Chile - Santiago, Viña del Mar

After our short flight to Santiago, Chile, Christy and I made it into the city by night time. There is a tax for citizens of only a select few countries to get into Chile, and of course the USA was on the list. So, unfortunately, we had to pay a pretty steep tax to enter the country, but that was the only bad thing about our trip to Chile. We had booked a hostal in advance planning for our late arrival, but we had forgotten to write down the address! We knew the general vicinity and ended up wandering around the streets with all our bags for a while until we finally found the hostal. The hostal was really nice and offered free breakfast in the morning with a wonderful fresh juice.

Las vista de los Andes del avión cerca de Santiago

On Monday we spent the day wandering the city. We realized that Santiago is not a very touristy city, which we actually though was kind of cool. We climbed a park built onto a hill in the middle of the city called Cerro Santa Lucía where we got a beautiful view of the city from the top. After, we went to a market where we shopped a little for souvenirs. While we were there we found a little fruit and ice cream stand, where we got a giant fruit cup filled with every kind of fruit typical to Chile (including some fruits that they only have in Peru and Chile) and with a scoop of lucuma (one of those unique fruits) ice cream on top. It even had chocolate sauce dribbled over it! That was the highlight of our day and we made sure to come back to the market on Wednesday to get another giant fruit cup. After the market, Christy and I found the Pontificía Universidad Católica of Chile, which is the same university as my university in Lima. We browsed the beautiful buildings inside and I even found the same snack shop that we have in my university! We then walked over to the Plaza de Armas which was a really large and pretty plaza. In the plaza there is an area where older men play chess every day! The fountain in the center was filled with children swimming, and there were also large crowds at random times watching clowns of comedians. We went inside the cathedral, which was the most beautiful cathedral I have seen. After that we enjoyed some pizza dinner and went to bed.

La vista de Santiago desde el Cerro Santa Lucía

On Tuesday we woke up and took the subway to the bus station, which we had found the day before. We took the 2-hour bus ride to Viña del Mar, which is a pretty city on the coast. We walked for a while to get to the beach, bought some sandwiches for lunch, and laid on the beach for the rest of the day. The weather was absolutely beautiful and we had a wonderful, relaxing day on the beach. The water and sand were pretty, but the water was pretty cold due to a cold current. We went swimming anyways to cool off. In the evening we decided to take a public bus to Valparaísco, a city right next to Viña del Mar, which is supposedly a cute, touristy city. We ended up missing the spot where we should have gotten off, but I made friends with the bus driver in the process. He told me all about his life, asked about where we were from, and showed us pictures of his children! He even offered to give me his watch after noticing that I didn't have one, telling me it was important to have a watch when traveling. The bus driver, Guillermo, was one of the many very friendly people I met in Chile. After browsing Valparaísco we decided to go back to Viña del Mar to have a nice seafood dinner before taking the bus back to Santiago.

Christy y yo en la playa en Viña del Mar

Viña del Mar

On Wednesday we walked to another hill in the city called Cerro San Cristóbol, and this time the hill was even larger. We took a rail-cart, called funicular, up to the top which was quite steep and the views from the top were gorgeous. There was a statue of Mary and an outdoor church-like area at the top. We later walked back to the Plaza de Armas and tried a typical Chilean drink, called Mote con Huesillos, along the way. It is a summer drink made of a sweet syrup with peaches (huesillo) and mixed with cooked husked wheat (mote). After our refersher, we went to the Pre-Columbian Art Museum and it was really neat to see art from the Incan and Mayan cultures throughout South American and Central America. After the museum we walked around some of the government buildings and saw the president´s building. We also returned to the market to get another delicious fruit cup! We had dinner and cake for desert and then got to bed before our early flight the next morning.

Museo de Arte Pre-colombino - Arte de la cultura Mapuches de Chile en los inicios del siglo XX

Thursday morning, Christmas Eve, we left the hostal in the morning for the airport and flew to Lima where we waited for out flight to Cusco - the next city on the list in our adventures!

