Day 37: My Final Day

Here I am fresh off of the plane meeting my family in JFK. I'm wearing my RU shirt - the same shirt I left in. Don't worry, I washed it.

My last day in Lima was pretty uneventful. We had a tour around the city and briefly explored the surface of the capital city.

I shopped around a little bit with the little amount of soles that I had left, but I didn't buy much.

A good portion of my final day in Peru was spent at an outdoor shopping mall called Lucamar.

I guess we were all subconciously preparing for our return back to the States.

The shopping mall really flexed Lima's development. It had places like, KFC, McDonalds, TGI Fridays, Chili's Starbucks and even a Dunkin' Donuts.

In short, Lima was very commercialized.

I can't comment too much more on the city of Lima, because I was there for such a brief amount of time.

At approximately 7 pm, we loaded up the bus, for one last time, and we headed towards the airport.

Here I am awaiting to board my flight.

My flight departed at 12:40 am on Saturday.

Hasta la vista Peru!

Here I am about to eat my first meal. Hansel and Griddle's Popcorn Buffalo Chicken Crisp.

Classic.

Well, ladies and gents, that concludes my t-shirt travels. I'd like to thank everyone who has supported me and my t-shirts. 

Until next travel.

Day 36

Here I am ready to go sandboarding. I am rockin' a Sony tee. [[Special shout out to my boss, co-workers, and supports of this great company]]

So after our stay in Nasca, we got back on the bus and headed towards our final destination - Lima. 

On the way, we stopped at an oasis in the town of Ica to go sandboarding.

It was SO much fun.

First, we road a dunebuggy all around the desert sand.

Here I am, wind in my hair, on the dunebuggy (lol sorry, even I have to laugh at the 'wind in my hair' part).

Here is the dunebuggy - frontal view. 

I will say this: the drivers of these machines are...crazy.

After we road around a little bit, we sand boarded down giant sand hills.

Here I am about to venture down the steep hill.

And there I am...boarding down ye ol' hill.

We went to three different locations and everyone had the opportunity to board down the hill. 

Tips: elbows in, legs spread apart, feet up

Here I am, just chillin in the desert with Estefania and Nichole.

Andddd, here I am again, hanging out in the desert and just appreciating the view.

After our desert adventure, we had the opportunity to go into the surrounding town to shop and grab a quick bite to eat.

Here I am eating on of my final lunches in Peru at a restaurant, Desert Nights.

Here I am in the middle of the town. The oasis was truly beautiful.

By the way, for those of you who think of the british band, Oasis when you read the word, "oasis," the people in this town love the band. They were playing their music at nearly every eatery.

After our lovely stop, we got back on the bus and continued our trip to Lima.

When we arrived at Lima, I settled into my hotel, showered and then headed out to get some dinner.

For my final dinner in Peru, I had causa de pollo. It was a great dish to end my trip.

Also! Lima had a Pink Berry frozen yogurt. For those who are unaware, Pink Berry is my favorite "ice cream" place.

I got a flavor that I believe is specific and unique to Peru - lucuma! 

Here I am enjoying my Pink Berry in Lima with Cristina.

After enjoying my Pink Berry, I went back to the hotel, and went to sleep for the last time in Peru.

Hasta pronto mis amores!

A Quick Commentary on Nasca

Nasca Takes Street Vendors A Step Further

The city of Nasca is very interesting.

It is definitely less developed than Arequipa.

The whole city revolves around the designs in the desert.

However, something that I found extremely different about this city is the fact that the street vendors here have legit tables and chairs next to their 'businesses' for families and customers to sit down at - in the street - so that they can eat their food.

I didn't get to snag a picture of this, but I just thought that I should share this interesting tidbit about the city of Nasca.

Day 35

Here I am at the airport in Nasca, awaiting to board the airplane. I'm wearing an Indiana University shirt. [[Special shout out to my favorite twins, Corey and Gregg Allen]]

We had to wake up at 4:30 am this morning, and if you have read my previous entry, you already know that I overslept.

After my quick scramble for the bus, the ride was 9 hours long.

We stopped once to get gas and to stretch our legs. 

It was quite the ride.

I slept for most of the ride, but the few times that I woke up, I looked out the window and saw the beautiful Pacific coastline.

