I have descended into boringness

So, since I moved into Catherine and Emily's apartment, I have not done a single exciting thing with my life. Since Wednesday, I've been packing, trying to get rid of the remaining food in my kitchen (amazing how long it's taking me considering I started with almost nothing), watching movies, wandering the city, and stealing facebook albums. I also read two books- in English, and because I wanted to- which was awesome. It's been rainy and grey for most of the time, so I haven't been able to get out of the house as much as I would have liked.
I've also been missing my old apartment- I never realized how great it was until I got here! Emily and Catherine's place is supernoisy and always freezing, even with the heat up all the way. At least once Beanie gets here I'll be traveling for the rest of the time and won't be here much. Only a few more days now!

I'm in love with Peru- Part 3: Adios mis queridos amigos!

July 5, we woke up early again (it seems to have been the theme of this trip) to go on the Sacred Valley Tour, which we had booked before setting off on our four-day hike. The tour was on a bus for the most part, with stops at a few overlooks to take pictures, a few markets- Joe and Robin got left behind at one because they showed up 20 minutes late- thankfully, they took a cab and caught up with us at the next stop- and some ruins. Our tour guide was really disappointing after what felt like weeks with Jair-Roger-Julio amazingness. A lot of the ruins were slightly anticlimactic after seeing so many cool ones on the Inca trail, but we at least discovered that Jair had done his job and taught us well. We knew every single answer to the questions the guide asked us and probably could have given the tour ourselves. We were also still excruciatingly sore, so the news that we would have to climb all over MORE ancient ruins and up MORE stairs didn't exactly make us happy. I got a lot of presents for the family, however, so I think overall it was a worthwhile experience. I did spend far too much money, but that seems to be the story of my life lately.
After we got back to Cusco, Anne and I headed back to the hostel to get ready while Robin, Lis, and Joe ran out for some more last-minute shopping. We all went to dinner a little later at a little pizzeria on the main square, and then met up with our Inca Trail group in the main plaza. We waited for Jair for about a half an hour since he swore he would be there, but eventually gave up. Our group was composed of the five BC kids, Paul and Adam from England, Randy, Melissa, and Laura from Miami, and Michael from Georgia. Basically it was my favorite people from our original group, which I was really happy about. We went to this tiny little bar called Km 0, which had live music and good drinks and even some dancing towards the end. Anne, Robin and I stayed there pretty late with everyone even after Lis and Joe left, and it was a lot of fun. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone finally, but we did since (surprise!) we were getting up early again the next morning.

After far too little sleep, we woke up the next morning and hopped on a plane to Lima. We were picked up at the airport by our hostel (they gave us a secret password and everything) and then chilled in the common area of the hostel for a few hours while they got our room ready. After everyone was finally showered and ready to go, we went out in search of food. We walked down to the beach and found a mall-type building, and finally decided on Chili's, which was probably the most exciting thing that had happened to me all day. Not only did they give us fountain soda, but it had ice in it. My cheeseburger actually tasted like a cheeseburger and had toppings other than ham and egg on it, and my french fries tasted like french fries. Also, the waitress divided our check for us and accepted credit cards. For those of you still living in the states- you don't know how good you have it. I was in heaven. Afterwards, to make things even better, we walked around and I smelled cinnamon buns, which I haven't smelled or eaten since being home. Of course, I bought one of those too, after battling a group of fashionably dressed, cell-phone chattering, latte-drinking, obnoxious eight year olds for my spot in line.
Just when I thought things couldn't get any better, we found a balcony that overlooked the beach, so I got to just chill there and listen to the waves for maybe a half hour, which I hadn't realized how much I missed until I was there. Basically that felt like the best few hours of my life.
We walked back to the hostel and watched a movie before going to bed early to ONCE AGAIN get up early.

The next morning, we had breakfast and left for the airport to fly home. It was kind of an all-day process but fairly easy and uneventful, and we were home by 8. It was good to be back even though I hated leaving Peru and probably could have stayed longer. I had some dinner and talked to my family/Josh/Lauren to let them know I was still alive, unpacked a bit, and went to bed.

