Happy Birthday with Birds

This past Wednesday was my 21st birthday. I have been waiting for a long time to be able to say that I have celebrated two birthdays abroad. Technically, I celebrated my birthday three times this week. The first was on the bus ride home from my exchange group's Paracas trip (but more on that later). The other times I celebrated were on Wednesday. Throughout the day I received wonderful birthday messages from family and friends in the States and Spain as well as from everyone in my exchange group. That evening, I went out for dinner at a gourmet sushi restaurant that featured a lot of Japanese inspired food with a Peruvian twist. After my small group of friends and I had stuffed ourselves with rice and fish topped off with a celebratory pisco sour (a typical Peruvian drink), my friends surprised me by pulling out a birthday candle and sticking it into a sushi roll. When I returned home that night my host parents and aunt surprised me with a banana bread cake and yet another round of "Happy Birthday".

Thank you to all of the well-wishers that helped make my day even brighter.

Now I'll go back about two weeks and talk about the day-long excursions my exchange program planned for us. The first was to Lomas de Lucumo which is a gorgeous nature preserve outside the city near the Pachacamac district. We took a hike to the top of the mountains which took only a few hours. The views were wonderful, and the sun even came out for us.

(group photos provided by: Getaway Lima)

That afternoon we went into Pachacamac to visit their museum which not only contains artifacts from past civilizations, but also preserves ruins from those civilizations.

(Additional photos provided by: Getaway Lima)

Last weekend we went on an even longer excursion, a day-long tour of Paracas. We started out the day by meeting at 4:30 in the morning to head out on a bus. When we actually got to Paracas it was about 9:00 and we got on a boat to take a tour of the islands inhabited by birds and to get up close to the sea lions that sunbathe on the rocky island shores.

Every single one of those dots on the rocks are birds. There were so many. The noise and smell was outstanding. And after seeing all of those sea lions basking on those rocks I have decided that being transformed into a sea lion for whatever reason would be a pretty good deal.

When we returned to the mainland we had lunch then set out for the sand dunes. The desert dunes in Paracas are known for being ideal dune buggying and sand boarding locations. As we headed out towards the dunes on a buggy, it was drawing near sunset. Racing over the dunes was a lot like a theme park ride, and we all treated it like one. We also got to try our hand at sand boarding, which is very similar to snowboarding, except the particles of sand to not melt which means you have to shake out all of your clothes at the end of it. By the end my pockets were filled with sand, and I'm sure I had a small beach in my shoes.

On the bus ride back, Nina came up with a fantastic idea to celebrate Fiona, Sami, and my birthdays since our birthdays were all in September, and this would be the last time this month that we would all be in the same place at once. We each got a small cake with a candle that we got to blow out, then we all passed around the cakes to share.

At the end of it all, we finally returned to the city completely exhausted at 12:30 that night. It was an incredibly long day, but well worth it.

There's Piranhas in the Water and Frogs in the Toilet (Part 2)

The next morning we woke up early again. We greeted our first full day in the jungle with watching it wake up with the rising sun. The entire time our guides were pointing out various wildlife. We spotted a monkey, but mostly we saw birds. I wish I knew more about birds of the rainforest so I didn't have to keep wondering what type of birds they were. Most of them are unfamiliar to me here.

After breakfast we went out on a nature hike, this time our guide Toni explained more about the medicinal properties of the trees and plants. We ate a strange type of coconut, climbed trees, and swung on vines.

We also discovered that a tree frog appeared to have made our bathroom sink home, but that wasn't quite as dramatic as the girls in one of the other room who discovered an even larger tree frog residing in their toilet. It seemed to creep out the girls who had to deal with it, and when I finally captured the thing and released it outside the lodge I could imagine why. The frog was as big as my palm, and I can understand how uncomfortable it would be to have that guy watching you pee. I also asked our guides about the rustling I had heard last night coming from the palm leaf roof of our abode. My suspicions were correct, there were indeed bats that had taken up residence in our room as well.

