Back into the Jungle!

February 9th, 2018

On Friday, we all loaded up the car with our overnight bags and set off towards the jungle. In the car was my host dad, Jeanne, Ana, Victor, and Gerardo (who laid with us all in the back). We set off on our over three-hour car ride. The drive took us down through the mountains, meaning it was quite winding. Jeanne, Ana, and I were are in the backseat, with Gerardo laying across our laps. Before long Gerardo had fallen asleep on our laps. Combining this with the winding road, Ana and I were forced to try and keep our little sleeping boy from bumping around too much. It was actually pretty comical, with us both grabbing the handle bars every 10 seconds. Eventually, we made it pretty far down the mountains and stopped for lunch. We all ate different things (I had ceviche with trout), before we took some photos of the beautiful city square and ate some ice cream. We eventually clambered back into the car and drove to the next town over. Here we stopped at a church upon a hill (and of course took some more photos).

After the church we completed the journey to our house in the jungle. By the time we arrived, it was fairly late. We drove in and had barely set our things in our rooms before Gerardo came and asked us to set up the pool. The whole way to the jungle he had told us about the pool we would have. Well, it turns out that the pool was definitely made for people Gerardo's height. With that said we all put our heads together and built the pool for little Gerardo. After we built the pool, we all left to walk around the city square and explore. While we were walking around, we stopped for dinner, before we all took moto-taxis back. Once back in the house, we all chilled and hung out before we eventually all went to bed to get ready for the next morning.

February 10th, 2018

We all woke up and quickly got around for the tour that our host mom and sister had went and booked earlier in the morning. After a quick breakfast and backing of backpacks, we all boarded a truck that came to get us and went on the first leg of the tour. It was a taste testing of various local crafted drinks. Personally, my favorite one was the drink infused with coffee. After we got our drinks, we waited until we found a tour bus with room for us. About thirty minutes later, we had set off for the next tour stop, a bridge that crossed the main river. We took some photos and explored a little bit before we boarded the bus again and headed to another lookout point...


After we took some photos we headed to a local community that still lives in the jungle of Perú. The members of the community don't speak Spanish, but their own native tongue. We learned a few of the native words before we all changed into clothing the natives wore and had our faces painted. After the transformation, we sat down with a member who spoke Spanish and talked about the community.  After the speech, we all got up to of course dance. We were all in a giant circle with a man completely costumed in the middle. Jeanne, Ana, and I could only hope that we were not pulled into the center. Well, we didn't hope enough, as being the only foreigners meant we had to get into the center. I was pulled in first, and while I tried to politely decline, I failed. After me went Jeanne, and soon after Ana. Victor didn't get pulled in (sadly) as he was a boy. After the dances, we were sent to the goods the villagers make.  We soon were put back in the bus, this time to go head to the restaurant  for lunch. On the way to the restaurant, we stopped at a coconut stand where they cut the top off of the coconut and stuck a straw in before giving it to you. The coconut water was nice and refreshing and we carried on to the restaurant with coconuts in hand. We ordered our food and then took a quick trip down the river while our food was being cooked. After our quick little boat ride, we returned, ate lunch, and then set off to what everyone was looking forward to, the waterfalls.

Once we arrived close to the waterfall, we all set off for a 5-10 minute hike. The walk was quite slippery, but we eventually made it and took some photos. After the photos, Ana and I ventured into the water to wade in the water. It was very relaxing, and much calmer than the waterfall in Chachapoyas. After we were done wading, we set back down the hike and walked to another waterfall, where we took a few more photos...

After the waterfalls, we headed back to our host family. We all relaxed and later went out to go dance.

February 11, 2018

We woke up waaaayyyyy later than intended and had a late start to the day. After we all got around, we headed to an Orange farm where I went orange picking for the first time. Orange picking was quite different from apple picking, as the yard was filled with bugs. We also had to use nets attached to long sticks so that we could reach the oranges. While we went around picking oranges, we kept cutting them open to eat them. Before long, our bags of oranges were full. Before we left however, my host mom had Victor jump for an orange on the tree. When he came down, he smashed a fallen orange with his foot, covering Camila (my host sister) with orange juice.

After Camila got cleaned up, we all went to enjoy lunch with my host father's friend. While our food was being made, we went with an employee through a walk into the jungle. He showed us how they farmed Youka, a type of root that is a stable in Peru's jungle. First, he chopped the tree of the Youka plant off. Then, with much strength, he pulled up enormous roots. After the demonstration, we walked back to eat lunch. With our bellies now full, we went to the nearby river bank to wade in the icy waters. We all waded around, took photos, and played in the sand before we left the restaurant to go back to our house. Once in the house, we quickly grabbed our swimsuits and went to a nearby hotel so that we could swim in the pool. After a few hours and lots of splashing, we returned home exhausted. We caught some sleep and then left the next morning.