Buenos Aires, Uruguay, Iguazu

Christy arrived Saturday night, December 12th, and we left the next day for our flight to Buenos Aires. The flight was about 4 or 5 hours long, which made me realize how far away Buenos Aires is from Lima! We arrived in Buenos Aires in the evening and looked for a hostal as soon as we got there. After walking around for a little while we finally found one that was in my prices range, Hotel Piedad. It was nothing special, but had a lot of character. The man who worked there, José, was always there and was a really friendly guy. Also, the bathroom that Christy and I shared had a shower head in the middle of the bathroom with no shower curtain and a drain in the middle of the bathroom floor! We stayed in the hostal the whole week, so it turned out to be a good choice.

El obelisco, cerca de nuestro hostal

We woke up on Monday planning on walking around the city and planning for the week´s activities. We went to the Plaza de Armas and walked around the inside of the Cathedral. We then tried to go to another church, but it was closed for renovations. We saw the outside of Argentina´s white house which is actually called the pink house, La Casa Rosada. After having lunch at a little cafe we walked down the popular Florida Street where a lot of people come to shop and then walked into a big, high-scale mall called Galería del Pacífico. We later walked over to the ferry station to look into ferry rides to Uruguay and then we went to the bus station to buy tickets to get to the Iguazu falls for later in the week. That night we went to Cafe Tortoni, the oldest cafe in Buenos Aires, to see a tango show and have dinner. I tried a typical steak dinner which was tasty, and the show was really cool. I had never seen tango before, and it was a really interesting dance.

Christy y yo en la Plaza de Armas con la Casa Rosada

Tango en Cafe Tortoni

On Tuesday we woke up and walked back to the ferry station to go to Colonia, Uruguay for the day. We took the 3-hour ferry, although there was a 1-hour option. When we got to Colonia it was really cool to just know that I was standing in Uruguay! I never thought I would end up going to Uruguay in my lifetime. Colonia is a really cute, quaint town on the coast and we spent the day walking around, shopping a little, and sitting by the ocean. We climbing a little light house to get a view of the area and later when we were walking along a tiny little beach we started finding a bunch of pieces of sea glass. I used to collect sea glass when I went to visit my grandfather in Cape Cod, so I collected a bunch and brought it home to give my mom and grandfather. We had a nice fish lunch in a restaurant near the water. At the end of the day we returned to Buenos Aires by ferry. The one bad thing we noticed about both Colonia and Buenos Aires is that there a tons of mosquitos, so we were glad to be inside on the ferry ride.

Christy y yo en Colonia, Uruguay

On Wednesday we woke up and went for a run in the city. We had a later breakfast and then made our way to the bus station. We left around 1:30pm on our long journey to the Iguazu port, where we were planning on just spending the day seeing the waterfalls and then coming back the next night. The bus ride was certainly an adventure! It ended up being 6 hours longer than planned due to unplanned stops and a car accident along the way, and in total it ended up being 24 hours! By the time we actually reached the waterfalls we had a little more than 2 hours to see everything. The Iguazu falls are in a national park so we had to walk through that to reach the falls, and we arrived there sweaty and tired. The falls, however, made the dreadfully long journey worth it. They were beautiful, and much larger than the Niagra Falls, which I had seen years ago. We got to walk under the falls to see the view of all of the and then over the falls. There was a pathway that literally went right over the falls, near the points where the water falls over! It was so scary but really cool to see the falls from that angle. There was one other path to see the falls that you need to get to by train, called La Boca del Diablo, but unfortunately we did not have time to see this part. After that we had to go back to the bus station to catch the 18-hour bus ride home, arriving back in Buenos Aires on Friday around 11am.

Las cataratas de Iquazú desde arriba

Las cataratas de Iguazú

On Friday after we ate a nice big lunch we showered and relaxed a little bit. We walked in the afternoon to the port area of the city, called Puerto Madero where we walked into an ecological reserve that had a nice view of the city. The port area was really pretty and we ate dinner at a cafe overlooking the port at sunset. After walking around we decided to go out to a bar to see what the night-life is like, although we were not really up for going out dancing since Argentinians supposedly go out very late. We had a glass of wine and then went back to catch up on some of the sleep we lost on those bus rides.

