One Week Already?!

Cats sleeping in the courtyard of a chuch

I figured by not doing a daily update that it wouldn't get annoying, however I realize now that this will just be a long post. First week comes to an end tomorrow and we have been SO busy. We have done a lot of exploring around the district of Miraflores. We are getting to know our way around, at least knowing the different districts. We learned that the cats are only in Parque Kennedy. We still have yet to learn the story behind it but we heard it was because the priests in the area feed the strays. This weekend we went to Parque Kennedy to walk around and they were doing a cat adoption. It was busy this past weekend with many street vendors selling beautiful works of art, people walking around and watching performers and food vendors. We had quite possibly the best churro that I have ever had with a dulce de leche filling. YUM! I can get used to the food out here.

View of the Beach

The main ISA office is by Universidad del Pacifico in Jesus Maria. We went there before everyone else for our program arrived and met with one of the on-site coordinators. Everyone working in the office is amazing and we were able to get some information about the area and some tips on things to do. We also got to go the where I will be doing my internship and get to meet the people and get a short tour of the place. I also got the opportunity to talk to the outgoing students that have been working there. I am so excited to start working and may start volunteering early since I am already here. We are still in the search for a place to live but we have an area that we want to be in and a couple prospects so we are hopeful. We have been spending nights in most of the time, we are usually beat by the end of the day from all the excitement and exploring a new city and for me getting used to a new language.
Here are some views from our current room. I am still learning how to arrange pictures. Forgive the spastic arrangement of the photos!



You can also see an area where clothes are hanging to dry. Many Peruvians do not have dryers so they hang their clothes to dry. Due to the VERY high humidity it takes a couple days for clothing to dry. Our room right now is COVERED in clothes hanging to dry. :)

Alfajores

Yesterday was Mitchell's first official day and I got to tag along to orientation. They gave lots of good information and did an orientation for our trip to Cuzco that we leave for on Thursday. I am so excited for that trip! Today we met up with a new friend that we were introduced to by Mitchell's cousin Ashley and went to look at places. He is such a great person. It is nice to know a local person who can keep us in the good neighborhoods and show us good food to eat. We have Peruvian tamales for breakfast this morning and tried Alfajores for the first time. They both were delicious. I am so excited for all the good food that we are going to get while we are here! After that we went of a Scavenger Hunt with the ISA group and local students. It was a ton of fun (my group won!) and we got to see the distract of Barranco, which Mitch and I hadn't been to yet. I have yet to see a part of Lima that I can't wait to explore more of.

Us in Parque Kennedy

All in all everything is great here! We are both completely in love with the country and the people of Peru. It is a huge challenge to assimilate to a new way of life, a new environment, new food and a new language but it is such a thrilling and exhilarating experience.  We have been working pretty hard to fit in and not get anything stolen this week while we get to know the city a little more so that is why we do not have many pictures but I realize as I sit here that it makes for a rather dull entry. Tomorrow we are going to do some more exploring and look for some stuff that will keep us warm this upcoming weekend so look out for a picture heavy blog tomorrow! I hope to have some more photos of the city, the traffic (horrible!) and the shops and areas that we get to explore! Hasta Luego!