Copa, Copacabana

I wish that I could say Copacabana, Bolivia was exactly how you would imagine somewhere called Copacabana would be....but this is definitely not the case! While there was a solid 2 hours of sitting in the sun with fruity rum drinks, that's about as good as it got. The rest of the weekend was filled with smelly buses, freezing cold, and less than friendly Bolivians.

The overnight bus ride there was nothing to complain about. I popped a sleeping pill and slept most of the way there. The 2 hour layover in Puno was cold and annoying, but the 3 hour ride to Copa was filled with more sleep and pretty views of moutains, Lake Titicaca, and sunshine (something I have not seen much of in a month)! Minus the hassle at the border, it was a pretty nice ride. Once we got to Copa we found an extremely cheap hostel which was a little cold, lacked hot water, and was owned by a rather unfriendly family....CHEAP obviously being the selling point for us. Afterwards, we went down to the "beach" got some soup, fresh trout, and beer. The sun warmed us up so afterwards we put on our bathing suits and sat at a little beach-front restaurant and poured Bacardi in our fresh juices. I read the magazine that Mom sent me...it was a delightful 2 hours. When the sun went away it got cold. We napped at the hostel for a while, then ventured out for dinner. Dinner may have been the 2nd highlight of the trip. We found a restaurant with a little fire-pit inside and sat right next to it. I ate some delicious, but expensive, tacos. A sweet little Argentinian named Hugo asked to join us at our table because he hated eating alone. It was another one of those things that made me laugh, because in America if someone does this, most people are freaked out and move away or do something of the sort. We, of course, welcomed him and he was good company. I had a great time talking to him about his accent from Buenos Aires and different places to visit in his country. He was very sweet and very grateful for us letting him eat with us. We were actually on the same bus to Puno the next day, so we exchanged e-mails to meet up in Cusco if he has the chance.

After dinner, we passed out in our cold, smelly room and woke up early the next morning to buy bus tickets. Early to buy bus tickets? We must have forgot we were in South America. All tour companies were closed. Luckily, we found one that was open and booked a cheap ticket back to Puno, where we would buy tickets to Cusco. Grabbed some breakfast at an adorable cafe, where our waiter could not have been older than 14. He was sweet and the food was decent so no complaints there. Afterwards, I took some pictures by the water to prove that I had indeed come to Bolivia and we set off to do a little shopping. Most of the stuff found in the little shops is the same as you find in Cusco, but some stuff was cheaper. I bought a phenomenal hat, some post cards (keeping up with Gramma's advice!), a change purse, and some bracelets. I'm collecting bracelets from every place I go to. So far, the 2 I'm wearing from Cusco and Tequilla haven't fallen off! Shopping is where things got a little interesting. The little kids who worked at the shops with their parents were, i hate to say, the rudest little children I've ever encountered. One little boy yelled at us not to touch his stuff and chased us away. Another little girl tried to scam me when her father had told me the gloves I wanted were 15 Bolivianos. She snatched my 20 and said she didn't have change. Luckily, I snatched it back and told her father I wanted my change or I wasn't buying the gloves. The little girl gave me a nasty huff and went inside to get my change, and basically threw it at me when she returned. I usually love kids, especially the ones I've come across in Peru, but I wanted to smack that little girl so bad. Later, when we walked past a store we had bought things from earlier, the little woman who owned it pulled us back in and immediately started attacking Maggie yelling that she had robbed her and grabbing at her pockets and purse. I was trying my best to tell the woman in Spanish that Maggie didn't have anything and to pull her off, but it failed. Mags was able to get away eventually and we walked up the street as fast as we could. It was the most bizarre thing in the world. Needless to say, I was not a fan of the locals I came across and was more than ready to return to Cusco. Little did I know that the bus ride home would be the worst to come. We opted for the earlier, cheaper bus...and we definitely got what we paid for. Copacabana to Puno wasn't bad and I got a lot of beautiful pictures. The bus to Cusco was unlike anything I've ever experienced. It smelled like a combination of vomit, urine, and other nasty human smells. They had a Bruce Lee movie playing on full blast over crappy speakers. We stopped at least 10 times to pick up random people in different towns...or just one the side of the road. There was a dog on the bus...a dog. It was the most uncomfortable, longest ride of my life. We finally made it back to Cusco at 12:30ish and never have I been so happy!

