This is why I'm hot!!!

My lobster red face

Ceviche!

Amazing fish dish with rice and french fries

Shells with sauces. Can you guess what the three sauces are?

After one week in Lima, Peru I have finally experienced the reality of the extreme intensity of the sun. While living in Alaska we get a lot of sun during the summer but Alaska is not located very close to the equator. That being said, Lima is a whole different story, and this past weekend I experienced the full intensity of the sun's UV rays.

Friday evening my host family and I packed up and headed to the beach (playa) for a weekend at the club where we were able to play tennis, play pool, frolic in the pool, and enjoy the beach. On Saturday morning after breakfast my host dad, Luis, asked if I wanted to go play tennis; since it was morning and I was still waking up I forgot that even though it was cloudy I still needed to put on sunscreen. That being said, after about two hours of tennis it was time to get in the pool and cool down so I went back to our room, applied a copious amount of sunscreen, and headed to the pool. It didn't take long to realize that the added sunscreen was not able to protect me from the time I spent soaking up the harmful UV rays in the morning, so as you can see I now have a nice red (rojo) color added to my body. My host mom, Elena, said I looked like a lobster (langosta).

Now that I have a sunburn I would love to get suggestions for good remedies to overcome the pain and discomfort of my burn. If you have any suggestions please comment on this post so I can start trying them out. I am scheduled to go to the beach to take a surfing lesson tomorrow so I am definitely needing to sooth my aching burn.

While getting sunburned hurt a bit, the pain I am in has been overcome largely in part due to the amazing food that is present at the beach. Since the club is right on the ocean front there were plenty of fish (pescado) options on the menu. Saturday afternoon I had my first ceviche, one of Peru's classical dishes. The ceviche was very flavorful, but without growing up eating sushi the raw fish was a bit much for my taste buds. Today, however, I had an amazing fish filete that was accompanied by french fries (papas fritas) and rice (arroz) and it was fantastic. Besides the hot sun, salty air, and plethora of people walking around in bathing suits, one additional identifier that you were at the beach was that all the sauces came in sea shells.

Overall it was very relaxing to go to the beach and experience some more fine Peruvian cuisine, now I just have to learn how to protect myself from the sun! Please do comment with some of your favorite sunburn remedies!

Lima's Shanty Towns

A little boy picking out his candy.

A shy little girl and the motor taxi.

I can rock out to music, be a diva, and paint at the same time!

(Picture credit to Kelly)

Our group at the end of the day

(Picture credit to motor taxi driver)

Today was a magnificent day spent giving back to the local Peruvian society! Often times when students go abroad they really enjoy learning about the culture of their host country through experiencing the food, social atmosphere, school, visiting museums, and a variety of other things, but today our group from ISA Lima, Peru 2012 got to go into one of the many shanty towns (pueblos jóvenes) in Lima and help fix up a school for young (jóvenes) children (niños). While at the school we were able to help paint the outer walls of the facility along with prepare food for the children and locals that live in the area of the school.

To give a little more perspective on about what the life in a shanty town look like take a look at this video. From my understanding Lima has been continuing to grow as Peru's largest city in numbers that far outweigh the available infrustructure which has caused people to build their homes on the outskirts of Lima out of whatever materials they could afford to use. For many families their homes are made of bricks and still others have mud homes with metal roofs to hold off the heat of the sun and the occasional rains. Overall the economic status of the families living in these towns is very low so in the area we were in the school had women working there who would come during the day and cook meals for upwards of 100 people and sell the food at 1.50 soles per meal (the equivalence of about 60 cents or so US per person). The ladies (mujeres) that work in these kitchens switch off from day to day and from what I gathered they cooked the food in order to get free meals for their families as well.

Despite the hard times financially for the people living in these areas it was very comforting to see the comrodery that was present amongst the people. As we were working we were able to ride motor taxis which were motorcycles turned into small taxis for the purpose of getting around the town. After giving all of our group a ride one of the drivers went and got a paint roller from his house and helped us to reach higher areas on the walls. Also another driver pulled up and pumped some music so that we could all sing and dance as we worked! This voluntary involvement by members of the community reminded me a lot of the kids at the Hanbury Home for Kids in Jamaica, where I traveled last March on a missions trip.

