Oh, Where Shall I Go?
2.20.2016 Saturday
Life has a very funny way of guiding you to the exact place you need to be. And, yes, I mean that both literally and metaphorically.
Take Super Bowl weekend for example.
Super Bowl 50 was a very big deal to Kelsey and me: our hometown Broncos were fighting for redemption after our pathetic loss in Super Bowl 48. A win would be like every cheesy sports movie, with Peyton Manning making a comeback right before calling it quits. We wanted our QB to go out in style and with one last victory under his belt. We wanted to celebrate some hometown pride, even if we had to watch the game in a foreign country.
So we decided to make it eventful.
The weekend of the big game we decided to take a trip to Miraflores. After Kelsey's Saturday morning classes, we hopped on a bus and rode to our hostel. We stayed at the Kokopelli, which is definitely a cool spot to stay for young, backpacking types.
We dumped our phones and backpacks in the hostel's free storage room and then headed to the supermarket to pick up some lunch and snacks. We were finally ready for our beach day!
The problem with the beaches in this part of Peru: there's no sand. Instead, there are smooth, black rocks and pebbles. Needless to say, walking along the shore barefoot is tricky. Even worse? Standing in the ocean water and having the crashing waves throw said rocks at your ankles - ow!
We mostly soaked up some sun, slathered in SPF of course, and enjoyed the salty sea breeze that came off of the splashing waves. We tried swimming, but we didn't stay in the water long. Between my fear of fish (I mean, does anyone really like it when they can't see what's surrounding them in the water? Really???), the strong waves combined with my poor swimming ability, the difficulty of getting out of the ocean due to the slippery black rocks, and the loss of my sunglasses, the ocean was a bit of a beast. However, we did get to watch the sunset into the ocean, which is always jaw-dropping.
After a day of sun, we decided we needed food and beer, the master thirst quencher. We headed to a cool bar called Nuevo Mundo that Kelsey had visited with her boyfriend and his brother over Christmas. It's a cool spot because they sell local beer, which I thought was delicious. Though, I'm no beer connoisseur, so don't quote that as the gospel truth. We ordered quesadillas and sipped on our cervezas before deciding to walk around town.
We decided that we needed to find the perfect dessert to finish off our relaxing day. We stumbled into various cafes but nothing had that "Wow, I must stuff this whole dessert in my mouth right this very moment" factor that we were looking for. During our search, we discovered an art show. We figured we might as well look around.
Strange, does not even begin to cover the various exhibits.
I love art, I do, but today's modern art is often just various pieces of junk glued together. But that's just my opinion...
Anyway, we finally ended up at the Chocolate Museum, which, if you're ever in Miraflores or Barranco, you must check it out. They have several locations and sell every chocolate item you could really ever want. From lotions to candy bars to liquor, you can't really go wrong at the Chocolate Museum. Or, so we thought. We decided to split a piece of chocolate cake and a brownie (because YOLO) and found a park bench outside in Parque Kennedy (reminder: this is the cat park) to enjoy our treats. Now the cake, well, it was disappointing. The thing with the majority of Peruvian cakes is that they aren't very moist. This one, sadly, fell into that same, dry category. However, the brownie, though Kelsey wasn't a big fan, really grew on me. If it had been warmed up and topped with ice cream, I think I would've just died in that moment because my life would've been complete.
I like food.
In case you couldn't tell.
Apparently this little guy thought the brownie looked divine as well. He just hopped right up on my lap. Of all the people to bother and he picks the girl with cat allergies who would fight someone for that brownie... Silly kitty.
After our treats, we headed back to the hostel for free welcome shots at the rooftop bar. It was already getting late, about 10:00, and we were pretty tired, so we didn't hang out to socialize. We headed downstairs to our six bed dorm room and tried to sleep.
Which would've been lovely if the room hadn't been the fiery furnace.
