Hogar Jesus Mi Luz

I'm in Lima! I had a flight today at 1:00 pm from Cuzco to here and when we got here we showed Heather around since she wasn't here for three days like we were. Right now we are in the same hostal I was in for three days (weird, right?) getting showered up and stuff. We are leaving for the Airport at 9:00, and our flight is at 12:40 (talk about a red eye) after a 6 & 1/2 hour flight, we'll land in Houston around 6:30-7ish and then fly to Dallas around 9 & land in Dallas at 10:05! yay! I am ready to be home.

Yesterday we had our final day of classes. I got a cute little certificate & everything :) lol. Yesterday at 3:30 we went back to the orphanage we went to on Monday and we played futbol (soccer) with the boys and also they sang some songs for us. It was amazing. Last night I just went back to my family and hung out with them and finished up my packing.

Here are some pictures from yesterday & last night:

Day 14

Yeah... day 14. It's been forever, but a good experience. I have learned to love all the little things that I don't take advantage of at home. I have learned to love American food a lot. I have learned to love my friends more and appreciate their company more. I have learned to love the convenience of washers and dryers. I have learned to love my car. I have learned to love heaters. I have learned to love the convenience of just seeing someone I care about. I have learned to appreciate free telephone calls. I have learned to appreciate wifi. I have learned to appreciate fabric softener. I have learned to appreciate microwaveable food. I have even learned to appreciate being in physics class.

I'd say I have learned a lot.


Here are some past pictures that I never took time to upload before:

¿más chocolate?

Yesterday was pretty laid back. I had classes in the morning (which I am still the only person in my class...) and then in the afternoon we had chocolate making classes. It was pretty interesting. I made some new friends and got some pretty good chocolate out of the deal. Today I have classes in the morning and then this evening I have salsa lessons... ha! I really don't know how that is going to go. After that I am hoping to find somewhere to watch the national championship. Anyways, here are some pictures from yesterday:








p.s. i've never been so thankful for fabric softener in my whole life.

Sacred Valley

Yesterday was a day-long excursion to the Inca's Sacred Valley including Pisac, Ollantaytambo, and Chinchero. It was tiring, but all good things to see. Ruins always seem the same though...

I don't like missing school. I really hope it's not too hard to catch up when I get back.

Well, I am about to start class, so here are a few pictures from yesterday.








And this is me with Fernanda & Fabio:





okay, class is starting!

adios,

jordan

Machu Picchu... the big one.

Okay, so… Machu Picchu. No words would do it any justice, but it was amazing. I would have good commentary if I was using pictures, but no words alone could help to make anyone understand at all. Our tour guide was really cool, his name was Victor, and he really honestly cared about the culture and everything. I knew I would like him when the first thing he told us after getting to the park was that he tells every group that he always gives thanks to the Creator for letting us have to opportunity to see such majesty as this place is. He said things like this very often. Another thing I really liked was that instead of saying “The Incans,” he always said “My Ancestors” & I just thought that was really cool.

The first day was really nice and sunny and I got amazing pictures. The next day however... not so much. I got up at 5 so I could get ready and be at the park early enough to climb Waynapicchu because they only let a certain number of people do it so that everyone will have enough time to get up and down the mountain.

Raining.

Nasty.

Steep.

Jelly legs.

Worth the experience though.

Okay, I know you've all been waiting for these...

Is this some kind of Incan joke?

Machu Picchu yesterday and this morning!

I have a detailed update typed up on my laptop, so I won´t elaborate yet, because I am at an internet cafe right now. But I´ll give you the shortened version so everyone isn´t wondering what the heck is going on.

We left Cuzco yesterday morning really early and rode a train (about 4 & 1/2 hours) to Aguas Calientes. We had lunch then went to Machu Picchu (!!) Pictures to come of course. This morning we got up really early (again) and showed up so we could hike Waynapicchu (the massive mountain in all the pictures of Machupicchu) which was... tiring. AND wet, because it was raining. I was just really sad because since the clouds were there, we couldn´t get the aerial view of Machupicchu :( but it was still a good experience.

My train is supposed to leave our of Aguas Calientes today at 5, but the trains are delayed because of a landslide on the tracks. So lets hope it´s not too late!

I´ll update as soon as I can with pictures and everything, I know you all want to see it.


jordan

Day 7

I really like my new house. There are two little kids that stay here during the day: Fabio (will be 2 in April) and Fernanda (will be 6 in February). They are adorable. The mom, Nancy is super nice. And her son, Lithman, (in his 20s) was really cool too. We talked about football (or futbol Americano) at dinner last night. They also have a nanny/maid lady but I have yet to catch her name.

Yesterday we visited many Incan ruins. Saqsaywaman (or as everyone calls it “sexy woman”), Qorikancha, Q’enqo, and another that I cannot recall the name of. They were all amazing, The Incans were so intelligent. All of their structures were built without mortar at all, and most of them still stand today. Crazy.

Right now I am sitting on my bed typing this into Microsoft word so that I can just copy and past into the blog when I get to the school later. Today my schedule is to meet at the school at 9 and then go to some market, but if they are planning on going to a market that Heather and I have already gone to and plan to visit many more times, we are just going to stay at the school so we can work on stuff on the internet because the school has wifi. Also today I have lessons from 2:30-6:30. After that will probably be relaxing time because Heather will have to work on homework. We work well together because I’m not the kind of person that wants to be doing something all the time, I like to relax every now and then, and because of her studies, I get to, lol. Especially with the altitude, which hasn’t seemed to affect me much. The only way is that I am definitely tired by the end of the day.

On the food topic, I haven’t eaten a lot, but I haven’t been very hungry. For breakfast everywhere I’ve been, it’s been bread with jam and butter. At my first house she serves Coca (not cocoa) tea, which is for helping with altitude sickness. And at my new house she served tea and a smoothie juice thingy with the bread. Last night for dinner we had rice and flattened banana thingys cooked on a skillet. If you know me, you know I don’t like bananas, but I sucked it up and ate them, lol.

Well, I just walked to the school and I think I am going to stay here for the morning, because I have plenty of time to shop at other times, and I need to catch up on computer stuff here where there is wifi.

Am I missing anything?

I don’t know.

I’ll update as soon as I can.

jordan