Only two months left or Still two months?

What to write about? I'm not really sure. Maybe I'll talk about perspective. What does everyone think about perspective. Personally I've learned a lot about perspective here in Peru. We were talking the other day in our culture class about how we were doing. Some of us said they were homesick, some of us not so much. I came to the realization that titled my blog. I still have two more months, but then I thought oh no I ONLY have two more months here. As much as I miss watching my niece grow up or watching my boyfriend run his own business, it's really only 4 months of my ENTIRE life (which I plan on living for a very long time). Here's another lesson on perspective my friends: I've had an ingrown toenail for about 3 months now. I didn't want to go to a Peruvian doctor because I feared I wouldn't understand and honestly thought they were witch doctors. Why did I think that, I'm not sure maybe because sometimes there is a little bit of prejudice in everyone. Which really sucks. Anyways, my host mom took me in to a clinic because she was so worried about me. I went in, the doctor took one look at my toe and decided then he would take my toenail off. Cool. I was in and out in 30 minutes. This thing I struggled with for nearly 3 months was resolved in a matter of minutes. Really cool. One last thing on perspective here: the people here can be super nice, but hey sometimes you think everyone is nice. That is wrong. One day we went to the mall and met about three overly nasty people. Why did they cut us in line, or elbow us? I couldn't tell you, but I can tell you it's definitely not a good feeling. Lucky for me I get to come home to some sweet Nebraskans who can also be equally as mean for no reason. Perspective is a funny thing.

Changing speeds here, I want to talk about movie theaters.First off, holy cheap! Our professor gave us coupons for 2 tickets to cost 10 soles. The exchange rate here is the best it's ever been. So for two people to see a brand new movie, it cost $2.87. Is this a joke you ask? Nope. Then we go to get popcorn and a super gigantic popcorn bigger than our freaking heads cost me about $4. This is pure happiness my friends. 

This blog is semi-short so I figured it's okay to go on a tangent. I may not have done much here in Peru this week to brag about BUT I did nothing in Peru. Who's the real winner?

Ahnikas birthday party!

My beautiful friend Marki!

This is called SuperGigantic Canchita (popcorn)

Home

I miss home...there I said it. Don't get me wrong, Peru is so wonderful and I love being here. But there comes a time when you just need a good cry. I know everyone feels that ways sometimes right? I've been feeling this way ever since talking to my mom when she got back from her vacation. Every point up until about now we have been doing something to keep busy. But here I am on a bus back to Lima that leaves me to dwell in my own head which is dangerous. It especially makes me miss home when all my friends message me separately telling me they miss me. It really is how they say "you don't know what you have until it's gone". Lucky for me I still get to have them when I'm back. This past weekend really got me thinking, how in the heck did I get myself in the coolest place to be homesick? If you know me at all, you would know that I am so unfortunately unlucky. But I still must have a little to get me here right?This past weekend we traveled to Paracas.This was a school sponsored trip but if I'm being honest (which I usually am) I learned nothing more than how to get the best tan. Paracas is about 4 hours from Lima. We got on our trustee bus Cruz del sur and headed down this time. Turns out our money paid for the best possible hotel we could get. That's right, this hippie/redneck stayed in a 5 star hotel and I soaked that mess in like it was my job. There was free kayak rides, paddle boarding, catamaran rides and everything you can think of. Shelby and I even deviled in some tight rope walking. Not to mention free breakfast! I'm so  used to living the college lifestyle that I wanted to put all the French toast in my bag to go. The only bad thing about this resort was that you had to pay for just about everything else and it was a pretty penny. Looking back though, it wasn't really that bad, we just all got used to the dirt cheap prices of anything Peruvian. I tried the bloody Mary's from the bar and man they were bomb, but not as good as my step dad johns(; Our rooms were big enough to fit a family of 4 but we all got our own beds with the comfiest pillows you've ever felt. Not to mention AIR CONDITIONING YESSSSSS! I slept like a damn princess each night. They even put little chocolates on your bed every night. I met your thinking "wow she's so spoiled" but don't worry, I actually had to feed myself instead of someone spoon feeding it to me...dang. But yes this place was the definition of my paradise.