Waking up in the morning, I was hazy, after tossing and turning all night, and sticky from the humid heat. Peeling the small edges of bed sheet that covered me off, I wiggled down from the top bunk, slipped on my running gear, and headed back to the ocean with Kelsey. Though I was tired, running felt great, and we had an incredible view as we ran along the cliffs that overlook the ocean. Our near three mile run (I'm coming for you Bolder Boulder!) was super refreshing after a restless night.
Back at the hostel, we cleaned up and grabbed some bread, jam, and tea. We had seen a flyer for a chocolate massage at the, you guessed it, Chocolate Museum, so we walked over to check it out. We were bummed to hear that the flyer was two years old and that they no longer offered massages. Hopeful that we could still have a spa day we walked to another salon we had seen near our hostel. They were closed. Our spa day was turning out to be a bust.
With plenty of time before the Super Bowl and no plans, we didn't know what to do with ourselves, so we wandered around. Near Parque Kennedy one of the streets had been closed off for exercise classes. People were dancing and playing volleyball. It was super cool! In the park itself there were also tents set up for kids' activities. All of the activity reminded me of back home in Boulder, Colorado.
I love active communities.
Unsure how to spend all of our free time, we decided to take the Mirabus tour, a double-decker bus with a guide who shows you around the area. Kelsey and I felt like we had seen everything already, but we thought maybe we would discover something new to do.
Unfortunately, we were (mostly) right. I wouldn't recommend the tour to tourists. Instead, just walk around! It's a much better way to get to know the area. Plus, that way you can stop when you'd like and shop around. However, we did discover that there are some ancient ruins near the main center that we did not know about. Might be something we check out on our next visit.
Descending from the double-decker we quickly ascended onto a combi (kind of like a mini-bus) and headed to Barranco for the sole purpose of ordering burritos at the Burrito Bar for lunch. It was totally worth it. I kid you not, we ate half of our burritos in a park in Barranco, wrapped up the leftovers, and hopped on the next combi to head right back to Miraflores. We were that desperate for our Chipotle-style lunch.
We were doing our best, but we still had a couple of hours before game time. We wandered around some more and stopped at a coffee shop to cool down, and cause I really wanted some Bubble Tea. Finally, we figured we might as well just head to the Corner Bar (an American sports bar that we like) and hang out before the game started. Well, it's a good thing we did. When we got there, an hour and a half before game time, there was a sign on the door saying that they were out of room! Turns out, people had made reservations, something we hadn't even thought of nor realized was necessary. We asked the doorman where else we could watch the game and he directed us to Larcomar, a high end mall overlooking the ocean. We decided to go see if we could find a place to watch and, ironically enough like the Americans that we are, ended up at T.G.I. Friday's.
Game doesn't count if you don't have a beer.
It was really cool to watch the Broncos win Super Bowl 50, but I still felt let down. Maybe it's because we weren't at the Corner with all of the other super fans, or cause there weren't too many thrilling plays like I had expected, or because we didn't get the Super Bowl commercials. Truthfully, my main disappointment was that I wasn't in my living room back in Colorado watching this hugely important game with my friends and family. I'm glad we saw the game, but it just wasn't the same.
Victory was ours and we were ready to head back to our apartment in Callao, but first we had to pick up our backpacks from the storage closet at the hostel.This is finally where the whole, "life has a very funny way of guiding you to the exact place you need to be," thing begins to come into play. On our walk back, we met a retired pediatric surgeon from Oregon who had moved to Miraflores with his wife. We chit chatted with him about the Super Bowl, the Peruvian lifestyle, and our different backgrounds. It wasn't anything huge and it really was just small talk, but I love random conversations with nice people like that. If we would've ended up at the Corner, that wouldn't have happened.
If we ended up at the Corner, we would've probably run into Joe (more on that to come).
We collected our packs, hopped into Uber, made it home, and passed out.
The next day should've been like any other Monday: classes and downtime. Little did we know, we were in for a surprise.
