Trip to Iquitos (Day 4)

March 8, 2018

My roommates and I woke up around 5:50 to quickly get around and get onto the boats that would be giving an early morning animal scouting tour. Well my roommates (Lis and Helena) and I all epically failed and missed the boats departure. So we all went back to bed and woke up around an hour later to go to breakfast. After a quiet consumption of food, we all got back around to keep up with the work at the sight. The morning was filled with painting. After the basics were done (painting things solid colors), we started to decorate and paint the outside. Because it was our last day to put on the final touches, we were all rushing around, and I somehow got to helping an artistic aspect (I know, not still sure how). We were painting a globe (wait for the picture). While I was so casually painting the continents, someone exclaimed quite loudly, which quite frankly scared the crapperoni out of me. Turns out, a snake had just been chilling about a foot away from my feet. Thankfully the snake was not poisonous and there was no real danger, but still it gave me quite the start. So snake now away from my feet (actually being held by exchange students), I continued work, a little on edge that I was now going to be eaten by a poisonous animal.

We got the painting done just in time (barely) before we headed out for our lunch back at the hotel. A full stomach and little break later we all left to go do something I found quite exciting, FISHING! That is, fishing for piranhas! If anyone thinks that fishing is boring, try fishing for piranhas on the Amazon River. Once in the boat, we went to an inlet of the river, where there was no current and some vegetation. Our guide parked the boat the first time, then had Macie stick her hand in the water (which is kinda terrifying when you know Piranhas are just chilling beneath the surface). Turns out, our first parking job was with water too warm, so we went to go park in a different area. Once we found better waters, our guid gave us all small chunks of meat which we attached to our hooks. This was the most exciting fishing experience of my life. As soon as the meat touched the water, smaller fish began attacking the meat, so by the time you got deep enough for the piranhas to even attempt hooking on, the majority of your meat was already gone. 

After we ran out of meat, we took the boat to a larger part of the inlet and...jumped in to start swimming. Was it crazy and slightly terrifying to be swimming in the waters that you now knew had fish with teeth. The swimming was cool and refreshing, but eventually we had to get back into the boat. This is when two things happened:

1. I asked Courtney to toss me my towel from the front of the boat, she accidentally threw it straight into the river. 

2. I attempted to walk to the front of the boat, slipped on a metal bench, head butted the person in front of me, and gave myself a black and blue bruise larger than a softball. 

After we finished our refreshing swim, we went back to the main river and sat in the boats. We were looking for dolphins, but as another heavy rain had occurred before our fishing, the search for pink dolphins was a fail. Later that evening though, the sunset made up for any lingering sadness of the dolphins. 

Wish the picture could do it justice :(

After we were in the hotel swimming and chilling, Tiia and I asked Dick (one of the guides) if he would be interested in telling ghost stories. So Dick, Tiia, Salome (Switzerland), and some other exchange students all went with Dick for him to tell us some stories. Dick was born in a community a little far away from where we were (a few hours in boat). While all the details are a little lost, my favorite story included water pumas that ate human heads.  

Trip to Iquitos (Day 3)

March 7th, 2018

After an early morning breakfast, we all once again boarded the boats and went to our construction sight. Having put in the small path of cement the day before, the project for the day was to prep the other surrounding area around the tour. The other agenda was to begin painting. Having already sacrificed my pants the day before, I was a little more keen to be painting, and was quite relieved when I scored myself a brush. Meanwhile, others were bringing over larger quantities of sand before spreading it flat. After a while, we ran out of things to paint so after a quick break, Dick (one of our guides) handed me what seemed to be one of the most exhausting tools and jobs. It was a log that had two longer sticks hammered into it (handles) that had to be lifted over and over again to flatten out the sand. This job definitely gave me a workout, and after a little time my arms were already feeling it. After a while I traded off this job (it was constantly being rotated). Not to soon after, the sky began to darken, and before we knew it, the sky had let loose with pouring rain. Now we all had two options, hide underneath a small shelter, or go dance and play in the rain. The majority of us chose the second option; we danced, hugged, ran, stood, and laid down in the jungle's storm. Before long some massive puddles had formed and the students started using them as a slip and slide. The slip in slide soon escalated into wrestling matches in the mud, and as the rain had tapered off at this point, a crowd of everyone soon gathered. It was quite comical (and sometimes alarming), but no one thankfully got hurt. After the rain, we all headed back to the hotel to shower and eat.

Back at the hotel, I got the great surprise that Elsbeth (my friend from the Netherlands) had arrived! She had missed her flight which bummed, but she eventually got herself there. So after refreshing and eating we all caught Elsbeth back up on what had happened in her absence, before we boated across the river and started on a walk that would take us to the school built by Rotary last year. The walk was about an hour, very muddy, and quite beautiful.