On Wednesday morning, the girls came over to use the washing machines/dryers in preparation for leaving. I packed up a bunch of my stuff and brought it over to Catherine's, where I'll be living once my rent ends on the 15th. I got to say goodbye to Catherine, who was leaving that afternoon, and then met back up with the girls. We went to lunch at a little cafe called Helena near their house, and Anne treated me in exchange for me packing her stuff up for her. Apparently, she hates packing as much as Lauren does and heard how quickly/efficiently I pack. I basically packed everything she owned in her two suitcases, kept them both under the weight limit, and arranged it so she doesn't even need her second carry-on anymore. Since I got a free lunch and she was thrilled about only having to haul around three bags instead of four, it worked out perfectly. Then I made apple pie for the girls as a goodbye present, which their terrible oven burned but we managed to save. I went home to change, and then what remained of our BsAs crew (Me, Joe, the girls, Emily, and Ben) met up for dinner at Cielito Lindo. We had a good dinner, briefly tried to get into Sugar before midnight, when the cover charge kicks in, but gave up and went back to the girls' for pie and ice cream instead. After that, Joe and I headed home and went to sleep.

July 9 was Joe, Anne, Lis, and Robin's last day in Buenos Aires. I spent the morning packing Joe's stuff- he promised to buy me Modena in exchange and then never did, that jerk- and then went over to the girls' to hang out with them one last time. We did fun things like empty their entire toiletry collection into my backpack since they didn't want to bring them home, condense Robin's six carry-ons to two, and eat all of their remaining food. I said goodbye to them and then came back to say goodbye to Joe. After I sent them all off to the airport, I went grocery shopping, made/ate dinner, talked to Josh, ordered Modena and watched a movie, and went to bed.

Friday/Saturday/Sunday/Monday/today I have had the apartment to myself. I've been using the time to clean/cook/pack/move stuff over to Catherine and Emily's. I've also been wandering the city a fair bit, updating my blog, watching movies, answering emails, and stealing facebook albums to show all of you, loyal readers.

Here's the deal with pictures of my adventures over the last six months:
I have been stealing facebook albums from all 22 of my close friends here one by one and uploading them to snapfish. This involves downloading each picture individually to my computer and then uploading them individually to my account. It is time consuming and boring and that's why it has taken me a full six months to get it together. If you want to see them, here's what you have to do: You have to comment/facebook message me/call me/email me with your email address. Then you have to make a snapfish account if you don't already have one, using the same email. It's free and supereasy and they don't send you spam.

I'll keep adding pictures as my friends post them- Peru pics are now up! Enjoy!

I'm in love with Peru- Part 2: Hiking the Inca Trail

Wednesday was the start of our hike! We started out in Ollantaytambo, the small town at the beginning of the trail, where we got chocolate-banana pancakes for breakfast before heading out. The beginning of the actual hike wasn’t too bad, and our whole group went at a fairly reasonable pace. Our backpacks were HUGE, considering we were carrying four days worth of clothing/food/sleeping gear/toiletries/etc, but it the weight wasn’t as bad as expected. We had three adorable tour guides: Jair, 28 years old who speaks English, Spanish, and Quechua with about equal fluency and was such a sweetheart for the entire trip, telling us jokes and actually making the history of the Incas fascinating; Roger, who was also probably late 20s and equally adorable, but quieter. He would randomly interject with HILARIOUS comments on everything, and hit on Lis in a cute-but-weird kind of way. Also, he likes “tunchi-tunchi” music- what he calls electronica because of the way it sounds. The last tour guide was Julio, who was a little older and more intimidating, but also really nice. His English wasn’t as good as the other two so I suspect he was just shy.
During the hike, we stopped a bunch of times to look at various ruins and plants, and at one point Jair offered to let us eat part of a cactus which the locals do fairly frequently. Robin and I split one (the fruits are called “tunas”) and it was actually really good, surprisingly enough. We stopped for lunch at a little overhang, and watched openmouthed as the porters (the men hired by the company to carry the food, tents, chairs, tables, first aid supplies, etc- they’re amazing. Their bags are almost as big as they are, weigh fifty pounds each, and they were running up the mountain while we huffed and puffed every ten feet) whipped an entire campground together out of their packs. We all ate lunch together in the lunch tent, and were shocked by how good the food was. Every meal on the trail started with “happy hour”, which was coca tea and popcorn, and sometimes crackers while the cooks got the food ready, then some kind of soup, followed by a main dish of usually pasta or chicken or rice with vegetables, followed by this weird hot jelly for dessert, followed by more tea/coffee/hot chocolate. Jair kept encouraging us to eat everything to replace the calories we lost. I obviously didn’t have a problem with that, but some of the members of the group who are more restrictive with their diets looked horrified at the amounts of food we were served. We spent the entire rest of the day hiking, and got to camp tired but feeling pretty good about our accomplishment. After dinner, everyone sat around and chatted for a bit but basically went to bed right away. Anne and I shared a tent the first night and stayed up talking for a while before eventually falling asleep.