Puerto Madero

On Saturday we went to do our laundry and then started walking towards Recoleta, a nice area of the city with markets, museums, and other sites. As we arrived there it started downpoaring horribly and we had to take cover in the doorway of an apartment building for a while. It was pretty rainy for the whole day, so we decided to change our plans a little and go to a museum. We went to the Museo de Bellas Artes and saw a lot of really beautiful art from around the world. After we walked to the Recoleta Cemetary, which is a huge cemetary full of giant stone tombs above the ground! There are many little lanes of tombs and many famous people are buried there, including Evita. After we took a taxi to another part of the city called Palermo. We were going to try to see the Botanical Gardens there, but they were closed due to rain. Instead, we walked around and then went to a really nice mass at a pretty church nearby. We had pizza for dinner in Palermo before heading back to bed.


On our last day in Buenos Aires, Sunday, we woke up to make it for a tour of the Pink House, the president´s palace. We got to see a bunch of different rooms inside and even the inside of the president´s office! The president of Argentina is a woman, which I found very interesting. After that we went to a Sunday street market near the plaza and had so much fun browsing through the tons of items sold by the street vendors. After having a lunch near the market we headed back to collect our things at the hostal and then went to the airport, heading for the next destination of our journey: Chile!

Arequipa y más despedidas

So, it has been quite a while since I last updated! I am now home safe and sound from my 6-month amazing adventure, but I have a lot to write about! I will start with our last group trip to Arequipa, and then I will write entries about travels with my sister and my last days in Lima.

We left for the long bus-ride to Arequipa from Lima the Friday after finals ended, Friday December 4th. I went on the trip as a way to celebrate the end of finals and our last trip together with my Holy Cross friends Meredith, Meg, and Peter as well as our two Peruvian friends Guillermo and Luis (Chuliso). The bus ride was a little longer than expected due to many stops at bus stations along the way, and we finally arrived in Arequipa after 20 hours on the bus! The trip was very interesting and as we got closer to Arequipa the roads were winding through mountains and had some nice views.

When we got to Arequipa on Saturday morning we went to the Plaza de Armas and from there found a hostal for the night. The plaza was really big and pretty and all the buildings there were made of white volcanic rock called sillar. We walked around and found a tour agency to do a treck of the Colca Canyon starting the next day, Sunday. After lunch, we visited the convent of Santa Catalina which is an old little village-like convent and then browsed a few markets. I caught a mass in a smaller cathedral right next to the plaza and we all had dinner together. After that we all went to bed early, because we had to wake up at 3am the next morning!

La Catedral en La Plaza de Armas

On Sunday morning we all woke up at 3am and were ready when our guide, Angel, picked us up. We drove for 6 hours, stopping when we got to a look-out point on the canyon. The Colca Canyon is supposedly the deepest canyon in the world, and it was absolutely beautiful. The look-out point was called Mirador del Condor and we could see a huge condor bird in the distance. From there we could see how deep the canyon actually is. We then proceeded on to a small town on the edge of the canyon called Cabanaconde where we had lunch and then headed out on our treck. We walked to the edge of the canyon and looked out onto where we would be walking, braced ourselves for a long walk ahead, and started our decent. We walked for about 4 or more hours weaving down the canyon on a path until we finally reached the bottom. We all were exhausted and rested at the river in the bottom and took in some beautiful views. But not for long! Angel told us we needed to keep going because the sun was setting and we did not want to get stuck in the canyon in the dark. We kept on walking, across the bridge and along the canyon this time going up and across. After what seemed like days and barely making it before darkness we got to the little canyon town where we stayed in a little stone hostal. It was a difficult day, especially since I was not feeling well, and we all rested well than night.

