jaime in the world.

lima…whoo.

i’ve been a complete mess this entire week.

last night was maiken’s birthday dinner at her house in urubamba. i had to say goodbye to adria, thom, tom, kim, and rose. it was really hard.

this morning i woke up at 7:30am to shower before naomi, carly, and gabi came over to help me pack and be ready for my taxi to pick me up at 9am. packing everything up was really weird and it didn’t hit me until i saw my suitcase being carried down the stairs by my friends. everyone was waiting for me when i walked downstairs, and i completely broke down when i handed my keys to my host mom. saying goodbye to everyone, including gabi who didn’t come with naomi, carly, and me to cuzco, was one of the hardest things i’ve ever had to do. i love my host family so much, and our goodbye came so fast, i didn’t want to leave.

i cried the entire way to cuzco with my head on naomi’s shoulder. i’m crying right now as i’m typing this. as scared as i was to come to peru in the first place, there’s no part of me that wants to go home right now.

when we got to cuzco, we went to the cheap hostel so i could store my luggage until i had to leave for the airport. we went to the hospital to see katy and her parents. apparently, katy is really ill again but the hospital won’t admit her again because insurance won’t cover her. she had to leave and go to the hotel with her parents, but the doctor was scheduled to come see her at the hotel tonight. i wrote letters for katy, naomi, and carly, and naomi wrote one for me, so we all read them at the same time and all broke down into tears…me being the worst, of course. carly had to leave then, because she had to be home in time for lunch. again, saying goodbye to her was so hard.

katy, her parents, naomi and i left the hospital together and walked around the corner to their hotel. we spent a few minutes in the hotel room before it was time for me to leave and say goodbye to katy, which was so freaking sad. by this point, my eyes were probably as big as my hands, they were so swollen. we promised to stay in contact, have weekly phone calls, and then naomi and i left. we said goodbye to katy’s parents outside and naomi and i left for the hostel to get my stuff and then head for the airport. 

my suitcase looked like a monster in the front seat of the taxi, but the two of us were able to fit with my other bag in the back quite comfortably. when we got to the airport, naomi waited for me with my backpack while i checked in. because i got there really early, they were able to upgrade me to an earlier flight [which ended up giving me a window seat…sweet]. when i was done, i found her talking to marie, hannah, and a new girl whose name i don’t remember. they had just said goodbye to nura. they told me that i would be on the same flight as her, which made me really happy. i said goodbye to them, and then broke down all over again when i had to say goodbye to naomi. it took me somewhere around ten minutes to finally walk away from her. i was so upset then, and i’m so upset now, i don’t know what to do with myself.

when i got to my gate, i found nura reading her book, and sat down in front of her. she was really surprised to see me, but seemed happy, as well. we talked about our time here until it was time for us to board. 

the flight was really upsetting. shocker. i listened to my ipod the whole way, and every song that seemed to come up on shuffle was just another song that reminded me of peru or someone in peru, or a song that we heard IN peru. the flight to lima is only an hour, though, so it went by pretty fast.

when i got off and hit baggage claim, i wasn’t sure whether i was supposed to pick up my bags or not, so i called maiken who was already at the airport [she left today, too, and our layovers in lima overlapped]. she told me to check to see if my bags were there, because she picked hers up. nura met up with me again there, and we both waited to see if ours came out, which they ended up not doing. when we went upstairs to meet up with maik at starbucks, we ended up figuring out that she picked hers up because she would be changing airlines, and we wouldn’t be. nura went off to go find some food, while i stayed here with maiken. it was really good to have a frappuccino, but it wasn’t taking the pain away as much as i would’ve liked it to.

i notice that i’m sounding really depressed and completely exaggerated right now, but trust me, today was one of the saddest days i’ve had in a really long time. i don’t know what i’m going to do when i get home.

i’m still here, sitting in starbucks, but by myself now. maiken left about an hour ago, and AGAIN, it was another sad goodbye. skyping with ramon is definitely helping [thank you!], but i know as soon as i sit down on my next plane, it’s gonna come over me again. hopefully, i’ll be able to fall asleep, as it’s an over-night flight.

i’ve come up with some highlights of my trip to peru, i hope you enjoy:

- i used a towel without washing it for six weeks

- i met some of the greatest people i’ve ever known

- i’ve gotten over my fear or using a pen without the cap placed on top of it

- my spanish is the best it’s ever been…ever

- i survived three parasites, and salmonella/typhoid

- i’ve lost some weight and have been sunburned four times

- i’ve been to my second world wonder, machu picchu, and planned the trip on my own

- i have two new families

as corny as it is, the whole “don’t be sad it’s over, be happy it happened” thing is making a lot of sense right now. but, it’s hard to actually put into play. i know, i’ll be okay, and i know that with time, my feelings will most likely change, but i’m allowed to be sad right now. as much as i don’t want to go home, i am definitely excited to see all of the people that i’ve missed so much, especially toby.

until my next travels, my lovely readers. it’s been a blast C:

emotional rollercoaster

most of this week has been exactly what the title of this post is. with being angry all the time at projects abroad, having so much fun with everyone here in cuzco, but also being extremely sad about leaving soon, it’s been really tiring.

after writing my feedback on thursday night when tess gave it to me, come friday morning, when naomi and i went up to the office to get some things for katy and to sort other things out, tess and yessi attacked me for “exaggerating things,” and “failing to mention things” on my feedback form. FIRST OF ALL, it’s a feedback for a reason. not every time that someone writes one, does it mean that everything on there is going to make them look good. SECOND OF ALL, they had no right to call me out on ANYthing that i wrote or would’ve written BECAUSE it’s a feedback. it’s my private feelings about my experiences here in peru with the organization, and they need to accept whatever it is i write down. and what i did write down wasn’t written just because i wanted to “make them look bad.” IT’S THERE FOR A REASON. UGH! the worst part about everything that has happened with projects abroad, is that they fail to take any credit or accept any responsibility for how they’ve screwed up. they ACTUALLY think that they haven’t done anything wrong.

after our scene in the office, and after them making naomi completely break down in front of them, they acted like nothing had happened and gave us lunch and everything. that’s exactly what i’m talking about when they think they’ve done nothing wrong. the whole thing was really manipulative, and i didn’t like it at all. and when tess said that even though she thinks what she thinks, she was still going to send it in and not change anything on it. I WOULD HOPE SO, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. if she wasn’t the one who should be reading it, she shouldn’t have read it and discussed it with others in the first place. SGHJKAJGSKGHUCASFKSG!!!!!!!!

anyway, on a lighter note, we all had a really great time in cuzco last night. we all met up at loki for the last time [even though we didn’t stay there], but we drank and ate there before going to norton’s bar to hang out some more. after we went to inka team, and danced for a few hours. my friend sara, who lives in pisac, had never been out with us before, but she was in cuzco and was with us the whole time, which was really nice. i love that girl. we left at 2:30am to go back to the hostel where we all fell asleep immediately. lionel came back to the room at 7am and woke everyone up to ask where his bag was. it was really funny when he went up to naomi, who was obviously sleeping, and asked her for a camera because he wanted to take a picture of me while i was sleeping. i guess i looked really funny or something…shocker. we went back to sleep when he left again, and woke up at 8:30am to get ready to go to the bagel cafe for breakfast with everyone. i ended up getting out of bed at around 9am to prove to everyone that i could get ready in five minutes or less. WHICH i did. when we walked towards the plaza, there was, yet again, another celebration going on with dancers and music and everything. just picture a big parade. we ended up getting caught in the middle of it, but eventually were able to get out and head towards calle procuradores, commonly known as “drug street” between the volunteers. it’s not even a real street, it’s just a small alley/walkway where there are always dealers that come up to you saying things like, “marijuana, amiga?” or “massage, marijuana, cocaine, happy ending?” sometimes it’s really funny what they’ll say to you. but the bagel cafe is up that walkway so they always recognize us and say “my friend, good deal!”

the bagel cafe opens at 8am on weekdays. we got there at 9:10am and no one was there yet. it was such a big dissapointment, but as soon as we sat down to wait, someone appeared with a huge plastic bag of bagels and three more followed behind her. we ordered right away [i got the yankee breakfast: bagel with spread of choice, two american pancakes, and a juice of your choice], and were served maybe ten minutes later.

after breakfast, we walked around and ran some errands that naomi, carly, and gabi needed to do. now we’re back at the hospital with maiken and rose waiting for katy and naomi to get back from katy’s scan.

it’s completely surreal to me that i’m getting on a plane to come home tomorrow. i feel like i’m still going to be here for another three months and that i’m not leaving at all. what’s good about tomorrow is that maiken and i are leaving on the same day, and even though we don’t have the same cuzco-lima flights, we both have long layovers in lima, so we’ll get to hang out for a while and soak in our sadness together. i know i sound really pathetic, but if you haven’t been here and experienced what i have, you will never understand how i’m feeling right now. i’ll probably be in the airport tomorrow talking more about all of this, so i’ll leave that until then.

trouble

so, i’m in the hospital with katy, waiting for naomi and tess to get back from the airport with katy’s parents.

when naomi and i got to the hospital this morning, we both showered and tidied up the room a little bit. we got a phone call from the british embassy [who has been on our side, helping katy’s parents throughout their trip], informing us that they would be boarding their flight soon and would be arriving in cuzco on time at 11:55am [their early flight was switched]. the nurse then came in and told katy that she needed to shower before the doctor and her parents came. so, she went in and came out looking the same as she did when she went in. she claimed that she had washed her body, but not her hair, and the nurse wouldn’t take that. i think the main reason for why she wanted katy to wash her hair wasn’t for hygiene purposes, but for looks. so that she would look better when her parents get here, even though katy knows that her parents wouldn’t care if her hair was washed or not. katy said she wasn’t going to wash her hair because the shower was way too cold, so the nurse brought her a bucket of warm water. i told katy that she should just get in the shower and wash her hair, and then i’d help her to rinse it with the warm water, which is exactly what we did.

now we’re still waiting for them to get back, and katy has just told me that the british embassy has urged katy’s parents to sue projects abroad for what has happened, and to take the story to the national papers. when i heard this, i sat up to look at her and said “i have to blog about this.” i knew it was a big deal, and that it was as if they were literally playing around with katy’s health and life, but i didn’t know it was THAT big of a deal! now that i think about it more, yeah, i wouldn’t blame katy’s parents if that’s what they decide to do.

sidenote: so in cuzco, like most big cities, has a lot of beggars on the streets and in the plazas. most just sit there asking for money, while others have signs, and others play music. the society that i’ve grown up in has taught me to ignore people like this, which i’m guilty of doing. an interesting thought that naomi brought up this morning was that she says she tried to ignore them because she figures that they try to target tourists, which would make sense, since there are tourists everywhere you look in cuzco. but what’s even more interesting to me is that the only people who i’ve ever seen give money to these unfortunate people are in fact, peruvians. while we were at breakfast, sitting on a balcony over looking the main plaza, i watched a man on the street with crutches and a sign. almost every single peruvian that walked past him dropped something in his cup that was at his feet. no one that i assumed was a tourist [because of their appearance, obviously] even acknowledged that he was there.

whoops! gotta go, katy’s parents just got here! more later!

B U L L S H I T

WE ARE ABSOLUTELY FED UP!!!!!!!!!!

this morning, when naomi and i got back to the hospital from our hostel, some man came into our room and told us he was a company working with our travel insurance. he said he would be arranging katy’s flight to lima, which we knew nothing about and we suddenly became completely confused. no one had told us that they had changed their mind and now were flying katy up to lima for use of better facilities. they said that they had arranged a private plane for her [she won’t be allowed on a commercial plane because of her illness], and that it would waiting for us and leaving at 2:15pm. we talked to the doctor who said that the insurance company wasn’t happy with how they were treating katy here at the hospital in cuzco, so that’s why they would be transferring her. as much of a hassle it was going to be to fly up to lima, we quickly arranged our things and got ready to leave. the man said that there was room on the plane for both naomi and me, but naomi had no passport with her so was worried that she wouldn’t be able to come. we ended up figuring that it would be okay for her to fly there without it on the plane, but it would be hard to come back without it, so i would bring it to lima with me on my way back home on sunday. the man from earlier told us that we would be picked up by an ambulance at 1:30pm to be taken to the airport.

3pm - still waiting. no one showed up, so i called the man from earlier who said that they were having problems with the insurance company. he told me that the insurance company had called him and said that they were having problems with projects abroad and katy’s insurance information, so they had cancelled the flight and would no longer be supporting katy. by this point, the three of us were fuming for a few reasons:

1 - had i not called the man from earlier, when would they have called us to inform us that the flight was cancelled?

2 - projects abroad has been nothing but crap since we got typhoid last week, and since katy has contracted meningitis. they claim that they provide 24-hour support and have made up bullshit excuses for why they can’t provide help or even a face at the hospital.