Day two of the hike, I woke up already feeling dizzy from the altitude, which affected me more than anyone else for some reason. After breakfast, we set out early and the group split up depending on how fast they could travel. Joe went up front with two other girls from the US and a guy from England, who were all experienced hikers and were miles ahead of the rest of the group for most of the hike. The middle was comprised of the girls, three kids from Miami, an adorable 49 year old southern man named Michael, and a few others, while I followed in the back with two Uruguayan women, who didn’t seem to have trouble with the altitude but just liked walking really slow. I was really struggling for most of the day (as in, took ten steps, couldn’t breathe, would have to sit down for a minute to catch my breath- repeated endlessly during the nine hour hike) but I made it up to the top of Dead Woman’s Pass, which was the most challenging part of the hike. This was thanks in large part to Julio, who walked excruciatingly slowly the entire day so I wouldn’t be left behind. By the time I got to the top, (15,000 feet, thank you very much) I was super dizzy, had tunnel vision, and couldn’t breathe at all, but Jair gave me some pink liquid and made me breathe the fumes, which helped a lot. I was ready to go again when the group set off for the last two hours of downhill hiking to camp. When we got there, we learned that showers were available, but the water was freezing. They recommended that we skip them, since going to bed with wet hair would be a cold, miserable experience at that altitude because the temperature drops so low at night. Joe and Anne went for it, but the rest of us decided against it. That night, I had to wear a t-shirt, sweatshirt and sweatpants, a NorthFace, wool hat and gloves, and two pairs of socks to be able to go to sleep. Lis, Anne, and I shared a tent that night, so at least it was a little warmer.

On day 3, we spent the morning hiking through the most beautiful part of the trail- really jungly and green as opposed to the dry yellow mountainside we had seen thus far. We saw a few more Inca ruins, which were really cool, and Jair explained the different functions of different rooms and temples to the entire group. We had lunch at a camp in a little valley, and a half-hour break, which was amazing. Jair came around and rubbed Ibuprofen lotion into our knees, since the upcoming part of the hike was the most physically demanding (as opposed to Dead Woman’s Pass, which was only that tough because of the altitude.) Our next stop after lunch was this field perched on the edge of a cliff, which was absolutely gorgeous and had a natural spring that was actually safe to drink from for a change. The entire group lazed around in the grass and the sun for about an hour, and we were taking our group picture when the Uruguayan women finally showed up. One of them got really angry that we had started without her (mind you, this is after we waited for over an hour before Jair decided we had to leave or we wouldn’t make it to camp before dark.) She then refused to join in the picture and stood in front of the whole group and refused to sit down, so everyone’s group pictures were ruined. After that fiasco, we started off down the steepest downhill I’ve ever seen in my life. The stairs were incredibly hard on the knees, as Jair promised. Although I was feeling a million times better since the altitude was lower, Robin was having some trouble with the downhill sections, so we sent the girls on ahead and I hung back with her. It took us several more hours to get to camp (we were the last ones, and thought for a while that we had gotten lost) and then we just collapsed because our bodies were in so much pain. For anyone that ever hears that hiking up is more difficult than hiking down: it’s a lie. The breathing is more difficult and that’s it.
Since that night was our last night on the trail, we went to a little restaurant near the trail for our last happy hour and dinner. We all tried the local Cusquena beer, which was pretty good, and then our chefs used the restaurant kitchens to prepare us our last real meal. They brought out a homemade birthday cake for one of the English boys, and made a fantastic dinner that blew us all away- six or seven different main dishes, etc. After dinner, we all got in a big circle and introduced ourselves formally to the porters, and vice versa. There was one adorable porter in his sixties who has been hiking the trail twice a week since he was 17- crazy. We all got some group pictures and then headed to bed.

