The Traveling Mom

As most of you probably already know, my mom made the trek down here for a few days to see Lima! It was an amazing weekend and I had so much fun showing her my city! I packed a lot of activities in 3 days and by the end we were both so exhausted, but it was worth it!

Thursday night/Friday morning she got to the hotel around midnight and she walked in and had the best gift for me (other than herself, of course)....she walked through the entire Houston and Lima airport with a bag of chips and salsa in hand from an amazing Texmex restaurant in Houston. I'm sure it was really annoying to have to carry that all over, but it was sooooooo worth it!! So we spent a while talking and eating chips and salsa late into the night and I was so happy. 

It's just so beautiful

Friday morning we woke up early to grab breakfast near our hotel before our bike tour! We shared an omelette and some churros for breakfast, and come to think of it I'm pretty sure we shared every meal we got that weekend. The bike tour was really fun, we met people traveling from all over the US (I realized I need to meet a guy in software because I've met so many people from software companies traveling) and got to see my city from an extremely touristy view. I already knew a lot of the information the guide told us, but I learned a lot as well!

Of course we had churros for breakfast!

All ready to ride the city!

Parque de Amor was so beautiful with all these murals!

And the ocean view sure helped!

:)

After our bike ride around Miraflores and Barranco, we headed to Punto Azul for some amazing ceviche and my mom's first chilcano! (Hint: she liked it...a lot). Unfortunately we had to squeeze all our drinking in on Friday because since it was election weekend here in Peru, apparently it's dry. So basically we travelled back to prohibition and it was sad, because there were a lot of places I wanted to take her to enjoy some drinks and we weren't able to do that :( That night we went to Larcomar mall (which apparently is the 2nd most visited place in Peru after Machu Picchu which I have no idea why) for dinner and enjoyed some tequeños and the traditional Lomo Saltado dish with a pisco sour and Chilcano. We then proceeded to drag ourselves back to our hotel and pass out. It was a long day.

Her first Chilcano changed her life

Saturday morning we headed to Central Lima to see the changing of the guards and some of the churches down there. Remember that time I went to see the changing of the guards and missed it because of a taxi and a sketchy walk? Yeah, well I finally got to see it and it was kind of funny actually. It was choreographed not like I expected for a changing of the guards. But we also got to go in a few old Catholic churches and we went to see the catacombs again! Yay!

Some secret service lookin-people outside changing of the guards

The band that played the music

You can see the top of their guns during their dance (lol)

One of the altars 

A life sized version (if not bigger) of Jesus

Another extravagant altar

The ceiling is so cool

After central Lima we went to have lunch with my host family and had another traditional dish: Ají de gallina. My mom was worried about not knowing what my family was saying but since so many of them know English, I knew it wouldn't be a problem. She really enjoyed getting to know them and I'm glad she finally got to meet my host family and see my home!

My awesome parents 

Family <3

After we finally left around 5, we walked through my campus so she could see my school and went to drop off all my souvenirs she took home for me off at the hotel and headed to Parque de las Aguas. This was a ton of fun and the water show was amazing! Last time I came we missed the show because of stupid taxis and traffic again, but this time we waited for the next show and it was definitely worth it! It was a lot of fun walking around to all the fountains and people watching. We even went to buy a churro while walking around and the lady behind the counter asked if I had money. Obviously I have money or else I wouldn't be ordering it! Made no sense to us. After the park, we went to have some of the best sushi ever. It was late and they were about to close but it was the best sushi ever. Seriously. Yum.

We had fun recording the fountains in different ways

We waited for the fountain to turn blue

The water tunnel is always my favorite

Sunday we went and had breakfast (that came with some fries...weird) and walked to some ruins that are in Lima and waited around for it to open. Turns out, they were closed since it was election day. Disappointed, we walked around the outside a bit to try to see some of it. Since my mom was so upset that it was closed, I made her climb a tree to see the ruins. It was hilarious to say the least. 