All in all it was very humbling to see how these children and families were living in an impoverished area, but they were still more than willing to give of their time and efforts to help support the young people in the community through improving their educational facilities. During the day we were also able to give out candy to the kids and it was thrilling to see their faces light up as we told them to come get some free candy (gratis dulces).

As the day comes to a close I am editing my photos from the day and then headed off to the beach (playa) with my host family for the weekend! I hope that all of you take a moment today to think of something or someone you are thankful for and let that individual know. William Arthur Ward once said, “God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say thank you?”

Please do add a comment below and say something that you are thankful for today!

Comida muy rico!

In general the Peruvians continue to amaze me in all the different foods they have and the rich (rico) tastes that they all contain. The last two days have been full many new experiences when it comes to food and I have enjoyed them all very much! Growing up in the United States I don’t think I ever realized how sheltered I was to what happened outside of Alaska and the United States, so being liberated to learning a new culture and new cuisine is very exciting to me! The one food group that astounds me more than any other in Peru is the massive variety of fruits they have here. In the United States you can buy really delicious fruits in markets and other places that are very sweet (dulce) and fresh, but in Peru they have so many more types of fruit. Above you will see just one more example of a fruit that was foreign to me when I arrived and now is a normal ingredient in many juices (jugos).

Also on the food scene there is a trend to eat spicy foods. At my host family’s house we have a house keeper named Lucy who a very good cook and definitely knows how to pack a punch in the spices she mixes together for our meals! So far my favorite spice I have had is ají, which is a combination of peppers, garlic, oregano, onion, and probably a few other things that I didn’t pick up when she was describing the recipe (receta). Above you will see a magnificent dish the Lucy prepared that consisted of meat (carne), french fries (papas fritas), onions (cebollas), rice (arroz), and the delicious ají sauce!

The final thing I want to point out about my Peruvian diet is that everyone really likes ice cream (helado)! At my host family’s house we have a 5 liter container of ice cream sitting in the freezer waiting to be eaten at any time of the day! Also whenever you go to a mall or supermarket or other highly populated area there seems to be a gelato stand that has many sweet and rich ice cream choices, above is just one example of what one of these stands would look like!

Outside of eating some amazing food during the last two days I have been walking around my neighborhood (barrio) a lot with my host family as well as visiting other cites in Lima. Last night marked the first time I went on my first solo taxi ride without a Peruvian and my driver was so awesome that he told me he knew our address and then ended up trying to take us to some random clinic rather than taking us to the one in our neighborhood, luckily I knew enough Spanish to tell him off and let him know that I wanted to go home, not be fooled into being dropped off in the middle of nowhere. I had a similar experience on my first solo bus ride when riding to my university, University San Ignacio de Loyola, when the driver decided to cut their route short and turn around in order to get more passengers, thus telling us we needed to get off before the destination we paid for. Needless to say we did make it to our university today and we were introduced to some of the staff that works with international students as well as learn our way around the campus a little bit! I have a feeling that I am going to like the university a lot, it has a very warm feel and is very welcoming to internationals, as seen in my photo of all the flags (banderas) when entering the school.

One last thing before I call it a night for my blog… I LOVE how calm the life is around here and I very much enjoy the nap time (siesta) that seems to be very widely accepted after meal times! Everyday I am reminded how this trip was really ordained by God because in all circumstances I am learning new things about myself, the people around me, and how truly blessed I am!

¡Estoy en Peru!

All I can say is Peru is awesome! After about 20 hours of traveling and talking with different people while in route to Peru I finally made it to Peru at about 9 AM Sunday morning. After the long wait for staff to check me through customs I finally made it into the main part of the airport to meet up with my program staff. Unfortunately the person picking me up thought I was coming into Lima at 9 PM so she wasn't actually there...luckily I was able to easily exchange some money and call my program director who was able to iron things out and connect me with Kelly, an amazing and bubbly member of the ISA staff who was able to take me to my house and introduce me to my family. While waiting for Kelly I was also able to drink my first coca-cola in Peru and enjoy the taste of a true sugar cane based soda that tasted very delicious!

