Floripa: a World Away from Florida

Days 7-13: Florianópolis
June 14-June 20, 2010


The rest of my week in Floripa included a great mix of beaches, hikes, and spending time with people I met at the hostel. Even though I only planned on staying on the island for a day or two, there was always something new to explore and I just kept pushing back my departure. Besides, once you get to the paradise that is Floripa, why would you actually want to leave? (If you need convincing, see exhibit A: pictures below...disclaimer: they aren't mine, but since my camera broke, I still want to leave you guys with some visuals)

Monday, June 14th

My leg was still a little out of commission from my sand-boarding fall the previous day, but I spent a beautiful afternoon at Praia Mole with Sergio (who took me and Luis sandboarding) and Hadas (from Israel). If you can make out the rocks in the picture below, Hadas and I actually clambered over to reach the tip of the stony enclave to be greeted by the sight of the waves smashing against the smoothed boulders and blowing mist onto our faces. Definitely worth the awkward climb up!

Praia Mole

That night was another great time of cooking and conversing with people from the hostel. After a great meal of seco verde (another delectable Peruvian dish thanks to the master chef Sergio), Luis, Sergio, Hadas, and Elena (who went to the samba) and I all played salsa and merengue and we had a mini-dance party right there in the hostel. I'm a big fan of samba, but it just can't compare to salsa dancing for me :)

Tuesday, June 15

Hadas, Luis, and I all decided to take advantage of Floripa's beautiful trails and go on a hike to Lagoinha do Leste, a completely isolated beach that can only be reached by an hour and a half hike over a mountain (as you can see there in the picture below). Once we emerged from the rocky, tree-covered trail to arrive on the beach itself, we could really appreciate the fact that we were so surrounded by nature - the only signs of human life were some half-washed away footprints and a couple fisherman on the rocks. It was so peaceful and beautiful that I could have stayed there for hours, but we were in a rush to get back to civilization in order to watch the Brasil vs. North Korea futebol (soccer) game for the World Cup. As we got closer to the town, I could literally feel the atmosphere of anticipation in the air, as fire crackers and car horns started going off as kickoff time approached. It's definitely a great time to be in Brazil!

Lagoinha do Leste

Wednesday, June 16

Wednesday Luis, Sergio, and I paid a visit to the center of Florianópolis, whose old alfândega (customs house) still serves as an active marketplace (see picture below). After walking around to appreciate the old architecture, busy commerical streets, and a pretty little park, Luis and I split ways for a couple days so he could visit Iguazu Falls (Foz de Iguaçu). Since I had already visited last year while I was in Argentina (note: see old blog entries) and found a cheap airplane ticket to our next destination, Salvador, we decided to meet up on Sunday, leaving me with three more days to explore Floripa. Later that night, Sergio and I hiked up to the Mirador (overlook)for an awesome view of Lagoa de Conceição.

Mercado Público Municipal

Well, this post is getting super long, so I´ll try and be a bit more concise...Thursday and Friday were spent exploring the north part of the island and a little bit more of Lagoa de Conceição. At night on Friday, I went to a bar where they had a live band playing "Samba-Rock" - basically a mix between samba music and rock music. It was not a combination I would have expected, but I definitely had a great time dancing.

Saturday June 19

Sergio, three other friends from the hostel and I spent all day hiking around the Costa da Lagoa (translated literally as the Lagoon Coast), which ranks up there on most beautiful trails I've ever taken. The trail wound along the edge of the coast, so we were constantly dipping in and out of sight of the water and various docks as we made our way along the path. We also passed some historic sites, including an old mill and church. The interesting part about the trail was that it wasn't just for nature-lovers - a lot of people lived along the coast and used the path to access their colorful little houses that we passed along the way. Even the haphazard mixture of plant life we passed reminded me of how diverse Brazil itself is...Ive never seen massive stalks of bamboo neighbored by evergreens, jungle vines, oaks, and small wildflowers. It was as if the plants were brought from their native habitats around the world to cohabitat here, much like Brazilians themselves.

The group on the Costa da Lagoa trail

One of the many docks along the hike

After several hours of hiking (and battling vicious blood-sucking mosquitos), we arrived at a small little town and decided to have a late lunch at a local restaurant. Our table was set right on a large dock, and it felt so good to take off my sneakers and slip my feet into the cool water while we waited for our food. Surrounded by green mountains and long docks that extended out into the Lagoa, it was definitely one of the prettiest dining locations I've ever eaten at. After a nice big meal, we caught a boat back to the Lagoa de Conceição right as sunset transformed the natural scenary into misty hues of pink and purple, adding a whole new dimension to the coast.

Me, Angela, Victor, Patricio, and Sergio having lunch on the dock
Boat ride back to Lagoa de Conceição

And that sums up my wonderful week in Floripa. Sunday I flew up to Salvador da Bahia and met up with Luis to begin our Bahian adventures...which you'll hear about in the next post!

Coli

Sand Dunes: Exhilaration, Humiliation, and Termination

Day 6: Florianópolis June 13, 2010

After spending the previous several days in the cold, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could peel off some layers in Floripa, despite the fact that it’s further south than Curitiba. Florianópolis is actually a large island (probably 3 hours driving from north to south) off the coast of the state Santa Catarina known for its beautiful beaches and water-sports. Despite the fact that I was there in winter, it still was a complete paradise with gorgeous beaches, picturesque treks, and just a general atmosphere that really drew me to the area.

Our hostel was located in Lagoa de Conceição, an area with a small-town feel situated in the middle of the island. Well-developed and surrounded by large lagoons and beaches that draws tourists by the thousands, it was still the type of place where you could walk everywhere and tend to run into people you knew.

Lagoa de Conceição

Whenever you arrive to a new place, there's always a sense of disorientation and 'what are we going to do?' But the staff definitely felt more like a family right from the start, with Dona Lena, the hostel's cook, making us an awesome breakfast and Sergio, who works at the front desk, inviting Luis and I to go sand-boarding.

Walking towards the dunes

If you read my blog on sand-boarding in Peru, it's definitely a really fun experience, and this time was no exception. We went up into the dunes, which had the most spectacular views, as you can see in the picture below. The deep hills of sand eventually led to a green marshland, which then panned out into the sugary sand and foamy surf of Joaquina Beach.

Sand-boarding itself wasn't that difficult for me, but the landings were usually not very graceful. The very first time I went down the hill, I used a wooden board that we brought from the hostel. I really shouldn't have ignored the fact that it was splitting in the front (disguised by poorly wrapped tape) because I got halfway down before the board got jammed with sand, effectively stopping while, thanks to momentum plus gravity, I kept going. The whole fiasco was captured for posterity on video, which I uploaded below (be prepared to laugh).

