Jun 17, 2011 - Getting out of Trujillo - Chan Chan and Huanchaco

Soon after arriving in Trujillo, I realised I had to get out of the city ASAP. Together with Charles, Michael, Neil, Scott and Brendon, I went to the nearby archaeological site of Chan Chan. I'd visited so many Inca and pre-Inca sites by this point, that my memories of them were starting to mesh together. However, Chan Chan stood out. It was the only archaeological site I'd visited which still had its original paintwork. Very impressive. Actually, I just remembered, the paintwork wasn't at Chan Chan, it was at the Temple of the Moon (the...

Mar 27, 2011 - Pacasmayo, Chicama, Poemape

march 24. i haven't been keeping up, im already bad at this journal thing... actually we've been very busy.. we had a wonderful time in Lima. special thanks to Allison for putting up with us for two days! Lina and i accompanied allison to the market. shortly they will be electing a new president in Peru and new congressmen. so everywhere you go is saturated with propaganda. the market is no exception. so as we were waiting in line to buy chicken a small band came through promoting one of the candadates. beating drums, making lots of noise,...

Mar 2, 2011 - Chan Chan

Tuesday, March 1, 2011 Discovery docked at Salaverry, Peru, where our bus took us to th province of Trujillo and Chan Chan the ancient site of the world’s largest city made entirely of adobe. It consists of seven citadels and covers 11 sq. miles. We would be seeing only the one that is in the process of restoration; others will be restored as funds become available. Rocio and Johan were our guides and gave us some background information on our drive, also the economy of Trujillo. Agriculture is the principal industry and besides raising the...

Jul 1, 2010 - Last full day in Huanchaco? No, not already!

I can't believe it. It is happening. I knew this was going to happen. I am getting sad about leaving. Last night, I talked with Jessica about the bird situation on their roof. I found out they not only have chickens and roosters up there, but turkeys. I saw some baby chicks, okay, so what i thought were baby chicks. She was surprised I couldn't tell. Yikes. ANyway, they have their turkeys up there for Christmas, of course. Then, i started asking her if she helped Maria, well, you know, kill the chickens and she said, no way. I guess that is...

Jun 30, 2010 - Hmmmm....will have to wait for Cuy.

So the cuy dinner is going to have to wait till Friday, my last day in hunachaco. David decided that was a better night, so we are going to have an early class and end up with a dinner at Maria's house. I guess I will have a full dinner for the bus ride back to Lima. Whew. It is hard to believe that I only have two more nights here in this little town. It is quite an eventful week. Yesterday, I got out of class, jumped on the computer and when I got out, the streets were packed of local people. They were carrying the saint of the fishing...

Jun 29, 2010 - Be careful what you say!

I had so much fun talking to my family yesterday! It was so good to see everyone and hear some English. 10 points for Skype. On my way to David's language class, I was thinking how nice it was to not think about how to say what you want to say during a conversation. I guess I was feeling a bit homesick. When I got into class, we were talking about some things that go wrong when you are traveling, how sometimes you have to be careful and not be hard on yourself,etc... He asked me how I was doing and I hesitated. I didn't want to complain. He...

Jun 27, 2010 - Toasted bread and a future Home??

This town is great! It grows on me more every minute. I just bought my bread and butter to make toasted bread! Yummy. For some reason that tastes so good to me. I came back with bread, butter, orange juice and M & Ms and guess what? Maria had lunch for me too. They looked for me at lunch time but I was out socializing and buying lunch. I didn't want for them to think they had to worry about me, but I tried to tell them. I hope I didn't say the wrong thing. Google translate comes in easy. I had the lunch they prepared and it was so good so...

Jun 25, 2010 - It's Friday!

Yesterday was a really good day. I had so much fun going with Maria to the market. I thought at first, oy, this will be interesting. We had a bit of a conversation about her kids, how long she has lived in Wuanchaco and how she loves the sun. We even talked about how her kids went to school in Trujillo, instead of here because the schools are better. I haven't even mentioned the food yet. Oh, it was soooo yummy and I went to bed stuffed and happy. Of course, taking all the classes and living here is really tough in some ways because I am...

Jun 24, 2010 - Cooking Day! Cooking Day!

I am very excited this morning. I got to sleep in and it is cooking and market day. It is already Thursday, so I am already thinking about my trip this weekend. I have heard too many good things about the Royal Tombs of Sipan, so off I go to find them. The only slight problem is I found out the directions all in Spanish, and I am not totally sure I understand all the directions. It will be another adventure, I am sure. The museum is near a city North of here, called Chiclayo. I will leave early Saturday morning, arrive mid afternoon, go...

Jun 23, 2010 - Slow down, I want to actually use this language I am learning!

I am getting really used to cold showers here. I woke up this morning hoping for a nice warm shower (why, I don't know. I didn't get one yesterday) and got everything ready to wash my hair. I only wash it every couple of days. I find that it is no use to try to stay too clean here since, it seems that I get really dirty feeling right away. Oh, I dream of getting home, throwing these things in the wash and putting on something yummy and clean! Anyway, I got ready for the shower and turned on the water....nothing, only frio. Frio, frio, frio....

Jun 22, 2010 - 3 hours of Spanish classes down, about 24 more hours left

I have arranged about 3-4 hours of classes a day! I was in bed last night, reading with my head lamp, ear plugs in, and warm socks, can't forget those. Guess what my thought was? Well, there were two. One had to do with the fact that my grammar and spelling must be horrible on these blogs... (ahh, the joys of being a teacher...) The other had to do with all the interesting characters that I have met here in Huanchaco, so far. So I have to write about them. First, I have to talk about David. He is my main Spanish instructor. I was told from...

Jun 21, 2010 - What a difference a full night of sleep can do for a person!

I slept for over 12 hours last night. I was well prepared for this trip. I had my ear plugs in and my socks from Cusco for my feet. I even bought a pair of organic eye shades for my eyes. No problem that the roosters started crowing so early in the morning. I was not even aware until I took them off. When I removed my ear plugs I realized how completely loud it actually was. Yea. Two points for sleep. It made so much of a difference in my attitude towards today. ;) Last night I bought a deck of cards and was planning to chill out in my...