It all started back at home... The holidays felt like they flew by since in between that I was working and getting things ready to come, plus a big surprise came along as well. January 10th was the day that Daniel McKenzie and I left our families behind to come to Peru. It was very sad but I certainly held my tears and stayed strong and determined. Daniel and I left Omaha, Nebraska at around 7am and landed in Atlanta, Georgia at 10am. There, we had to wait around 5 hours to be able to take our final flight to our destination, Peru! The flight to here was around 7 hours long but we tried to make the time go fast by either sleeping or watching movies. I personally entertained myself mostly with sleep, and watched the Avengers as well as Pitch Perfect, both great movies. Also, throughout the way we would check up on the map to see where we were at once in a while and passing over Panama was very exciting because it looked beautiful from above. Finally, as we were arriving to Lima, Peru Daniel and I were getting excited and it was then when it finally hit us, holy cow we were in South America! As we landed, passed through immigration, picked up our luggage we were off to finding our host families. I have to say that I had a lot more luck than Daniel did for I was able to find Kiara right away. She was holding up a beautiful handmade sign that read in bright colors, "Bienvenida Mayra," along with her was her friend Juan, her cousin and her dad. They were great help all of them taking a bag from me and my luggage and carrying it to the car. Once we left the airport they took me to this beautiful place called el Barranco which is close to Miraflores. There in Barranco you will find El Puente De Los Suspiros which I was told that if you were to hold your breath and walk through it you could make a wish and it will come true. From there we walked to a beautiful restaurant and ate a delicious kind of chicken and it was there also where I had my first glass of Maracuya for which I fell in love with! By the time we left the restaurant it was already 2am in the morning so we headed to the place that I would call home for the rest of my stay here in Peru.
The next day would be my first full day in Peru. To my luck Bryan (mi novio) had already been here for a couple of days so he knew his way around a little more than I did and by describing him my surroundings he was able to find me. I was so relieved to finally see a familiar face. That day we went to Jockey Plaza to buy shampoo, and a cell phone for my stay here, we also walked around Surco and he took me to the University. It was also our first day that we ate a Sanguchon. A Sanguchon is basically like a torta but much bigger and filled with slightly different ingredients.
As for my host family... Well you see I don't really have a host family... There's only two other people who live with me. The owner of the apartment who is Daniel Cerna, and his niece Kiara. It wasn't until monday night in which I was finally able to meet Daniel because he likes to spend his weekends away from the city and leaves to South of Lima. Kiara is the one who I have the most contact with she is 22 years old and also attends UPC she is studying architecture. However, lately I haven't seen much of her because she likes to go home and stay with her family. They are both very kind and try to help me with as much as they can.
One thing however that I can't seem to get used to is the food. I really miss the food back at home especially tortillas and spicy Mexican food. I've never really been too fond of rice and it's kind of a problem here because mostly every plate is served with rice. However, I have tried Ceviche here and I may say its delicious! Absolutely love it! As well as the drink Maracuya. The drink that I can't seem to like is Chicha which is a shame because it's basically the main drink here in Peru. As time goes by I'm hoping that my eating habits start adapting to Peru and I will be able to enjoy the rest of my stay here. Lucky me Bryan's parents have mailed me tortillas and a salsa valentina! Great suegros I have, I know. ;)
Our first week of classes was wasn't too exciting just getting used to our schedule and getting familiar with our syllabus from our different classes. During our first week Bryan and I decided to take a mini tour to the district of Miraflores. There we visited Park Kennedy which is filled with cats everywhere! I like to compare it to UNK campus and the amount of squirrels we have there. We also visited El Parque De Los Amores and watched the sun dissapear into the ocean. It was a great little get away for both of us. .
On friday of that week the whole Familia (2014 Study Abrod Group) decided to take our first trip together. We decided to visit Miraflores and its playa. It was certainly quite an experience. Since we weren't all that familiar with the place we walked a lot more than we should've trying to find the beach. On the way we found Pizzas Street and took a lunch break there. It was our first lunch with all of us there. We finally got to the beach and it was my first time tasting the salty water of the ocean. It wasn't a pleasing taste but it sure was fun and painful for the beach that we had chosen was a very rocky beach. Also because dumb me thinking I was Mexican enough to take the sun decided to not wear sunscreen I ended up with basically my whole body being sunburt! I now pay the consequences and look like a snake whose in shedding season.
And with that image I will leave you... but don't fret I will continue posting about Mis Aventuras en Peru!
