Well, friends and family, I finally moved last week after a
month of living out of a suitcase.
Phew! I can barely believe that
this happened in my stay in Peru! Monday and Tuesday were a major whirlwind; I
was caught up in a tornado of moving many people and their (what seemed like thousands) of
things. As I write this blog, I am
having a rather interesting conversation with my host mom about all of the
things she has in this apartment.
Despite all that she has, she remembers living with her parents in the
mountains and what it is really like to live without any money at all. To live without money… now that is something
that I believe is rather hard for most of us to comprehend. In my opinion, that would be a beautiful life
to live. Both my host mom and I believe
that neither material objects nor money are the key to happiness in life. My heart is full whenever we have meaningful
conversations like this; I love that we can understand each other without
getting lost in translation. I laugh
because she thinks that it’s very ugly right now in the apartment. There are boxes in every corner (except in my room) that need to be
sorted and given a new place to sit.
Regardless of the “ugly” (it’s
anything but ugly) - I really love the new apartment and my new room.
My favorite part? I
now have all of the space in the world to do yoga in the morning and evening,
more comfortably and peacefully. Before,
I was half inside of my “Harry Potter closet” and the laundry room, where my
host family frequently peeped in to say hello.
I always made it work, but I am thankful for this new flow. I am happy - not for the bigger space and
privacy – but that I stuck through this difficult and rather interesting time
with them. My patience definitely paid
off and I think that we (my host family
and I) have a stronger bond because of it. I am, however, much farther from school and I
am unable to walk to campus because of this. I really miss walking to school every day! On my final walk to school last week, I came
across a baby Long-tailed Mockingbird… coming across nature is what I am
missing the most. Due to the fact that
summer is over here (now its “fall”),
traffic is even crazier and I have been late to school a couple of times now in
taking a taxi to school. Traffic in Lima
is enough to drive a person insane… My
host mom has no desire to drive here and I’m right there with her.
Wednesday (the 16th)
was a very, very busy day for me! In
waking up super early from the noisy neighbors (there are more people sounds than traffic sounds with the move, but I
can definitely deal with that), I grabbed a taxi and fought heavy traffic
on my way to school. Soon after, I was
on my way to the outskirts of Lima with the group to visit a primary school
with second generation indigenous children.
Initially, I was very nervous.
With an open mind & heart, I got down to their “level” (to my knees, at a very short and tiny table). With my group, I read a story with four
young boys and then we played Simon Says. We were actually disrupting their recess,
though, so we took the game outside. The
boys played freeze tag with us, but to them we were either “agua” or “cemento”;
thus, if you’re water = run and if you’re cement = wait for someone to tag you
back in. During one of my cemento
moments, I was surrounded by little girls who wanted to dance and others who
wanted me to hold them and/or carry them on my back. I gave in… it was so hard not to! I chased the boys around with the sweet
little girls on my back. All of the
children were very loving and sweet to me.
Before I left, the boys gave me a small gift: a rubber bracelet that
reads “Juntos x100pre” – which translates to together forever - juntos means together and x100pre (cien)pre or "siempre" is for always/forever. I left a little piece of my heart at the
school that day… I fell in love with those Shipibo kids; they surely did fill
my heart up with love. But, all good
things must come to an end, right? Recess
was over and it was time for us to leave.
I’m sure that the teachers were thankful for that – we caused plenty of chaos
in that tiny green building. The school
was very small, with few children in each classroom. Access to the school was blocked by a large,
black metal gate. Inside, at recess, the
children had access to a small play-set fit for one house, with a place for two
swings… but, there were no swings. Going
to this school was a humbling experience.
My heart was very full on Wednesday.
Thursday – St. Patty’s Day – was rather eventful, too. After meeting the girls in central Lima to
watch the changing of the guard, we walked around to Lima’s little “Chinatown” and
then to Gran Hotel Bolivar for the “best pisco sour in town.” Then we were off to Houlihan’s: an Irish bar in Miraflores to celebrate the holiday in style, face paint and all! Much fun was had this day and I have pictures
to prove it (note the Irish flag themed
scarf…).
On Friday (the 18th)
Alex was finally in route to come visit me in Lima! I spent most of this day preparing for the
next week of school and his arrival.
Bright and early on Saturday morning, I found him waiting for me in the
airport. Yay! That was unreal… let me tell you, it’s really
a combination of wonderful and strange to finally see someone in person after
months of talking through a computer/iPad screen. After packing a bag of my own, we were off to
Miraflores to explore the city and watch the sun come down on the rocky coast. Again, my heart was & is so full. I am glad that he came to see me, but the
trip was short… he leaves late tonight.
His stay here really flew by!
Before I know it, I, too, will be flying north again. I can hardly believe it. Today marks five more weeks in Peru! What?!
I will write more about my adventures with Alex in next week’s blog post…
from climbing mountains in Pachacamac to the beach in Barranco.
No school today for this lady! My host family is free from work in
celebration of Holy Week! My wish to you
is a safe, yet fun weekend and a very HAPPY EASTER this Sunday! I could go for a Reese’s egg right about now…
(someone please save me one) ;) Disfruta!
Chow chow! – A
(from Gran Hotel Bolivar)
I love seeing your smile :)
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