Be a Llama and Stay a Little Calmer

BEFORE CUSCO:

• I was Colombia swears with a disease like, “que herpes!”
• My star Peru airline got switched to Peruvian airlines on my way from Lima to Cusco
• Someone got homesick and left Lima
• The lavenderia lady always spelled my name correctly without having to ask which NEVER HAPPENS with my unique spelling
• Exit signs are green here, not red 
• Wongs is the grocery store I went to for snacks and such, like a mini Walmart 

CUSCO:

• Rainbow flag here is not for LGBT reasons, it’s their city flag, cuidad de todos
• Cusco is like a larger Antigua, Guatemala because of all of the surrounding mountains
• My homestay is un muy bonito familia. Elizabeth (Eli) and Alejandro (Ale) in their maybe 30s with a 4 year old girl, Jhade (ha-day)
• Jhade and I get along very well especially when we both know the Mariposita song, tonight I did her  eye makeup because she begged the last few days for it once she saw it in my drawer
• Jhade loves to dance with me, the first night arrived, I pretty much met everyone and three hours later i am babysitting her
• Easy Taxi is their Uber. Cusco does have Uber but there are like five drivers
• 105 is the emergency number
• Yellow fever vaccine is only $50, I’m so upset, I got mine in the states for $300
• Peruvians love to eat guinea pigs and alpaca
• Altitude sickness is A THING, it’s harder to breathe, headaches, fever symptoms...luckily I took medicine and only had like two migraines but hiking is so challenging with the altitude. It doesn’t help that I have to walk four flights to get to my homestay’s apartment 
• I figured out the bus. Instead of paying +5/S I pay 80 cents soles which is like less than 50 American cents for one way to and from center and my homestay. Arco Iris bus, aldea (all-day-a) stop and limapama stop. 
• Altitude also messes with your alchol intake, our program leader said one beer here feels like three. However I highly disagree. Saturday (yesterday) i day drank all day and get fine. Three beers. Pisco Sour. Some other hot pisco drink. 
• Almost all of the license plates here start with X, a safe taxi has the license plate number on all sides and something new is the reflective stickers or check board sticker on side
• I hiked christo blanco and met JULIET from Miami. 54 and an art teacher. It was fate. We connected and hung out for like two or three hours. She does goat yoga back home. Might go to Miami now! She was carrying around a stuffed animal llama because she is making a book for her kids. LOTS of blue doors in Cusco, she made me stop and notice a lot of things. 
• Saw a parade with tons of traditional dancing and outfits. Their Independence Day is coming up (28th) so there are a ton of fiestas happening now. 
• There was a strike on transportation the other day so I just stayed in and walked to work and back (15 min there and 15 min back). I guess people throw rocks near the center during these strikes, which happen often. 
• My orphanage here and back in Lima is so heartbreaking when they call me momma
• Also I have every kid including Jhade call me Lee because they cannot pronounce my name
• I miss cheese y’all. They are stingy. 
• When it rains it’s so cold here. Yesterday I bought mittens and a hat, teeth chattering and I could see my breath. When it does rain, the mountains are hiding in the clouds. 
• Limbus is a really nice resting-bar. Not expensive and has the most amazing view. Went at night with Oxana. 
• Today i got a full body massage for one hour and medium pressure PLUS a manicure for only 20-25$. Or 70ish Soles. 
• Also went on a free walking tour, visited San Blaz, tried more chocolate, pisco sours, hiked to a nice view, checked out Asuntas and got dressed up there. 
• Asuntas is the best market I believe (San Pedro is pretty rad too because it has everything!) but Asuntas is cheappppppp
• Cusquena beer is the bomb. Roja o negra. 
• Markets EVERYWHERE you turn. You’ll look one way and the next you see a hidden market 
• I see my favorite flower every day, calla lillies 
• Held a baby llama
• At the homestay we all play Uno after dinner, like a tradition and we play in Spanish so we all yell AZUL or ROJO. Ale started saying ONE instead of Uno too Hahahaha. 
• Llamas love to eat my hair, happened twice already
• I drink coca leaf tea every night and morning. I put the actual leafs in. It’s illegal in the states because it’s the base for cocaine but it’s good here for the altitude because it’s an energizer. So I’ll be chewing on them and my coca candies during my hikes. 
• Had to reschedule my rainbow mountain hike because of snow up there. Doing it Thursday now. 
• Chirimoya and Lucuma y’all 
• Quinoa is super popular here. 
• There has not been on taxi here with seatbelts in the back
• At the orphanage I try a different art lesson every day but the kids are never happy with it. I tried origami, bracelet making, exquisite corps. Nothing. I have material to do some guerilla rocks, magic wands, and paper bead necklaces still, so wish me luck. The last day I work (Friday the 27th) I have a ton of coloring books, balloons, and bubbles. 
• Names are Patty, Wendy, Jennifer. Not many in the casita. Younger. 3-12. 