Saturday morning we went on our excursion. If you wanna talk about breathtaking, visit las Islas ballestas. We knew we would see hundreds of sealions but little did we know what else there would be. On our 30 minute boat ride over to the island, we rode right next to about 3 different sets of dolphins! They are the most majestic things I've ever seen. I realized our proffesor was going to take enough pictures to fill up any album you can think of so I didn't take hardly any. It was so peaceful. We got to the island and we got to see these massive creatures. They are so ugly they're cute I think? We rode around the island and saw thousands of different birds flying everywhere. Every now and then, a sealion would be looking at us from the water. We went to "maternity beach" and saw the cutest little babies! It took everything in me not to jump out so I could hold just one...or all of them...and steal them...and raise them as my own....BUT I didn't people sorry. Right now isn't the time for penguins but we got to see 3 just chillin on some rocks soaking up the sun. Can you just imagine 13 girls squealing because of the cute animals (Stephen is one of them). I would have to say this might have been my favorite trip so far. It was a much needed relaxation trip but I got to see the most amazing creatures. Have I mentioned that I'm one of the luckiest girls ever? Oh just the opposite oops. I forgot to mention my beautiful bleach blond hair tuned green in the chlorine here. All the girls kept telling me I could be a mermaid anytime now, that never happened. As my dad would always say "it is what it is". Something I forgot to mention, a couple of us went into town to eat and shop. Guess what...I didn't buy anything! I was so proud of myself I almost cried. (But I didn't because I would've messed up my new shoes if I did that) Enough of my amazing trip, I would like to give a shoutout to my beautiful sorority daughter. Her name is Tristen and everyone should go follow her. She just started her own business and I couldn't be more proud. I've said how much I miss my family, now I should talk about my best friend. Callen has been working on his own business always and I'm also so proud of him. Follow cusosports on all social media for some details. (These are brownie points on my girlfriend status right Callen?) I miss everyone terribly but I'll be sure to always have a smile on in the last 2 months of my stay here. Sending love from Peru❤️
Here are some pictures from the recent events.

This was one of the many beaches with sealions covering more of the beach than sand was.

My absolute favorite place to be: in a hammock

Spring Breaaaaaaaak

Let's just say that this week has been a dream.
Day 1: 20 hour bus ride to our fancy destination. We get to our beautiful home and get to see that we have a view of the pool and the ocean. Just wait it gets better. The first day was just beautiful. We met our maid (yes a maid) and she showed us everything of ours. We had enough room for everyone! We automatically went to the pool and jumped in, then checked out the beach. We got a couple mototaxis to take us into Los Organos to buy groceries for a couple meals. Each night we said that we would each cook a meal which wasn't really true. Mariah made Salchipapas and they were delicious. Come to find out that cooking for 10 is really hard to judge. Then we made some drinks and hung out on our balcony all night.

Day 2: Another beautiful day, hot as heck though. We went to the beach and played in the ocean. Then later that night we went into Mancora (a 20 minute drive from our place) to go out for the night.  The only bad thing is that we found out that we were paying way too much for transportation. Plus the mototaxis seemed like they were barely moving at times, like we could walk faster than they drove. Let's just say that the night was fun but guys are just creeps.

Day 3: Super bowl Sunday....doesn't exist here. But our girls were determined to watch it. Our TV thankfully played English. We went into Mancora before and got information about different tours that we could do during the next week. I think that is when we went into to ask about scuba diving and met our new friend Maurice. He is so awesome, we even found out he lived right next to our place so we could catch rides with him when we wanted! The girls tried their very best to made cheese dip. It actually was not half bad (not velvetta though). I read my book Gone Girl most of the game because if I'm being honest, I could care less about the Super Bowl. But I did care about the half time show cause my girl Beyonce was on. After Half time, a couple of us went and night swam. Eventually we came home and went to bed.

Day 4: We went surfing! I tried surfing in Spain and I thought it was incredibly hard. Here it was completely different. We each had our own instructors so that helped so much. I think I caught about 6 waves! We spent the day in Mancora and then a couple of us stayed there until night time.