While you´re currently laughing your head off, I´d like to point out that both Luis and Sergio both stood there taking pictures and laughing at me...what friends. So, we rented some other boards and I had a couple more runs down the dunes until I had a fall that ended my sandboarding career (well, at least for that day...I won´t let it keep me down). I basically ended up in a split with one foot inside the straps while still sliding down the hill, followed by some somersalts and body rolls until ending up as pictured below (notice the guys were still documenting my humiliation instead of helping me! haha).

Unfortunately, I twisted my ankle pretty badly and ended up crawling back up the dunes on my hands and knees... it was quite the sight. We then went down to the Joaquina beach for a while to relax in (more) sand before making our way back to the hostel. We had a really fun night cooking Peruvian food (vegetarian lomo saltado yumm!) in the hostel with several Brasilians and a new friend Elena (from Spain) before going out to a local samba place - ironically right across from the sand dunes we went to earlier in the day.

Luis, Sergio, and me with our Brazilian friends, ready to chow down!

After an awesome night of dancing to live samba music, we made our way out of the two-story wooden beach shack to be greeted with an amazing view of the stars above and the sand beyond. We decided to climb back up the dunes to star gaze for a little, and I had such flashbacks to the night I climbed the sand dunes of Oasis de Huacachina in Peru...it was one of those moments whose beauty you´ll always remember, although this time it was accompanied by soft strains of samba music drifting out over the sand.

All in all, it was a memorable first day in Floripa! I´ll be writing about the rest of our adventures there soon...Coli

P.S. The evil sand dunes not only took revenge on my leg, but also my camera...the lens got so much sand in it that it will no longer open to take pictures. So, most pictures I´ll be adding here from now on are borrowed from other people´s cameras.

Eu Curti Curitiba!

*(Eu Curti Curitiba = I Liked Curitiba)

Day 5: Curitiba June 12, 2010

Our overnight bus from São Paulo arrived to Curitiba around 6:30 in the morning and my first impression was COLD! I had on four layers plus a scarf and I was still really cold. The temperature wasn’t really so bad, maybe in the upper 30s, but the fact that I’m from Florida and it was raining (I’m convinced it was basically snowing) made the weather seem much more drastic. We hung out in the rodaviária (bus station) for a couple hours waiting for things to actually open and ate in a little lanchonete. I ordered a “Sanduiche Especial egg e cheese” (Special Sandwich with egg and cheese) that ended up being a hamburger with egg and cheese on it. The funny thing was when I read the menu and saw egg and cheese, I tried to say the words in Portuguese (ovo e queijo) but they didn’t know what I wanted until I said ‘egg e cheese’ (but pronounced in Portuguese of course).

Since we only planned on spending one day in Curitiba, we decided to take the tourist bus line that would pass 24 ‘destinations’ throughout the city, with the option of getting off at any four places of your choosing along the way. And when I say it was a tourist bus, I’m talking big double-decker bus, barely clearing stoplights with speakers blasting information in multiple languages...I’m sure you’ve got a good image in your head. And if not, you can see us freezing below (because, of course, we decided to sacrifice our bodies to the windy open-air top deck in order to get a good view). It ended up being a great sampler platter of Curitiba - I’ll have to put it on my list of places to re-visit in depth one day.

Curitiba is known as the most ecologically-friendly and environmentally-conscious city in Brazil, and it seems like a very nice place, with lots of huge parks that I would have loved to explore if we had more time and more degrees on the thermometer. For example, instead of regular old trash cans all over the city, they had bins for every sort of recyclable you can imagine. They're so colorful and even decorated with animated garbage! (see below: bins for metal, plastic, paper, organic products, and glass).

The first place we got off was the Oscar Niemeyer Museum, where we got in for free (seems we have really good luck with going to museums on days they are free, this is the third time it’s happened). If you read my blog on Niterói, I talk more about Oscar Niemeyer (famous modern architect), who not only bears the name of the building, but also designed it. The museum is nicknamed "Olho do Niemeyer" ("Niemeyer's eye") for it's unique design, as you can see below.

We saw several special art exhibits and an exhibition of Oscar Niemeyer’s famous works in miniture (he also designed most of the distintive governmental buildings in Brasília when it became Brazil's capitial in the 1960's..if you haven't seen pictures, you definitely need to google it) . We also entered the actual "eye" of the museum, which not only had a neat design, but also contained an eclectic mix of artwork (below).

Our next stop was pretty spontaneous, but everyone else was getting off the bus, so we figured we might as well check it out. It was called Ópera de Arame and it was this beautiful theatre designed completely out of glass - almost like a greenhouse - perched on a river, and completely open to the surrounding forest. My pictures don't really do it justice, but I saw some beautiful ones of the opera house lit up at nighttime, and, wow...it must be amazing to see a performance there.

Our next stop was the Oi! Observation Tower, a communications tower/observation deck, to get a sky-high perspective of Curitiba. We got an awesome view of the whole city, from its sprawling parks to its sprawling skyscrapers.

Oi! Observation Tower and Oi! Pay Phone

There were so many other places I would have liked to stop, such as the historic downtown, the Ukranian memorial, and all the parks (of course). But our final stop was awesome- the Botanical Gardens. It's grounds were covered with beautiful landscaping leading up to a huge, picturesque greenhouse.

View from Greenhouse - Grounds of the Botanical Gardens/Curitiba's skyline

We sadly had to head back to the rodoviária, but not before we popped into the Mercado Modelo, a local market that sold everything from vegetables to huge cuts of meat, so that I could buy some fruit. We returned to the same lanchonete from earlier in the morning to eat a meal of feijoada, rice, meat, pasta, and salad and guaraná (Brazil’s national soft drink, really tasty) before catching our five hour bus to Florianópolis.

We arrived to Floripa (as the city is nicknamed) around 10 at night because we planned on staying with someone we met on CouchSurfers (a website that helps people get in touch with locals to meet/stay with while they're traveling). However, after a confusion with the address and a costly hour and a half in a taxi, we eventually ended up at the Lagoa Hostel, which would be my home for the next 7 days!

More on my incredible week in Floripa in the next blog...Coli

Parques e Museus de São Paulo

It´s hard to believe that I arrived to Brazil exactly one month ago from today! It doesn´t feel like I´ve been down here for that long, but I´ve definitely learned a lot about the culture and hopefully the language too! But, to continue catching up on my backpacking travels...