Our "beachfront" chairs

Titicaca & snow-capped mountains behind us

The arch we walked through to cross the border

Pretty sights on the busride

So as not to end on a whiney  note, I will say that we made a few deposits in our karma banks on this trip. While waiting for the bus back to Puno, a nice little guy came up and asked to shine our shoes. This happens all the time in Cusco, so we're used to it, but were surprised to see someone doing it in Copacabana. Realizing that we were friendly and spoke Spanish, this guy told us his story. He's from Peru, and lives in the country with his 6 younger siblings. Their mother passed away. Like most of rural Peru, they're poor and can't afford enough clothes, food, etc. So being the oldest, he left home in search of work. Someone lied to him and told him he'd find plenty of work shining shoes in Copacabana. Untrue, because most tourists are wearing hiking books or sandals...nothing he can shine. In 3 weeks he hadn't found any work, and we were the very first people to sit and actually talk to him. We gave him about 5 soles, which isn't much, but is all we could contribute. More importantly, we gave him a granola bar, Oreos, and peanut butter...the little food we had on us. You could tell that he greatly appreciated it. He had never had peanut butter before, and he was too shy to try it in front of us, but I'm sure he'll love it. And that half a jar will get him very far in the next week or so. My heart goes out to that little guy and I hope he makes it back to his family soon!

Carnavale in Pisac

I need post-its so I can put a permanent note on my desk to update this thing...

This weekend my teacher friends and I had big plans to go camping in Pisac, a little town about 30 minutes outside the city. We've been itching to get out of Cusco for a while, plus there's a sweet market there that's open on Sundays. Unfortunately, our plans fell through. When we went to rent the camping equipment, it turned out that it was going to be too expensive, AND the man who owned the camping place pretty much said that it was the worst idea ever. We're in the rainy season, February is the rainiest month, and Pisac is in a valley. He actually said we would drown haha. So, we bagged that idea. A bunch of teachers still went and stayed in a hostel, but a few of us hung out in town all weekend (i was productive! yay!) and decided to go for the day on Sunday for two reasons: to hit up the market, AND to witness the Carnaval celebrations. Unfortunately, I didn't have the money or time to go to Carnaval capitals like Brazil or Oruro, Bolivia, so Pisac had to do. In other places, this is a week (or month) long celebration. We've seen some evidence of this in Cusco...the kids have been running around with water balloons and super-soakers for about a week now in celebration of "summer". However, the big celebration apparently took place today, and the "places to be" were in the smaller towns outside the city.

So, my roommates, Maggie and Carolina (so happy to call Carolina an official roommate!), and I filled up a water bottle with rum, and set out on our way to meet up with the rest of our friends. After a gorgeous drive through the mountains and down into the valley, we finally made it to Pisac a little after noon. What a sight to see! The streets were all lined with balloons and streamers and pine tree branches and people were just everywhere. I was anticipating having to dodge water balloons here and there, but I had NO idea what I was in for. We had to run through a little waterfall to get to the street that would take us to the main square. This street was CHAOS. Kids running everywhere spraying foam on you and hurling water balloons from every direction. After approximately 2 minutes I decided that I wasn't going to survive without something to defend myself, so I bought a bottle of spray foam for myself. BIG.MISTAKE. As soon as the little buggers saw that bottle in my hand, I became the number one target for what felt like the entire population of children in Pisac. I somehow made it to the main square just a little damp...but then it was go time. Five steps into the plaza I was surrounded by 8 little boys taking on balloon after balloon, spray after spray of nasty white foam that looked and tasted like shaving cream (yes, it got in my mouth). I was spraying blindly in all of their directions to get them off me but they were relentless. I was taking handfuls of foam to the FACE from 5 year olds. Naturally, this is the exact moment that our other friends walked up to find us so they snapped some great pictures (to be posted later). I finally got a break from the massacre, but I only had about 2 minutes to wipe the foam from my eyes before another group of tiny Peruvians were attacking me again. I got WORKED. I mean soaked head to toe with water and blue foam. I was cold and wet, but it made for some great pictures and definitely a great  memory.

The massacre & my friends laughing at me

Still smiling after round 1

Not so much after round 2...

Luckily, our friends still had their hostel so I went to clean off and dry off a little. We ventured back out and grabbed some lunch and wandered around the market for a few hours, but it was raining and we were all cold and wet so we headed back to Cusco around 4.

I had high hopes of buying some sweet gifts at the market, but all I can say for my trip to Pisac is that I got foamy and wet and ate a sandwich. Nonetheless, I think I experienced Carnaval the Peruvian way for sure, and I definitely made the day for a bunch of little kids.

"My Teacher is Beautiful"...even when she dances on bars.

So, since my last post I've started a whole new batch of classes! I have about 2/3 of my students from last month because I am teaching the next levels. I'm super pumped about this because it means I don't have to spent a week memorizing new names! Plus, I really love some of my students from last month!