I REALLY MISS MY KIDS IN LIMA THO. And my friend group. Lima was the bomb. Cusco is so beautiful and traditional tho. Mixed emotions. 

Pisco recipe: 1.5oz pisco, 1/2 eggwhite, .5 oz lime, .5 simple syrup, one dash of aromatic butters

Ciao Lima, Hola Cusco

Same thing... but this morning I leave LIMA for Cusco. I’m so excited to see Cusco but sad to leave my friends and my babies. I was starting to feel a little local because of how much I knew the city. Friday, yesterday, was a great last day. Went to work and gave some gifts and said bye. Then came home to give flowers and say bye to my Cecilia’s. Then went to the reserve water show, super cool. Then went out for some dancing and pisco in Barranco.

• Nico got me a little stuffed animal pig, so sweet. Named her Chan-cheeta
• Met a new girl at the home, I call her my danna-banana and I taught her how to snap and hair flip, I’m so proud. She’s super smart tho for her age and speaks a little English
• Fatima another girl, she always wants to pinch my tattoos off. She will just sit there in confusion to why they won’t come off. She was picking at one for awhile and then I lifted my sleeve more and she saw another one, she threw her hands up in the air and did a big sigh and feel backwards hahahahhaha 
• The bus that picks us up after work is either 9 or 18 and one day after work we wait for all the volunteers to be done half a block away from our stop and this one day, the bus waited for us. Like five minutes beeping and waving at us to come in hahahhaha 
• We kinda figured out the placements for the volunteers like why some people get homestays and others get the crowded volunteer house. It’s age. All us older people get put in homestays or families. 
• Went to an art museum in barranco, super cool exhibition !!! Called MATE. Had a Pisco Sour and lucuma macaroon. 
• Tsunami and earthquakes here 
• Been kinda eating vegan. Sydney, she’s vegan and now when our host mom makes food she gives me the same meal. 
• Lunch is the biggest meal here and usually what we have for lunch at our homestay is dinner as well. She always gives us a sweet dessert tho. 
• People come in the bus to sell candy all the time or to entertain for money. 
• Kendall, our trouble maker, bit me on the thigh. I have two little front teeth marks now. Thanks Kendall. So sweet. 
• Taught an art lesson to the girls in a shelter for abused girls. Sock puppets. Fun. 
• Cecilia made us tofu the last two days, yummmmm. 
• Went to Inca market again for gifts
• Got a picture with the VAMOS PERU sign, a political campaign I’m guessing. 
• I got addicted to this song at the home they play for kids, and I got some of my roommates addicted to. It goes... mariposita, esta en la cocina, haciendo chocolate, para la madrina, poti poti, pata de palo, ojo something something, something guacamayo. Yo yo. 
• On the 4th of July they had a little party and potluck at the volunteer house, met people around the world. 
• Learned how to say hi in Russian, pree-vee-it
• Us foreigners really attract attention. All us white skinned. Gringa locas. 
• There are no squirrels here at all. Oxana did see one but just one. 
• The last day with my kids they threw a party and got traditional clothes and dancing and foods and drinks. It was so cute. Got to hold my Liam once more too. I’m going to miss my kids soooooooo much. But I’ll meet more in Cusco. 
• I got flowers for both Cecilias’ because obviously my host mom did so much and the other one did things she and her family didn’t have to do. Like drive me places and cook me food and give advice and go explore. So sweet. I’ll miss both families so much. 
• Soooo manyyyy speed bumps y’all 
• Picarones are a type of Peruvian donut so good
• They also have cow heart anti-cu-cho ew 

Blurring Days

Okay so it’s been a minute since I’ve posted I feel because so much has happened and I’ve been doing one thing after another. Busy bee me. So here’s a bullet point list of things I can remember.

