So I put my hands up they're playing my song..... It's a party in the Peru way!

Hola amigos! I'm back for some more action, unfortunately it's just in the form of blogging my life in Peru! :)


Don't worry this isn't a trick, I didn't actually take this picture in Peru! These 3 moose were chillin in our front yard in Mtn. Green about two weeks before I left! Pretty sweet ehh?


Saturday Arpil 3

Woke up to two men speaking in a language I didn't understand, then remembered I was still in Peru. Ceasars childhood friend Carlos was here for the day, they grew up together somewhere in the mountains in a different part of Peru and Carlos still lives there and is actually a doctor! He ate breakfast with us and had brought these cornbread type things, they were wrapped in corn husks or whatever it is that tamales are wrapped in, it was pretty dry but other than that the flavor was good, we also had what they told me was some kind of hot bean drink, and hot dogs..... Yep things just got crazy! It was good but made me laugh that is was for breakfast!


This is the kitchen.... and there's not even another half decorated like a discotec!

Decided to try and walk up to the school without really knowing where I was going.... I wouldn't say I was lost so much as I was exploring parts of Cusco that had been previously unexplored.... I finally gave in and got a taxi and of course I was like 3 blocks away! haha


This is just a random plaza that we found wandering around on Saturday, it's way pretty and the main plaza is surrounded by other smaller plazas like this! Maybe your thinking I know the girl in my picture, nope I think she thought I was someone famous so she just tried to jump in at the last minute! :)

Because it was a 4 day break most of the other students had planned out of town trips for the weekend but since Lauren and I had just arrived we hung out a lot! haha We met up and just walked around a bunch of the different markets, there are lots of handmade type stuff that is way pretty! Lots of alpacca sweaters and handmade scarfs and gloves and socks and most importantly lots of soccer jerseys! Everything is way cheap and I'm a danger to my budget when I walk around these places! haha The people are so nice too and I always want to buy something from all of them, also they love to barter down here!


This is where the magic happens, magic as in all the eating of the meals! :) I love this room! I also love how good of a cook Isabelle is, I'm starting to get used to having all my meals prepared for me it's going to be a little rough when I get home and no one is willing to fill that position!

I went home for lunch and had more soup as usual, but for the main course we had omelets with onions and spinach and tomatoes and some other veggies with rice! It was way good and just to recap the day, yes I ate hot dogs for breakfast and an omelet for lunch!

Later that night Isabelle told me they were going somewhere and I should come, I didn't really know what was going on but after following her down the street a couple blocks Ceasar was waiting for us by their truck (which I didn't even know they had) and they took me to what is the closest equivalent to the grocery store. It was nice to see an actual clean building that resembled something you would see in the states! :) It was very similar to our grocery stores but it was crazy how cheap everything was!

While we were checking out they didn't have enough cash or something so they told me to wait with the cashier and while they were getting money out of the atm. While standing there I spotted some LDS missionaries (I've been trying to figure out where the church is around here and have been struggling....) and I got so excited it was a joke! I couldn't move cause I didn't want to leave our stuff so I just kept staring creepily until they finally came back and I ran up to the missionaries and one of them looked like an American so I was like, "DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH?" (Yep those caps were on purpose because I was probably yelling haha) "I NEED TO KNOW WHERE THE CHURCH IS!" They were way nice and explained it and gave me a Spanish Book of Mormon so I can work on my Spanish!


This is what the front of the house looks like, it doesn't seem like much, but I'm pretty sure the family I'm with is very well off by Peruvian standards!

After shopping they were so sweet and took me out to dinner at this place called Etapoy I guess it's a popular Peruvian chain, they just ordered for me and it was way good! We got a salad with a really good Italian dressing and then a plate of fries and grilled chicked with really good seasoning! It was awesome!

The funny thing I noticed about the grocery and when we were at the restaurant was at the grocery store they had a kid out there directing traffic so people could park their cars and pull out and just navigate in the madness! I mean there's not even a real parking lot so there's just cars everywhere and it's messy. Also at the restaurant there was a guard sitting outside watching all the cars parked down the street because again there was no parking lot! Anyway Ceasar tipped them both as we were leaving it was kind of funny to see, that would definitely be an interesting way to earn a living!


This is another picture from horseback riding on Thursday! Obviously I'm the hot one on the right! :) Seriously though, see sunburned picture from previous post....

