back from Nazca!

Well Im back from the Nazca trip! It was a lot of fun, the bus ride wasnt too bad, I slept for part of it, stared out the window at all the interesting things, then we watched When Harry met Sally because we realized that we had a tv and a dvd player and dvds. Looking out the window was interesting, we were going through a whole new type of climate and terrain. I was deep in thought and kind of thought I was in Iraq.There was sand everywhere and little huts everywhere, and no on beleived the bus driver when he told us that people live there! But we really were going through some poor places. Anyways we were driving along the coast too but it was just weird because it is the coast but not the beach.. and there were big mountains of sand, it was pretty! We finally got to the hotel, and the hotel was really cool, it was in the middle of nowhere and the middle of a poor town (I have found that there are many nice places hidden among nowhere). But the hotel was one story, and in the backs of our rooms it was a big open garden/field, with benches and a tennis court and a mini soccer field, and a llama names Diana and a white horse. The horse and llama roamed freely, and over the duration of the trip we learned that if you get to close, Diana spits in your face, and she also likes to be where ever people are. Oh I forgot there were 4 peacocks, and some chicken. So there was a nice pool there that we all hung out at the whole weekend. Diana would come by the pool and stand behind all the chairs. Also one day for lunch we ate at tables in the yard and she walked up right beside us for the whole lunch. Anyways, on to activities.

We visited the Nazca lines, via airplanes. for those of you who dont know, the lines are huge immense figures in the desert, of perfect geometrical proportions, that were discovered in the 1900s and they dont know for what reason they were made. you can only see the figures as a whole from an airplane, the figures are formed from rocks that are on the ground in the desert and they have lasted so long because there is hardly any wind or weather there. There is a monkey, a spider, hummingbird, some others, and then shapes like triangles and spirals, etc.

So we flew in a 6 passenger plane over the lines, it was a bit of a bumpy ride, we went in circles around each line so everyone could see, so it made me dizzy and my stomach turned, but I survived all right. I will post pictures sometime this week. Another thing we did was go to a pottery place and make and paint our own pottery, the same way the Nazcas did. Then we got to paint them the next day. I made a bowl and 2 shot glasses. If they turn out good then I will give them to Tab and Lindsey haha. I am not the greatest artist but the people there helped me.

One day we rode dunebuggies, we rode through a couple historical sites on the way to the dunes. We stopped at the ruins of Cahachui, and a cemetary. The cemetary wasnt a regular one, it was just people who had been buried in the sand with no marking, but since then have been dug up because people get the pottery and stuff that they were buried with. So, there were bones and skulls EVERYWHERE and it was kind of creepy but at the same time it seemed fake. When we got to the dunes, we got to sandboard. It is like snowboarding but the boards we had didnt keep your feet in very well so it was hard.. and the hills were short..so it was more fun to go down the really huge hills on your stomach, you went really really fast and it was fun. Our dunebuggy driver was a national champion of Peru last year. The dunebuggy held like 8 of us I think. We would come to the top of the hill and the other side looked like a cliff because it was so steep on the other side, it was like coming to the top of a hill of a roller coaster, then we would go down the other side. I swore every time that it was a cliff and we were going to just fly in the air off the side of the hill. but we didnt, we went down every time and it was so fun.

One night we had some Afro-Peruvian dancers come dance for us. It was interesting and they wore costumes. At the end was a dance where you had a roll of newspaper hanging from your butt and you shook your butt and the other person behind you tried to catch it on fire. It was funny and they let some of us do it, but I didnt. I dont think I could move my butt that fast. haha.

So other than that we laid by the pool a lot, ate a lot, and I think thats it. They served us dessert for lunch and dinner, some of it was good, other wasnt so great. The food was good, we had a lot of soup, salad, chicken, potatoes, and rice. One day we had a pachamaca, which is traditional of peru. They cook the food in an oven underground, and then cover it with leaves and dirt. Then they put flowers and a cross on it. It really looks like a fresh grave. But anyways they cook it all day and we had potatoes, beans, chicken, sweet potatoes, and I think thats it. I thought it was pretty cool!

We had an oral exam over the weekend for one of our classes, it was pretty easy. Then we had our test today that was supposed to be last week. It was pretty easy too! We have 7 more days of class then test day. Then my mom and Jimmy will be here!

I am starting to like Pilar now. She asks us if we want to sit and converse every day.We did today,and she asks us more questions and I think Kathryn and I have figured out more how to just jump into her conversations or just say something random to her. Last night she make us some sort of rice with some sort of bean thing. Today we had -covered rice- is what she called it but it was rice and then meat with onions, raisins, and some kind of sauce. I really liked it but Kathryn didnt so much.

I got some regular milk at the store today,and some cereal so I hope tomorrow when I try it, it will be good because I miss milk so much. It it weird here. Also we went to Chilis for lunch today! (yes, the american chilis)... man it was so good. they had regular ketchup, and the waitress actually served us and paid attention to us, like america! the bottomless chips there were amazing, we must have looked like vultures eating them. Chips and salsa dont really exist here.

Well thats all for now, will blog in a few days once something interesting happens. I have read 2 books and the english selection of books here sucks, but today I found a Nicolas Sparks book by accident and got so excited. I bought it and started to read it already!