• The first or second day, driving in the taxi...I saw a dead woman on the street. Wonderful start to Peru.
• Chifa is popular it’s like Chinese restaurants 
• I got to be with babies, or every other day I mean. Liam and Milly and etc, so sweet. These babies seem to all have deformities.
• I brought balloons for the older kids today, they loved it. More than the squishy toys I brought the first day  
• Went to Kennedy Park in Miraflores today, it’s famous for the amount of cats that roam it, I saw maybe 20+ cats just straight chillin in the grass and trees
• Barranco is an amazing little part of Lima, very hipster and artsy. I’ve explored/went out drinking in Barranco maybe three or four times since I last posted  
• The bridge in barranco, you have to make a wish and walk across it holding ur breath to have it come true 
• Had pisco sours with the other homestay, Cecilia and Rafael and Nicholas, with Anna and the girls. Did some dancing, Rafael was drunk a Hahahha yeah sure
• Our group is chill, it’s oxana (Russian who lives in Italy), Anna (from NYC but lives in Boston, who just left last night), Kyla (DC but lives in California), and Sydney (from Rochester, NY, LOLOLOLOL)  
• Lucuma is an amazing fruit u can only get here, for ice cream and it’s cold. I did have a bread of it and a Frappuccino of it today, so bomb  
• Went paragliding, THE ADRENALINE 
• Went to Huacachina in Ica, Peru (4 hour bus ride there) to do some sand boarding in the dunes, the sand buggy ride was pretty much a rollercoaster, I peed a little from the steep drops... I was so sure we were going to flip 
• Oh, went out in barranco Friday night and didn’t get back till 4am, half an hour to leave for our bus to Huacachina. I was lit. Team no sleep. Nuff said  
• Cusqueno beer is bomb, the dark lager
• Barranco market is dope
• 1/3 of the population is considerably poor from what I was told
• The kids I see are Monday through Friday 9am to 12:30pm and I take a bus that is usually packed full for one sole each way
• Corn is so large and a huge variety here, there is a snack of eating warmed up kernels, fluffy and salted, yummmm
• Went to La Punta again, to see ocean with some girls
• Wednesday I am preparing an art lesson for the girls that live in a private home for abused girls. Sock puppets. Last Wednesday they braided my hair and painted my nails, all around teens
• Saw some sea lions or they call them sea wolves, millions of birds and one penguin out on a boat ride around huacachina 
• Ayahuasca is a club/bar in Barranco that we went a few times
• La Punta is a pebbled beach btw

I’ll try to write more but when I think of stuff I usually write a note in my phone but I’m being extra cautious with my phone here. So less notes to jog my blurred memory. I leave Saturday for Cusco and I’ll be there till the 31st of July.

TMI

HOLAAAAAAAAA CHICOOOOS. Since we have talked. Or rather I typed on my iPhone and I read it, I got travelers diarrhea. Yeah maybe TMI. But common here. So I went to La Punta with another homestay family. The ones I went to drink and salsa with. They made real chicha morada which is a drink made of dried purple corn, pineapple skin and core, cinnamon, and cloves. Boiled and then drained. The drink turns purple from the corn. Super good. Can be drunken cold or hot. Back to la punta. It’s a beach or port. Pebbles beach. The large pebbles hurt my feet. The water isn’t so cold as I thought it would be. It was me and Anna and the family, dad is Rafael and mom is Cecilia and son is Nicholas. Anna and I got soaked. We walked around and saw an artsy part of town. Murals. Tried some stuff on the street, yeah I know, not safe but the family paid for it without asking if we wanted it and had us try it. So I couldn’t refuse it would be rude. It was a thicker kind of chicha morada and a rice with condensed milk. And peaches. It was good. Also tried a cake fudge graham cracker dessert from the same family on the street. Good as well. Saw some crabs. Fed some dogs (bought some dog food to throw to some strays BUT way moreee stray cats here). If dogs have a dog coat on then it has an owner, it’s like their collar. Bought some more interesting fruit. Cow-ca is one. Another look a like a cucumber but inside looks like a cotton looking banana. Another is very sour. Idk. I’ll post pictures later. They all taste fine. I never puked. One looked like brains and u can only swallow it because the seeds are so acidic.

