Monday, October 31, 2011

Lunahuaná (Día 2)

Tonisha crossing the river :)
Yesterday (Sunday) morning Tonisha and I got up early and met with everyone else to got trekking in the morning.  We started our trek by crossing the Cañete river and we didn't cross it by walking across a bridge or even walking through it.  Instead, we crossed it using this interesting rope system.  It was pretty much a slab of wood that was attached by rope and a zipline to each side of the river.  It took us all awhile to cross the river, but once we did, we started an hour and a half trek.  Luckily, it wasn't too strenuous.  It was pretty relaxing and the landscape was beautiful.  Also, we saw a mummy in the ground on the way.

After our trek, we went back to the hotel and ate a delicious breakfast.  There were rolls and butter with eggs and bacon.  Well, I love rolls and butter and I'm pretty sure I had at least seven rolls. :)  Also, there was wonderful juice. :)  After breakfast, we all went swimming at the outdoor hotel pool!  It was great!  I did more laying out then swimming, but I had a wonderful nap in the sun!!  After the fun pool time, we headed out to go horseback riding.  My horses name was Cristina.  She was a good horse.  However, she kept trying to pass the horse in front of us and she was trying to pass on the outside of the cliff and it was freaking me out a little.  It was a pretty short ride, but it was just enough that my butt didn't hurt too bad by the time we were done.

We then ate some lunch and I had some chicken and french fries.  It was delicious!  We went back to the hotel and packed up our bags and took a nap before going to ride four wheelers.  We were actually almost late getting up from our naps, but luckily we're in Perú so late is still okay.  Four-wheeling was fun and terrifying at the same time. :)  It was actually pretty low key so you don't have to worry about my safety, but we did still wear helmets.  We actually wore helmets for everything we did this weekend, so we were safer than we could've been. :)

After four-wheeling, we got on the bus and headed out!  It was a pretty long ride and I was exhausted, but couldn't really sleep.  One exciting thing that happened was that we stopped at a gas station and I got a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.  I haven't seen those here yet so it was delicious!  Also, we got to see the sunset, which was gorgeous.  The sun looked huge!  Once at home, I just relaxed and wrote my blog.  I was exhuasted and I still kind of am.  I haven't quite recovered from the long weekend.  Anyway, I hope you all had great weekends, too.

Lunahuaná (Día 1)

Okay, Lunahuaná Day 1, GO!


View from the hotel room

I got up early Saturday morning and got ready, ate breakfast, and left my house to meet everyone else.  I stopped at the store to buy some water and cereal bars for the weekend, but then by a little after 8 a.m. we were all on the bus and driving out of Lima.  I don't remember exactly what time we got to Lunahuaná, but the trip was around three hours.  We got to our hotel and checked in and we had a little bit of time to kill before we went rafting.  There was a playground right next to the hotel, so when you have time to kill and there's a playground right there, the decision of what to do is pretty easy!  Also, we were there for all of 20 minutes and I already had gotten like 5 bug bites.  Luckily, those were the only ones I got for the rest of the weekend, but they look bad.  I don't know what kind of bugs they were, but as soon as they bit you you bleed a little and there are welts without even scratching them.  It's quite strange.

Teeter-tottering!
Anyway, we then left to go rafting on the Cañete River.  It was fun!  It wasn't rough at all because we did the basic level rafting (I'm assuming 1 and/or 2 rapids), but it was still really fun!  And plus it was beautiful and hot out, so being around cool water was great.  At one point during our rafting journey we did get out and the guides let us jump into the current and float a little ways down the river.  It was nice, I did it twice. :)

 Once we were done with rafting, we took a combi (a small scale micro) back to the hotel to change.  We of course played cobrador on the way back which was hilarious!  We were all laughing SO hard.  A girl named Sarah was being the cobradora and I can definitely see that in her future.  It was awesome.  We were all being so loud and impersonating cobradores.  I'm pretty sure the driver thought we were crazy, but who cares.  I can tell you right now though, if I were dressing up for Halloween, I would definitely be a cobradora.  After playing micro with cobradores, vendors, and passengers, we got changed out of our wet clothes and then headed to lunch.  I, of course, had lomo saltado for the first meal, but don't worry, that's not what I had all weekend (although it was an option).  We then went to some ruins called Incahuasi.  Incahuasi was built in the 15th century and it's an Incan ruin (hence the name).  An interesting thing about these ruins is that there are cylindrical columns amongst the ruins, which was rare for the Incans.  Usually nothing was ever cylindrical in the Incan architecture. 
Walking up to the ruins
We took a little trip to the central square of Lunahuaná, too.  We checked out the church that was there and then we walked around looking at some of the things that the street vendors were selling.  Next stop was a bodega (winery), La Reyna de Lunahuaná.  Unfortunately, March is the grape/wine season so there wasn't a ton to see at the bodega, but we did get to try some wine and pisco.  We tried a white and red wine, which were both really sweet and then you won't believe what we tried next...we all tried the pisco that they had and it was 96 proof, which is the highest percentage that is made in Perú.  Also, the bottle is really cool because when you shake it it makes a tornado inside the bottle. :)  After that we went down the street to a place that makes honey.  We got to try three different kinds of honey, which were all good.

And then...with Halloween spirit, we went to La Casa Encantada (a house that is haunted).  Sorry, I didn't take any pictures here in fears that something might show up in the background.  I didn't want to take that chance.  Anyway, before we went into the house, the guide told us about it.  Apparently, the first couple that lived there heard noises all of the time and for some reason they became sick and got skinnier and skinnier and eventually had heart attacks.  There were also couples after them that that experienced similar things.  Apparently there are Incan burial grounds underneath the house and our guide said something about toxins that may have caused the families to get sick (it wasn't quite clear).  What was clear was that we were about to go into a house that had been abandoned for over 50 years at night!  Oh, also, there have been accounts of drivers that have passed by and the house has been on fire or even creepier accounts of drivers picking up people at the house only to realize later that noone is in the car.  So Tonisha and I held hands and walked into the house.  I'm actually freaked out talking about it right now.  Anyway, the house was actually really cool, but it was creepy.  There were so many rooms and only our guide had a flash light and as much as I didn't want to look into the dark rooms (because I was afraid of what I'd see), I couldn't help it.  Anyway, we didn't go to the basement because it was gated off, which I'm thankful for.

