Callao

Sunday morning rain is falling. Steal some covers, share some skin. Clouds are shrouding us in moments unforgettable, but they’re really not. It never rains here in Lima, and I guess that could be a good thing. It’s always warm, a little muggy at times, but fairly nice weather overall. The pollution is bad here, so the majority of the sky is covered in smog. Not so pleasant, but it could be a lot worse. As nice as it always is, it wouldn’t hurt to have some rain. Some days, I just want it to downpour. That must be why I love New England so much. You get the best of everything there.

We start our day off meeting at the Mirabus Tour stop right down the street from La Lucha. This is our second Mirabus tour. The first one was great because we got to see the entire city of Lima and several other districts. However, this time around, we had planned to go to the town of Callao, one of the chief seaports of Peru. Callao’s location was ideal for trades and naval activities because it's a peninsula off the coast of Peru. Since Callao has established itself as a port town, it was only fitting that they carried a naval museum which we would have to luxury to see.

Of course, the first stop we made in Callao was the naval museum – a museum decorated in Peru’s naval history. Our tour began by sitting inside a small room, watching a long navy documentary introduction. Nothing fascinating. It was like watching the opening theme of a World War movie with cheesy background music, exploitation of mass weapons, and acts of heroism. To say the least, it was quite catchy. From what I’ve learned thus far in Peru is that the Peruvians pride themselves in two things – their navy and their ceviche. We continue our tour through the naval museum and checked out cool model ships. I’m always fascinated by the intricate things they do on these model ships because the details are so fine. We wrap up the tour and head our way out of the museum towards the docks. Sitting at the docks was this fairly big submarine. This was our next stop.

Our tour guide directs us over to board the top of the submarine. This was actually pretty cool because I’ve never stepped foot on a submarine before. I was more excited than I should have been, rocking the submarine back and forth, jumping up and down, and taking selfies like a child. After getting some of my excitement out, the tour guide then opened the hatch of the submarine and directed us to all jump in one by one. I honestly had no idea we were going to be able to actually see the inside of a real submarine! I almost cried tears of joy. Finally, I hopped into the hatch and made it through to the bottom. I look around and thought that this would had definitely been the coolest hangout spot ever as a kid. I was always into those sorts of things, building clubhouses and created imaginary alliances with friends so this would have been a great place to conjure meetings or plot an attack. We moved along with the tour guide as he showed us every compartment of the submarine from bedrooms to kitchens to the navigation room. All of that was really amazing, but after a while I started to get a little sick. The submarine was submerged underwater, so the rocking motion of the water induced some motion sickness into me. I had come to realize maybe I wasn’t cut out to become a sailor or navy officer. My head started spinning and I felt nauseous. I couldn’t wait for the tour to end. We finally reached the end of the submarine, and one by one we climbed out the top hatch to resurface above water. Phew. It could’ve been bad.

The naval tours were finally over and we were all starving, ready for lunch. Monica had made reservations for us at Cabos Restaurante del Puerto in Callao – a really nice seafood restaurant with a great view over the pier. Food was delicious as always. I had ordered the sea bass and it was cooked perfectly with a side of rice. From what I’ve gathered here in Peru, it seemed to me that sea bass is a very popular fish and rightfully so because it’s so damn good. We finally end the day with a Mirabus tour back to Miraflores where I would spend the rest of the afternoon eating ice cream at Larcomar.

Caral and La Peña del Carajo

It’s Saturday! Time to sleep in! Nope. It’s Saturday so that means we’re getting up super early for our long 4-hour bus ride to the ancient city of Caral. It was only until recently that Caral was discovered and began making headlines all over the world. Caral is located about four hours north of Lima in the Supe Valley of Peru. It is considered to be the oldest civilizations in both Americas! Today Caral is used an excavation site for archaeologists to study.