For lunch that day we ate caiman, a creature related to an alligator but even larger. I had always heard that alligator tastes like chicken, and honestly I don't think that is entirely true. The best way I can explain it is that it has the appearance and texture of chicken. The flavor is not quite the same. However, if no on had told me I could have been fooled.

A few hours later, when the sun was less harsh, we headed out on our wooden boat again to try our hand at catching dinner. There were no fancy rods, just poles with line and a hook attached to the end. We baited the hooks with pieces of chicken or smaller fish that we eventually caught. I was not lucky enough to catch a piranha, but I did manage to catch a decent sized sardine.

That evening our wonderful chef prepared our piranhas and sardines to eat. There wasn't much meat on them, but they did taste good.

The following day, we packed up our belongings to head back to the city; our last full day of vacation. Since we weren't leaving until that afternoon, we headed to the town of Puerto Miguel one last time to celebrate the anniversary of the town. They served fermented drinks and sold handicrafts. I bought a knife made out of fish bone. We also got to hold a sloth. They are truly amazing creatures. I think that their faces are wonderful. When we finally had to leave the sloth we let it climb onto beam that was supporting the house. At first we thought it was going to climb up to the roof and take a nap, but instead it lifted itself up just enough to rest itself on a shelf while still holding onto the beam. I don't think I have ever related more to something on a spiritual level in my life.

After lunch we had a little more time before the boat came to take us back to Nauta so we were invited to attend the birthday party of a three year old girl who I guessed was a relative of the people who ran the lodge. We sang her happy birthday and took pictures. Luckily, some of my friends had cameras that took instant polaroids. They gave those polaroids to the mother of the girl who we noticed admiring them with a smile on her face. We knew that she would treasure those special pictures for a long time.

Getting back to the hotel in Iquitos took just as long as the first trip to the jungle, and once again we all fell asleep on the boat ride. When we did arrive in the hotel, we were all glad to finally have a fully functioning shower and air conditioning so we could finally cool off and get clean.

Then suddenly it was Tuesday. The long weekend was coming to a close and our flight back to Lima was departing at 2:30 that afternoon. But we still had time for one last adventure. Our guide, Hilter, took us to the Mercado Belen, the outdoor marked in the poorest district of Iquitos. It sold everything from vegetables, to medicines, to souvenirs, to chicken feet. We even gave a local delicacy, fried grubs, a shot. It had the flavor of a vegetable with the texture of an insect. I would not eat it again.

(Photo by: Leah) 

 (Photo by: Leah)

(Photo by: Leah)

Though finally returning to Lima was a relief of familiarity after a weekend of new experiences, I had fallen in love with the jungle so much that I could have stayed for several months without complaint. I was not thrilled to leave fresh air behind for the foggy smog of the city, but it is still my foggy smoggy city. I will miss the jungle, but this city is still home.

(All additional photos for this blog post provided by Megan. Thanks!)

There's Piranhas in the Water and Frogs in the Toilet (Part 1)

I haven't yet had the time to talk about my miniature adventure last weekend. I suppose for most people, a visit to the Amazon would not be considered anything small, but I only stayed in the jungle for two nights which is a short period of time for me. In fact, it was too short as I could have easily stayed there for several months instead of going back to classes on Wednesday.

On Friday I got up at 3:30 in the morning to take a taxi with two of the eight other girls I had planned this trip with in order to make it on our early morning flight. Of course, I was not pleased to be awake that early, and in the haze of my brain running solely on coffee and oranges I continued to wonder why people even bothered to be awake this early. Though the streets were far from the congested chaos normally found in Lima, There were plenty of taxi's lining the streets, waiting for a late nighter to hail them, and as we got closer to the airport, regular cars began to mix with the taxis on the roads. I assumed they had to be going somewhere, most likely work. It's at times like this where I find irony in how people call New York City "the city that never sleeps" because if you look at any large city there is always a significant number of people awake somewhere for some reason. No city ever really "sleeps".