OKAY, here is where I got sick. I went to have lunch with the family at their place and I agreed to try ceviche. It’s a traditional very very Peruvian fish dish. Half cooked fish. Cooked with only lime and lemon. Well I tried maybe three bites. I didn’t really love it or hate it. It was completely new to me. I never had raw fish and haven’t had fish in over three years. So half an hour later. Still sitting at the table. (Btw they also made me causza a potato dish here with olive dressing idk. Good it. Good meal for vegetarians). Still sitting at the table talking about the Peruvian culture and I instantly got fainty and a fever and stomach is doing summersaults. I’m like oh I’m fine I can last another hour and head back. No. It got worse. I stood up and was like I have to go. I explained. I felt sooooo bad that I left and it was because of the fish. I later came to visit (last night) with some wine and explained it wasn’t because of her cooking.

So many new people came! Orientation was Monday morning. Sydney. Oxsana. Kyla. Rachael. Wei. Megan. Idk more people. The new people are great. So many people to do stuff with and get ideas. I ended up getting an awesome placement. Esperanza. An orphanage of about 30 kids. Ages 0-10 and all special needs. I had my first day today. It was all about getting to know the kids limits and personalities. I didn’t get to spend time with the babies but I think tomorrow or Thursday I will be able to. I have some kids some toy plushies I got at Wongs (a supermarket here) for them to squeeze and feel. Brenda. Stella. Marco. Anthony. Carlos. Willi. Etc. It is so hard to remember all the kids names and volunteer names and Spanish words and places. It’s been a whirlwind. I don’t even know how many days I’ve been and here done what.

• Cassandra is the dog here at the homestay. Cocker spaniel. 
• Barranco was a place I visited today with some girls after work. Art district. Murals. Hipster. Got some beer with them. Going back Thursday to visit again with them. 
• I guess I’m cat lady because I gave one stray cat some of my dog food and then three more came up to me. 
• People will touch art in the museums here. 
• Vultures everywhere yo. 
• Sea wolves not called sea lions. 
• The sounds I hear at night are constant. Dogs fighting. Car alarms. Honking taxis. Airplanes about to land. 
• Chocolate tea yo. Cocoa mate something. So good. 
• The islands by la punta used to house criminals. Prisons. 
• Learned that what I thought was fog and clouds is really just pollution. Lima is like number one down here for pollution. 
• Oh I took the pills my doc gave me for travelers diarrhea and it was gone within like 35 hours. I think I lost like two pounds from not eating and puking and crapping. TMI. 
• On chapter 14 of Harry Potter year 4. 
• Got a few things done at the lavenderia (laundry). One kilo is 3 soles. I paid one dollar for my laundry. 
• Signed up for Machu Picchu and rainbow mountain (4 hour hike, so I am buying hiking boots next week)
• Signed up for huacachina (probably spelled it wrong) with like 5 girls and it’s sandboarding, wine tasting, pisco and chocolate, sand buggy in the dessert dunes. 