We reach what seemed to be the beginning of the tour. And it wasn’t. This gate was only the walkway to the entrance of Caral. The ancient city was strategically placed within the valleys to avoid conflict with other civilizations. So we walked about a mile in until we arrived at the actual gate of Caral. From there, we made our way around ancient sites and various pyramids. It’s interesting to see that at the same time Caral was civilized that the Egyptians were practicing the same type of infrastructure. However, the main difference between Caral pyramids, as opposed to the Egyptians, were that Caral used their pyramids as a ritual site rather than a burial site. The actual tour of Caral only lasted for about an hour and a half. After a quick stop at Caral, we went to have lunch at a hotel outside town before making our way back home.

We hadn’t gotten home until late that afternoon at around 7 pm. Everyone was clearly exhausted but we still had plans for the night. We were done with tours for the day, so this was a night of fun and entertainment. Monica had planned to take us out to Barranco, a district of Lima 15 minutes outside of Miraflores. Barranco is the younger part of Lima where all the university students live and hang out, so it’s definitely the place to be to have fun. I have a few friends over my apartment so that we could taxi over together. Our taxi pulls up in front a crowded street full of people wandering outside all dressed up and a bunch of taxis and cars jammed in single file lines. Yeah. This was the place to be for sure. We arrive at this place, La Peña del Carajo, which so happens to be a traditional Peruvian dance festival on the inside. The inside was amazing. There were dancers, singers, performers, and contests happening on the main stage. Our crew of Americans pulled out seats right front and center of the whole thing. Bad idea because now we’re vulnerable to be pulled up on stage. And that’s exactly what happened. Midway through the show, the host pulled different people from the front row to represent their ethnicity. Ok, that wasn’t so bad, but I cowered away because I knew it was something more than that. I was right. By the time, everyone had gotten on stage, the host then announced that everyone would partake in a dance competition. Holy crap. In front of all these people? I’ll be honest. This was my calling ad I totally regret not jumping up on stage. The first was this busty Colombian woman, probably in her mid-20s, wearing tight white pants and a crop top for all the men to ooh and ah at. She started twerking the bonkers out of her booty, and you bet all the guys were hooting and hollering. Then you come to a small section of kids who were representing Northeastern. Ok, so Lexi totally killed it. She had so much sass that she could’ve dance for our whole entire group. She was that fierce. Again. The guys loved it. It was until poor Reesha was forcibly put on stage by the host that things got out of control. She was a shy little girl who wanted nothing to do with it, so she buckled herself down in her seat. But that didn’t stop the host. He ordered two guards to lift her chair and place her on stage. Talk about embarrassing. It was too late for Reesha she had to perform, but you could see she was close to shedding tears. So before that happened, a few students and I jumped on stage to rescue poor Reesha from stage fright. And when I say rescue, I don’t mean we pulled her back down from stage, but we essentially voodoo danced around her. And that was our night.

Free Day, Frisbees, and Papacho's

TGIF. I’ll be honest every day here feels like a Friday. Practicing my Spanish whether it’s at home or at school will always feel like a hobby for me, so I never mind it. But today is a free afternoon for us to do whatever we want and that’s nice. After El Sol, John, Jake, and I went down to the shore to check out the beaches. Others went to paraglide, which seems like a nice thing to do on your free day but I’m deathly afraid of heights or just dangling from high places. So I opted out of that.

The three of us made it down to the beach and at the bottom of the stairs a man with straggly beach hair greets us. He was a pretty short man with tan leathery skin with indigenous features and pretty prominent belly. He looked like Tito from Rocket power. He even talked like Tito. His name was Roberto, but I refused to call him that and I will continue to call him Tito as long as I live. He spoke to us about surfing and wanted us to try it out. We told him that we were not feeling it today but we definitely wanted to try it before we left Lima. Tito striked us a deal for a 2-hour surf for only 50 soles. Everywhere else was offering that much soles but for half the time. We knew we had a steal, but we told Tito that we’d do it next week. So we took his business card. See you next week, Tito.

John, Jake, and I move along the shore getting battered by other surf venders trying to charge us for an hour. Not going to happen. We continue to move onto the next beach where there weren’t many people. We gazed and watched the ocean until John decided to strip down and jump into the ocean. Jake and I said screw it. Let’s do it. We had no towels, swimsuit, or anything. Just boxers. We swam and refreshed a bit and it was great.