At lunch, Joe, one of the college guys who taught in Peru last year, showed up. Kelsey and I had no idea he was in Peru. Turns out, he had been staying in Miraflores for about two weeks and was even at the Corner for the Super Bowl. Small world.
Since Joe was around, he came to my afternoon class because many of the students are the same ones he taught. They all were shocked and very excited to see him. We spent the class period playing games because Lord knows the kids were not going to pay attention to me if we tried to work in the book.
After class, Joe, Kelsey, Daniel, and I sipped on Vodka Sprites and munched on chips while swapping Peruvian stories. For dinner, we headed to Chili's for burgers and margaritas. It was nice to talk to someone who had lived through exactly what Kelsey and I are. Joe understood our frustrations and our copious amounts of downtime, but he also told us how much he missed all of the adventures and people.
It's a nice reminder for those days when I just want to be home that I'll be there soon enough. For now, I just get to enjoy the ride.
Still, the struggle has been real lately. About a week ago, we found out that we were done with summer school classes. This meant that I would only have one class a day for the rest of the month of February and Kelsey would have no classes at all. We also were told that the regular school year classes likely won't start until March 14th. Frustration was inevitable. We already had too much free time. Now, we had even more, for nearly a whole month!
However, Kelsey and I realized that maybe we could use this time to travel. We talked to Daniel and he said it would be no problem to cancel afternoon classes so that we could venture to southern Peruvian cities like Paracas, Ica, and Arequipa. Stoked, we immediately started making plans. We'll start our adventure in a few days. It's going to be awesome! Daniel and his family might even join us.
Inevitably, this last week I still had plenty of free time which quickly became thinking time. Thinking time ultimately meant that I needed to make some big decisions, some college decisions.
After mulling it over for a couple of months now, talking with several people, studying God's Word, and praying a lot, I've chosen to return to Martin Luther College for my last two years of school. While I want nothing more than to be back home in Colorado with my family, I also want to finish what I started. I want to see my old friends, to have more entertaining and educational Spanish classes, and to grow on a Christian campus.
Going back won't be easy. Especially not after what is shaping up to be a lively and eventful summer in Colorado, but I believe it's the right choice for me.
See what I mean?
Life sometimes sends you off in directions you didn't plan to head, and other times it pulls you back to where you started.
What a wild ride.
Ciao!
"In the end that was the choice you made, and it doesn't matter how hard it was to make it. It matters that you did."
- Cassandra Clare, City of Glass
Y posiblemente la verdad se encuentra en esto: los dos caminos, uno recto y estrecho, y el otro ancho y con muchas curvas, te llegaran a donde necesitas ser.
Life has a very funny way of guiding you to the exact place you need to be. And, yes, I mean that both literally and metaphorically.
Take Super Bowl weekend for example.
Super Bowl 50 was a very big deal to Kelsey and me: our hometown Broncos were fighting for redemption after our pathetic loss in Super Bowl 48. A win would be like every cheesy sports movie, with Peyton Manning making a comeback right before calling it quits. We wanted our QB to go out in style and with one last victory under his belt. We wanted to celebrate some hometown pride, even if we had to watch the game in a foreign country.
So we decided to make it eventful.
The weekend of the big game we decided to take a trip to Miraflores. After Kelsey's Saturday morning classes, we hopped on a bus and rode to our hostel. We stayed at the Kokopelli, which is definitely a cool spot to stay for young, backpacking types.
The problem with the beaches in this part of Peru: there's no sand. Instead, there are smooth, black rocks and pebbles. Needless to say, walking along the shore barefoot is tricky. Even worse? Standing in the ocean water and having the crashing waves throw said rocks at your ankles - ow!
We mostly soaked up some sun, slathered in SPF of course, and enjoyed the salty sea breeze that came off of the splashing waves. We tried swimming, but we didn't stay in the water long. Between my fear of fish (I mean, does anyone really like it when they can't see what's surrounding them in the water? Really???), the strong waves combined with my poor swimming ability, the difficulty of getting out of the ocean due to the slippery black rocks, and the loss of my sunglasses, the ocean was a bit of a beast. However, we did get to watch the sunset into the ocean, which is always jaw-dropping.