3 - katy’s parents have flown out to peru, but while they were in lima waiting for their flight to cuzco, they were told to wait for us in lima because we were coming. so, now they’ve missed their flight to cuzco and will not be seeing us today. 

so, now we’re sitting here in the same hospital, in the same room watching harry potter. katy’s parents were able to get another flight to cuzco for early tomorrow morning, through the british embassy in peru. 

i’m so fed up with projects abroad - we all are. they are in desperate need of some changes and new policies, especially while they’re claiming something and not following through with it. i believe that projects abroad is a good organization, but the peru office is really screwed up.

bittersweet

tuesday, may 4th, 10:12pm - still in the hospital

katy’s doing much better! she had her lumbar puncture early this morning and all of her other tests are coming back with good results. her parents are flying here and will be landing in cuzco tomorrow afternoon. she has to stay here for at least four more days before she’ll be able to fly home to recover from her illness. naomi and i are still both here with her, just hanging out. tess stops by once in a while, and has been surprisingly helpful these past couple of days…

I DON’T WANT TO GO HOME. i leave THIS sunday, and it feels like i just got here. i can’t believe i’ve been here for almost a full three months. it seems like one big, messy dream. naomi, carly, and i were talking the other day about how when we go back, all we’re going to want to do is talk about peru and all the amazing stories we have, but no one will ever completely understand what we experienced, and everyone will only want to hear so much.

every summer when i come back home from my two-week trip to panama, i’m a mess. i cry at the airport, i cry at the next airport, i cry on the way home, and i cry for a week after. i can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like when i get back home from peru. and when i get back from panama, it’s easy to get together with our group because we all live in the same town. ALL OF MY CLOSEST FRIENDS HERE LIVE IN EUROPE [besides my bostonian, adria! but even that’s a flight away]. the chances that we’ll all be together in the same place again are so unlikely, it’s depressing. hopefully our reunion in london this august will carry out as planned!

banana cake hot springs.

some quick sidenotes:

- i realize that it’s been over two weeks since i’ve written a post, but some stuff has happened recently that has postponed not only my posting, but my writing everything down, so again, things are kind of a blur.

- we’ve switched cafes! the yellow chairs were mysteriously put away one night, so we went around the corner to an inside cafe called camelot, and it ended up being even better than the yellow chairs for a few reasons: it’s always empty besides us, the owner is so nice and let’s us call him “coco,” the coffee is 10x better and coco makes awesome cakes.

- I COME HOME IN A WEEK FROM SUNDAY…WHAT???

back to post:

when i got back from the hostel on friday night around midnight, i went straight to bed. i couldn’t sleep at all, but was starting to fall asleep around 3:30am. katy, naomi, carly, and hannah all came in around 4am back from their night out, trying to be super quiet so they wouldn’t wake me up. they talked and made noise for about half an hour, and progressively got louder. i pretended like i was asleep the whole time until they all got into their beds and said goodnight to each other, and i joined in and said “night.” they laughed and talked for about another twenty minutes. katy was the worst, though. there was a point where everyone was quiet and i thought everyone was done, when she randomly asked what i had eaten for dinner that night. it was unfortunate that i didn’t get enough sleep that night, but it was fun.

i woke up on monday morning at 7am, packed, and got ready to leave. i was set to be picked up by the travel agency’s taxi at 7:30, but the driver didn’t come until 8am. typical peru! i wasn’t bothered that much by it, though, because i ran into kimmie, celine, judith, marcy, and sabrina, and they gave me some of their bread which ended up being my breakfast. the taxi driver was really young, and really funny. he joked about the bungee jumping place in cuzco, and claimed that they say if you go naked, you go for free. the ride to ollantaytambo was two hours, but because we talked a lot of the way, it seemed like it was only 30 minutes. in ollantaytambo, i waited for the inca rail bus to take me to the train station in piscacucho. the driver waited with me for a while and bought us both coffee, which i thought was really nice. when he left, i waited a little longer before i got on the bus. there were only seven of us on the bus ride: a group of four, a couple, and me. the ride was about 40 minutes, but it was nice being next to the river the whole way. when we got to piscacucho, the guides in the parking lot split us up into two groups according to which train coach our assigned seats were in: D or E. i was in D, and we went first down the pathway to the train. when we boarded, the train was way nicer than i thought it would be. it was the classic design for groups of four, so every seat faced another seat. i was seat 10 next to the window, and there was a french couple across from me. they didn’t talk much, and i didn’t know if they spoke any english or not, so i decided not to say anything. the 90 minute ride to aguascalientes [the town below machu picchu], felt like a ride at disneyland. the train didn’t go that fast, and we were pretty much in the jungle, so it felt like the jungle cruise a little bit! what i was not expecting at all was for the inca rail staff to come down the aisle with snacks and drinks for everyone. i guess that’s standard for a train ride [well, i don’t really know that], or a plane ride, but i think after being here in peru for almost three months now, i’ve been accustomed to different ways of doing things. don’t get me wrong, i’m not complaining or anything, it was nice to have that brownie, but it was just a little surprise. when we arrived at the train station in aguascalientes, i walked outside to meet the man from my hotel with a card with my name on it. we walked the two blocks up the pathway past the art market, and across a swaying bridge to the wiracocha inn. it was a good-sized hotel, but it seemed completely empty, and as if i was the only guest at that time. the man who picked me up was also the only guy working at reception, so i checked in with him, and we took the two flights of stairs to my room. i also wasn’t expecting to have two beds and my own bathroom when he opened the door. i unpacked my backpack and went straight to bed. after not getting sleep the night before, and after all that switching of modes of transportation, i was in much need for a nap. i could hear the loud river down below, but i fell right asleep, and it wasn’t a problem at all. when my alarm woke me up at 3:30pm, i decided to try and see if they had wi-fi at the hotel. i went downstairs to ask, and the guy told me that because of everything that had happened earlier this year, their internet had been cut off. i asked where the nearest internet cafe was, and he told me that it was in the plaza next to the cathedral. i got my things ready to leave and started the walk down to the plaza, when i turned the corner and found another cafe, and went their instead. because aguascalientes is such a touristy-town, an hour at an internet cafe is 4x the price it is anywhere else in peru. in calca, and even in cuzco, one nuevo sol will get you an hour on the internet. in aguascalientes, it’s only worth 15 minutes. i ended up paying four soles for an hour, anyway, and then decided to go back to the hotel to take a shower, when gabi called me. she said her group was going to go to the hot springs there because the water had been cut off and no one could shower, so i told her i would just come meet up with her at her hostel before they left, since i didn’t even bring a bathing suit with me. we had no idea where each other’s hostels were, so we decided to meet at the bottom of the town, at the cathedral. it was so great when we saw each other, like machu picchu was ACTUALLY about to happen. anyway, the walk back up was SO hard. it’s even harder to breathe in aguascalientes, so any walk seems 3x as hard. we discovered that our hostels were really close, and that their’s was across from the internet cafe i had been in earlier. how gabi, yann, jasper, and the rest of their jungle trek group ended up on the fourth floor, i’m not too sure. i felt sorry for them that they had to climb all of those stairs after their three days of extreme hiking. when gabi and i got up to their room, yann and jasper were both laying down on their beds, and they looked completely worn out. the last time i had seen jasper was maybe a month ago, and he had grown a full head-strap beard, which definitely threw me back for a second. gabi showed me all of her pictures from the previous days and they were so cool! i wish i could’ve done something similar, but i knew i wouldn’t have made it. after they got ready to go and left for the hot springs, i went back to my hostel for a little and then back to the internet cafe. gabi called me when they got back and i met up with them at their hostel again for dinner at 7pm at the restaurant right next door. the tourist menu was 15 soles and included a soup, a dish, and a dessert. i ordered mushroom cream coup, split my alpaca with yann, and a chocolate pancake. the pancake was such a disappointment to everyone, though. it was maybe half a slice. after dinner, yann, gabi, and i went to a supermarket nearby to stock up on water and snacks for the big day. we bought bread, cheese, ham, oreos, ritz crackers, pringles, and water. after we left the market, we all went straight for our hostels to get some rest. part of their jungle trek was to wake up at 3am and to climb the thousands of steps to get to the entrance of machu picchu. i later learned that that was the hardest part of their trip, and they all agreed. anyway, when i got back to my room, i showered, put my camera battery in it’s charger, and went right to bed. i think it might have been excitement, but i hardly got any sleep that night. i had set my alarm for 4:30am so i could pack and be downstairs by 5am for breakfast. when i went downstairs, all the lights were still off and no one was down there, but there was a table set up for eight people. i didn’t know if i should just go in the kitchen and get my own food, or if i should wait. eventually, the woman who i had seen the day before came out and started to put food on the table for me. she was so sweet, and really made the hotel feel more like a home. i left my backpack at reception and left with my camera case, small purse, and massive water bottle around 5:15am to walk down to the early buses. when i got down there, there was already a massive line to get on the buses. i had told gabi and everyone that i would meet them up there, at the entrance, at 6am. i was worried that i woudn’t get up there in time, but i eventually got on a bus at around 5:35am. the ride up was incredible. it was super foggy outside, but every corner we turned going up the mountain just excited me even more. when we got to the top, it looked kind of like an amusement park entryway. i saw jasper in the smoking area, but no gabi and yann, so i figured they had gone inside already. i showed my ticket and passport and went inside. i really didn’t know what to expect when i got inside and started walking, i didn’t even know where i was going, i just followed everyone else. by the time i climbed a flight of stone stairs, i got to what i think was a lookout point, but it was so foggy, i could hardly see what was in front of me. i asked someone to take a picture of me, anyway. i walked on a little bit until i came to a point where i could go up or down, and then left or right. i freaked out for a second and decided to walk back to where i had come from, when gabi called me. she said she had just got inside and her group was getting ready for her tour. i told her to meet me when she got inside and up the stairs. because they had a guided tour, i didn’t want to stay too close to her, but i kind of followed them around until i got lost. when you think of machu picchu, well, at least when i did, i would always picture that classic, google image of the entire site. i had no idea that there was so much more to see, and that i would feel like i was walking through a labyrinth while i was there. i also had a guided tour set up for me at 10:30am, but i ended up not going because it was so nice to just walk around and explore on my own. i ran into so many awesome spots that morning where no one else was, i seriously felt like i was on national geographic or something. the first best part of the day was probably once the fog started to clear out, but not completely. i was on the far right side of machu picchu by now, and i was looking out to maybe six or seven ENORMOUS mountains that were playing hide-and-seek with the fog and the sun. it was so amazing to me that there was only one other woman sitting nearby looking out at the mountains. you could see the urubamba river down below us, but the best part was that we could even hear it from how high up we were. i came around to the middle area and ended up in the main “plaza” where all the llamas hang out. i went down a flight of stairs and walked to the other side to go to what is called “las tres ventanas,” or “the three windows.” while i was up there looking out at the mountains from the left side at around 11am, i got a call from gabi asking where i was and telling me to meet her at the “llama place.” so i sort of walked out to the other side of the platform to look out onto the plaza again and from so far away, yann saw me and gabi waved. the acoustics in the plaza are so fantastic, that i could hear gabi’s voice as well as i could through the phone held up to my ear. i walked down the winding path to go meet them for lunch on a grassy terrace by some llamas. it was actually really nice and another great part of the day. i sat with them until they had to leave at 12pm to meet up to climb wayna picchu, one of the small mountains. jasper then met up with me and sat there with me for maybe another hour or so. he told me that he didn’t climb it this time because he would wait for his dad to come in august, so they could go together, and it would be something new that he hadn’t done yet. they had been done with their tour for some time now, but jasper kind of filled me in on some interesting things that their tour guide had talked about. when they were done, gabi and yann met up with us again and we decided to go try and find some more water since we were all out. outside of machu picchu is a small bar area where it’s $12 for a tall glass of water and $25 for a hamburger. NO, THANKS. their tour guide had told them that down the road a little, there was a nother small restaurant where we could get some cheap food and water. we walked in and were literally the only foreigners there. everyone stared at us and gave us looks like “what the hell are you doing here?” yann tried to get them to sell us a water bottle from the packs that they had stacked up by the wall, but they wouldn’t sell. on our way out, i pointed out the sign that said “comedor oficial de los trabajadores,” or “workers’ dining hall.” did we feel like idiots on our walk back out? yes, indeed. we ended up going back to the bar area where we got three glasses of water to share between the four of us. we looked at a map and decided what we still wanted to do and what we hadn’t seen yet. they decided to go to the inca bridge and the sun temple which were really far away, so i decided to stay back and just take in the sight. i ended up going to the famous look-out place where those google images are taken from, but then walked a little farther to the left where you could actually see more than from the watchtower. there were four or five massive terraces that i could choose from, but i ended up chosing the second from the top to sit down on and just chill. i sat there for maybe twenty minutes before i saw gabi, yann, and jasper running down the stairs to my left. they didn’t know i was there, so i yelled “why are you running!?” i think i kind of scared them, but they walked back up to where i was sitting and gabi and i took some pictures together. they told me that i should go to the inca bridge because it’s only a fifteen minute walk and not that bad, but i ended up staying in the same spot for another two hours. it was so nice just to sit there looking out, not worrying about anything, it was almost like a dream. i definitely had a moment with nature, and didn’t want it to end. the llamas from earlier had moved up to where i was so i got some awesome pictures of them. at one point, one llama came and sat right next to me for a few minutes. at maybe 3:30pm, i heard my name being called by gabi from somewhere down below, and i saw her poke her head out from behind a massive stone. she waved and asked me what i was doing. i replied, “the same thing i’ve been doing since you last saw me.” i saw them walk off, looking as small as ants, and then disappear into the stone ruins again. i sat there for another 30 minutes until i decided that it was time to go. i left half an hour before closing time, at 4:30pm. i had been there for 11 hours, and still hadn’t seen everything, but i was completely content with what i had done and what i did get to see and experience. on my way out, i asked a man to take a last picture of me in front of the entire site, and it ended up being the best picture of the day. i went outside to get another glass of water and then boarded a bus to start the trip back down. once we got back down, i headed straight for the hotel to get my stuff and then went back to the internet cafe to kill the time before my train left. when it was time for me to go, i paid, and started the five minute walk to the train station, where i showed my ticket and entered the waiting room. i got some coffee and crackers and waited until we were allowed to board. i had a similar seat next to the window for the ride back, and sat across from two friends from texas. one had been working in lima, and her friend came down for a visit. the train ride back was not as pleasant as the ride there because we were going uphill this time, and the engine had to work twice as hard. we were stopped a few times for technical reasons, but eventually got back to piscacucho station. i got on another transfer bus back to ollantaytambo where another taxi from my travel agency would be picking me up and taking me back home to calca. of course, when we all got off the bus, there were only three taxis there, and i didn’t see my name or recognize anyone. once everyone had left, there was one taxi left that ended up being my taxi. i should’ve asked around, but there was no name card like there was at the beginning of my trip, so that’s why i didn’t even think twice about it. anyway, the taxi drove the two hours back to calca and i got back inside my house around 11pm. the whole trip felt like a dream, especially because it all happened so fast, from the booking with the agency and lucking out like i did, to the actual day at machu picchu. but all in all, it was one of the most amazing things i’ve ever done.

