Trip to Oxapampa (Day 1)

Friday 27, 2017

At the lovely hour of 1 am, all of the exchange students who were invited met in San Borja to board our buses and begin the journey to Oxapampa. After a taxi ride with my host mother (she didn't want me in the city alone at night), I was able to board the bus and see all my friends. We were all very excited but of course tired as well, so as soon as the bus started going, we all fell asleep pretty quickly (or attempted to, I don't think anyone really slept that well).

When we awoke the next morning, we were in the jungle. The bus was definitely hotter than the night before and the scenery was longer a city landscape. The majority of the towns or civilizations we were passing were not only smaller but blatantly poor. We were supposed to arrive around 10, but we didn't actually arrive until around noon, meaning the majority of the exchange students went back to sleep.

Upon our arrival, the other exchange students and I were fairly surprised with our accommodations. Before coming I had thought we would be staying in something similar to a hostel, boy was I wrong. We ended up staying in an awesome little cabins. In my cabin was Elsbeth (Netherlands), Gracie (USA), Arianna (Italy), Appoline (France), and Emily (USA). In my opinion, we got the coolest cabin. Not only was it very large, but it had a jacuzzi (we couldn't use it) and it was where the Prima Dama de Perú stays when she visits Oxapampa.

After we got settled in our rooms, we headed out to explore the grounds of the hotel (they were pretty large). Before long, we all went to go eat lunch. For lunch, we were eating the classic foods of the area (cheese and sausages/meats that weren't chicken). We also got a taste of the strong German influence on the area, with some traditional Bavarian dances going on as we ate. Of course, some of the exchange students had to join in.

After we finished lunch, we brought out the things of food we had all collected to donate along with the wheelchairs to everyone. After packing up all the bags, we set them aside to rehearse our number that we would also be performing for the event. Afterwards, we all loaded the buses with our bags and set off to the city center to the event.

Once we arrived we stared assembling all of the wheelchairs. Within a little time, all of wheelchairs were assembled and we were ready to go. We ended up getting all lined up with our flags and having our names announced. We all received medals in gratitude along with a certificate. Afterwards, we all went back to the wheelchairs so we could begin giving them out. Once everyone had received their wheelchairs, we performed our dance (a success). On our way back up to the stage, we received some more gifts from the lovely people of Oxapampa, a cowboy hat and a wall decoration.

After everyone had a wheelchair, we set off in a parade around the town to celebrate with the town. We carried our flags and waved at the people as we went. The most memorable part of parade for me was the joy on a 10-year olds face as him and his dad played around with the boy's wheelchair.

After the parade, we all rejoined the stage. Sara (Italy) gave a speech on the behalf of the exchange students and Madelaine (France) read a poem. We then watched some more traditional German dances, before we were all invited to join them down below. Me being me, I got a an ambitious partner, who chose to drag me into the middle twice to dance. This wasn't booty shaking dancing, this was dancing that involved my feet leaving the air because my partner and another boy from a different couple linked arms and twirled us into the air for a solid 15 seconds. I won't forget the look of panic I sent Tiia before my feet left the ground. And of course, I went a second time, although it was a different technique. After I was done being thrown into the air, we continued the dancing until the party ended. We then took pictures with the dancers before we all went to the hotel and called it a night.

Days with Tiia

As mentioned quite a few times on my blog, Tiia is one of my best friends. Not only is she the sweetest person I know, she is the cutest and the coolest. This is why I called upon her to do something very important with me. We only had school for three days that week, so on our days off, we decided to explore more of the city that we love so much. But more importantly, I enlisted Tiia to help me on my quest to find Mexican food in Lima.

You might be wondering why the heck I want to eat Mexican food when I live in Perú. And while that is definitely a valid question, the answer is that Mexican food is delicious and I eat it all the time in the United States. Which means having been in Perú for some time, I have grown to miss my enchiladas, tacos, and everything delicious that comes from the blessed southern neighbor of the U.S.. With that said, Tiia and I decided to embark to San Isidro to not only get some Mexican food, but to see some new aspects of our city.

Tiia arrived to my house a bit later than intended (I think all the exchange students here are adapting to that part of the culture), which meant I was close to starving by the time my girl arrived. After checking our bus routes, we walked to what we believed to be the correct bus stop. We were wrong, as after we got on the bus, we realized we were going the wrong direction. Not worried, we just hopped of the bus and crossed the street to take another. Now I know which direction takes me to San Isidro and which direction doesn't. After a quick little bus ride, Tiia and I hopped of the bus and walked to through a park of olive trees. Eventually, we arrived at the Mexican restaurant, where we quickly were sat down and served. Not knowing what to eat, we settled on Tacos and Nachos (quite basic I know, but we wanted to start easy).


