Let the adventure begin!

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June 10, 2012

Hey, all:

I'm just finishing off my second day here in Peru! :D It's been quite the experience already since I ended up forgetting my plug adapter at home on the kitchen counter. Ugh.). I arrived to Lima last night about a half hour early on my flight from El Salvador. My flights were long and uncomfortable. I completely forgot about going through immigration, so all my papers and passport were neatly packed away in the bottom of my backpack. I got up to the counter (after finding the documents) only to have the gentleman tell me that he needed my plane ticket stub. Well, that was completely lost inside my purse. After a few moments of digging, he told me just to forget about it. Jaja. Oh well. Then I began the adventure of getting my luggage, which took an eternity because I was lucky and got selected to have my belongings x-ray'd before actually leaving the airport.The director of the school, Senor Daniel, met me at the airport. It was so nice to see a familiar face! We waited for Erin and Aimee (two other US teachers). After they arrived, Sr. Daniel thought it would be fun to head out to eat. Despite all of us being exhausted, we bucked up and headed out! We dropped our luggage off at our apartment (photos to come!), which is nice. (Except for the one bathroom for four females.) We had a delicious Peruvian version of Italian food. After dinner, it was finally time for bed. However, as we walked through the apartment to our bedrooms, we were greeted by two very large, very scary, very fast-moving cockroach-y bugs. Uggggh. Erin was quick to kill them, so it was all good. Sick. This half indoor-half outdoor living really isn't for me! Shortly after that we found out that the water didn't work when we turned it on. We thought perhaps it was something like in Spain where there is a switch to turn it on.

We woke up today to find the water working, no bugs, and the sun shining. Perfect! Sr. Daniel came to get us for church, which isn't until 11 (ish) a.m. here! :D Excellent! We walked to the escuela secundaria (church is on the first level) and met much of Sr. Daniel's family and some members of the congregation. After the service, we had lunch with off of Sr. Daniel's family at the escuela primaria. We were greeted at the door by a HUMUNGOUS dog named Oso. (This is very fitting because "Oso" means "bear.") After lunch we had a tour of the escuela primaria, which has five levels plus a rooftop level wehere the students can play soccer and hang out. After this, we drove around and saw some of the Callao district, watched part of a Batman movie, and went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant called "Oso Panda." Then we took a drive to Mira Flores (Lima is divided into different districts), which is where all the tourists go because it is beachfront. Here, we picked up Sr. Daniel's son, Daniel. Even though we didn't really do much today, it was still exhausting. Now it's time to wait for Meredith to get here, and then it's off to bed.

Stay tuned for more (hopefully more interesting!) stories about my adventures in Peru!

Que todo este bien,

Monique

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Comments

[Jessica Englund]

SO HAPPY FOR YOU!
Monique, Peru sounds like such a great experience so far! I will definitely be reading your blog on a regular basis. Hope you find time to update it. Have a great time!

[Sandee]

Bugs-n-things
I think the roaches will do you some good. Perhaps when you get back home you won't freak out when you see a woodtick...hahahahaha......... You will have to send your address so that I can mail the adapter to you.