Day 4, we all got up at 345 in the morning and had a superearly breakfast, and set off hiking while it was still dark in order to get to Machu Picchu before sunrise. It was a really pleasant hike for most of the time, except for poor Robin and Anne, who were both really sick. The very last part before we got to the Sun Gate was literally a sheer vertical climb that involved using hands, feet, knees, and elbows to get to the top. At the Sun Gate, which is an old Incan ruin that overlooks Machu Picchu, we waited for about half an hour for the clouds to clear so we could see Machu Picchu from above. (PS- yes, I mean clouds, not fog. Even after descending for two days we were still well above the clouds.) They didn't clear, though, so Jair brought us the rest of the way to Machu Picchu and secured our entrance tickets. They only offer 500 admissions a day to Machu Picchu, so it's really competitive to get in (hence the arriving before sunrise.) The sun was just hitting Machu Picchu as we got there, and it was absolutely amazing. It's one of those places where pictures don't do it justice AT ALL- and the part you see in the pictures is maybe a quarter of what's actually there. We did a two hour tour, but could have stayed there all day because there was so much to see. After that, Anne, Robin and I hopped on a bus to Aguas Calientes, the closest town, to meet up with our group again for a final goodbye lunch. Lis and Joe showed up shortly after with a few other people as well. We all had lunch together and watched Chris eat cuy- a Peruvian delicacy which is actually guinea pig. I was tempted to try it until I saw that it comes to the table still looking like a guinea pig, and you have to eat it with your hands. After watching the process I wasn't so interested in the idea.
After lunch, Jair brought us all to the train station, where we took a train to Ollantaytambo, the town at the beginning of the trail, where we caught our bus home. After an extended fiasco in which the bus company had never heard of our hostel and refused to drop us off there (it was about ten blocks from the main plaza, where their office is) we made it back and showered for the first time in four days. In all of the pictures from the trail, we're wearing hats partially because of the sun, and partially to cover our gross hair. It was nice to be able to walk around with a bare head again. Robin fell asleep immediately, but the rest of us went out to grab dinner at a little restaurant before coming back and going to sleep. Sleeping in a real bed that night was AMAZING.

I'm in love with Peru- Part 1: Lima and Cusco

Our plane touched down in Lima, Peru, where we had about five hours to kill before our bus to Cusco left. We trudged around Lima in our tourist attire with all of our massive bags, and listened to people walking by discussing how we were going to be robbed before the day was out. Altogether a very uncomfortable experience. Other than the Plaza de Armas, which was beautiful, Lima was kind of a disappointment. It was really dirty and commercial, with lots of ugly grey concrete and billboards and trash everywhere. I was relieved that we only had to stay there for a few hours, and we ended up going to the bus terminal early just because we were so bored and paranoid. We bought some snacks and hopped on our bus to Cusco.
Over the next 25 hours (all of which were spent on the bus) we watched five movies, ate three meals, and slept for a while. I also made friends with the Israeli boy sitting next to me (we talked so much that my friends sitting behind me were a little weirded out and offered to rescue me, thinking he was one of those awkward people that talks incessantly) and acted as a translator between a group of tourists and the bus conductor. The bus ride was supposed to be 21 hours long and ended up being around 25, but at least towards the end the scenery was beautiful. We finally got to the bus station and were met by the lady from our hostel, who took us there right away. We checked into the hostel, showered and such, and headed out to explore a bit and find some dinner. Since it was Sunday, most places were closed, but we found a tiny pizza place that ended up being really good. Cusco was beautiful, full of old buildings and churches, so we didn't mind so much that we had to wander for so long to find food. After dinner, we went back to the hostel and passed out.

On Monday morning, we had breakfast at the hostel and then left to wander around the city for a bit. We went to the travel office to finalize our reservations for the Inca Trail, and went to a little cafe for lunch. After arguing with the waitress for about ten minutes, we determined that over two-thirds of their menu was not available, so I had some really boring soup and got out of there as fast as possible. After lunch, we got picked up by a tour bus for a city tour, which was really cool. Our guide, Carlos, took us to a cool museum that was originally an Inca temple and then was partially destroyed to make way for a Jesuit monastery. We got to see parts of each, and then went to Saqsawaman, the old ruins above the city. We got to see the Christo that overlooks the city even though it wasn't one of our stops, but we got to climb all over the ruins and learned a ton of stuff about the city's origins and such. After that, we hopped back on the bus and went to another old ruin, which was constructed with three levels to correspond with the three Incan levels of the world, and then we went to the Fountain of Youth. As our guide explained to us, splashing your face with the water will give you eternal youth, but drinking it will give you eternal diarrhea. Needless to say, we didn't drink any, but supposedly we'll all be young forever now. After that, our final stop was an Alpaca factory, which had tons of Alpaca gloves, hats, scarves, sweaters, etc. I got some presents for people back home, and then we headed home. At the hostel, we had a meeting with the Inca trail guides, where we arranged to rent backpacks and sleeping bags/mats for the four day hike. That night, we went to a really cute restaurant called Victor Vittoria, where we each got a bread basket, salad, two drinks, trout dinner, dessert, and coffee for about ten bucks each- plus all of it was delicious. Definitely a nice end to the day.