After meeting my family and talking a bit I took a quick siesta (nap) and then we headed off to get lunch (almuerzo) as a family. Since I could only remember one Peruvian food that I had had in the past I asked if we could get anticuchos (cow heart). After requesting antichuchos they were really excited because I had tasted Peruvian food before so we all went to a nice restaurant and got food. The anticuchos were very good as well as all the other foods I tried. I was able to try a local Peruvian drink that was made of a purple cord as well as try a few different typical Peruvian meats like a blood sausage and pork. Once we returned home I was then gladly welcomed back to the house by ice cream (helado) that my host mom, Elena, prepared for all of us. If you have spent much time at all around me you will know that ice cream is top on my list of favorite deserts, so it was great to find out that my host family also really enjoyed ice cream! Later in the evening I also went on a walk with my host mom and she showed me around the neighborhood and then one of my brothers, Felipe, and my dad, Luis, took me on a car ride and showed me some of the main sites in Lima.

After all the excitement of the first day I was very tired so I was happy to get some much needed sleep before really getting into the swing of things. Today, the first full day being in Peru was a very laid back and informative day. I started off the day with breakfast (desayuno) with my host family and fellow student from the US, Jhavid, and we both were able to try a new fruit called granadillas. Granadillas look similar to an orange but the inside is filled with a jello like substance that has a bunch of tiny seeds. To me they looked like the insides of a brain, but it was very good! Later I found out that granadillas are the first fruit that babies have in Peru because they are easy to digest and have lots of vitamins, at that point I felt like it was the proper fruit for me to be eating because I feel like a baby when it comes to my knowledge of Spanish and the Peruvian culture.

For the rest of the day I was with my fellow students from my program going through an informational session in the morning about our program followed by an afternoon out on the town seeing some of the sites around town. We first met at our local ISA headquarters and I was pleasantly surprised to see a small rock climbing wall that was in the same building as the office, luckily Chris Burgess convinced me to bring my rock climbing shoes at the last moment so I will be able to enjoy climbing now and again! One place we went in the afternoon was called Huaca, which is a pre-Incan ruin that was constructed about 1000 years before the Incan Machu Pichu. Above you will see a picture of the ruins we saw, they were constructed with spaces between the bricks in order to allow for the flexing of the structure due to the high frequency of earthquakes in Lima. After seeing the ruins we finished up our activities by going to the beach and seeing the sunset while eating ice cream!

Now I am finishing up my blog after arriving back home and eating dinner (cenar) with my host family. Tomorrow is a free day so I look forward to doing some more fun things around Lima!

On my way!!!

Wow this thing is really happening!!! Right now I on my first of three flights in route to Lima, Peru. After loading up the last few things in my bags this morning I went to the airport with my family and officially started on my journey to South America!

In the last few days I have been running around getting the last few things purchased for my trip as well as saying the last few goodbyes before I left to Peru (although while running around I had a friendly reminder by a moose that the speed limit in the neighborhood was 25 mph). The outpouring of love that people have given me over the last few days has blown me away! From songs, to emails, to phone calls, to hugs goodbye every last farewell wish has really meant a lot to me!

As I head off to Peru I figured I should take a few more quick pictures of the beautiful Alaskan home so above you will see a picture of my igloo, a moose that was chilling outside my house, a picture of me and my cougar banner outside the airport, and finally a nice view out my window on my first flight..

On the note of the cougar banner…I have to say I love being a WSU Coug because no matter where I am it seems like there is a fellow Coug around me. Today at the airport I was going through security and the guy behind me says, “GO COUGS!!!” I love the deep bond of all the Cougs out there and I am excited to spread that energy to Peru!

In just about 16 hours I will be touching down in Peru and meeting up with my program staff and host family. Please continue to pray for me as I am abroad and be sure to continue checking in on my blog to see what I am up to. As I said before I really do appreciate the support and I look forward to reading your comments as I share about my adventures.

Time to start packing...

I don't know about you, but when I am about to go on a big trip I always save packing till the very last minute possible. While some people like to pack weeks early and be prepared to leave at a minutes notice, I always am the guy who puts the last thing in the bag while running out the door. Yes this may cause a little extra stress to those around me, but it helps me to focus on the here and now and not revel on what I am about to do. For me putting off packing helps me to stay calm and keep focused on the tasks at hand. If I were to start putting things together too far in advance it would be like waiting for Santa Clause on Christmas Eve...it would be impossible to sleep!

