Despedidas y viajes

Hello!

The past week has been a whirlwind of good-byes and getting things ready for travel. We left for Arequipa last Friday and took the 20-hour bus ride there and the 18-hour bus ride home on Tuesday night. It was so much fun and a nice final trip with friends. We saw the city a little bit and did a three-day trek of the Colca Canyon, the largest canyon in the world!

Since I've been back from Arequipa, I've been busy getting ready for the trip with my sister! My sister comes tonight and tomorrow we leave for Buenos Aires, Argentina. We will be there for a week and then go to Santiago, Chile. Then we go to Cusco for Christmas and we start a trek of Machu Picchu the day after Christmas. We will end up in Lima from December 30th until January 4th, when I return home the the US. I cannot believe how fast everything has gone by, and I am just trying to enjoy every moment of the time left here.

This week we said a lot of good-byes, to friends and to the children in my volunteer work. It was extremelly difficult to say good-bye to people who have made such an impact on my life, but I have to keep in mind what a blessing it was to have met them.

I will write more all about this week, Arequipa, and my trip with my sister when I return home and have the time to express all the details. This will be my last entry in Peru! It has been a completely amazing experience to have lived the past 6 months of my life in this country, and I will never forget a single moment of it.

Hasta luego!
Michelle

Trabajo Final de Fotografía

Terminando Finales!

The past two weeks have been pretty stressful with everything winding down, including the academic semester!

In terms of school, I had to finish up my semester-long group project for Peruvian Social Reality. We had to write a paper that ended up being 25 pages and make a video presentation as well. Though it can certainly be frustrating to work with a group of eight students, we got it done and I ended up getting to know the kids in my group pretty well. We studied the shopping mall Mega Plaza, its location in one of the lower-class areas of the city, and the implication that commercialization of the area means development of the area in other aspects as well.

I finally finished all of my photography prints and put all my final 8 photos together to present. My theme was taking portraits of working in local markets and streets, focusing on the informal system of work. We presented yesterday in class and it was really nice for me to be able to explain my theme and why it was interesting for me to try to capture the personality of the markets, because the markets here are quite a bit different than any market I have ever seen.
As for the rest of the classes, I had an Ecology presentation last week to end our practicums.

This week is finals week, and I am basically finished! Yesterday I took my Peruvian Social Reality oral final, which was pretty scary. We had studying the politics, history, and sociology of Peru in the last 50 years, and were asked to answer to short, specific questions making it hard to show him that we had really studied! I had my Ecology final today and all I have left is a small presentation for Spanish class tomorrow. I can´t believe the semester is over! I am relieved to be done with classes, but I am also sad to say good-bye to my friends from school and sad that everything is ending.

Other than school, in the last few weeks we´ve been trying to enjoy our remaining time in Peru as well. On Friday (two Fridays ago) we went out to Son de Cuba with a group of friends to dance salsa, or at least try! On Saturday night we went to a university-sponsored party for the Law School, which was fun. On Sunday I went to have lunch at an anual get-together at Guillermo's church with his family.

Although during the week last week I was busy studying and finishing up projects, we made some time for fun too. On Wednesday we went with our Spanish teacher to interview a well-known Peruvian chef, Flavio Solórzano, in his family-run restuarant in Miraflores - El Señorío del Sulco. He was a very interesting person and his responses to our questions clearly showed his passion for cooking. After the interview I went to a comedy show called Sírvase un Payaso in Miraflores. It was really funny and the type of comedy with a lot of actions and slow dialogue, making it easy for me to understand!

En la entrevista con el chef Flabio Solórzano

Thursday was Thanksgiving day, and although Thanksgiving is clearly not a holiday in Perú, the girls who live in my house decided that we needed to do something American to celebrate. After dinner with the family we went to our friend Caitlyn´s house and made pancakes with maple syrup and kraft macaroni and cheese. Although it wasn´t quite turkey and mashed potatoes, it was nice to spend time with my ¨family¨here and make some familiar food. On Friday I sang in the weekly mass with my chorus, and this time I had taught the group a song in English. I taught them the song One Bread, One Body, and we sang it during communion. It was a really nice way to celebrate our last mass of the semester and I was glad that I could share something with those who have already shared so much with me. On Friday night our program directors took all of the Holy Cross kids and ten of our friends out to dinner at an Italian restaurant to celebrate Thanksgiving with everyone. It was a really nice way to have all of our

Mini-celebración para el día de la acción de gracias

La cena para el día de acción de gracias

I spent the weekend studying for finals and then finally finished everything on Wednesday morning. On Tuesday afternoon I did some shopping at the local Inca Markets near school, and on Wednesday after my presentation in the morning we decided to celebrate the end of finals and go to the beach. Meg, Guillermo, Guillermo´s friend Julio, and I took the bus about an hour south of Lima to a beach called Arica in the district called Lurin. Although it is still not quite summer yet and it wasn´t too sunny, it was really nice and relaxing to be at the beach.

When we got back from the beach last night, our family had planned a nice dinner for us since it would be the last day that all five of us girls would be in the house together. They decorated the house for Christmas with the Christmas tree and fancy tablecloth, toasted with Pisco Sours and Algarrobina, and had a lovely feast topped off with gingerbread cookies and cupcakes. After dinner we spent a while chatting with Señora and our ¨sister¨ Cynthia and we all ended up dancing a little - Meredith showed us the step dance that she practices at Holy Cross, Kelly and Leia showed us some salsa, Anna Maria and I showed some of our Afro-peruvian that we learned in class, and then Señora showed us some of her salsa dancing. We made sure to take a lot of pictures. All in all it was a really nice night to celebrate with the family we have become here in Perú.

Cena con la familia

Señora y Meredith bailando salsa

Today I spent the day in the children´s hospital and then the house with children with HIV. I am now packing my suitcase for the trip to Arequipa! We leave tomorrow afternoon for out 16-hour bus ride to Arequipa, so it should certainly be an adventure!

Hasta la proxima semana,

Michelle