i ended up calling in sick to work the next day because of a massive headache, i think from sun exposure and not drinking enough water. that night we all met up at camelot and had a really great night. it was yann’s last night in calca, which was really sad, but we managed to still laugh and mess around like we always do. most people left and went home early, but yann, naomi, kaise, carly, lionel, and i stayed behind for a while longer. we walked carly home when we left, and then yann walked with naomi and i to the bus terminal, which is up the street from our houses. we said out goodbyes to yann and took some last-minute pictures. i think the worst part about being here is having to say goodbye to all of these amazing people that we’ve met from all over the world. and BECAUSE they’re from all over the world, the chances that we’ll all be in the same place, together again, are highly unlikely.

the rest of that week is kind of a blur, but i do remember celebrating hannah’s birthday at the yellow chairs with katy, fleur, sara, ellen, and miguel. we bought her a little cake and had some popsicles because it was so hot that day. she told us about how she was involved in an armed robbery in peru like it was nothing, but we were all so shocked to hear what happened. she had been at the conservation project in the jungle before she had come to live in pisac, and to get here, they had to take the panamerican transit way thing [i don’t know what to call it], and i guess there had been armed robberies on and off in that area, and they happened to get caught in one. thank god nothing happened to any of them, and that nothing was stolen from them, but when hannah told us that she had a gun to her head, we all sat there in complete disbelief. she says that now she can almost laugh about it because she had a 50 soles note in her pocket, and 7 soles in change. they took her 7 soles, but left the 50 and left everything valuable of theirs that was in their bus. they were obviously looking for something or someone else, and thankfully let them go, but i still can’t imagine what that must’ve been like.

adria, who had been on vacation for about a month with friends and her parents, made a special trip to work on tuesday that week with her parents, and her parents’ friends. they brought all new different types of toys, and candy, and instruments, and a new stereo for the school. it was such a treat for our kids, they had such a great time that day. adria’s parents and their friends are so great, but seeing them there, and talking to them made me extremely homesick. i hadn’t been that homesick for a while until that day, but it went away once i went home after work.

i don’t remember too much more from that week, but i do remember this past weekend very well:

there was a projects abroad social in cuzco on friday afternoon at 4pm, so katy and i decided we would just meet up in cuzco right after work to hang out before. i ended up getting there way later than i thought i would because i was held up at work and still had to come home to eat lunch and shower before i left. i got to cuzco around 3pm and met up with katy and hannah at an internet cafe with skype where we spent an hour before we met up in the plaza for the social. we met a TON of new volunteers that we hadn’t seen before who were all up at the inca project in huyro. we walked to the cafe where we would be hanging out and as soon as we all sat down, the whole inca project group got up to leave. apparently there was nothing there for one of the vegetarian girls to eat, so they left and went to the bagel cafe. don’t get me wrong, i would’ve loved to go to the bagel cafe as well, but you can’t just get up and move the social after tess has reserved a spot at this restaurant. and i’m sure they could’ve asked if they could get something specially made for that girl, but they didn’t even bother. and we later learned that the reason why we were at this cafe was because the owner’s wife has just developed a paralytic disease and we’re trying to raise money for her treatments. AHH i was so mad at them. but anyway, more of our group ended up coming, so we were a good group of about fifteen that ate there. we left after to go to the real mccoy to get some drinks and to upload some pictures to facebook. of course the uploader wasn’t working, so we finished our drinks [and by drinks, i mean bomb.com milkshakes] and then went to this awesome pizza restaurant to eat AGAIN. after dinner, we went back to the hostel to change and put stuff away so we could go out. we went to one of our favorite bars, called bullfrogs, and then we left to go meet the guys at an irish pub down the street called norton’s. we played some darts there and had some more drinks before we left to go to the best club ever: inka team! LOL. we danced there until 3am and had a really great time that night.

our plan that night had been to wake up at 9am the next morning to go to chinchero and moray, two ruin spots on the way back to urubamba from cuzco. no one heard the alarm the next morning besides katy, who woke up and turned it off and went back to sleep. she woke up at a quarter to 1pm and woke us all up. whoops. so much for ruin-day! we got up and got ready to leave and decided to just go have brunch at jack’s, where we used to go every sunday morning in cuzco. we each got something different, and a different drink, but then we all had a piece of the best chocolate cake we’ve ever had. we went home back to calca to get ready to go eat jaime’s pizza and lasagna for dinner. a whole group of volunteers came again, which was really nice. after dinner, a group of us went out to the calca disco and had a GREAT time that night. we had some drinks and did a few tequila shots and danced until 2am. when i walked outside, katy was sitting on the curb, with her head in her heads. once we figured out how everyone would be getting home, i walked katy over to a grassy area to sit down for a little while. [katy, if you’re reading this, i love you, and i’ll try to spare details.] after she was sick a few times, thom, tom, lionel and i spent an hour trying to get her home, which really should’ve taken five minutes. i was so afraid that someone had spiked her drink because that had happened to a few volunteers already and projects abroad had already warned us that it had been happening in the cuzco area a lot recently. once we got her settled into her bed, i thanked everyone for their help, and went home and into my own bed.

my alarm went off the next morning at 7am and i wanted to punch someone. i had the worst headache and i’m pretty sure i was still a little drunk from the night before. but, i knew i had to get up to get ready to meet everyone at the bus terminal so we could go to the famous hot springs of lares, two hours away from calca. so, i figured i would just get there, get on the bus, and then go back to sleep before we got there. that never happened. i got to the bus terminal where some had been waiting, and some met up with us a little later. katy and i were both a mess, but i knew katy was feeling way worse than i was. we both sat in the front and we rolled the window all the way down. the ride was super bumpy and we had to keep a bag in the front, just in case. besides all the sickness and the bumpiness, the ride to lares was one of the most beautiful i’ve ever seen. i told katy that i felt like i had jumped into a default computer desktop picture. the air was so fresh and crisp, the mountains as green as ever, and the sky was filled with white clouds. we literally felt like we were in the middle of nowhere, because there was nothing around. but, all of a sudden, we turned a corner, and we were in the small town of lares. we stopped to pay for our tickets on the way back home, and then got back on the bus to take the ride to the front gate of the hot springs. when we got there, we walked the pathway to the ticket booth, payed our 10 soles [maybe 3 dollars?], and went inside. we changed into our bathing suits, and layed out in the sun for a while before going in the pools. some of them were really hot, some were lukewarm, and some were cold. the water was a weird, yellow color, but no one cared, we all knew it was natural. we spent five, great hours there, relaxing and feeling like we were on vacation. we played some chicken games in the big pools and even got our picture taken by curious locals. we all felt like the time there went by too fast, but we had set time for our bus ride back, so we had to leave when we had to leave. that night we wanted to meet up at the yellow chairs for kaise’s last night, but they were put away again so carly said we should just go to the fun fair in the next plaza. we all thought, “fun fair?” so we walked to the next plaza and saw a proper carnival set up with blow-up slides, carousel, carnival games and everything. naomi, carly, and miguel all decided to pay the $1.50 soles to get to go up and down the slides as many times as they wanted for seven minutes. it was so funny to watch them next to all the little kids. at one point, miguel fell towards the bottom, and almost knocked the entire thing down. i had to leave early because i had gotten super sunburned from the hot springs and i was not feeling well at all, so ellen and i left after saying our goodbyes to kaise, and i went straight to bed.

i was really having a hard time trying to sleep, because my stomach was keeping me up throughout the night. i thought it was just really bad gas or something, but at 2:30am, i had to run out of room and down the stairs to the bathroom to get sick. my first thought was “fuck, another parasite.” it would be my third, if it were true. i went back upstairs and finally fell asleep. about an hour later, i woke up and did a repeat of 2:30am. same at 4am. after getting sick three times, i was finally able to get some more sleep. my alarm woke me up at 7:30am, but ubaldina came into my room to tell me that she had heard me being sick and that i shouldn’t go to work. she made me some mazamorra [liquid gelatin], and left for work. as soon as i heard her close the back door, i had to be sick AGAIN, so i just reached for the nearest plastic bag in my room. ellen heard me that time, and knocked on my door to see if i was okay. she came in and told me that she had also heard me that night and that she thought i had head stroke and that she was calling tess so someone could pick me up and take me to the clinic. tess had told ellen that there were two other people in calca with the same symptoms and that no one could get me for another hour because there was a staff meeting. we thought, “priorities, much?” but the projects abroad taxi came for me around 9:30am, and carly was already inside waiting for me. once we were both in, we waited for jorge to come out with katy, a few houses down. naomi came too, but she wasn’t sick like us. we all got in the taxi and headed towards urubamba. the clinic there was really nice, but as soon as we all got there, we all needed to get sick again. katy went in first to do her tests because she was definitely the worst out of the three of us. she had already had a parasite and had been on antibiotics the week before. after she was done, they decided that she needed to be put on an IV and on more antibiotics. it was then my turn to go do my tests and blood samples. after the doctor saw me, he decided that i also needed to be hooked up to an IV and put on antibiotics. carly didn’t need to be hooked up, and wasn’t as bad as we were, but she was still definitely sick and needed to rest. katy and i were put into beds in the same room [thank god…i felt like morgan freeman and jack nicholson from the bucket list]. katy was hooked up right away, and they tried to hook me up but they couldn’t find a vein big enough to use. they tried to warm up my wrist so it would become bigger, but while i wasn’t hooked up to antibiotics, i had to take a pill form with gatorade, but ended up throwing it up an hour later, it was disgusting. then they gave katy an injection into her IV to stop her nausea and vomiting. because i wasn’t hooked up yet, they had to inject it into my butt. fantastic. that was the most painful shot i’ve ever received in my entire life. they finally, on the seventh try, found a vein big enough to hook me up to the IV with. thom showed up a little later, and he and naomi were such great helpers that day, i don’t know what katy and i would’ve done without them, because no one from projects abroad stayed with us at all, which we were all really pissed off about. even when two members came to check up on us, i was in the bathroom throwing my guts up, but they only stayed for a little while to find out what was going on. we later learned that we had gotten typhoid, or more commonly known as salmonella. all three of us. katy had also gotten the parasite, giardia, and i got the parasite, amoeba. after being there all day and finishing my drip and antibiotics, carly and i were told that we were able to go home. we were each given four different types of medicine and a diet for three days. katy was still in terrible pain and something was still really wrong with her, so they needed to transfer her to cuzco. i felt really bad that i would be leaving her because we had both been really scared that morning of the IV and everything and we had gone through it together. but, i knew that i needed to go home and get some rest myself. thankfully, naomi and thom were there to go with her because no one from projects abroad was! seriously, what the hell would she have done had they not been there? her spanish is crap [but improving], and she had typhoid in a foreign country. so unacceptable on projects abroad’s part, i was so mad. she ended up spending two nights at the hospital in cuzco and was told she had an extreme stomach infection along with everything else that she had. another thing that really upset me was that i later learned that projects abroad had told katy’s father back at home that she would be discharged early and that she was completely fine. the worst part was that they told him that someone from projects abroad had been with her the entire time she had been admitted, which was such a complete load of bullshit. I CAN’T BELIEVE THEY LIED TO HER FATHER!!! more things had upset me about projects abroad really recently, but i won’t get into those now.

katy came home on wednesday, and was feeling better, but still really weak. i was tired on tuesday, but feeling much better by wednesday as well. instead of going to the pub quiz that night, katy and i stayed at her house and watched “my sister’s keeper,” “inglorious basterds,” and an episode of friends.

thursday, i stayed in all morning writing most of this entry and then met up with katy and naomi to go to the office in urubamba, after lunch at around 2:30pm. there was a social at the office that day and we figured we should make an appearance. we ended up getting there at 4pm because it took forever to get a bus, and then the bus took forever to get there. when we got up to the office, most people had gone by then, but there was still a good group of people inside around the table. we chatted, ate some food, met new volunteers, and then all the teaching volunteers went into the next room for their weekly workshops. we stayed in the main room talking to a new volunteer, jenny from england, and then left with her and a few more to go down to a cafe in the plaza for dinner. i was on my last day of my typhoid diet, so i figured it would be okay to have a “pankeke con plátano y manjar,” which is a pancake with sliced bananas and dolce de leche. LET ME JUST USE CAPITAL LETTERS TO EMPHASIZE HOW AMAZING IT WAS. we left around 7pm, got back at 8pm, and then all met up at katy and naomi’s for a film night. we watched “nine,” which i expected to be way better than it was. i actually fell asleep while watching it. some of the music scenes were really good, especially kate hudson’s, i loved that one, but so much was so boring and pointless. i didn’t think it was bad, it was just kinda lame. make sense?