We got out of the water shortly, and dried off a bit. We made our way up to the cliffs to meet up with everyone who were paragliding. Ok. So, paragliding actually looked super fun and I totally wished I had tagged along, but I still wasn’t convinced because it was 80 soles for 15 minutes. So, no. I had mixed up paragliding with hang-gliding, which was why I was deterred by the idea. Oh, well. Our friend Anna had brought a Frisbee with her because she’s an ultimate Frisbee player. She earned some cool points there. Instead of watching people paraglide, a few of us went to play Frisbee and pet dogs. After playing Frisbee for a couple hours, John and I headed home to have dinner later that night.

My host dad had promised to take out a small group of friends to one of the best burger joints in all of Lima. Of course, as Americans, we were dying to try this place out. I call up a bunch of people to come out for dinner with my host dad. John, Kathleen, Nicole, Lexi, and Jake all came out and I was happy to know that they had pulled through. It was the beginning of what seemed to be a lasting friendship as the trip moved forward. We enjoyed our dinner with a bunch of Carlos’ stories. He was definitely swooning the girls because they fell in love with him. That’s my type of wingman. We finish dinner and all made our way back home. It was a long free day coming to an end. It was a day we all needed.

Fuerza Aérea del Peru - (5/23/16 - 5/26/16)

Monday- (5/23/16)

After spending our first week touring Lima, discovering its history, learning about its culture, learning about its famous historical figures, and visiting local attractions, we would end up spending the next few weeks visiting schools and universities and interact through intercambios. Intercambios is the Spanish word for exchange and through intercambios, students were able to exchange the many cultural differences between the United States and Peru. Our first week, we would spend with the children of Fuerza Aérea del Peru, or better known as FAP.

The students at this school were on the younger side, and were taught primarily at the elementary to high school level. Upon our arrival at FAP, we were greeted by a welcoming ceremony that incorporated dance, music, and snacks. We were greeted with open arms. Literally, we were treated like celebrities on campus. Kids would rush up to you after the ceremony and swarm you for pictures, selfies, and hugs. A few requested pictures with kisses on the cheeks which I looked at Monica to make sure that was normal. Well, Monica just smiled and gave me the thumbs up. I didn’t know what she meant by that honestly. But I would submit to the request of the kids and take selfies. They were adorable. We would spend the rest of our remaining time chatting with the kids and learning names. I didn’t remember a soul.  

After spending our first day at FAP, I’d come to really enjoy it. I was looking forward to the next four days of getting to know the students and the school.

Tuesday- (5/24/16)

My first day at FAP was just paparazzi. It was cool the first day and very flattering, but as we showed up on our second day at FAP, most of us were suddenly forced into mosh pits. I felt like I was at a concert – one that I didn’t really prepare for and wanted to be at. I was already growing tired of the publicity. I always wanted to go to Hollywood and become and an actor, but I’m getting my small taste of what it would be like and I could safely say that I think I’d would be better off as an Emily Dickenson – you know just turn full recluse, shelter myself from the world. I’d be full of talent but won’t want anyone to see or acknowledge it. Ugh. What a pity. For the world.

We started our second day just chatting it up with the students, and I would attempt to use the little Spanish I knew at the time. The students and I would exchange introductory greetings like “What’s your name, what’s your sign?” And asks what their interests are, “Who they be with?” and “What numbers to dial?” It was safe to say, I learned a lot about the students at FAP. Most of the students at FAP were actually sons and daughters of people who worked for the Peruvian Military, so you could tell that this was a pretty privileged school.

After conversation, we would return to the auditorium for some lecture and Peruvian history classes. We learned about the Spanish conquistadors and Francisco Pizarro and how he came over and made Peru what it is today. Peru has quite a morbid past, but you can’t blame them for the what the Spanish did to them. We would finish lecture and head outside to wait for the bus to take us home. We had about 15 minutes to spare, so a bunch of us rampaged the basketball courts and volleyball courts to get in some exercise. A group of five of us decided to play pick-up basketball with five of the FAP girls. So, there I was on the playground where I spent most of my time, chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool. And shooting some b-ball outside of the school until the bus arrived and we would head back home to Miraflores.

