Our First Rotary Trip!

Long time no post! I'm still alive people!  I returned yesterday from our first rotary trip!  We traveled around the south of Peru, and even ventured into the tip of Chile!  It was a tiring and crazy adventure that I'm excited to share with everyone!

But before I start the loooong post on our first rotary trip, I believe I did mention that a few days before the trip we all went to the peruvian congress for a welcoming ceremony.  It was filmed and was on peruvian television but I've been unable to find the video.  Here's a few pictures from that:

Dressed up and rotary blazered up!

From left:  Colin (Belgium), Me (USA), Laura (USA), Lara (USA)

From left: Ian (USA) and I (USA).  We are the two students from Wisconsin :)

The group of German students being welcomed!  From left: Romy, Felisa, Ben, Moritz

In the congress building! My best friend Emilie (Denmark) and I

So that was that!  And now for the trip!  Honestly, it was so long and packed full of activities that I will have some SERIOUS trouble remembering what we did from the start, but I'll do my best. 

The trip began on September 26th.  I woke up at the ripe hour of about 3 AM to get to the airport in time for my 6 AM flight to Arequipa, a city in the south of Peru.  Despite the early departure, everyone was really excited to get going.  Our plane landed in Arequipa as planned and I stepped out into the already thin air (significantly higher up than Lima) and had my breath taken away by the view.  We were greeted by beautiful mountains and shocking blue skies and sun (a rarity in Lima). 

Emilie and the beautiful view right off the airplane!

I don't quite remember what we did at this point (I'll be saying that a lot in this post) but I think we boarded a bus and started for Chivay, Peru with many stops along the way for pictures.  Many of us were affected by altitude sickness during this leg of the journey, and the winding, narrow, twisting roads up the mountains didn't help much.  I had altitude pills so I was pretty much okay, but one thing that did get to me was the dryness.  I had more than one bloody nose during the trip and a dry throat.
 

Taken from inside the bus.  Dry, dusty roads and dry, dusty cactuses (but a great sky!)

We stopped to view some vicuñas (similar to llamas/alpacas).  This animal is on the peruvian flag.

And we all took pictures by this amusing sign:

From left: Felisa (Germany), Laura (USA), Hannah (USA), Sascha (Denmark), Romy (Germany)

From left: Bastien (France), Victor (Belgium), me (USA)

Tea made with coca leaves to help with altitude sickness

Also candies made with coca:  here's an article about the benefits of coca if you're interested           http://www.livestrong.com/article/478795-what-are-the-benefits-of-coca-tea/

We stopped by a spot with tons of alpacas.  Me, Felisa (Germany), Emilie (Denmark) , Elise (Australia)

After lunch and touring by bus, we reached our hotel!  It was really nice! 3 or 4 people stayed in each room and we all enjoyed the hot thermal baths:

In the baths!

And a little alpaca/llama farm at the hotel

If I am remembering correctly, the next morning we got up early and got back on the bus to go to Colca Canyon:  http://wikitravel.org/en/Colca_Canyon

It's a really popular tourist spot...and normally you have to get up there SUPER early ( like 5 in the morning) to see the condors!  We got there around 9 AM and saw one condor for about 3 minutes hahaha.

There was also a lot of artisan stuff (I think it was a special tourism day or something).  I bought a pair of knit mittens and knit socks (it was pretty cold and windy up there)

One group went for a hike but I stayed back at the bus with Emilie for 2 reasons:

A:  She had been having medical issues (losing feeling in her fingers/face, nearly passing out) and I wasn't about to leave her

B: I myself was having trouble breathing up there (it was like trying to breathe through a dusty cloth) and the more I thought about the fact that I couldn't breathe, the worse it got and the more I panicked.  I decided that hiking in this altitude wasn't something I wanted to do hahaha (well hiking in any altitude isnt something I want to do hahaha)

Me and the canyon behind me

Me and Emily (USA) enjoyed taking mid-air photos hahaha

After that, we stopped at a small pueblo/village with more artisan stuff, and this:

hahaha

I don't know what happened after that.  I think we went back to Arequipa... yeah, that seems right.  I think we got to our hotel (also a pretty nice hotel) and I believe I was rooming with Tiphaine (from France).  I think we had some time that night to go out and explore a little bit of the city.  Our hotel was very close to the Plaza de Armas (I'll put a pic later, its like the center of the city) and therefore there were a lot of tourists and gringos (I didn't like it, I just felt like another tourist, and I like to think that 'exchange student' is ranked a little above that).  Anyways, we explored, got ice cream, browsed the shops and just enjoyed ourselves.  I bought a t-shirt :)

I think the next day we went to a school in Arequipa and did activities with rotary people there.... It was actually super boring and not at all the way I wanted to spend a day of my trip...but it was funny when all the exchange students decided to start pushing each other in the pool!  This is a common theme with us whenever we're together hahaha and the only reason I wasn't pushed in was because I had my camera in my hands.  