Tuesday was our last day before the hike, so we ran around all day buying water purification tablets, flashlights, and coca products (candies, cookies, leaves, etc- all from the same plant that cocaine is derived from. The leaves and other things are supposed to help with altitude sickness so we stocked up.) We all bought a bunch of presents and souveniers and got lunch at an outdoor restaurant in one of the main squares. I got accosted by two women in Peruvian garb, who threw a baby goat in my arms despite the fact that I refused several times, let us take a picture, and then screamed at me when I told them I didn't have any US dollars on me to tip them. (I wouldn't have anyway, but it also happened to be true.) The rest of the afternoon was spent shopping/exploring/doing other things that I can't think of right now until dinner. For dinner, we went to a Mexican-Italian-Peruvian restaurant (not kidding) called Chez Maggie, which ended up being great. We got back tot he hostel and started making preparations for the hike. I took my last shower for the next four days only to have the hot water die on me two minutes in, which was pretty depressing.

When "finals" doesn't just mean exams

Tuesday, June 23, I skipped my morning Cuentos class (I figured I still have two more excused absences, and listening to other people talk about their papers when I could be using the time to write my own seemed a little silly.) Hung out in the depto all day with Lauren and Joe and worked on my papers while Roxana attempted to clean around the three of us. I went to my Premios class to turn in my final exam, which turned into a two-hour ordeal as my professor attempted to teach us new material even though technically we had already completed the course. We finally escaped and did a little dance in the hallway- that class was easily the worst class of my life, even though the professor was nice and the workload was a joke. Even so, those three hours every week seemed like ten. I went home to start studying for history, and hung out with Ben and Lauren for a bit before going to bed.

The next morning, Lauren and I studied and finished the readings until it was time to go. The three of us hopped on the colectivo, took the final, which was not hard but was intensely boring. Sergio didn't show up, and neither did Silvana, who was supposed to administer the exam, which was kind of sad since we were all hoping for a chance to say goodbye and thank them both. Afterwards, I headed straight home to work on my Cuentos paper. I worked on it straight through until 230am (interrupted only by Kela coming over for a bit) and then went to sleep for a few hours.
I woke up by 5 to finish the paper (biggest piece of crap I've ever written- and in eight pages of Spanish, to boot) and printed it out at a locutorio nearby. I'm pretty sure the security guards were completely baffled by my nighttime activities (and outfits) that night, but at least I got everything done. That morning, I went to Cuentos and got rid of the POS paper, and then sat around eating cookies for an hour and a half listening to my professor make an attempt to be nice to us for the first time all semester so we wouldn't blast her on our course evaluations. (I did anyway.) I headed back home after another brief victory dance in the hallway, and studied and skyped for the rest of the afternoon. After making the hour-long trek to school for my evening final, I discovered that my prof was stuck in traffic and would not be showing up to administer it. I then had to trek an hour back and wait around all night for him to post the prompt online for us to email in, which he never did. Lauren and I made a brief effort to go out- got dressed and ready and everything- before deciding that we were both exhausted and collapsing into bed. Not exactly the most exciting way to celebrate the last day of classes, but very satisfying.

Friday was our first day of freedom, which of course we spent doing errands because our lives got put on hold for finals week. We did laundry and ordered Modena and skyped our various favorite people, and then spent the afternoon packing Lauren's stuff to go home. Since she is legendarily horrible at packing and I am actually pretty good at it, it worked out fairly well and we finished in less than two hours. At that point, the prompt for my final had been posted, so I had to rush through it to email it in before our dinner reservations. I ended up writing it in 25 minutes, which may not have been the best decision, but made it to dinner on time. Our whole crew met up for a last goodbye dinner/Happy birthday dinner for Steve at Meridian, which was a lot of fun. It turned sad at the end since I had to say goodbye to Memo and Kela for the last time, but at least I could postpone the rest of the goodbyes until later. I went home and talked to Josh for a bit, showered and packed, and went to bed at around 230 intending to get at least a few hours of sleep. Instead, Lauren and I stayed up talking until well after 330, which killed the sleeping plan but was nice since it was the last late-night roomie chat we'll have for a while.

On Saturday, Joe and I got up at 4am to get ready to leave for Peru! We tackled the still-sleeping Lauren to say goodbye, which was sad but too rushed for anyone to really get upset. After that, Joe and I headed out in a cab and met up with the girls at the airport to start our big adventure. Our flight was delayed by more than an hour (such a typical start to any vacation plans in Argentina) so we hung out and got breakfast in the airport to kill some time. We finally got on the plane after a few hours, and were on our way. Our adventures in Peru are going to have their own entry, however, because it definitely deserves its own spotlight. More to come!