Wednesday- (5/25/16)

Definitely my favorite day of the week so far! After class at El Sol, we headed to FAP for a day of physical education! Today, we were scheduled to play a soccer scrimmage against the school. As soon as we showed up we immediately went straight to the field to do warm-up exercises, stretch and run around the track to get our hearts pumping. Now I spent most of warm-up playing tag with the girls and I mean it just looked wrong. I’m a grown male specimen frolicking with pre-teens, but it didn’t matter. I had to warm-up and prep myself for an utter annihilation that I was going to bestow on the students in the soccer game. We had finished warming up and the soccer ball came out. I was so disappointed. The soccer game ended up being played on a quarter of the field with small posts and a game of twenty girls against five Northeastern students. So lame. The game ended very, very short – about five minutes. I grab my things in complete disappointment and headed straight to lecture. I sat in lecture in misery, longing for more.

Class ended and unbeknownst to me, we started walking outside towards another campus. I could see lights, large fences and students screaming.  I didn’t know where we were going until we had reach the corner and turned, I would see a bunch of grown high school students, all geared up, playing soccer. My eyes lit up. Yes! We’re going to play these kids! First the girls of FAP and Northeastern were up to play. An official scrimmage of 8 versus 8. This was what I was waiting for. Our girls actually held their own because some of them actually played soccer, and it didn’t help FAP that one of our girls was on the Northeastern soccer team. Also, women playing soccer was not normal, but it was a growing commodity. Good for them. The girl’s game had just finished and the boys were about to take the field. The Peruvian boys were serious about this game, but so was I. While the girls were playing, the boys were juggling, running, and doing laps in preparation for the game. We sucked. Only two of us had played soccer, and one of them played goalkeeper, so we were short on talent. Thankfully, I had a boot and I would go on to score our lone goal – as a goalkeeper.

Thursday- (5/26/16)

It’s our final day at FAP and I really enjoyed my time here at the air force base. The students here greeted us with open arms and treated us very well, so there wasn’t much to complain about. I loved it. I was going to miss them. We started the day like any other day at FAP with a lecture. After lecture, a few of us had prepared speeches as a farewell to the school and to express our gratitude for having us there. I had hoped they learned a lot of the United States because I had definitely learned a lot about the Peruvian culture, especially the one in Lima. After all was said and done, the president of the school would greet us and hand us each a congratulatory diploma to say that we graduated from our intercambios between FAP and Northeastern University.

Last Day in Ica: Trip to Las Islas Ballestas in Paracas and Afro Peruvian Dance

We had a lot of fun last night, but it was a long night last night, so this morning was tough. It’s a last day in Ica so we made the most of it by visiting Paracas – the town where many go to see Peru’s own version of the Galapagos Islands. Despite the groggy morning, it was a sight to see! One of the most spectacular, breath-taking visits we have had on the trip so far – I haven’t forgotten about Machu Picchu, but that wasn’t until the end of the trip. Regardless, this was definitely a must-see if you come to Peru. I love the outdoors. I love fresh air. I love boats. And I love port breeze. And that’s exactly what I got today.

We line up behind a group of other tourists, making our way to the small boat that would motor our way across the ocean to see Las Islas Ballestas. I cannot say enough about my love for boat rides and the need for sea-excursions. I whole-heartedly believe that I would definitely be a pirate in another life. I secretly still want to be one today honestly. Maybe after graduation since a lot of people ask me what I want to do when I leave Northeastern. We board the boat and I immediately run up to the front of the boat like a little boy, so that I could embrace the view. Hell, I didn’t even sit down the whole ride. I spent most of us with the ocean breeze bristling against my cheeks, air brushing back my hair, and the oxygen in the air rushing through my respiratory system. I felt alive. On our way to the islands, we got to see dolphins – my self-assigned spirit animal - jumping out of the waters left and right! I also love dolphins. Just a beautiful and majestic boat ride as a whole. We arrive at the islands and they were magnificent. Just a grand beautiful sight covered in blue-footed boobies and sea lions. Amazing.