After the creepy experience, we ate dinner and I had picante camarón (spicy shrimp), which really wasn't spicy at all.  And come to find out, what are known as river shrimp in Perú are actually crawfish, so I ate crawfish for dinner. :)  It was pretty good, but I still prefer shrimp from the sea.  It was pretty funny because our guide was telling us about all the different types of shrimp dishes and he started to list them all off (Forrest Gump style).  It was hilarious!  I broke out into laughter!  After dinner we all went back to the hotel and Tonisha and I decided to be little kids again.  Finding Nemo in Spanish was on Disney Channel so we watched that while jumping on the beds. :)  At one point the jumping became a little dangerous, so we jumped for a little bit longer, but then we decided to stop.  A guy in our program, Ian, had his birthday today (Sunday).  So we celebrated last night at the hotel by cracking open some of the wine that people bought at the bodega.  It was fun.  We all just sat around and chatted for awhile.

So that's the end of Día 1.  It was really busy and really fun!!  I can't wait to tell you about Día 2 tomorrow!  Have a good Monday!  Rise and Shine! :)

Friday, October 28, 2011

Señor de los Milagros

So today was a long day filled with a lot of fun and interesting things.  I started the day with getting dressed in purple (because that's the color for the day of Señor de los Milagros).  I met Tonisha and Mark at the park and we got on a micro to head towards the center of Lima.  We started out at the Iglesia de las Nazarenas, where the original mural used to stand.  It's pretty on the inside and out (see pictures below).  Also, there were several people there and there were vendors selling rosaries and also turrones.  A turrón is a nastily delicious treat that is sold a lot during these festivities.  It pretty much consists of a cookie, honey, and sprinkles.  It's very sticky, but so good and sugary.
La Iglesia de Las Nazarenas
Inside of the church
Turrón
 We then went on a mission to find the procession with the "float" (which is actually a heavy wooden platform with an image of Christ and Virgen Mary on it).  We walked along it's route and we came across a huge crowd of people so we assumed that the procession would be going by all of them.  Well come to find out it was inside of the hospital that was right there, so we waited for a little bit.  We got a little impatient so we decided to go eat lunch at a nearby restaurant.  While at the restaurant, again I thought someone was kicking my chair or I thought I was getting dizzy, but then I realized it was a temor.  This was the second one since I've been here.  Today's earthquake was outside of Ica and it was a 6.9.  It wasn't that strong, but it was strong enough to make me think I was dizzy. :)  While we were at the restaurant we heard the procession start so we were ready to go and find it again.
Alfombras de flores (Carpets of flowers)  These are images that are
on that street that are made with sand and flower petals.
 We walked up the street and found the procession.  It smelled of incense and we could hear the band and the people singing.  Also, it was very crowded!!  Everybody was pushing to get a better look at the "float."  Also, it moves so slow, which is understandable because it is a group of men carrying this heavy "float" (Sorry, I can't remember the name :/) and they stop to set it down every half a block for about two minutes.  To put it into perspective, the procession started at 6:30 a.m. and we were there at 2:30 p.m. and it had only been a total of 8ish blocks.  That's not very far at all for that amount of time!  That's a block an hour!  Now, granted they stopped in the hospital and who knows where else before that, but I can understand why it is known to last until the early hours of the next day. 
 After watching the procession for about 15 fifteen minutes, Tonisha left, but Mark and I decided to explore more of the center of Lima, considering we've been here three months tomorrow (which is today now) and still don't know much about Lima.  We went to the Convento de San Francisco (San Francisco Convent).  There are catacombs (burial chambers) underneath the church so we took a tour of those, which also includes a tour of the other rooms of the convent and there's artwork there, too.  It was pretty interesting.  I mean obviously there are more exciting things to do here in Perú,but it was a good little day trip.
Convento de San Francisco
One of the many pits filled with bones
(I didn't take this picture-it's from the internet,
because we weren't allowed to take pictures)
 We then walked to the Plaza de Armas and just looked around.  The Plaza de Armas is a plaza that is surrounded by the Government Palace, Cathedral de Lima, the Municipal Palace, the Archbishop's Palace, and the Palace of the Union.  That's a lot of palaces. :)  Anyway, after all of this it was getting pretty late and we were tired so we taxied back to Miraflores (we weren't feeling a micro on a Friday when it was almost rush hour).
Government Palace
Once we got back to Miraflores, Mark randomly brought up going to a movie.  Well, I love the movies so I didn't/couldn't turn it down.  We saw Contagio (Contagion).  It was okay.  Not really a movie I would suggest though.  The ending wasn't that great.  After the movie, I went home finally.  I had a long day out, I was tired.  I ate dinner and then my host mom's cousin and her husband came over for snacks and wine.  I sat with them for about an hour and listened to them talk.  Her cousin's husband, Lucho, was really funny.  His wife said, "He's always cracking jokes, even when things are serious" and then Lucho said something that I completely agree with.  He said, "En la vida, si no te ríes, te mueres" (In life, if you don't laugh, you die).  Even that comment made me laugh, he was a genuinely happy guy and it made me smile. :)

After visiting with the three of them, I headed to Café Z.  While there, I worked on the beginning of this blog and I watched part of a Grey's Anatomy episode, while eating a brownie, ice cream, and frozen fresa (the usual).  Then, Tonisha met up with me there.  She was heading out to a discoteca and I decided to go with because it was a discoteca that's only two blocks from my house.  Well, I was only there for a half hour or so.  It was still consider "early" when we went so nothing was really going on and it was a tad boring, so I decided to leave.  Although, it was boring at that point in time, it did seem like a VERY nice discoteca.  Apparently, it usually costs S/.200 ($74) to get in.  Don't worry, I didn't pay anything.  Our Peruvian friends got our names put on the list.  Obviously, having my name on the list was pointless though, since I was there for less than an hour.

Anyway, now I have packing to do for Lunahuaná.  I don't know why I always leave my packing for late at night, but I do. :(  Anyway, we're heading out at 8 a.m. in the morning for Lunahuaná and then we have a long next two days ahead of us.  I'll be back on Sunday so you'll hear ALL about it, but I will tell you that I'm going horseback riding, rafting, four-wheeling, and wine tasting in a matter of two days!  It's going to be busy!  Well, I hope you all have wonderful Halloween-y weekends! :)  Dulces sueños!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Jueves en Letras

Okay, so I forgot to tell you something from Peruvian Social Reality yesterday.  It's really not that important, but I just found it very interesting.  Did you know that Peru is the biggest exporter of asparagus?  Yep, I didn't either, isn't that interesting though.  Who knew?  Okay, that's it, see told you it wasn't important.

