Hola! Bienvenidos a mi "blog de viaje"! I spent from yesterday at 5:30pm until about 9am this morning traveling but now I've finally settled in with my host family - la familia Castro. They are an older retired couple named Chela and Carlos and are very sweet and accommodating. Our house is in the Pueblo Libre district of Lima, which is within walking distance of the Universidad Católica (lucky us, because a couple of the guys got stuck with an hour's commute to school every day). The other students and I all met up before our flight in the Miami airport and one of the girls ended up sharing a seat next to me on the plane. It also turned out that we are living together, which is great. Her name is Julia and she speaks Spanish very well and frequently so we will definitely help each other learn better because we are both serious about immersion. I already feel better at Spanish just from conversing the entire morning in it! The families don't speak English at all so we (thankfully) are forced to turn our thinking caps, pay attention and learn Spanish. Our house is also neighboring another house with two of the girls from the program, which is really nice because we can all go out together as a big group.
Lima is absolutely huge. It is the capital city of Peru, located on the western coast of the country (although it is in the same time zone as Virginia- who knew?) and holds 8 million residents (1/3 of the country’s total population). It definitely has that 3rd world feel (in a way in reminds me a lot of India) with a smoggy, cloudy sky, tons of older-looking cars and buses honking and ripping furiously through the streets, brightly painted, yet dilapidated buildings with few high-rise edifices and tons of billboards and adds selling Coca-Cola or facial lotion (except of course all in Spanish). There is a lot of traffic and no one stops for pedestrians. There is also a great deal of public transportation, especially these little bus/vans called “combis”. They are very inexpensive (.50 soles, or less than $0.20 to ride) but they are almost always cram-packed with people squished right up against the glass like sardines in a can. I might try it eventually, but while it’s hot I’ll stick to taxis.
Earlier in the day it was quite sunny and warm actually, which is quite a shock after coming from wintery weather. Our house has no heating or AC and many parts are open-air (like the stairs from the second to the third floor are completely outside). But it is comfortable with the windows open and the breeze blowing through. This house has a very top floor which you can climb up to, kind of like the roof and the breeze blows beautifully up there and there is a nice view. The view is especially good because we live right next to El Parque St. Martín which is just a really nice area sort of like a very wide island between the streets where there are trees and grass and tropical flowers. There is a surprisingly large amount of greenery around Lima. There are many more trees and flowers than you would ever expect in a big city and we passed many little parques like the one next to our house on our way from the airport. The walk home from orientation at the university was lovely – we walked through the parquet on our way home. The weather was cool and mild and a sunset glowed pink behind the trees and building tops – total paradise.
We were warned heavily about drawing attention to ourselves and carrying any more than the equivalent of about $10-$15 on us at any one time because muggings are a big problem here especially for foreigners because they are targeted. Luckily, for safety and convenience, we have received pre-paid cell phones from the program with which we can communicate with the directors of the program and other students. Later this week we are going on a 5 day trip into the Andes mountains and then down into the Amazon to experience the diverse landscape and distinctive indigenous peoples of Peru. It pretty much sounds like an anthropologist’s dream. There are also some very nice beaches to the south and seeing as how it’s summer we were encouraged to make a trip down for a few days before classes start. I am having an amazing time thus far (I can’t believe it’s only been one day!) We (all the UVA in Peru students) are going tonight to meet in Barranco, a more touristy district of Lima that has a lot of night clubs and bars to check out the night life. I can’t wait!
