Two months have passed?! Where does the time go?
Exactly 2 months ago I was arriving here in Lima. Full of hopes, dreams, fear, and expectations. I actually didn't have alot of expectations, as far as the actual location. In the last 2 months I think I've grown as a person, but that's like announcing that grass is green. I didn't really know what to expect, from myself, my surroundings, everything. After 2 months I feel like I've already done so much. Saw a wonder of the world, went sandboarding, saw the Nazca Lines. These last few weeks have been awesome.
Academically, I feel I could be doing better. My classes aren't hard and I'm not failing or anything. But maybe that's the problem. I'm just a little unmotivated to do work here. And I'm not the only one. Alot of people in my program feel this way too. We all just want to be here absorbing the culture and making new friends with Peruvians. So what if something gets turned in a little less than done or slightly late? My professors don't expect alot from me so I do what I'm supposed to and they don't complain. Even though my classes aren't that difficult I still find them interesting. I really like my class on peruvian social reality. Not "like" in a feel good, heart warming way but in a social reality wake the hell up kind of way. My professor doesn't try to censor any of the information he gives us. And I appreciate it. This is what I need to learn. There is social unrest and injustice here. And not in the form that I thought it would be. I think I was just to naive to think that certain things like "true" (read: American) racism exists here. But it does and it's disturbing and enlightening. This is probably the class that I'll get the most out of. Definitely trying to discipline myself to read more books on my syllabus list in the next 2 months.
I don't think I'm doing this whole study abroad thing right though. I came here to learn spanish. No. I came here to speak spanish. I can learn spanish sitting in Mercy Hall at Loyola University but I came here to SPEAK spanish. So far, I don't think I'm speaking enough. Because of my stupid program, I don't get as much exposure to the language as other people. It's not a stupid program, I just didn't realize that I would have to go out of my way to speak spanish. I know that sounds extreme but because my classes are all in spanish, I don't interact with other peruvian students. I've made a few friends, through other friends, but I just don't speak as much as I thought I would. I'm developing a plan to stop being such a perfectionist and just walk up to someone and start talking. My spanish has to get better somehow...I still have a whole semester in Spain!
All in all. After 2 months everything is familiar. I'm starting to not be so scared of getting lost. I'm ready to go places. Do things. It's hard to explain. But basically, I feel like I made the right choice in coming here. I just need to squeeze the last drop out of every experience and opportunity. I'm excited to see what the next 2 months hold!
9.29.2010
No estoy perfecta
This is a random entry. I just wanted to challenge myself to write in spanish...Even if you can read spanish, don't waist your time por favor!
Eso es una blog raro...yo escribe todo de mi mente. Solo uso mi dicionario una vez. Por favor, no lea lo.
Estoy un poco frustrado. cuando llegué aca en lima tenia muchas expectaciones. crei "voy a hablar español mucho. Mi español sera mejor en no tiempo." Pero diez semanas han pasada no puedo hablar mucho mas que cuando llegué. No tengo confianza en mi español. No pienso que he mejorado...en ninguna maneras. Si. Puedo entender mucho mas y leer mas pero la mas importante, para mi, es podria hablar español. Cuando estoy en mi casa, con mi familia adoptiva, no hablo con ellos. Porque mi "papa" y "hermano" trabajan mucho y no les veo mucho. Mi "mama" intenta hablar con mi pero creo que ella pone frustrado. Ella es muy simpatico y amable pero cuando yo hablo, necesito mas tiempo para pensar. Por eso, me parece que ella no quiere hablar. Pues, no tengo nadie mas para hablar en español. Los otros chicos de mi programa tienen muchas oportunidades para conseguir amigos peruanas. Ellos estan tomando clases de la universidad y tienen familias adoptivas que invitarles a eventos. A veces, no creo que mi famlia adoptiva me quiere aca. Si, you tengo bastante comida, y mi ropa esta lavado todos los Miercoles. Nadie toca mis cosas en mi cuarto. Tengo muchas aspetos que estan bueno pero no me importan. Necesito hablar español. Quiero hablar español. no hay otras maneras para aprender español otra que usando mi voz.
Pero eso es la problema. Cuando estoy en los situaciones socales, no puedo hablar. Abro mi boca para decir alguna y no digo nada. porqué me preguntas? No se. Honestamente, no tengo ningun idea. Quizas porque no me quiero aparecer estupido. Cuando pienso sobre hablando en espanol me pongo nerviosa. En serio. Me pongo nerviosa y no puedo mover ni decir nada. Por lo mayor parte, todo esta en mi cabeza..en mi mente. Eso es mi problema. estoy preocupada sobre estar perfecta pero estoy perdiendo muchas oportunidades grandes por que tengo miedo a aparacer imperfecto. Pero necesito parar este ahorita. En esto momento, mi familia adoptiva estan en la otro sala, afuera de mi cuarto, mirando un partido de futbol. Y yo? Estoy aqui. En mi cuarto. Por que no quiero los molestar.
No estoy perfecta. Nunca sera perfecta. Necesito aprender a reir a mi. Necesito cometer errores. No estoy perfecta. Todo esta bien.
Eso es una blog raro...yo escribe todo de mi mente. Solo uso mi dicionario una vez. Por favor, no lea lo.
Estoy un poco frustrado. cuando llegué aca en lima tenia muchas expectaciones. crei "voy a hablar español mucho. Mi español sera mejor en no tiempo." Pero diez semanas han pasada no puedo hablar mucho mas que cuando llegué. No tengo confianza en mi español. No pienso que he mejorado...en ninguna maneras. Si. Puedo entender mucho mas y leer mas pero la mas importante, para mi, es podria hablar español. Cuando estoy en mi casa, con mi familia adoptiva, no hablo con ellos. Porque mi "papa" y "hermano" trabajan mucho y no les veo mucho. Mi "mama" intenta hablar con mi pero creo que ella pone frustrado. Ella es muy simpatico y amable pero cuando yo hablo, necesito mas tiempo para pensar. Por eso, me parece que ella no quiere hablar. Pues, no tengo nadie mas para hablar en español. Los otros chicos de mi programa tienen muchas oportunidades para conseguir amigos peruanas. Ellos estan tomando clases de la universidad y tienen familias adoptivas que invitarles a eventos. A veces, no creo que mi famlia adoptiva me quiere aca. Si, you tengo bastante comida, y mi ropa esta lavado todos los Miercoles. Nadie toca mis cosas en mi cuarto. Tengo muchas aspetos que estan bueno pero no me importan. Necesito hablar español. Quiero hablar español. no hay otras maneras para aprender español otra que usando mi voz.
Pero eso es la problema. Cuando estoy en los situaciones socales, no puedo hablar. Abro mi boca para decir alguna y no digo nada. porqué me preguntas? No se. Honestamente, no tengo ningun idea. Quizas porque no me quiero aparecer estupido. Cuando pienso sobre hablando en espanol me pongo nerviosa. En serio. Me pongo nerviosa y no puedo mover ni decir nada. Por lo mayor parte, todo esta en mi cabeza..en mi mente. Eso es mi problema. estoy preocupada sobre estar perfecta pero estoy perdiendo muchas oportunidades grandes por que tengo miedo a aparacer imperfecto. Pero necesito parar este ahorita. En esto momento, mi familia adoptiva estan en la otro sala, afuera de mi cuarto, mirando un partido de futbol. Y yo? Estoy aqui. En mi cuarto. Por que no quiero los molestar.
No estoy perfecta. Nunca sera perfecta. Necesito aprender a reir a mi. Necesito cometer errores. No estoy perfecta. Todo esta bien.
9.26.2010
Nazca Lines, Ica, and Huacachina.
This weekend (Thursday-Saturday night) I went on a trip with 2 friends to Huacachina and Nazca. It was a pretty awesome weekend. Ica/ Huacachina is about 4.5 hours away from Lima so we took a bus (for a whopping 30 soles). Ica is the town but we spent most of the time in Huacachina, which is basically a lagoon. We were really only there all day Friday and Saturday. My friend and I got sick on Saturday so all we did was the Nazca Lines and Sandboarding. Yes! I went sandboarding.
In all...minus the little virus. The weekend was amazing. The tiny plane was a little too intense. And the lines were kind of hard to see because it's the dry season. I enjoyed the lines but it was a little too expensive (S/300) to say I would do it again. Six passenger planes are only once in a lifetime for me. I would definitely go sand boarding again. The dune buggy was almost more fun than the actual sandboarding. Sand was everywhere...including my mouth. But well worth it!
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| Our hostal room. Private. Only S/30 |
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| The captains. |
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| Excited! |
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| Scared. And Excited. |
 |
| Scared and Nervous |
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| Look closely. It's the martian. |
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| Humingbird. |
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| Parrot. (I think) |
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| This is it??? |
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| I'm alive! |
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| 6 Passenger plane. |
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| The lagoon. |
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| Dunes! |
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| Que lindo! |
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| Let's do this! |
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| I was feeling EXTREME! |
In all...minus the little virus. The weekend was amazing. The tiny plane was a little too intense. And the lines were kind of hard to see because it's the dry season. I enjoyed the lines but it was a little too expensive (S/300) to say I would do it again. Six passenger planes are only once in a lifetime for me. I would definitely go sand boarding again. The dune buggy was almost more fun than the actual sandboarding. Sand was everywhere...including my mouth. But well worth it!
Villa El Salvador
Last weekend I went on a little excursion with my program to Villa El Salvador.Villa El Salvador is a "distrito" of Lima. "Distrito" ,or districts, are like neighborhoods but really they're so much more. Villa El Salvador is a suburb on the edge of Lima that didn't exist 10 years ago. As more people come from the Andes and the Jungle, these little shanty towns pop up because the city is gettting over crowded. Villa El Salvador isn't a shanty town but it has grown tremendously over the last few years and is now a self-sustaining, large suburb. It has a population of about 20.000 people and it's own government officials. I was just amazed at how organized the city seems to be. The neighborhoods are planned and every few blocks has a primary school, a park, and grocery stores. Basically, they have everything they would need, right there. They have clinics, stores, everything so technically it's more of a separate city, or atleast county.
9.19.2010
Another Post About Diversity
So I wrote another post about "diversity." It's probably more about race but very rambly. I wrote it like last week and forgot to post it. It reads more as a journal entry and is much shorter. I posted it on my other blog about my hair. I think it flows more with my hair blog but it's also a good reflection of my study abroad experience. It's more of just my thought process since I've been here, centered around one particular event.
Read it! Love it! Live it!
9.17.2010
*Social Reality: Cultural Diversity*
This is a special entry for my class on Peruvian Social Reality. I'm required to do 4 blog entries on the different areas we'll be discussing this semester. It's a little long and there aren't any pictures but feel free to read for enlightenment anyway!
_______________________________________________________________________
In the original article, “Inquest in the Andes,” prominent Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa described how eight journalists, five from Lima and two from the city of Ayacucho, traveled to the highlands to investigate reports that comuneros of a small peasant community of Huaychao had killed seven "terroristas, " members of the insurgent Communist Party of Peru commonly known as Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path). They had spoke with the local people, but then were suddenly massacred with stones, sticks, and axes. The journalists' bodies had been horribly mutilated and buried upside down, two to a grave, in shallow pits away from the village cemetery. Anthropological testimony described these mutilations and burial practices as typical of the way local people treat their enemies. To the police patrol that came looking for the missing journalists two days later, the comuneros declared that they had killed eight Senderistas. Then-President Belaunde appointed a commission to investigate the events and asked fiction writer Vargas Llosa to head it. The Commission concluded that the killings were a mistake that arose out of cultural misunderstandings and psychological stress during the heat of a war declared on their society by the Shining Path guerrillas and brought about through police encouragement.
Peru in Deep Trouble: Mario Vargas Llosa's "Inquest in the Andes" Reexamined is author Enrique Mayer’s attempt to investigate the flaws in the findings of the article by Mario Vargas Llosa. Mayer finds many flaws in the acts of the Commission headed by Llosa to investigate the deaths of the 8 journalists and also in the trial proceedings that followed. In keeping with the theme of diversity, I will attempt to highlight three instances or facts that I find exemplify the diversity of Peru. In other words, I will show how these instances are a lack of acceptance or care for the diversity of Peru.
Although Mayer investigates other issues such as the validity and cohesiveness of the entire proceedings, I will speak on those issues which I found most interesting. The first is the use of the phrase “Peru profundo,” which I believe is the inspiration and definition of Mayer’s title. Secondly, I will discuss the background information and statistics offered in reference to the Senderistas, which I believe is interesting and paradoxical. Finally, I will discuss the issue which I believe to be most troubling, the court proceedings in which the voices of the comuneros were never heard.
Before discussing it, the definition of “diversity” must be clarified. When I say “diversity,” I mean not only racial diversity, but also social and economic diversity. Diversity just means different. It is a word that transcends race, meaning: gender, social class background, age, mental and physical capability, and religion, as well as any other factors that may make people different from each other.
The first instance of the rejection of diversity is the “Two Peru Argument.” Historian Jorge Basadre first used the phrase “Peru profundo” in 1943. Basadre made a distinction between legal and profound Peru. For him, the distinction of the two Perus is between the state (pais legal) and the nation composed of its people (pais profundo). According to Vargas Llosa there are two Perus, one official and the other profound, separated by an enormous gulf that has its origins in the brutal conquest of the indigenous population and that continues to keep them apart from the rest of the nation. The two Perus are separated in space and time. Vargas Llosa stated in an interview: "That there is a real nation completely separate from the official nation is, of course, the great Peruvian problem. That people can simultaneously live in a country who participate in the 20th century and people like the comuneros of Uchuraccay and all the Iquichano communities who live in the 19th-if not to say the 18th century. This enormous distance which exists between the two Perus is behind the tragedy that we have just investigated."
This is a prime example of what has been discussed in my Peruvian Social Reality course. Rather than accept the diversity and try to create understanding, the native communities are seen as something negative and inferior. For Vargas Llosa deep Peru is "archaic," "primitive." It is economically depressed, with poor resources. Modernity, education, civilization, and the existence of other laws and customs characterize the "other," or official, Hispanic and Westernized Peru. All the positive valuations fill the compartment of official Peru; the negative ones are the properties ascribed to the other. In trying to discover why this massacre happened, the Commission and police simply thought that they were poor and didn’t know any better. Deep Peru is not considered a place where people are content as they are in their traditions and set way of living. Instead, they are “needy” and stupid because they are uneducated and don’t speak Spanish. They assume that because there is no electricity, plumbing, formal medicine, etc, that these people must want it and simply don’t know what they are missing. These people speak Quechua and in effect, represent everything that so many try to reject and deny when leaving these communities for larger cities.
A interesting sentence I found is “Senderistas vehemently reject Andeanism.” This is interesting because it makes me think about who the Senderistas were. Where did they come from and why do they so strongly reject all things Andean? If almost half of the population speaks the Andean language of Quechua then what are the chances that all of the Senderistas happen to be white (or more appropriately, of Hispanic descent) and from a major city like Lima? The paragraph in quotes below is a comparison of records from common criminals and political terrorists.
Finally, what I find to be the most shocking part is that during the court proceedings, the comuneros were never heard directly. Their points of view were through translators, mediators, and experts. They gave a testimony but only three words from the comuneros were quoted by Vargas Llosa. During the trials, translation was only one-way, from Quechua to Spanish, and only when Spanish monolingual court officials wanted to ask questions of Quechua monolinguals. The accused comuneros never even understood the court proceedings.
If this isn’t the most tragic form of rejecting diversity then I don’t know what is. The comuneros were not given a voice and, therefore, were not given a fair trial. They did not understand Spanish and didn’t know what was going on. They probably had no idea what they were really on trial for. So much vital information was probably lost in translation. Because the comuneros were Andean, meaning poor, uneducated, and lower class, they were not even given the option of being heard. This is an example of diversity at it’s worst. Although all parties are the same in that they’re Peruvian, the Andeans are viewed as inferior because of the socio-economic differences, or diversity.
_______________________________________________________________________
In the original article, “Inquest in the Andes,” prominent Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa described how eight journalists, five from Lima and two from the city of Ayacucho, traveled to the highlands to investigate reports that comuneros of a small peasant community of Huaychao had killed seven "terroristas, " members of the insurgent Communist Party of Peru commonly known as Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path). They had spoke with the local people, but then were suddenly massacred with stones, sticks, and axes. The journalists' bodies had been horribly mutilated and buried upside down, two to a grave, in shallow pits away from the village cemetery. Anthropological testimony described these mutilations and burial practices as typical of the way local people treat their enemies. To the police patrol that came looking for the missing journalists two days later, the comuneros declared that they had killed eight Senderistas. Then-President Belaunde appointed a commission to investigate the events and asked fiction writer Vargas Llosa to head it. The Commission concluded that the killings were a mistake that arose out of cultural misunderstandings and psychological stress during the heat of a war declared on their society by the Shining Path guerrillas and brought about through police encouragement.
Peru in Deep Trouble: Mario Vargas Llosa's "Inquest in the Andes" Reexamined is author Enrique Mayer’s attempt to investigate the flaws in the findings of the article by Mario Vargas Llosa. Mayer finds many flaws in the acts of the Commission headed by Llosa to investigate the deaths of the 8 journalists and also in the trial proceedings that followed. In keeping with the theme of diversity, I will attempt to highlight three instances or facts that I find exemplify the diversity of Peru. In other words, I will show how these instances are a lack of acceptance or care for the diversity of Peru.
Although Mayer investigates other issues such as the validity and cohesiveness of the entire proceedings, I will speak on those issues which I found most interesting. The first is the use of the phrase “Peru profundo,” which I believe is the inspiration and definition of Mayer’s title. Secondly, I will discuss the background information and statistics offered in reference to the Senderistas, which I believe is interesting and paradoxical. Finally, I will discuss the issue which I believe to be most troubling, the court proceedings in which the voices of the comuneros were never heard.
Before discussing it, the definition of “diversity” must be clarified. When I say “diversity,” I mean not only racial diversity, but also social and economic diversity. Diversity just means different. It is a word that transcends race, meaning: gender, social class background, age, mental and physical capability, and religion, as well as any other factors that may make people different from each other.
The first instance of the rejection of diversity is the “Two Peru Argument.” Historian Jorge Basadre first used the phrase “Peru profundo” in 1943. Basadre made a distinction between legal and profound Peru. For him, the distinction of the two Perus is between the state (pais legal) and the nation composed of its people (pais profundo). According to Vargas Llosa there are two Perus, one official and the other profound, separated by an enormous gulf that has its origins in the brutal conquest of the indigenous population and that continues to keep them apart from the rest of the nation. The two Perus are separated in space and time. Vargas Llosa stated in an interview: "That there is a real nation completely separate from the official nation is, of course, the great Peruvian problem. That people can simultaneously live in a country who participate in the 20th century and people like the comuneros of Uchuraccay and all the Iquichano communities who live in the 19th-if not to say the 18th century. This enormous distance which exists between the two Perus is behind the tragedy that we have just investigated."
This is a prime example of what has been discussed in my Peruvian Social Reality course. Rather than accept the diversity and try to create understanding, the native communities are seen as something negative and inferior. For Vargas Llosa deep Peru is "archaic," "primitive." It is economically depressed, with poor resources. Modernity, education, civilization, and the existence of other laws and customs characterize the "other," or official, Hispanic and Westernized Peru. All the positive valuations fill the compartment of official Peru; the negative ones are the properties ascribed to the other. In trying to discover why this massacre happened, the Commission and police simply thought that they were poor and didn’t know any better. Deep Peru is not considered a place where people are content as they are in their traditions and set way of living. Instead, they are “needy” and stupid because they are uneducated and don’t speak Spanish. They assume that because there is no electricity, plumbing, formal medicine, etc, that these people must want it and simply don’t know what they are missing. These people speak Quechua and in effect, represent everything that so many try to reject and deny when leaving these communities for larger cities.
A interesting sentence I found is “Senderistas vehemently reject Andeanism.” This is interesting because it makes me think about who the Senderistas were. Where did they come from and why do they so strongly reject all things Andean? If almost half of the population speaks the Andean language of Quechua then what are the chances that all of the Senderistas happen to be white (or more appropriately, of Hispanic descent) and from a major city like Lima? The paragraph in quotes below is a comparison of records from common criminals and political terrorists.
“A comparison of the sociological characteristics between people sentenced for common violent crimes and those sentenced for acts of political terrorism in the judicial records of Lima provides a profile of the rank-and-file revolutionaries of Peru. Chavez de Paz (1989) finds that 76% of those sentenced for terrorism are from the rural hinterland of Peru, and of these, 60% come from the impoverished highland areas. Whereas most common criminals are high school dropouts (46%), 30% of those sentenced for terrorism tend to have pursued university studies (24% list their occupation as students). Only 2% of those sentenced for violent crimes have some university education, and 6% give their occupation as students. Overwhelmingly the sentenced terrorists are in occupations that sharply contradict their educational achievements. Eleven percent are in agricultural occupations, 22% work in proletarian situations, 10% are peddlers, and 15% have technical or white-collar occupations. Half of the men earn their living in occupational categories that are precarious and generate low incomes. In economic terms, there are similarities to the sentenced common criminals: 44% of the common criminals work in proletarian occupations; 11% as peddlers and 23% in technical or white-collar jobs. Revolutionaries are overwhelmingly young, highly mobile, better educated, provincial migrants earning a precarious living in occupations far below the levels that their education had led them to expect.”Maybe it should be but it comes as no surprise that 60% come from impoverished rural areas. It is interesting that 30% have pursued higher education. It is surprising that 58% work in positions that they seemed to be rejecting. Most children want to grow up and go higher in life than their parents, reach for the stars. But it makes me wonder at what point did the Senderistas decide to completely reject these people and communities that make up almost half of the population. It seems like they could have just as easily accepted it and decided to turn the negative associations into positive affirmations. Why not take the power that they had as young, educated, motivated people and reinvigorate the Andean people.
Finally, what I find to be the most shocking part is that during the court proceedings, the comuneros were never heard directly. Their points of view were through translators, mediators, and experts. They gave a testimony but only three words from the comuneros were quoted by Vargas Llosa. During the trials, translation was only one-way, from Quechua to Spanish, and only when Spanish monolingual court officials wanted to ask questions of Quechua monolinguals. The accused comuneros never even understood the court proceedings.
If this isn’t the most tragic form of rejecting diversity then I don’t know what is. The comuneros were not given a voice and, therefore, were not given a fair trial. They did not understand Spanish and didn’t know what was going on. They probably had no idea what they were really on trial for. So much vital information was probably lost in translation. Because the comuneros were Andean, meaning poor, uneducated, and lower class, they were not even given the option of being heard. This is an example of diversity at it’s worst. Although all parties are the same in that they’re Peruvian, the Andeans are viewed as inferior because of the socio-economic differences, or diversity.
9.13.2010
Museo de la Nacion y MISTURA!!!
I was looking through my pictures and it seems I haven't really been doing much... That must change soon! I'm trying to go on atleast 1 trip outside of Lima per month and there's one in the planning stages now.
About 2 weeks ago my program (CIEE) had a Cultural Excursion at the Museo de la Nacion. This museum, according to most locals, is the best museum in Lima. We had the special honor of having my history professor guide us through the museum...Long story short: my friend and I got lost and got to the museum over an hour late, efectively missing most of the tour. We managed to get there in time for the photographic exhibit on the internal conflict in Peru from about 1980-2000. The conflict was called La Guerra Sucia (or the Dirty War). It was a really intense an, quite frankly, depressing but necessary exhibit.