Trecking en el cañon de colca

The next day we started out early and walked further across the inside of the canyon for about 2 hours until we reached the oasis! The oasis was a little town at the base of the canyon that had beautiful blue pools. We got to take a break, rest, and cool off in the pools because the sun was very strong in the canyon. Of course, I got sun-burned pretty badly! After resting and eating lunch, it was time for the 3 to 4-hour ascent. Guillermo, Chuliso, and I decided that we would probably not be able to make it to the top before sunset so we opted to take mules up instead of walking. I have never ridden a horse before, let along a mule, and it was an interesting experience. It was kind of fun, and the views were amazing, but I had to hold on tightly so that I wouldn't fall off! Chuliso, Guillermo, and I made it to the top and then waiting for the hikers who proudly made it to the top a little while after. We had a nice dinner together that night and Angel, who turned out to be a great guide, ended up telling us some spooky ghost stories from his experiences in the canyon.

Guillermo con su mula en el cañon

The next day, Monday, we left Cabanaconde for Chivay, a larger village on the way to Arequipa. We took a bus with some of the local people who were going to Chivay for a religious celebration of one of the saints. The typical dress of the women in the Arequipa area was my favorite from the typical dress I have seen in Peru. They were beautiful dresses and hats that are covered with brightly-colored embroidery. When we got to Chivay, we went to the hot springs there. They are a group of pools overlooking the mountains, but the pools are filled with naturally hot water from the water under the mountains. We were told that the sulfur in the water is what makes it hot. It was a nice, relaxing way to end our strenuous hike. We had lunch in Chivay and took the bus to Arequipa, from where we took the bus to Lima. After a long nights journey Tuesday night, we arrived back in Lima in Wednesday, content from a really nice trip together.

Los baños termales en Chivay

The rest of my week was busy with last-minute good-byes, Christmas shopping, and a bit of packing. On Wednesday, Meredith, Jen, and I met our Spanish teacher for lunch and to say our good-byes. It was the first of many good-byes and it left us all feeling unsettled at the idea of saying good-bye to so many people we had become close to over the last 5+ months. On Thursday Meg and I went for a run in the parks overlooking the ocean for one last time. Meredith's sister was visiting so I met up with the two of them and some of the other girls for lunch in Miraflores before going to my volunteer work at La Posadita del Buen Pastor one last time. It was pretty sad to say good-bye to the kids, since I had grown pretty close to them over the 4 months of my volunteer work, and they all made little good-bye cards for me.

La clase mayor de niños en La Posadita


La clase menor de niños en La Posadita

On Friday morning I went into the hospital for my last day. It was also very hard to say good-bye to all my friends in the hospital, and I made sure to get many pictures, especially with Lady and Anderson. Much to my surprise, my dear friend Josselin was not in her bed in the neumology wing. I was informed that she went home because she was feeling better! After 4 months of always working with Josselin and then hearing from another teacher that Josselin was probably going to die soon, I was overjoyed to hear that she was actually doing better and went home! I know that she has cystic fibrosis and will probably run into future health problems, but I am so happy that at least for now she is doing better. It was sad that I didn't get a chance to say good-bye to her, but I left her a note with a little bracelet I had bought her from Arequipa. Josselin was a very significant part of my experience volunteering in the hospital and I learned a lot from her positive attitude and her friendship. It was sad for me to leave the hospital for the last time and say good-bye to the other teachers, but I am so lucky to have had such a meaningful experience volunteering there. I will carry the memories with me for the rest of my life.

Con Anderson y la otra Josselyn en el Hospital

Con Lady en el Hospital

Con todos los voluntarios del viernes en el Hospital del Niño

After the hospital on Friday morning, I went to a get-together that my chorus had planned as a going away party for me. We all went to one of the group member, Alejandra's, apartment to chat and play board games. It was nice to hang out with the chorus members outside of school, and it was another sad good-bye. Later that night all of our friends got together in Meg and Jen's house before going to a discoteca to celebrate Jen's 20th birthday and to go out together one last time before everyone started traveling and going their own ways. It was great to have all of our friends together - exchange students, the girls from our house, the HC group, our Peruvian friends - but at the same time it was really sad to say my good-bye to many of the people at the end of the night.