North Huancayo/Jauja Tour

February 8th, 2018

Ana, Jeanne, Victor and I all met around 10:30 am in the city center to embark on a tour of the northern part of Huancayo and Jauja (a nearby city). The first stop on the tour was in Huancayo, and was to show us how Alpaca sweaters or other things of Alpaca are made. The man told us how to tell the differences between Alpaca, Llama, and sheep fur; which is useful to know when you are looking to buy. After the demonstration and explanation was concluded, we got to poke around and look at the items. I didn't buy anything, and before too long, everyone had once again boarded the van and we set off to the next stop. 

When we all got off the bus, we were all a little weirded out and confused, as a man dressed completely in black fringe started playing music and dancing. From his mask around his nose dangled a large, protruding, red, hot dog shaped thing. I'm still a little confused as to why he was dressed like this, as I soon realized we were in a place where jewelry is made. He demonstrated how they melt down silver and the procedures they took when making the jewelry or pieces. We once again received some time to poke around the various booths. Jeanne bought a beautiful ring, Ana some earrings for her family, and Victor bought his grandma a necklace and earrings. After everyone finished buying, the bus was boarded and we made a quick stop to see some statues...

Before we got on the bus and left Huancayo for Jauja. We arrived at Laguna de Paca (Lake Paca) and boarded a quaint row boat. The lake was stunning, surrounded by mountains and filled with wildlife (birds and trout). The guide/rower pointed out faces in the mountains (which I didn't see) and explained legends. After we landed back on shore, we took some pictures and boarded the bus again. 

After our boat ride, we were all a little hungry, so we were all relived that the next stop on the tour was a dairy farm. We taste tested some cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and manjar blanco. While the yogurt was good, we all decided to get ice cream (soft serve, coffee flavored). Poor Ana is lactose intolerant, so she didn't get to try too much. After our little snack, we finally headed to the restaurant. Here Ana and I gorged on Chicharron de Trucha (Fried Trout), while Jeanne and Victor settled for steak. We were quite hungry and finished before the other people of our group, so we had a bit off time to look around all of the tourist shops outside. While I didn't find anything but Inca Kola (my favorite Peruvian pop), I wasn't too disappointed in saving my coin. 

The final stop on the tour was a Convent and church. All of us decided to pay 5 soles for the tour. For parts of the tour, we weren't allowed to take photos. For these parts the guide was explaining the various paintings on all the walls. I found the library quite impressive, as it was filled to the brim with yellowed pages. Another impressive part of the tour a room we entered that was painted everywhere. Here, we were allowed to take pictures...

The tour of the convent concluded about an hour later. We took some pictures from outside the church, before we all headed back toward Huancayo. The tour guide kindly dropped us off at a shopping mall a block from our house so that we could more easily walk home. Once home, we relaxed and talked to our host mom about the tour. Jeanne, Ana, and I then headed back to the mall to see a movie, before returning home and preparing for the next days adventure, a trip to the jungle!

Huaytapallana

Huaytapallana is the highest mountain peak in the Huayatapallana mountain range of the Andes mountains in Perú (I bet you had fun reading that sentence). The translation of Huaytapallana, which is derived from a word of Quechua, is to collect flowers. The mountain reaches 18, 232 feet above sea level.

So on February 6, 2018, Jeanne, Victor, Ana, and I all set out to hike four kilometers to reach this breathtaking peak.

Jeanne, Ana, and I all woke up and quickly got around to our bus waiting with Victor. We said goodbyes to our host mom, before we left the city of Huancayo and headed toward where our hike would begin. The road was were bumpy, but the natural scenery made it worth it.

Once we arrived, we all had little motivation to begin the hike. It was quite chilly and the hike began by going up, and up, and further up. While I was definitely short of breath, I was okay. Jeanne had fallen behind with our guide, and I was primarily in the middle of our guide and Victor and Ana (who were hiking together). The hike was definitely difficult, but eventually we all made it about halfway. At the halfway point, we could see Huaytapallana, which was incredible.