The week was pretty uneventful, but I did have my first Peruvian Ceviche which was exciting! It was good, but my mind wasn't blown. I got my package from Mom which absolutely made my week. Peanut Butter, Stepbrothers, and Valentine's Cards? What more could a girl ask for? Naturally, Friday night was spent watching Stepbrothers with the roommates. Saturday was Pisco Sour Day in Peru, so a bunch of us went to a friend's house for some drinkies. Ironically, not a drop of Pisco was consumed! A solid 4-too-many drinks later, I made my way home at 4:30am...but not until after another incident of dancing on the bar, this time not without consequences. A. I have an unexplained large bruise on my leg. B. One of my students was at the club, and saw my little number on the bar. AWESOME. It's actually pretty hilarious. As Jerry put it, I'm sure it made me out to be a more "approachable" teacher....

Superbowl Sunday was spent extremely hungover, but extremely happy. About 20 of our friends and fellow teachers came over for the game...and to cook more food than I thought was humanly possible to have in this little apartment. Here's the line-up: Guacamole x 3, chips, cheese wontons, quinoa, shakshouka, lomo saltado, eggplant fritters, chili, birthday cake, and of course BEER. We watched Stepbrothers (yes, again) while cooking and waiting for the game to start. It was the best hangover in the world.

One more cute/funny story from teaching before I end this superbly boring post...
Tonight in class, I was teaching possessive pronouns (my, your, his, her, our, etc.) and asked the class to give me a sentence using one of them. An adorably quiet guy who sits in the back of the room chimes in with this little gem of a sentence: My teacher is beautiful. It was cute, but made for a solid 5-10 seconds of awkward silence before I could even attempt to laugh it off. Luckily, I have a fanclub of girls in that class who immediately started giggling and saying "awww teacher you ARE beautiful". It was a very awkward but sweet little moment.

Anyhoo, my apologies for the boring post. I realized it had been a week so I figured I'd try to write something. This weekend is my friend Stephanie's birthday SO I'm sure I will have some stories coming up...

Temple of the Moon

Hi friends!

So exam week was awesome, but the days post exam week are even more awesome! I obviously had to do no planning which is great, but I also get to sit on my butt during all of my classes! I have the quizzes and grades, so students can come in as they please to check their grades and then leave after they've asked questions. No one came to my first two classes, so I sat on the computer and talked to Mom for a while. A few of my jovenes came, but they left after getting their grades and asking if I was going to be their teacher next month (how cute). So now I get to play on the computer and update my blog! Aren't you all lucky. And tomorrow, I get to sleep in!!! We come in at 9:00am, have a meeting, then grade exams if we had any (as opposed to quizzes, exams are 2 days long). We finish up at 5! It's like a normal human being's schedule for once. Should be spectacular. Oh, and it's payday! The rest of the week is "first days of classes" so not much to plan for. Such a great week.

As for this weekend, it was another good one! We went out for a few drinks on Thursday because Friday we just had to give exams. I'm really in love with this "maracuya sour" drink. It's a Pisco Sour, but made with fresh passion fruit (maracuya) juice. Delicious! Friday we had a few drinks at our house, then I went with my friend Maddy to salsa a little bit (i just watched this time...), and the rest of the gang met us out later. Saturday we went to brunch at this adorable little place that has phenomenal waffles. I haven't had a waffle in so long, it was a treat. Afterwards, we went to the market to get some produce. I was adventurous this time and finally got some fruit like apples and peaches. Maddy gets fruit and veggies all the time and hasn't gotten sick, so I'm throwing caution to the wind and eating what I want! We had a relaxed night...I made curry-ginger-lentil soup again and we watched 50/50. Great movie if you haven't seen it yet. Sunday, I woke up early and went to free yoga finally! It felt phenomenal. I'll definitely be going every week. Maddy made us breakfast at her place, and then we hiked up to the Temple of the Moon up in the hills above the city. It is definitely my favorite hike in Cusco so far. You would never know that there's a city just over the next hill. I'm definitely taking all of my visitors there.


All good things here in Cusco! I have at least 2 packages on their way which really gives you something to look forward to....thanks Mom & Aunt Cathy! Love love love my friends & family!

Exam Week!

Exam week is GLORIOUS. I only had to plan 1-2 days of teaching. The rest of the week I'm playing review games like Jeopardy and Bingo, and giving practice quizzes during which I get to sit on my butt. Phenomenal! I've had so much time during my breaks I've actually been productive! Well, Monday I napped, but yesterday was productive! I dropped off my laundry, went to the supermarket, went on my first run in Peru, went to the market (produce & such), baked chocolate-banana bread, AND showered. Amazing. Today so far I've picked up my laundry, cleaned, and am in the process of cooking granola. Exam week + coffee=amazing.