Despidiendo a la PUCP

Despedida con los chicos del coro Voces en Christo

Todos celebrando el cumple de Jen y la gran despedida

The next day I met up with Meg and our friend Luisa from our Peruvian Social Reality group to have breakfast. I then said my good-byes to Luisa and to Meg, because Meg and Jen left that afternoon on a bus ride to the beaches in northern Peru. Meredith had left that morning for Cusco. The rest of the day I spent packing for the trip with my sister and organizing my things. That night Guillermo and I went to the airport to pick up my sister and she finally came out of the exit over an hour later than expected! We found out that her luggage had been lost in Miami, but luckily it arrived the next day, Sunday, right before our flight to Argentina! Christy and I slept in my home in Lima that night, had breakfast with my family, and left for out flight to Arentina to begin our adventure!

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

Lomas de Lachay

This past week was a very enjoyable one. I´ve been advancing with my photography project and now have five of the eight final photos that I need for my project. I have printed a lot more, but the final photos need to be ¨basically perfect¨ according to my professor. I have really grown to respect the art of photography because it is such a long process to come up with even one great photo. I´ve also been coming along on my group project for Peruvian Social Reality. Our 21-page paper is due this coming week so we were getting a little worried about finishing it, but split between the work of eight of us it shouldn´t be a problem.

Other than classes, I went to my volunteering again on Thursday and Friday. In the hospital on Friday I switched between the wing of Medicine D and Neumology. I am starting to get attached to the kids, and when I left the hospital on Friday one of the girls, Lady, look up at me from her wheelchair and said: ¨Michelle, por favor no te vayas a tu país. Tienes que quedar en Perú!¨ which means ¨Michelle, please don´t leave to go back to your country. You have to stay here in Perú!¨ How could you not want to stay in Perú after hearing that?

On Thursday I went to the movies to see 2012, the movie about the end of the world, and I left the movie a little more frightened than when I entered! Last weekend and the past few weeks my chapel chorus has been practicing to sing in a confirmation mass. The mass was held this past Friday and was a really nice ceremony. It was really cool to be a part of the service, and the twelve of us got to stand up at the front right next to the bishop each with our own microphone! Although I was a little nervous to be singing songs in Spanish in front of a large group, it was a good experience and it turned out well. There were 61 students who got confirmed! On Friday during the day, Meg and I had to interview our friend Deyver for our Social Reality project. He has lived in los Olivos for his entire life,which is near Mega Plaza and is in the Cono Norte - the area of Lima that we are studying. He was very insightful and enjoyed helping us learn a little more about the area. That night after the confirmation mass some of our house and Holy Cross friends and I went with some of our Peruvian friends to a house party. When we entered the house we heard a big group of Peruvian boys singing Backstreet Boys which we thought was histerical.

On Saturday the girls and I decided we wanted to do a day trip out of Lima, so we went to Lomas de Lachay, a nature reserve about 2 hours outside of Lima. We first had to take a bus to the little city of Huaran, and then we went from there in taxi to Lomas. It is strange because all the surrounding area is desert overlooking the coast, and it suddenly changes over to greenery in the mountains instead of sand when you enter Lomas. It was beautiful, with beautiful mountains and hills covered in interesting trees and nature. We went hiking for a few hours, took lots of pictures, and then returned back to Huaran in taxi. We then took the bus ride home, which turned out to be a three hour trip due to traffic. It was an all-day event, but the trip was well worth it and a good change of scenery to see something outside of the city. All in all the trip probably cost me a grand total of between 10 and 15 dollars!

On Saturday night Meg and I did a second interview, this time with our friends Fernando and Juan Pa who also live in los Olivos. On Sunday morning I had to wake up early to work on our project for Peruvian Social Reality with the group. We all worked on it for about 5 or 6 hours! It´s always a little difficult to put so many people working on one thing all together, but it was nice to spend time with our group and we are all certainly getting to know each other pretty well. After, Guillermo came with me take take my last two roles of film for photography class in the Magdalena market area. I went to mass later near my house and then made sure to get to bed early after a busy weekend.

We only have these two weeks left of classes and then the week of finals, so I am going to busy busy finishing up projects and preparing for exams. Of course, though, I will also be busy trying to enjoy the time I have left here!

Chau,
Michelle

Photos from Lomas de Lachay: