enough clothes to last me an entire year. I hope. We'll see if the clothes I packed are as abundant, versatile, appropriate, and cute as I am imagining. We weighed it earlier and it topped off at 49.5 lbs. I added a few things after that so hopefully it does not exceed the 50 lb weight limit the airlines enforce, or I will be like Ashley stuck trying to stuff 8 lbs of god-knows-what into my carry-on at the checkin counter :)

I am also taking ONE backpack (45 liter, The North Face multi-day pack), right now filled with random junk like paperwork, cameras, makeup, waterbottle, etc. The water bottle, also a gift, removes bad taste with a carbon filter and filters out "bugs" (pathogenic cysts) that cause Giardiasis and other diarrhea-causing infections. And we all know, diarrhea is NOT cool, so lets hope this thing does its job!

And, ONE pink over-the-shoulder-purse that has my phone (soon to be dysfunctional), passport, book, ear plugs, travel notebook/journal (also a gift! :)), and Burty-Bees chap stick.

Jet Plane (s):

I will be taking a series of FOUR airplane rides tomorrow mor-yikes-THIS morning. After driving to LAX, I will depart at 11:45am and travel from

• LA to Dallas/Fort Worth- arrive 4:30pm
• Dallas/Forth Worth to Miami- arrive 9:35pm
• Miami to Lima- arrive 4:20am (yes 420)
• Lima, to Cusco- arrive 7:40am

I realize now that when ever John Denver wrote that song he was not traveling as far as I am tomorrow.

Goodbyes:

Sadly, I had my fair share of goodbyes this week (including two special ones just an hour or two ago, another thing left to the last minute :)). Well, I really dislike goodbyes. They are sad, usually make me cry, and leave a pit in my stomach the size of a watermelon. I like Aunt Margaret's method better: Just say "See you later". That way no one feels like they are dying, getting left behind, or like we are never going to see each other again, because I know that I will see all of you guys "later". Whenever "later" may be.

Happily, I had my fair share of goodbye PARTIES and celebrations and meals this week. Obviously, my favorite was the one on Monday! There I was, thinking I was going to have an intimate dinner with Ashley, when all of sudden as we walked up to the restaurant, 30 people turn around a yell "Surprise!!". Boy, was I shocked! I had NO idea. Despite the numerous signs I could have picked up on, and how weird certain people were acting. Anyway, I am so lucky to have such great friends that care about me so much. Thank you all for coming and saying goodbye, it meant so much to me.

Well its three now and I might as well try to get in two sleep cycles before my hellish day of flying tomorrow.

PS I'm extremely excited for tomorrow! Shoot- TODAY.

PPS I will try to write next about the purpose of my trip- goals, expectations, fears, etc.

My Apartment in Roma!!

A little place I get to call home for the next four months....

My key!!

My Bedroom!!

My Kitchen!

My Living Room!

My view of the courtyard below us, we're on the 5th floor!

My Street! Via Goffredo Mameli

My Neighborhood! Its called Trastevere, and is the oldest neighborhood in Rome.

The Tiber (Tevere) River.

Trastevere literally means "across the river" in Italian

Greece Trip Day #3

We went on a boat excursion! It picked us up at our hostel in the morning and took us to the port, from there we went to Nea Kameni, the volcano that is one of the small islands inside the crescent part of Santorini. We hiked all over it and even felt steam from the last eruption. After that we ran back down the mountain to get on the boat. It was such a cool boat, old and looked like pirate ship.

Hot lava...

Our boat :)


Next the boat took us to another volcanic island called "Palea Kameni" that has hotsprings and sulfur water that is supposed to be good for your skin. The boat couldnt pull up to land because its too rocky and shallow, so they docked in the deeper water and we got to jump off the edge and swim too it! It was really fun and refreshing after the volcano hike. People were putting mud all over themselves it was so funny. We swam around a little long and then went back on the boat.



