i have a cold, not the gripe de porcina

thus far, no swine flu outbreaks in peru (knock on wood).
other south american countries are not allowing in travellers from mexico...as far as i know peru has not put something like that into place...yet.

there were cases cited in WI-so to all you mifflin-goers: stay away from the octabongs. get thoroughly wasted by drinking your own beer, please.

cuídense mucho,
no besos or abrazos this time, sorry.

important things: palabras

I hope you all had the chance to read the first installment of "important things"!

(Please, keep in mind with these posts that this is all in good fun, I like Peru, love my friends here, and respect the people, this is just to give a little -sarcastic- view into my life here.)

With no further adieu, I present take 2,
"Important Things Peru: Palabras"

I've found when going to a country, it's good to know the native language. (smart, right? yes, it's how I got into Madison, thanks.) Knowing the slang and common phrases? Also good, but much harder to prepare for. I've been in Peru for almost 2 months now, and have compiled a list of common phrases/words that are must-knows for this dear country.
So here goes:

"¡Qué rico!" I have put this first because it is by far the thing I hear most often. All the time in fact. About everything. Gah. This literally would translate to "How rich!" and is most often (but not limited to) describing foods.
El jugo (juice) tonight? RICO!
La sopa (soup) tonight? RIQUISIMA!
El postre (dessert) tonight? RIQUSISISISIMA!
Pisco sours, Vino tinto? I'll let you take a guess at it
(I get a rich dessert, but orange juice? dude it just tastes like Tang.)
As you can tell, it doesn't com.plete.ly grind my gears or anything.

"¡Qué raro!" Literal translation: How rare! It would be a nice phrase if it was also, similar to its sister phrase above used every once and a while. But it is used often, and in situations where something a liiittle kinder than just "how odd" is due.
A friend is late to dinner? QUE RARO! (understandable)
Men with guns outside the house? QUE RARO! (not "que TERRIFYING?)
World War III is starting in Peru? QUE RARO! (not DUCK AND COVER?)

"Chévere" Translation: Awesome! Sweet! Cool! If you are young and in Peru, know this word. You will use it/hear it all the time.

"Chelas" Translation: Beer. Of course, as we all know, the most important words to know when going to any country are "bathroom" and "beer". Sure, you can use "cerveza" here, but "chela" is the slang.

" xD, :S, =S, u_u" Now, while most of us got over the "emoticon" phase when we were 7th graders on AIM, Peruvian youth seems to have missed the memo.

"China/Chino" Anyone of any even remotely Asian-looking descent. But according to them it's not them being racist. Hm.

"Broaster" GAH. This one gets me almost as much as "que rico". In the USA, nowadays a lot of the frat types use the word "Bro" to call each other by. Here is Peru, they use "broaster". Take the amount I hate hearing the word "bro" in the USA and multiply it by 16. Luckily, the guys I hang out with here don't use it. Much like the great guys of 525 back in Madison. Thank. God.

"Que Vergüenza" Now, in good old Spanish 101 we were taught this means "embarrassing". Thus, when my roommate was telling a peruvian friend about a robbery and he replied "que verguenza" to her my immediate reaction was "thanks for the sympathy, jackass". Turns out here it also means "how shameful". He was being nice. Oops! My bad.

Alright, this should be sufficient for now...

Besos y Abrazos!

heaven

i must admit, i have been missing the states during the past few days.

my friend eric sent me a package with one of my favorite things: velveeta shells and cheese, which is my total comfort food. i asked our maid, mariluki if i could use the stove someday to make it...

being her fantastic self, she didn't make me wait to have to do that, but instead surprised us at dinner by making her peruvian version of mac & cheese.

it. was. delicious.

although it wasn't the same as enjoying this dish with some of my favorite people back home, it was so nice to know that mariluki was looking out for me while i was feeling down.

(no worries mom, you aren't being replaced. she isn't as cute as you are)

so when i get back to the USA, my regular shells and cheese lovers (zach,casey,eric & jeff), i expect bowls and bowls ready when i step off the plane.
but for now, i will sit back and enjoy this new multi-colored-noodle-gooey-white-cheese goodness in peru.

we're on the corner with the church...um..

