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Peru 5/17/09
Ah! I feel so much better! I slept 7 hours last night! YES! We got up this morning and came back to the church for breakfast. We had stuff like cereal and fruit and whatnot. I tried some kind of cereal I'd never heard of before but it had the word fitness in it? It was good. But the milk here is different. they put something in it so that it can be stored in boxes and not refrigerated. It was alright though. We had a while before church so a few of us went up to the roof. Well there was this little raised up part that had stained glass panes on it. We wanted to climb up on top to where the concrete was and you had to go around the stained glass. Well Andrew broke one of the panes. It was pretty funny. So after that it was time for church. The people here are very friendly. Everyone greets each other with a kiss! I love it! haha So we're in church and they're singing everything in Spanish. Wow. It was interesting. Some of the songs were easy to catch onto but others were just impossible. And there was one song with motions. You held hands with people around you then put your arms around each other then waved your hands in the air. haha It was great. So before the preacher came out, you went around and greeted everyone. Can I just say that the children were adorable! When that time came, they all just flocked to us! It was absolutely precious! I loved it! And now the preacher is talking but he talks pretty quickly. No comprendo. haha So I figured I'd take this time to catch up on my journaling. A lot of others are doing that as well.
So some observations: You see on tv like these hills covered with really run down houses and villages. Well, we've seen many of these hills so far. It's really sad. There's an unimaginable poverty rate here. Oh and there are no public trashcans. Trash is everywhere. Just in huge HUGE piles kinda like in Slumdog Millionaire. Another thing: Restaurant bathrooms here have no toilet seats, toilet paper, or soap to wash your hands with. (Though I was shocked at this during this early time of the trip, by the end I was ECSTATIC to even see an actual toilet!) Kinda makes you wonder about the people cooking your food. Oh and these people are all about some car horns. I'm listening to them now while in church. It's like they have their own road language...
The altitude doesn't bother me that much unless I'm walking up stairs. Gah! It will wear you out! By the time I make it to the third floor, I feel like I'm going to black out. Literally!
So this valley that Huancayo and all our other towns are in is beautiful! Everywhere you look, there are mountains! The city isn't pretty (obviously) but the surroundings are gorgeous!
So Katie wakes me up at 6:30am this morning and we find out that the power is out. I'm glad she woke up because our alarm would not have gone off. So my plan was to get up and actually look pretty today. I wanted to shower and straighten my hair and whatnot. Fail. Instead I'm wearing a hat and I did my makeup in the dark. I have no idea what I look like right now. Haha On further investigation however, we find out that the power is out in the entire city. Oh my. I just hope it works soon.
The whole not having heat in the hotel really isn't all that bad. We were pretty comfortable last night. I had my Hannah Montana blanket so I was okay. Speaking of which, I introduced myself to a Peruvian woman here and she referred to me as Hannah Montana. Yay. Can't even go without that halfway around the world.
One more random fact: One of the little girls here was wearing a playboy sweater! It said playboy all over it and had little bunnies on it! Haha I'm pretty sure she has no clue though. (Throughout the course of the trip I saw 2 more little girls with the same one.)
Fun facts:
>You burn 2x as many calories here at this altitude than at home at sea level
>Japanese people make up the largest minority here. Random?
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This concludes post 2. Hope you enjoyed!
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