At this point, after we took a break, Jeanne decided that she could no longer continue. I honestly didn't feel like continuing, but I conjured up the strength by telling myself I only would have one opportunity. While I now am I happy I made myself continue walking, during the walk I regretted it. As I continued on the altitude certainly got to me. I began to feel nauseous, and my breaks to get to the snow peaks became more frequent. Eventually, I made it. Once I got there everything became worth it. I was surprised to found out that as I reached the peaks, it was not cold at all. As the hike had continued, it had become warmer, and by the time we got to the peaks it was hot. This meant it was quite enjoyable, with the heat radiating from the sun and the snow simply sparkling. It didn't take long before I joined Ana and Victor playing in the snow. It was Ana's first time seeing and feeling snow, which made the experience even more enjoyable. We took pictures, and Ana and I attempted to make a snowman. While the snow was packing snow, it wouldn't roll, so our snowman kinda failed. So instead, Victor and I pressured Ana into making a snow angel. Ana went for it, but only moved her arms so her poor angel didn't have a skirt. She hopped up pretty quick as she was now wet, but we deemed that it was worth it. After we had taken some more photos and thrown a couple snowballs we all left the snow and continued the hike back.

On the hike back, I quickly began to feel more and more sick. While the hike itself was easier as we were going down, my illness definitely made it difficult to continue on. I quickly fell behind Ana and Victor, who were unaware that I was feeling as bad as I was. Breaking every so often, I eventually made it back to them, as they had stopped and waited for me (they got worried). They both ended up helping me climb down the mountain as I was super dizzy, nauseous, and had a blinding headache. I had no sense of balance and am so thankful that I had amazing friends that helped me down the mountain (as I honestly thought the only way I was getting down was by falling).

After we made it down (thank goodness), we all ate a lunch of trout, potato, rice, and onion. Jeanne and I were still feeling a bit sick, so the bumpy bus ride wasn't too enjoyable, but before we made it back to Huancayo, where we all took it easy for the rest of the day.

First Days in Huancayo!

On February 1st we (Victor, Ana, Jeanne, and I) were supposed to take the first bus to Huancayo. However, the path to Huancayo ended up being blocked until February 3rd. The path was blocked by riots between farmers and vendors of market over the price of potatoes. While on paper the issue of potato prices seems pretty trivial, however the riots were getting pretty intense, with two deaths. However on February 3rd, the path was finally opened once again. Our host dad in Huancayo advised us to simply take the bus the next day, as the first day the path was opened would have lots of traffic. With this in mind, we booked our new bus tickets the morning of February 3rd and prepared to start our new lives in Huancayo. 

February 4th,  2018

I woke up late on this morning (bad timing) and with my host family, we all rushed to the bus station (which is thankfully very close to my house). I rushed to give my suitcase before boarding the bus with the other exchange students. I said some more goodbyes to my host mom and sister before I scampered onto the bus. The ride to Huancayo passed very quickly and was gorgeous (as we drove through the mountains). Before the bus ride, I was a little nervous, as we were passing over an altitude of 5,000 meters. It ended up being completely fine, and we arrived in Huancayo. We greeted our family before we squeezed our suitcases into the car and set off for our new home. My new host family consists of my host dad Gerardo, my host mom Clara, my host sisters Daniella (21) and Camila (12), my host brother Gerardo (7), and my host Grandma (Hilda). 

When we arrived at the house, I was pretty impressed. In Lima, I lived in a sort of apartment that was nice and cozy. Here we have a garden, a large house with multiple floors, and for the exchange students our own separate little guest house. Our guest house is cute and consists of two rooms. When you walk in you see Ana's bed and a little kitchenette. If you pass through the next door, you see Jeanne and I's room and a nice bathroom. The main house is quite large, with a beautiful kitchen and a large living space. We were all happy with the kitchen as our host family is excited to taste some food from our countries :)

After we got a house tour, we all went to our little guest house and unpacked our things. We later joined the family for dinner (which didn't include rice) and talked until we were told to go to bed (we were obviously exhausted). 

February 5th, 2018

The next morning we all woke up around 7 so that we could join our family for an early morning breakfast (both of our host parents had to work). We ended up being the first ones at breakfast, but were quickly joined by our grandmother, brother, parents, and later sisters. We ate and talked a little bit before we went back to our room to shower and get fully around for the day. At around 10, we left with Daniela to go meet with some of her friends and play soccer. We first went to a park, before we drove to what I think was our Aunt's house. It had a huge yard and lots of dogs. Jeanne happens to be terrified of dogs, which meant she was not only hesitant to get out of the car, but ended up staying in the house while we played soccer. We had called Victor to come and join our soccer game, but by the time he got to the house it was over (my team won), as it had begun to rain. So instead, we all went inside the house and played charades. We were acting out movies, and while the language difference resulted in different movie titles, my team once again pulled through with the win. After charades, Danielle, Jeanne, Ana, Victor, and I all returned back to our house to have a family lunch. We ate stuffed potatoes (Papa Rellena), and talked about our all countries. After lunch, we went and talked with Victor and showed him around our new house. After running around the soccer game, we were all pretty wiped (the altitude does that), so we just chilled and talked. We later went out with our host grandma to a park quite a ways from our house. There, we played with Gerardo (hide and seek), before we talked with some children that were curious about us. Before long, we went back with our Grandma to the house. Later in the night, we (Grandma, Gerardo, Camila, and all the exchange students) went to a park not too far from our house. The park was quite ordinary, but it was filled with dancers. Every space of the park was filled with people dancing to various songs all at once. It was quite fun to walk around and admire everyone. Ana and I speculated that the dancers were for Carnival (at least a few) as the choreography was all repetitive. After viewing all the dancers, we ate picarrones (Fried dough with syrup) before saying goodbye to Victor and walking back to our house. 

