E's Point of View in Peru

Hola Amigos! oh gosh, let me start off by saying I MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! if you were to ask me to describe Peru in one word, it would be BEAUTIFUL!

I wish i could go in depth about every little thing, every thought that goes through my mind, but it would either be too long, or knowing me, not very long ;)
But here is what i have been up to:

Wednesday- we caught an early flight in the morning and literally flew ALL day. if you know me really well you would know that that is most definitely not my ideal of a perfect day, but it actually wasnt that bad! we flew to houston, and then down to Lima, Peru- a total of about... 12 hours. yeah, i know. we stayed at a hotel that night. obviously. Lima is a big city, but totally ghetto. In my point of view though, i think the ghetto here is very beautiful to be honest! Sure they arent the nicest houses, but they are for some reason just very beautiful to me. anywaysss

Thursday- That morning we went back to the airport and flew into a town called Cajamarca, Peru. We then piled into a small taxi and drove about 2 hours into the Andes mountains (absolutely beautiful drive) and stayed in a town called Porcon, Cajamarca. This town was small, beautiful, and very religious. The people were so kind, and always smiling. We enjoyed our time going to their "home-made" zoo. haha it was cute and i would say even better than the ones we have here! The monkeys there were so cute, but VERY sneaky. i turned for a second and one had grabbed ahold of my shirt and continues to pull me in. haha it was hilarious. We got to eat a famous dish that night called Qui which in American terms is, guinea pig. i have two words for that totally nasty. the teeth and claws and everything was still on it when served. ickkkkkk. but nevertheless i ate it. while in the town we met some insanely good looking boys our age! one of them could speak english very well. I will show you pictures of them, you all know how boy crazy i am. A different country isnt gonna stop me ;) That night we stayed in a lodge kind of hotel, with a incredible view of the andes moutains and Porcon beneath us. It was cold, but homely. i couldnt complain.

Friday- not a very eventful day. We drove back into Cajamarca and checked into a super nice hotel and ate lunch. We went up to the orphanage we are building onto and we didnt have much time so we just swept the dust. hahah that night we went to Pascana, a really nice restaraunt and partied. not really, but the food was awwwwwesome.

ok i would write more, but we are leaving now and i am not dressed. I will hopefully be able to email the rest tomorrow. we are going into the town center tonight for dinner and hopefully shopping! i miss you all and i love you all!!

adios amigos!
ohhhhhhhkkk! finally i can tell you guys things and not be rushed. the last email i sent i had the whole group waiting on me, so i had to speed type.

BUT- satuday, (which was yesterday) we worked at the orphange from about 8:00 till, ehhhhh around four. i was exhausted and ended up getting a really bad sun burn, so i took the city bus home around three thirty. what did we do there you ask? haha we mixed cement so we could build a third story onto kinda of what you would call a half way house for kids. the lady that works there, gosh, i cant remember her name, but she is soooo super nice and her son (5) is ADORABLE! its funny cause he is so good to practice my spanish on haha sad, but true. saturday night we decided to kinda have a night out on the town, so we all crammed into a bus and drove into what is known as their city center. they had three iglesias, or for you non-spanish speakers, churches. They were so so beautiful. Huge stone doors into the churches which looked more like a castle. They had gorgeous gold diplays of Christ all throughout the chapel. It was so peaceful there, and quiet. AFter touring the churches we all got some dinner. I really havent eaten anything here, and that kinda isnt a joke. The food is good! dont get me wrong, buttttt, just not my type of good. :)

After being in the city center we went back to our hotel and dunked our shivering and frozen bodies into the hot mineral pools they have. Highlight of my day pretty much :)

SUNDAY- This morning we got and and got into our church clothes and headed deep into the city to find the Mormon church! The ward was small, and nodoby really concentrated on the speakers cause they were too busy staring at us all. haha Even though i only caught onto a bit of what the speakers were saying, you could feel the spirit there. The people were so kind and so happy to welcome us. we then came back ate some lunch and everyone but me headed to the orphanage to get some work done. I have a stinking cold... :( sooooo, i thought i would take a chance to get on the comp before everyone gets back, sneaky weesie.