After a satisfying lunch, we decided to head to a pre-Incan ruin that was located only a few blocks away. The after arriving, we paid 5 soles to enter and then read up on the history. The ruin was really cool and very out of place in San Isidro (the most commercialized and leading district of industry in Lima). Tiia was impressed with my reading skills, as we stopped to read the signs and I finished it apparently way too quickly. I read the sign and moved on to the next one, but when Tiia joined me at the second sign, she asked if I had actually read the whole thing. I of course had, but it still made me laugh a bit. We ended up taking pictures of the ruin, before heading on to the next thing.

That next thing ended up being a Starbucks so that we could get wifi. We needed the wifi to locate our bus and bus stop. After getting our drinks and the wifi, we headed back to our bus stop, which was through the park of olive trees. Tiia and I wanted to take pictures on the olive trees, so I sat down on a branch of one and was posing when we got whistled at by a patrolman of the park. Not knowing what to say, Tiia just talked to me in Finnish and I pretended to talk in Finnish until we passed him. It worked, as he didn't stop us for sitting on the trees. After that, we made it to the bus stop and got safely back to my house.

The next day, Tiia and I got up and went to explore some of the shops close to my house. I would describe these as thrift shops. You can get really good deals for clothing, and get some cool clothing pieces. As mentioned before, Tiia is the coolest person I know, not only because she can dance like no one's business, but because she can wear the coolest clothes and pull them off. This is how I knew Tiia was the one to take with me to go thrifting.

After getting around Tiia and I walked in the general direction of the shops. After finding our first one, we struck gold when Tiia found a jacket straight out of the 80's or 90's. Personally, I could have never had pulled it off or even picked up the jacket, but Tiia being Tiia, looked suave. After she paid 40 soles, we headed back to a park nearby my house to meet up with our friend Isaac (Peruvian). Once meeting Isaac, we sat in the park and talked, while enjoying the sunshine. We also listened to some Reggaeton, both mine and Isaac's favorite music (Isaac is a really good singer so this is how we bonded).

After our Reggaeton session, Tiia and I decided that we wanted Cinnabon, and so we all set out for around a 1.5 mile walk to a different district of Lima (actually walked through two) until we got to a nearby shopping mall in San Isidro. Once we made it, we got our Cinnabon and sat down to enjoy. Isaac told me (a now normal occurrence) that I eat a lot of sugar and that I am going to die because of it. We also discussed what we could do after our Cinnabon treats, and decided to go for Isaac's suggestion, see a movie. That day happened to be the day of movies, meaning we only had to pay 5 soles to watch a movie (Under 2 dollars). While Isaac could not join us, he did make  sure we paid for the theater and got in safe and sound :) So, after saying goodbye to our Peruvian companion, Tiia and I set off to go watch our film (it was a children's film about a Condor, a type of bird). While I didn't understand all of the film, I understood enough to follow and to enjoy it. After our movie, Tiia and I set back to my house before she went home.

Visting a School/Interact

On one lucky Wednesday during the week, I was able to skip school with the other students in my Rotary club to go visit a primary school. The school is in the district of Pueblo Libre (the same district of my Rotary club). This not only meant that I got to sleep in, but I got to hang out with some of my good friends. Renato (my host cousin) and I located my Rotary Club and I got dropped off. All of the students in my club Emma (France), Dominik (Germany), Malin (Wisconsin), and Jeanne (France) eventually got their as well. After everyone arrived, we all set out to the school in Violeta's car. Here is Perú, it doesn't matter how small the car is and how many people there are, you just make it work. Thankfully, the drive to the school was fairly short. After we arrived, we were greeted by the school staff and a cute banner that had been made by the kids. We then were all directed to the right, where a make shift auditorium had been assembled, meaning chairs were all gathered around for the students and parents to use.

While Malin, Emma, and Jeanne all chose the sit in chairs, Dominik and I sat on the bench that was built into the wall (it went the entire length of the wall). We initially sat here because they had to go get us more chairs, but once sitting down, we were sprung on by the surrounding children. The first initial questions were about the Rotary jackets. Mine being more covered than Dominik's, I received the most questions and grabs from children. After that, questions started. Personally, I love talking to children in Spanish for two reasons:

1. Their Spanish is much more basic and they use a smaller vocabulary

2. Their Spanish is very clear to me and they don't use slang

My conversation in Spanish started off with the two girls sitting next to me. They had many questions (Where I was from, how old was I, I could speak English, etc.). But they also had so many questions about my Rotary jacket (Where were all the pins from, had I been to all those places, etc). After the initial basic questions passed, the girls started asking me how to say things in English. While it started off with colors (the older of the two girls told me she knew that a pin on my jacket was blue), it somehow morphed into names. While there are a few names in Spanish that have English equivalents, the majority do not. I honestly think that this confused the girls a little bit as both of their names had no equivalents, but their classmate Jorge (who one of the girls told me is crazy) had the English name George. During these conversations, Dominik and I were both asked repeatedly if we wanted to sit in the chairs that had been brought for us, which we both declined, as we were having too much fun being questioned.

