May 19th, 2014

Hola, 

It's time to start this adventurous blog that will the describe the adventures of the most suave Cuban that was thrown into the unknown city of Lima, Peru. 

May 17th, 2014:

"Bienvenidos a Peru", the first sign I saw when I got out of the tight warm and quite pleasant American Airlines plane. After spending most of the flight speaking with the woman next to me from Lima, I finally was ready to explore and learn so much from this incredible city. I say incredible because not only have I seen pictures and heard about how great Lima, and Peru are as a whole, but because unlike the others on the trip with me, I have a few friends from Lima. Before I start speaking about my adventures I feel like its necessary to say that one of my closest friends is from Lima. Growing up with this guy has been amazing, we've had our ups and downs, and sometimes I want to kill him, but 100% of the time he is like a brother to me; the brother I never had. My 'brother' had told me so much about Lima, and told me how much I was going to love it. He told me a few things, he said, "Don't drink the water", "Bargain for everything", "Don't talk girls that I'm you're not supposed to", but mainly, "Have a great time!"

Now, I'm ready to start...

Entonces, after grabbing our luggage, and getting into the weird mix of a bus/van, I was on my way to my host families house. Right away I felt so comfortable. My spanish was on point and I had already asked our driver if he could take us to see the ocean. Wow, how beautiful the view was off the cliffs on the road that we driven on. I couldn't believe that I was here. After dropping off my fellow peers, and finally arriving at my house, I met my host mother. Her name is Ceci. She was a small petite woman with such a kind heart. I was excited to be living here. Unlike some of the others on the trip, I was one of the few that was living with another student from Northeastern, his name is Elan.

 

We got to know Ceci and then went to bed for a few hours. Waking up around noon, Ceci took Elan and I to the Kennedy Park, where we were meeting the rest of the group for lunch. I had chicken and rice and absolutely loved my first meal in Peru. After lunch, we went back to our place relaxed for a little and met with some of the others to go out on our first night in Peru. We went to the 'Calle de las Pizzas" where we explored a little and finally settled in a place called 'Son de Cuba', where the night was interesting. 

May 18th, 2014:

It is now Sunday morning, after finally getting a good night of sleep, I have my first breakfast in Peru with my temporary family here. Breakfast was amazing, the culture of breakfast here is just the way I like it, and how I eat it back home. Eggs, fruit, avocado, and bread, you can't beat that! Now, it was time to explore. Elan and I left the house and went for a run along 'Alcomar' where we had to stop to take in the breathtaking view. 

Taking in the moment for a while, we finally decided to continue our run where we ended up stopping again the in the BMX dirt freestyle park. Here, we met some guys on the track that let us use their bikes. 

We were having a BLAST! We thought how incredible Lima was and still I couldn't believe I was there. To top off our day before we met with the rest of our group for dinner, Elan and I decided to draw some attention to ourselves. We decided to jump into the ocean and swam for a little over an hour before we went to the Huaca Pucllana for dinner. At the Huaca we got to eat fantastic food and experience the amazing Wari culture. 

May 19th, 2014:

Monday morning, as my alarm goes off I wake knowing that today is my first day of class in Peru. Knowing now that I am going to be able to speak spanish and practice grammar everyday is something that I thought would never happen again. After the 35 minute walk to school, we were finally there! 'La escuela del Sol', just passed Kennedy Park was where we would be studying. After my first day of classes, I got to experience a grammar, speaking, and culture class with two great teachers. After class myself Elan and two of the other boys Nathan and Luke, went to a traditional Peruvian restaurant right next to our school where the food was great! After lunch, we went to Kennedy Park and checked out some of the street art before we left to the 'Ricardo Palma Museo'. 

Adentro de el Museo de Ricardo Palma, we watched a film about Ricardo Palma and learned how important he was as a journalist in Peru. After we left the museum, a few of us went to a strip and get to check out some traditional Peruvian drinks before going to bed for school the next morning.