once in this way, and never again

Sunday, November 20

Today was, for the lack of a better word, cool. Mostly because we all went hang gliding! Ryan talked me into it because I was really scared about how dangerous it is and knowing that people have died (as if people haven't also died from driving cars or walking along the street). Malia was skeptical also so I thought it would just be Karen and Ryan partaking, but Malia changed her mind and I didn't want to be the only one not participating... and I'm really glad I wasn't.

To ensure safety they only let pilots fo 4 flights per day (smart), and by the time we got to the spot of departure most were already booked, or had already completed their 4 flights. So our guide went to look for pilots while we sat on the grass enjoying the weather and watching people land from hang/para gliding. Finally our guide found 4 pilots, himself included, and we filled out some paperwork before being split up. Karen, Malia, and Ryan went up the mountain together while I was stuck waiting for my pilot, aka our guide, who was still talking to other customers. By the time we started up the mountain I was sure everyone had already left and I was getting really nervous. The second we parked I ran up the steps to the takeoff platform just in time to see Ryan before he took off para gliding. Holy crap! Para gliding and hang gliding takeoffs are terrifying looking! Moreso hang gliding but para gliding isn't that much fun either I imagine. For para gliding you're basically sitting on your instructor and you take off by letting the wind pick up your sail. It was super windy today so takeoffs looked slightly violent. For my takeoff I was about to pee myself. I had to run off of a wooden platform right over the edge of the cliff. My pilot prepped me on how to run and how to hold onto his suit (he holds onto the glider), and after waiting for the wind to be just right, I was running and up in the air before I could figure out what happened. Being in the air was awesome compared to the takeoff! Flying tha thigh was such a rush and deifnitely the coolest thing (and most daring thing) I've done to date. The entire flight lasted about 10 minutes and we landed on the beach right where Ryan, Karen, and Malia were waiting. I'm really glad that Ryan convinced me to step out of my comfort zone and experience something as crazy as hang gliding over Rio de Janeiro.

This post is archived under Brazil, Hang Gliding, Rio de Janeiro, Soccer

Our South America trip was everything I wanted it to be. Our group had an unbelievable time exploring 3 different countries over 9 days, starting with the beautiful Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Friday, November 18

We left DC and SF on Thursday, met up for our connecting flight in Dallas, and continued on together, arriving in Brazil Friday morning. Once we landed we took a taxi straight to our hostel (Hostel Harmonia) right off of Ipanema Beach. This was my first experience staying in a hostel, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. Not that I expected it to be a negative experience, but Hostel Harmonia was clean, cozy, and had extremely friendly staff. We wasted no time after arriving and booked a favela tour for the afternoon. I had no clue what a favela was and on the way there Ryan asked me if I knew where we were going. I told him I thought we were seeing a school and he laughed and said "No, we're going to the slums of Rio." Favelas are shacks alongside mountainsides where poor people live (shanty towns).

This post is archived under Brazil, Favela, Rio de Janeiro, Samba, South America

I am psyched! In 1 week I will be heading to South America with Ryan Knowles, Karen Cyb, and Malia Wycoff for 9 days. We are flying to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil first, then moving onto Montevideo, Uruguay for a short stay, then ending our trip in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The idea to travel there started because Ryan's cousin is currently studying abroad in Buenos Aires. He loves to take advantage of people he knows living in crazy locations and uses it as an excuse to travel (and it's a great excuse)! Our Buenos Aires trip quickly turned into a "more than one country" trip to try and see as much as possible.

I cannot wait to write about what we do and the incredible things we will inevitably see along the way.

This post is archived under Argentina, Brazil, South America, Uruguay

Or rather, the times I got sick. I told you never to eat egg salad sandwiches in Peru and I meant it. There was a small local restaurant called Otre Cosa near our house that had awesome cushions to sit on and an attached store with postcards and random Peruvian trinkets. A group of us went there one afternoon close to the end of our trip and I ordered egg salad because that is (was now) my favorite kind of sandwich. It came out looking all delicious on its grainy wheat bread and tasted just as it looked.