We made our way back to the port to get ready to head home. It’s a 4-hour bus ride home so it was a long day. Before heading home completely, we had stopped by this small Afro Peruvian town to expose ourselves of another part of Peruvian history. I didn’t know where we were going exactly at the time. We would pull up in front of this house where an African man greeted us. He directed us to all come into the house and sit around the living room with chairs all set. It was interesting because we were literally sitting in this man’s home. He had a microphone in hand and introduced himself to us and what we were going to see. He sits down and music began to play. Drum rolls. Other Africans began dancing their way through a beaded curtain, one by one dancing their way out. They began a traditional afro Peruvian dance routine. It was a very lively time. Towards the end of the performance, we all got up to dance with them and that was great because I love to dance.

After our short stop with the Afro Peruvians, we would make our long 4-hour ride back home on the bus.

Nazca Lines

What time are we getting up today, John? *Snoring* I look at the time and it’s 6:34 am. Aren’t we supposed to be at the bus at 6:30 am? As I looked around from the comfort of my bed, still dazed and out of focus, the thought crept up on me when I slowly realized that it was 4 minutes pass 6:30 am. I jumped out of bed immediately. Freaking out, I frantically yell for John, informing him that we’re late for the bus! We both get up and put our clothes on as quickly as possible and jetted for the doors. I get to the bus first to realize that the bus wasn’t leaving until 7 am. Holy crap. What a relief.

I’m already up and ready for the day. I haven’t showered, brushed my teeth, or anything. I feel like dirt. Lucky for me we were on our way to see some dirt. I’d feel right at home.

Today we’re going to visit the famous Nazca Lines – a series of ancient geoglyphs located in the Nazca Desert in southern Peru. The significance of these lines were to marveled at because no one really knows why the lines were created or how they were created. The lines are series of individually carved figures that took the form of a monkey, hummingbird, spiders, lizards, and other types of motifs. The Nazca Lines were studied by Paul Kosok and Maria Reiche in which both would dedicate most of their lives uncovering the secrets of Nazca. Some believed it were aliens. John believes it was aliens.

We would spend the day learning about the culture of Nazca and the Ica region. We learned about ancient Ica pottery techniques, ancient Nazca civilizations, and alchemy tricks to turn junk into gold – just like in Full Metal Alchemist. Oh, yes. I totally just referenced an anime. Anyways, the best part of the day was later that night when we all went out to a local Ica dance club.

Trip to Ica

Today was dope. Morning, not so much. Only because I had to get up at 4 am and bring a suitcase full of my things onto the bus for our weekend away to Ica! It’s a solid 6-hour drive so sleep tight. Ok. So the morning was really rough. Bus leaves 5:30 am and I leave my apartment with about 10 minutes to spare. I was supposed to meet Kathleen at Parque Kennedy, but I totally, you know, messed up. She calls and sends a series of texts asking where I was. To say the least, she was completely pissed off. I don’t blame her. Because I was frantically running out the door of my apartment, I had forgotten to bring the damn directions to the bus stop. I’m already at Parque Kennedy and there’s no time to run back. I called Monica asking for directions and well that was basically useless because I had no idea at the time where things were in Miraflores. Signs were in Spanish and street names unfamiliar to me. I was in a load of trouble. I’m running up and down Ricardo Palma, sweating my face off. It felt like an episode of SpongeBob when him and Patrick were stranded in Rock Bottom. The streets were covered in fog and dim lighting. Jack the Ripper was Lima-bound. I was screwed. Monica calls me and luckily for me the bus had stopped right in front of Marathon – the athletic store at the corner of Ricardo Palma. I get on the bus. Everyone grilled me. I sit down and fetal position my way into sleep for the next 6 hours.