She's a regular ole Huckleberry Finn

After that disappointment, we went and shopped a little bit (a lot) and found my graduation dress!! Phew! That is one less thing I have to worry about on the day I have to prepare when I get back. We then enjoyed some of the drinks we bought on Friday in the room before heading to Barranco to touch the Pacific ocean and to watch the sunset. She didn't believe me when I said it was cold. Then we went back to grab some ceviche at Punto Azul again before she had to head to the airport, but apparently they were closed for dinner that night. Very disappointing. So we walked around and found this little restaurant and enjoyed some ceviche and picarones (a donut dessert made of sweet potatoes). It was yummy, yet again, and then we went back to shower and finish packing up before I saw her off to the airport. :( But I have less than 3 weeks until I see her again, so it's really not too terrible.

Trying not to get taken out by the ice cold waves

I love you mom and thank you so much for traveling out of your comfort zone to see me!! <3

America the Beautiful(ly oblivious)

So this past week has been completely uneventful. Life in Peru is starting to get normal...how weird is that? So I was productive and finished all my homework for the rest of the semester and scrolled through pinterest for a long time before deciding what to write this week. I decided on America. (It was the topic of part of a paper I recently wrote so it's fresh in my thoughts).

American culture is all over the world. I've talked with my host sister from Oklahoma quite a bit about this because it is actually very surprising to me and I never realized it when I lived in the US. In America, we are consumed by our own culture. English is the unofficially-official language of the country and we will not let anyone forget that. But the thing is, English is an never was America's language. North America began as a refuge for people who were seeking a religious refuge, land to expand and conquer and a new exploration. There was already hundreds of cultures when America was discovered (not by Columbus by the way) who had lived and thrived there for thousands of years. The Native American culture was so rich and deep, and unfortunately often we wash right over it and only include it in the history books when it overlaps with the New England history. I am thankful for taking a dual-credit class in high school about American history before 1865, this is where I read about the ice-age and the beginning of this continent and really got interested in this sort of thing (Thanks Dr./Mr. Haun)! Since the English arrived, it has been about that, I never really learned about the history of the Spaniards (I did a little bit thanks to my Houston education who required a full year of Texas History because Texas is Texas), or the French or any of these other huge colonies that the English eventually overtook. But these cultures are still around in the country.

When I was little I went to Fredericksburg, a little german town in Texas, with my dad and grandparents and it was really cool to see some of the customs preserved. Same when my grandparents and I went to Pella, Iowa a few times to learn about the Dutch. These are some really cool memories that I have of different cultures without leaving America. But so many people are only focused on their day to day lives and don't pay attention to these little pockets so close to where they live.

The "American Culture" is what is known and loved. Our culture permeates throughout the world, reaching people far away that we never realize it affects. Everyone knows our president, our singers, our movie stars. Everyone knows Trump (well they usually ask, "who's that crazy guy running for president" haha) and our politics. That's because we affect the entire world. Living in a country that most people do not speak English, it is surprising how much English is around. People wear shirts with quotes in English on them, maybe not knowing what they actually say (maybe they do though). Most of the movies in the theaters are in English with Spanish subtitles. I cannot count the number of taxis I have gotten in that has old English rock playing or Justin Beiber or Adele. What we do and make is wanted and liked by people all over the world, and Americans like it too. Maybe it was just me and some of my friends, but I was never excited to watch a movie in another language because reading subtitles was just too much. Listening to songs in another language seemed pointless to me because I didn't know what they were saying. But here, and around the world, they do it. They learn other languages, know more than I do (I've met quite a few Peruvians who know at least 3 languages and here I am struggling with my second). They're more in tune with the world than one of the most influential countries of the world. This is sad to me.

We need to appreciate other cultures and countries and learn about them as much as they learn about us. We need to be informed citizens of the world. I am doing my best to better myself in this way, I hope you do too. :)


Alright, rant over :) My mom gets here tonight and I am so excited to see her. 
Side note: I paid to have my feet eaten by fish last Friday and it was the weirdest feeling ever.

Its the feeling of your feet waking up after falling asleep

It's blurry but here we are, being eaten alive

Thanks for coming.

That is all until next week.

Chau.

:)

The Holy Week Was Good to Me

This past weekend was Semana Santa, where instead of celebrating Easter like most Christian/Catholic countries, everyone goes on vacation. They get Thursday and Friday off of school and work and head out of town. So we did the same. A few of us packed up our backpacks and crammed in a bus to Punta Hermosa to enjoy the beach. We stayed with one of Danielle's friends and the apartment was packed. Thursday night we just hung out in the apartment waiting for everyone to arrive (and celebrating me getting a job offer:)!!!). And then Friday we went to the beach for a little bit and Emi and I went exploring on the beach. We found this really amazing cave and little door into the mountain that I took maybe 100 pictures of. We went in the cave and it was all drippy and creepy and damp and it ended up just being an open space. Nothing too exciting. 

How cool does that look??

Even better up close

The cave

The stairway we had to climb a rock to get on

But we still climbed it, of course. We're adventurers!

Me being an idiot in a picture, what's new?

That night we went rode in a cramped van with 13 people for an hour to another beach, Asia. There I ate a terrible burger at their local fast food joint, Bembos, then headed to the overly expensive club. After I bought a bottle of water for an overly expensive 10 soles, Emi and I were ready to go home to sleep. So Danielle, Emi and I waited outside until the rest of the crew was ready ro head back. 

Saturday we woke up super early because, even though we went to bed around 3, apparently Peruvians don't sleep. So the music was blasting by 8 am. We got up for a lazy day, but it was Emi's 21st birthday so it was a good one!! We walked to the stores a few times and ate dinner at a little restaurant before getting ready to go to another club in Punta Hermosa that night. We got a box in this club so it was a lot of fun and they played American music for a little bit, which always pumps us up. Then we all salsa-danced the night away. I had a really great night and almost made it to see the sun rise, but I missed it by about 30 minutes. So going to bed at 4:30 and being woken up at 9 did not make for a happy Shelby. But Danielle and Emi made some bomb grilled cheeses and we were on our way back to Lima. We made some really good friends this weekend and everyone was so nice and welcoming!! Us Americans also had a weekend full of practicing our Spanish (although we did cheat a few times and speak English with the Peruvians as well). 

Angelo! And Cristina! 2 awesome people I met this weekend

Hey thanks for letting me borrow your clothes. Love you <3

Happy birthday to my hair-flipping child

I wish I would've gotten a picture with the tall furry blue hat she was sporting all weekend

I have beautiful friends :)

The rest of the week has been pretty normal...I've had sushi 3 days in a row, which makes me a very happy camper. Other than that, just livin the normal Lima-life! Not quite ready to come home and it's stressing me out, especially since I have a new job so it's like real life I have to go start. Woah. I'm so excited about this job though. Seriously. And not just because it's a job, it's exactly what I've been looking for!! Not only is it a non-profit, but an internation and well known non-profit!! And I'll be both marketing and fundraising (which are two different jobs I was looking for in one!) and a bonus of overseeing event planning for fundraising events!! I am beyond blessed to recover this job at the start of my career with a boss I think I'm really going to get along with (from how the interview went). 

And to add to all of that happiness, my mom arrives a week from today!! Then the next weekend in the Amazon swimming with dolphins and playing with monkeys, then the following weekend my dad arrived for a few days in Lima as well! I'm quickly running out of time and becoming very busy, but that's what the last few weeks of vacation college is for right??

Tip: Don't Get Lost in Sketchy Neighborhoods

This is from the last post but I just got the picture and it makes me happy :)