Day 5 or 6?: The days were kind of blending together at this point. We had a couple rainy days which really sucked. Some of the day we would go to Mancora, others we would just stay in Los Organos. One of the days, 8 of us got on a banana boat floatie thing and rode that in the ocean. That was a blast. Someone's contact fell out, others thought they were dying, but I was just in the back having the time of my life. We found a spectacular pizza place there that we ended eating twice that week. I had been messaging back and forth with a guy to see when we could go scuba diving. 

Thursday: We got up early to go scuba diving. That was the coolest thing I have ever done by far. We went out to an old abandoned oil rig and dove there. We went down about 35 feet. Abby and I swam with our instructor all around the oil rig. There was an octopus like 4 feet away from us just staring at us. Then our teacher peeled a starfish off a pole and put it in our hands. We swam through schools of fish and it was the best experience of my life. When we were about to leave, we got to get really close to these giant sea lions that live by the oil rig. My life was made by 11 o'clock that morning. When we got back to the dock, we got to see these giant sea turtles swimming with tourists. We were trying to do that the day before but it was too rainy. The rest of the day was a blur but all I know is that I love scuba diving and I want to do it from now on.

Day 8 Friday: We signed up for a day trip to Las Manglares. Honestly we had no idea what we were doing this day. We just got on a bus and ended up at a beach called Punta Sol. It was beautiful and hot that day. We spent an hour there and went to another beach. Then we drove for an hour to eat lunch. We got on a boat that took us to a little island. Then we rode to Crocodile island to see a crocodile farm. It wasn't very cool because we have a white crocodile at the Henry Doorly Zoo so I wasn't very impressed. We got on the bus and came back. I was really sick on the bus but slept for the 2 hour bus ride back. We were so close to Ecuador when we got to that island. It would've taken 30 minutes to visit another country, but oh well. We came back and I went to sleep almost immediately.

Our last day: I took about 5 naps this day because I still felt so sick. Some of the girls went surfing and had a blast. I went out to our pool and fell asleep out there, then came inside and fell back asleep. I actually really wanted to go back to Lima at this point. I love the ocean but feeling sick on vacation doesn't make for a good vacation. At 5 we got on our bus to ride back to Lima. Only 20 short hours to get there, sounds easy enough right? 

Back to reality: I'm back from my vacation to continue with my vacation and I definitely missed my little house here. My host mom deep cleaned my room and washed all my clothes and bought all my favorite foods. I'm really spoiled down here but man I love it! 

Things I want you all to know:

1: I got stung by a jellyfish (I'm just that lucky I know)

2: Peanut Butter and Jelly is still one of the best foods you can have

3: I bought a hammock, don't ask why

4: Wi-fi is one glorious thing

5: Scuba Diving is the best

6: The ocean is one of the most peaceful places on this beautiful earth

7: My niece FaceTimed me and said "I love you Aunt D" and so now I'm extremely homesick.

Here are some pictures from throughout the week!

I mean did you expect anything else?

I wish you all could've seen this place, it just takes your breathe away.

Llamas spit

I'll start my story off by what happened on Friday night. We finally we're making some Peruvian friends so we decided to go over to see them. On the way over, we ran into a rally or dance party? I don't know but once we got there all eyes were on us. This old man came up to dance with me and obviously I did. We hung out at the car park for awhile and had a great night with our new friends.

On Tuesday we had class and then we had to be in Miraflores by 2:15. Without traffic it doesn't take too long but we took a taxi anyways. We were going on a double decker tour bus to central Lima. It was about 3 hours long. It happened to be the hottest of days then but I love the sun so it was fine by me. We eventually got to the St. Fransisco church where we got to go under to see the catacombs. Once we got off the bus, tons of venders harassed us to buy their stuff. There was anything from hand painted pictures, to little llama figurines. Being the pushover that I am, I bought plenty. Once we got in the church, we weren't allowed to take any pictures. I don't know if I was fascinated or freaked out by the fact that dead people were surrounding me. The bones were organized and I was sure we had all been possessed.Then we rode back and went to get food. Marki, Abby and I went to Pizza Hut for some good ol American pizza. That will be a frequent visit of mine because a whole meal only cost $3. We got a cab to go home but it was miserable. I will never again complain about the traffic in Omaha. It was so bad. What was supposed to be 20 minutes, took like an hour and 15 minutes. That trip took a lot out of me so I went straight to bed.