friday morning i spent writing down things i’m going to do when i get home such as plan my europe trip for august and make everyone’s peru mixes. i also started the new book that ellen lent to me called “stolen lives: twenty years in a desert jail.” seems really interesting. i tried to text katy twice that morning, but she hadn’t responded, so i called her at 10:30am to how she was feeling and what she was doing [i later learned that my phone hasn’t sent any of my recent texts and is being stupid]. katy actually didn’t answer when i called, thom gray [we’re changing his name to tigre] answered, so i asked where they were and what they were doing. apparently tigre now had salmonella and a parasite and was at a hospital in cuzco, so katy went to go visit. they told me to come join them so i left right away because i had to be back in calca by 2:30pm to go see fabian. by the time i got to cuzco, around 12pm, they had already discharged tigre, so we decided to meet up in the plaza to go to the bagel cafe for lunch. there was some kind of really big ceremony for cuzco schools going on in the plaza, and it was insanely full of people. there were kids of all different ages dressed up in their proper school uniforms [so pants, skirts, ties, blazers-kinda thing…they’re really formal here in peru]. naturally, i got my usual at the bagel cafe: plain bagel, extra cream cheese, oreo shake. perfection. katy got a tuna melt bagel with scrambled eggs and tomatoes on top, and tigre got some other egg bagel with bacon or something on it, i don’t even know. after we were done eating, we went to an internet cafe with skype [our favorite one], where tigre left early to go back to urubamba, and katy ended up getting really sick from her bagel. not because there was anything wrong with it, but we think it was just really heavy for her to be eating after she had been really sick in the hospital for three days. we waited there for naomi to meet up with us after she got back from work, who then wanted to go on the internet herself, so katy and i decided to walk around and do some shopping. we tried to go to this surf and skate shop that we’ve tried to go to maybe three times now, that’s always closed. it was closed. we went into a clothing store that looked sort of like target mixed with forever 21, and we both ended up buying cardigans. then we went into a touristy shop where i bought a really awesome photo album that i’m going to fill with pictures from peru. how i’m going to pick only 200, i’m not quite sure, but it’ll happen. naomi called and met up with us when she was done at the internet cafe, and then we went to a real cafe. we got sausage rolls, cakes, and ice cream, and coffee, of course. it was a really nice cafe that looked like the prices would be super high, but they really weren’t that bad. it was pretty much all male waiters, and they were probably the most good-looking peruvians i’ve seen since i’ve been here. we were there for about two hours before maiken and her friend that’s visiting met up with us. before leaving cuzco, we stopped in the north face shop where i ended up buying a pull-over micro-fleece, that should’ve been WAY more expensive than it was. i love peru… the bus was completely full when we got on it, so we stood the whole way. and now that the bridge is fixed in pisac, when i say the whole way, i mean the whole hour. it was super bumpy, i almost fell over three times, but naomi and i had a good time dancing to the radio and joking around the entire time. we went home for a few minutes and then naomi and i went back out again [katy wasn’t feeling well] to meet everyone at the yellow chairs where we met up with gabi, carly, mikael, and his new housemate, julie. we had a good time talking in different accents and playing around with mikael’s laser flashlight.

saturday morning, rubi and i went to cuzco in search for lupe’s present: a nativity set. she and ubaldina know exactly where to go to get one and where to go for cheap prices, so we went early that morning. before we did that, though, when we got there, we went to the cuzco market, san pedro, to buy other gifts for my family and friends. i ended up buying way more than i thought i would, but was happy with everything towards the end of the day. we didn’t end up finding a whole nativity set for lupe, but we did buy a traditional cuzqueñan little jesus. at the store where we bought him, i got a call from katy saying that she needed me to take her to the hospital because naomi was on the hike that everyone else was on for gabi’s birthday that day. i told her that we were about to leave and i would be home right away to take her. the bus stop was really full and no buses were coming because it was a holiday [dia de los trabajadores..labor day], and they were really busy. naomi ended up getting to katy before i could, so i went back to calca to drop rubi and my gifts off, and went straight to urubamba to meet them at the clinic we had both previously been in. carly was also there when i got there, and they were getting ready to leave in the ambulance again because katy had to be transferred to cuzco yet again. we all got in the ambulance with the nurse who drove, and the doctor who sat to my right. i sat in front with them, and we actually had a really nice conversation. when we got to cuzco, the hospital was ready outside with a wheelchair for katy, and we went up to the second floor and into room 210. it was just like the room they had before: a bed for katy, a nightstand with drawers, a bed for someone else, an armoire, a private bathroom, a couch, and a plasma tv with bbc news. naomi stayed with katy, but carly and i left after an hour or so because we had to go back for gabi’s birthday, and felt bad that no one was there with her. carly and i took a taxi home and met up at gabi’s for dinner. mikael, ellen, maiken, beatriz, and adria were all there and has already eaten dinner and the pancakes that gabi made for everyone. we ate, danced around her living room for a while, and then headed out to the calca disco, which is always so much fun. we only stayed until 12:30am, though, because it was really crowded and there had already been a few fights. carlos, one of the voleyball trainers that works with gabi and carly, met up with us and danced with us, and then walked us all home.

sunday morning i woke up, got my things ready and headed straight to katy and naomi’s house. i was assigned to get some things for naomi before i went back to cuzco, since naomi stayed overnight in the hospital with katy. carly met up with me at the terminal at 10:45am, and we got there at around 12pm. when we got to the hospital, the doctor was talking to katy and asked us to wait outside. naomi came out a few minutes later and started to cry as she told us that katy might have meningitis. we comforted her, and then she went back inside. carly and i sat outside, completely in shock, not knowing what to do. the doctor came out and naomi opened the door saying that katy wanted to see us. we went in and katy was already in tears. she started to cry again once she started talking to us, it was definitely similar to a scene from a movie. no one knew what to do or what to say, we just sat next to her holding her hand, or stroking her hair. she said they might have to do a lumbar puncture, which is injecting the spine and taking fluids out for a test. they had done brain tests and the doctor said he could see meningitis in her cells.

naomi, carly, and i went back to calca for a few minutes to pick up lots of katy’s things because they said she needed to be in the hospital for a minimum of five days before they might transfer her to lima. on the way back to cuzco, we had an issue with naomi’s backpack full of katy’s piercing-cleaning salt water. that was a funny bus ride. when we got there, we headed straight for the clinic again and then were kicked out because no one can be with her for more than an hour and a half anymore, because they think that whatever she has can be contagious. we all got in a taxi back to calca, and ended up having to pay four times the normal price because it was past normal transportation hours.

sunday morning i showered, bought some phone cards, and then went back to cuzco again. i stopped at the bagel cafe to pick up some of katy’s favorite banana cake, and then headed to the clinic where i met gabi outside. she had just been in to see katy and would be back later. when i came in, katy was sleeping, but i shut the door too hard and accidentally woke her up. it ended up working out, though, because the ice cream next to her cake was melting. i’m still here with katy now, and now thom, maiken, and maiken’s friend that’s visiting have all joined us. we’re chilling watching the news, listening to music, and making ham and bbq sauce sandwiches in the hospital room. as much as i’m scared for katy, i wouldn’t rather be anywhere else right now.

more updates soon!

overnight bus rides, mamma mia.

last time i wrote, we were still in cuzco waiting for our bus to leave for bolivia. we left the real mccoy [the british restaurant we were hanging out at] at around 8:30pm to get to the terminal at 9pm. we stocked up on snacks at the terminal and played our favorite games until our bus arrived, and we departed at 10pm. the bus, much like peru’s public transportation buses, was what i would normally think of as a chartered, private bus in the states. gabi and i were bus-buddies and we tried to sleep the whole time which ended up not working out too well. at the beginning of the trip, we were given snacks and a blanket for two to share, but trying to sleep during the freezing cold, bumpy ride was almost impossible i slept for half an hour, then woke up [repeat]. when i woke up the final time, it was sunrise, and we were almost at our destination where those of us heading to copacabana had to switch buses. when we got off, we got into another small combi-bus, and we drove the twenty minutes to the border. this bus was also just as cold and even bumpier. when we got to the border, we had to wait another hour for customs and immigration to open at 7am. we exchanged our soles for bolivianos, used the bathroom, and bought more snacks. when immigration opened, our guide warned me that they might not let me through if i had no proof of the yellow fever vaccination…which i didn’t. so not only did i have to pay extra to enter, but apparently there’s a large amount of yellow fever spread across the states. fantastic. when we got inside, we all went through the process to leave peru, but when we crossed the border and entered bolivian immigration was when my crap process began. i had to pay $135 for my visa and $5 extra because of my non-existent yellow fever proof. the office was so corrupt, that when the guy signing off on my papers was flirting with our guide, he asked her in spanish whether he should charge me $5 or $10 for the yellow fever issue. i pretended like i didn’t understand what they were saying because i really didn’t want to cause any problems at that point, and he ended up charging me the $5, anyway.

when everyone was all good, we got in another bus for the ten-minute ride to copacabana, the small, harbor town. when we got there, we had a few hours to kill before our boat ride to isla del sol, our final destination. we explored around for the best restaurant to eat breakfast at, and ended up finding a small, outside cafe close to the harbor. the altitude is even higher in copacabana than in cuzco, so the sun was extremely strong, but it was nice to sit outside after the cold bus rides. everyone ordered continental-type breakfasts, and i ordered chocolate pancakes. hell yes. after we were done eating, we still had time to kill, so we decided just to hang out at the restaurant, listening to the bob marley cd they had started to play. while we were there, i had mentioned that it felt like i had left projects abroad, and was on vacation. everyone agreed. bolivia is really similar to peru, especially that area because it’s so close to the border, but because we were next to the highest navigable lake in the world, which looked like the ocean, it felt like we had completely left behind everything we had known for the past few months. when it was time to leave, we headed down to the harbor, boarded our boat, and started the 1.5 hour trip to isla del sol. the boat was going maybe 10 mph [sorry, i don’t speak nautical terms], but it was beautiful! it reminded me a lot of home, but surprisingly didn’t make me homesick at all. we landed on a mountain of an island. there were different hostels and restaurants covering the side of the mountain that we could see. when we got off the boat, henry went to go buy our return tickets, and then we headed the trek up to our hostel. it really wasn’t that bad of a hike, but the lack of oxygen was super intense there, which made the trip seem at least 5x harder. when we finally reached the hostel, i looked around and i immediately felt like i had jumped into the play/movie “mamma mia.” if you’ve ever seen the movie, just picture the mother’s hotel-type home, and that’s what it looked and felt like. there were nine of us traveling, so we split up into three rooms: a room for henry, thom, and thom; another for gabi, maiken, and rose; and the last for katy, naomi, and me. there was only one bed in our room, but there were two mattresses inside that were later made up for naomi and me. there were no electrical outlets, and there was one bathroom and shower for the whole hostel. it was 20 soles for one night [a little less than 7 american dollars.] when everyone was settled in, everyone left to go exploring. i stayed behind because i hadn’t slept at all on the bus, and decided to nap for an hour, before i went off to catch up with everyone for dinner. i ended up not sleeping, and decided to do some exploring of my own. i ended up walking to the top of the mountain where there was a small town that reminded me even more of mamma mia. it took me a total of two hours to get to the top, but it was completely worth it at the end. the top of the mountain was beautiful. the other side looked out on two different peninsulas on the other side of the island and there were even more hostels and restaurants at the top. by the time i got to the top, it was time to go meet the others at the spot that we had designated as our meeting spot. when i got there, no one was there, so i waited for a while. after half an hour, i decided to go look for them, figuring that there were only so many places that they could go. i found seven of them at a cafe about 30 minutes later waiting for naomi and thom to get back from looking for me. i guess when we said “let’s meet at the look-out,” we didn’t realize that there were two that looked exactly the same. henry left to go after them to tell them that i had found them. they came back and told me that they had been up and down the mountain twice already, looking for me. everyone felt bad, but it was just a big misunderstanding. i told them about the top of the mountain because they hadn’t gone yet, so we decided to eat dinner up there. once everyone was done taking pictures of the beautiful sunset up at the top, we found a small pizzeria to eat at. when we sat down at our table, i began to feel really sick for some reason. i didn’t know what it was, but i thought it might be from not drinking enough water. our waiter at the restaurant must’ve been, at the most, twelve years old. he served us all of our food, and thom’s beer. by the time i finished my hawaiian pizza (with non-seedless cherries on it), and drank a 2-liter water bottle, i was feeling a lot better. it was dark by the time we finished our food and headed back down the mountain. everyone had thought about drinking that night, but when we thought about the walk down to the hostel, in the dark, we decided that it wouldn’t be the best of ideas. the walk down took almost as long as the walk up just because of how dark it was. i had to use the flashlight on my cell phone just to light the way for everyone. we stopped at one point because naomi had looked up at the stars and had told everyone else to look. i’m not exaggerating when i say that i have never seen that many stars in one moment in my lifetime. it was one of the most amazing things we had ever seen. the rest of the walk down consisted of people slipping and almost falling, swatting away bugs, and checking the ground for mule poop. when we got back, we sat outside of our rooms on the ground eating more snacks and talking. naomi, rose, gabi, and i all went to bed early, even though we wanted to stay out and talk with everyone. i don’t even remember falling asleep that night because i think it happened right as i got into bed. katy, who had stayed out talking, told us that she had accidentally made a lot of noise when she came back in the room, but neither naomi or i heard any of it. we had set our alarm for 7am the next morning, but it rang at 6am because bolivia is an hour ahead of peru. none of us heard it, but thankfully, katy woke up naturally at 7:14. she woke us all up and we all got ready to leave all over again. we left the hostel around 7:45am to get to our boat at 8am. we all sat on the roof of the boat this time and left around 8:30am. almost the whole ride back was spent talking about american and british politics. it went by really quickly. when we got back to copacabana [now called “cocobanana” by all of us who went this weekend], we found another restaurant next to the lake where we had brunch. it was probably the best meal i’ve had out since i’ve been here in south america…besides the bagel cafe, of course. we had “desayuno americano” which came with all different things, and then gabi, katy, and i all ordered crepes. SO GOOD! because we were outside and right next to the road, next to the lake, people constantly were walking by. there were three old women who came up to us, almost crying, asking for money. this happens quite frequently here, and it’s so hard for me not to give anything to them.

