Week 1 in Peru: the beginning

Thursday: 

Check out http://www.benmanningphoto.com/blog his name is Ben and he is in our group and his pictures are phenomenal. 

The journey began 2:30 am Thursday morning. Flew to LAX then to Houston. Met up with Sadie had BBQ. I had no phone and the wifi wasn't working so I couldn't contact my parents. Felt like a missionary again. It wasn't til I was on the flight to Lima that it finally hit me and i panicked for a minute. What am I doing?! But it was fine I watched 3 movies on the flight and chilled for an hour if that gives you an idea of how long the flight was. We made it to Lima and it was so hot. We got our tickets from Lima to Piura but security wouldn't let us through til 1:30 am. So we found the spot were everyone was sleeping and chilled. I got 10minutes of wifi for the next 5 hours. We later moved to benches past security and slept. 

Friday:

Been up since 2:30 am Thursday. It's now 11pm Friday you do the math. 

Landed in piura and were swarmed by taxi drivers yelling taxi taxi taxi! Insane! 

Had a meeting with the cities economics and tourist managers. I was so surprise by their welcoming news, friendliness and eagerness to help us. They fed us banana chips and fanta. 

Went to a restaurant and had beef soup, jello and chicken and rice. All for $3 U.S.. The KFC serves black beans and rice as their side welcome to Peru! 

We did a lot of laying around we were all so tired from traveling and the heat just made us lethargic. Later we were hungry so we got hamburgers which were really good. Here in Peru they add papas fritas (French Fries) to their burgers.

Saturday: 

Sadie's bed fell apart around 5 am this morning. It was quite comical. We went back to the place we went to for lunch yesterday. It probably will turn into our go to place. Then we went to a club and went swimming it was so nice to not be dripping with sweat for a few hours! 

Here was a conversations with a kid in the pool it was so funny! 

It was said in espanol but I'll write it in English 

Kid: hola! Are you from Brazil?

We laughed do we look Brazilian I think we are too white!

Us: no from United States 

Kid: what are your names?

We told him he would leave and come back and ask us a new question each time. 

My favorite

Kid: do you speak French?

Us: no we speak English

Kid:oui 

Later that night we went to Rustica a restaurant where they had singing and dancing. We went to a club and got in the front of a line thanks to a friend here. Everyone looked at us sober Americans dancing and they didn't join in til an hour later when the alcohol hit them. It was quite entertaining.

Sunday:

Woke up early and went to church. That was challenging to not be able to understand a lot. Went to the primary with sarah. The girls kept saying you are so pretty. I like your hair and your eyes. 

If you want to see pictures that coincide with this post go to my facebook. It's too complicated doing it without a computer.  Apologies for the length too. Ciao! 

The WHY?

Next week I will be in Peru, living there for the next 3.5 months. 

A lot of people asked me why I am going 
So I thought I would share a few of the reasons behind the why.
Truth is there are a lot of reasons why I chose to go. 
First, a while back I wrote on my mirror to travel to a foreign country. 
Call it a goal, a wish, a desire. 
(Things happen if you write it down)

Second, My roommate came to me and said her friend (who will be the country coordinator) 
told her about this opportunity and then my roommate told me about it.  
I would have someone that I know going with me.  
Third, I am young and not tied down with anything. 
Fourth, It was a new adventure, something to get me out of my comfort zone. 
After serving a mission, I now have the added courage to do challenging things. 
I felt like I was getting complacent again, so I decided to take a step outside my comfort zone. 
I am doing something that will not only benefit my life
 but will help change other people's lives. 
Did I doubt my decision? Yes
Am I nervous? Yes
Am I sad to leave my family and friends for a while? Yes.
But in the end I feel the same when I made the decision to serve a mission.
Fifth, probably the biggest reason:
WHY NOT?
Anything can happen if you let it life is out there waiting

so go and get it grab it by the collar seize it by the scruff one

you've started living life you just can't get enough

Anything can happen it's official you can choose the super

or the superficial sally forth the way we're steering obstacles

start disappearing go and chase your dreams you won't regret it

Anything can happen Anything can happen
-Mary Poppins

~Linz