Day 4: São Paulo
June 11, 2010

Today marked the first official game of the World Cup! So, of course, we had to watch a little bit to commemorate the opening. Around late morning, we made our way to Estação de Luz to visit o Museum de Língua Portuguesa (Portuguese Language Museum). Like the Museu de Futebol I visited the day before, it was a super high-tech and interactive museum. Not only was it an awesome museum, but I also learned a ton of new things because, well, obviously it was all about Portuguese - the historical roots of words, common mistakes native speakers make, differences in accents, famous literature, etc. It was legal! (slang for cool in Brazil, pronouced lay-gall)

Estação de Luz - Metro/Train station

Museu de Língua Potuguesa


I could have spent the entire day there, but we we were off to our next destination: Parque da Luz (Park of Light), right across the street. I'm obviously a huge fan of parks, but this one was especially cool because they had a bunch of modern art sculptures throughout the park, which we had fun taking pictures with.

After stopping at a lanchonette (typical small restuarant, usually with simple foods and drinks to eat) for a lunch of different salgados (common Brasilian snack, generally fried pastry filled with meats or cheeses), we made our way to Parque Ibirapuera, which is this absolutely massive park in the middle of the city. I guess it's kind of like the Central Park of São Paulo, but with a bunch of awesome musuems. We went into the Museu Afro-Brasil, which is a huge museum dedicated to the history, culture, and art of Afro-Brasilians. Since the sun was setting, we decided it was time to head back to the hostel, but it turned into a 2 1/2 hour adventure to arrive there....lesson learned: when asking Brazilians in large cities for directions, ask at least 5 different people before making a decision, because they WILL give you complete opposite directions and you'll probably do way more backtracking than you would like.

O Obelisco de São Paulo in Parque Ibirapuera

View of sunset in Parque IbirapueraSão Paulo at Night, from a lake in Parque Ibirapuera

And that marked the end of our São Paulo adventure. The lack of beach and colder weather (I think it got down to the 40s at night) made me appreciate the fact that I would be heading back to Rio de Janeiro for my program. Even though São Paulo isn't really my kind of city, I would have loved to spend more time there just for all the elaborate and modern museums - I think I could literally spend at least a day in each one and there were several I never got to visit...I guess I'll just have to make it back there someday. But, we were off on another overnight bus to Curitiba - until the next post!

Até logo, Coli

Afternoon on the Avenida Paulista

Hi everyone! I appologize for my lateness in getting my blogs published (as usual), but I think traveling non-stop is a decent enough excuse. Don´t worry, I´ve been jotting down everything though, so I promise that I´ll be cranking out a bunch of new posts about my travels.

As a brief summary/update: (see map below for context)

After leaving the Rio de Janeiro area, I headed to São Paulo for two days, followed by one day in Curitiba (further south) and one week in Florianópolis (still further south). Then I flew up to Salvador for several days and traveled to a small town called Lençois to visit the Chapada Diamantina National Park. After three weeks of rather fast-paced traveling, I came back to Rio de Janeiro on June 26th to begin my program. It´s been a great week and a half here in Rio so far, and I´ll give lots more details soon, but at least now you know what I´ve been up to.

My Pre-Program Travels

So, now to begin where I left off...

Day 3: São Paulo
June 10, 2010

So, after an overnight bus ride from Niterói, we arrived bright and early to São Paulo, the fourth largest city in the world. I've been in massive cities before, but there was something about seeing the concrete jungle of skyscrapers sprawling out in every direction that really set São Paulo apart for me. In search for a hostel, we hit morning rush hour on the metrô (subway system) and got crammed in between the paulistas (people from São Paulo), which was a perfect time to just people watch. One thing that I noticed is that the paulistas are a bit more reserved than the cariocas (people from Rio de Janeiro). Of course, I probably would be less laidback if I had to navigate the traffic there every day instead of chilling on a nice warm beach in Rio. Nevertheless, every paulista still displayed the warm Brazilian spirit that I love, always willing to chat and help when I stopped to ask for directions.

Once we were liberated from our bags at the hostel, we were off to the futebol (soccer) museum, which was perfect considering a Copa (the World Cup) was starting the next day. It was really cool to learn so much, not only about the history of futebol in Brazil (which is obviously important to know in such a futebol-crazed country), but also a bunch of new futebol terms in Portuguese. For example, frango (literally: chicken) is when an easy shot slips out of the goalie´s hands and into the goal...which I actually saw a couple days later in a game. Another term is a zebra (zebra in English too), for when a low-ranked team with no chances of winning beats a really good team, which also happened. All in all, pretty educational! And the museum itself - actually inside a stadium, as you can see from the photo below - was really interactive and high-tech.

Luis and I then walked all along the Avenida Paulista, which is the main avenue there. It´s a massive street with tons of people and cars and commerce. I don´t know if you can make it out in the photo below, but the main avenue is where I took the picture from, and then there is another whole street below! This wasn´t taken at rush hour, but I´m sure you can imagine how crazy traffic gets there. São Paulo actually has implemented a rodízio in some zones of the city, where you can only drive your car on certain days. It´s determined by your license plate so, for example, even-numbered plates can travel M W F but not T R, etc.

We stopped to grab lunch inside a shopping (mall) along the Avenida Paulista before visiting MASP, or Museu de Arte de São Paulo (São Paulo Art Museum). It´s really famous for it´s amazing collection - Monet, Rembrant, Segall, Picasso, Degas, Rodin, El Greco, Van Gogh, etc. The design of the building itself is really cool...as you can see below, the museum is raised off the ground by the red columns on the sides.


Right across the street from MASP was the Parque Trianon, so we popped over there as our last excursion for the day. It was the most insane thing - five steps into the park and somehow all the hustle and bustle and noise of the Avenida Paulista magically melted away. Even the tall trees blocked out the reality of the endless skyscrapers - I couldn´t spot a single neighboring building. This tranquil oasis and the calm of dusk was a shocking contrast to the back-to-back traffic just outside the park´s gates. But, we eventually made our way back out for a relaxing night at the hostel to prepare for our second day in São Paulo!


Until the next update! Coli

Niterói, Niemeyer, and Nights at the Boteca

Day 2: Niterói, Brazil

June 9, 2010

After finally getting sleep at Rosi's house in Niterói (across the bay from Rio de Janeiro), Rosi, Luis, and I went for a walk for several hours along the beach near her house. As you can see from the picture below, it was so beautiful and peaceful...the only people we really passed were a herd of guys in sungas (speedo-like suits, very popular with the guys in Brazil) that were jogging by.

View from the rocks we climbed at the end of the beach.

After a delicious lunch of some special dish that is popular during Christmastime (a casserole of chicken, creamed corn, milk and a bunch of other stuff, covered with small potato straws on top), Rosi dropped Luis and I off in the center of Niterói, where we walked through a beautiful park until we reached another gorgeous beach called Praia Caribe. After walking the length of the beach, we headed up to the Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói (Contemporary Art Museum) built by the famous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, who I'll talk a lot more about throughout my blogs, I'm sure. But check out his Wikipedia page to see some of his buildings! All
his buildings are modernist and really unique, as you can see from just this museum.