Anyway, on to today, I had Ballet and again the class was very small, but everything still went great.  We didn't have barres today for some reason so we did everything in the center (meaning without a barre), which is also more challenging because you have nothing to hold on to.  It went better than I expected though.  We also did a lot of jumping again today.  I thought I was going to die when I was doing it.  My legs are going to be sore tomorrow.  Anyway, for some reason we got out early today by like a half hour and I'm actually kind of happy that we did because there's usually always things going on on Thursdays at the university and today I got to participate in them.  Today, they were celebrating Criolla music.  They had a grill out and were making anticuchos (cow heart kabobs), so I bought those and ate them for lunch and they also had a band and dancers.  Here's a short video of the band and a couple dancing the Marinera (National dance of Perú)...
I also got to witness a small scale procession for Señor de los Milagros.  Okay, now I'll explain what that is.  Señor de los Milagros is a mural that was/is painted on the wall of the Santuario de Las Nazarenas (a church) here in Lima and in 1655 there was an earthquake that destroyed many things except for the wall that the mural was painted on.  After that, I guess you could say it became sacred.  Anyway, in the month of October many people come to see the processions and show their faith.  At Católica today they did a mini-procession, but tomorrow I plan on attending one of the biggest ones of this month.  I'm pretty excited to see it.  I actually learned about the processions that there are in Spain in my Spanish culture class year and these seem to be the same.  There are different ways that people can participate in the procession.  They can carry the incense, they can carry the float (and float is an understatement: it's very heavy), there is a captain that yells the calls for the people carrying, there's a band, or one can simply be a spectator.  So, anyway that's what that's about. :)  Also, another little fun fact.  The processions for Señor de los Milagros are the largest in Latin America and among the largest of the world. :)

Today was Deporte y Vida day also.  We did the usual things.  I helped kids with their homework while occasionally serving as a jungle gym as well. :)  One girl gave me a painting of a heart with her name and mine with was really cute. :)  Other than that nothing too exciting happened (besides being called Andreita :)).  I was forced to remember triganometry again today.  Remember sine, cosine, tangent, etc.  Yeah, I didn't either.  Well, I did a little because there's the whole SOHCAHTOA thing, if you know what that is, but other than that I pretty much told the kid he was on his own...not really, but he definitely had it figured out more than I did.

Once, I got home I dedicated most of my time to figuring out next semester and I was actually quite productive.  I now have my class schedule figured out.  It's going to be an interesting semester taking my Spanish Senior Thesis class and Human Anatomy at the same time, but I'm tough, I'll get through it with some complaining along the way.  I also got registered for a written Spanish and telephone test that I have to take when I return along with a few other things I had to do concerning Carthage, like figure out my dance life for next semester and writing a thank you letter for a scholarship I received.  So I'd say tonight, although boring, went pretty well.  I'm excited for the procession tomorrow (it starts at 6:30 a.m., but I'm not going until about 10 a.m. or later).  Yes, that means that it does last THAT long!  Apparently, it can last until the late afternoon, which I remember talking about in my class last year, but I just can't imagine it.  Also, on Saturday, I leave for Lunahuana with the CIEE program until Sunday, which I'm also excited for.  I heard there are bugs though, so I'm not so excited for those after my selva trip. :)

Anyway, I hope you all had an amazing Thursday!  I will talk to you tomorrow.  Dulces sueños!

Que tengas un buen día

So today was a pretty relaxed day, but there were still some interesting moments as well, like in Peruvian Social Reality.  In class today we talked more about informal jobs, especially focusing on empleadas in Perú.  It was really interesting.  We talked about the empleadas, their rights, the families they live with, etc.  My professor said that most of the time the empleadas don't have contracts with the families, it's usually just a verbal contract.  We talked about how an empleada can live with a family forever and the family will never know their empleadas last name.  It's actually interesting to learn about.  He had a point though, I don't know the last name of my empleada, but then again it took me 10 minutes to think of the last name of my host mom. :)  Now, although I don't know her last name, I do know that she is studying to be a nurse which I think is awesome. :)  Also, we talked about nanas (babysitters) here in Perú and how some parents are really detached from their children.  Our professor explained some things he's seen before, like a couple linked arms walking while the nanny was following them with their child.  Apparently it's a way to show status, because it shows that they have the money to pay for a full-time nanny.  Also, it's interesting because the child grows up relying on the nanny and there is this intimate relationship between the two of them, but on the flip side, the child grows up knowing that he/she is "superior" and that he/she can boss the empleada around.  It's crazy!

Anyway, then we had Living and Learning.  Today, we discussed different communication styles, like direct vs. indirect or being emotionally attached  vs. emotionally detached.  It was a pretty interesting class, too.  We watched a video of a student talk show from UW-Madison and we had to decide on the communication styles of the people.  It was funny to see that some of the people were pretty obvious on their style of communicating.  After class, I ate my lunch.  Today, I kind of got two lunches because when my host mom asked me last night what I wanted to take with me today I said it didn't matter, so I got both today. :)  It made me smile.  Then, after lunch, I had my Spanish Writing Workshop, we worked on subjunctive tense again, it went pretty well today. :)

In Ethnography today, our professor wasn't there today so we had a different professor.  Although some people would've probably liked to have class cancelled, I'm glad we didn't because then that would mean two more 3-hour classes and those are no fun!  Even though our professor wasn't there, the class was still good.  Our fill-in professor talked to us about Shamanism in the Amazon.  Shamanism is a set of beliefs and practices that deals with communicating with the spiritual world.  It is also interesing and I read about that in my book as well.  There are these mediators called Shaman that are "messengers" in between the spiritual world and real world.  Some of the beliefs are pretty strange, but it's still very cool to know what they believe.  Anyway, we did get out of class early, which was nice.

Other than the previous paragraphs, nothing has really happened today.  And I didn't do much tonight.  I was supposed to go to mass with my host mom tonight, but by the time I got home she had already left, so that was too bad, but that's what rush hour in Lima does.  Anyway, I hope you all had wonderful days and nights.  Also, since I've joined the blogging world, I've been following some other blogs lately.  I saw a post from today that made me smile.  The post is just a short and perfect reminder of how to live life.  I hope you enjoy because I sure do.  I suggest that you look at some of the other posts, too, they are good:   http://stephaniesikorski.blogspot.com/2011/10/picture-to-remind-us.html?spref=fb :)

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

El libro de la selva

So today when I went downstairs to eat my delicious eggs and freshly squeezed orange juice our doors were being put back on.  They are all freshly painted and looking great!!  On the micro this morning I got to sit in the front seat for the second day in a row!  How crazy is that?!  It's so exciting and it's right up in all of the action.  If we were ever to run into something, I would be the first to know. :)  Ballet was good today as always!  I don't know if you knew this, but the best way to learn is by listening and then doing.  I listen to my professor so much, even when she's not giving criticism to me.  I like hearing what she's telling other people to do.  The part where the process breaks down is the doing part.  Sometimes my body doesn't listen to what my brain is telling it to do, but it will get there someday.