Our destination was the city of Nasca.

Nasca has an airport that has a lot of small airplanes that enable passengers to view ancient desert drawings.

The drawings are said to be created by a pre-Incan civilization somewhere around 800 B.C.

COOL!

Here I am with Estefania, Nichole and Yaritza about to board our 4-passenger plane.

Here I am in the pilot seat. Don't be alarmed, I didn't fly the plane.

When we were about to board the plane, my friend Nichole asked one of the pilots if it was scarier to sit in the back of the middle of the plane.

He responded with, "I'm sorry, but I wouldn't know, I never sit in either of those spots; I am always flying the plane."

Here is the pilot asking us if we are ready for take-off.

I know this may be hard to see, but here is a picture of the humming bird from my aerial view.

Here is a picture of a comforting sign on the airplane.

Overall, the flight lasted for roughly half an hour. 

There were 12 main images for us to see. 

The coolest design, to me, was the monkey.

Sorry I don't have a picture of it.

After the flights, we got back on the bus to take a 20 minute ride to our hotel.

At 7 o'clock, we all went to our final group dinner.

What was on the menu?

Pisco sour

Vegetable soup

Pasta with alfredo sauce

Apple pie or ice cream

That's all for now folks. 

6 am breakfast, followed by a 6:30 am departure for one of our final adventures tomorrow...

Sandboarding.

Hasta luego mis amores!

Day 34

Here I am in front of 1 of the 3 volcanoes in the city of Arequipa. I am rockin' a Care One Staff polo [[Special shout out to the great Krystal Gal-ah-chin-ski for this lovely, stained shirt]]

I started off my day yesterday going on a bus tour around the city of Arequipa. Our tour guide began to speak to us in English and once she found out that all of us understand Spanish her WHOLE demeanor changed. 

I saw a sparkle in her eye. 

We stopped to get a good view of all three volcanoes, as the caption of my first picture states.

Then we tried an Arequipan classic - queso helado.

(translation: cheese ice cream)

It is called 'queso helado' because it looks as though it could be cheese because it is cream-based and it also has a somewhat similar texture to cheese. But do not worry, no cheese was harmed in the process of making this delicacy.

In conclusion, queso helado is delicious.

We also got to try this liquor called, "Maca".

Maca is said to have many different uses, one of them being an aphrodisiac.

I tried the liquor. It was...just like any other liquor - it burned going down.

Afterwards, we went back on the bus and headed for a place called, Molino de Sabandia. 

**Molino = mill

Here I am at one of the scenic places at the mill.

Here I am again in the confines of the mill.

Anddd here I am again at the mill. 

After our trip to the mill, we had a bit of free time to get some lunch. I went to a restaurant on the street with Amanda, Cristina and Luis. I just got some vegetable soup to hold me over until dinner time. I also bought some dry-roasted corn and java beans off of the street vendors to snack on as well.

Next, we went to a monastery after lunch called Santa Catalina.

We walked around and saw the corridors that the nuns used to live in. Now, they have a few more privledges than they did years ago, but they still live pretty isolated lives. 

Did you know that families would send their daughters to monastery and have to pay a fee of 200 gold coins for them to live there. That's roughly 16,000 American dollars!

Here I am standing next to a well inside the monastery.

After the monastery, we went to the Museum Sanitario Andino. 

For those of you who don't know, this museum is home to the frozen body of the Incan girl, Juanita.

Juanita was one of the three childern who were sacrificed and burried by the Incans. Her body was discovered frozen and still intact.

She is not a mummy, she is a frozen body. 

I saw her, frozen, inside of the museum. 

Imagine that.

Here is a picture of Juanita <-- it's a different color for a reason - click it! ;-)

After the museum, we all went to Cusco Coffee.

I got a black cup o' joe. It was tasty.

Then, we went and shopped around the city a little bit. 

There was a giant festival and parade going on in the city of Arequipa, so we got to watch some of the performers and festivities. 

The city of Arequipa was celebrating their 472nd year of existance.

Fun fact: Arequipa means "white city"

Cool.

Then...

...dinner.

Me, Estefania, Nichole, Amanda, Cristina Luis and Roger (our tour guide) went to a mexican restaurant.

I got a chicken quesadilla. Simple, but tasty.

