Lima

So I just got back to Lima. The city is so big and the traffic is neverending it seems like. I really like the weather, nice and warm. There are 6 people in my host family in lima. My mom, dad, 24 year old brother, 22 year old sister with a 3 month old son (so cute) and husband, and 15 year old sister.  They live next to many parks which is nice to run in. We are having a tour of lima tomorrow which should be fun to look around the whole city. My final exames will be coming up soon in just 3 weeks. School seems to go really fast here.

Me and my host mom

Acopia

We went on a field trip to acopia this week. We planted over 200 trees. We climbed up mountains for 3 hours it was very tiring but worth it in the end. It only took us 1 hour to get back down. We also went to many inca ruins and museums in Cusco. I only have 2 more days with my host family. Then we are traveling for 4 days and finally going to see Manchu pichu.
This picture was taken at one of out stops on one of our trips.




planting trees in the mountains!

Serivce project

We had our first service project in the place were I live. We shoveled dirt to make a place were they could park cars. We took a before and after picture. It was really hot that day and I took many breaks. This week we also when to a salt mine and an incan ruin. The salt mine was cool and we even tasted the salt in the rivers. We had the chance to taste cuy which is guinnea pig, but i chicked out. This weekend my host family is taking me to cuzco for the day and then I am playing futbol with Alisha and others from our group with other peruvians. In about a week I will be back in Lima to finish the rest of the study portion of SST.

Host Family

I live in a place called Haucaurpay (not sure if its spelled right). It is about a 30 min bus ride to where classes are held. I live with another student Cornine for Goshen College who helps me a lot with the language barrier. Its a  lot colder up in the mountains and gets down to 60 degrees or cooler. Im really close to two of my host sisters Hilda and Juana. They are very patient and help a lot with the tradition to Peru living. We play games like yatzee and dutch blitz which is a lot of fun. I did my wash this morning and when i was getting down from where the washer was i bumped my head on the ceiling, oh course everyone laughed at me. We take lots of walks throughout the town and go to a big lake near by. This weekend Juana is going to take us to Cuzco to some makets and show us the clinic where she works. Shes a nurse and Im glade to be able to lean new things from here. Sunday we are going to play soccer which im excited for. It hard to breathe from the altitude so that will be intersting. i´m still healthy but miss home sometimes but overall just love having this new experience living in a different country.

Cuzco

These pictures are of some of the people in our group in Cuzco. We spent a day in Lima were it was sunny and warm. I was pretty sun burned but the sun was so nice. We meet our host families tomorrow and will begin our studies this monday. There are numerous short trips planned throughout our stay including Machu Pichu. No altitude sickness yet, I hope that i continue to stay healthy.