Fast forward to the following day when that sandwich decided to wreak havoc on my body. Long story short, I did not go into Ciudad de Dios for a few days. Instead I laid in my bed at the house while Robby brought me tea and crackers every few hours. We would have conversed more but seeing as how he only spoke Spanish and I only spoke English, communication was limited and probably ridiculous sounding when attempted. I did manage to get out of bed one of those days to go down the street and get chicken soup that Robby said would make me feel better. There were parts of chicken in that soup that I don't ever care to know where they came from. After a few days I went back to Ciudad to finish up my plaza mural and the town sign, but the very next day I was sick again. I stayed in bed and drank Cipro and some powder mixed with water that tastes like the ocean (DISGUSTING!).

I practically missed the entire last week of work in Ciudad, which was a bummer. All of my journal entires for those days sound something like this: "I hate being sick. I can't eat anything but I'm really hungry.... I can't sleep because it hurts too much."

Man, I was really whiny.

This post is archived under Egg Salad, Otre Cosa, Sick

July 4th finally came, and even though Peruvians weren't celebrating it, we certainly were! We got off of work, so instead of laying around the house all day we went to Chan Chan, capital of the Chimu empire. It was incredible! Walking around listening to a guide tell us about this culture was worth seeing/hearing. Some awesome pictures from our tour...











That night we had a cookout at Nourish International's Hospedaje. Professor Billman grilled hamburgers and we had guacamole, fresh vegetables, and french fries (I ate a TON of french fries while in Peru). It was all delicious, and afterwards we all went down to the beach and lit fireworks. They were mildly successful... as successful as on can imagine Peruvian fireworks are. The archaeology students had a bonfire going so we joined them in making smores and hanging out. We played a huge game of capture the flag... and if you've never played capture the flag on a wide, open beach, it's hard! It comes down to who is the fastest because there isn't anything you can hide behind. Not to mention running on sand slows you down quite a bit. Still, we had a good time and a fun day of honoring our country's independence.

 **Thinking back, I feel like we should have at least sang the national anthem or something...

This post is archived under Fourth of July, Huanchaco, Peru

View from our hotel

The first full day we were in Cajamarca, Magdalena, Justine, Ellie, and I didn't waste any time.. we went straight to the hot springs. It wasn't too expensive, and we were given a room with what was basically a huge bath. So we pretty much just took a bath together in our swim suits for 30 minutes in water that is apparently really great for your skin. After that experience, we went shopping around the town. Cajamarca is fairly large with many little shops to explore and alleys with craft stalls set up. I managed to pick up gifts for friends and family that day.

Hot springs!

Our room (we had to use large, heavy blankets because the temperature dropped at night.. unlike in Huanchaco where it was warm all day/night)

Or bus ride back after 3 days in Cajamarca was brutal because sickness decided to set in. Good thing we went on the trip when we did.

This post is archived under Cajamarca, Peru

This post is archived under Ciudad de Dios, Peru, Work

During our time there, Rosa was the best cook. She made a DELICIOUS chocolate cake, and also some kick ass guacamole. Here is the recipe I wrote down in my journal (in case I ever felt like trying to make it at home... which has yet to happen).

This post is archived under Cooking, Guacamole, Peru

One day in June we didn't go into Ciudad de Dios. Instead we went to where the springbox would be located up from the town that would filter the water. To construct the springbox we had to haul sand and gravel from the dropoff point to the box, which were not next to each other. We formed a chain and passed the buckets down it until it reached the box. I was exhausted doing this work because the buckets were quite heavy and awkward to carry. Compared to the digging and laying pipe this work was more difficult to me.

This post is archived under Peru, Work

This post is archived under Ciudad de Dios, Mural, Peru

The first job I was a part of after we were introduced to Ciudad was helping evaluate the existing water quality (they got their current water after it already traveled through other communities). I worked with Maggie and Carrie in Menocucho to test the streams that fed into the water supply. One day while doing this, the Professor in charge of MOCHE (Professor Billman) forgot to pick us up and take us back to Ciudad de Dios. So instead, we walked about 1.5 km towards the community along the main road and then took a combi the rest of the way. It was quite an experience, especially the combi ride. Combis are very small vans that work like buses. They pick up people at stops and then when you need to get off you pay and get off. Well the one we were one decided it wanted to be a clown car and pack as many people as humanly possible into it. By the time we got back to Ciudad, we only had time to collect water samples from the taps in town.