That concludes my night.

I had to wake up at 4:30 am to take a 9 hour bus ride to Nasca.

Guess what?

I overslept.

I was awoken by a phone call to my hotel room.

It was Roger.

Our tour guide.

Informing me that it was 4:35am and that I was indeed, late. 

Well, onwards with my blog posts. Get ready to read all about my trip and day in Nasca.

Hasta pronto mis amores!

Day 33

Here I am - up bright and early - on the island of Tequile. I'm rocking a Disney World shirt. [[Special shout out to my beautiful Mom for this gem of a shirt]]

I got up around 5:15 to see the sunrise on the island. I got to see it a little bit, however it was very cold and I was fairly tired so I went back to sleep until around 7 am.

At 7:30 we had breakfast - pancakes, jam and tea. 

After breakfast, we gathered all of our gifts together for the families and distributed them.

Here is a picture of one of the natives on the island happily receiving our gifts.

Here is my group with the some of the natives on the island of Tequile.

After the gifts, we went on our boat to travel on over to a peninsula for some lunch.

The voyage was a tad bit rough because the morning brought some intense waves.

Here I am on the peninsula.

For lunch we had soup, stuffed chicken, french fries and rice. It was very nice for the family to make us some food.

Here is a picture of me with the family that prepared lunch for us.

After lunch, we took the boat back to shore, and from there, we took a SIX hour bus ride - straight through - to the city of Arequipa. 

Arequipa is a little like New York. It is very commercialized. There is a KFC, TGI Friday's, Chili's, Starbucks, McDonalds, Pizza Hut and Burger King. 

I have not gone to ANY of these places.

Anyway, once we arrived to Arequipa, we checked into our hotel and then went to grab a quick bite.

Me, Estefania, Nichole, Amanda and Cristina went to a place called Ekeko (pronounced ech-echo) I think this is a clever/funny name. 

Ech Echooooooo. 

I wasn't very hungry so all I got was some fresh pineapple juice, and of course I split some tres leches cake and a brownie sundae. Yum!

Then....

I went to bed.

I cannot believe this is my last week in Peru. 

Time has flown by!

Hasta pronto mis amores =)

Day 32

Here I am taking a 'taxi' with Nick to our boat. I'm rocking a TCNJ shirt. [[Special shout out to my best friend Jessy Strincoski and a happy 21st to ya!]]

We took a cool little 'taxi' - aka a man on pedaled us on a bike - to a dock where a boat awaited our group. 

Destination - the floating islands/the island of Tequile.

Here I am purchasing sugar and pasta. These goods were gifts that I gave to the family's house that I stayed in on Island Tequile.

Here I am on the boat. The body of water is Lake Titicaca.

Here I am getting off the boat and taking my first step onto one of the floating islands on Lake Titicaca.

On the floating island, the families were very welcoming. A man named, Willy, showed us how he and other families constructed their floating island. It was very interesting.

Here I am dressed up in typical clothing that the natives on the floating islands wear. Each family welcomed us into their home and let each one of us dress up in their clothing.

After our first floating island, we got on a boat made of straw and traveled to another floating island.

After visiting our second floating island, we took an hour voyage to our final destination, the island of Tequile.

On the island we were warmly welcomed with live music and dancing...oh, and some muna as well. Muna is a plant that reminds me a little bit of mint and is supposed to help your digestive system.

Shortly after we arrived, we were fed lunch. There was trout, vegetables, soup, rice and potatoes. I personally did not eat the trout, they made me eggs instead.

After we had lunch, we hiked for about 45 minutes to a beach on the island.

Here I am on the beach - I know - I don't look very prepared for 'the beach'.

Afterwards, I hiked back from the beach. Shortly after I arrived back to my family's home, we took another hike to the top of the mountain to see the sunset. 

Here is the beautiful sunset over the lake.

We went back from the sunset before it became too dark. 

Why?

Because the island had no electricity.

PERK: THE STARS WERE GORGEOUS.

After some literal stargazing, we had dinner. Rice, potatoes, bread, soup - nothing too extravagant. 

After dinner...

we had...

a...

bonfire.

We all dressed up, again, and circled around the bonfire, danced, and played instruments.

We all looked and acted ridiculous.

It was marvelous.