View from inside the museum of Niterói

After checking out the modern art exhibits inside, we were off in search of some other places to see. Along the way, we met a girl from Indonesia who was traveling around and spoke with her in English, which felt kinda weird, even after only two days of speaking straight Portuguese. We kept walking around looking for the Solar de Jambiqueiro, which is a Portuguese colonial building covered in azulejos (intricate ceramic tiles). Unfortunately, it was under renovation, but we went to a different museum called Museu de Ingá, an old palace-turned-art museum before wandering our way back down to Praia Caribe.

The World Cup (A Copa Mundial) is currently going on, and for those who don't know, soccer here is like an intense religion. I hear from everyone how the whole country shuts down for games, and I've been seeing Brazilian flags and other displays of national pride that apparently only come out during the Copa. They even have contests for neighborhoods for the best decorations for the Copa, as you can see below from one of the neighborhoods we passed.

When we met back up with Rosi, she took us to a boteca, which is sort of like a bar place that people will go to and have a cerveja (beer) and salgadas (fried dough filled with different fillings such as shrimp, chicken, beef, etc) in order to wait out rush hour traffic. We ended up staying there for several hours because some of Rosi's friends came to meet us too and we ended up having a blast talking and trying the different salgadas. We also had guaraná, which is a really popular soda in Brazil... I don't know how to describe, but I really like it despite not being a huge fan of soda in general.

Our new friends at the boteca

Me trying guaraná soda, yum!

Overall, it was a really fun night, and we had to rush back to pack up and catch an overnight bus to São Paulo..which you will hear about in the next blog!

Until then, Coli

Crash Course on Cariocas

Day 1: Rio de Janeiro

Hello from Brazil! So, even after one day, I’m rethinking my decision of buying a return flight to the U.S…I might never want to leave here! My first day was amazing.

It didn’t really hit me that I was leaving for Brazil until a couple hours before I left for the airport…maybe because that was when I started to pack and it finally seemed real. My parents dropped me off at Tampa International, where I met up with my friend Luis (who’s doing the same study abroad program as me) for our 7 pm flight to Charlotte, North Carolina in order to make our connection to Rio de Janeiro.

Nothing to crazy about the flights themselves to report, except when we were hanging out in the food court in the Charlotte airport and heard an announcement for “last boarding call to Rio de Janeiro”…man, we grabbed our bags and sprinted down the entire terminal, with my things falling all over the place (including my computer). But we made it on the flight, and arrived to Rio! (as you can see below we are really excited)

My friend, Rosi, who I met when she was doing an professor exchange at UF this past February, was so wonderful to offer to pick us up from the airport, which is a bit of a ways from the rest of the city, and introduce us to Rio. Cruzing with the windows down, our eyes glued to all the new sights around us, we listened as Rosi narrated all the places we were passing as she took us through all the well-known bairros (neighborhoods). We also were jamming out to samba, and I now know why it’s such a popular music style here: it’s the perfect rhythm to complement the brown sugar sand, blue waters, and swaying palm trees.

We stopped for lunch near the naval base at the Pão de Açúcar (“sugar loaf” mountain named for its unique shape) and ate at a nice kilo restaurant, which is very typical in Brazil. It’s sort of like a buffet where you go around and put on your plate what you would like to eat, but, unlike in the United States, you weigh your plate at the end of the line and pay based on how many kilograms of food you’re taking. We had an absolute gorgeous view directly in front of our table looking out over a beautiful beach. It was also a great way to try a lot of different Brazilian foods at once, and even better to learn the names of the food based on the cards.

I tried a little bit of everything – there were several different types of fish, chicken, and meat, some pastas (including a fettuccine alfredo and lasagna), vegetables such as eggplant and a creamy corn dish, and of course, feijoada, the most typical Brazilian dish (sort of like a stew with beans and lots of different meats).

After lunch, Rosi had to go to work, so Luis and I walked from the Pão de Açúcar to the “shopping” (what Brazilians call a mall) in Rio Branco and then grabbed a bus down to Ipanema (which you’ve probably heard of in the song “Girl from Ipanema”). After enjoying our walk along the beach and stopping to watch some surfers, we continued

on to Copacabana Beach (the most famous beach in Brazil, and also featured in song). I was excited to come across a well-known bench with the statue of Carlos Drummond de Andrade, a famous Brazilian author that I studied last semester, when a band appeared all of a sudden and gave me the pandeiro (like a tambourine) to participate in a jam session..all in all, random and hilarious.

We then caught a ferry from Praça XV over to Niterói, a city right across the bay from Rio de Janeiro. It was right around sunset (which happens around 5:30 here since it is winter, despite the beautiful weather) and really beautiful views from all around. From there, we met back up with Rosi and she took us back to her house on the outskirts of Niterói to eat a dinner of Brazilian fruits (Caja, Goiaba, Manga [Mango], and Caqui) and lasagna. Though I was absolutely exhausted, Rosi invited us out with another friend, so we ended up making the hour or so drive to Lapa (a neighborhood in Rio) to go to Carioca da Gema, where they had a live samba band. It was a blast and I finally learned how to dance samba, which made it even more fun!

All in all, it was a perfect introduction to what I have to look forward to for the six weeks I’m in Rio and a great crash course to Carioca culture (cariocas = residents of Rio de Janeiro).

Well, this post is getting long and I even uploaded pictures for you all, so I'll have so save any other thoughts for another time.

Até logo! Coli

Summer 2010: Brazil!

Thursday, May 6, 2010

My house, Clearwater, FL, USA

Hello everyone! So I realize that it's been almost a year since I've last posted, but I just wanted to let you all know that this summer, I will be in Brazil for two months and will resume my blog posts!

I know, I know, I never finished posting all my blogs from my two months traveling around after my study abroad program ended. I'm really bummed I never got them up, but I'm hoping this next month that I'm at home, I'll be able to at least summarize my travels through Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia.

It's hard to believe that I've been back in the United States for 10 months. I remember when I was going through orientation before leaving for South America and they talked about the reverse culture shock that you would feel upon returning to the U.S - that was definitely something that I experienced. Over time, I've more or less adjusted back to life here, but I think studying abroad is one of those experiences that will always change you permanently.

Either way, I'm excited to head back to South America and begin my blog again for this summer! Oh, and for those who don't know, Brazil speaks Portuguese, not Spanish (since that's who colonized the country). So, I began studying Portuguese at my university this past August and I've gotten to a pretty good level already, thanks to several accelerated courses and lots of practice. Knowing Spanish has helped me pick it up a lot faster but sometimes I mix the two up in a odd Portuguish hybrid that confuses everyone but me. It's weird to think that a year ago I didn't even know how to say hello or thank you when I went to the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls (see previous post).