St. Patrick's Day was quite the event.
First, my host dad guilted convinced me into waking up at 5am to go pick up yet another new host sister from the airport. So my day started very early, but Anna is from Oklahoma and is super sweet! I'm excited to get to know her in the month I have left!
For class we headed to Central Lima to see the changing of the guards, which I never ended up getting to see. This begins the Week of Lost Shelby. Mariah, Purina, Gabi and I hopped in a cab an hour and a half before the changing of the guards started at noon. This was the first female cab driver I had seen in Lima so that was pretty exciting, but she took us through some back roads and some sketchy parts of Lima. She would point out the window and tell us that that is one of the poorest parts of the city...cool. Then we sat in traffic for a solid 40 minutes maybe moving a maximum of 4 blocks that whole time. We were only about 6 blocks away from the Presidential Palace at this point so we kept asking if we could walk from here and she said "no, we are very close" alright. It is now after noon and the changing of the guards has started. We wait in the steaming hot taxi in a part of the city none of us had ever been to before until we got to a gate that was closing the road we needed to take. We decided to get out here and walk the rest of the way because the traffic was making us all way too annoyed. We walked through the gate and then got to another gate where some police officers said we could not pass and had to walk around this other huge building. So we started walking. And walking. And walking. We were not sure when we would be able to turn to go around this building because we passed another closed street. We walked deeper and deeper into the neighborhood we knew nothing about. Now, by this point in my study abroad I am used to being yelled at and whistled at. It happens so often that, just like the constant noise of car alarms, I don't really pay attention to it anymore. But during this walk, it was bad. Very bad. We were all holding onto our purses and I was walking as fast as my little legs could carry me. We walked down a street where on the other side of the road were upwards of 20-30 men standing and leaning against the building. They proceeded to yell and scream and make a large ruckus as we hustled along the other side of the road. This was terrifying. Having that many people at once was new to all of us, so we kept our heads down and moved along. We eventually got to the part of Central Lima that we had been to before and we relaxed a little as we just caught a glimpse of our group going into a large church as we made it to the square. We were finally safe. After looking at the church we all headed to another square, then to China town for lunch. I was starving and about ready to punch a wall out of hunger, so we found a really delicious Chinese restaurant that had lunch for only about $4! Score!!
We then headed to supposedly a hotel that has the "Best Pisco Sour" to begin our St. Patrick's Day celebrations (unfortunately it was one of the worst pisco sours in my opinion). We spent the next few hours at an Irish bar before heading to Emi's to pregame a little before the club. I did not make it to said club, instead I decided to walk around the city all night talking my little heart out with Emi's boyfriend.

China Town

We like free drinks- thanks Starbra <3

The worst "Best Pisco Sour"

Friday we went our college's International Student Orientation (for the students starting school this week- their summer just finished last week, so we're on a different schedule) then spent some time at Claire's pool. We headed to Miraflores to go back to the amazing sushi restaurant we ate at a few weeks ago and wandered around hoping to run into it. Which we eventually did, and it ended up being closed for another 45 minutes. Just my luck. So instead we went to Chili's and our server was racist and rude to us the whole time. We complained to the manager about being ignored and having all of our food messed up and how rude our server was and apparently the server's excuse was that he "didn't speak any english." That is not an excuse to be rude to us because we never once spoke in English to him, I even asked him a question in Spanish, but apparently that was not enough to treat us with respect. Instead he joked around with the table right next to us and had someone else come fling ketchup on our table. We ended up getting a free dessert out of it so it didn't end up too bad.

Sunday I went with my host parents and foreign sisters to the pool where we all got burnt to a crisp. I am still nursing my tomato-red stomach, but my legs did me proud and turned into a tan instead of nasty peeling. After the pool, as a family, we went to an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant. Let me say that again for emphasis: ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT SUSHI. Good? Okay. It was amazing and I am not able to remember how many I ate, but I could barely walk back to the car. It was so delicious and somehow I even fit a few dessert sushi rolls in there at the end. Ice cream wrapped in crepe with fudge on top. Omg.

Before the burns

Leche de Tigre ("Tigre's Milk") is so delicious

Barra Libre= All You Can Eat!!

I love my parents lol

The dessert sushi :))

Tuesday night a few of us went to Parque de Las Aguas which was so cool. There were water shows with lights and water tunnels and fun stuff. I need to go back so I can enjoy it to the fullest potential, and not when I'm hungry.

Ice Cream dates are fun

I didn't get to see the whole show...

...which just means I have to go back again...

...right?

You could walk inside this one!

Aren't we beautiful?

Nah this is a better view

Water tunnel!!!!

So majestic

Other than that, my week hasn't been too exciting. I've eaten sushi 2 more times since Sunday because why not. And I bought my tickets for my TRIP TO THE AMAZON!!! Just wait for that exciting blog post because there are so many animals I will see and (Im going to swim with dolphins...I will 200% cry).