peru 2.

Another couple of days down in Peru and it's still wonderful! We've been having a great time continuing to explore Lima, and meeting all kinds of people.

Yesterday we helped out at Megan's school in the morning. It was the last day of school and so they had a field day and we helped to run the relay race. My favorite part of the time there was how well everyone from the school got along. For the field day there were 8 teams and on each of the teams there was at least one person from each grade. It was great seeing the seniors playing with the kindergarteners and loving on each other. The rest of the day we mostly hung out and chilled around town and at the apartment. We tried to go to the ruins near Megan's but by the time we got there they were already closed.

Today was nice initially because we got to sleep in. After that it was fun because two of Megan's students from this year put on a tea party and a show for all of us. They had it all planned for Megan and were kind enough to let us attend. After that we headed to Downtown and saw a cool plaza with a government building. While there we met a couple of guys from Israel who were brothers, and we talked with them for a few minutes. It was interesting because one of them has been traveling around South America and the other is in Lima on business and they were able to meet up with each other. Next we walked down to an old Franciscan church that is now a museum and went on a tour. During that tour we got to go down in the oldest Catacombs in Lima. It was pretty crazy. We saw all kinds of bones and skulls and such. Certainly something that I've never done before! After the tour we hung out for a bit before heading back to Megan's to get ready and go to a goodbye party for a couple of people who are leaving Peru for good to go back to the States. We were at this gathering for a while, and had a good time, but eventually took off for the Barranca district, which is the bohemian type district of Lima. Down there we walked around and ate dinner at this place called "Javier," I think. For dinner I tried something that I'd wanted to have since I saw the Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations: Peru - cebiche. It is basically fish (raw I believe) marinated with citrus juice (mostly lime I think). So anyway I got shrimp cebiche and it was soooooo good! I mean it was seriously good. Probably my favorite dish so far on the trip. I really want to try it with other kinds of fish now. Megan says that she knows a good place so I'll be taking her up on that for sure before we leave. After dinner we walked down towards the ocean cliffs and ended up taking some fun pictures with a slow lens function that I had never done before and I really ended up having a blast and getting some great pictures with it. I really wish that I could put them all up now, but I just can't. Then we did some walking and shopping (I got some earrings) and headed back to the apartment.

That's again all for now. I really don't know when I'm going to get to write again because we leave for Cuzco early monday morning, and I have no idea when, if at all, I'll be on a computer down there. I am getting really excited about it though!
Again, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Adios!

peru 1.

So, I am officially in Peru!!! It is so crazy but so great all at the same time! I'll do a quick run through of our trip so far, because I'm kinda tired and we have an early morning tomorrow.

We arrived yesterday around 3pm Peru time which was 1pm California time. Megan met us at the airport and we grabbed a taxi to her place in the Miraflores district of Lima. The first thing that really stood out about Lima was the traffic. It is ridiculous down here. There are all these little cars racing around honking their horns and people running out in front of them crossing the street. I think the sounds that will stick with me most from this trip is the noise of the city. It's literally all car engines, horns, and brakes. On the drive I took a number of videos that I hope to compile together when I'm back in the States. I hope it turns out well. So once at the apartment (on the 4th floor of a nice building) we basically got settled and hung out a bit before hitting the city. For dinner we walked down to the ocean to this mall that is cut out of the side of the cliffs. It's super touristy but its okay because we are tourists and already stand out. There we at this roasted chicken with french fries. In case you didn't know, potatoes and other root vegetables are a staple of Peruvian food so at almost every meal you eat french fries or fried sweet potatoes or this similar veggie called yuca. After dinner and enjoying the area we walked back to Megan's by way of the grocery store. The grocery store is much like the roads - nuts! Which reminds me that when you walk in Lima you do not have the right of way. You basically have to wait until the cars have gone before you cross or they honk at you and almost run you over. It was nerve wracking at first, but oddly enough I'm getting more used to it and somewhat bold. Once back at Meg's we were basically dead so we went to bed.

