Part of Peru and Bolivia

This post may be 6 months over due but hey better late than never.

After leaving our volunteer experience in Cusco we took the overnight bus to Arequipa. The bus was quite luxurious and the only truly terrifying moment was when one of the bus workers came around with a video tape showing everybody's faces and saying their seat numbers, just in case something were to happen. The hostel we stayed at had a delicious breakfast each morning and we were talked into a tour of 3 volcanoes because we were so "beautiful" we got a great discount. lol. The tour was fun but perhaps a little long and repetitive. For dinner we decided to eat in the plaza at a pre-incan restaurant. The owner of the restaurant was incredibly nice even when we told him we only had 80 Nuevo soles (not really a lot of money) He decided to order our food for us, something that would "fit" our budget. Most of the food was quite good until he brought out seafood stew made with river shrimp. On first contact with my mouth I knew this meal was going to be a struggle. We attempted to eat what we could but claimed to be too full to finish. Walking home that night the river shrimp set in instantly and there was some immediate discomfort. South American tip: Never eat river shrimp.
The next day we left for a tour of Colca Canyon whose claim to fame is the giant condors that soar through the canyon looking for food. It was quite a long drive with some super high altitudes. When we got to the town we went to a hot spring and were finally able to temporarily warm up for a bit. That night we went to show called a Pena and watched traditional dancing. The next day was a bit challenging for me only because I have an intense fear of birds. Now imagine a giant bird whose wingspan is the length of my monkey arms. Had I now been perched upon a rock with plenty of other tourists I might have had a severe panic attack or worse yet, messed myself. Failing to have planned ahead, the battery on my camera died and all we had was Kate's phone to take pictures. After our up close encounter with Condors it was time to head back to Arequipa, then move on to Puno.

In Puno, sources will neither confirm nor deny if we temporarily lost our luggage for a night...I will say I do get a rise out of arguing in Spanish. We stayed at a really great hostel called Quechuas if you are ever in the area.  The next day we headed out for a tour or Uros which is an island completely made of reeds. The entire island is floating and solely made of reeds tied together. It was pretty amazing to see and even more amazing to know that if you ever got into it with your neighbor you could simply cut your reeds apart and be done with them. From Uros we headed to Amananti where we had arranged to stay with a host family. I wish I could say they were a bit more friendly but they weren't all that talkative. They did however fix us delicious soup and some insanely rubbery cheese to eat. We hiked to the top of a mountain called Pachatata for an out of this world sunset over Lake Titicaca. That night, our host sister dressed us in traditional clothing and we went to a little fiesta and did some interesting circle dancing. With little time to rest, the next day we left for Taquile Island to check out the town and have a super yummy lunch looking out over Lake Titicaca. Then, back to Puno for more adventures.

Now, having done a bit of research about Americans crossing the border into Bolivia, Kate and I were pretty freaked out trying to make sure we had enough money and all the proper documents. We were literally shaking walking into immigrations office. Within minutes the guards were laughing and joking with us, telling us to come back soon. It truly pays to know Spanish! We made it to the town of Copacabana which is a very small laid back town with tons of artisanal crafts and shady internet. Our first night there we went to a restaurant that had happy hour. We decided to try a cocktail that for the life of me I can't remember the actual name but Kate had somehow confused for Copacabinis. Night  we decided to go for a hike to the mirador to watch the sunset. The sunset truly was fantastic and we did manage to get a picture from a man who neither spoke English nor Spanish and I truly tried to evolve my mime skills. I am not sure I have yet mentioned how flipping cold it is in South America during their winter but it was stinking cold. Kate and I went straight mountain goat down the mountain, knowing the sooner we got down the mountain, the sooner we might find some warmth. That night we tried the Bolivian beer Hauri and Pacena to decide which was better. We also ate some pretty delicious Bolivian Nachos.

 

Panaroma of Lake Titicaca

                                                         Copacabana

                                              Sunrise at Copacabana


Then, it was on to La Paz where we walked around a little and checked out some of the crafts. We knew we would be heading back to La Paz before we left so we kept it pretty chill.

Then it was off to Oruro where we stayed in a fabulous hostel with some of the sweetest owners. By this point I had gotten pretty sick coughing, and I am fairly certain with a fever. We went to buy train tickets for Tupiza and check out some farmacias to get my illness under control. We left on a night train for Tupiza but couldn't leave without a meal. Imagine 2 Americans with huge backpacks and various other backpackers breathlessly walking into a pizza restaurant asking for a pizza to go. Thank goodness we are used to being stared at... The train ride was actually quite awful with the amount of dust and hot and cold temperatures...especially being sick.

We made it to Tupiza and attempted to search for a tour but had very little luck finding a tour with only openings available. We did however find a French doctor who was able to give me some medicine because at this point I was terribly sick and afraid to be going on a 4 day jeep tour with no doctor or farmacia in sight. We stayed another night in Tupiza so that I could rest and get better.