Day 13 (Malecon & Lighthouse)

Saturday, January 27th

Everyone was woken up and ready to go explore the Malecon the next morning by 9 am. After dousing ourselves in sunscreen, we all set off for the walk through the city to get the riverfront. It looked quite different in the daylight, with a completely different atmosphere. We walked down, taking in the views, before we started our descent up. I’m not quite sure if this was technically a part of Malecon, because parts of the area were quite residential, but we all walked up 444 steps in sweltering heat so that we could get to a lighthouse with an amazing view of the city. Even though we were all revoltingly sweaty, the views were worth it…

After descending the lighthouse, we all sat down for a break in the shadow of the church and took in the view. We all chugged water, discussed the trip, and how these last few days together would be the last ones for some of us. It was kinda depressing to think about, and on this note, we all set back down the 444 steps (which was much easier). 

After we got back down, Rotary told us all that we had about an hour and a half to explore the area a bit further. Gracie, Els, Victor, Jared, and I all decided that we were going to walk further down in search of cool tourist shops. We accidentally pondered through a garden/park, before correcting our path. As we wandered around just looking (and playing on park teeter-toters), we slowly began to run out of time. The tourist shops were much further that we had been told, soy after admitting we wouldn’t be able to get to them, we walked to the next best thing, Wendy’s. Now I don’t even go to Wendy’s often in the U.S.. But with the heat, we all thought Frosty’s were a good idea (it also helped that no one wanted to eat chicken and rice for lunch). We were getting really short on time, so we ended up getting a giant bag of Wendy’s (it had handles) and walking to the hotel. Upon arrival, we dug into it with much gusto. 

After our lunch, and all the other students met back at the hotel, we all left Guayaquil and set off for home, aka Peru. After a little time on the bus, we crossed the bridge, putting us in Peru, and shortly after, we stopped at migrations. Entering Peru was definitely less nerve racking than leaving, as I wasn’t illegal. Afterwards however, some others and myself had to talk with a migrations officer because they hadn’t given us enough days in Perú. After that, we all boarded the bus once again and set out for our hotel. We all got into our rooms and ate a dinner of Pollo a la abraza. After dinner, Jeanne and I decided we should give Tiia her birthday gift. Tiia’s birthday is in February, which means Jeanne and I won’t be with her. So, I went to buy her gift before the trip so we could still celebrate with her. 

There was one problem though, when I went to go get the gift, I peeked inside to see if everything was still fine. To my disappointment, the card I had made had been destroyed. Something in Jeanne's suitcase was wet, and had leaked onto Tiia's card. So Jeanne and I ended up making a slightly less pretty card and giving that to her instead. Tiia was really surprised and happy, which completely made my night. She really loved her two shirts we got her, one was a surfing shirt and the other had a cool pineapple. After we gave Tiia her gifts we all hit the packed up and hit the sack. 

Sunday, January 28, 2017

The next day we all ate a breakfast before we boarded the buses and headed to the bus station so we could all get back to Lima. The bus station goodbyes were a little emotional, and I had to say a few tearful goodbyes (even if it was only for a month). After recovering, we all took the bus back home (or at least to my home). 

Day 12 (Getting Wendy's)

Friday, January 26, 2017

I woke up a little closer to on time, got around, and went to breakfast. I was joined by Phoebe and Christian (Germany) at my table. We all tried a new kind of fruit I had never seen in Peru. It was the color of watermelon, but looked like a tomato slice with a green rind. Personally, I wasn’t a fan, as it was quite sour. 

After the experimental breakfast, I went back to my room to grab my swimsuit and to finish packing up. I met some others at the pool for a little time. Before long, we all had to go get our things so that we weren’t late to our checkout. I ended up getting all rushed around as I hadn’t realized everything wasn’t in place. Afterwards, I went and changed out of my swimsuit so that it could fully dry. Leaving it to dry, Gracie, Els, Phoebe, and I all went to take a final stroll on the beach. I somehow ended up getting a little soaked from a big wave (go figure), before we all returned to have a fairly early lunch. 