After ballet, I ate my lunch and did some homework until my cine class.  You'll never believe it, but we watched El Libro de la Selva (The Jungle Book) today in class.  I haven't seen that movie forever, so it automatically put me in a good mood by watching it!  The discussion after the movie started out a little slow because after all what can you say about a movie that was meant for kids, but then we were able to discuss more as the class period went on.  We actually watched the Spanish version rather than the original English version, which is odd for that class because obviously you would expect for us to watch the original.  But, our professor explained it like this...He has seen several Walt Disney in both English and Spanish and he said that The Jungle Book is the only one that has been better in Spanish, so that's why he showed us the Spanish version.  Apparently Baloo was dubbed by the voice of Tin Tan, who is known as one of the best Mexican comedians ever.  Anyway, you know how I am with my Disney movies being in Spanish, so of course I have to share a video with you...
Anyway, an interesting/exciting (for me) thing happened on the micro tonight, well despite paying 1.50 (because I didn't feel like getting off or arguing).  Anyway, back to the story, a person got on the micro to sell candy and I could tell right away that his accent was different.  Go me!  Luckily, in his introduction he told us all that he was from Venezuela.  I felt really proud of myself.  I never thought I would be able to recognize the different Spanish accents, but it was actually really easy.  Since I've been home I really haven't been doing anything.  My mom and I had a nice dinner today and I got to skype some friends and family, so I'd say I had a pretty good night!  Also, I took a look at PeruFail.com today so I have some pictures for you're enjoyment. :)




Also, it's Music Martes!!  So this weeks song has a story behind it.  I've heard it on the radio sooo many times, but I couldn't figure out the name of it because I kept hearing llamaré, well come to find out they are saying te amaré.  Luckily, I have an awesome friend, Tonisha, who has a good Spanish ear and she was able to figure it out.  So, here's the song for the week Te Amaré by Huey Dunbar. 
Anyway, one last thing for the evening.  One important thing that I learned today was that if something is bothering you, talk about it.  It's always the best option.  Even if it's something small, just talking about it with anyone helps you make sense of things or can make you feel better.  If you don't like talking, then try journeling. :)  Anyway, I hope you had wonderful days!  Buenas noches!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Prom

Today, I woke up and got ready for class and then I tidied up my room a little bit because it got painted today as well.  And just so you know it's not getting painted any crazy color-only beige.  I'm pretty sure it's the same color as before, and it's just getting repainted because she's selling it in a few months since she is moving (she signed for the other apartment today).  She's very excited for the garden she'll have.

Anyway, I headed to school on the micro, where I got to sit in the passenger seat for the second time.  Again, I can't help but laugh that the people in the passenger seats have to wear their seatbelts.  In Peruvian Social Reality, we discussed the documentary that we watched last week on Chicha, a genre of music.  After that short discussion, we began to talk about the informal economy that Perú has.  We discussed many of the informal jobs that people have, like the street performers, street vendors, shoe shiners, empleadas, cobradors, etc.  There is a mountain of people in Perú that work in the informal economy.  It's acutally quite interesting, when you sit down and think about all of the informal jobs that exist in Perú.

After Peruvian Social Reality, Tonisha and I ate lunch on the grass until we were informed that a deer was heading our way and he definitely looked ready to attack in order to get our food.  Anyway, we moved to a table, finished our lunch, and then started to do some homework.  I had to write comics for Spanish which was kind of difficult, but I finished them and I thought that some of them were funny, but we'll see if my professor thinks so too.  I also proofread/revised my ethnography paper during the lunch period and then I headed to Spanish Writing Workshop.  Today, we worked on some subjunctive and if you've ever studied Spanish, you know that subjunctive is confusing to understand, but today's class still wasn't as frustrating as last week's class.

After Spanish Writing Workshop, I went to Ethnography and turned in my paper.  Today was our last three hour class to make up for all the classes we missed in the beginning of the semester, so I am excited to go back to two hour class next Monday.  Today, we talked about the economy and kinship in the Amazon.  It's kind of funny because I read about both economy and kinship in both of my books for that class, so I acutally knew some of the things already.  We talked about the Dravidio System, which is a way of seeing the geneology of your family.  This is obviously not customary in the United States, but in the Amazon, many people used to marry their cousins.

Anyway, tonight I had plans with Luis and Tonisha again.  Luis had three free movie theater tickets so he met Tonisha and I at PUCP and then we walked to the local theater.  We saw Contando a mis Ex (What's your Number).  It was a pretty funny movie!  I enjoyed it a lot and I also, of course, enjoyed the popcorn!  After the movie, we all went back to Miraflores and ate at a sandwich shop because popcorn wasn't a good enough dinner then we all went our separate ways.  I am now exhausted and ready for bed, but I had a great day and an awesome night!  I love the movies so much (too much!!).  I hope you all had great nights as well!  Dulces sueños!

Un deseo al atardecer

Yesterday (Sunday), I didn't do too much.  I spent the morning relaxing and avoiding my paper that needed to be written (which is normal for me so don't be worried).  I have also tried several times to add the video that is missing from my "Cajón peruano" post, however it is still not cooperating.  I will keep trying and will inform you when it is up and functioning.

Anyway, my host mom and I usually go out for lunch on Sundays, but because of a slight miscommunication, we ate at home instead.  It was still good, plus we made up for it at dinner.  I went to Café Z after lunch for a little while to work on my Ethnography paper more/visit with Tonisha. :)  Also, or course I had to get dessert after lunch, but rather than getting my usual Frozen Fresa or brownie with ice cream, I tried their banana split.  If you were wondering, the banana splits here are teh same, however you can get different types of ice cream rather than just vanilla.  I got chocolate chip. :)

After some time at Café Z, I went back home and since my host mom and I didn't go out for lunch, we decided to go out for dinner instead.  We went to Pardo's Chicken, which is a favorite of mine and also the place where my host mom took me on the day that we met.  It's a really good place and they are famous for serving the typical Peruvian plate of pollo a la brasa y papas fritas amarillas (grilled chicken and yellow french fries).  Also, a cool thing about it is that the Pardo's Chicken we went to is at Larcomar (the mall that is two blocks away) and it sits in the side of the cliff, so the view of the ocean is amazing!  Also, we got to see the sunset and I learned that when the sun sets here in Perú, people make a wish at the moment when the last bit of sun goes below the horizon.  It seems that it is equivalent to people in the states making a wish when it is 11:11.  Anyway, long story short dinner was delicious and fun.

