Pisco Sour – definition: Peruvian unofficial “national alcoholic drink”. Pisco is liquor that is made somewhere in the country and by itself tastes disgustingly like really cheap Tequila. When added to sour mix, PCTs love it because it sounds like you are saying “Peace Corps Sour”.
Pisco, Pizza, Papas Fritas,….
Remember when you were a kid and it was pizza day for lunch in the school cafeteria. It was best thing that could have ever happened right? That was today for just about all of us. It was a day of indulgence and I enjoyed every second of it. J
This morning we all met at the training center at 7:30am. (Did I mention it was a Saturday?) From there a bunch of combis took us with our language groups to different parts of Lima. My group went to Barranco, a really old part of the city. Lima is only about 25 miles away but it takes at least an hour to get there on a combi. This was our first time to “the big city” and there was some major hand holding by the PC. My mom actually said to me yesterday “You’re language teacher says you are going to Lima tomorrow, are you scared?” I was like, “uhhh, scared of what?”
I had to explain to her that I’ve traveled all over Europe and parts of Asia all by myself. I think I could handle myself in Lima, gosh; I even speak the language here. When I went to Thailand, I arrived at the Bangkok airport with my backpack and a scrap of paper with the name of a hotel on it. All I knew was I was supposed to meet up with some friends I had met more than three years earlier…… yeah I think I can handle Lima.
So we spent the first half of the day going around town asking stupid questions to strangers like “What parts of town are dangerous? What businesses are around here? How much does it cost to take a taxi to central Lima?” Then we rushed over to the center of town for a surprise! Some surprise – it ended up being the changing of the guard at some random building – not impressive at all.
I had been in kind of a bad mood all day. I was feeling pretty homesick, and sitting on the combi for hours on end did nothing but let me think about people from home. Its weird, the more you miss something, the more you think about it and the more it comforts you. You actually convince yourself that daydreaming about it is a good thing. Then after a couple of moments you flash back to reality and realize every second you think about home, it just makes it that much harder to be away. But at the same time you can’t snap back to reality. That’s where friends come to the rescue.
Finally classes were over and we had the rest of the day to explore the city! Well, at least until dark. We had to get home before it got too late because “its not safe to be out at dark in the city”. Can you imagine what its like to have a curfew at 7:30pm? Not so much fun.
Anyway a group of us girls took off and the first thing we did was find a place to eat Pizza for lunch! It was sooooo delicious! So was the massive plate I ate of french fries doused in ketchup. It was great, there were 8 of us girls, off on our own, finally having a chance to talk and get to know each other more. With a group of 34 people split up amongst four different neighborhoods, two different technical groups, and eight different languages classes, it can be hard to really get to people personally. But by the time we all finished our 2 for the price of 1 Pisco Sours, we had all begun to share our deepest darkest secrets.
After lunch we all had chocolate cake, ice cream or coffee then headed to the super market for supplies! Me, the most un-germaphobe ever picked up anti-bacterial hand wash and a bar of soap to carry around in my purse. That tells you how absolutely disgustingly dirty it is around here. I also grabbed some tea bags for the cold sleepy mornings at the training center.
Finally it was time to leave and we had to figure out how to get back. Options: A: combi(1-2 hrs, crappy uncomfortable ride, really cheap), B: collectivo (big taxi for groups, faster than a combi, cheaper and safer than a taxi), or C: taxi(expensive but fast and not so safe). And the winner is…..
Lets just say that we quickly went from trying to distinguish between which cars were collectivos and which were taxis to deciding to bargain with a taxi driver for a really cheap price. It was unbelievably easy. The second guy we asked (in Spanish of course) let all 8 of us ride in his Toyota Camry Wagon. One up front, four in the middle and three of us in the way back. 30 minutes later we were home, safe and sound. J
Pisco, Pizza, Papas Fritas,….
Remember when you were a kid and it was pizza day for lunch in the school cafeteria. It was best thing that could have ever happened right? That was today for just about all of us. It was a day of indulgence and I enjoyed every second of it. J
This morning we all met at the training center at 7:30am. (Did I mention it was a Saturday?) From there a bunch of combis took us with our language groups to different parts of Lima. My group went to Barranco, a really old part of the city. Lima is only about 25 miles away but it takes at least an hour to get there on a combi. This was our first time to “the big city” and there was some major hand holding by the PC. My mom actually said to me yesterday “You’re language teacher says you are going to Lima tomorrow, are you scared?” I was like, “uhhh, scared of what?”
I had to explain to her that I’ve traveled all over Europe and parts of Asia all by myself. I think I could handle myself in Lima, gosh; I even speak the language here. When I went to Thailand, I arrived at the Bangkok airport with my backpack and a scrap of paper with the name of a hotel on it. All I knew was I was supposed to meet up with some friends I had met more than three years earlier…… yeah I think I can handle Lima.
So we spent the first half of the day going around town asking stupid questions to strangers like “What parts of town are dangerous? What businesses are around here? How much does it cost to take a taxi to central Lima?” Then we rushed over to the center of town for a surprise! Some surprise – it ended up being the changing of the guard at some random building – not impressive at all.
I had been in kind of a bad mood all day. I was feeling pretty homesick, and sitting on the combi for hours on end did nothing but let me think about people from home. Its weird, the more you miss something, the more you think about it and the more it comforts you. You actually convince yourself that daydreaming about it is a good thing. Then after a couple of moments you flash back to reality and realize every second you think about home, it just makes it that much harder to be away. But at the same time you can’t snap back to reality. That’s where friends come to the rescue.
Finally classes were over and we had the rest of the day to explore the city! Well, at least until dark. We had to get home before it got too late because “its not safe to be out at dark in the city”. Can you imagine what its like to have a curfew at 7:30pm? Not so much fun.
Anyway a group of us girls took off and the first thing we did was find a place to eat Pizza for lunch! It was sooooo delicious! So was the massive plate I ate of french fries doused in ketchup. It was great, there were 8 of us girls, off on our own, finally having a chance to talk and get to know each other more. With a group of 34 people split up amongst four different neighborhoods, two different technical groups, and eight different languages classes, it can be hard to really get to people personally. But by the time we all finished our 2 for the price of 1 Pisco Sours, we had all begun to share our deepest darkest secrets.
After lunch we all had chocolate cake, ice cream or coffee then headed to the super market for supplies! Me, the most un-germaphobe ever picked up anti-bacterial hand wash and a bar of soap to carry around in my purse. That tells you how absolutely disgustingly dirty it is around here. I also grabbed some tea bags for the cold sleepy mornings at the training center.
Finally it was time to leave and we had to figure out how to get back. Options: A: combi(1-2 hrs, crappy uncomfortable ride, really cheap), B: collectivo (big taxi for groups, faster than a combi, cheaper and safer than a taxi), or C: taxi(expensive but fast and not so safe). And the winner is…..
Lets just say that we quickly went from trying to distinguish between which cars were collectivos and which were taxis to deciding to bargain with a taxi driver for a really cheap price. It was unbelievably easy. The second guy we asked (in Spanish of course) let all 8 of us ride in his Toyota Camry Wagon. One up front, four in the middle and three of us in the way back. 30 minutes later we were home, safe and sound. J
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