This last Friday we had class in the morning (such a drag! I'm loving this whole no class on Friday thing!) but then at 4:00 22 of us headed to a beach. It was so legit because since there were so many of us we would have to take like 5 taxis and what a nuisance that'd be so we literally bought off a city bus! We each paid 10 soles and hopped on the bus. It was only us and he didn't stop at any bus stops and just drove us the whole 45 minutes to the beach. When we went through a checkpoint we all crossed our fingers that they'd just ignore the fact that the bus wasn't on the correct route and what do you know? It's Peru so they ignored it! Woohoo!! When we got to the beach we took pictures (well the girls did), played some sand volleyball, and had a bonfire. Some people stayed the night but I went with a group that came back around 1 am to Surco and I slept in my own bed :)
Saturday was a rather chill day till the nightime. During the day I just hung out with Nela and we got some delicious food at our favorite little market. That night however was an experience I will NEVER forget!!!!! My friend Emily invited a few of us to go to a soccer game in the big stadium (about the same size as the Husker stadium) here in Lima with her host sister and her host sisters boyfriend. We met at Emily's house and caught a taxi and off we went. All the tickets had been sold out so we had to buy from someone on the street so we were just walking through a park and asking around for some tickets. All of a sudden literally about 300 crazed fans came running around the corner. At first it looked like a harmless mob of excited fans so Emily was like "OO I want a picture!" As her and I started reaching for our cameras her host sister and boyfriend were like "NOOOOO THIS IS REALLY DANGEROUS" Then the craze began. They were filling the park and just running and going wild! Emily and her host sister linked arms and were able to get to the outside of the mob, but Derek, the host boyfriend, and I were stuck in the center. I felt someone yank on my purse so I quickly pulled it to the front of me but before I could even think some guy comes up and is yanking on it again but really, really hard...I'm surprised my neck didn't get a little mark! Luckily the strap of my purse is super strong so the little thief lost! That's right!!! Emily's "host boyfriend" saw what was happening so he ran up behind me and like bear hugged me and Derek was to my side. We stood there silent and motionless for like 3 minutes while the crazies ran by. I truly cannot explain the emotion I was having during those 3 minutes. It was pure terror but somehow I was completely calm during it! Once there was a teeny gap in the locos...we ran to where Emily and her host sister were. Emily told us that some guy had slapped her butt and another was running backwards and staring at her. We stood on the sidewalk for awhile just to catch our breath. It was soo scary! Emily's hands and my hands were literally shaking. ahhhh! I had my debit card with me because right before I went to Emily's house I had drawn out a little money for our trip to Ica this week. How dumb was that?! So I had everyone shield me and I put my debit card and house keys in my front jeans pockets where no grimy thief hand could reach. We quickly bought some tickets and headed to the stadium. As we got closer there were tons of police with HUGE shields that were just flinging these batons around and that in itself was a little unsettling! Finally! we reached the stadium and were "safe". The game was legit! We bought little headbands for one team and cheered for em the whole time! The game was a tie though so that was a little sad. It was strange though because throughout the whole game you could just see huge brawls break out between people in the crowd. How crazyyyy they are about their soccer!!! After the game, Emily and I were just a wee bit scared to leave the stadium because it was dark out at this point. When we left, the host boyfriend and sister were leading and they turned around and were like "fast...we have to walk fast!" Its always just soo comforting when Peruvians tell me we have to walk fast for our safety! Not...But it sure gets my blood goin and I walk with some purpose! People were noticing us and they were yelling "Gringo!!!" and kissin and whistling and pretty much anything to make us feel uncomfortable. But, we finally caught a bus and made it out alive with all of our belongings...what a relief! I'm really glad I got to experience a soccer game here though because its such a big part of their culture!
The next morning I got up early and met some friends at 6:30 a.m. to take a taxi to the bus station for our trip to Ica. We arrived to Ica a little before noon and checked into our resort. It was super sweet cuz it had like tons of rooms and activities and a restaurant and stuff! The food there was ridiculously expensive so about 15 of us decided to walk around to find a restaurant. Well, as it turned out our hotel was near absolutely nothing so we called a friend who was from Ica and asked where a good place to eat would be. He suggested Plaza del Sol. So we took 3 taxis. Wellllll someone had arranged the taxi I was in and no one in my group knew where we were going. When the guy was like "plaza de blah blah right?" We just said yes because we knew we were goin to some plaza. (How dumb are we?!) When we got there I called a girl from one of the other taxis and told her we were waiting by the monument in the center of the plaza. She was like "uhhh I don't see a monument. We are at a shopping mall" So we asked some guy where we were and yep...def not Plaza del Sol! So we just decided to eat by ourselves and meet everyone else back at the resort in an hour. We found this little chifa (Chinese food) place and sat down to eat. We ordered our food and in literally 3 minutes the waitress brought us our plates. It was some sketch food though let me tell you! None of us ate the supposed chicken because it was realllll freaky. We then finished eating and found a grocery store to buy some bread because we didn't want to eat out for the rest of the trip. Yep...my diet this weekend was bread, peanut butter, and yogurt. Not that bad really! When we got back to the hotel we had a good game of water polo in the pool, played some soccer, and went sand boarding. Sand boarding was soo sweet! It was just snow boarding but on a sand mountain. That night we went to the karaoke place at the hotel and owned it! We danced and sang (poorly) and had a gay oolllddd time!
The next day we got up and went to Paracas, which is a little city about 45 min from Ica and we got on a boat to go see an island with sea lions, penguins, and birds. The sight of it was super awesome! the smell....ehh not so much! Later that day some friends of mine and I went on some sand duggies. It is just a go-kart on steroids basically. Super awesome! We were strapped in this little cart and trusted some guy with our lives ans he drove like a mad man all over these huge sand doons. I thought I just might die a few times...which means it was legit! Wooo! Then we went swimming and just chilaxed for the rest of the night.
Tuesday morning some of us went to the Huacachina lagoon and took some boats around. Then, our bus left at about 2 pm and I got home to my house in Lima at 7 pm. I ordered pizza with my family and now here I sit writing this blog.
This week I will get a haircut (wish me luck everyone!) And this weekend I am going to Trujillo with my family. We will stay at Fabricio's house and go to a bull festival that is there this weekend.
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| on the beach "Punta Rocas" |
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| At the soccer game |
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| karaoke! |
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| Huacachina lagoon |
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