Anyhoo, since my last post 2 days ago I've received numerous (like, at least 6) e-mails/messages asking what I want from home that people can send me. A. I have amazing friends and family. B. If people want to send me goodies, who am I to stand in their way? Haha. So I figured I'd make a little list and put it on here.

1. Things that smell good (candles, lotions, etc). Cusco is a city of many smells---none of them good. I miss things that smell good!

2. Anything involving nuts. JIF peanut butter, the flavored almonds & toffee pecans we snacked on at BFG, trail mix...

3. Magazines!

4. Shampoo/Conditioner/Face Lotion...Even the weird Peruvian brand shampoos/conditioners are outrageously expensive, and any decent quality skincare products cost more than I spend on food in 2 weeks. The ONLY reason I miss Walmart is simply that I can't buy this stuff without forking over 1/4 of my paycheck.

5. Coffee. Peru exports almost 100% of their delicious coffee, so we're stuck with Nescafe instant stuff. It's like mud. I will cry tears of joy the day I can step foot in a Wawa or Dunkin Donuts and have a cup of amazingly delicious coffee. And a hoagie :)


For the millionth time, you all are the best friends & family a girl could ask for! Even the THOUGHT of sending me stuff makes me super happy. I'll obviously be returning the favor by bringing home tons and tons of sweet Peruvian gifts :) I already have a drawer full!

Today is a nasty, rainy day so my butt is headed to the couch for a movie! While I cook of course!

"My friend Adan is kind of gay"

Hi friends & fam,

First of all, I have to say how much I'm loving all of you right now. I've gotten 3 packages in the past 10 days chock full of things I NEED like Clorox wipes, a wine key, socks, and clothes...to things that I miss from home like PEANUT BUTTER, nuts, mac & cheese, mike & ikes, tuna, etc. It has been like Christmas, which is great since Christmas wasn't so hot here. I've also had some great Skype dates and e-mail updates (thanks Kase for reminding me that I need to blog!). Lots and lots of love. It makes me way less homesick, especially when I'm dying to be home with my Mama while she's recovering from surgery (shout out to Mom who is an absolute rockstar and handling her recovery better than I ever could have imagined...love you!)

Teaching has been about the same old. Lots of lesson planning, but I've finally decided to dedicate a few hours of the weekend to plan my whole week so that I can have free time during my breaks. The students are hilarious as usual. I have one guy who takes pictures of the white board to use as his notes. He came up to me after class on Friday to show me the picture he'd intentionally taken of me when I wasn't paying attention. Slightly creepy, but the huge goofy smile on his face told me that it was supposed to be funny. I got to elicit the word "underwear" in 3 of my classes last week during the unit on clothes...as well as bra and panties a few times. I had a very memorable incident explaining the difference in meaning and pronunciation between "hold" and "hole" but it's something I can only explain in person. It was epic, i'll leave it at that. Today, during vocabulary Bingo i called the phrase "kind of" which they're having trouble with. In the middle of their struggling to come up with a sentence, my jokester student Eduardo comes out of the blue with "My friend Adan is kind of gay" (Adan happens to be in the same class). Tons of laughter ensued obviously. It was a fantastic moment. And the best part is that if they didn't know what "kind of" meant before, they're never going to forget it now. What else? I started getting observed by people who are taking the TEFL class now, just like I had to do while I was in the course. It's strange to think that that was me just over a month ago. So glad I got a job!

I've made some really awesome friends in some of the teachers at work. A bunch are from California and other parts of the country which will make for a sweet road trip when we're all in the states at the same time. One girl is from Baltimore and vacations at the Delaware beaches (hollerr!!) and another grew up in Lancaster and went to school in West Chester. Small, small world. The past 2 Sundays have been spent at our apartment cooking and watching football and maybe having a few beers. I've made bangin' homemade guacamole and chips (yes, homemade chips!). Maggie and I made amazing curry ginger lentil soup one night and homemade pasta sauce another. This weekend we made chocolate-banana bread and homemade granola. I'm officially on a granola kick and am heading to the market tomorrow to find some more goodies to put in it! It's phenomenal and I can't wait to do it at home.