Once we got home from dinner, I sat down, turned on my TV (Spiderman 2 in Spanish was on), and did homework.  Now, I know that the TV seems like it would be a distraction from my homework, but in reality the silence was more distracting then the TV.  I couldn't focus with the silence so for once having the TV was actually beneficial.  I was able to get my paper done, however it was rather late when I finished it, which is why I was not able to write my blog yesterday, so I apologize.  However, homework is pretty important, but still I'm sorry for the late post.  I feel bad when I let you guys down because I know several of you start out your mornings by reading my blogs.  Anyway, I hope all of you had amazing weekends and Mondays because I had a rather nice/relaxing one. :)

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Cajón Peruano

This morning, I had a taller de cajón peruano (a cajón peruano workshop).  El cajón is a box-shaped instrument that originated in the Afro-Peruvian culture.  It is the national instrument of Perú!  It's pretty much a drum and it's really fun to play!!!  And I kind of want one now.  It was so fun!  The guy who taught us was really good too...see...
 
Anyway, the beats we learned were from the Festejo style of music, which if you remember from our dance workshop, the Festejo is a type of Peruvian dance too.  We also learned about three other instruments that are used in Afro-Peruvian music.  This first one is an instrument called a cajita.  What is used as an instrument now used to be a collection box for the offering in the Catholic church.  The priests would wear it and collect the money, but somewhere along the lines it became an instrument... :)
This next one is called a quijada and it is the jawbone of an animal, like a cow or horse, which is really strange, right?  Anyway, you play it by hitting the bottom part of the jaw, which causes the teeth to rattle inside the bone.  Also, you can hold a stick and use it to actually play the teeth by scraping them.
Again, see...
The last instrument we learned about is one we all know so well.  It was made popular by an SNL skit.  Yep, you guessed it...the infamous cow bell (campana).  I don't think this instrument needs anymore explanation.
Anyway, here's the final run of our Festejo cajón skills.  I hope you enjoy...

Okay, so there is supposed to be a video here, but I got tired out waiting for it to load, but I promise it will be up as soon as possible!

Also, if you would like to read a little bit more about Afro-Peruvian music/dance, I found a pretty short online article that is worth a look:  http://www.afropop.org/explore/style_info/ID/30/Afro%20Peruvian/ :)

Anyway, when I got home, it was already afternoon and again, I really didn't do much.  I did a little homework, but not a ton.  I'm going to have a lot to do tomorrow, but that's okay.  I should have the day pretty free besides Sunday lunch with my host mom.  Tonight, I went to a movie with Tonisha at our local theater.  We shared popcorn and pop (or as she says "soda") and it was really cute.  We went and saw 8 minutos antes de morir (Source Code).  It was a good movie, but I always think that movies are good.  I'm a terrible critic.  Anyway, after the good movie, the good popcorn, and the good CocaCola, Tonisha and I headed out and started walking towards Café Z and we actually ran into her boyfriend and his friend.  We walked to Bembos, a fast food restaurant, and ate.  Then, we played on the jungle gym that was there and may or may not have gotten yelled (well not yelled at) because there was clearly a sign that said "For ages 5-10."  But that's okay, that's when you pull the "I can't read Spanish" phrase.  I didn't do that though.  I just slid down the slide and then walked away. :)

Although this blog is short, I did have a really good day today between the movie and the cajón class.  I'm not looking forward to tomorrow being dedicated to homework, but it should be okay.  As long as I sit down and focus on what I have to do, it really shouldn't take me that long. :)  Buenas noches! 

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Café Z

Okay, so I'm apologizing again for the late blog, but I like being able to share the whole day, so if I post it early, then you don't get to hear about my night, too.  Anyway, yesterday (Friday), when I woke up, our whole house was being painted.  My host mom just informed me this past week that she is signing for a new apartment on Monday.  She will be moving a couple of blocks away to the same apartment building as her daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren and she will have a garden.  She's very excited about it.  I won't be here when she moves though.  I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Anything, after lunch, I went to Café Z.  I was there for a couple hours and then Tonisha showed up.  I was planning on doing a lot of homework, but that didn't happen. :/  I was there for a total of about five hours and I barely got anything done, but I'm still not worried yet.  I still have today and tomorrow to finish things. :)  Once I was done at Café Z, I had about an hour at my house before I had to meet up with Tonisha again.  Tonisha and I met up with Luis again and went to dinner.  We went to a Pollo a la Leña (chicken cooked over fire) place and it was delicious!  It was soooo good and it came with salad too and I love salad!  I don't eat a ton of salad here so I'm so happy when I get it. :)

After dinner, we headed to Indy's house.  She lives by the university so it was a trek, but it was worth it because it was her birthday.  She loved having us all there and it was fun for all of us, too.  Her and her friends are all great, so it was a blast!  Also, I showed them all how to jerk, which if you don't know what that is, it's a popular street dance from the United States.  I don't think it compares to their salsa or reggaeton, but oh well.  It was a good night and today has been good so far as well, but you'll have to wait to hear about today until later.  I hope all of your Saturdays are going well, too!!!

Friday, October 21, 2011

Ottawa

Okay, so yesterday morning (Thursday) I left for school in plenty of time because I had to go to the library to check out my books again.  Well, good thing I left in time because I decided to get off two micros instead of one because they tried making me pay more.  I know it's a little ridiculous, but at the same time, it's really comical for me.  If I would've had to get off of the third one too I would've already made it 50 blocks without paying.  I've decided that with time, it's definitely possible to get all the way to Católica without paying, whether it be from them not accepting my student card or if I get on and then act like I'm on the wrong micro.  It's definitely possible.  When I was sitting on the third micro, I was trying to decide if I would've gotten off of that one too had they charged me more.  I really don't know what I would've done, however, looking back on it, I would say that I would've because the guy I sat next to was a nose picker. :)

Anyway, despite getting off two micros, I still made it to school in time to get my books and go to ballet with extra minutes to spare.  I don't know where everyone was in Ballet yesterday, but there were only five of us in the class, when there's usually 10ish (I don't remember).  But yea, we were missing a lot of people, but it was kind of nice because then the instructor was watching everyone more closely.  There was no interesting music that was blog-worthy though, sorry.  After ballet, I ate lunch and got ready to go to Deporte y Vida.  Deporte y Vida was pretty hectic yesterday, but still good.  We always have those few kids that won't do their homework which can be frustrating at times, but again, that's how kids operate so it's understandable.  Anyway, I had to help a girl with her crossword.  She needed to know a ton of the capitals of Latin American countries, the U.S., and Canada and then she was supposed to search for them in her crossword.  Well, not to brag or anything, but I knew all the Latin American capitals because those have been drilled in my brain since High school, but then I got to Canada and I had no clue what the capital was!!  I felt really dumb.  I mean Canada is right next to the U.S. and I didn't know the capital.  My two guesses were Montreal and Quebec, but I didn't see either of those in the crossword and another girl guessed Toronto and that wasn't there either.  So, I had to look it up.  It's Ottawa, if you were wondering!  I also had to look up the capitals of Surinam and Guyana, but those were understandable, but Canada!

Anyway, once I got back from Deporte y Vida, I pretty much left right away to meet Tonisha and Luis (Indy's friend and now our friend, too) for dinner.  It was really fun and we got a lot of Spanish practice in, which is always a plus.  I told them my micro story and Luis really got a kick out of it.  He agrees that it would be possible to go somewhere on the micro without paying.  Anyway, while we were sitting at dinner, I realized that the Aerosmith concert was this weekend and Tonisha and I (well, mostly me) really wanted to go to it!  So, after dinner, we rushed to the Teleticket in Metro to buy tickets, but all the cheaper ones were sold out and we weren't willing to pay more for them. :(  I really am sad we can't go, I was excited for it, but that's okay.  Anyway, after the Metro trip, we of course had to get ice cream because Tonisha and I (well, mostly me again) are addicts.  We then went to a local bar just to hang out and eat lots of cancha (it's Peru's version of bar peanuts).  One of Luis's friend, Rodrigo, met up with us, too.  Again, it was really fun, both guys are pretty cool, and sooo much Spanish!  They were making both Tonisha and I laugh, too, which is always a good thing.

Anyway, I'd say that's about it for the day.  Today (Friday) is Indy's birthday so she is having a get together at her house tonight, so again, I probably won't write today's blog until tomorrow, but I hope you all have wonderful Fridays and weekends!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Crucigrama

Today started out really well.  I got on the micro and I was reading my book for Ethnography, when an older man sat down next to me.  He had out his paper, like a lot fo people do on the micro, and he flipped through it quickly and then started doing the crucigrama (crossword).  I continued reading my book, but then I noticed a picture on his crucigrama and I recognized the guy in the picture as a Spanish actor that I learned about last semester in my Spanish culture class.  I was starring at the picture trying to think of his name (it ended up being Javier Bardem) and then the man looked up at me and struck a conversation by asking what I was reading and the rest is history.  I explained my book to him and we had a short chat about Peru, my life, and his life.  He works for a ceramics publicity company and he reached in his bag and gave me a cute keychain...
And then, he continued doing his crucigrama and I "helped."  He knew all of the answers, but he would ask me first if I knew the answer and he let me do the English answers (even though he knew those, too).  I've actually tried doing the crosswords here before, but they are quite difficult so it was really nice to do it with someone because I learned a lot of new words.  When I didn't know the answer (which usually I didn't), he would tell me, so I learned a lot of different synonyms for words.  I also learned that people say "arre" in Spanish to get a horse moving, rather than "ya" or "giddeup" in English.  It was a fun micro ride, however, he did ask for my number at the end, which I just thought was awkward because he was older.  I didn't give it to him, but he did give me his card, so I guess if I'm ever interested in going into the ceramics business, I could probably contact him.

Anyway, I got to the university and had Peruvian Social Reality.  To start the class we talked briefly about Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) because it is coming up at the end of this month, but then we watched a documentary.  The film was called "Ciudad Chicha" and it was filmed by people from the university.  The documentary dealt with different types of music that have been in Perú.  If you're interested here's a link to watch the documentary: http://videos.pucp.edu.pe/videos/ver/8387ca648d9e758b63010556559ef1f8.  Even if you don't understand Spanish, you can watch the first few minutes to here some of the music in it.  The documentary talks about different styles of music, starting with Chicha and ending with Tecnocumbia.  It also brings up different musical groups like Los Shapis, Los Destellos, and Rossy War.  It was interesting and hearing the music was another happy way to start the morning.

We headed to Living and Learning next.  We started the class with a perosn sharing a curious/obvious picture from the past assignment.  One of their pictures was a picture of the adorable deer that are on campus.  So then, we talked about them for awhile.  Apparently, back in the day, all the deer were named, but then there got to be too many of them so now they are just tagged and numbered.  We also discussed what is going to happen when they overpopulate teh campus.  Can you imagine?  Marion, our instructor, explained that the overpopulation is already starting to occur.  We laughed about future headlines in the paper, "PUCP closed for hunting."  It was funny and I doubt that will ever happen, but I do wonder what will.  Well, then we started our lesson for the day, which was on the Cultural Dimensions as defined by a guy named Geert Hofstede.  By this, I mean topics such as whether a culture is Individualist vs. Collectivist, Reserved vs. Expressive, Monochronic vs. Polychronic, a Small Power Distance vs. a Large Power Distance, etc.  We had to choose where we thought the U.S. was on the spectrum compared to where Perú and we personally fell.  For example, in terms of Individualist vs. Collectivist, the majority of us said that the United States is highly Individualistic and that Perú falls more on the Collectivism side.  It's a little hard to explain, but if you are interested in learning more you can go to Hofstede's website and he explains where different countries fall on the Cultural Dimensions spectrum.  (http://www.geert-hofstede.com/)

After this class, I happily ate my lomo saltado and chatted with some friends from the program.  Then, it was off to Spanish class.  Today's class was probably the worst yet.  We talked about indirect speech and how to write it in papers.  For example, rather than writing "He said, 'I will call tomorrow,'" we learned to write "He said that he would call the next day."  It was soooo confusing because it got into even more complex sentences and I couldn't even figure it out in English let alone Spanish.  It was definitely the most challenging class yet and I was getting very frustrated!  Also, our assignment is to fill in these comic bubbles and I'm not funny or creative (especially in Spanish) when it comes to that kind of thing.  So that should be interesting.  Tonisha isn't in that class, so she was trying to help me out with everything eariler, which is great of her!

Anyway, after my frustrating Spanish class, I had Ethnography which actually went really well today.  We actually talked about the people of the Amazon and their agriculture.  We learned about different methods they used and about hunting/fishing!  It was interesting and I was happy to be talking about something other than Ethnographers.  Also, we got our first papers back finally.  I did pretty well on mine.  I probably could have done better, but our next one is due on Monday, so I can try and improve on that one!

After class, I just headed home on the micro with Tonisha.  Other than that, I really haven't done too much else tonight except for try and finish up my blogging from the weekend.  I hope you enjoyed those by the way!  Well, I hope you are having amazing nights!  I'm going to get to reading because I still have a lot to do!  Buenas noches!

Amazon (Día 3)

I slept a lot better the second night.  I decided I didn't need to sleep in a sweatshirt and pants because I figured teh bugs were going to bite me whether I liked it or not.  Since we had so little time in the selva, we got up at 5:30 a.m. again in order to go fishing for piranhas.  We were on the boat by 6 a.m. and we headed out to a spot on the river by the bank.  Our equipment included four long sticks with string and a hook connected and chicken meat.  We put our hooks in and as Sheila, Tonisha, and I sat there nicely waiting for a fish to bite, Roland and Nilton were beating the water with their poles and flinging their line every which way.  Number one, there was no way that I was going to attempt to use their technique or Roland or Tonisha would've gotten a hook in the face, which would have been bad.  Number two, I was confused by their technique.  They were scaring all the fish away!  Well, it must have been working because not too long after we started, Nilton and Roland both caught a piranha.  Each caught a different type, too.  Nilton caught a red one and Roland caught a white one.  They look vicious.
Tonisha and Sheila both got to touch it's teeth, too, but I didn't get the chance to. :(  It's okay though, they said they were just really sharp.  Well, as we continued fishing with our sit and wait technique, I got a bite on my line and I was able to snatch a fish!  They called it a Sábalo, which I had to look up and the dictionary says that's a Shad.  I'm pretty sure I caught their breakfast or other bait because they kept it and Roland killed it like the Kingfisher by slamming int against the boat a few times.
We continued fishing and a piranha broke Roland's line so he couldn't catch us anymore piranha, so it was up to us now.  So, I asked him why they had been beating their poles on the water.  I said, "Doesn't that scare the fish?"  And he said that it doesn't scare the piranhas.  The piranhas think that the noise is other fish so they come closer to the surface to check it out.  I was on a mission to catch a piranha, plus my bait kept getting stolen, so I started using the technique.
Me excitedly using the technique of hitting the water with my pole
Unfortunately, soon after it was time to go.  None of us wanted to go.  We all wanted to fish more.  I know I could've stayed there fishing all day.  We joked about just staying there and missing our flight, but then we decided that probably wasn't a good idea.  So we headed back to the lodge.  Once we got back we packed up our stuff and ate breakfast.  We had eggs and bread again.  It was good, but I'm still questioning what kind of egss they actually were.  I forgot to ask.  We'll just assume they were chicken eggs, though.  We had to say goodbye to Roland at the lodge, which was sad!  He helped to make our weekend amazing, but we boarded the boat and were off.  The boat to Nauta took a little longer because it was upstream, but I took a nap, which was wonderful!  Once we got to Nauta, we had to say goodbye to Nilton, too, and we got in the car and left for Iquitos with the windows down.  On the way back to Iquitos we picked up a hitchhiker that had a huge knife attached to his side, which was kind of scary, but we made it to the airport safely.

We met up with Kevin and Mark at the airport because they had the same flight as us.  It was so nice to exchange stories with them, especially since they took a bus and boat all the way to Iquitos.  (If you're curious to see some of their videos from their boat trip go to Mark's YouTube account at http://www.youtube.com/hhsmu0913)  We then got some ice cream at the airport and waited to board.  This time, our flight made a stop in the town of Tarapoto and on the way there there was some ridiculous turbulence, but we lived and made it back to Lima around 5:30 p.m.  When we left the airport there was a huge crowd of people and I didn't realize it while we were there, but the crowd was a group of all girls and they were there to welcome Justin Bieber to the country because he had a concert here on Monday night.  I still think we should've stayed to see him come in, too. ;)

Leaving the Amazon

Anyway, we didn't want to take a taxi from the airport because we knew it would be expensive, so we went outside of the airport and we were going to find a micro that went all the way to Miraflores.  Well, we didn't find a micro, but we did find a combi.  A combi is a lot smaller than a micro (almost like a mini-van).  Poor Tonisha had to stand for awhile and by stand I mean try to stand, but in reality you ahve to duck down a lot in order to fit.  Sorry, Tonishita!

We made it home safely and I was determined to shower.  Unfortunately, the shower was cold. :(  The cold shower would've been nice in the selva, but I was back in Lima and it's still cold here.  Anyway, yea our hot water still isn't working and my host mom tells me that plumbers, electricians, etc. are unreliable here in Lima, but I hope we have warm water soon.  Anyway, back to Sunday, when my host mom came home, I showed her my pictures and we talked and ate dinner together, which was fun.  She kept telling me that Tonisha, Sheila, and I were very brave!  It was cute.

And then, I went to bed!  I was exhausted.  As you know I didn't write my blog because I was so tired.  Again, I'm sorry for making you wait, but I hope it was worth it.  I hope you enjoyed reading and viewing my pictures of the Amazon.  I'm really happy that I have the opportunity to share these things with you.  Well, unfortunately, this is the end of my Amazon blogs, but don't worry, I still have more adventures to come!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Amazon (Día 2)

Okay, are you ready to hear about my second day in the Amazon. If not then stand up, do 5 jumping jacks, sit back down, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and start reading (make sure you open your eyes back up in order to read though).

At 5:30 a.m. on Saturday our alarms went off.  We got dressed and ready for the day and we were in the canoe with Nilton and Roland by 6:10.  Nilton and Roland rowed away in the boat while they looked for different wildlife for us.  As we were in the boat, we got to see a Kingfisher (a type of bird).  It actually had a fish and was in the process of killing it.  It does this by holding the fish in it's beak and beating it against the branch that it is perched on.  It seemed like it was taking the Kingfisher pretty long to do this, but it was cool to see that aspect of nature, even though it was a little morbid.

We then stopped at our first site on the side of the river, where we got to see the Renaco tree.  It's huge and probably thousands of years old and also you could see the water line where the river gets to in February.  You can't tell just how far the river raises because you can't tell where the river is at now, but trust me it's a lot.  I think it would be cool to go back to the same site and February and see the difference.  Also, there are no mosquitos during that time of the year so it would be perfect!!
Then of course we all had to "climb" the tree, too. :)

Anyway, we got back on the boat and suddenly we heard a motor starting.  Tonisha and I both looked at each other like "When did we get a motor?" because Roland and Nilton had been rowing.  It was a pretty funny moment, but you probably had to be there. :)  Anyway, we headed to our next spot, by motor, where we found some monkeys.  Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the monkeys because they were really far up in the tree and I couldn't zoom in enough to see them, but it was fun watching them jump from tree to tree.  Then, it was back to the lodge for breakfast.  Can you believe it?  It was only breakfast time!  It already felt like we had been up for hours (well I guess we had been, but yea).  We got eggs and bread for breakfast, but Nilton brought out his breakfast for us to try and I did...
Yum..pre-historic fish breakfast soup :)
It tasted like any other type of fish so it was okay, but I wouldn't want to eat it all or for breakfast.  Anyway, after breakfast, I got the machete this time.  I felt so cool with it and pretty much attempted to chop everything down that was in my path.  I say attempted because I think I only actually cut one thing. 
We headed out again and found this other REALLY cool tree.  It grows and plants it's own roots in the ground.  It's huge as well..see...

