Perfectly said!

So I've been planning on writing a little list 

of all the reasons why traveling is an awesome thing, for awhile.

But Jenni, from

  (a blog I like to read)

guest posted today and  pretty much took the words right outta my mouth!

So you should go and read 

this!

Well said, my friend...well said.

Some other thoughts/pictures from Peru

 This is one of my favorite pictures I've taken during my trip.

Funny thing is, I snapped it with my iPhone out the bus window.

I think it's a perfect representation of life in Cusco. 

All the old ladies dress like this; I loved it! :)

You can't really tell from the picture,

but this was the most pathetic looking animal I've ever seen!

It's wool was so stringy and he was filthy.

He's kinda cute in his own way though, don't you think?

 

In case you haven't noticed,

there are A LOT of llamas in Peru.

Also, I've found it's extremely hard to start a business

in a country where information is NOT available on the 

wonderful world wide web.

"Just Google it!" doesn't really apply here.

In case you're wondering what I'm talking about,

we're helping people here in Trujillo start small businesses

  through the SEED program at Utah State University.

3 more days till I'm home!

Whatchuuu lookin at?

People stare at us a lot here.

I guess it's understandable considering the fact that there are 29 students,

4 faculty members, 3 guys volunteering and their 2 sons,

in a town with little to no tourists.

That's a lot of loud Americans.

And in case you didn't know, that's what Americans are:

LOUD.

We've had multiple people tell us that.

But, sometimes when we're walking around

(even in very small groups)

I can feel people's eyes on me.

Sometimes guys pass and whistle, or even whisper

"Que ojos bonitos" ("What pretty eyes") to me.

Blue eyes aren't common around here.

Even so, sometimes I get sick of it and when people stare I wanna yell,

 WHAT?!?! Have you never seen a white person before?!

But...so far I've refrained. 

I don't want to be considered white, loud, AND crazy...

A little luck

I'm on the last leg of my trip!

We're here in Trujillo, Peru until July 1st, when we head for home!

We're here doing a microfinance project 

and also working in an eyeglass clinic for field workers.

I'm really excited.

I apologize if there aren't many updates between

now and when I get home.

We only have a week to get all of our projects done

and I still have 4 papers to write. Oops...

BUT by some alignment of the planets

or whatever else brings luck to people,

when we checked in to this hotel I got my own room.

With a KING size bed.

Overlooking the pool.

For a week and a half.

Yay!

Machu Picchu

I feel like I'm starting to sound like a broken record:

"This is so AMAZING!"

"The pictures don't do it justice!"

"You guys need to see this!"

So I'm not going to say anything about this one except that

I loved every minute of it.

I had about 3 more  pictures I wanted to post here.
But thanks to internet the speed of dial-up in the 1990's here in Peru,
just these two photos took over 30 minutes to load!
So my friends, I'm afraid the pictures will be
few and far between until I get home to some decent high speed internet.

Oh the luxuries of the United States.

Speaking of home...I'm seriously craving a PB&J.
Like as in I need one NOW.
But of course, peanut butter is nowhere to be found.

It's funny, the things you miss when you're gone.

Welcome to Cuscotopia!

This place is the has the most culture 

of pretty much anywhere I've ever been!

We're here during one of their biggest festivals of the year

so everything is decorated, there are parades everyday,

fireworks, huge paper mache animals, and people dressed up in amazing costumes.

 Cathedral in the main square, La Plaza de Armas

Me holding a baby llama! It was super cute besides

the fact that it kept trying to eat my hair.

One of the hillsides surrounding Cusco.

Giant, disgusting spider.

Town hall

Tomorrow I get to wake up at 4:30 am to go to Machu Picchu!

FOOOOOOD!

Okay, like I said before, we've eaten some prettttttty 

awesome food. But so far Peru wins.

It's cheap AND presented nicely.

Chile:

Peru:

Okay, because these pictures took ten years to upload 

I'm over this post so I'm not going to describe everything!

And maybe this was an extremely boring post for you to read

but I want to remember all of this! 

Lima, Peru

Was wonderful!

Here's a few examples why:

I went paragliding! 
I've ALWAYS wanted to do it.
When I was in Switzerland two summers ago I wanted to do it so badly
that I almost paid $300 for it.
But I'm happy to say that since Peru is so cheap it was only $50!
It was amazing. I feel like I use that adjective a lot, but honestly
how else to describe the feeling of jumping off a cliff and
flying over the ocean strapped into a harness?
Worth every penny!
P.S. These are not my shoes...they made me wear them! :)

We went to a museum of Peruvian artifacts one night,
and they had beeeeaaaauutiful gardens. I liked them way better than the museum itself.

Love Park!
How great is this?

Mosaic wall around Love Park

We were only here for about a day and a half, but I loved it.
I feel like I could go back for another few days, BUT...
We got to Cuzco today and so far it's amazing incredible!

By the way, we've had the most amazing food.
I'm thinking my next post will be all the pictures I've taken of every single thing I've eaten. :)

So far

Peru smells like fish.


Just got to the hotel and it is 1:18 am. More tomorrow :)

Other random Rio happenings

Welcome back free internet! You were missed.
So, I know I went on and on about how beautiful Rio is in the last post...
but I'm seriously in love. We spent the last 2 days playing soccer on the beach,
swimming in the ocean, and sightseeing.

Yesterday morning we all went to the top of Corcovado to see the Cristo Redentor, and it was amazing. Of course, right when we got to the top my camera died, so I only have a few pictures.

Luckily everyone in my group is snap-happy-so between all of them 

I should be able to steal some good ones.
Here's the few I was able to get.