Then, we broke out a guitar and I played some tunes around the fireside.

That was basically it for the night.

We were all in bed no later than 10:30.

Beautiful day.

Hasta pronto mis amores!

Day 31

Here I am, bright and early in the morning. I am with the ladies of San Juan de Dios - the hostel that I stayed at for the past 4 weeks. I am rocking The Roots shirt. [[Special shout out to my girl, Melissa DiLeone for this shirt. Happy 21st birthday!!!]]

This morning, I woke up and had my last roll with strawberry jam and cheese at San Juan de Dios. It is strange because I have thought of the hostel as a very home-like location; afterall, I have lived there for the past four weeks of my life.

Our bus departed from San Juan de Dios around 7:30 am this morning. It was a bittersweet departure from San Juan and from Cuzco in general. 

It's weird to think that I won't be going back there.

Moving onwards...we made a few stops on our adventure to the city of Puno.

For starters, we went to the chapel of San Pedro. It was a very nice and astethically pleasing chapel.

Afterwards, we went to a place called Qolqus.

Here I am at Qolqas.

And here I am again at Qolqas.

Anddddd here I am again. Look at those walls!

This location is the only known temple that was used to praise, Wiraconcha, the Incan god. Wiraconcha is said to have been the creator of everything - as per Incan beliefs. 

After our tour of Qolqas, we got back on the bus. Our next destination: lunch.

We ate at a buffet for lunch. You know what that means...we all got to eat until our hearts' and stomachs' desires were fulfilled.

After lunch, we made three more stops.

Here I am at the end of Cuzco and the beginning of Puno.

Above is me at the first of our three final stops. 

After this points, we only made two stops in random pueblos to use the bathroom and buy snacks.

Then...we arrived in Puno. 

The hotel that I'm staying at is very nice.

Once again, I am the queen for the night - yes, I have a queen bed again!

Shortly after we arrived at our hotel, we went to dinner.

Dinner was unique and wonderful. 

As we ate, we enjoyed a show filled with authentic, native Peruvian dances and live music.

It was quite a treat. 

For an app we had an avocado stuffed with Peruvian potato salad.

For dinner we had grilled chicken with Peruvian mashed potatoes and chopped grilled vegetables.

For dessert we had fruit salad and muno tea. 

After dinner, I came back to the hotel, showered and relaxed.

Tomorrow we go to Lake Titicaca. There, I will be staying on a floating island for the night with a family.

I am very excited. 

We have no electricity.

Therefore I will have no way to update my blog.

BUT! I will update it on Monday so you can hear alllll about my awesome adventure on the floating island.

Hasta luego!

SPECIAL SHOUT OUT:

Happy 21st birthday to Jessy Strincoski and Melissa DiLeone. I am bummed that I am missing your birthday celebrations, but when I get back we will undoubtedly celebrate!

 

Day 30

Here I am at Cusi Kancha. I'm wearing my 'hunt' shirt. [[Special shout out to my team, Jessy Strincoski, Jenn Zelaya, Michele Farkas, and Kelsey Stamile]]

Today was my last day of school. It was bitter sweet but it feels good to be done with school.

I took an exam, and then afterwards we had a special end-of-the semester graduation ceremony.

After that, my class went to Cusi Kancha and La Iglesia de Santo Domingo.

Both places were a nice change of pace from all of the long, hard classwork and homework that I have had this week.

Also, I needed to use the bathroom while we were on our field trip, so I made a quick pit stop in Misky to use their facilities as well as buy a cup of coffee,

Here is a vicuna. It may look like an alpaca, but it's not. This animal was inside of Cusi Kancha and chased after my friends Jenny, Carly and Cathy! It was quite...entertaining.

After school, I packed for my upcoming week of travel and then went shopping.

Oh! Also on my walk home from school I tried an ice cream sandwich with lucuma flavored ice cream. Very interesting.

After shopping and what not, I went back to the school and met up with all of my classmates that presented.

NOTE: The presentation days were split up into two days.

Then, once everyone had finished, we all went out in search of something to eat. 

We wound up splitting up for dinner.

Me, Amanda, Cristina, Nichole and Estefania wound up going to this fabulous organic restaurant called, Greens.