when we were done eating, we started the walk back up to the main square of copacabana where we needed to be ready to get back on another bus. while we were waiting for the bus to open its doors, some of us walked around town, shopping in the small souvenir stores. thom, thom, katy, and i all went to the cathedral, which is supposedly the most beautiful in all of bolivia. i don’t doubt that for one second. it looked like a mosque from the outside, but it was definitely a catholic establishment. there was a shrine to a saint in what looked like a cave, which you had to get to by walking around the church. normally you would see candles placed all around the figure, but this room had what looked like those long, thin tables at aquariums filled with sea urchins and other creatures that you can touch, only these were filled with lit candles. it was a really cool sight and the room was filled with people.

on the way back down to where everyone was waiting for the bus, the four of us stopped in a few shops. katy bought a hat, and i bought a purse and a bracelet. we then met up with the others when it was time to board the bus. the inside of the bus was nicer than the ones we had been on and was bright yellow. this bus would take us to the border, and then to puno, peru where we would have a five-hour layover until our next bus ride at 9:30pm. we had discussed going to visit the floating islands in puno, but because of the wind, we didn’t know if the boats would go out that late in the afternoon. when we arrived, we found out that our bus company would be doing a 20 soles, all-included, tour of the floating islands and would get us back to the terminal no later than 6:30pm. it ended up working out perfectly and was one of the coolest tours i’ve ever done! katy, naomi, gabi, rose, and i went to los uros islands where everything was made out of hay and dirt. every time we stepped around on the island, our feet sank into the hay a little bit. our guide let us roam around and we came across a man who wanted to show us his home. his wife and son live with him, yet his entire house is smaller than my peruvian family’s bathroom. inside his home was a bed for three [not really], a stereo and a lamp. he explained to us that the most expensive thing he owned was the solar panel outside for electricity. he said that candles were now looked down upon on the islands because many houses had previously been accidentally burned down. the islands were beautiful, but it felt surreal being there. it felt like we were on a movie set, even more so than the “mamma mia” feeling. the guide led us to another boat made out of wood and hay where we met a group of israeli guys that had been traveling around south america since december. we went to another island where we took more pictures [which i ended up accidentally erasing…SO MAD]. we got back on the same boat to head back to puno to meet up with the others. on the bus ride from the harbor back to the bus terminal, the israeli guys all started to make fun of gabi’s accent. this was hilarious to us because we are CONSTANTLY making fun of gabi’s swiss/french accent. when we got back to the terminal, the guys got off, but we stayed on the bus to head towards the main plaza of puno to meet up with the others. we met henry in front of a bank and he showed us the way to the restaurant where the others had been hanging out. we walked down an alley that felt like it should’ve been in chinatown and then another that felt the same. when we got to the restaurant, we noticed that we were the only ones there [that happens quite a lot]. everyone ordered something different than each other: alpaca, pizza, spaghetti, milkshakes, etc. we ate, played some card games, and then headed back to the terminal. when we went outside to get on the bus, we realized that we would be boarding a luxury, double-decker bus with beds on the bottom and semi-beds on top. we were of course on the top, BUT STILL. it was amazing. while in line to show our tickets to the women at the door, we met another group of volunteers from all over the world that were working in cuzco at a hospital through another organization. there were people from australia, canada, france, california [whoo!], and england. they were all really drunk from playing drinking games while waiting for the bus to leave, and were hilarious. the girl from sacramento was HYSTERICAL. she also made fun of gabi’s accent. it was excellent. anyway, the bus ride back to cuzco was way better than the other rides we had taken that weekend, and i slept like a baby. we got back to cuzco at 4am, on monday morning and none of us knew what we were going to do in cuzco at 4 in the morning. we ended up going to the bus stop because a taxi driver told us that buses start to fill up at 4am. we waited for an hour before our bus left to go back to pisac, where we got a taxi back to calca, and arrived at 6am. katy, naomi, gabi, and i immediately went home and to bed.

my alarm woke me up again at 8am so i could get ready to go to work. i don’t think i’ve ever been that tired in my lifetime. i ended up being a half-hour late to work, but it really wasn’t a big deal because half of the kids weren’t even there yet. work wasn’t that great, but what happenned later that day was amazing:

i had to go to cuzco after lunch on monday so i could try to book a train ticket for machu picchu this weekend. why i was so rushed was because i was supposed to go with katy and naomi but they booked for a weekend in june because they want to do the inca trail and the only openings are then. so, i didn’t have anyone to go with, unless i bought tickets for this weekend and met up with gabi, yann, and jasper when they get there this sunday morning from THEIR inca trail adventures. so, on monday i tried to go to perurail to buy tickets directly from them, but i didn’t make it on time before they closed. but, the good thing about that day was that tess called me on the way from pisac to cuzco to tell me that they had moved my placement and that i would start on tuesday! i was SO excited to hear the news, i couldn’t stop smiling! they moved me to where i wanted to go from the beginning: with the special needs kids in calca.

the next day, tuesday, yessi met up with me at the plaza around 9:30am so she could show me to my new work placement. it was really far up the street from the plaza, but easy to find. when we got there, i was surprised at the amount of kids that were there: ten. but, now that i think about it, i like that there’s that many, especially because they all need a lot of individual attention. anyway, i was really overwhelmed at first because it was just the one teacher and me, and ten kids that have needs that i’ve never had experience with before. it ended up being a really good day, and all of the kids were so great. the teacher told me that they were so happy that i was there and just seeing a new person at their school with a smile on their face made them behave really well. they’re all really sensitive and loving, but also really defensive and could snap in a second. they’re all different ages from 8-23, but the 8-year old has an mind in an older state than the 23-year old. after work, i tried to go to an internet cafe to try and buy my train tickets online, but of course, the website wasn’t working properly. after dinner that night, we all met up at the yellow chairs, but they weren’t there! it was so weird! the cafe closed early! so, we went around the corner to try an inside cafe that no one had tried yet, and we ended up loving it. it was warm, they had really good coffee, and the owner was so sweet and interested in what we were doing and where we were all from, etc. we decided we would start going there from now on.

wednesday was another great day. work was great: we watched mary poppins in spanish, and i walked some of my kids home and had some laughs with them. after work, i went straight to cuzco again to try one last time to buy tickets. this time, i went to a travel agency to see if they had any left. the guy at the desk [erik from miami, nice guy] told me that i should just go directly to incarail and then come back to book everything else. i had an hour before incarail closed, but i luckily was able to get REALLY perfect times for my train tickets and then when i went back to the agency, i was also able to book a good hotel and transportation and everything. it ended up working out so perfectly, so last minute, i was so happy on the whole ride home, i couldn’t stop smiling again. when i got back to calca, i had an hour to get ready and eat dinner before we had to leave to go to urubamba for the pub quiz. while we were waiting for everyone to meet up at the terminal, gabi showed up and we made a complete scene jumping up and down because i had got tickets for this weekend. the pub quiz this week was done by katy and carly, and it was a REALLY good one! they had a round where each team had to choose a boy and whichever team answered a question the fastest would get to pick which item of makeup to put on the opposing team’s boy of choice. it was such a good idea, and so funny, we all had such a good time. we didn’t go out after the quiz that night because everyone was so tired, so we just went back home and went to sleep.

thursday at work we watched more mary poppins and i worked closely with kelly [14], helping her to color inside of the lines. we also went to the calca recreational center where the kids played on the playground a little. cristina, who’s in a wheelchair, was brave enough to be carried up the slide and to slide all the way down. there was one point where a group of “normal” kids ran inside the park and started playing soccer. it was really interesting to see how all of our kids stopped playing once they all got there. their self-esteem levels are all really low, and it was sad that they could recognize their differences. after work, i went to go pick up fabian and yetza from my old house. lionel was there at yetza’s house washing his clothes and everyone was outside talking again. i spent a few minutes with all of them before fabi and yetza were ready to go. we went directly to the store to get some popsicles and then to the internet cafe where we played half-life. after, we walked around the plaza a little bit, and then i took them back home after about an hour and a half. cora had puppies a few weeks ago, and they were so small then, but now they’re three times bigger! they look nothing like her, but they’re all adorable. we went to the new cafe that night, again, and i had a chance to catch up with the new volunteer kaise from the states, and the new married couple fleur and chris from australia. we pretty much talked about movies the whole time, but we had a good time.

today, friday, was also another really good day. today at work, the teacher left me in charge of the making masks activity. everyone had a really good day today, and we finally finished mary poppins! we started tarzan after we were done, though, so we’ll have to finish that next week. after work, i went home to shower and pack for machu picchu this weekend [!]. i went downstairs and had lunch with the family before i left, and then headed up to the terminal. when i got to the taxis and buses there, the guy said that the bridge in pisac was now fixed and that we could cross there instead of having to walk across another bridge to change buses. i didn’t think it would be done until monday, because that’s when i heard it would be, but it was cool when i went over it today! i didn’t have any money to pay the taxi driver when we got here, so that was an interesting ride. i went straight to the hostel to put all of my stuff away, and then went to the cafe, cappuccino, to get something to eat and to start uploading photos to facebook. the connection was crap, so i only uploaded around 20 pictures in 3 hours. lame. but i met a venezuelan guy and an irish guy who were having problems with their connection, too haha. katy and naomi met up with me around 7:30pm and wanted me to go get chinese food with them for dinner. chinese food in peru? what? i wasn’t too sure about that. especially after having two parasites already, and since i’m about to leave for machu picchu tomorrow [!]. we ended up going to the real mccoy where everyone was hanging out, and that’s where i am now. i had dinner with floriane, thom, and thom, until they left to go to the casino. i do kinda feel like i’m missing out, but i’m not really down to go out tonight since i have to wake up early tomorrow morning. so, i’m sitting here uploading pictures until midnight, when i’m gonna head back to the hostel down the street. but let me just say…I CAN’T EVEN BEGIN TO DESCRIBE HOW EXCITED I AM THAT I’M GOING TO MACHU PICCHU ON SUNDAY. I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS FOR YEARS!!! more soon! C:

i’m on my fourth pair of headphones

[written on various days…finished on april 9th]

a few things i forgot to mention in my last post:

- jaime, one of the soccer coaches here in calca that works with projects abroad, has been having benefit-type dinners for the roldan family these past few weeks. he’s from italy, and he cooks THE best lasagna and home-made pizza i’ve ever had. he knows sven and flori really well because they are both volleyball coaches. i’ve only been to one of the dinners so far because i’ve only been aware of two, and i couldn’t make the other one. it was on a weekend when we had all gone to cuzco, but peeps, ashleigh, gabi, and i had agreed to go back to calca for the dinner and then to return to cuzco later that night. i’m really glad that we all went and supported jaime’s devotion to raising money for the prolonged investigations about daysi’s death. we met up with lionel right before going, and then headed up the street from the plaza to the cultural center where we would be eating. we all had connections to daysi or to the roldan family: i used to live with them, peeps and lionel work with jaime in the soccer project, ashleigh knew daysi and lives at her aunt’s house, and gabi works with sven in the volleyball project.