Today was a really good day, our first full day here. We slept in until around 11am and got ready and headed down to Megan's school, where she had been teaching that morning. We arrived in time for the awards ceremony for all the grades. That may seem like a lot but it's much smaller than you'd think. It did however take about 2 and a half hours. I must admit I got bored but at the very end some teachers got pies in the face and that was quite amusing. After that we all walked over to a place called Pasqualles (I think) and had some really yummy sandwiches. Nat and I got this one called Lomo Pasqualle, which is beef and avocado, with grilled onions and peppers. So good. With only a little time we decided to go to the Inca Market, which is basically a really touristy market. To get there we took a bus. The buses here are nothing like what I am used to. They're basically large vans. When we got on there were hardly any seats left so I ended up on this bench type seat right behind the drive sitting backwards. I thought I was going to fall on my face but luckily I didn't and the ride wasn't far. The market itself was pretty cool but I didn't get anything yet. There is so much that it's really overwhelming. I did start to get ideas for what I'm going to buy for people, and I really love to do that so it'll be fun when I actually start buying. Some of it I may wait on until we are in Cuzco or after we come back. So after the market Megan had to go back to school for the seniors graduation, and Cathy wasn't feeling so hot (she's Megan's friend who got here a week before us and had been sick the 3 days before we got here), so Nat, Tim and I took off for the ocean again. This time we went a different way and walked along the coast for a while and got some great pictures. We came back another way that we knew and hit the same grocery again for some ground coffee for in the morning. Then we came back to Megan's where we've spent the last 2 hours hanging out and talking.

Now it's bed time and while this was longer than I intended it should give you a good idea of our trip so far. We'll still be in Lima for a few days so you'll probably be getting some more updates soon. Wish I could put some of my pictures up, but you'll just have to wait for those! Keep thinking of us and I'll write more soon.

pre-peru 2.

Alright, well... I'm all packed. Mostly that is. I have a couple of things that I'm still using that I'll pack not long before I leave. I'm really proud of myself with my packing. I got a new rolling duffle bag thing and that is filled with stuff but not packed to the brim and (I believe) under 50lbs. I didn't have any trouble lifting it like I have with other bags that have been over 50. Just in case I do have a smaller bag packed in it that I can put stuff in if I need to. I'd rather not, but better safe than sorry. I'll be using that bag for sure though when we are going around in country. In addition to my big duffle I packed my backpack for on the plane and it is surprisingly light and efficiently packed as well. This is probably the least amount of stuff that I've ever taken on a plane before. I could potentially be notorious for overpacking and over carrying-on but not this time. I'm way proud of myself.

Well, I'll be leaving for the airport in about 2 hours. Goodness that is coming up quickly. I hadn't realized that it was soooo soon. I've still got to take a shower, eat dinner, and hopefully watch the last disc of Robin Hood season 1. If it's only got a couple of episodes on it then I might make it. If not then I guess that I'll be getting it again on Netflix when I get back. That will probably be the case. In fact I may get the last 2 discs again cause it was really good and I didn't get to watch a couple of the commentaries and such that I normally would like to watch if I had more time. And really I did have enough time to watch all of them (I've had them for like 2 weeks) but I started too late. Ah well, live and learn.

According to my Facebook countdown I will be taking off for Peru in 6 hours and 44 minutes and some change in seconds. Exciting and frightening. All at the same time.
Please keep us in your prayers and check back again!

pre-peru.

Tomorrow night at this time I will be completing the final stages of packing for my trip to Peru. It feels crazy that I'm on the verge of taking my first trip out of the country, and I still have a TON left to do! I ran a whole bunch of errands today so my list of things to actually get is really short now (there may not actually be anything left on it), but I still have to gather everything and hopefully not forget any of it. Though, if I do forget something it's not going to be a big deal because I'm sure that Megan will have whatever I need. That's the great thing about going visiting a place where a friend lives and also by going with 3 other people someone is bound to have whatever i forget.