At work

The primary school (not built by Rotary)

The secondary school (built by the students last year)

After arriving, we went inside the school and listened to the local villagers tell us about the school. It had a lot more students than I imagined, as some students made a large commute everyday to be able to go to the school (it was one of the best around because Rotary has given so many school materials). For every classroom there was about 20-30 kids, which is quite a few considering how small some of the communities were.

Some exchange students ended up painting, while the majority (including myself) played games among ourselves and with the locals. Less than a minute later, the rain began, and much stronger than it had been before. Everyone opted to get two pairs of clothes wet this time around, so we all ended camping inside the school and talking until the rain subsided (which was quite a while). As soon as the rain tapered off, we went back to playing with the kids. Shortly after we started back on the walk; which, needless to say, was a bit wetter and muddier.

After the walk back, we all took it pretty easy and relaxed in the hotel.

Trip to Iquitos (Days 1 & 2)

March 5th, 2018

After a ridiculously early flight (and two hours of sleep) we arrived in Iquitos and took a boat ride to a community close to our hotel where the other exchange students from Arequipa and the other cities in Peru were. When we arrived, not all of the exchange students were there, as they had all left for a hike. We did however say our hellos to the ones that were present, and we waited for the rest to arrive.  I was so excited to see two of my closest friends, Gracie (USA) and Ana (Brazil). Once we were all happily reunited, we had a ceremony inside the school. We danced and had songs sang to us, before the ceremony was concluded and we all went to go break a beer bottle with a hammer (a tradition) before going to paint our names inside. Having done nothing to actually construct the tower (except for raising money) it felt a little odd to be painting my name on it, but we all wrote it on anyways.

After our names were written, we all once again boarded the boats and headed to the hotel. We ended up waiting around a little bit before we could finally get into our rooms. The Arequipenos all packed up there things and got ready for us to all say their goodbyes. I among a few others cried like a little baby (mostly for having to say goodbye to my Ana). After I pulled it together, we all settled into the hotel rooms and explored the hotel. We all went and got our boots from the hotel that we would be using for our duration at the hotel. After we got our boots we explored the hotel and went on a walk with a guide. My group was with an exceptional guide, who had also toured with National Geographic. The tour was quite hot (obviously) but we made it through without dying. After our walk through the jungle we returned back and showered. We later went out on a late night boat ride to see the stars. While we were out looking at the stars, a lighting storm started, causing flashes of lights to skirt around our boat. It was truly a magical moment to sit on a boat in the middle of the Amazon on a boat listening to the sounds of the jungle around you as the river continually was lit up by the sky. After our boat ride we headed back to the hotel and all collapsed in exhaustion.

March 6th, 2017

We woke up bright and early to eat breakfast before we headed out to go a see the cite of where our construction. Once we arrived, the work began. The people of the community had been working on the tour before our arrival, and some of the tour was visible.While we didn't get to  actually construct the tour, we definitely we were put to work. We started carrying bags of sand from a nearby dug hole over to the tour. The purpose of the sand was to make it into cement. Apparently, I was working a little too hard because as I bent down to get some sand, I heard a little rip. After depositing my sand closer to the tour, I look to evaluate the situation. While the hole wasn't too large, the situation continued to develop until the hole was larger than a basketball (good thing I wore a shirt that was REALLY large). Even with my pants having a situation, the work continued. At one point Macie (USA) and I went to go fetch water from a nearby ditch with Macie. Well, we ended up taking a shower in the water as we spilled a lot, but we got the water there. Before we left our day of work, we put our handprints in our carefully mixed cement.

Progress Day 1

Our handprints!

After our work of the day, we went back to the hotel to eat a quick lunch. We got a little time to recuperate. After the recuperation, we all headed back into the boats and sped off to go visit a native community. As soon as we got off the boats, we were greeted by some children who just happened to have some interesting pets, aka sloths and some birds. We all took some photos of course...

Sloths!

A few seconds later when I thought the sloth was gonna claw out my eye :)

After our photo session, we all went back to the tribe. We listened to the tribal leader explain the life and traditions, before we all watched and participated in some native dances. After the dances we attempted to shoot darts through a pipe of sorts. While I hit the target, my dart sadly didn't stick. 

Target Practice!

After our target practice, we left and returned back to the hotel. Here, we had some time to prepare for a night time walk through the jungle. We left before dinner and found a ton of tarantulas, some deathly ants, a frog, and a bunch of other crazy insects. After our nightly stroll we all returned back to the hotel for a dinner before we all rested up for the next day.

Little pic of the sunset :)

 

An itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout...

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.