Class is Over

I just got finished with my class in Peru. I have about 25 days left in South America before I fly to Spain. Right now I'm waiting in Cusco. The world cup game between England and the States is on Saturday. There is going to be a little World Cup party at the South American Explorers Club. I'm trying to go to Machu Picchu and Choqoquiroe. Apart from that I want to go to Iquitos, which is a 5-7 day boat ride. I'm going to visit my friend Nico in Quito, Ecuador. I'm sure this trip is going to go by quickly as the rest of my trip has. It has been a great year. I went to Lake Titikaka, the Colca Canyon/Arequipa, Pisco and Ica, Puerto Maldonado, Quillabamba, the Sacred Valley, and Espiritu Pampa. I've learned a lot about Peruvian commerce, politics, and culture. My independent project was a food system and sustainable development survey. I received 8 credits for this project. I lost 1 credit in Cultural Studies because I turned in a few papers late, but for me the experience of working and studying in Peru has been the important thing. My Spanish has greatly improved and I plan on continuing bettering my Spanish back in the states. Fortunately I have a few Spanish speaking friends who I am likely to talk to. This year has inspired me to do more volunteer work for social justice to help those who are in need. I realized that this is an important part of following Jesus. Having compassion on people. A few things I really miss from the States are; Sushi, Mexican food, my guitar, my family and friends (I bought all my siblings something made from Alpaca wool) , Thai food, bacon, and flushing toilet paper down the toilet (we have to throw it in a bin). Puerto Maldonado was one of my favorite experiences. I swung a machete around a lot for several days, which was really tiring, but it made dinner feel all the more satisfying. I also chewed coca leaves with an old Quechua dude, who was a hard worker and knew a lot about commerce and farming in Peru. The Urcos islands in Lake Titikaka are awesome I would highly recommend a trip on Lake Titikaka, but don't even bother to actually hang out in Puno. The jungle is always cool. There are a lot of sweet trecks in the Cusco region. I definately want to go back. I would like to be able to travel around other parts of South America as well.

Update and Summary

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This last month has been pretty wild. I feel like I have been in Peru for a really long time. My first month here has passed and I am currently working on my independent project. I have visited most of the towns in the Sacred Valley; Pisaq, Calca, Urubamba, Chinchero, Ollantytambo, and Cusco. I am Currently in Quillabamba hanging out with a guy named Cristian and his frineds. Today I met up with two German guys that I know from the language school in Cusco. I go to the river almost every day and have many bug bites on my legs. I finally got my laundry done, it was very dirty. Language class was very good, I learned a lot of grammar and basic vocabulary. I am learning more vocabulary hanging out with the people here, but I am also loosing some of the grammar. I am currently planning on returning to Cusco on Saturday and then going to Iquitos, which is in the Northern jungle. Here there are monkeys, and tapirs, and parrots and other animals. I saw parrots in the high jungle of southern Peru, as well as tropical plants such as coffee, cacao, papayas, and bananas, but I really want to see what agriculture looks like in the North. I went to see small scale chocolate and coffee production today, it was really interesting. It was this woman who buys from small farmers and then sells her products to markets and has a coffee store at the Cusco airport. I have met many interesting people here, and I look forward to continue meeting people. I have some things to do here that would be a lot easier if I were in the states. I lost my driver´s licence while I was still in Cusco and need to call for a new one. Also I need to figure out next year. I am planning on taking next year off to work and gain residency in the state of WAshington. I want to take 4 credits if possible. Fall quarter I would like to take a class in Audio Recording and Winter and Spring quarters I want to take Spanish. I hope to get a job where I can use my Spanish.

April 2nd-3rd journal entry

This is my first journal entry for this trip...

Woke up later than I wanted to this morning, I felt a little ill this morning, didn´t sleep much the night before, stayed up talking to Cody. Packed up all my stuff and forgot my wristwatch. The craziness didn´t hit me until I got on the plane. I sat between two guys who spoke less Spanish than me. It was a good plane ride. Talked to the guys, tried to watch Pirates of the Caribbean in Spanish, but got a headache and turned it off. Navigating the Lima airport is pretty crazy, but there was lots of English. Met up with Alex, Ben, and Shannon. I bought Caprece at a restaurante a la aeropuerta. We hung out in a hallway in the Lima airport, got a lot of comments from people walking by. Met two people from Cusco who were very friendly. I bought a large Mango drink for 15 soles. It was really good and I had a good conversation with the guy who sold it to me. Can´t get my boarding pass until 3am, kind of inconvenient, but we´re just gonna chill. I´m trying to get some sleep, but I don´t know if I´ll be able too.

We are homeless bums at the Lima airport, ánd we can´t even understand the comments that the Peruvians are making about us. There is a chapel at the airport. I think I´m going to go there tonight to pray and read the bible. I got 400 soles from the ATM, can´t figure out how to unlock my phone and I don´t have a place to stay tonight in Cusco.

I went in to the Chapel and met Saul. We read Pedro y los Salmos 23-27, it was hard for me to understand him, but from what I got he had been deported from the United States. I prayed with him, me speaking broken Spanish with little bits of English and him speaking quietly in Spanish. He lives in Huaranca.

A dude quacked at us.

Peru LD

I realize that I said I was going to post every week. I may or may not post every week, but It´s gonna take some time to put pictures and journal entries up. I´m in Pisaq right now where the internet is awful. I´ll be in Cusco in two days where I´ll be able to post pictures and more entries. I will also be staying with a host family for two weeks and continuing Spanish classes. My Spanish classes started up this last monday and somehow I got put in a really difficult class, they say they can´t change the class until next week. Luckily I´m able to keep up, but I´m learning subjunctive tenses (for abstract concepts) before I fully know all of the indicative preterit tenses (for talking about the past), but I´m getting buy, learning more Spanish every day. The other day I hung out with an amigo, Jermaine, I met last time I was in Cusco, he´s a really chill artist, who has a studio in Pisaq, he paints and plays instruments. I got to pray with him and read the bible in Spanish which was interesting. Peru is the most Catholic country in South America, the most Catholic continent so it´s really interesting. There are all these huge churches and cathedrals everywhere. On Sunday there is a service in Quechua, the language of the indigenous descendants of the Incans, which I´m thinking about attending. I won´t understand a word, but it will be cool to see. The farther away from the cities and the deeper into the Andies you go, the more Quechua you will hear. In Pisaq there is a fair amount of Quechua spoken still, it is very difficult to pronounce because of the variations of Q and K that require gutteral choking sounds and sometimes clicks. I have picked up a few simple Quechua phrases from street vendors and friends. People are more than happy to teach Quechua words, and get very excited when you use them. In the last two weeks I have visited many towns including; Urubamba, Chinchero, Pisaq, and Ollantytambo. We saw many Incan ruins, which were amazing. I´m running out of time on the computer, but will write when I reach Cuisco.