This post is archived under Adobe Bricks, Ciudad de Dios, Peru

Us out one night in Huanchaco. Unfortunately I didn't have a picture with any of the locals we met

This post is archived under Huanchaco, Peru

So stinking cute, right?

This post is archived under Adobe Bricks, Ciudad de Dios, Peru

I left for Peru in May of 2008, just after finishing up my Sophomore year at Duke. Our group consisted of all Duke students (mostly engineers), and a Duke Spanish Teacher, Joan. We flew to Lima from the U.S. and stayed at Hostal Torreblanca. It was a small hotel, but very clean and well kept. My journal starts a week into our busy trip so according to my first entry (May 20) we spent the day in downtown Lima, visiting sites like the President's residence, and then touring La Villa el Salvador -- a squatter community that has grown tremendously in the past few decades. While touring we sat down with the locals and despite the language and cultural barriers, they were more than hospitable. It was amazing to see the pride these people had in their community and what they had built with hard work.

Hostal Torreblanca

The next day we left Lima and went to see a monument called El Ojo que llora, The Eye that Cries. We were fortunate enough to meet with the artist who designed it, and she explained how the victims of the Shining Path terror are written on stones surrounding the main rock. The monument was quite powerful, especially when you read the stones and saw how young some of the people were who were killed. Afterwards, we got back on our bus and drove 3 hours to another hostal in Barranca by the ocean.

El Ojo que llora Monument

The following day we arrived to our ultimate destination, Huanchaco. Huanchaco was a beautiful town right next to the ocean, and we stayed in a house all together. Our volunteer work was being done in Ciudad de Dios, which was an hour bus ride away, but we could not stay there because they had no running water (purpose of our trip) and no electricity (they received it right after we left!). Looking back, it was nice to be living in a house with the entire group instead of being split up between local families, which was the living arrangement of another DukeEngage Peru trip. I dealt with a lot of homesick issues during my stay in Peru, and having the group there was a huge help.. especially since my Spanish was limited to Hola and Como estas. I did quickly learn, however, how to say "Can I use the telephone to call the U.S?"

The gorgeous city of Huanchaco, Peru

The first part of the week we were in Huanchaco, we spent exploring the city and getting to know every person in our group. I brushed up on my Spanish with the help of my Duke friend, Magdalena, as well as our housekeeper's son, Robby. We also took a day trip to the city of Trujillo to tour. It is a much bigger city than Huanchaco and has a busy feel to it. In Huanchaco, the beach was right down the block from our house so we spent a lot of time walking around by the water and observing people who live there. The day before going into Ciudad de Dios we split up into groups and went on a scavenger hunt in Huanchaco and Trujillo. Some items we had to take pictures of included "el coliseo de los gallos entre Huanchaco y Trujillo" (cock fighting), "la torta mas bonita en Trujillo" (pretty cake), and "una combi" (a type of car/minivan in Peru). It really helped us understand the area geographically and work on interacting with Peruvians.

This post is archived under Huanchaco, Peru, Trujillo

In high school I was fortunate enough to take my first serious, out-of-the country trip to Honduras. I went with my church youth group to help build a running water system for a small village. We were there for two weeks and it was quite an experience. Between church services in Spanish, to getting sick, to digging trench all day, I definitely soaked up the culture in the short time we were there.

This post is archived under Honduras, Hong Kong, Peru

In my life, I've had many diaries and many journals. They contain everything I've ever felt or experienced and are unique to me. Unfortunately a lot of trips I've taken or things I've done have never been shared, and as I get older I find comfort in knowing that there are people in the world who have gone through what I have, or seen what I've seen. I want to put my life's important events, people, and places out there, and perhaps others will feel what I feel when I read blogs.. inspired, comforted, motivated. Knowing there is so much in the world that I can experience and affect puts my problems in perspective and helps keep me focused on making the most of everything I'm lucky enough to have.

This post is archived under Travel