- i hate my new work placement. well, it’s not that i despise it or anything, i would just REALLY prefer to work somewhere else. yes, i love the kids i work with at the kindergarten, but i feel like i’m paying projects abroad to babysit 60 kids every day. i only have until the 23rd of april until my two-week holiday, and i’d like to be doing something where i feel i’m needed and being useful. let me break down a normal day at the kindergarten: everyone is supposed to get there at 8:30, but class doesn’t start until around 9am, because everyone, even some teachers are always late. we’re in class unil 10am doing what seems to be a really pointless activity [i know their only kindergarteners, but i could even think of some more worthwhile things they could be doing]. the kids then have a two-hour recess while the teachers sit in a corner or lock themselves up in a classroom to eat and chat, while we have to watch all three classes of 25 kids each. i know that if we weren’t there, the teachers would be forced to take over what we’re doing. i really want to be working somewhere where i know that there would be no one else around for kids, if we weren’t there. i know i’m sounding a little selfish and picky here, but i AM paying to be here, and i have already proven that i’m a dedicated and active volunteer here. when i first arrived in peru, and we were working with the psychologist, we were working with kids who had lost their houses from the landslides. I LOVED THAT. i knew that what we were doing with them was actually making a difference in their lives. isn’t that a major reason for why i signed up to come here in the first place? to change some lives? i loved doing that so much, that i even went to the seminars that the psychologist held for those kids’ parents during the evenings. it was optional, but i was the only volunteer who went because i knew how much of an impact it was making, and i was happy to be involved and helping. not to mention the impact that those meetings had on me. i’ve tried talking to two staff members about this already, and they keep telling me to “take charge,” and to “try harder.” they’ve suggested that i should try and talk to the teacher that i’m working with to see how open she would be to letting me teach a class one day. first of all, i’m almost positive that that wouldn’t go down too well with her. and second of all, even if it did, it would only be one day that i would be doing that. what about the rest of the week? chelsea, who left almost two weeks ago, was working here in calca with special needs kids. now that she’s gone, i don’t see why it wouldn’t be possible for projects abroad to move me to her placement. i would LOVE to do that. and adria’s working there, but she’s on vacation for like three weeks. all the more reason why they should move me. i’ve suggested this to projects abroad, but they say that would be difficult because before volunteers arrive here, they already have their placements one month in advance. i understand that it wouldn’t be fair to tell a new volunteer that they were being switched…but at the same time, why not? they don’t even know what they’re getting into yet! and if someone who hasn’t gotten here yet, already has been chosen as chelsea’s replacement, what’s the big deal if they fit an extra person in? when i first started working at the kindergarten, it was just aisha and i working there for about two or three weeks. then they brought nura over, which wasn’t a big deal, but it’s just proving my point that two OR three volunteers can work just as well in one placement. please excuse my ranting. moving on.

- updated travel schedule!:

april 2-4, staying in calca for semana santa activities [calca’s celebration is apparently the best]

april 9-11, BOLIVIA! [maiken needs to extend her visa, and yann said it was amazing]

april 16-18, puno and lake titikaka [you’re allowed to laugh once]

april 23-25, free? don’t know yet? [finished with work, so i can pretty much do whatever i want]

april 30-may 2, MACHU PICCHUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [FINALLY!!!!]

may 7th, COME HOME! [mixed emotions :(:]

BACK TO REGULAR POST!

so, this entire week, everyone’s been off of work and school for semana santa [holy week, kinda like spring break]. instead of going to cuzco on friday, we went on saturday instead because a lot of us were sick and we didn’t feel like leaving right away. we left early, saturday afternoon, and went to my new favorite restaurant in cuzco: the bagel cafe. it’s owned by israelis and they have BOMB bagels and oreo milkshakes. everyone ordered really intricate meals for brunch, but i had two plain, toasted bagels smothered in plain cream cheese. i was literally in heaven. i can’t tell you how much i had been wanting a bagel with cream cheese. there’s nowhere to get lox in cuzco, so that was a bummer, but i’m REALLY not complaining. the next day we had free breakfast, as usual, at the hostel, and then headed out to the bootleg market, el molino. this is where we stock up on pirated movies and tv series, memory cards, where i bought my new camera, and shoes that i still have yet to buy because mine are falling apart and i’ve slipped and fallen three times in them now. after the market, we went to the british pub/resaurant called the real mccoy. katy was super happy to be there, she felt like she was at home. she ordered some english dish i had never heard of, but i think that was to her, as my bagel and cream cheese was to me. also, sometime on sunday we went around to different cafes with balconies overlooking the main plaza de armas to reserve the best one for lunes santo [holy monday]. we reserved three different ones, but ended up going to the last one because it was the cheapest, most logical, and they had wifi connection. on monday we walked around until it was time to go to our balcony at 5pm. we went to this really cool smoothie and burger bar [weird combo, i know], and did some other stuff that i can’t think of right now. everyone met up in the plaza around 3pm, but i went to the cafe to set up my computer and to skype with people before it was time for everyone else to get there. once they did, we ordered dinner and waited for the insanely crowded procession to start. by around 7pm, the plaza was completely filled with people. besides disneyland, i don’t think i’ve ever seen that many people in one place at one time. the procession that came through was really simple, but it was amazing to see that many people gathered for one thing like that. after it was over, around 9pm, we headed back to calca. in order to get back to calca [which is that opposite way from when we leave calca to go to cuzco], we have to go to pisac, and cross a bridge there by foot. the reason for this is that the normal bridge in pisac that is used by automobiles was destroyed when the river rose too high. every time we pass it now, it seems like it’s collapsed a little more each time. the bridge that we cross in pisac is really frightening. it’s held up by ropes and made from wooden plank-type things. it sways every time you walk on, no matter how many people are on it. anyway, once we got across that night, there were no taxis around to get us to calca. there were other men waiting around for one as well, so when one came by, it was clearly their right to get in before us. there were guards watching the bridge and they said that once the taxi driver dropped them off, he would come back to get us. we waited for an hour. it was really cold that night, so those of us who joke around the most, started running around and dancing in circles trying to keep warm. we ended up playing games and even taking a picture with one of the guards. it was completely worth the wait for the taxi.

tuesday and wednesday, we were assigned to work at the agro school here in calca, clearing out all of the debris from the mess that was left behind during the landslide. i don’t know if i’ve ever mentioned working there before, but i did for a few days with chescie, yann, ish, maik, and some others. anyway, we went on monday, and just like the other times, i was reminded how much i hate physical labor. it was great to work with everyone, though, and we had a fun time joking around and singing every time we had to pick up a massive wood column. the next day, i woke up at 5:30am feeling the WORST gas in my stomach i have ever felt. i kept trying to ignore it and go back to sleep, but at 6am, i had to rush downstairs to the bathroom because i thought i was about to be sick. i was correct. i threw up five times before i came out of the bathroom to find ubalinda and ellen outside in the kitchen/living room. i sat down on the couch for a little while talking to them, before i went back upstairs to bed. my alarm for work woke me up, but i turned it off, and texted katy and naomi to tell yessi why i wouldn’t be there that morning. the rest of the day was spent in my bed and in the bathroom. i knew for sure that i had another parasite. i had taken both katy and naomi to the clinic in coya for their parasites [i played translator and my nickname is now “mom”], so i might’ve caught one of theirs. DAMNIT! i’ve already had one parasite, and that was my worst week here. i was NOT ready for another one. wednesday was spent all day in bed, as well. i had bought the third, fourth, and fifth seasons of weeds, so i pretty much watched all of those, along with the fourth season of how i met your mother. i didn’t eat much, and i didn’t go to the pub quiz that night, even though i really didn’t want to miss out. thursday i was feeling way better, but my stomach hurt for another crazy reason. for lunch/dinner, i ate 14 courses. yes, you read correctly. 14 courses. it was really 13 without the hot chocolate, but i’m counting it anyway. it’s supposed to be 12, to recognize the 12 apostles, and it’s a normal tradition here in peru. i don’t know about the rest of south america, but i had never heard of it before. anyway, let’s discuss what i had to eat:

1 - a large bowl of creamy vegetable soup with potato and cheese

2 - another large bowl of a vegetable soup with fried caviar and beans

3 - another large bowl of creamy seafood soup with HUGE shrimp, rice, and seaweed

4 - a large piece of fried, super salty fish with tomatoes, onions, and a piece of sweet potato

5 - a vegetable salad with carrots, beans, cheese, and guess what? MORE POTATO!

6 - another salad with a large piece of lettuce, this weird pepper and peanut sauce, a piece of hard-boiled egg, and another potato

7 - a cup of mazamorra, which is a more liquidy version of home-made jello

8 - a cup of rice pudding

9 - a cup of sweetened pears and peaches

10 - a piece of corn cake

11 - a piece of sweet bread

12 - another piece of another type of sweet bread with sprinkles on top

13 - a cup of hot chocolate

14 - a large piece of watermelon

i can’t even begin to describe how full i was after we were finished. i sat at the table and ate for over two hours. never again. but hey, it was definitely an experience and one for the blog.

i thought i would for sure be sick after all of that food, but i’ve been fine ever since. it’s now friday morning, and i’m feeling fine. it might not have been a parasite after all, since i didn’t take any meds for it. i’m starting to think that it was food poisoning from something i had over the weekend, or from the corn that jorge brought us at work on monday.

friday was viernes santo [holy friday], and we all decided to not go to cuzco this weekend, so we could spend the holy weekend of easter at home with our families and to experience the calca activities. when i left the house at around 3pm to see what was going on in the plaza, i was totally shocked. i didn’t expect to see what looked like rugs made of flower petals and dyed corn peels spread all over the ground of both plazas. there were around 40 or 50 different designs that people made to look like flat parade floats. some designs were political, others were advertisements, others i didn’t understand, and others looked simply like beautiful designs. there was one design that i really liked that said “no hay perú, sin la ú,” which means “there’s no peru without the university.” cheesy, but it sounds way more clever in spanish. i met up with katy, naomi, and ashleigh around 6:30pm and we had dinner at the cafe where we always meet up. we then went to a bakery and bought some really disgusting cake that i will never eat again. we walked around and started to follow the procession for a little while. this procession was different from the one that we saw on monday. the one on monday had jesus on a cross being carried around, and this one had his life-size figure in a lit up, glass box with blood all over him. i’m sorry if i sound disrespectful, or if i’m offending anyone, but it was a little creepy, not going to lie. my family’s jewish, but growing up around lupe’s family, i think i’ve been to more catholic services and in more churches that i’ve been to bat mitzvahs and synagogues. i’ve never been religious at all, and i don’t intend on being religious anytime soon, but what i do find fascinating about all of this stuff is how it brings all different kinds of people together and how it’s made such an impact on people’s lives. when the procession came around to the main plaza, it stopped in front of calca’s version of city hall, where the priest held a massive service, and the mayor of calca spoke. after it was all over, we all went to the yellow chairs [the cafe we always meet up at that has yellow, plastic chairs outside] and had some coffee.

saturday, april 3rd, was quite a fantastic day. we all woke up sort of early to head over to pisac to have breakfast at the blue llama. ALL YOU CAN EAT PANCAKES FOR EIGHT SOLES [around $3]. we met up with the pisac crew [hen-ren, christine, and sarah], and then maiken, rose, and tom came a little later. it was a really nice breakfast, and we had a lot of fun making fun of everyone else’s accents. I LOVE THAT EVERYONE IS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD! let me just say, thank god that we all speak english, or else we’d be pretty screwed. but seriously, i knew coming into this that meeting all of these people was going to be amazing, but i really didn’t know how amazing it would truly be. i have met some of the greatest and most interesting people on this trip. and because we all spend SO much time together, and we’re really all we’ve got here besides our host families, we’re almost forced to get along and bond from the beginning. right before it was time for me to leave home and head out to peru for the next three months, i was REALLY nervous. more nervous than i thought i would be. i was worried that i wasn’t going to click with anyone and that my expectations wouldn’t be fulfilled. truth is, though…it’s 10x BETTER than i ever expected. i remember when i first got here, that it felt like a crazy dream because this all happened so fast. it still kind of does feel like a dream, come to think of it. but i have a feeling that that has to do with me not having a schedule for the next year. trips like panama during the summer were always backed up with starting school again in the fall. but now that i’ve left columbia, and i have to pretty much start all over when i get back home, i feel kind of like i’m in limbo. but i’m not complaining…it’s a damn good limbo.

anyway, back to saturday! after breakfast, we headed over to urubamba to watch a bmx downhill competition on the side of a mountain. IT WAS SO COOL! i kept talking to gabi about how when i signed up to come to peru to volunteer, i never expected to do half of the stuff we’ve done so far. the track was super dangerous, and it wasn’t planned out very well in terms of safety, but it was fun to watch and to be a part of the cheering crowd. after we got back to calca that afternoon, gabi and i went to go buy my fourth pair of headphones [explanation later]. we went to an internet cafe after, and then i went home for a while before we all went out again for dinner. we all met up at the yellow chairs before we left for dinner, but yann asked me to show him where the new volunteer, kaise, lives. i knew where he lived because he moved in nextdoor to where i used to live, with flori’s sister’s family. when we got there, we were invited inside to drink tea and catch up a little. flori, sven, fabi, yetza, judy, matin, and tati were all there, and it was so good to see them all again. when we left to head back to the chairs, i started to realize how much i missed them. i told myself i would start going to their house more often. jaime had another benefit dinner for daysi, and i was so happy that we all agreed to going. even though, i think some people didn’t know what the money was going to, i know they enjoyed the pizza and lasagna [best i’ve ever had, no lie]. after long discussions and dinner, i suggested that we check out one of the calca discos [the safe one], because we’re never here on weekends. it was actually more fun than we thought it would be. definitely not cuzco, but way better than tequila in urubamba. we only stayed for about half an hour because we had to wake up early the next morning for our hike to pitusiray, but we still had fun.