If you like Catholics, go to Peru, they are everywhere.

If you REALLY like Catholics, go to Ayacucho, Peru, where 99% of the population is Catholic.
No, really. There are 33 main churches in this town, one for each year of Jesus's life.

For Semana Santa, the celebration of the week before Easter, the girls and I went to Ayacucho, which was rumored to have the 2nd biggest celebration in the world. Yeah.

I won't go into great detail of the weekend, or else this blog would be a novel.

Highlights:
- We stayed in a elementary school with 3 peruvian guys. Awesome.
- We ran with bulls. Not big scale like in Spain, but plenty terrifying.
- We went to numerous fairs where we rode on a ferris wheel that would never pass safety codes in the States.
- We attended a party in the plaza that was a combination of Mifflin Street Block Party, UW Madison football game days, Spring Break, and 4th of July. People were dancing, singing, chanting, building human pyramids and drinking excessive amounts of beer. (As one local told me, "Jesus liked to drink, so do we."

-We stayed in the plaza all day Saturday and at night there are huge bonfires, dances, fireworks, and a procession at 5am, which everyone stays in the Plaza for until all the festivities are over.

Lowlights:

- RAIN. Wait, let me reiterate: MONSOONS. I guess that's what you get when you're in the mountains during the tail end of the rainy season. Damn.

Enough talk, enjoy the pictures:

Olive picture for Daddy- Fair in Ayacucho.
Storm coming-- View from el Mirador.

Not like the sunsets are gorgeous here....

The people of the town cover the streets with these mural- COMPLETELY made of flower petals. Seriously. Look at that. Amazing.

Procession night 1: Church figures carrying Jesus replica

Plaza pyramids Saturday morning...
Part of the firework show Saturday night

Enough for now, more pictures later!

Besos y Abrazos!

important things: PDA

For those of you that don't already know about comedian Demetri Martin, do yourself a favor and check out his stand up comedy acts, or his new show, Important Things.
Each week on his show he chooses a topic to focus the jokes/skits on. Thus, I have decided to do that here in Peru.

So for my first installment in the series, may I present:
Important Things Peru: PDA

Public Displays of Affection (PDA).
At certain times, and in certain places in the States, certain PDA is accepted and allowed.
Hand holding in a park? Yes.
Little kiss on a picnic? Sure!
Under the shirt at a funeral? No.

Here in Peru, they have similar values.
Oh wait, I'm sorry, take out the similar and replace it with "completely different".

Here is a brief breakdown to how I feel about Peru's PDA at my university, Pontificia:

Hand holding while walking to class: Cute

Little kisses before going to class: So cute I could puke.

Making out in front of the room I am trying to enter: Gross.

Feeling each other up in class next to me: Puke.

Sucking on each others' fingers DURING class: So gross I could puke.

Being practically horizontal outside the class I'm leaving: So gross I would like to shake them so hard they puke.

As you can see, clearly PDA here doesn't bother me at all! (Man I hope sarcasm bodes well over blogs).

Hope you all have a fun, safe, and PDA free weekend. The roommates and I will be in Ayacucho until Monday!

Besos y Abrazos (more than usual, unfortunately)

parque del amor, meet your match.

One would think that a place with a name like "Parque del Amor" (Park of Love) would be the most romantic place in Peru, right?

Humor me here and say yes.

Well, one would have imagined wrong.

Parque del Amor, meet your competition: Parque de la Reserva.

This park is the world record holder for largest fountain complex...and should probably be world record holder for worst place to visit single. Just sayin'.

The roommates and I went to this park last night to see the fantastic fountain display. The 13 gigantic fountains all have assorted and changing colored lights as well as music that the water shoots out to. The park itself is an incredibly large area with a winding walkways, columns laced with flowers, and benches everywhere for couples to sit and enjoy the shows.

I've attatched pictures, but they do not to the place justice by any means. Between the lights and music and elegant flowers, there is this overall good-feeling vibe that you really have to witness to fully understand.

So if you are looking for a place to be in/fall in/see/hear/feel love, come on down to Parque de la Reserva. It won't disappoint. For more images, click HERE