Ben (Germany) even went as far as to running up to the roof in order to avoid being thrown in the pool, but his efforts were for nothing.  He put up a good fight but met his fate minutes later: see photo below hahaha

Typically you were given a few seconds to take off your shoes and remove your cell phone from your pocket before you were thrown in the pool :) 

Liam and Tami (both Canadians obviously)

Again, I don't remember what we did... but I think we probaby had more free time in Arequipa.  Here is a picture of the Plaza de Armas by night:

I also don't know what happened the next day... it is so hard to remember all the stuff we did in a week... well, at one point we went to a monastery and several museums (kind of boring but I got some good pics of the monastery)

a cool setting on my camera (color selection)

If I haven't mentioned what Inca Kola is (and shame on me if I haven't) here's an explanation.  It's an extremely popular soda here (more popular than coca cola or pepsi) and it's basically only popular in Peru.  It's EXTREMELY sugary and therefore unbelievably sweet... many say it tastes like bubble gum.  At first I wasnt crazy about it, but now I love it .

Emilie and I in front of Volcano Misti in Arequipa

A lot of the time this trip was spent touring various spots by bus, so it all kind of runs together in my mind... I don't know what else we did in Arequipa.... well, eventually we left Arequipa and drove 6 hours to Tacna (right at the southern border of Peru).  

We mostly just explored, shopped, ate, and swam at the hotel pool.  At one point I was sitting beside the pool in my swimsuit and was pushed in from behind. (like I said, this is a popular theme with us).  So I got out, dried off, put on clothes, and was standing near the tables by the pool when they decided it would be funny to throw me in AGAIN.  I put up a fight, but tiny, 16 year old me against gigantic, 19 year old Laurent from Belgium led to an expected loss... and I was dragged, kicking and screaming, into the pool, in my clothes.  But it was all good fun :)  Well, I can say that now that I'm dry and warm haha.

In Tacna, I bought a sweater and a columbia jacket (we found a spot where stuff was dirt cheap, I bought a nice columbia jacket for 33 soles=12 dollars US).  

After Tacna, we spent one day in Arica, Chile!  It was a huge pain in the butt to get in and out of Chile (crossing the border took us about 2 hours each time) and after the this and the time difference, we only ended up with about 5 hours in Chile.  But I loved it.  Chile was beautiful and the city of Arica was just so....energized!  I don't know how to explain it, but I loved it.  

For those who don't know, Peru and Chile kind of have a rivalry going on, each believing the other stole their culture or whatever....like, people here hate it when I say my first country choice for exchange was Chile hahaha. Peru and Chile are always trying to be better than the other.  When we first entered the country, one of the tour guides joked "Y ahora estamos en Chile... huele feo, no?"  which translated to "And now we're in Chile....it smells bad, right?"  

 

Me and Emilie by the ocean in Chile

 

A lovely view of Arica, Chile

 

it was a cool city

We had lunch at a restaurant by the ocean, took photos, and visited a few museums (boring) and had one hour free time to shop (we all changed some of our money to chilean pesos) and explore the city.  I would have liked more free time in Chile but oh well.  I bought a cute little purse in our one hour free time.  Then we went back to Tacna.

I don't remember what else we did in Tacna but I think we had a free day before we had to go back to Arequipa to fly back to Lima and finish our trip.  After our last day in Tacna, we drove 6 hours back to Arequipa and then flew back to Lima.  We flew back on October 4th.  I was picked up at the airport by my host mom and returned back to Lima.  I loved the trip and reallllly enjoyed spending time with the exchange students but, crazily enough, I am looking forward to returning to school and seeing all my classmates.

Back in Arequipa at dusk, about to board the plane to return to Lima

The parts I enjoyed the most of our trip was our time in Chile and the free time we all got to spend with each other.  I loved browsing shops and comparing artisan purchases, shrieking and splashing in the pool, running across the street from the hotel to buy bags full of soda and junk food for that night, laughing and posing with our flags, and gathering in one person's hotel room to listen to music and pig out on previously mentioned junk food.  I love our group of exchange students, and how each and every person, from each and every country, is special and unique and awesome. Of course there are groups of us that are closer than others, some people are fonder of some than others, and of course we squabble and act immature occasionally but in the end we are all a family and we always have each others' backs.  

I hope you enjoyed this post, although I know it is full of gaping holes and blanks where I can't remember what we did.  Our next trip is to Cusco and Machu Picchu............so that will be amazing :)

Love you all,
~ Ginger