First attempt at surfing!

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Since last week a lot has happened. The week of teaching went by as usual, except for the fact that the kids actually participated and started to enjoy learning a little bit of English. Every week it seems like there is just a little more hope that the kids are going to take something away from the classes that I teach. On Friday, the kids were at an all-time high. They were focused and listening and I was even able to joke around with them. It was refreshing to see this because it is the first time that I feel like I am actually able to get through to the kids a little bit.

On the way back from school one day, I saw a dog get hit by a little taxi. These aren't the normal taxis that you would think of, they are 3-wheeled little creations that basically have a motorcycle engine and front wheel hooked up to a two person wagon seat in the back. The dog bounced right off the taxi and just started to whimper. The dog wasn't hurt, it was pretty big, probably 80 or 90 pounds. The taxi took a little dent but just kept on motoring along. It was only a matter of time until there was some altercation with a dog.

This past weekend we ended up trying our luck at surfing on the Pacific. We got there right about noon and decided to just go for it. We met a guy walking down and he said that he goes out there almost every day for the past 6 months. I was surprised he wasn't in better shape with how demanding the surfing would be. Joe and I both rented some monstrous boards. It was suppose to help because him and I are both new to surfing. The waves ended up tossing us around because we were trying to maneuver these gigantic rafts and the waves kept pounding us pretty quickly. It was pretty funny watching Joe, you would see a big wave hit, then his 10 foot board would shoot up out of no where straight up into the sky because the wave had flipped him over. I am not talking about as we were surfing, I am talking about just paddling around to find a nice wave. Eventually we got the hang of it and I got up probably 15 times, Joe even made it up a few times. The water was about 65...pretty happy they have wetsuits down here. The guy who we rented from jipped us out of some money. We were so eager to go we didn't discuss prices before so we were basically at his mercy when we came back in and returned the stuff. It wasn't horrible though, just a little lesson for the dumb American boys!

After the surfing, we took a ride over to Barranco and shacked up in a hostel there. It was an oasis for all sorts of burn outs to brag about their long list of drugs they had taken. There were a few guys that we met and ended up grabbing a bite with later that night, an Aussie and a guy from Atlanta. The Australian has been in South America for 6 months and plans to stay for another year and a half. He is just traveling all around and working a couple of weeks here and there to help offset the cost. The guy from Atlanta is just on a quick like 2 week stay. The night commenced and basically was a long night of drinking. I woke up the next morning with my shoes on and never actually making it under the covers, just plopped down on my bed. We did check out this cool bar called Ayahuasca. It was an old mansion that is converted into a little club with about 20 different rooms to go in and sit down.

On Sunday, we headed to the Centro part of Lima. This is one of my favorite spots. There is a big fountain in the center of the plaza and lots of cool, gothic style buildings that surround the plaza. The buildings the President's House, the city hall, and some big towering cathedrals that wrap around the plaza. Definitely a cool spot to check out at night because of the lighting with the bigger buildings. We also took a bus to a high point in Lima. It overlooked the city and you could see all the different areas, from the poorest parts, to the popular parts nearer the ocean. The bus raced around turns as we went up the mountain which was a little bit nervewracking because the driver took the turns pretty sharp and one little slip would have sent us tumbling down. We got back around 9 and quickly hit the sack.

This week our jobs are just to lead the kids in a few review sessions and proctor the tests, so today is basically recovery from the long weekend...

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