Un fin de semana en Chancay

This weekend I went with some friends to Chancay, it's a small town about an hour and a half north of Lima, also on the coast. We left Saturday morning around ten, arrived and checked into our hostal which was really nice and cheap, I think we paid 20 soles for a double (less than $4 per person) then we had lunch. We had some really good seafood. There was a lot of squid, calamari, and shrimp, it was quite tasty. In order to get around in the smaller towns in Peru (generally anything not in Lima they call "provincias") you can take mototaxis which are basically motorcycles or dirt bikes that have been modified to have three wheels.











Chancay has a castle that was built in the 1820s and is one of the main attractions so we hit that up and took the tour. I will get some pictures but up soon! The castle sits on the beach and has really nice views. Then, for the evening we found some pizza and pollo a la brasa (fried/bbq chicken) for dinner and went to one of the discotecas that was close to our hostal. However, we got there too early and no one was there...So we waited and finally people started showing up, but no one was dancing! NO ONE! Then, we decided to brave the dance floor and I think we successfully showed them how it's done. We danced salsa, merengue, and of course reggaeton...

Then Sunday morning we got up and went to this awkward eco-turisty place and ended up not going in we just looked from the outside...Anyway, the better part of Sunday was getting to and from...we took a taxi with this really old guy and he was driving with two fingers so we inquired about that and he responded saying that it was really no big deal, he'd been driving for 30 years and has never had a license. Then, my friend was concerned about the lack of tail lights so we inquired (of course once we were already well on our way) and he responded saying "Why? What for?" Hahaha, so then he tells us all about how he's driven from Ecuador all through Peru and to Chile, and how he likes Peruvian food the most, but when it comes to women, he likes Chilean women.



Then, on the taxi ride back, the driver stopped and we watched him siphon gas out of a semi on the side of the road and go and mix it with something and come back and put it in our taxi! Hahaha, it was crazy. Then, he dropped us off on the side of the road where we didn't want to be and we had to walk and find another taxi to take us the rest of the way back to the hostal, but the third taxista wasn't nearly as fun as the first two.

Then Sunday was the huge parade and fireworks for Independence Day. It is actually the 28th of July but there was a swine flu warning so they couldn't hold the parade. Well anyway we decided to brave the crowd, and I mean CROWD...a ridiculous amount of people, I have never been so touched groped hot and bothered every in my whole life! And yelled at! Muévate! It was crazy crazy and one friend got his camera pick-pocketed and another got her phone stolen right out of her hand hahaha, the thieves get shameless, if you have something out and it's in grabbing distance it'll be gone. So that part wasn't too fun, but we enjoyed ourselves and had a good time nonetheless.

clases, familia, SALSA

I have been keeping busy as I am getting used to my routine. I have class Mondays and Wednesdays from 4-6pm and 6-9pm and Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-10:30am. And NOTHING on Fridays which is so nice, also it'll be handy when I want to travel and can leave after my class Thursday and not have to return until Monday morning.

Classes are going well, my poli sci class is probably the hardest just because (obviously) it is in Spanish and the readings are so dense to begin with that sometimes it takes a while to wade through it all. I am really enjoying my anthropology class, the professor is great and very lively which makes the 3 hours pass relatively painlessly.

I have really enjoyed getting to meet my host family. In the house it is just my host mom Anita and I, and her older brother also lives in the house but I don't see much of him, he leaves early in the morning and comes home late. But, Anita and I eat most of our meals together and she's always got funny stories and things to share. Also she has four grown kids. Her oldest son lives in La Paz, Bolivia and the next oldest son lives in Lima and has two daughters. Then, about 10 years later she had two more, her third son lives in the jungle now (although when I say jungle I just mean regionally, not actually IN the jungle) and works in tourism. Then her fourth is her daughter who also lives in Lima, about 20 mins from us. The younger two kids are a bit older than me, I think the daughter is late 20s but she loves to dance, I think we will go out dancing some night...

Which brings me to my next point! I had my first salsa class and it was SPICY!! I had a blast, I can't wait to go back, it's so much fun and great exercise too! There are some great salsa clubs around that I would love to hit up once I feel ready to reveal my salsa side to the world...

I think that is all for now!