After indulging in the ice cream of lunch, we all went to enjoy drinks and relax before our bus ride back to Guayquill. Eventually we all boarded the buses and set out on the bus ride. As we entered the city, I saw more of the Guayaquil I thought had been masked by our tours; the rundown, dirtier, and poorer parts. We arrived at our hotel, quickly got our rooms, and then set out to explore the city. All the Americans had one thing on our minds, Wendy’s. Wendy’s is sadly not in Peru, but it does happen to be in Ecuador. All I could think of was a Vanilla frosty with French fries (and I wasn’t the only one). After asking for directions, we arrived at Wendy’s. Now I haven’t been to a Wendy’s in quite some time, but Ecuador’s Wendy’s were much fancier than the American ones (not really fair). They had a Wendy’s Cafe with all sorts of coffees, not to mention Frosty Frappicinos. They also had different flavors of Frosty’s, including Oreo and Kit Kat. Some of the exchange students got Baconators, or the four for four. Personally, I stuck with a Vanilla Frosty (we had to eat later). 

After Wendy’s we all went to walk around. We wanted to find tourist shops or a market, but we failed in finding both. We did however end up walking to the iguana park on accident. I think I also failed to mention that during this time we were walking around in the pouring rain. We were also with Courtney, who has lost both pairs of her glasses on the trip and is virtually blind. So we were navigating her around puddles, cars, and people as we went around. After our walk, we went back to the hotel. Soon later, we went out for a lovely dinner of chicken, rice, and potato. After dinner, we went back to the hotel, sang Dunja happy birthday and shoved a cake in her face. Some of the exchange students, including myself, then left for Manicon. It’s a more touristy place, right on the river front of Guayaquil. I walked around with Salome and Christian, taking in the views and buying a few souvenirs. Manicon was very cute and looked like an interesting place. There were little shops for food everywhere and beautiful views for the city at night. Before long, we went to join the others. Once joining them, everyone began to point out Christian and I’s height difference (6’7 vs 4’11). We all joked around, as we walked the strip taking photos. Afterwards, we walked back to the hotel. 

Day 11 (Enjoying Ecuador)

Thursday, January 25, 2017

I attempted to wake up early, failed, and got up a bit later than planned. I went to breakfast after getting around, and later returned back to my hotel room to put on my swimsuit. My morning was spent at the beach, where I shared a cabana with Gracie and Els. We all swam, later played uno with Pernille and Laerke (Denmark), and even had to rescue Agathe (France) from an Ecuadorian guest that wouldn’t stop talking to her. I swam one again with Martin, but this time with Annie, Grace (USA), Gulliver (Denmark), and Christian (Germany). It was pretty interesting to swim with Christian, as he was the only one who seemed to go out as far as me in the ocean. The waves for me here were quite large. For Christian, I’m assuming they seemed quite small, as he is 6’7. He kept wanting everyone to go out a bit further, but being 4’11, I stuck to where I was. After the swim, we all went to lunch. After lunch, the exchange students continued to enjoy Ecuador’s sun. At some point, Martin one a ping pong competition, and I got dragged into a “salsa” class. The salsa was not really salsa, but it definitely was excercise. We were jumping around, going in circles, and shaking our booties. Nothing could top our instructor though. I’m not exactly how he was dancing the way he was, but it was certainly impressive. He would step with his feet in a pattern, but was somehow able to shake his butt to a different rhythm simultaneously. I’m not quite sure that I will ever be able to reach the level of the instructors dancing, but my dancing has certainly improved since my arrival in Latin America. After the dancing class, we all enjoyed the rest of our day. Els, Gracie, Phoebe, Salome, and I all went on a late night walk of the beach. It was certainly memorable, with us running around like crazy people and doing cartwheels. After our walk, we all got some snacks before we all went to the discoteca (club) on the resort. Normally, no one under the age of 18 could enter, but this night we were all able. I was pretty excited to go to the discoteca as I thought they would have some great Latin music (I’ve become fully obsessed). I was a little let down as every song they were playing was salsa. Don’t get me wrong, I love salsa music, but without a partner to dance salsa, I find it can get pretty boring after a few songs. Its a very easy rhythm that is repetitive, meaning with a partner it can be easy to dance, yet still fun. However, on your own, you can only step touch so much. So after a while, we all left the discoteca, mostly because of exhaustion, but our curfew was almost up. After we left, we grabbed a few more snacks from the snack bar, and then all went to bed.