The last two weeks have been pretty good. I made two trips to SLO to help move Nat back for the summer. They were both equally fun. The most recent one was a few days ago. While up there I saw the new Chronicles of Narnia movie ("Prince Caspian" if you're living under a rock), and absolutely loved it! Hmm... I think I already wrote about the first trip, now that I've thought about it. I also applied for one job and didn't get it. Which is okay because in all honesty I don't think that it was the thing for me. It would have been nice to get, but I had this feeling that I wasn't going to get it and that it's not what I am supposed to be doing. Now if only I can figure out what I'm supposed to be doing.. that would make things a LOT easier. Eventually my friends, eventually.

Soooo... Here is the deal. I will be in Peru for two weeks (June 18 to July 2), and for the most part I'm going to be disconnected from the world of technology/internet. I'm not bringing my cell phone or computer on the trip (for the first time since I got either of them). But while in Lima I will have access to Megan's computer, and there is the possibility of going to an internet cafe while in our other locations. Now to the point - I am planning on writing a couple of blogs about being down in Peru while there so check back often in the next two weeks and you may be lucky enough to read one of my updates.

That's pretty much it as far as info I've got to put in. If you could pray for us and keep us in your thoughts while we're on the trip we would greatly appreciate that. See you all when we get back!

quite a month.

June has arrived (the month not my mother), and it will be exciting! In exactly 2 weeks I will be sitting in the Los Angeles International Airport awaiting the departure of my plane headed to Peru (by way of El Salvador). It will be my first time out of this country and I can't be more excited!!! We still have a TON left to do, and a lot of questions to ask Megan before we leave, but it will be amazing. I don't know how to prepare myself fully for it either, because, like I said, this is a first. Though I'm not sure that you can ever prepare yourself fully for any trip you go on. There are many unknowns in everything. Oh life.

Speaking of unknowns, I am still jobless and have really only applied for one thing. I'm hoping that I get it because it would be great on many levels, but I'm not confident in the fact that I will be getting it. There are some people who think that I will get it, and even more that just hope I do, but I haven't been able to jump on that band wagon yet. I really do need to get looking at more jobs and applying for at least a couple more before I leave for Peru. Woo Peru! (I can't get over it!)

Currently my life consists of not doing a whole lot. Before, when I was actually working, I felt like I didn't do a whole lot but was in fact always busy with something (Zoey, or track, or something else). Now I'm really not doing a whole lot. I've been spending quite a bit of time on my computer doing nothing productive, watching a fair amount of TV (yay DVR and Netflix), and listening to a lot of music. While I'm still on my mission to listen to all the music that is currently in my iTunes (and in fact working on that as I now type), I have been listening to a lot of my new favorite band called Kaiser Chiefs. I had heard of them before (they sing the song "I Predict A Riot" which was quite popular a couple of years ago), but I rediscovered them and I actually really like their new album. It's in constant rotation in my truck and more often than not on my computer.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of going up to SLO and spending a couple of days hanging out while helping Nat get packed up and helping her move back here. It was good times. We watched the first season of "Flight of the Conchords" which is awesome and EVERYONE needs to watch. It's brilliant. Really. It's also really nice having Nat back in Ventura. It's good to have someone to hang out with.

Tomorrow should be an interesting day. I'm going to get my haircut and while I want it done I've got some apprehension about it. Last August I got it cut by an old friend who works at a nice salon here and I absolutely hated it. Sure it was cute and I got a load of compliments but it was SUPER short, difficult to do anything with, and grew out poorly. After five months of waiting it was still on the short side when I had it cut again. That was February when I got it cut again by someone who I completely trust with my hair. The only bummer about going to her was that she worked at a salon in Malibu. The sacrifice was worth it though. So today when I called to make an appointment in Malibu I was startled to find out that the gal down there was no longer working there. I didn't inquire further, but it did bum me out. In order to get my hair done this week I decided to go for it and go to the gal who cut my hair in August. I got in for tomorrow, and have formulated a plan as to what to say and to be as specific as possible so that I get what I want. I can't have a repeat of August. So keep your fingers crossed for me.

I suppose that's it really. Woo for Peru! (again, and again, and again)