We finally  left for Uyuni in a jeep with  2 other French ladies, Kate and I, and our driver and cook. The first day was mostly just driving with not too many sites to see. It was super cold but the Frenchies Lucie and Maude kept things quite interesting. Those ladies are a hoot!

The 2nd day had some amazing sights like Laguna Verde and the Laguna Colorada. Todo bien!

                                                    Laguna Verde

                                                         Laguna Colorada

                                                             Flamingos!

                                                       Salt Hotel

                                                             Sunrise

                                                   Salt Flat photo shoot

 

 

The 3rd day had geysers, flamingos, and a salt hotel. We went for a hike through some Cacti and finished off the night throwing some back with our new French friends and Basilio and Annie ( Our cook and driver who were in a romantic relationship)

The 4th and final day we watched the sunrise at Isla de Pescadores which was totally amazing. Then we had a blast taking pictures and having a dance party on the salt flats. We then had to return to La Paz and prepare ourselves to head back to the good ol US.

We did make sure we saw the witches market in La Paz to see all the interesting rituals and dead baby llamas used for good luck. Though the trip was a bit challenging physically with the high altitudes and cold weather, there were so many amazing sights to see and memories that were shared!

                                                          Those are dead baby llamas!

The 12 days of Christmas: A challenge to give

Lately I have been feeling rather unmotivated during this holiday season. I recently read that volunteering leads to a longer life and most people feel happier after volunteering.  In an attempt to inspire myself and perhaps others I have decided to create the 12 days of Christmas: A challenge to give. With the rush of the holidays and material purchases it is easy to forget what this season is truly about. I am in need of some humbling. I have tried to make this challenge cost friendly since we all feel the pinch this time of year. Take the challenge if you want! I am starting on Friday the 13th so that I will be done before Christmas Day. Yes, I am doing this backwards but it felt more time efficient for me. Here's what I have come up with:

The 12th day of Christmas: Hand out 12 Thank you cards to people who you would like to thank for however big or small of a reason.
The 11th day of Christmas: Give 11 compliments today (call a friend, send a message, or compliment a stranger!)
The 10th day of Christmas: Give 10 bottles of water or granola bars to the homeless, every little bit helps, or give $10 to a charity of your choice.
The 9th day of Christmas: Smile randomly at 9 people. A smile can go a long way.
The 8th day of Christmas: Donate 8 cans of canned goods to any type of canned food drive or food bank.
The 7th day of Christmas: Leave 7 sweet little notes for your loved one, coworkers, or friends.
The 6th day of Christmas: Bake cookies for 6 of your friends or neighbors.
The 5th day of Christmas: Donate 5 gently used articles of clothes, toys, or books to a charity. You know your closet has things you never wear anymore.
The 4th day of Christmas: Unplug for 4 hours and truly spend time with friends/and family. Cook a dinner or have a game night for some friends. No technology allowed!
The 3rd day of Christmas: Volunteer 3 hours of your time (it doesn't have to be to a charity but volunteer your time to a friend or neighbor or anyone who could use a little help or a break.)
The 2nd day of Christmas: Give a gift or 2. They can be handmade, they can be gifts to a friend or stranger, you choose!
The 1st day of Christmas: Do 1 random act of kindness. Buy a coffee or meal for a stranger or some sort of random act of kindness.

Good luck and happy holidays to all!

Peru, the beginning....

Well after all my travels I have finally made it south of the equator, down to Peru!  After quite a fiasco with the airline (changed my flight to a flight 8 hours earlier) and coercing them to pay for a hotel ( in the ghetto) for a night, Kate and I met up in Lima. We definitely did not want to stay in Lima so we trekked to Miraflores, which is a very upscale and modern part of Lima. We found a hostel and bunked dorm style with about 6 or 7 other people. Now I might need to mention that south of the equator is winter, so Kate and I have been popsicle status since day one with no reprieve from the chill seeing as no one has heaters in houses or hostels. Now to make matters worse our hostel had a broken window which was cleverly covered by an owl painting, neither of which made me very happy. We enjoyed walking around town but the best part of Miraflores was the Peruvian cooking class we took at Skykitchen (highly recommend it). We learned how to make 3 typical Peruvian dishes: papas a la hauncaina, ceviche of course, and aji de gallina. All were super delicious! Then that night we decided to go out for dinner. We ordered a dish that looked typical Peruvian food. It was an assortment of meats, a salad, and French fries. Our meats looked interesting but we ate it anyways only to find out the next day that we had been eating cow heart, tripe, and cow gizzard. That was a bit of surprise for us, but we figured we were still alive so it couldn't have been too bad. Ah the adventures we have! After an imperative purchase of an alpaca blanket, we headed to the airport to go to Cuzco.