So, you are probably still wondering why I'm going down and what I'll be doing down there. Well, I officially booked my ticket today (!) to leave June 7th for Rio de Janeiro with a friend from school. We will be backpacking together throughout Brazil for three weeks until heading back to Rio. I'll then stay six weeks in "A Cidade Maravilhosa" (the Marvelous City, nickname for Rio de Janeiro) for a study abroad program through the University of Florida. The language and culture program ends August 7th and I'm headed back to the U.S. the following day. And that sums it up!

I can't wait to develop fluency in Portuguese, experience a whole new culture, travel around and have crazy adventures, and meet lots of new people. Only a month away! Now that the plane's booked, I've got to get my visa and read up on all the awesome places I want to go. :)

Look for my updates!

Coli

Barranco Birthdays and Lots of Essays

(A/N: Sorry for all the bouncing around with entries lately, I'm now picking up where I left off in my last few weeks in Lima...in real time, I head to the US in a week! Can't believe it, but I hope to crank out a ton of entries when I get home, thanks for being patient!)

Sunday May 17, 2009 11:51 PM
Lindsey’s house (fellow Multisa)

Monday

We celebrated Kara’s 21st birthday at her house with a big dinner of papas a la huacaina (potatoes with this yummy yellow, slightly spicy sauce) and escabiche (cold chicken with onions, peppers, etc). Then a big group of us went out to Barranco to dance the night away with the birthday girl!

Thursday

After classes (including our final exam for Spanish), we had two special classes set up through ISA. The first was to learn how to play the cajon, which is a rectangular box with a hole in one side. Originally used by African slaves to carry goods, they began to use empty ones as drums and created a whole new instrument. I’ve got a cool video of the whole routine we learned, check it out at the bottom of the post! Our second class was a traditional Peruvian dance. It was sort of like a double-time waltz, with lots of quick foot movements, but a lot of fun.

Later, we went to Barranco again for drinks and live music in a former 1920’s train car-turned-restaurant. It was so elegant with all its original decoration, including intricate stained glass windows and a huge silver cash register. Then it was another night of dancing! I love the discotecas in Peru – there is such an awesome mix of salsa, cumbia, American pop, hip hop & rock, and techno.

Friday

Another Intercambio, this time at a Karaoke bar! We had our own private room so we stayed there for hours and turned it into a dance party (of course). It was a blast singing to popular songs in English and Spanish with our fellow Peruvian friends.

Sunday

I went to support several of my friends getting tattoos to remember this trip (don’t worry Mom and Dad, I’m not coming home with a surprise…) and then walked around craft fairs in Miraflores with Jaime and Kara.

You can fill in all the blanks from this week with a LOT of paper writing, but that’s just not as interesting to talk about. We are heading into our final week (tear!) so I’ve been focused on getting all my work done in time. We’ve also been watching several movies in art class that depict different aspects of Peruvian life, and they are quite shocking with some of the themes they discuss, such as incestual father-daughter relations and poverty in Lima. If you ever have the chance to pick up Madeinusa, you should definitely watch it.

One more week with the Multisas, stay tuned! Coli

Guest Blog: Parents in Southern Peru!

Coli’s Parents Visit Peru – Part 3

Friday, May 8th

We hailed a taxi ($1.70) for two of us to the Cusco airport to return to Lima and another taxi to Nicole’s host home. We’re beginning to get into the rhythm of traveling the Peruvian way. I have been talking in multiple Spanish sentences at a time, but when I do that, then I get a rapid response of Castellano (Spanish) back from the locals. When I got in a jam, I turned to the real pro - Cyndee. She had a knack at understanding the fast speaking people and responded well to help us move along on our journey.

The last two hotels had no hot (or warm) water, so it was so nice to get a shower at the house. Since our travels will take us close to when we need to get our flight home, we shopped for water and uvas sin semillas (seedless grapes) and then repacked for the flight, plus luggage to return with most of Nicole’s purchases, collectibles, and clothes she couldn’t afford to carry on her back for the extra two months in South America after her study-abroad finishes – three of the weeks will be working in a poor village outside Quito, Ecuador with “Volunteers for Peace”.

We then spent 1.5 hours with a very patient and resourceful Lucia (ISA staff) to help us schedule our weekend excursions. Lucia reserved buses, a boat, hostel, etc. We then headed back to Miraflores, to two of the biggest souvenir markets in Peru (the Indian Market and the Inca Plaza). We were hungry so we first ate at Pepe’s. I doused my chicken with aji, of course. After shopping, we headed back to Pepe’s for fresh cooked doughnuts covered with a syrup. Not enough soles (money) to pay for dessert (too many souvenirs) or for a taxi back home, so I left Cyndee at the table and headed to the ATM machine next door (pre-established the location earlier). Uh oh! “No link available”. I spent the next twenty minutes walking to seven bank’s ATMs. They all said either “No link available” or “No balance available”. All the passwords for our backup cards were back at the house. Luckily, Cyndee remembered a password off the top of her head for one of our charge cards. Whew! She saved the day (well, night). We walked a few blocks to Kennedy Parque where Cyndee got three gorgeous pairs of earings for 14 soles (less than $5.00 total). Lastly, we walked for ten minutes to the Parque de Amor
(a provocative Sculpture of Love), an artistic highlight that is associated with Miraflores.

The next morning we got a taxi to the bus (Cruz del Sur). The buses were like first class all the way – then we heard that there were even more plush seats and service on the first floor or the bus. We had leg rests, food and beverage service, and movies. Our first stop was to Paracas in order to take a boat cruise to the Islas Ballestas, Peru’s version of the Galapagos Islands that included all sorts of birds, sea lions, and penguins. It was a beautiful day with beautiful surroundings. We continued on the next bus to Oasis de Huacachina – for one of the most intense adrenal-rush experiences of our lives. We arrived a few hours early for our dune-buggy appointment, so we lounged by the hotel pool and had a snack at their restaurant. At first I thought we would all get our own dune buggy to ride the sand dunes, but NO! We had a professional racecar-style driver strap in the other 11 of us in rollercoaster style harnesses. What were we in for??? We were in for the ride of our lives!!! These were not sand dunes…these were sand mountains! Even at the top of 300, 400, and 1000 foot apexes, we could only see more sand on the horizon. Amazing! The driver’s goal was to push everything to the limits – the speed, the turns, cresting the top of the hills, going airborne, etc. There was lots of screaming going on. Four times we stopped to do some “sandboarding” – which is like snowboarding (single ski) but instead of snow we skied down sand. For most of us, we laid down on the ski more like a toboggan. That was fine for little people, but I had to work hard to keep my arms in on this little board, otherwise they would be sandpapered to death (not like snow). These driving pros timed our night to peak on the sand ridge just as a sunset was commencing. What a sight. What a rare experience!