Sunday April 4
Sunday was a crazy busy day, it was awesome! I went to Mass with the family at 7 am (take that all you nay sayers who didn't think I could handle the morning life after no job for a year!) It was way crazy crowded I think a lot because it was Easter! We had to stand through the whole thing! The cathedral is so beautiful though and it was way cool to be able to experience that! About halfway through I felt something brush my leg and I looked down to see a dog running through the crowd, I had to laugh because hey there's a dog in the church! :)

After that we went home and had breakfast and then I caught a cab to the LDS church on the other side of town to watch General Conference in English with 4 other elders! When I walked in everyone was so nice and greeting me and when I went in the room with the 4 American elders they were all surprised to see an American! 3 of the elders were from Utah and 1 was from Idaho. The one from Idaho had only been out a few months and he was a huge Aggie basketball fan and I was getting so happy talking about them! haha


Oh it's fine I'm just a mega fan in my original Ciensiano jersey cheering for my team! :) Notice the barbed wire fence up all the way around the stadium and in the bottom right corner you can kinda see the fully armed guards that were everywhere in the stadium as well! Apparently these games can get out of hand!

I had to leave conference 15 minutes early to meet Lauren and go to the Ciensiano soccer game! We met a bunch of other students from the school there as well most of them are from England and it was way fun! Ciensiano is Cuzcos professional team, I was way pumped and had even bought a jersey for the game at the market the day before! Apparently they used to be way good and won the South American Soccer Cup or something in 2004, but now they aren't very good and there weren't a lot of people there! I guess the games can get pretty out of hand though so they have to have tons of guards, people were throwing stuff like bottles and food on the field throughout the whole game too it was crazy!


This is the little kid they send around to sell suckers to the suckers at the games, how do you say no to a face like that? :)

They got down 1-0 halfway through the first half and then got a red card at the beginning of the 2nd half, despite playing down a player though they came back and won 2-1! I was kind of surprised at the quality of soccer though, it wasn't very good.... They were pretty good individually but were terrible as a team!


Hey it's Superman, you can tell by the shirt.... This is Estaban, he was my buddy and sat by me for part of the game! Strangely there was something about him that reminded me of my old boss TJ.... haha


This was my 2 freakin sole lunch at the stadium! That's like 70 cents and it was seriously way good! They were cooking fresh

Monday April 5
Woke up at 5 am to someone pounding on the door and ringing the doorbell, I just ignored it at first but they wouldn't go away and then I got a little nervous at who it was... Finally I went out in the hall and Isabelle was answering the door, I guess it was Caesars nephew! Woke up to more pounding and ringing at 6:30, this time it was Isabelles brother, apparently they heard a really cool American was staying at the house and they wanted to see me for themselves, so they thought it was best to arrive in the wee hours of the morning so I didn't get any sleep! :)

Got a new teacher at school, her name is Rebecca and I'm still alone in the class! Last week I was sad cause I wanted to get to know other students but now I realize I'm pretty lucky to be alone cause I think you can go at a much faster pace if the teacher pushes you!


This is the really safe clean open oven that the pizzas are cooked in!

Went for another run after lunch still got exhausted, but it was nice! Went to the school after another cold shower to get on the internet. Saw Kate from Australia who I had met the week before and we decided to go to dinner! Kate is way cool, naturally I would think that just because she is from Australia, but she's way nice and I try not to act to creepy when I tell her how much I love Australia! We met up with a girl that is living in the host family with Kate this was her first day, her name is Ilia and she's from Holland! We ate at this pizza place that was way good!


Dinner with Kate and Ilia at the amazing pizza place! Don't worry I didn't even order my own large pizza !

Tuesday Arpil 6

School was so frustrating today! Apparently my teachers are not supposed to talk in English to me at all, but last week and on Monday they've been explaining what things are when I don't understand, but today my teacher decided she wasn't going to speak in English, I'm sure eventually that is how you are supposed to learn better, but I feel like I didn't hardly learn a thing! I know language is supposed to be hard but today sucked! haha

After lunch Isabelle took me to feed the dogs, I didn't really understand what she way saying but, they have 7 puppies and they are seriously the cutest things ever!


Isabelle and the cute puppies.... I might be coming home with a plus 1.... :)

After feeding the dogs I met some girls from school in town and we went and bought bus tickets to Puno which is near Lake Titticaca, we're going there for the weekend Friday after school! I'm way pumped! Then we had some drinks (don't worry it was just coke for me) and went to dinner at this really good place off the main Plaza called Chez Maggy, I had the most amazing homemade chips and guacamole I almost died and went to heaven!


This is another picture of the cute puppies! Mom don't you think we need one of these? :) Holly I'm sure you're in the market as well right?