Today I finally started to put everything together and get a start on my packing. That being said, I haven't put a single things into my bags yet. As the day draws to a close I still have a number of laundry baskets full of clothes and other "essential" items to take with me set aside, but none of it has been packed away. While it may look like a "hot mess," I feel at ease and tomorrow I will finish up the last few errands before finally packing my bags for Peru.

Besides packing I have been getting an unprecedented amount of emails, phone calls, texts, facebook messages, and even a beautiful serenading! I don't know what it is about going away that makes everyone so excited to contact me, but I am definitely feeling the love poured out over my life right now! I would again just like to thank everyone for reaching out and giving me words of encouragement as I head off to Peru! Your prayers and well wishes are greatly appreciated! I hope that through reading my blog you will be able to get a glimpse of what I am up to in Peru and be able to hear the many stories of the amazing things that I am being blessed with through my travels!

Thanks again for reading and subscribing to my blog!

Peru Bound - 4 Days Out

Another chapter of my life is about to begin as I pack up my bags and get ready to head down to Lima, Peru for a 5 month trip to study at the University San Ignacio de Loyola. I am going to Peru to continue pursuing education in my declared majors of Spanish and Entrepreneurship. While in Peru I will be staying with a host family that consists of a mom, dad, two brothers, and a sister. In the last two weeks I have been talking with my host siblings and I am very excited to finally get to meet them and the rest of the family this upcoming Saturday, March 4th. At this point I know that I will be studying at the university and living with my host family, besides that there are details that are still up in the air...whether or not I will be taking classes in spanish, what day school starts, will my spanish knowledge hold up in conversation, will I ever want to come back to the US. Anyways, I feel really blessed to have the opportunity to embark on this adventure and I hope you will join me in this adventure by reading and commenting on my posts.

While in Peru I plan to be blogging once a week minimum and I may end up doing it more frequently depending on time constraints. Over the past few years I have taken up photography as a hobby so with each post I will try to post an exciting picture that will help to illustrate what I am doing in Peru.

For this first post I wanted to share two photos taken from my iPhone this afternoon that highlight the dramatic difference in weather that I am about to run into. Currently in Anchorage, AK we are in the heart of a record breaking snowfall winter and now I am preparing to go to Peru where it is summer and the temperatures are maxing out in the low 80's and it is humid all the time. This next week will definitely be a bit of a shell shock to my body both mentally and physically!

Thanks for reading and feel free to leave comments!

Jamaica Day 8

Well now I am safe in the US, but still faced with another 11 hours of travel from Philadelphia to Washington. After waking up and going to the airport I got my bags checked, boarding passes printed, and I even got the airlines to give me a voucher for breakfast! With breakfast in hand and a pillow to sleep on I boarded my flight to Phoenix and was on my way home again.

The flight to Phoenix zipped by seeing how I was counting stars as I was zonked out up against the window. Once I arrived in Phoenix I got a small bite to eat and then prepared for my next flight. While waiting for my next flight I was blessed to find out a friend from school set up a ride for me with his parents so that I could get from Spokane, WA to Pullman, WA. Although I was tired and ready for bed, I was feeling pretty good because I was within hours of being back to my dorm and my bed!

After arriving in Spokane I waited a little while and then was picked up by my friend’s parents: Carol and Curtis Troll. Once my bags were loaded in the car we I joined the Trolls in a few errands to Home Depot and Costco. Although at that time I should have been back at school, it was great to spend time with some friends and have some good conversation.

About an hour after I got back to my dorm I went to a Bible Study before crashing for the night. While very tired, I got a second wind of energy when my phone rang and I realized my driver Wayne was calling me. While brief, it was great to hear from Wayne as he was making sure I was home safely and he told me to go to bed because I sounded tired. At that moment I realized that although it may have cost a bit extra to get “stranded” in Jamaica for one last day, it was truly a blessing because in that last day I was able to make a new friend, spend another night with a group of new friends, and partake on an exciting adventure of getting back home!

All together my weeklong trip to Jamaica left me feeling renewed and excited for what is in store for me in the next few years. While my trip started out as an alternative service break, it ended up being a life changing experience that I will cherish for the rest of my life!