sunday was insane. i don’t think i’ve ever felt as much physical pain in my entire life, as i did on sunday. four summers in a row at fat camp were nothing compared to our hike. we pretty much scaled a mountain. we left at 8am and got back at 3:30pm. i literally thought i was going to be sick. we’re 3,000 above sea level here in calca, so it’s already harder to breathe here than normal. i’m almost positive we climbed to at least 4,000 feet, maybe higher. i had never experienced pain in my hip joints until now. NOT FUN. i can barely walk up the stairs. but, even though we didn’t make it to the lagoon at the top of the mountain where we were headed, i still feel really accomplished and we all had a lot of fun. i was definitely the staller [is that a word?] of the group, but i was so grateful for everyone who kept pushing me and who would stay back with me when i needed a break. i’m telling you, these girls are amazing. i almost didn’t go on the hike, but because ashleigh’s leaves on wednesday, i wanted to spend more time with her before she left. after the hike, we all went to the yellow chairs to chill for a while and to say goodbye to aisha, who left later that day. after we all went home, i went straight to bed, but woke up later to shower, eat dinner, and then head over with ellen to katy and naomi’s house down the street to have another movie night. we had bought “titanic” from the market earlier that day when we were all at the yellow chairs because ashleigh had said that she had never seen it before, so we decided to surprise her. turns out that unlike the pirated movies that we buy from cuzco, the ones here in calca don’t have main menus and are only in spanish with no available subtitles. so we tried again. ashleigh brought “closer” with her since we didn’t tell her we already had a movie planned, so we watched that instead.

monday morning was pretty difficult. to get out of bed, i mean. my legs were hurting SO much from the hike that i got out of bed an hour after i was supposed to. i still made it on time for work, but i didn’t get to check my email like i had wanted to before i left. no biggie. work was okay…like i’ve said before, i really don’t like my placement too much, and today was just another normal day of what felt like babysitting. after work i went straight to an internet cafe for an hour, and then home for lunch. normally, i can never finish what’s on my plate, even though i really try to because it’s a small offense not to. but that day, i finished everything and asked for more. i think it was from not eating much on the hike…big mistake. after lunch, i went upstairs to read for 30 minutes and then to my old host family’s house to pick up fabian and yetza. everyone was at judy’s house [flori’s sister, nextdoor] celebrating her birthday outside on the patio, drinking beer. they invited me to sit down and have some and to talk for a while. flori wasn’t there, but i talked with judy and her husband for a few minutes before yetza and fabian were ready to go. lionel and kaise, new volunteers, now live with judy and martin. it was weird to see them both there, but it wasn’t like i had a problem with it or anything. it was just…weird. when fabian, yetza, and i left, we headed straight for the internet cafe. when fabian calls me to ask if we can “ir a pasear” [i don’t know the word for it in english…i don’t think there is one, but, it basically means “walk around”], he pretty much is asking to go to the internet cafe. so, we went and while fabian and yetza played grand theft auto on the computer [i don’t know how that works], i surfed around on facebook…shocker. when we were done there, we kept walking around the plazas and ended up sitting on a bench, taking pictures and filming silly videos. it was so much fun to hang out with them both again, i wanted to just go back home with them and stay there. after a few hours, of playing around, i took them back home and everyone was still outside on the patio, and they invited me back inside for some more beer. but this time, it was beer mixed with coke. weird combination you might think, but it actually was quite nice. flori was there this time, and we talked for about an hour. well, i didn’t do much talking, but i was glad to listen to whatever she had to say. we talked about lots of different things, and each time she mentioned daysi like she was almost required to fit her into each story. i understand why, and i was glad that she did, because every story told on that end, is another story learned on this end. she talked about christmas and about how daysi once told her what her name means in english, and that flori didn’t know until she told her. we ended the conversation about how she goes back and forth wondering whether she was a good mother or not, and also about how she pictures that daysi just left to go on a journey to spain, and that one day they’ll meet again. she told me that in the end, the only one who can judge her is god, and that she doesn’t regret anything. the only thought that kept running through my head was how strong she is, and how much respect i have for her. when it was time for me to go, i said goodbye to everyone and yetza led me out to the courtyard door. i looked through my bag to find my ipod and ended up finding the daisy that yetza had plucked and given me earlier that day. as i walked out the door, i told her to give it to flori when she went back inside. now, i don’t know if that was a good or bad move on my part, but i’d like to think that it was a good one.

tuesday? BIRTHDAY! i had one of the best birthdays i’ve ever had. i had really good luck that day, and also a few setbacks. but overall, it was one of the best days i’ve had here in peru. let’s start from the beginning: i woke up for work as usual, and had the best day at work i’ve had since i started at my new placement!!! i don’t know what it was about work that day, but something happened that made me not want to switch placements anymore. it was so great! i think it was because i helped kids individually and the teacher asked me to do more than usual, so i really felt like i was helping that day. after work, i came straight home for lunch where i saw the family and ellen who all wished me a happy birthday. i wanted to shower before we had lunch because i was leaving for cuzco right after at 3pm, and the water cuts off at 2:30pm. the water heater wasn’t working so i asked if reynaldo could help me out with it. he tried and tried, but it wouldn’t work. by the time he was done trying, lunch was already served, so i figured i’d just eat really quickly and still have time to shower after. lunch happened to be one of my favorite meals, and after, the water heater somehow magically started to work by itself! not that big of a deal, but it was awesome! i was running late after my shower, but i headed straight to ashleigh’s house when i was ready to go. we met up there instead of at the terminal, like usual, because ashleigh would be leaving peru early on wednesday morning, so projects abroad set up her taxi for the day before at 3pm, so she could spend the night in cuzco. naomi was already there and we left right when i got there. everyone else would be meeting us later, and henry, sarah, and christine were already there waiting for us. we had to take the long way through urubamba because the taxi took us the whole way, and there’s no passing through pisac anymore. when we got there, we checked into a new, cheaper hostel that we ended up liking even more than our old one, loki. [sidenote: first bad luck of the day was when i slipped and fell for the fifth time since i’ve been here in peru on the cobblestoned entryway to the hostel in the rain straight on my stomach. it was quite graceful.] there wasn’t a bar or anything, and there weren’t people walking around everywhere, but we liked that because that almost forced us to leave and go out into the city more. another good thing was that we got our own rooms of five beds each and it felt like a big sleepover. they also gave us free towels to use, unlike loki where you either have to bring your own or pay 20 soles. when ashleigh, naomi, and i checked in, the pisac crew who was already there met up with us, and then maiken and rose showed up shortly after. once we were all settled in, we split up into two groups: one to go book the bus for bolivia this weekend, and one to go reserve seats at the bagel cafe. i went with the bolivia group, i think because i’m sort of adamant about knowing what’s going on, etc. we took a taxi to the bus terminal to buy directly from there. [sidenote: second bad luck of the day: as we got out of the taxi, the strap on my purse broke. lame, but it can be fixed.] because only three of us went [henry, maiken, and me], we had to pay right then and there for the nine of us that we ended up booking. it was something like 1080 soles, total, it was insane. after we done there, we headed straight for the bagel cafe on calle procuradores, right off of the plaza de armas. calle procuradores is commonly nick-named “drug street” for a reason. it’s not really a street, cars can’t drive on it, it’s more like an alleyway. anywhere you go on procuradores you WILL be offered “señorita, massage? cocaina? marijuana?” anyway, after you pass all of that, somewhere near the top, is the infamous bagel cafe! we met up with ashleigh, naomi, and rose who had gone earlier to reserve seats for everyone. everyone ordered, and i got my usual plain bagel with extra cream cheese, and an oreo shake. it was fantastic. katy and floriane showed up a little later who had come from the office together, and then did sara and christine. naomi had ordered a banana cake [the best i’ve ever had…comes with three scoops of chocolate-nut ice cream, a real banana, and the actual cake had white chocolate frosting.], and i guess someone had told them that it was my birthday, because the waitress brought it out with a candle in it. i was really not expecting that at all, but it was so sweet. tess showed up a few minutes later with ANOTHER birthday cake that said “feliz cumpleaños, jaime” on it. that i knew was coming because asheigh had told me that she was gonna bring a cake. what i wasn’t expecting was the present. when i opened it, i laughed SO hard. it was a new pair of sneakers. why was this so funny? let’s just say that i’ve been wearing my ripped-up, worn-out black vans for the past two months [one of the reasons i’ve been falling so much], and every weekend i’ve told tess that i would buy new sneakers in cuzco, which i never ended up doing. it was so sweet and so clever, i was so happy. we decided to wait for gabi, yann, and carly to cut the cake. they are all in the sports project, and all the sports volunteers work in the afternoon, so they were just coming from there. no one wanted to wait for them, so they suggested we leave and go to the crown bar where they could meet us for the cake and drinks. i called and they said they wanted to eat at the bagel cafe first, so we ended up waiting. they ended up getting later than the last call for food. so we all left, but katy, ashleigh, and i went to the hostel to drop stuff off and to pick stuff up. i dropped off presents and things, and got my laptop to bring to the crown to check facebook, upload pictures, etc. when we met everyone else at the crown, they already had four tables set up for us and everyone was eating and drinking. the cake was out, and a waitress brought us a candle. she also brought me some double shot drink, that was on the house, of something with something else that had a flame at the top. it was probably the strongest drink i’ve ever had. everyone sang “happy birthday” again, and gabi gave me a present from the entire group. it was a touristy peru shirt, which i love, and the best birthday card i’ve ever gotten! gabi had printed out one of my favorite pictures of all of us and glued it inside the card, and had everyone write a note to me and sign it. that was the sixth time i cried that day. i was really emotional because i really wasn’t expecting everything that happened that day, and they really didn’t have to do any of what they did for me. i was so happy at that moment. jorge came a little later and brought another freaking present. it was a really nice jewelry box with another little one inside of it. i was literally overwhelmed at that point. a little while later, gabi and i talked about switching the attention to ashleigh for her farewell and gabi whipped out the card for her that we had all signed, and the peruvian pants that we bought for her that she had wanted, but never got around to buying. after all of our celebrating was over, we played our favorite games: animals, and the salt and pepper game. [i’ll explain if you ask]. then i taught everyone how to play celebrity!!! it was so much fun, everyone loved it! around midnight, everyone was getting tired, including me, so we headed back to the hostel. it was probably a good idea that we didn’t go out after that since we had to wake up so early the next morning for work. when we got back, everyone hung out in our room for about 45 minutes. yann had brought his violin with him for some reason, and we asked him to play happy birthday for me. it was SO cool! i loved it so much. then we asked him to play his favorite song to play. THAT was even cooler. none of us expected him to be THAT good. he was amazing, though! i have it on video, so it’ll be on facebook soon! after everyone went back to their own rooms, we all got in bed while i edited some pictures on my laptop. we ended up talking for an hour about random things and laughed so hard that we got a knock on our door from reception asking us to be quite or they would kick us out. whoops. what we didn’t understand was why they would’ve kicked us out for laughing hard, but not for playing a violin at 12:30 in the morning. anyway, we ended up falling asleep close to 2am.

we woke up at 4:30am on wednesday to say goodbye to ashleigh who had to leave early for the airport. we were all so tired, but in good spirits. once ashleigh left with gabi who took her to the airport, katy, naomi, and i went back to sleep for a while before we had to wake up to go to work. they had to wake up an hour before i did, but i woke up with them because gabi got back before they left. i woke up at 7:45 and left at 8am for work. i ended up showing up an hour and a half late for work because the buses were slow on their arrival for some reason that morning. i was so embarrassed but it wasn’t as big of a deal as i thought it would be. i ended up having another good day at work. the pub quiz that night wasn’t the greatest, BUT WE WON! we left tequila early that night because we had all been really tired from the past two nights.

thursday was the same at work, and wasn’t too eventful. i fixed my purse that had broken on my birthday for one sol at the shoe repair shop, and hung out with my family a lot. that night we all went to the yellow chairs and everyone was talking about something that completely shocked me and was a wake-up call for everyone. a new volunteer who had been at the pub quiz with us the night before decided to not come out to tequila after the quiz and take a taxi home by herself. apparently, the taxi driver had pulled over on the way back to calca next to a cornfield where no one was around and attempted to rape her. luckily, another new volunteer, kaise, had gone home by himself shortly after and had recognized her outside of the taxi fighting with her driver. he pulled over and she ran up to his window, screaming, and knocking on the door. they went home together, and that’s all i know so far. she had just gotten here the friday before and had already been having a terrible time. what we know is that she did end up going back home today, but i really don’t blame her. we all felt terrible for letting her go home alone, even though everyone tried to convince her not to, and it’s really no one’s fault but that taxi driver’s. yes, maybe she shouldn’t have gone home alone, but if nothing would’ve happened, no one would’ve thought twice about it.

today’s friday the 9th, and we’re all hanging out in cuzco right now waiting for our bus to leave for bolivia! we had a social earlier today at a school to raise money for a teacher’s treatments for his brain cancer. then, we had a long discussion with the director of projects abroad - peru, tim, about different things such as our work placements, our families, and about what happened to the new volunteer. from there, we went straight to cuzco to hang out and wait for our 10pm departure for our overnight trip to bolivia. we’re going to copacabana and to lake titicaca for the weekend. what sucks is that i just found out that because i’m american, for some reason, i have to pay 130 dollars, NOT soles, to cross the border…so unfair!!! but hopefully it’ll be worth the cost, and we’ll have as great of a time as we’re expecting.