Upon arriving in Cuzco we waited for a while for our program to pick us up. When no one showed up we decided it was time to call. Well Kate was the one who called and for some reason she had convinced herself that the person in charge of the program was named Maximo (our program is called Maximo Nivel - maximum level) she kept asking for Maximo and at the end of the conversation she says gracias Maximo. Perhaps it was the altitude but we couldn't keep ourselves
from dying of laughter at Kate's misunderstanding. Finally we were picked up by our volunteer
program and taken to our host mother's house. I should mention that Cuzco has an altitude of over
11,000 so needless to say it is cold and takes a while to adjust to such altitude. A bit of a headache ache, some breathlessness, and nausea
are symptoms of altitude sickness. Thank goodness for coca tea which alleviates most of the symptoms of altitude sickness. We have been downing cups of coca tea, and no it doesn't get you high, not only for its benefits but because it is so dang cold that tea helps warm us up. After about a day we decided to make some necessary alpaca purchases of mittens and socks to beat the cold, especially at night. So if you are interested in alpaca wear just let me know because there is no shortage here at all, especially with the ever fashionable llama on it.

Our host mom is a super sweet lady, her name is Amanda and she is what I would call a Peruvian hippie. She is a vegetarian and practices yoga and meditation. In fact she practices meditation every
Monday, Wednesday , and Friday at her house. Kate and I joined her twice for a meditation session
and it was fun and interesting. We get fed three meals a day provided by our host mom and we love chatting it up with her at meal times. Cuzco is a very adorable town nestled high up in the mountains, because of its altitude it is a rather chilly place. Kate and I have learned many new dances included the llama sock shuffle and the sleeping bag shuffle ( you might note that llama socks are quite slippery on wooden floors and believe me you want to get to the bathroom and back as quickly as possible for fear of losing an extremity to the cold)

There are also some interesting food options in Peru. While there is the well known and absolutely delicious ceviche and lomo saltado, there is also the very tasty and slight spicy aji de gallina. Less well known perhaps is alpaca and cuy or guinea pig. Of course Kate and I could not leave Peru without trying alpaca and cuy. The alpaca went well, slightly salty and chewy but overall not a bad experience. While cuy in the other hand was quite a different story.. We went to a highly recommended restaurant  where there is a meal and a show. Kate, the more adventurous food explorer ordered cuy and I the always delicious lomo saltado. The thing about Kate and I traveling together is that we always go halfsies on food. So technically half of the cuy was also mine. They bring out the cuy whole including its little paws and all, also stuffed with some green leaf looking things which were unidentifiable to us. There is very  little meat on a guinea pig and what little meat we could find was disgusting! Though  it's a food you must say you've eaten, it's definitely not one to order again.

Other noteworthy adventures include:
 A hike up to Cristo Blanco which was exhausting because of the altitude and the straight up hillness. Nowhere and I mean nowhere in Peru is flat! On our hike up we encountered our first loose llama which we attempted to get close but looking back we were quite far away lol.  We were the only ones at the top of the mountain and we encountered a sole cusquenan sitting at the top dressed in traditional attire with a guitar. He invited us to sit for a song which he serenaded to us in both Quechuan and Spanish. He was the sweetest little man and low and behold his name was Maximo! We enjoyed the sites from the top but also enjoyed llama hunting in a nearby field. We approached it Jeff Corwin style and couldn't control our laughs!

Checking out the Inca Museum where we learned much more about the pre-inca and Incan civilizations. It has truly unbelievable how these civilizations were able to be so efficient and smart. I realize now how google dependent I am, and how much smarter our ancestors were.

Last but not least of course our main objective was to be teaching English there. Unfortunately Kate and I were rather disappointed in our program. We were supposed to be teaching English as an after school program in a very poor area of Cuzco. The problem with this is that there was no consistency in the attendance of the students thus very difficult to make any real progress in learning. With that said we did meet a lot of very interesting people and some very sweet students. Overall it was a great learning opportunity for us and we are so blessed to have had this experience both the the good and bad of our adventures.

I apologize for the lack of pictures but we are unable to upload pictures onto the iPad. Stay tuned they will show up eventually!

The Story of Us

Dang I realize it's been forever since I have written a blog but there are so many things happening in my life that I want to remember! The most important of course is getting engaged! Although I think everyone knows the story of how Wrenn and I met, I thought it would be a great idea to write it down, especially knowing my memory.