(Photo by: Megan)

Back on topic, we met the rest of the group in the airport early enough to down some much needed caffeine and go through security. When we landed in Iquitos (the largest isolated town in the Amazon) the contrast between Lima was obvious. It was so green! For the first time in my life, I disembarked from the plane from a staircase directly onto the tarmac, and felt the beautiful clarity of the air and the rain on the hood of my jacket as the humidity hit my face. "Ahh," I said. "Ugh," said Kaylie, a companion of mine on this trip and a native of California. But Iquitos was only the half of it. Once we got to the actual jungle where there was no air conditioning and no break from the elements it was equivalent to living in a live butterfly exhibit. Though, I didn't seem to mind as much as my friends. I always was the last one in my family to leave the butterfly exhibit.

(Photo by: Megan)

We spent the rest of the first day in the city of Iquitos. We all settled into the hotel and then went off to explore the city. Though there are public bus lines in Iquitos, the other most common way to get around is by motokar, as the locals call them.

(Photo by: Megan)

All of us had decided previously to visit the Amazon Rescue Center while we were in Iquitos. The center is best known for their rehabilitation and release of the fresh water manatees native to the Amazon river system. However, they also house and rehabilitate a wide variety of other animals native to the jungle including otters, turtles, and several species of monkeys. Though, the most magical part of the visit was easily the manatees. It is clear why the center is famous for them. They are considered noble creatures by those who have experienced their majesty.

(Photo by: Megan)

That evening, after ordering pizza and watching the dubbed version of Billy Elliot, all nine of us turned in early since we had all been up since before 4 in the morning.

The next morning, we rose early once again in order to take the drive to Nauta, a town south of Iquitos and much closer to the lodge we would be staying in that night. After the hour and a half long drive, we loaded our bags onto a long wooden boat with a trolling motor (or peke-peke as everyone else calls them). It was difficult to gauge how long the ride actually was down the river because we all kept dozing off, but just past midday, we were greeted at our new dwellings by the sight of the Amazon's famous pink dolphins playing in the distance.

(Photo by: Kinzie)

(Photo by: Kinzie)

After a lazy lunch, we geared up in our long sleeves and rubber boots to go on a quick walk through the jungle to the nearby town, Puerto Miguel. The way there and back, our guides explained to us the medicinal factors of the local flora. There are a surprising amount of things that are edible in the jungle, and a great deal of those are supposedly good for the stomach. We also met a sloth that we sort of woke up from it's midday snooze.

A few hours before sunset, we set out again by boat to a sand bar just at the mouth of a split in the river that we traveled through just before arriving at the lodge. Because it is currently the dry season in the jungle, the river was shallow, allowing for the large sand bar to be visible. There we played in the sand and the wonderfully cool mud at the water's edge and discovered many things: the sun bleached bones of long dead fish, the nests of waterfowl that had flocked to the sand bar to raise their babies, and where our two guides (Toni and Hilter) were from. As the sun dipped lower in the sky, we submerged ourselves in the river in hopes of swimming with the dolphins that often come to that shore. We had no luck with the dolphins, but we did cover ourselves in mud and pretend to be monsters. I had to wash my swimsuit out that night under the shower. I use shower in the sense that it was water that fell from above head height over a drain in the bathroom connected to the room I shared with Sami and Jenny. Hose would have seemed the more appropriate term for some people.

By that time in the evening, we all agreed we were too tired to visit Puerto Miguel at night, and it was already getting dark. However, we also agreed that stepping away from the generator powered lights of the lodge to see the stars was the perfect way to end our first day in the Amazon. Once we had walked a decent distance, we all turned off our flashlights and looked up. Some of the girls gasped. Above us was more stars than I had ever seen in my life. Even from my lawn on a cool evening, even up north, even in Guatemala in the middle of nowhere, I had never seen as many stars than I had in this middle of nowhere. I pointed out how clearly I could see the Milky Way. Some of the girls hadn't even realized it was the Milky Way, they had just assumed it was a long cloud. I wish I could take pictures of the night sky to share with everyone, but all I have are the memories in my mind of our entire galaxy and many more shining in the beautiful vastness of space.