 Sorry, I don't remember the name of this one though. :(  But, anyway, obviously we had to Tarzan swing off of it, too!
We then went on an adventure to a swampy area to go and see the lily pads that are there and boy was that an adventure all right.  It started off okay, but then we got to some pretty muddy areas.  I was the first to get stuck.  I literally could not move my feet.  Luckily the mud didn't go up past my boots though, but Nilton, our guide, literally had to pull me out.  We then got to areas where there were branches laid across the mud and we had to side step on those to get across.  The guides macheted us some walking sticks however they weren't to helpful because you would go to lean on them and they would just sink, so you couldn't even rely on those for help.  Tonisha was the first to actually fall in, but I fell in soon after.  We then held on to the guides for the rest of journey.  I felt bad because I was definitely throwing Nilton's balance off by holding on to him.  It was funny though, I kept telling him that if he fell in I wouldn't be able to help him.  Well, come to find out, Tonisha was purposely trying to make Roland fall in. :)  That's what I should have done!  Anyway, I don't know how Sheila was doing it, but her balance was great and she didn't need any help.  Well, we finally made it to the lily pads and it was pretty cool to see.
Tonisha and I with our muddy pants from falling in :)

Roland and I by the lily pads
Anyway, I actually learned a lot about lily pads that I didn't know.  Number one, they can grow to be huge.  The ones that are behind us are actually fairly small from what Roland said.  Number two, the flower is what turns into the lily pad.  I just always thought that the flower was separate from the lily pad, but the flower actually becomes the lily pad.  Lastly, lily pads have spines on the bottom of them to protect them from fish, because some fish like to eat them.  Once we got to see the lily pads, we unfortunately had to go back the way we came.  Sheila led the pack since she had the best balance, but unfortunately she ended up falling in like the rest of us.  Then, we headed back to the lodge where we all same in the river.  Tonisha and I swam with our pants on in order to wash them, it was perfect.  And the water felt sooo good since it was so hot out!  I don't think I've ever sweated so much so it was nice to get in the cold water and it was a good workout because we had to tread water the whole time.
Once we were done swimming we all took showers and while I was in the shower, Roland found a tarantula!  So I rushed outside so that I could see it.  By the time I got out there it already had a name, Rosita.  It was cool to hold.  I actually held one in High school biology class so this was my second time holding one.  Apparently, there are tarantulas that can be bigger than your hand.  I wish we would've seen one of those!  Now that would have been a new experience!
Then we ate lunch which consisted of a kind of chicken version of lomo saltado, but it was a little different.  While we were eating lunch, we were joined by another group of people which consisted of a Texan couple who are here in Peru for business and then a family from the Netherlands, who I'm pretty sure didn't speak English.  Anyway, then Sheila, Tonisha, and I decided to do a little dancing and gymnastics on the front lawn, which was pretty fun.  I could've done that all day, but it was hot!

After relaxing, we headed out to see the pink dolphins, go to the beach, go sloth-searching, and to a small town that is nearby.  First, we looked for pink dolphins and we saw them come up out of the water.  They hang out at the mouth of the river to catch the fish that flow out of it.  Also, everytime we turned on our motor they would jump, so we made a few circles around the area to see them.  Then we went to the beach.  Who knew there were beaches in the Amazon.  Obviously, it's all covered up in February, but I'm glad we got to go.  We also same here, too.  The sand at the bottom of the river was weird.  It was like quick sand.  You're feet would sink into it.  I didn't go to far out in fears of getting swept away by the current, which almost happened to both Tonisha and Sheila.
 After a short while of swimming, we headed to the nearby town of Pueblo Miguel.  We got to see some yuca plants (it's kind of like a potato) and rice.  And I'm pretty sure I've never seen rice in person, so that was cool to see.  And then we went searching for sloths.
Sun setting over a rice field
 On our way to find sloths, Roland and Nilton pointed out a huge cameleon in a tree.  Which was cool!  And then they made a bet that whoever found the first sloth got a free beer from the other.  I thought this was a good bet because then it motivated both of them to look for sloths for us!  And Roland won!
Sloth #1
 Roland found this sloth high up in the trees and we stood there and learned a little bit about sloths from Nilton.  Like the fact that they are actually pretty clean creatures, despite the bugs that crawl on them.  They climb all the way down the tree and dig a hole to go to the bathroom even though that puts them at great risk of being caught and eaten by a predator.  Anyway, we were off to look for more sloths and Roland found another one.  Jokingly, we all told him to go up and get it.  Well, next thing we knew, Roland was climbing this ridiculously high tree.  The following are pictures and a video of this event.  No animals were physically harmed in the making of this video.  It's possible though that the sloth was a little emotionally terrorized.
Roland at the top of the tree

And then of course, Roland had to be all macho and just grab the nearest vine and climb down it.  I would like to thank him for sacrificing himself and he did get some nasty bites from ants, so thanks Roland!


The sloth and I had a special moment together

The sloth was placed back in her natural habitat
 We then headed back to the small town of Pueblo Miguel.  Here is what it looked like.  There was a small discoteca there (where Nilton bought Roland his beer), a school, a church, a soccer field, and a jail-type place.

 The picture above is the "jail."  I took a picture because when Nilton was describing it, I found it really funny.  He was explaining that there is a leader (mayor) of the town and that this person solves disputes between the people.  The little rooms that you can see in this structure are jail-like places where a person might have to stand for a couple hours if they are in trouble.  An example that Nilton gave, that was funny to me, is if a guy steals someones chicken then he will have to stand in the box for a few hours. :)  Anyway, we headed out and got back to the lodge just in time for dinner.  I don't know how to describe the meal except by saying fish nuggets.  Literally, picture a chicken nugget, but then make it fish and that's what we had. :)

After dinner, we went out again in hopes of finding anacondas, boas, or alligators.  This time we out on the boat, but again we had no such luck.  And yes, I am upset that we never got to see a snake.  They said they only find snakes once every two weeks with their guests.  Although we didn't find snakes, our guide did catch two pre-historic fish.  One of which was the type that was in the breakfast soup.

Once we got back to the lodge, our dear/nice friend Sheila showed her evil side.  I never would've thought that she would kill a living creature, but when we got back, Nilton had his flashlight and pointed in the water and WHACK!  Sheila macheted a fish and I'm sure they ate it for breakfast the next morning!
What a day it was!  It was long and hot and WONDERFUL all wrapped into one!  I hope you enjoyed reading this blog, too!  And I hope you liked the many pictures that I included!  It was so hard to select the pictures to include!  Anyway, I hope you're ready for Amazon Día 3 tomorrow!  Last day in the Amazon was a blast, too!  I hope you all are having good nights!  I will talk to you tomorrow. :)