After a day of sun, we decided we needed food and beer, the master thirst quencher. We headed to a cool bar called Nuevo Mundo that Kelsey had visited with her boyfriend and his brother over Christmas. It's a cool spot because they sell local beer, which I thought was delicious. Though, I'm no beer connoisseur, so don't quote that as the gospel truth. We ordered quesadillas and sipped on our cervezas before deciding to walk around town.
We decided that we needed to find the perfect dessert to finish off our relaxing day. We stumbled into various cafes but nothing had that "Wow, I must stuff this whole dessert in my mouth right this very moment" factor that we were looking for. During our search, we discovered an art show. We figured we might as well look around.
Strange, does not even begin to cover the various exhibits.
Anyway, we finally ended up at the Chocolate Museum, which, if you're ever in Miraflores or Barranco, you must check it out. They have several locations and sell every chocolate item you could really ever want. From lotions to candy bars to liquor, you can't really go wrong at the Chocolate Museum. Or, so we thought. We decided to split a piece of chocolate cake and a brownie (because YOLO) and found a park bench outside in Parque Kennedy (reminder: this is the cat park) to enjoy our treats. Now the cake, well, it was disappointing. The thing with the majority of Peruvian cakes is that they aren't very moist. This one, sadly, fell into that same, dry category. However, the brownie, though Kelsey wasn't a big fan, really grew on me. If it had been warmed up and topped with ice cream, I think I would've just died in that moment because my life would've been complete.
I like food.
In case you couldn't tell.
After our treats, we headed back to the hostel for free welcome shots at the rooftop bar. It was already getting late, about 10:00, and we were pretty tired, so we didn't hang out to socialize. We headed downstairs to our six bed dorm room and tried to sleep.
Which would've been lovely if the room hadn't been the fiery furnace.
Waking up in the morning, I was hazy, after tossing and turning all night, and sticky from the humid heat. Peeling the small edges of bed sheet that covered me off, I wiggled down from the top bunk, slipped on my running gear, and headed back to the ocean with Kelsey. Though I was tired, running felt great, and we had an incredible view as we ran along the cliffs that overlook the ocean. Our near three mile run (I'm coming for you Bolder Boulder!) was super refreshing after a restless night.
Back at the hostel, we cleaned up and grabbed some bread, jam, and tea. We had seen a flyer for a chocolate massage at the, you guessed it, Chocolate Museum, so we walked over to check it out. We were bummed to hear that the flyer was two years old and that they no longer offered massages. Hopeful that we could still have a spa day we walked to another salon we had seen near our hostel. They were closed. Our spa day was turning out to be a bust.
With plenty of time before the Super Bowl and no plans, we didn't know what to do with ourselves, so we wandered around. Near Parque Kennedy one of the streets had been closed off for exercise classes. People were dancing and playing volleyball. It was super cool! In the park itself there were also tents set up for kids' activities. All of the activity reminded me of back home in Boulder, Colorado.
We were doing our best, but we still had a couple of hours before game time. We wandered around some more and stopped at a coffee shop to cool down, and cause I really wanted some Bubble Tea. Finally, we figured we might as well just head to the Corner Bar (an American sports bar that we like) and hang out before the game started. Well, it's a good thing we did. When we got there, an hour and a half before game time, there was a sign on the door saying that they were out of room! Turns out, people had made reservations, something we hadn't even thought of nor realized was necessary. We asked the doorman where else we could watch the game and he directed us to Larcomar, a high end mall overlooking the ocean. We decided to go see if we could find a place to watch and, ironically enough like the Americans that we are, ended up at T.G.I. Friday's.
It was really cool to watch the Broncos win Super Bowl 50, but I still felt let down. Maybe it's because we weren't at the Corner with all of the other super fans, or cause there weren't too many thrilling plays like I had expected, or because we didn't get the Super Bowl commercials. Truthfully, my main disappointment was that I wasn't in my living room back in Colorado watching this hugely important game with my friends and family. I'm glad we saw the game, but it just wasn't the same.
