Week 1, Part 1: Sippin' on Pisco Sours, Inca Cola and Coca Tea

Today I'm starting the first installation of my Peru study abroad series, so check it out!

The view as we departed from Miami.

Just 2 and 1/2 weeks after classes got out for the summer, our group of Rockhurst travelers departed from the Kansas City airport and flew all day to Peru, making stops in Fort Wayne and Miami along the way.  I love flying on planes, so the trip there wasn't as bad as I thought it might be - especially because I was so excited to finally get to Peru.  As we flew through South America after nightfall, the tiny orange lights of the cities below would create intricate, almost intentional, designs in the pitch black countryside.

We arrived in Lima late at night and were greeted by Earnesto, our Lima travel guide.  Our big group of Americans caused quite a spectacle, but we eventually managed to retrieve all our luggage and drive to our hotel (in the biggest tour bus I've ever seen) in Miraflores, a district of Lima.

Monday morning we were up bright and early to dine on a continental breakfast of pineapple (wonderful!) and papaya (not so good).  As we began our first tour with Earnesto, the bus stopped at el Parque del Amor, or the park of love, which was decorated with elaborate sculptures and colorful mosaics.

Convento de San Francisco (there was a movie being filmed on the front stairs).

We also stopped by the Convento de San Francisco, a monastery with an ancient biblioteca (library) and a maze of catacombs full of thousands of human remains.  Delightful.

In the Museo Catedral de Lima we learned about Francisco Pizzaro, the Spanish conquistador who colonized Peru in the time of the Incans.

Once we returned to the hotel after our tour, we had out first taste of pisco sours - the beverage Peru is most famous for.  I cannot even tell you how many times we received free pisco sours as a sign of hospitality throughout our visit!  Pisco is a sort of brandy made from grapes, and to make a pisco sour you must mix the pisco with egg whites and bitters.  It takes a little getting used to.

Our oh-so-free pisco sours.

Speaking of Peruvian drinks, at lunch that day we all tried Inca Cola, a popular Peruvian soda that's electric yellow and tastes like bubble gum.  Late on we also drank quite a bit of coca tea, which originates from the coca leaf that is used in, yes, cocaine, but also Coca-Cola.  Coca tea is used to treat altitude sickness and upset stomachs in Peru.

Monday night we went to a dinner and theater where we ate traditional Peruvian cuisine (potatoes) and watched scissor dancing.  That's right.  Dancing with actual (sharp) scissors!

On Tuesday we went to two very opposite areas of Lima.  In the morning we stopped by Barranco, Lima's wealthy district, and crossed the wishing bridge.  Lima-lore has it that if you hold your breath while crossing the bridge and make a wish, your wish will come true.  Then in the afternoon we visited the poverty-stricken hills encircling Lima.  The hills were covered with hundreds of miles of shacks without electricity and running water.  Outside the hills was the Incan Temple del Sol, or sun temple.  We climbed to the top of the temple and had a stunning view of the hills of poverty and the Pacific Ocean.  It was at the temple of the sun that we saw our first Peruvian alpaca.

During lunch that day, Earnesto took our group to a little neighborhood restaurant with live music, but while we were there, the purse - which included a camera, $200 cash and a passport - of one of our group member's was stolen.  Our Rockhurst faculty member, Rocio, spent all day calling around to the Lima police and the American embassy, trying to find the purse and figure out what to do since the passport was missing.  In the end, her purse and passport were turned into a travel office, but her camera and cash were gone forever.

After that little catastrophe, we went to dinner that night in downtown Lima at a shipping mall with all the modern amenities an American could dream of: Starbucks, Chili's, Radio Shack, and more.

More to come later!

My sorority sisters and me at the Plaza de Armas in Lima, Peru.

Past Adventures

As the weather starts to warm in KC (hopefully for good, after all - didn't Phil the groundhog predict an early spring?), I can't help but compare the too-chilly-for-short-sleeves-but-too-warm-for-a-winter-coat feeling to my experience with weather in Peru this past summer.  Then it occurs to me: I have completely neglected to share with my blog readership one of the top-most educational experiences during my Rockhurst career!  Studying abroad!  Well, my friends, dishing the details of my five week adventure would simply take too long for just one post, so I will spare you the lengthy details today and break my experience into five posts many posts, covering a week each post.

First of all, I happened upon the chance to go to Peru just like every other Rockhurst student: I saw a flier.  After a few long conversations with my parents, my Spanish advisor, and the bank, I was locked and loaded for the experience of a lifetime.  In the end, there were a total of 28 students and 1 faculty member from Rockhurst who made the trek to Lima, Peru at the end of May 2010.

To be continued!

Snowmageddon 2011

This past week Kansas City experienced what many of my fellow students have coined "The Snowpocalypse of 2011," resulting in two additional snow days.  Talk about a stroke of luck in this last semester of my senior year! Three snow days for the first time since high school?  I think that's my cue to bow out of college life in the near future and be done with with school nonsense.  But wait.  What's that you say?  I still have a full semester of classes?  25-page papers?  Eventy billion group projects and presentations?  Midterms?  Finals?  Ugh.  Looks like my little snow-vacation has zapped the drive right out of me.

The snow-covered Quad.

Sedgwick looking majestic and historic as ever, even in the snow.

Before the Snowpocalypse officially hit, however, I had the opportunity to take some time to reflect on my spiritual life during the CLC retreat on January 29.  CLC stands for Christian Life Community, which is comprised of a community of small prayer groups organized by the Rockhurst University campus ministry.  I've been in the same CLC group since my freshman year at Rockhurst, and now I'm seeing it through to the end of my senior year with the same group of ladies I started with.  CLC gives me the opportunity to sit down with my group once a week, step out of my busy day-to-day life, and take a deep breath.  Each week we share our highest point of the week, our lowest, and our moment closest to God.  Then we typically conclude with some prayer, reflection and the Ignatian Examen.  The CLC retreat allowed all of the CLC groups to come together to discuss social justice and service, and enjoy some fantastic Mexican food from Teocali.  Overall, it's been an extremely relaxing week, but now it's time to get down to business!

All of the wonderful ladies of my CLC during the CLC Olympics my sophomore year.