Once again, the pictures cannot even begin to do it justice.
Please just go there and see it for yourself. :)

Anyway, here's some other random Rio happenings

This picture is a river running through the middle of PUC-Rio, a university we visited.
Their campus looks like a jungle! Just a little different from the
4 feet of snow I'm used to on my campus...
So jealous.

This is me wearing $40,000 worth of jewelry!
I wish you could see the rings better, they were amazing!!
A few of us visited a jewelry store called H. Stern.
(Maybe some of you have heard of it?)
We went there because they gave you a free gift for visiting.
While we were walking through admiring all of the jewelry,
one of the ladies asked us if we would like to try anything on.
We looked at her like, are you serious?! Um...yes, please!!!
No worries, JUST these two rings could pay for my car about 4 times...
Now if only I could find a man to buy me one of them. ;)

One of the very best parts of being in Rio was that I got to see Ana!
We went to school together at the University of Salamanca in Spain.
She's from Rio and I haven't seen her about 2 years.
We went to dinner, then she showed me her house,
and drove me around the city and showed me the places she likes to go.
It was so good to see her!

The beach and a Brazilian surfer babe! :)
I just had to add that last one.

RIO DE JANEIRO

Okay people. If you haven't been to Rio de Janeiro

I highly suggest that you book your ticket now.

Seriously, right now. Just do it!

This place is AMAZING! 

I really don't know if I've seen a prettier place. 

I think this city and Switzerland/Austria hold the top spots in the

most beautiful places I've ever been.

For example:

These pictures don't even begin to do it justice.

There was so much to see it was too hard to get a good picture of it all!

Do yourself a favor and google Rio and enjoy 

all of the pictures.

I took these pictures from the top of a mountain they call Sugarloaf.

We rode a tram to the top and you could see for miles.

Amazing.

Tomorrow morning we're headed to the top of Corcovado to see 

the statue Rio is famous for, the Cristo Redentor. 

Crossing my fingers that it will be nice weather!

P.S. The internet in this hotel is ridiculously expensive

so more pictures might have to wait until Sunday or Monday when I get to Sao Paulo!

Santiago, Chile

So yesterday we had the morning free in Santiago.

We went to the top of a really pretty park on a hill with an 

incredible view of the city. Here's some of my favorite pictures.

The story about how I ate tongue...

What a day.

I'm exhausted! My head hurts from trying to understand Spanish.

I'm actually starting to wonder if I've really been learning 

Spanish all these years. Cuz what I'm hearing on the 

street doesn't sound anything like what I've heard in class.

They should tell you that.

(I know, I know, I lived in Spain, I should know that's how it is.

But, give me a break, it's been 2 years!)

But, we're headed to BRAZIL tomorrow where I do not understand Portuguese!

And it's supposed to be a high of 74 beautiful degrees...
which sounds like heaven compared

to the high of about 50 that we experienced today.

Anyway I'm extremely excited for RIO DE JANEIRO!

But, on to my story....

So the other night a group of us went to a restaurant in Valparaiso that 

our tour guide recommended us.

Let me just start off by saying that my food vocabulary isn't the greatest.

They have very different food preferences in Spain

that I could tell you all about.
However, that doesn't do me any good here in Chile.

So, we're looking through the menu and I pick something that

says it has shrimp, Parmesan cheese, cooked in olive oil, 

with one other word that I don't understand.

I go on to order this thinking that one word is not a big deal...

and this is what comes out:

Which isn't what I was expecting,
but I'm used to that by this point in my trip.
So I start stirring through it and I'm like what are THESE?!
and pull out a long pink thing that resembles a tongue...
We asked the waiter and sure enough, he said lengua.
Which means tongue.

I was a little hesitant to eat this tongue.
What kind of tongue is it?
Whose tongue is it?
Who knows?!
(Don't worry, I got brave and tried it.
It was just extremely hard to chew and didn't have much flavor.)
But what really freaked me out next was the long black hair I found
swimming in the soupy dish.
That and the tongue pretty much ruined my appetite.
I showed the waiter and he brought me something else out.

By then I just really wanted a cheeseburger.

Crazy Chileans.

Coming soon...

K so the other night I had quite the experience at a seafood restaurant.

I apparently ate some kind of tongue...

There are some crazy things happening in Chile, people.

We're about to leave on a business visit though,

so I'll write about it tonight.

Exhaustion.

This morning we went on a walking tour of Valparaiso 

with a student from a local university.

Chile is so different from what I expected, but I love it! 

Here are some of my favorite pictures from today.

Sorry there's so many, I just liked them all!

Cable car we rode up the hill.

There's graffiti like this everywhere;

I actually think it's pretty cool.

The city is full of stray dogs that follow 

us all around town.

I almost got hit by a car taking this picture. 

No big deal...

All the houses of Valparaiso are built into the hills

so there are stairways like this all over the place.

Haha this is Brent and me eating Pan de Leche.

One of the best things I've ever eaten.

They're sweet rolls filled with custard and covered in powdered sugar.

We may or may not have eaten two each today.

They're about the size of a softball...

View of the beach from the hill

That water was FREEZING!

All the houses built into the hills.

I love how they're all different colors!

Two of the boys in my group and I ventured off and after

a few metro rides, asking a lot of questions 

(luckily we all spoke Spanish),

and some interesting taxi rides,

we found Pablo Neruda's house, La Sebastiana. 

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but this is the outside. 

It was a really interesting house.

(For anyone who doesn't know who Pablo Neruda is,

he's a famous poet. Look him up, he's great.

Extremely odd sometimes, but a genius.)

Anyway, we walked so much today, I'm exhausted and off to bed!