Victory was ours and we were ready to head back to our apartment in Callao, but first we had to pick up our backpacks from the storage closet at the hostel.This is finally where the whole, "life has a very funny way of guiding you to the exact place you need to be," thing begins to come into play. On our walk back, we met a retired pediatric surgeon from Oregon who had moved to Miraflores with his wife. We chit chatted with him about the Super Bowl, the Peruvian lifestyle, and our different backgrounds. It wasn't anything huge and it really was just small talk, but I love random conversations with nice people like that. If we would've ended up at the Corner, that wouldn't have happened.
If we ended up at the Corner, we would've probably run into Joe (more on that to come).
We collected our packs, hopped into Uber, made it home, and passed out.
The next day should've been like any other Monday: classes and downtime. Little did we know, we were in for a surprise.
At lunch, Joe, one of the college guys who taught in Peru last year, showed up. Kelsey and I had no idea he was in Peru. Turns out, he had been staying in Miraflores for about two weeks and was even at the Corner for the Super Bowl. Small world.
Since Joe was around, he came to my afternoon class because many of the students are the same ones he taught. They all were shocked and very excited to see him. We spent the class period playing games because Lord knows the kids were not going to pay attention to me if we tried to work in the book.
After class, Joe, Kelsey, Daniel, and I sipped on Vodka Sprites and munched on chips while swapping Peruvian stories. For dinner, we headed to Chili's for burgers and margaritas. It was nice to talk to someone who had lived through exactly what Kelsey and I are. Joe understood our frustrations and our copious amounts of downtime, but he also told us how much he missed all of the adventures and people.
It's a nice reminder for those days when I just want to be home that I'll be there soon enough. For now, I just get to enjoy the ride.
Still, the struggle has been real lately. About a week ago, we found out that we were done with summer school classes. This meant that I would only have one class a day for the rest of the month of February and Kelsey would have no classes at all. We also were told that the regular school year classes likely won't start until March 14th. Frustration was inevitable. We already had too much free time. Now, we had even more, for nearly a whole month!
However, Kelsey and I realized that maybe we could use this time to travel. We talked to Daniel and he said it would be no problem to cancel afternoon classes so that we could venture to southern Peruvian cities like Paracas, Ica, and Arequipa. Stoked, we immediately started making plans. We'll start our adventure in a few days. It's going to be awesome! Daniel and his family might even join us.
Inevitably, this last week I still had plenty of free time which quickly became thinking time. Thinking time ultimately meant that I needed to make some big decisions, some college decisions.
After mulling it over for a couple of months now, talking with several people, studying God's Word, and praying a lot, I've chosen to return to Martin Luther College for my last two years of school. While I want nothing more than to be back home in Colorado with my family, I also want to finish what I started. I want to see my old friends, to have more entertaining and educational Spanish classes, and to grow on a Christian campus.
Going back won't be easy. Especially not after what is shaping up to be a lively and eventful summer in Colorado, but I believe it's the right choice for me.
See what I mean?
Life sometimes sends you off in directions you didn't plan to head, and other times it pulls you back to where you started.
What a wild ride.
Ciao!
"In the end that was the choice you made, and it doesn't matter how hard it was to make it. It matters that you did."
- Cassandra Clare, City of Glass
Y posiblemente la verdad se encuentra en esto: los dos caminos, uno recto y estrecho, y el otro ancho y con muchas curvas, te llegaran a donde necesitas ser.
Hi my dear! First of all, I surprised to see you have limited swimming skills because I do recall Sydney and you diving under water in the pools and taking pictures of each other under there, with Denver. You must have been really brave in those days!
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you are returning to MLC to finish your degree. God bless your choice and your future studies. Your love for the Lord is evident and you will certainly let your light so shine!
Blessings from Auntie Kim