After a delicious dinner, we took a local bus to Nasca for tomorrow’s excursion. Fortunately another hostel’s guy met the bus. When we told him we already had reservations, he have us a general direction for our hostel. When we got close, none of the locals knew of the hostel or the street it was on. The three women were cooking foods outside their laundry mat. But they were so nice and a young boy went around trying to help us from his bicycle. We found the hostel just one block over and half a block up from them. And those people didn’t even recognize the name of the street. Maybe they keep renaming the streets or the locals have their own names

We had reservations for 9 a.m. for a van to take us to our 20 minute flight over the famous Nazca lines. The ancient Nazca civilization dug these massive figures between 500 BC and 500 AD, but they weren’t discovered by modern civilization until they were noticed from an airplane in 1927. Like Nicole said in her blog, we saw all the famous figures such as the monkey, spider, whale, and hummingbird (to give you an idea of the size, the hummingbird is 217 by 315 ft). The six-seater plane was very comfortable until the pilot would tip the plane sharply so the wing’s tip would point to the figures. This led Cyndee to make a contribution into the little bag from the seat pocket. Our flight was allocated to us almost two hours after we were told, so I had to beg the van driver (with money too) to drop off the other three people, take us to our hotel to pick up our things and he got us to the bus station with 15 minutes to spare - another close call. We had the plush bus again as we traveled 4.5 hours north back to Lima and the house. Aaaah!

We packed everything up, thanked Austry for her hospitality, got a taxi to the airport, and got to the check-in line at the airport. I told the airline that I would need to pay for an extra check-in bag. They said only one bag per person. I told them that we had all of our daughter’s stuff and there was no other option. I also told them that their website said that I could pay for a second bag. I was then told – “Oh, that is only for domestic flights. In the small print it says only one bag per person for international.” So our creative juices started flowing since “failure was not an option” (Apollo 13 motto). We got out of line and put anything heavy into our carry-on and then merged the three bags of stuff into two bags. I kept dragging the bag to be weighed until we got both maxed out on weight. Fortunately the third bag could collapse a lot to be considered a “carry-on”. Now the exciting part – Nicole was expecting to be returning to the airport around 9 p.m. from her excursion and we had to be through security at 10 p.m. We were looking forward to seeing her on Mother’s Day and trade a few stories over food. We kept waiting, but no Nicole. We found out later that they didn’t arrive until 11 p.m. This put us late into the security lines. In fact, when I was at the security processing point, a guy said “Are you Randon”, I said “Yes” and he took us through a special door to our gate. As soon as we got on board, they closed the door to the plane! There was never a dull moment on our trip, however everything always worked out.

*** We have to honestly say that our visit to Peru is one of the highlights of our life!

It wouldn’t have happened without Nicole broadening her horizons, inviting us to visit, and planning an unforgettable itinerary…and the joy of working things out along the way in a foreign country. Thank you Nicole and the kind people of Peru for this experience!

Abrazos y besos (hugs and kisses)
Mom and Dad (Cyndee and Rand)

(AN: Wow, this is actually the first time that I found out what my parents did after we parted on Monday. I'm so happy they had the chance to experience some of Peru's highlights - and hopefully you enjoyed reading about them from another perspective!)

Guest Blog: Parents in Machu Picchu

Coli’s Parents Visit Peru – Part 2

Tuesday, May 5th

After a few hours of sleep, we were up at 4:00 a.m. to head to the Lima airport for a 5:40 departure. Nicole bade us farewell as we sped off in a taxi. We wished her well in D.C. Cyndee did a fantastic job of packing her stuff for our upcoming excursion. Everything had to be carried on our backs for four days, plus a hip bag.

Check-in went very smoothly. We got through security and arrived at the gate to find out what? It couldn’t be…fog in Lima? Imagine that!!! I thought that the challenge of our trip to Peru would be to climb Machu Picchu. Little did we know that an even bigger challenge was the journey to get to the base of Machu Picchu (Aguas Caliente) by the end of the day. Already, we had a tight schedule in Cusco for visiting the sites and then make all of our transportation connections. At first, the delay was one hour. Then another announcement – another 3 hour delay. They speak good English at the airport, so I asked them “Is that three hours from now? Or three hours from the original time?” They told me “from now” which would make it 9:40 a.m. That was quite a while, so we decided to sleep for a bit. I set my travel alarm for 9:00, in plenty of time for boarding. I don’t know how, but at 8:30 something subconscious made me wake up to find one of the four gates with people lining up. That was our flight! I ran into line and whistled three times to awaken Cyndee. Our van transport left 10 minutes later with all of us aboard. I don’t know about other sleepers and those that went upstairs to cushier places to recline and eat. They said since the sun burned the fog off sooner, the plane leaves soon to alleviate the backlog of flights. I can’t imagine what impact missing that flight would’ve been.

One note for any of you planning on visiting Machu Picchu – don’t miss it! But be aware that the demand and pricing has risen tremendously the past two years. For two weeks I tried to get a decent price on a flight from Lima to Cusco. The cost for the one hour flight was in the range of $460 to $590 U.S. dollars per person. Occasionally a deal would pop up for a few minutes that was in the $260-$280 range. Both times, Nicole and I went back a few minutes later and the deal was gone. I scoured internet travel sites to get some feedback and advice. I saw a number of people saying “What’s up with these absurd prices?” One advice was to look on Spanish websites – that that was were the better prices were…that the English speaking sites had higher prices listed. After hours of searching the internet (I didn’t want to pay $1,000 for a one-hour flight for two people), I got lucky when I noticed some paid advertising sites in the right margin. By the way, there are essentially only two airlines that make this trip – the big one Air Peru and a smaller one – Taca Airlines. Anyway, I clicked on eDreams.com. I found a roundtrip price for $161 per person. I grabbed them. Guess what – it was a website from Spain, with the monies booked in Britain, to fly on Taca Airlines in Peru. I checked the Taca Airlines website directly then and other times and the cheapest was $460 each! Wow!!! The new global world of business J

We get a taxi, outside the airport gates, where the fares are in half, to get to the heart of the most visited tourist area of Peru – Cusco at 12,000 feet above sea level. As you know, we were shorter on time. We met Nicole’s ISA travel agent connection to get our train tickets for our final leg of the day’s trip and the following days return to another city. He preferred the money in U.S. dollars. We walked to an ATM and our card kept getting rejected. Finally we went to another bank and everything worked fine. We took Nicole’s advice and got the combo ticket for many highlites of Cusco and the Sacred Valley region. We went to the Plaza de Armas (main square) and toured the cathedral. Then on to a number of diverse and interesting museums. We didn’t have time to stop to eat, so we munched on granola bars and cheese crackers that we brought with us. We had train tickets for a 7:00 p.m. departure in a city that was two hours away, so we had to find a special local bus location called a “colectivo”. It was very unique because they had three buses sitting there for three destinations mostly for locals. We said we were going to Ollantaytambo which was bus #2. We paid 5 soles each ($1.70 U.S.) to go two hours through the Andes Mountains! The unique thing though is that the bus doesn’t leave until it is full. Then we take off and another empty bus will take its place. We had to have some faith that the bus would fill soon enough to get us to the train on time. The trip was scenic through the Andes, but quite curvy as the bus would ascend and descend the mountain passes. Oh, the drivers like to be fast and aggressive. Yee-haaaaa!!!