Jamaica Day 7

While originally I was supposed to be home on Day #7 I was blessed with one final day of adventures in Jamaica and the travel back home. Since we were all leaving this morning we woke up at about 6:00 in order to get everything packed and ready to depart at 7:30. Since we were all very tired the majority of us slept the three hour bus ride to the airport.

Once we arrived at the airport we spent the next few hours waiting in line to check bags and get through customs. After going through customs we had a little bit of time to fill up on some food and then board our flight. In general the flight from Jamaica to Philadelphia went very smoothly, I was editing pictures throughout the whole flight. Following our arrival to Philadelphia, however, I got the news that my connecting flight had already left before I got back through customs. While I had booked a different flight, somehow I was assigned a different itinerary, thus my flight left before I could get on it. Thankfully I worked with the airlines to get a hotel for the night so I could get a little rest before my 6:55 AM flight the next morning.

Upon arriving at the hotel I was grateful to hear I had a single room with a king size bed all to myself for the night, so I grabbed some food and went to my room to jump in bed and watch some basketball. Although it wasn’t too late I made sure to get to bed so I would feel marginally rested by the time my alarm clock rudely woke me at 5:00 AM.

Jamaica Day 6

Goodmorning!

Group Picture

Ready for the ride

Gotcha!

Today was my final day in Jamaica, well it was scheduled to be I should say…that story will come later on. We started off the morning around 7:30 again and went through our normal routine and then I had to make sure I was packed to leave by 10:30. Between the time we had breakfast and the time I was scheduled to leave we split up into groups to work on projects at the camp.

I was with a group of about 5 who worked on repainting one of the building next to the dining hall. While I only had a few hours left it was great to be able to talk more with people in the group while we were working. In no time at all, however, I was called to grab my things so we could drive to the airport.

While it was a bitter sweet goodbye, it was great to see how many new friends I had made in such a short time. Before the 5 of us departed to go home we had a group picture with everyone in it. After our picture we said our goodbyes and were headed off to Montego Bay to catch our flight. After loading our luggage into the truck we realized we were one seat short so I almost had to ride in the bed of the truck, but luckily we got another driver to take two people from our group.

Once we loaded up in the cars we set off four our last 3 hours drive to the airport. My driver was a really great guy named Wayne. Wayne grew up in Mandeville and went to the same church as the people who were in charge of the camp we were staying at. Throughout our drive it was great to talk with Wayne and hear more about his plans for the future and his upbringing in Jamaica. While 3 hours seems like a long time it flew by very fast since we were having a good conversation. Once we arrived at the airport I unloaded the truck of our luggage and then heard an announcement come over the intercom that said, “Please take you luggage, passport, and confirmation information to the nearest kiosk to sign in for your flight. Once you have your boarding passes proceed to the ticket counter to check in your bags.” While normally I don’t think twice about these announcements I felt there was something wrong…then I realized my passport was with the director of our trip and she was 3 hours away at the orphanage.

After telling my group that I would not be joining them on the flight I said my goodbyes and then loaded up with Wayne to take another car ride. The funny thing was that on our drive to the airport I had been thinking that it would be great to give Wayne company on his drive back to Mandeville, little did I know I would be able to join him! On our ride back we jumped into conversation again and had a wonderful time talking about Jamaica, our Faith, and our plans for the future. After driving about 2 hours I asked Wayne what fruits we were seeing people selling and he told me they were selling coconuts and upon me saying I had never had one, we stopped and we each got one. With a nice snack in our tummies we got back on the road to finish off our drive to the camp. Once I got to the camp I gave Wayne my number and he went on his way.

Shortly after I got back to the camp the rest of the crew got back from the orphanage and I was bombarded with questioning about still being in Jamaica. While everyone was in a bit of shock it was great to be able to enjoy another evening with the group. After dinner we had a bonfire where we all went around and told stories about our favorite moments of the week and as a whole there were many tears flowing. For me it was very empowering to see how big of an impact one week had on the lives of all of us who came on this trip. While we all anticipated serving and working with kids, we all came out with a new sense of freedom and joy over our lives. While it may have cost $700 to change my flight, it was worth every penny to be able to enjoy the last night with the group and spend many hours driving with my man Wayne!