Perú continued, and afterwards

Aguas Calientes ^

11/18/09
Today we woke up around 6am due to shouting from other people in our hostel, but I kind of expected this since the only reason people coem to Aguas Calientes is to see Machu Picchu and you have to head out by 5am if you want to be one of the limited 400 people allowed to hike Waynapicchu like we did. We had to check out of the hostel by 9am anyway so we split up for the day, some people went to get cheap massages, some shopped, some ate, and I kinda wandered around by myself a bit. It rained in the morning but the rest of the day was beautiful. What luck we had with weather! Though, the sun actually bothered me quite a bit seeing as I got really badly burned up at Machu Picchu the day before. We all met up later to hop on PerúRail train to get back to Cuzco. This whole experience has been so incredible, I'm due to run out of adjectives very soon. Something I've been thinking about when it comes to Aguas Calientes is that this ENTIRE town runs off tourism. The town was most likely CREATED for the necessary tourism of Machu Picchu. The hostels, hotels, restaurants, artesanías, its all for tourists. Thats probably why sellers were so desperate to bargain with us: we're all they've got! Its weird to be leaving, I feel like this trip went so slowly, which is good, but opposite of what I expected. I'm getting a lot of anxiety, howerver, about all of the stuff I have to do when I get back to Conce. AAAHHH!

11/18/09 (yes, same day as the last one)
I just counted up all the injuries I acquired on this trip:
1. Giant bruise on my kneecap from falling out of a handstand in Lima.
2. Swollen aching ankle from jumping 10 feet down off a rock in Machu Picchu
3. My arms and face are awfully sunburned.
4. My bloody nose hasn't ceased since arriving in the high altitude.
5. Sore aching body from insane hike around Cuzco, then Waynapicchu.
6. Twenty-five or so painful bug bites between both.
---well. As they say in español: they were vale la pena.

11/19/09
This morning we had till 10:30 for our ride to the airport so some took off for more cheap massages, shopping, and others stayed in the room. I myself had a very blissful time in a hammock with my iPod and a kitten just on the patio of our hostel. The airport, however, was NOT so blissful.
We get there and someone who works there grabs Hayley's bags to carry them for her and then she had no money to tip him. After we check in , they told us that all of us had to get our checked bags searched. We literally had to step over the luggage scale into a back room where EVERYTHING got taken out of our bags to be inspected. I was a little livid because I wanted to keep it organized. After a fast talking peruvian went through my dirty underwear, sniffed my chocolate bar, and sprayed some of my deoderant into the air, I was permitted to go to my gate. Well I get there and I'm sent downstairs to pay some damn peruvian tax on flights. I assumed an airport would have a credit card machine, but I assumed wrong. I had to borrow 12 soles from Christina. Then we make it to security and they make me empty my pockets and take my jacket off my waist. THEN after my backpack goes through the x-ray machine, he asks to open it. He tells me to get rid of my hairspray. I gave him a confused look and he just let it go. The whole ordeal was just so stressful amongst the crowds of tourists.
Later:
After waiting out our 8 hour layover in Lima's airport, wego to pay the flight fee for this flight. Just to leave the country we had to pay 31 american dollars. THEN we go through security. ALL of us get our bags searched. Alison got her wine taken away, everyone is forced to chug their water bottles. Where we get our passports stamped, everyone who didn't have the original copy of their Perú entrance paperwork is forced to pay 5$ to fill out a new one. Our flight isn't on any flight tables anywhere and we had to ask around to figure out where to go.
At this point; we all fucking hate Perú.

11/21/09

Parque Desembocadura Today I went to the Parque Desembocadura with my host mom and dad. It was so beautiful! Last time we went it was in winter and it was cold and rainy. This park is where the Bio Bio River meets the ocean. You have to pay to get in, only for the maintenence of the museum, but that was very interesting too. Some guy traveled the world so many times and brought back so much stuff from around the world that his house located here in Concepción is worth so much money and now a museum, obviously. Pedro del Río Zañartu. That was his name. Look him up!

11/24/09
Today we found out about several exams and final projects and we all just needed to BLOW UP! Therefore, it was Christina's birthday, and we went out to celebrate. Did the usual round of bars by the university with a group of gringos and newfound chilean friends like Maca, Oli, and Camilo.

11/25/09
TODAY CHERYL FOUND MONOPOLY CHILE AND I NEED TO BUY IT! Her, Jess A, and Lindsay and I went to the mall for ice cream and shopping to relax after another long day.

11/26/09
Yesterday between our morning and afternoon class I had a very long talk with Lindsay and Jess A and it really opened my eyes to some things. My favorite thing in our conversation was something Lindsay said... "To me, happiness is, more or less, the absence of materialism." Though I'm sure its more complicated than that and happiness is a subject where, "to each his own," I truely think this is a large part of happiness. I've come up with many counter examplesof people I know who are unhappy thanks to materials lost or broken to them. I think the best example is my host mom. She is happy ALL the time. One day, klutzy me, broke a dish and I felt really bad, but she just reassured me: Don't worry about it! All I care about is that my family is safe, healthy, and happy. Are you okay? Are you safe? Good. Now why should I care about this plate again?
She is the best. I am going to miss my host mom sooo much.

11/27/09
Black Friday in the United StatesYesterday we had a potluck Thanksgiving dinner at my director's apartment. It was fun to cook and felt good to be together as a family, but of course it just wasn't the same. I ate my turkey sitting on the floor of a room she rented on the top floor of her building. Everyone drank the wine I brought so I didn't have any. The only thing that tasted like Thanksgiving was the greenbean casserole and homemade pumpkin pie.
I think the only thing that made me feel good was listening to Eric and Evin play their guitars all afternoon/night.

11/28/09
I went out again tonight, did the rounds again. I have a fabulous regular weekend routine that I'm about to break... how sad. Once again it was Go! Bar, Tercer Tiempo, and this time we made it to Knockout! The popular discoteca. I even got to meet up with some girls I had met on Tuesday night: Macarena and Marioly. They are sooo nice and so much fun, I just met them and I"m going to miss them. They didn't want me to leave and forget them so they gave me a random pair of blue earrings they bought on the street, haha. They're really cute though, I can't forget those two girls :)