We made it to Ollantaytambo with a half hour to spare. On the platforms of the train station there were a number of women cooking a variety of foods in these portable charcoal grills – like camping sized. I had the most delicious fried egg sandwich and Cyndee had a bowl of chicken and spaghetti. It warmed the body because the temperature dives into the 40’s after the sun disappears. It was usually sunny and very warm during the sunlit hours. We had reservations at a nice hotel (Thanks Nicole!). The owner took us at 9 p.m. to the ticket office for Machu Picchu (“MP”) so we were set for the morning.

Wednesday, May 6th

The only other thing we needed was to purchase the bus tickets that took us up to the entrance gates (which they wanted in US dollars only ($14 each) – strange!) The hotel owner had told us that people line up at 5 a.m. and the first bus leaves at 5:30. Both Fodors and Fromers said the first bus left at 6:30 a.m. Visiting Machu Picchu is a rare experience. The only thing rarer there are passes to climb the adjacent mountain (Wayna Picchu) to get the best views down onto the Machu Picchu site. Only four hundred distributed per day…first come, first served. We got on the fourth bus, so I figured that’s about 200 people, but I didn’t know if tour guides get to reserve some ahead of time. So I thought we might be okay. When we got through the entrance gate, we had to sprint across the whole span of the Machu Picchu site to get the Wayna Picchu (“WP”) passes. We got there at 6:15 and they said they have a few left for the 7:00 or we could wait till the 10:00 gates opened. We opted for 7:00 before the heat of the day was too intense. We registered at the gate and began our trek. Only 100 are let in for the four time periods. Sadly we had to walk down MP before we could ascend WP. It took us 1.5 hours to get to the top of WP. We hovered at the top for 30 minutes and the descent took one hour – 3 hours in total. I have found that at 9 to 10,000 above sea level incapacitates me pretty quickly when I climb. Cyndee and I took a very measured approach – we climbed a ways, then paused till our heart stopped racing. We saw snow-capped mountains, various birds and flora. But the most spectacular experience was the various views down onto Machu Picchu. We did a lot of photos and video all along the way. One thing that was very bizarre is that I only drank one inch of water, two mouthfuls for the whole climb up WP.

Then the real purpose for being there – Machu Picchu. It was hard to imagine the effort to build such immense agricultural terraces and houses and religious structures out of stone that fit together so snuggly that it was waterproof. How fortunate we are that Hiram Bingham (from U.S.) revealed the hidden site to the world in 1911. From 1912 to 1916, the National Geographic and Yale University worked to uncover and secure the site. It was built between 1460 and 1540. Also, that the Spanish conquerors hadn’t found out about MP, since they destroyed or dismantled many of the other religious sites throughout the Sacred Valley of the Andes. What a glorious day we had exploring the site from 10 until 1:30 p.m. We took the bus down to pick up our belongings and headed to the train station.

We noticed a communication error. Our agent had our train returning to Cusco tonight instead of our plans to visit three more sites first. We went to the train station to see if I could change the ticket and maybe get an earlier departure. NO changes within 24 hours. After multiple attempts at broken Spanish, I found out that they stop to pick up passengers in Ollantaytambo (“Ollanty”) where we wanted to stay overnight. We boarded. For numerous reasons the train would stop on the tracks and resume. At one point it hit me. I yelled to Cyndee “Get your stuff and get off the train NOW!!!” We ran to the steps and the conductor kept saying “no salida” (no departure). I said ‘Si para nuestro hotel aqui esta noche’ (Yes, for our hotel here tonight), so they let us pass. Wow!

Thursday, May 7th

Ollanty is the only Inca-designed town that is still inhabited. In fact our hostel was right in the heart of it all. The next morning we got up early to climb the architectural ruins. There were amazing storehouses way up in the cliffs. Then we did another ‘colectivo’ bus to Pisak and climbed another breathtaking (literally and figuratively) archeological site. In town is the immensely famous Pisak market – hundreds of vendors with everything imaginable, as well as a fresh fruit, vegetable, and meat section. Another colectivo to Saqsayhuaman one hour before sunset. We walked those ruins – the most sacred of all the Inca locations. Taxi to Cusco and we attended a cultural folk-music and dance show. After that, we had a delicious meal – an eight inch cordon bleu with a large plate of fries, a salad and soda for $4.00 each! Of course, I got my aji fix there too.

One last thing…I’m a little hesitant to share this, but it was a big part of my three days experience. I think I was on an Andes Mountain high (you’ve heard of Rocky Mountain highs (John Denver)). I don’t believe I slept for three days. I laid in bed for four hours each night but wide awake with the noggin reflecting on the past day and planning the upcoming one. I climbed mountains and major archeological sites but I never had a sore muscle. I was energetic and alert and ready to go…and go…and go…the whole time.

It never caught up with me either. That was the Twilight Zone experience of my life.

Mom and Dad (Cyndee and Rand)…to be continued

Guest Blog: Parents in Lima

(A/N:) While you patiently wait for more updates from me, I thought I'd add some "bonus footage" - three guest blog entries directly from my parents on their visit to Peru. Enjoy!


Coli’s Parents Visit Peru – Part 1

It was 10:40 a.m. on April 9th. I got the word. Nicole (aka Coli) found that the week of May 3rd would be a good time for us to visit her in Lima – yeah! There were no excursions, and the university workload seemed decent for that week. Coli told us that she was leaving “this afternoon” on an excursion and would be back to internet access on Monday. At once Cyndee and I reviewed our commitments, assessed what our busy son Brandon had planned, and found someone for him to stay with for the 12 days. Whew!

Fortunately, we had heard about a very reasonable airline that flies to Latin America, the Caribbean, as well as the U.S. – Spirit Airlines. The cost of flying to South America is usually worse than going to Europe because there is very limited competition or choices. We got roundtrip tickets for $310 each!!! With pride, the next day I sent her a note with the good news that we were booked for May 1st to the 11th.