This past Friday I also went to THE culinary event of Peru: Mistura. I have no idea what Mistura stands for but it's a really great and large food festival here in Lima. I spent 5 or 6 hours there and only managed to taste 2 different things. Boo on me for getting full so fast. Basically alot of restaurants and chefs come out and people can buy tickets to taste portions of the local cuisine. I had tacu tato con mariscoes (basically a rice/potato patty with awesome seasoning and sea food) and picarrones. Picarrones are like funnel cake-but better. Seriously addictive. I think I'm going to have them once a week until I leave. They're in a picture below and served with a thin honey syrup. Que rico!
About 2 weeks ago my program (CIEE) had a Cultural Excursion at the Museo de la Nacion. This museum, according to most locals, is the best museum in Lima. We had the special honor of having my history professor guide us through the museum...Long story short: my friend and I got lost and got to the museum over an hour late, efectively missing most of the tour. We managed to get there in time for the photographic exhibit on the internal conflict in Peru from about 1980-2000. The conflict was called La Guerra Sucia (or the Dirty War). It was a really intense an, quite frankly, depressing but necessary exhibit.
This past Friday I also went to THE culinary event of Peru: Mistura. I have no idea what Mistura stands for but it's a really great and large food festival here in Lima. I spent 5 or 6 hours there and only managed to taste 2 different things. Boo on me for getting full so fast. Basically alot of restaurants and chefs come out and people can buy tickets to taste portions of the local cuisine. I had tacu tato con mariscoes (basically a rice/potato patty with awesome seasoning and sea food) and picarrones. Picarrones are like funnel cake-but better. Seriously addictive. I think I'm going to have them once a week until I leave. They're in a picture below and served with a thin honey syrup. Que rico!
9.06.2010
Huh? What budget?!
In a little over a month I have spent:
S/ 1,050
Now before you have a heart attack, the current exchange rate is:
$1 USD = 2.79 Peruvian Nuveo Soles
So I've spent $375.402 USD. And that's not so bad.
I write down just about everything I spend but this is a low, but approximate, value.
I've been spending my money on:
Food (snacks, eating out, etc): 75%
Transportation (buses, taxis): 5%
Recreation(zoos, souvenirs, memories, etc.): 10%
Random (toiletries, hair stuff, minutes for phone): 10%
My dollar seems to go very far here but everyday I try to force myself to think like a Peruvian. And I know that spending the majority of my money on food is ridiculous, especially since meals are provided at my homestay. But food and snacks are cheap so it's more of an everyday struggle to try not to spend 5-6 soles on cookies and candy. :) And I spent more money on food the first 2 weeks because I bought snacks and lunch at school and now I don't.
I'm not restricting myself to a "budget" but I try to watch what I spend on a daily basis so that I'll have more money for important things like TRAVELING! I think I'm doing ok so far.
S/ 1,050
Now before you have a heart attack, the current exchange rate is:
$1 USD = 2.79 Peruvian Nuveo Soles
So I've spent $375.402 USD. And that's not so bad.
I write down just about everything I spend but this is a low, but approximate, value.
I've been spending my money on:
Food (snacks, eating out, etc): 75%
Transportation (buses, taxis): 5%
Recreation(zoos, souvenirs, memories, etc.): 10%
Random (toiletries, hair stuff, minutes for phone): 10%
My dollar seems to go very far here but everyday I try to force myself to think like a Peruvian. And I know that spending the majority of my money on food is ridiculous, especially since meals are provided at my homestay. But food and snacks are cheap so it's more of an everyday struggle to try not to spend 5-6 soles on cookies and candy. :) And I spent more money on food the first 2 weeks because I bought snacks and lunch at school and now I don't.
I'm not restricting myself to a "budget" but I try to watch what I spend on a daily basis so that I'll have more money for important things like TRAVELING! I think I'm doing ok so far.
9.02.2010
CUSCO & MACHU PICCHU!!!
Without further ado...
Cusco: Plaza de Armas and Iglesia Santo Domingo
<
<^Saqsayhuaman (aka Sexy Woman)
Pisac
Markets everywhere!
Macchu Picchu!!!
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