Eventually the questions died down and the show began. A few were singing and quite a few were dancing. I quite enjoyed the dancing ones, as they were dancing to remixes of songs I knew. It was also a little insightful as to how Latino/as are raised, and that is, dancing from a young age. The girls in the primary school were already learning how to shake their little hips quite well if I do say so myself.

There also happened to be a little boy that was dressed as a little mime. He however, was terrified to go and perform. I felt horrible for him, as he looked like he was going to vomit and he kept running away from the stage. Eventually, his friends and the teacher convinced/dragged him on stage. He happened to be quite good at his little magic act, and after getting past his stage fright, he performed well. He did; however, run as fast as he could off the stage when he was done, only to be greeted by tons of students who congratulated him.

The magic was the last act, and afterwards the exchange students, Rotarians, and school officials all met in a little room. While I don't really know what was being said, we did get to eat little sweets. While American sweets will probably always be number one in my eyes, we were all starving at this point, and gladly took what we were given. After the quick little meeting, we went to one of the classrooms and introduced ourselves to the students. While there are times I am not always proud of my country and the decisions we make, nothing can describe the feeling you get when children get excited I'm from the United States. It goes to show you how present American things are around the world and how far we have reached into other countries. Every time I tell a child I am from the United States, the incredulity on their faces and in their voices is something that makes my heart happy (and the French a little salty that their country doesn't have the same effect).

After the classroom, we all returned to Violeta's (my counselor and a Rotarian) car. We crammed in, drove back to the Rotary club and then all clambered out. Knowing we had a few more meetings before lunch, we all headed to a nearby convenience store. We all ended up buying a liter of ice cream to all share (we make healthy choices), before heading back to the club building. We all sat down and started eating, before Jeanne (French) and I were pulled away to help set up for the Rotary. Emma (France) quickly joined, and we ended up moving pop and cutting cake. Afterwards we returned to eat a bit more ice cream.

After polishing off the ice cream, we talked with some Rotarians and other people about our exchange thus far. The discussion wasn't that long, and included quite a bit head nodding from me, but eventually we wrapped it up. After the discussion, all of the exchange students once again left with Violeta for a more important thing, lunch. We went and got Pollo a la Brasa (Rotisserie Chicken and French fries dipped in Ají or Mayonnaise with a salad on the side). We talked a bit more about the Rotary events our club would be doing while we ate. Afterwards, we all went to back to Violeta's house to figure out what to do next. After some discussion, we decided to all take the micro to Plaza San Miguel (a large shopping center in Pueblo Libre). Here, we all got coffee, looked around Ripley's (department store), and got churros. Eventually, we all headed back to Violeta's/Emma's house. Jeanne and I ended up calling for a taxi to take us to a different part of Lima for our first Interact meeting.

Jeanne and I's taxi driver to our Interact meeting seemed fine and normal at first. By no means was he dangerous (we only take taxis through a Rotary recommended app that does background checks on our drivers), but after we asked him to crank up the radio, he knew we weren't from Peru. He then started to ask us questions, all of which lead to him asking us if we were religious. After we both told him know, this opened up a giant conversation that I didn't particularly want to be a part of. So instead, I got to silently send moral support to Jeanne for 15 minutes as she argued with the driver about why she didn't need to pray or be religious. He never fully understood her, so he turned to me instead. This is when I gave him the most basic and watered down version of why I am not religious. But instead of arguing with me, he simply said okay and continued on. This was not only a bit comical, but made Jeanne a little angry. Personally, I think he could tell from my response my Spanish wasn't that great, so he just gave up. Nonetheless, he didn't receive a very good rating from us on the app.

After we found the location of the interact building, we went up and had our first meeting. We (meaning a ton of exchange students), were all inducted in. There were also three presentations given, two from exchange students (Italy and France), and one from a Rebound. During his presentation, the rebound started to cry when he looked at photos of his friends. This proceeded to make everyone else almost start crying or cry (my eyes were pretty watery). After the meeting, we all talked with Charo and Henry a bit before we all left and headed home.