Monday, we get a note back. “Great news that you’re coming, and by the way there was another note awaiting me – I was chosen as a Thomas R. Pickering finalist and guess what? They are flying me to Washington, D.C. for an interview on behalf of the State Department……the same week you are coming to visit me in Peru.” Well, we were so proud and knew that we would just work around it and at least we would have the end of that week together, which was also Mother’s Day. How perfect was that?
Well, stay tuned J

The first weekend we were to arrive, we knew that Nicole would be in Iquito (the Amazon region of Northern Peru), so she planned a weekend of activities for us that she had enjoyed south of Lima. In the middle of her busy week she worked many hours with the ISA staff to lay-out an itinerary for our whole week and a half. Thank you Coli!

It was early the morning of May 1st. Everything was arranged, we were packed, and we got to the airport to find that the flight was cancelled until the next day…due to “the fog” in Lima. At first, I thought this was a cover story, but as you’ve read in Coli’s blog, we also came to ‘not like’ the fog in Lima. It was true. In fact, her trip to Iquitos was also cancelled due to “the fog”. Now her trip was rescheduled to the following weekend - yes Mother’s Day weekend. Nicole had found out that her flight back from D.C. was arriving at 4:40 a.m. Friday and her flight to connect up with the rest of her group (Multisas) in Iquitos was to leave from the airport at 7:30 a.m. so we were not going to see her at all that weekend…maybe a lucky 15 minutes in the airport on Sunday as she flew in to Lima as we were preparing to fly back to “the States”.

We were desperate to let Coli and the ISA staff know that we were cancelled and that all the detailed reservations that were made on our behalf for that weekend would have to be reworked for another time. Luckily the ISA staff in the U.S. had cell phone contact with the ISA staff in Lima, because that Friday was a holiday for them – like our Labor Day.

The good news was that Nicole would be in town Sunday with us and Monday, working around her classes. She surprised us by meeting us at the airport Saturday night (Spirit Airlines was terrific). That was good, because she hadn’t had a chance to teach me how to negotiate with the taxi drivers yet. When her house mom, Austry, heard that we were coming to Lima, she offered to let us stay with them. This was such a loving gesture from a lovely lady. Nicole kindly let us use her queen-sized bed, while she used a small bed in another bedroom that was currently used for storage. She had unique gifts for each of us, including Brandon, which included shirts, Peruvian treats, Inka Kola, carved gourds, jewelry, etc.

Now on to our daily itinerary in Peru. Since no one can compare with Nicole’s descriptive writing style that we have all enjoyed while reading her daily blogs, Cyndee and I will tell you where we visited and the unique experiences we had, which were quite numerous.

Sunday, May 3rd

Starting in the morning, Coli took us to see two terrific museums on pre-Columbian civilizations. The first one was the Museo de Antropología, Arqueología e Historia and then on to the Museo Antropolgico de Rafeal Herrera, which was incredible (see Coli’s blog for details). I couldn’t believe my eyes (ojos) as I watched Nicole negotiate with the taxi drivers. She even turned them down if they didn’t accept her offer and walked to another taxi and ended up getting an okay. For example, later we went to downtown Lima (El Centro) which took 20 to 25 minutes for 7 soles (about $2.30 US) for three people! I spent the rest of the trip trying to emulate her success. It was a fun part of the cultural experience throughout Lima. I also couldn’t believe my ears (orejas) when I heard the words come out of our American daughter’s mouth. It was like a Latino ventriloquist was speaking through my daughter’s lips. She has become so fluent with the Spanish (Castellano) language. One of the ISA staff members mentioned that Nicole had become very natural with the language and had done an excellent job of erasing any “U.S. accent”. Bravo Coli!

In mid-afternoon, we went to Ashley and Caroline’s house where they hosted a big barbeque. We were able to meet all the fellow students (Multisas) that were doing the multi-country study-abroad with Nicole. Each student was fascinating to talk to and as a group they had a great spirit about them. We had a buffet of foods to select from – various vegetables (especially potato) and fruit varieties unseen in the U.S.

Later that afternoon, the three of us headed to el Centro (city center) and Plaza de Armas, the main historic plaza. We visited the stunning Iglesia de San Francisco with its intricate altars and then fortuitously saw a line of people outside the Government Palace (Palacio del Gobierno) for a free special exhibit inside the on la tomba del Señor de Sipan. It was the result of a major archeological tomb discovery - sort of Peru’s King Tut tomb equivalent with quite a bit of gold artifacts.

Nicole had a special treat in store for us tonight. It was dark when the taxi dropped us off outside some lavish gates. We were at Las Piletas Mágicas (the Magic Fountains). There were acres and acres of lighted water-fountain technological displays. Some had changing colors, classical music, video clips in water sprays, and a number of playful water-parks. Coli took the dare and headed into a set of concentric circles of water jets. They would take turns spraying and not…jump up 2 feet, then 10 feet, then nothing. Those who dared, but guessed wrong got drenched. Cyndee and Nicole walked through a “tunnel” that was totally created by arching jets of water while I videotaped and photographed them.

The best part of the day though for Mom and Dad was just being with Nicole – lots of hugs (abrazos) and kisses (besos), and just catching up on her experiences and the adventures in store for us during the upcoming week.

Monday, May 4th – Our final day with Nicole


After Coli gave us a tour of her University de Pacifico and the ISA office, we left to tour
the Barranco barrio (neighborhood) to see the over-century-old Bohemian architecture. We came back to the house for lunch to eat a typical homemade Peruvian meal of arroz con pollo (chicken and rice). When Nicole headed to class in the afternoon, we headed back to the city center to take a stroll to many churches and historical buildings. Lots of stunning architecture. Nicole met up with us after class to catch the last tour of the catacombs of the Iglesia de San Francisco, where over 25,000 bodies were buried. At one point, we were in the level below the cathedral floor. I yelled up through the grates for someone to save me, but I guess my Spanish wasn’t good enough because they left me to rot.

For dinner, Nicole had another special treat planned for us at Junius. It was an elegant buffet and dinner show in the hip and classy Miraflores suburb of Lima. Cyndee and I were introduced to dozens of Peruvian dishes of all kinds of meats, fruits, vegetables, and desserts. I was introduced to my favorite new condiment, called ají (pronounced ah-hee). It is more delicious than the variety of salsas, buffalo-wing sauces, or concoctions we have in our barbeque joints. Yum-yum! I made sure to ask for it wherever I went. It comes in various grades of hotness too. The highlight of the evening though was the dancers that were clad in sophisticated traditional clothing, tools, and decorative items while accompanied by a talented musical ensemble.

We headed back to the house for our final chats and preparations for our morning adventure to visit one of the top historical sites in the world – Machu Picchu!

All we can say is that those two days with Nicole were magical and special for us. What she has experienced in the three months since we saw her last!

Mom and Dad (Cyndee and Rand) …to be continued