Exploring Lima

Holaaaaaaaaaaa friends and family. Where did I leave off? I was getting onto the plane for Lima from  Fort Lauderdale. Well, after it being delayed, I finally got to Peru around 11:30pm. The plane ride wasn’t terrible. I ended up getting an aisle (I always do a window) and the middle seat was empty so the other girl in the window seat and I kinda shared the space. I slept and I read a lot. It was like 5 or 6 hours. Anyway, I get Lima. My driver wasn’t holding up my name so I was like danggggggggggg I hope he didn’t give up and left, hopefully he saw it was delayed. I went to the information desk and called the program woman and she said just to hill by the desk till he arrives. I hang up and I turn around to find a spot to chill and there he was, a short sweet little Peruvian man holding up my name. I said yo estoy Ryli. And he hugged me. So sweet. It took a while to find the other two girls but once we did, the girls and I started to talk and connect. Taiwoo (unsure how to spell)  and Anna. From New York City and Boston. We all ended up being in different home stays but relatively close. Anna and I are in the same complex or gates. She is literally right around the corner. Taiwoo is like a 15 minute walk. We all met up and saw our homestay  and met our host moms. Anyway, when I got to mine that night, past 1am, I met Cecilia and she didn’t know very much English at all. But BOY OH BOY,  did I understand her Spanish. I was shocked with how much I understood. She gave me a tour and told me rules, schedule, etc. So sweet. Awesome WiFi here btw. And it’s so cold and damp here. I knew it was 60 degrees Fahrenheit average but it feels like 50s because of the dampness.

Woke up and forgot I where I was. Oh right, Peru. Hahahahha. I went down for breakfast at 7am and the other three girls haven’t come down. I waited like an hour and nope. So after I was finished I slept for another hour or two before Anna and I were going to meet up to explore. The three girls ended up knocking on my door later. They were good for getting to know the place and how to do transport and what to do around here. They invited me and Anna out to Miraflores to do the Inca markets (I was so indecisive about things I ended up not buying anything), an art museum (contemporary pretty cool), and lunch at their favorite spot (I found to be way to Americanized and expensive, had a burger and Pisco). Pisco is like a Peruvian liqueur here. Very popular and good.  Hannah wanted to do all these things because it was her last day. Charlotte and Sarah are teachers and I think they all were here three weeks. San Francisco (Hannah) and South Carolina (Charlotte and Sarah) I think.

Later, I showered and had dinner. Dinner was good. Rice and salad and some sort of potato and corn orange stuff. Their corn here is HUGE. Like the kernel. They have like dozens and dozens kinds of corn and potato’s. Can’t drink from the tap. Later, I went over to Anna’s homestay for a party. It was a  holiday for some saint. They made me pisco sours and we danced and salsa danced for like three hours. The family speaks good English. It was amazing. They are like brand new fresh with the program. Whereas my Cecilia has been doing it for three years. They also played Afro-Peruvian music and showed us how to dance. Anna’s host mom’s name is Cecilia too.

Taxis......need to have their license plate number on a yellow sticker on all sides of the car to be legit. If not, badddddddddd.

Casinos every where here.

Yesterday, Anna and Taiwoo and I went to Central Plaza to explore. Went to a chocolate shop (cocoa beans are popular here), I got two sweaters (bargaining is fun!), had some pizza for lunch (finding a good local spot that also has WiFi to translate the menu and has vegetarian options was difficult, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it), went to the super market (like a HUGE farmers market for everything and anything u need). The markets kind of have sections for the vendors. Like all the fruits will be on one aisle and then suitcases have a row and the meats and the kitchen supplies etc etc. We also saw Chinatown. Tried gelatin cups fresas, super popular. Tried chichas morado, a purple drink made from purple corn, it’s cold and tastes good. Inca Kola is a thing (drink). We also all tried dragon fruit and a apple thing and some sort of red fruit known for dieting. All the funny looking fruits. There is a snack that is corn warm  kernels. Fluffy and a little salt. Very good.

Bazzaro (sucks and expensive) and went to Tequila rocks (sucks) last night. Bar publico first tho and cheap and nice. We met up with a bunch of other volunteers. Like 9 of us. Safety in numbers. Me and my two friends (Anna and a new one that just arrived, Oxana from Russia, were not liking the bars or clubs. Covers and expensive and AMERICAN MUSIC, like no.). Once we left them, we didn’t stay till bar close, us three decided to find local bars that has Spanish music and salsa dancing and cheap good drinks. Safe.

Birds are crazy here. The house is so cool and Peruvian style and I’m in a small hut on top of the y’all house (cool view and balcony) but the birds! Scratch and coo a crap ton.

Pisco is also known for having egg white foam on top of the drink. Sounds weird and looks weird but pretty good.