We finally arrive at the hotel in Ica. We drop off all of our belongings, and store them away. I purchase my first Inca Kola of the trip. This stuff tastes like bubblegum and I’m a fan. It’s so good. We make our way out to the small oasis town of Huacachina. Here was the fun part of the day. We would take dune buggies out to scour the vast deserts of Huacachina. Now, I didn’t know what to expect to be honest. Our driver drives our dune buggy around the lake of Huacachina and up a sand path beyond the horizon of the sand dunes. Over the horizon of the sand dune was this immense boundless desert of sand and dunes. Some dunes were about 50 feet above the ground. The drive steps on the pedal and the buddy hauls. You could feel the suspensions of the buggy bouncing and whipping as we speed through the open desert. This was actually scary because the buggy felt unstable. Oh crap, here we go. We arrive at our first dune. A very small one but it was steep. We drop and immediately I could feel a very familiar yet disturbing feeling in my stomach. Oh, it felt like a drop on a roller coaster. It was the g-force. I hate g-force. And I hate roller coasters. At that moment, I knew I was in a world of trouble. I thought I was going to die. Screw this. No one told me. Oh, well. I got to suck it up. So I did the one thing anyone would have done in my position – I pulled out my phone and start recording.

After a series of ups and downs, we arrive at the very top of this sand dune about 50 feet in the air. We pull up and our drivers pull out something that looked like snowboards. This was freaking awesome. We were going to sandboard down the dunes. Oh except I’m deathly afraid of heights too. What the hell was I doing on this trip? All of us were instructed to lay on our bellies and go down the dune that way. I felt a little better because I thought we were supposed to stand which definitely wouldn’t be a good idea for beginners like me. I get strapped in and ready to go. The guy shoves me down and I’m hauling. It wasn’t bad at all. If anything underwhelming. Leaving me wanting more kind of like my ex-girlfriend. I got riled up. Next dune I’m standing. And that’s exactly what I did and I did pretty well. I totally shredded my way down. It was fun. It was a good time.

After boarding, we make our way back to the small oasis town of Huacachina to take some pictures and listen to the legend of the Huacachina Lake. I’ll have to find the legend somewhere but I’ll be sure to post it here once I do. Meanwhile, look it up.

We leave Huacachina and head to a winery and basically got lit there. Next stop was an old witch town where witches performed rituals and things. Odd stop because I was freaking out. Coincidently, we would leave the witch town to go to a famous church in Ica. I cleansed myself of evil witch spirits and any voodoo the kids put on me there.

Later that evening, we return to the hotel. We had the option to room with a person so I decided to hop in a room with John Goodyear – he’s Italian if you couldn’t tell by his very Italian last name. He’s also from the Jersey Shore. We get to our rooms and the first John and I decide to do is to change into our bathing suits and jump into the hotel pool. Oh man that was refreshing. We hang out there with a few people before I headed back up to shower to get ready for the rest of the night at karaoke. It was a good time.

Pachacamac

The dialogue in Peru has been everything so far. With Lima’s rich history, beautiful architecture, and incomparable prices on things, it’s hard to be dissatisfied. Classes at El Sol are going well and I’m really enjoying the opportunity to improve my Spanish. Our main activity for today was a trip to Pachacamac – an ancient archaeological site south of Lima. It was an ancient city named after the worshipping god, Pacha Kamaq which is Quechua for Earth Maker. Here, the ancient people of Pachacamac were said to be very religious. It is evident through the many burial sites, sacred sanctuaries, pyramids, and temples found throughout Pachacamac. Of the many temples, three are considered famous: The Painted Temple, the Temple of the Sun, and the Old Temple of Pachacamac.

For me, the most interesting of the three was the Temple of the Sun. It’s a very eerie site with a lot of brutal history behind it. The Temple of the Sun was a sacred site used to sacrifice women and children in order to please the god of sun. Fathers would choose one of their sons and carry them up to the temple in a ritualistic sort of way. At the top, he would sacrifice his son to the sun god. Women were sacrificed on a higher level where they would be strangled and hung as they would be wrapped and buried away in cloth with sometimes jewelry, masks, dogs, and other objects. Pachacamac is an amazing archaeological site and only a small portion of the civilization has been uncovered. The uncovered ancient city stretches for miles across dessert. Hopefully one day, archaeologists will uncover the entire secret society of Pachacamac.