July 29th 2011

My friend Nicholle were having a grand ole time in Miami, FL. My potential last hurrah as I was embarking on the craziest adventure of my life, teaching in Honduras for 10 months. Flights were cheap from Miami and Nicholle and I are always down for an adventure. Friday night we go out on the town and hit up a dance club. We were dancing our lil hearts out when an older men approaches me wanting to dance. I shook my head no thank you, and the man left perhaps to repair his ego. Then Wrenn approaches me and asks "Are you going to shoot me down too?" As we all know Wrenn is incredibly handsome so I respond with a flirtatious " I dunno, we will see."  We began dancing and attempting to conversate, for reasons I don't remember we would often drift apart but manage to lock eye contact and begin dancing again. Eventually it became late and my feet were hurting so we all went and sat down. By this point I had completely lost my voice (as is customary anytime I take a red eye flight) so it ends up that Wrenn would ask me questions and I would have to text him my response. He claims to this day, it was the easiest phone number he's gotten. Of course the night continued on and it was time to call it a night. We talked about maybe hanging out the next day, which we spent a few hours together on the beach. He told me he wanted to call me at the airport before I left and I politely nodded, thinking to myself we will see. Sure enough he called me at the airport and we chatted for a bit before I set off to Honduras.

Once I was settled in Gracias, and had internet again, Wrenn and I began messaging each other on FaceBook. From FaceBook it went to skyping until the point that we were skyping every morning before work and every night before bed. When I say every night, I mean every night. It was very rare for either of us to miss a conversation, unless of course the electricity was out. When Winter Break rolled around, I took a chance and spent my last few days in the US in Dallas, TX enjoying time with my favorite man. Then it came to be his spring break and Wrenn and his cousin TJ came down for a visit. I knew when he came down to Honduras (if you know Wrenn and his lack of desire to travel to developing countries, you understand how much this meant to me) that this was something serious. I began scouring the Dallas area looking for teaching jobs so that I could take a chance on love.

When my time ended in Honduras and I had spent a month travelling Central America, it was time to face the harsh reality that I still didn't have a job, I decided to make a detour home by stopping in Dallas to take the Bilingual Generalist test in hopes to boost my chances of getting a job. I also went on an interview and was offered a bilingual teaching position out in Sherman TX. I asked for a few days to think about it, and in the mean time had several phone and skype interviews with schools in the Richardson school district. Finally, I was offered the position at the school I am at now. Wrenn and I both were relieved but then came the stress and realization that I had 2 weeks to pack and drive to Texas! There were many days when I would look in the mirror and think what the he** am I doing? It seemed so crazy to be moving across the country for a man, but he isn't just any ordinary man, he truly is extraordinary. I knew that some people may have been skeptical and called me crazy, but that's me. I don't think anyone can argue that I live my life to the fullest and will look back with no regrets.

The first few months were hard, I will be honest. Wrenn was busy with football and I as attempting to adjusting to life not only in the US but Texas nonetheless (stay tuned for a blog about Texas and you will understand) . Finally Wrenn and I found our groove and things couldn't be any better,  until March 6, 2013.

March 6 started off as a normal day (the only slightly un-normal part was that Wrenn wanted to pick out my outfit for me which he does every now and then, but this time I politely declined saying I wanted to wear something comfortable). I went to work as usual, and with the week's prior events I was only looking forward to a day of not having to deal with any poop or pee on the job ( a long story) . I had high hopes and was in good mood since Spring Break was rapidly approaching. The day went on as normal and everyone seemed excited that we were almost done for the week. The end of the day approached and my students began to pack up for library (which the librarian had changed the day and time of) when Caitlin, one of the other 2nd grade teachers asked if I could watch her class for a few minutes, she had a behavior meeting she had to go to. Knowing her class I had no reason to doubt this was true. She offered to take my students to the library since she was heading that way. Again, seemed totally believable. I hung out in her class until Alyshia the literacy specialist came in to relieve me. I walked to the library and had assumed the librarian was just talking to the kids. All of a sudden a student comes up and gives me a rose. Now, recall it had been a rough week so I assumed my students were apologizing for their behavior. I graciously say thank you to the first 2 roses. Then it hits me that there are lyrics on the roses and Wrenn and my song is being played, Bruno Mars' You're amazing just the way you are (Wrenn had actually enlisted the choir and he was the one singing!) As soon as it hit me, I began laughing and crying and looking around for him. As I looked for him I saw my Principal, Assistant Principal, Nurse, and other co-workers and staff. The music and roses continue and I keep searching for Wrenn. Finally his little niece Taylor brings out a rose to me and Wrenn follows shortly after. He said "You're an amazing woman and I want to spend the rest of my life with you" (that's all he could get out :) ) He got down on his knee and asked me to marry him. The rest is pretty much a blur but there were pictures taken and later we went out to dinner at Kobe's Japanese Steak House.

I am so glad that my students were able to be a part of it and I know this will be a memory they will have forever. What an amazing day and I couldn't be happier to spend the rest of my life with a truly amazing man! Stay tuned for wedding details!