Before i finish, i just kinda wanted to tell you guys some things i find very different about peru.
1. The kissing.- i dont want you thinking i have kissed any boys. haha but when you first meet someone, they always pull you in to what you think is a hug, but turns into a kiss on the neck. it was weird at first, but now, its fine! well not that i like it.. hahahah
2. The stares! EVERYWHERE and i mean EVERYWHERE we go, mostly the blondes. we get stared at! we literally stop cars. no joke. when youare walking in the streets cars and buses sloooow down and EVERYONE points and says pelo pelo! Which mean hair in spanish.. and we almost always get stopped to get pictures with people, its hilarious. at first i rather enjoyed it, buuuut after a while i just feel like hiding my hair up in a hat. haha
3. The meat. i dont think i have eaten ONE piece of meat that doesnt still have a body part of the animal you are eating. for example. last night i ordered chicken nuggets. instead, i got pretty much chicken breast with a chicken claw attatched. Now, do you still wonder why i am not eating?
4. And last. the boys. they are very very cute here, and when they speak spanish, oh, its so very attractive. they are always very very nice to us, and sometimes very creepy. so, i stick by my daddy. :)

Well i hope this wasnt too long and boring for you, i wil try to shorten it next time. I miss you all ever MORE MORE MORE! and cant wait to see all of you!

love love LOVE,
weesie

A's letter from Peru

¡hola mis amigos!

i wish i could attach pictures with this but i will have them up when i get home.

so heres my quick update about my trip so far:

Wednesday- we flew allllll day long. started in seattle and flew to houston texas. then got on an international flight- 6 hours long- to Lima Peru. on the plane they fed us nice meals and we each had a screen in front of us and could pick which movie we wanted to watch. soo i actually didnt get bored, which was a plus :) we arrived at the Lima airport around 10 but didnt get to the hotel til past midnight. so it was a long day. the time difference is that we are i think 3 hours ahead.

Thursday- we woke up, headed back to the airport and flew an hour to Cajamarca, Peru. then we took a taxi bus up into the Andes Mountains to a little town called Porcon, Cajamarca. the town was sooo beautiful. the people here in peru are so little- sometimes its hard to decifer what their age is. they have a little zoo (which they ar very proud of) which is actually a lot cooler than the zoos here because you can actually see the animals up close. the monkeys would reach their arms out of the cage and grab my hands, and we fed them. it was soo funny. we ate dinner there and tried Qui- their most popular food they serve in Peru. and guess what it is- cooked guinea pig. yes, i thought i was going to barf when i saw it, the head was still on it and their little claws too. BUT i did try something new- so natalie claire keri anna and whoever else that gives me a bad time- I TRIED SOMETHING NEW!! (and disgusting..) hahah they also eat a lot of french fries and rice. so that was very good.

Friday- woke up from a cold night sleeping on these rock hard beds.. and we caught a ride down to Cajamarca. we are staying in this really nice hotel- Laguna Seca. there are hot springs that run throughout the resort and the pools are pretty much hot tubs. so last night we all swam after going to the orphanage to clean up the floors on the second floor which we are building. After we went to a nice restaurant called Pascana. we were there for like 3 hours.. haha i must say that everyone here is so laid back and pretty much just do things on their own time.

Saturday- this morning we woke up early and left by 8 to head to the orphanage to keep building the second floor. we took nails out of the old wood, made cement and did other things. we were there for a looong time. it was so tiring, especially because of this high altitude. i just walk up the stairs and im tired and my heart is beating really fast. so far no one has been too sick. my dad didnt feel well today and had to leave early to go to the hotel because of an upset stomach.

so far we are having a wonderful time! the area around here is soo beautiful. the people are simple and laid back. when we were in porcon there were some tourists from peru visiting and we got a lot of pictures with them. the guys wanted pictures with me individually which was kinda awkward but funny. they liked my blonde hair haha

tonight we are heading into town to eat and hopefully shop around. tomorrow we are going to church at 9 then going to work some more at the orphanage. we havent seen the kids yet there, sadly. but monday we will so ill take pictures with them.

i love you all and miss you! i wish some of you were online right now so i could talk to you. hope you are enjoying summer :)

when i can ill update you later. i still have all of next week here and we will be doing more touristy things like going to Cusco and Machu Pichu. i cannot wait!!

love, andrea