Our next destination was Thirasia, a little island that has less than 300 inhabitants and was only about 10 square km. We had an awesome seafood lunch at "Captain John's Taverna". It was called a "Seafood Slovaki" and its what we think of as a shishkebab, it was sooooo good and had fresh swordfish, calamari, octopus, shrimp, peppers, onions, yum yum yum







Then we walked along the little island and the girls decided to go swimming and jump off the boat again :)

Then, our boat took us to Oia (Ia) that is known to have the most beautiful sunsets in Greece. We decided to walk up the steps to the top of the hill, it was 240 steps and took forever in the heat of the day but was totally worth it. It was an ancient town that was really cute and alot of pretty white buildings with blue doors, we got more gyros and staked out an awesome spot on this ledge to watch the sunset, one of my favorite nites of the trip

Later that night we went into town again and walked around the streets and danced some in the discos, i loved the santorini nights...

Greece Trip Day # 2: Santorini pt. 1

We decieded to take an overnight ferry to santorini to save money and time. it was 8 hours and left at 10 and got there 6 am. It was the first time i had ever rode on a boat that long. There was a restaurant, bar, and even a disco on it! Since we stayed on the deck, there were no beds for us to sleep on, so everyone just sprawled out on the floor, chairs, etc.

I ended up cuddling with renee on the floor cause we got really cold...





We arrived at 6 am. It was still dark when we rolled off the ferry. We were there just in time for sunrise. The guy from our hostel picked us up from the port and we rode in a rickety van all the way across the island to the village of Perissa. Greeks definitly fit in with the stereotype of crazy european drivers. It was too early to check in, so we went to a 24 hour bakery right next to our hotel and had amazing ham and cheese crossoints. The beach was literally around the corner.



the best bakery in the whole world- open 24 hrs. a day


Our beach :)




We all sprawled out on these chairs and fell asleep. We woke up at 10:30 drenched in sweat since we were all still in our clothes, haha.

Later we checked into our hostel, the "Princess Santorini Villa". The family who ran were very nice and sweet. We went to the bakery again more delicous food and beverages and headed back to the beach. Perissa is famous for their black sand beaches.





That night we went into the main port town "Fira" where the nightlife was. We danced all over the place, and had a blast. They played "I Got a Feelin" SO many times that we actually left to go to a different bar, but they just played it too! In Greece bars they have a weird tradition where they ring bells and airhorns all night, it was a strange addition to the 8 american songs that they kept playing in loop, haha.

Greece Trip Day # 1

Vicky and I woke up early to head to Greece. We had to catch a metro to Termini and then a train to the airport. We made it to the train station with only 4 mintues til boarding! We ran to the platform that was only about 50 meters away, only to realize that our train left from platfrom #25, that was 400 meters way!! We started sprinting with all of our bags down this huge walkway and everyone was looking at us like we were crazy, we finally got to the door of the train, and he says to us "No, we are leaving" and said "but we are here" and he said "No" wtf?

So we were good and out of breath and decided to wait for the next train that would be in 20 min.

We finally made it to the airport and checked in, a quick hop across the Ionian sea, and we were in ATHENS!! We took a bus to the "City Center" called Syntagma and met up with the rest of the crew: Arianna, Renee, Jack, Toven, Alex, and Jackson.
It was so great to see everyone, even though it had only been a day.

Just in Athens :)

First thing we did was of course eat. We went and got Greek Gyro (pronounced "yerr-oh"). BEST INVENTION EVER!!! Warm pita, hot gyro, fresh tomato and onion, french fries, and tatziki sauce, all for 2 euro!!! I was in heaven!

After eating and meeting the others it was time for us to head over to the port to catch our ferry to SANTORINI!!!

Pompeii

Last Saturday I went to Pompeii with a big group from my program. We had two history professors walk around with us and tell us all about the ancient ruined city and how it was preserved.

Pompeii is a ruined and partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples. Along with Herculaneum, its sister city, Pompeii was destroyed, and completely buried, during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning two days in AD 79.

The volcano collapsed higher roof-lines and buried Pompeii under 60 feet of ash and pumice, and it was lost for nearly 1,700 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1748. Since then, its excavation has provided an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city at the height of the Roman Empire.

Ancient Pompeii

The Forum

The mountain is so nice, it takes a lot of attention from the city

There are alot of bodies around Pompeii that were preserved from when the volcano erupted

inside one of the largest homes in Pompeii

a public latrine...

where gladiators trained

where gladiators died

Stadium

Mt. Vesuvius!!!