Wedensday: Class is the same ol thing. That night 7 of us girls planned to travel to Huaraz. A town about 8 hours away where we could hike. We got on the bus at 10:30. Trying to sleep was impossible. This girl (old enough to know better) cried bloody murder for at least 3 hours of our trip. It was so awful. We wanted to ask when they were retuning to Lima so we would never have to get on the same bus with them again. Eventually we arrived and went to our hostal. It was more than we bargained for. We met Emilio the sweetest owner. He gave us huge private rooms and awesome hospitality. We call him dad. He would tell us how much  we should spend on taxis, where to eat, and gave us towels! He was so accommodating. Some people took naps while some of us went to get breakfast. I have already spent way too much money on this trip(so sorry mom) but everything is so cheap I feel I can justify it. In Huaraz, most things you bargain for. I immediately got an Alpaca sweater for 40 soles (about $12) and then bought name brand things for about the same. I just can't stop buying everything because it's so cheap. There was a lady in the town square who walked around with a llama. It was a donation where you volunteer money to take a picture. Out of all the girls, the llama spit in my face(hence my title). So I payed one sol to get spit on!

Yay me.Taxis here cost 6-15 soles which is extremely cheap because we usually split it with 4 girls. Huaraz is actually a lot bigger than any of us imagined. We hiked three different trails and thankfully they had a horse that could take me to the top. Thank the lord. The first trail was freezing towards the top. We walked in sleet for awhile but the views were breath taking! The second day was 10 times more grueling than the first. It was to go see Laguna 69 (a lagoon with the bluest water). It truly was beautiful but the trip was way harder than I thought. We started the day off by getting on a bus at 5:30 am. We rode for about 2 and a half hours on a very bumpy ride.

We got to a restaurant to eat breakfast. Found a puppy there and named it Pato.

Then we had about an hour left to go. We stopped at the beautiful lake that was clear as day. Little did I know, that lake looked pretty similar to Laguna 69. Then we started out hike. It took us 4 hours. We scaled 3 mountains. This hike would be hard for someone in shape, so you can imagine my chip eating self dying. Each time we conquered a mountain, I would think "oh we have got to be here" I COULDNT BE MORE WRONG. I can honestly say that was the hardest thing I have ever done both mentally and physically. I could tell my dad was pushing me not to be a little wimp and just finish it. There were times I thought I was going to pass out, lose air, and not get to see what I worked so hard on. We did make it. This four hours includes like 80 breaks to catch our breath too. We didn't spend as much time at the lake as I would have wanted.

Partially because this break was absolutely necessary and it could've lasted days if it were up to me.

*Note: when a tour guide says 15 minutes left, he really means 45. After we ate lunch, we made our way down. I was proud of myself for making it but my legs didn't agree.

At some point, one gave out and I tripped and fell, smashing my knee against a rock and bruising my thigh and my ego. I'm gonna look really nice for spring break now(; On the way back, we passed by our fair share of domesticated cows.

They were cute but scary up close. Finally we got on the bus and I read on the way back. Our trip up and down scared the crap out of me. We passed over bridges equipped for a 3 year olds weight and rode so close to the edge. Never have I been so happy to see my bed. But we had to get right back up in the morning for our last hike. That hike was not nearly as bad as I thought. We did not know where we were going on Sunday but just got on the bus anyways.

We ended up going into the mountains for 3 hours and stopped at some Ruins. It was a nice cool down from the hell we endured the day before. We met so many people on this little trip from all around the world. The girl who sat next to me was from Hungary but lived in London. The day before we met someone who was from Canada. When you hear someone who speaks English,you feed off of that like they are the only people that understand. Even though I came to speak Spanish, English is a glorious thing.

 I won't be posting for about a week and a half because we have spring break in Mancora! My ultimate goal is to just take pictures with all the wildlife. But shoutout to my mom and boyfriend for always pushing me to do things I never thought imaginable! I love you both. Until next time fam😁