This Saturday a group of us went to Ollantaytambo for the day. It's a pretty little town in the Sacred Valley about 1.5 hours outside of Cusco. The drive was gorgeous and it felt so good to be in some fresh air, away from the polluted city. We got food at an adorable little cafe where all the proceeds go to charity, then walked around town for a bit until we found stairs that led to a path to some ruins. We didn't go into the Incan ruins because you had to pay, so we hiked to our own where we had a view of the Incan ruins AND our own. It was a nice little hike and as usual we made friends with a dog that led the way. Afterwards, we checked out the market where I bought some earrings for someone and got some more gift ideas. Then, we had dessert at the same cafe and I tried "banoffi pie" for the first time. It's banana-toffee pie and it's delicious and I'm so surprised I've never heard of it! Then it was back on the bus for the long ride home. Sidenote: My camera got stolen on the bus there so I wasn't able to take any pictures, but my friend Maddie did for me so I'll upload them as soon as I can :)

The ruins we hiked to. Stolen from Google. RIP Camera!

Now for the grand finale of stories since my last post....the MSG Pisco Sours....
After our day in Ollantaytambo, we decided to pregame at our apartment with homemade Pisco Sours since our friend Carolina knows how to make them. Pisco is the local liquor that is kind of reminiscent of tequila. A Pisco Sour is: Pisco, lime juice, sugar, ice, and egg whites all blended together. So, we got the ingredients and let Carolina do her thing in the kitchen. We tried the first batch and it was super limey so we added more sugar and Pisco. Still too limey. More sugar. STILL not right. More sugar, more Pisco, and so on. Something was just not right. They were god-awful. Could have been the limes, maybe we bought crappy Pisco, maybe the eggs? NO no....20 minutes into the fiasco, we realize that the sugar we'd bought was NOT sugar. It was MSG. A bag full of MSG which we kept adding and adding and adding to our drinks. OOPS! Huge oops! It was hilarious. And no, we did not drink them. But I had 2 sips of one drink and it was the worst thing that I've ever tasted in my life. I switched to shots of vodka and/or rum after that (of course). Think I'll stick to that!

Miss everyone terribly! Thanks again for all the love and care packages and happy thoughts to get Mom, me, and the rest of the family through her surgery! Love love love<3

Third world problems

I should really be sleeping, but my melatonin hasn't kicked in yet so here I am. The 2nd week of teaching is going better than the first. My students are awesome and funny. It's very rewarding to teach to a class that actually listens and wants to learn the material. They participate, they ask questions, they challenge me. I love it. I've gotten better at lesson planning and actually got most of my week finished up today. Yay! My sleep schedule needs work, but I'm surviving. I'm generally asleep by 12 and up by 5:45am. For those of you who know me well enough, you know that I'm an 8 hour girl (at least) so this is not fun for me. But, if I'm lucky I'll get a 1-2 hour nap during my break...or a shower. Usually it's one or the other. Speaking of showers, I've been making a mental list of things that I miss (and took for granted) in the States.

1. Reliable hot water.
Since moving into my new place, I've had maybe 4 hot showers. Most are lukewarm. The past 2 days however, we haven't had hot water at all. This is why deodorant and perfume were invented! (yes, ew)

2. Drinking water when I want, where I want.
I can't believe there are countries in which there is no such thing as potable drinking water. Having to BOIL water and then let it cool just to have a freaking glass of water is God-awful. Not to mention the ridiculous amount of waste this country must produce from water bottles. NOT a fan. I miss my fridge that gave me cold, delicious water whenever I wanted it.

3. Sanitation.
In Peru, you can't flush toilet paper. You throw your toilet paper in a waste basket next to the toilet. Yes, even in public bathrooms. Just think about that for a second....

4. Food
Sweet Jesus I miss food from home. Things that don't exist or are not the same here include: Peanut butter, cheese, all dairy products, coffee, meat, pizza...I could go on. Seriously, peanut butter costs about $6 a jar and is Peter Pan brand. They don't have JIF. I am dying. And cheese? Forget about it. I think they have 1-2 types of cheese here. Neither are good. Dear cheddar, brie, and feta...I miss you. I also hate the fact that when I buy produce at the market, I have to wash it in water that I had to boil and let cool. Even then, I'm still taking a risk that I'll contract some sort of parasite....

5. Doing my own laundry.
Laundromats don't even exist here. You drop your clothes off and pick them up later or the next day. This means anything that says "handwash" or anything you don't want to ruin...you wash in your own sink. Sweet.

I'll add to this later I'm sure, but for now...everyone appreciate what you've got because there are people in the world living in much worse conditions than even my spoiled American butt can imagine.
Also, if you're feeling generous and want to send care packages, I won't be mad! Peanut butter, nuts, scented candles, and toiletries (all either nonexistent or outrageously priced here) are always appreciated :)

OH! Also, thanks to everyone for the love and support during Mom's surgery & recovery! Such amazing friends and family we have.

Much love<3