I got a Cusquena negra with my dinner. It was a great way to celebrate our completion of school and our last night in Cuzco.

After Greens, we went to Norton's Pub for a few drinks. It was a cool atmosphere. The olympics were on so I got to catch a little bit of them which made me happy.

We called it a fairly early night, and after a beer or two and a Chilcano [sprite, lime and pisco] we went home around 10.

That's about it for my last full day in Cuzco. Truly bittersweet.

Hasta pronto mis amores!

Day 29

Here I am right after my presentation. I graduated! Woo!

On Thursday, after school, I went to El Encuentro for a final time before my departure from Cuzco.

We all got guac for an app and then I got grilled vegetables with tofu and rice.

Afterwards, I went to Misky to get some coffee before my presentation.

Around 5:30 I went in to do my presentation. 

My presentation was on advertising, specifically the advertising that takes place in the streets of Cuzco.

It went well. 

After my presentation, I had a meeting in regard to our trip for this weekend.

The best part of the meeting was...CAKE! For my friend Nichole's birthday =)

Chocolate cake with strawberries...yum!

After the meeting...

we

lost

power.

While we were all studying for our exam...

But don't worry.

It came back so that we could study.

Okay that's it for now...Friday was my last full day in Cuzco/my last day of school...stay tuned.

Day 27 and 28

Okay so for these two days I don't have any pictures because nothing all that exciting happened AND I was very busy.

I will give a quick run down of what I did on Tuesday the 7th and Wednesday the 8th.

Tuesday:

Went to class and learned about South American history.

After class, I got lunch at Inka...fe with Amanda, Nichole and Estefania.

I got the veggie sandwich,

Then, they didn't have wi-fi so we went to another restaurant/cafe called, Nuna Raymi.

They had a coffee happy hour. 

It was great. 

For the next few hours we all worked on writing our papers and preparing for our presentations. 

I was scheduled to go on Thursday at 5:35 and my paper was due Wednesday night.

After we spent many hours at Nuna Raymi, we went back to the hostel and continued to do work.

Then went to bed.

I told you it wasn't exciting.

Wednesday:

I went to school and did a presentation on the state of Cuba today.

After school, Nichole and I went to Nuna Raymi again. This time we ate food in addition to our coffee drinks.

I had soup, pasta with vegetables and a delicious baked plantain for dessert.

We spent a few hours there again working on our papers and presentations.

After that, we went back to the hostel.

Don Estaben edited my paper for me, and then I submitted to the university.

I prepped a little more for my big presentation on Thursday and then, I went to bed.

Stay tuned for some more details about my last days in Cuzco...

Day 26: Last Monday in Cuzco

Here I am at my final day of volunteering at Buen Pastor. Today we orchestrated a mini olympics for the girls. I am standing with the overall winner of the competition. I'm rockin' an American Bandits shirt in honor of my American pride. [[Special shout out to my pen pal, Scott Lewis for this  great Tee]]

Today, marks my last Monday in Cuzco. I truly can't believe that I have been here for 26 days.

Because it is Monday, I have a new teacher. Her name is Rebeca and today we learned about the Cuban Revolution. The information was very engaging. 

For our upcoming homework assignments we have to write two papers and prepare for one presentation IN ADDITION to our major presentation and paper that is due, for me, on Thursday.

After school, I went to Buen Pastor to volunteer for my final day. As the caption of my first photo states, Estefania, Nichole and I organized a mini olympic competition for the girls.

Here are the girls participating in the first event: Potato Sack Races

Here are the girls participating in the second event: Basketball Shots

Here are the girls participating in the third event: A Race

For the final event, we had a throwing competition, however I didn't get to take any pictures during that event.

The girls had a blast. It was great to see them all enjoying themselves. Overall, I think that it was a good way to end our time volunteering at Buen Pastor.

Here I am giving one of the awards - a neckalace - to one of the top 6 performers.

Finally, here is a picture of us and most of the girls at Buen Pastor.

After I completed my final community service hours, I went to Don Esteban's for a veggie sandwich and a pineapple juice. 

Oh yeah, and I used their wi-fi as well. 

I did some research on the life in Cuba today, because I have to write a paper on this topic as well as do a presentation on Wednesday. 

Time to continue onwards with my intense workload. 

Hasta manana mis amores!