[sidenote: not sure if i’ve ever mentioned the yellow chairs before this post…but the yellow chairs are the infamous chairs at the cafe that we always meet up at in the main plaza of calca. when people first arrive here, the easiest way to remember where it is, is to simply look for the yellow chairs. they’re in many a picture on facebook.]

and about the title: i lost the green pair i brought with me in cuzco, the second pair’s right side broke, and the third pair’s right side broke as well. i don’t know what i’m doing to the right side, but i think i’m gonna stop sleeping with them in, and wrapping them around my ipod.

massive update

a lot has happened within these past three weeks. more than i ever expected. the lows and highs i’ve experienced recently are almost indescribable and certainly life-changing. i can’t start from the beginning, and i can’t remember everything that’s happened, but i’ll try my best to explain exactly what i’m talking about:

if you haven’t already been told by facebook or myself, daysi was never found alive. after two weeks of constant searching for her, she was found in the river near urubamba, a town 30 minutes away from calca. the two weeks during which she was gone were probably two of the most stressful and emotional of my life. just being inside the house while all of this was going on was extremely depressing. i don’t remember seeing anyone smile or laugh during her disappearance. i do remember hearing from my room, flori constantly crying out just three doors down in her bedroom. sven was always there to comfort her and reassure her that everything was going to be okay. the worst part about it all was not being able to do more than what was already being done. the family and police kept getting false lead after false lead, and i can only imagine how tiring it all must have been for flori. i played my role as babysitter to fabian and yetza. they were the only two who didn’t understand what was happening. of course, they both knew that she was missing, but i don’t think that they, fabian especially, understood that there was a chance that she would never come back. it was up until the day that sven told me that the body that was found in the river might be her, that i thought she would be found. he couldn’t even tell me the news without breaking down into tears. he told me that the body of the girl had been in the river for at least four days and that it was almost impossible to tell who she was simply by looking at her. he told me that flori hadn’t gone because it was too painful for her, but that she had to eventually go because she would probably be the only one to actually be able to tell if the girl was daysi or not. the next morning, i was woken up by fabian and yetza knocking at my door. by the way, while all of this was happening, i had been extremely sick with a parasite hanging out in my stomach, and i didn’t know it yet. i won’t go into details about that, but you can imagine the symptoms i went through. anyway, fabian and yetza woke me up to go have breakfast at yetza’s house (flori’s sister’s house, next door). when i walked in the house, i found flori’s mother, aunt, and other family members in the house. flori’s sister, judy, sat me down at the dining room table with bread and tea while the family started to discuss funeral details and what they would be serving at the gathering afterwards. no one actually ever told me that daysi had been found dead, but once people i had never seen before starting walking into the house, one after the other, to give their condolences, i started to put two and two together. tati, yetza’s sister, who was sweeping in the kitchen, wouldn’t stop crying. flori eventually came inside to eat as well and seemed as if she was in a state of complete shock. she would break down every three or so people that came over that morning, but for most of the time i saw her that day, she just sat there, staring on. after breakfast, i went outside to find more people standing around talking about the funeral. i immediately went inside and upstairs to my room to call my mom. i had no idea what to do, what to say, or how to act. the idea of me moving to another family had been thrown around a few times by my real family members, as well as projects abroad staff. i didn’t want to leave, and i knew that the roldan family didn’t want me to leave, either. days earlier, i had told projects abroad that i would do what the family wanted me to do, because i wanted to help out with whatever i could, but at the same time, i didn’t want to be a burden. as much as they told me that i was not a burden at all, i knew that it would be best for them and me to move after all. after i talked to my mom on the phone, yessi, my supervisor, came to pick me up to take a second trip to the local clinic for my follow-up on my stomach problems. when she arrived at the house, i went outside to find sven’s mother and more people i didn’t know bringing flower arrangement after flower arrangement into the house. i met yessi outside the courtyard at the front gate and she asked me to wait for her so she could go see flori for a few minutes. when she came back, fabian asked if he could come with us to the clinic, which probably ended up being a good thing, so yessi agreed that he could come. while waiting for my tests to be done, tess, another staff member, met up with us at the clinic to discuss the “situation.” she told me that i would be moving families as soon as we got back from the clinic. i couldn’t believe that it was going to happen that fast. with fabi sitting right there, i wanted to cry my eyes out. i’m tearing up, just writing about it now. the tests eventually came back and told me that i had a parasite called girardia. fantastic. i bought my antibiotics, and we left to go back home. when we got back, there were around 30 or so people inside the house, but yessi continued to ask if flori could come outside to talk for a few minutes about what was going to happen. the five minutes that we spent outside talking about how i would be moving were probably the longest five minutes of my life. the whole time, flori stared at the ground, and said few words. the worst part about this conversation was that the night before we had also had dinner at her sister’s house. while eating, she had asked me if i had felt uncomfortable staying with them during this difficult time. of course, i said no, and she continued to talk about how i was sort of filling a void for her, while daysi wasn’t around, and that from day one she knew that she would be able to count on me. so, i not only didn’t want to leave the family because i felt so close to them already, but now i felt like i was betraying flori after all she had done for me. after those five minutes, yessi told me that she would wait for me outside while i packed up all of my possessions upstairs. i really had no other choice but to go upstairs and try to fit everything back into my bags all over again. every step that my suitcase went down was like another awkward and uncomfortable feeling of guilt and sympathy all in one. after i rolled my bag outside, i gave flori an enormous hug and thanked her for everything that she had done for me and all the great times that we had together. i told her that she could call me for anything that she needed, and that i would be there for the family whenever possible. she thanked me, hugged me for a last time, and yessi and i started walking to the gate. yetza came running out of her house and literally stopped dead in her tracks when she saw me outside with my suitcase. the tears just came streaming down my face when she asked me where i was going. i didn’t know what to say, except for that i would see her soon. which, i did, but we’ll get to that later.

pierre, from france, had left just the weekend before, but i would be moving into his old host family’s house. i had met them at his goodbye dinner, which was held at their house, so i knew what to expect, and i knew that i had really liked his family, which was comforting. i ended up crying the whole way there. even though i knew we had made the right decision, there was something that was still tugging at my heart. when we got there, the whole family, besides the mother, was sitting in a van watching me lug my bags into the house with tears rolling down my face. embarrassing much? [sidenote: i later learned that the van is owned by the family, which surprised me, because it’s extremely rare that families living in calca own automobiles.] yessi and i were welcomed inside by the mother, ubalinda, and were invited to sit down on the couch and to drink a glass of water. i had stopped crying by this point, but was still really shook up from earlier that afternoon. ubalinda was not only warm and welcoming, but she was extremely understanding of what i had been through, and why my eyes were swollen. after the three of us talked for a few minutes, i was shown around the house and was asked to pick one of two “volunteer bedrooms.” i picked the one that was filled with more natural light and that overlooked the backyard. the bedroom was bigger than the one i had been used to for the past month, and the bed was ten times more comfortable. it was a nice upgrade, but i still couldn’t help feeling guilty for leaving the roldan family. i ended up sleeping for the rest of the day until dinner-time came around and i met the rest of the family. there was the father, reynaldo; the older brother, rey; the sister, rubi; and the younger brother, renato. i also met the 6-month year-old puppy, tobi. yes, i’m not kidding, just like my dog, their dog’s name is tobi.

two days after i had moved, sven called me to tell me the details of daysi’s funeral, which was the same day. i told him that i would be at the temple and at the burial and that if he should need anything, to call me. i ended up leaving a few minutes late to go to the service, thinking that most people would be late and on “peruvian time” as well. much to my surprise, the temple was completely full when i arrived at 3:10 pm, and i had to stand outside with another crowd of people. at first i was annoyed that i had to stand on the cobble-stoned entryway, but that feeling soon went away when i realized that there was a reason for why all of those people had gathered in one place. i then was grateful that everyone had come to show that they cared about daysi and to show their support for her family and friends. when the service was over, sven, daysi’s father and uncle, and other men carried her casket outside, and the entire crowd of people followed them across to the other side of town to the cemetery. i waited and let people pass me to see if i could find fabian or yetza to keep them company, but i ended up seeing ashleigh and gabi walking out of the church. [ashleigh lives with daysi’s aunt, and gabi works at the volleyball project with sven]. i walked with them in the sea of people that seemed like the entire population of calca. every so often, we would stop and her casket would be set down, and someone would speak briefly. by the time we got to the cemetery, we stopped one last time outside the front gates, and three people spoke about daysi’s life, wanted justice, and about violence. that day was one of the hottest i had spent in calca, but that was the last thing on my mind. when we started the walk into the small cemetery, the crowd pushed and pushed to be able to get to “see the show,” as flori later put it. i had been to funerals before, back home, but i had never experienced one like this before. as soon as the men started to lift her casket into the mausoleum, people all over the cemetery who had gathered around started to yell “JUSTICIA!” people started crying out like i had never expected. as soon as she was lifted in, i saw flori be escorted out by sven and other close family members. i stayed a little longer to keep watching, and then left to see if i could find someone i knew. i later realized that it was probably best that the family be alone right then. i decided to walk back home, and at the end of the long walkway that lead to the cemetery were people writing on large pieces of paper that had been posted on walls outside the local stadium. i stopped to read what they said, and they all pretty much expressed the same ideas and opinions. people wrote things like “justice for daysi!” and “close the discos, stop the violence!” after i was done reading and taking pictures of the posters, i decided to pass my old house on the way home to see if someone was outside. no one was there, so i text messaged sven to tell him to call me if he needed anything. he ended up calling me back right away and told me that the family would soon be meeting at flori’s mother’s house and if i could meet him there later. i agreed and started to walk towards her house. when i got to her street, i saw her, flori’s other sister, susi, and other family members walking away from the house. we met up, and they asked me to come with them to another service that was about to start. i ended up going with them, but i saw sven was there, too, along with the rest of the family. he asked me to watch fabian, but he was nowhere to be found. susi told us that he was with his cousin, hierro, down at their grandmother’s house. and then i saw flori. she was in the van that the family had rented for the day, and as soon as she saw me she called out my name and asked me to come inside. i climbed in, and she gave me a hug and started talking to me about the day and how she was feeling and how she was happy to see me. for some reason, i thought that the next time i would see her after i had moved out would be uncomfortable and awkward, but it was anything but either of those things. i was so glad to be able to make her happy for even just a few minutes that day. after we talked, i climbed back out and walked back to the cemetery with yetza, her cousin gaby, and the rest of yetza’s immediate family. when we got there, everyone who had been in the van was already there outside, along with more people i didn’t know. everyone was talking and drinking beer almost as if the grieving was over for the day, and it was time to celebrate daysi’s life. there were only about twenty people there, and i felt honored that i was included in something so … i don’t even know what word to use. personal, i guess. after that small gathering, we then went on to daysi’s aunt’s house, where ashleigh lives. there were more people gathered there already, and the owners of the house began to serve food to everyone. i sat down with gaby next to family members, and flori sat down next to me, to my right. we began to eat, and she started telling me about how when she was escorted out, she had to be given oxygen because it was such an overwhelming moment for her, that she had completely fainted. i honestly didn’t know what to say, except to ask her how she was feeling right then and there, so she told me that she was better, just still in shock. yetza came up to her to tell her that briana was crying for her, so she got up to go check on her daughter. i spent the rest of my time there with fabian and all of his cousins walking around town. like always, he wanted to go to an internet cafe so we could all play the action game “high life” together. when 8:30pm came around, i decided that i should probably head back home. i took all the kids back to the gathering, and said my goodbyes to everyone. on my walk back home, i realized that it was wednesday, and that there was a pub quiz that night. i almost didn’t go because i didn’t think i could jump from one emotional extreme to the next, but i ended up going because i felt that i really needed to talk to someone. when i got there, it was really crowded inside, but i saw chescie sitting at the bar and went up to her and gave her a hug. i almost immediately broke down into tears. we went outside and she comforted me by listening and with more hugs. after i had calmed down, we went back inside to find tess talking to everyone about what had happened and how she stresses that we be really careful while walking around at night, etc. i guess everyone had waited for me to get there before they started the quiz, so after she was done talking, we started right away. now that i think about it, i’m really glad that i went that night because it helped to take my mind off of everything for a while, and it was good to see all of my friends. we got home around 1am, and i had realized that the family hadn’t given me my set of keys to the house yet, so i was completely locked out. i, of course, didn’t want to ring the doorbell or anything, so chescie, who lives three houses down told me i could sleep in her room, and she would sleep in chelsea’s. i honestly don’t know what i would’ve done, had she not offered that to me. the next morning, i woke up early enough so that i could catch someone still at home to open the door for me, but late enough so that chescie and chelsea’s host family wouldn’t notice that i was even there.

i can’t remember specific details, but starting all over again with a new family wasn’t as bad as i thought it was going to be. besides the fact that the parents are extremely conservative, they are all very warm and fun people. everyone is always cracking jokes and having a good time. over these past few weeks, i’ve become close with ubalinda and rubi the most. i talk with rey sometimes, but it seems like renato could care less that i’m around, which is a big jump from what my relationship was like with fabian. a new volunteer has also moved into the house. she’s an older woman, named ellen, from england, and she’s also very sweet. she doesn’t know much spanish at all, so i’ve been helping her with a few words here and there.

chelsea left about a week ago, and it was really sad and emotional when she left. same when pepe left a few days later, and chescie left this past friday morning. it’s really weird without them being here, but i’m happy that i got to meet them and spend all that time with them that i did. naomi and katy are another pair of friends from england arrived together a few weeks ago. they pretty much replaced chelsea and chescie, seeing that they moved into the same house. they are really great as well, and i’m already becoming really good friends with them.

nothing new is happening: cusco on the weekends, investigations still being done, new volunteers arriving. [sidenote: i wrote this blog entry on word in more than one sitting, so if it seems a little all-over-the-place, my apologies.] more soon.