It´s March 10th I think.

So, day before yesterday, we took the train to a town called Aguas Calientes. Then we woke up at 4 fucking am the next day, and took a windy terrifying steep 30 minute bus ride up to Machu Pichu. We got there, and had a 2 hour guided tour of Machu Pichu, with a really weird guide, who none of us really liked, but was really funny. And then some people went to climb Huana (I think I´m spelling it wrong) Pichu, and others spent a few hours exploring Machu Pichu. I was really torn about if I wanted to climb or not, but I am NOT used to the altitude, and I was really tired, so I decided I would be happier if I just explored Machu Pichu. It´s fucking beautiful. I can´t even explain it, only pictures get even semi close to doing it justice. It was gorgeous, gorgeous, ridiculously fucking gorgeous. I took all Lani´s stuff for her so she could climb, and I went and found this gorgeous grass platform thing REALLY high up, overlooking nothing but a river and tall, incredible mountains, everywhere. And I got alone time for the first time in fucking ever. I did yoga, overlooking these incredible tall mountains, and hearing nothing but the wind and my own breathing, and I journalled, and I took a nap in the sun, and it was some of the 2 most peaceful and beatiful hours of my life, and definitely one of my favorite favorite parts of the trip.

We took the bus back to Aguas Calientes after all the climbers were done, and we hung out at a pizza and pool resteraunt and watched movies for like 5 hours, and then caught our train and bus back to Cusco. We are now staying in a hilarious hostel called The Point, advertised as NUMBER 1 PARTY HOSTEL IN CUSCO. xD It´s hilarious. Last night this guy came in and was talking to us about all the drinking and partying and clubbing, and we told him we can´t drink, (he´s one of the staffers at the hostel) and he was like, oh. Well, you´re underage, but, your leaders don´t have to know! The parties here are great! There´s an entire wall here made out of redbull. There are pictures of half naked people everywhere. It´s really funny.

There are also hot hot showers consistently, which we haven´t gotten at any other hostel, so that is REALLY nice. Today we are resting. Actually, for the rest of the trip we are pretty much just resting, and then heading home. This will probably be my last blog post, since I´ll be home in like, 4 days, and Machu Pichu was the last big thing we had planned for the trip.

Other cool thing that happened - In Cusco before Machu Pichu, we ran into this girl named Sophie. She´s Danish, and spoke like 4 languages, and was traveling to all sorts of cool places, and was 20, (and really cute.) And we all hung out and talked about travel and ate food together, and it was really nice.

I´m happy.

Saying goodbye to my homestay family was hard. Malena was so sweet, I really love her. She hugged me, and said something along the lines of, whatever you do in your life, make sure you´re happy.  Happiness is what really matters.

The bus to cusco was nice, I got an awesome front seat, and god, Cusco is GORGEOUS. It´s cold and rainy here, and frequently reminds me of Portland. Our hostel is gorgeous. I´ve fallen asleep both nights listening to music and cuddling with Lani in my bed, which has been really nice. Today we went to a market, and I did the last of my shopping. I got a sweater for my mom, something for my brother, and finally a journal for me, and a really cute hat.

Tomorrow we are leaving for Machu Pichu. It will be 2 nights, 1 in a town right near hot springs, and then we are going to climb and explore Machu Pichu the next day.

After that, Lani and I are gonna go on a date somewhere in Cusco, and then there´s a bit more time at the hostel, and then we go home. Crazy.

I´m at an internet cafe, and Tumblr won´t open so I´m gonna write up a blog post in an email draft, and hope I can get it to work so I can post it before we leave. Today we say goodbye to our homestay families, which I´m sad about, I´m gonna miss Malena a lot. She is by far the coolest homestay person of the trip. And then we are taking a 10 hour overnight bus to Cusco. Malena is amazing. Shes funny and sweet, and the fact that she´s cool with gays makes her about a billion times awesomer than anyone else I´ve stayed with on this trip. And I think she tried to get me drunk last night. The whole group decided to spend our last night in Arequipa at this popular Peruvian club thing, Right before we left, me and Lani and Hanna were sitting downstairs, and Malena just comes down and sits next to us holding this giant bottle of Rum, and pours of all shots, and is like, ok, sharing time! So we all had a shot of Rum, and then for dinner, Josie and I had these milkshakes, and they tasted really weird, and I asked her what they were, and she just said, Milkshakes! And then afterrrrrrrrrrrrrrr we had had them all, she told us there was beer in them. SO yeah. I had a really hard time in Spanish classes this week. It was 4 hours a day, 2 taught by Pepe, and 2 taught by Malena. The 2 with Malena were great, lots of conversation and stuff. But with Pepe, it was just paperwork. Nothing but paperwork. I hate paperwork, and I have a really hard time focusing on it. So, I spent about 2 hours every day this week feeling really stupid and rather tortured. I didn´t really like Pepe. He talked a lot about beating his children, and I had to hear him spanking Fabio, his 3 year old a few times, which was awful. It made me so, so sad, and I felt really helpless, and I wanted to scoop Fabio up and take him back home with me. So that part kind of sucked. On the last day, I kind of got in a fight with Pepe. The point of the trip isn´t to just do paperwork, and I WASNT learning at all from it, and I WAS MISERABLE. On the last day, I just couldn´t figure it out. And he kept saying stuff like, I wasn´t focusing, and I wasn´t trying hard enough, and I hadn´t been trying. So finally I was just like, no, I am trying, I have been trying, but I don´t like this, and I´m done. And I left class. And it was pretty awkward after that, but I don´t care. We went out to the club, it was ok, but pretty empty, and we left pretty early, and went to hang out at a resteraunt. I´m really excited for Cusco, and I can´t believe we are going to be home in 9 days. 9. That´s like, nothing. I´ve been here for so long, I almost forget what it´s like to be home, to sleep in my bed, and shower in my shower, and eat my food, and be with my family. I forget what it´s like to be able to walk around in my underwear, and stuff like that. It´s so weird that a month ago I was still gone. It´s been such a long time. I have so many plans for when I get home that have been inspired by this trip. People I want to connect with and spend more time with, people I want to visit, things I want to do and learn, how I want to spend my time. My mom has been amazing about doing stuff at home so I´ll come back to awesomeness. Like, she managed to get a bike from one of our friends, because mine got stollen a while ago. And I´m excited about learning how to bike around Portland, and go places that way. I´m excited about doing yoga classes. Going vegeterian, and maybe vegan. I´m excited about helping Kitty and Olivia move into their new house. I´m excited for so much. I´m excited for learning how to cook, and cooking more often, and for peopel. I´m excited for all the time I´m going to spend with people once I get back. I can spend so much time just fantasizing about wearing my clothes, and the food I´m gonna eat, and hugging Kitty, and Oscar, and watching movies with my dad, and getting coffee with my mom, and stuff like that. This trip has really been amazing for me. I know it´s not over yet, but it has increased my independence and appreciation for my life in so many ways. It´s enriched my perspectives on everything, and I know it will continue to have an incredible positive influence on my life once I´m home.

CRAZIEST COOLEST DAY EVER!
Instead of class we went to this GIANT Peruvian market, and it was so intense. It was GIGANTIC. There were witchcraft booths, and TONSSS of food, and lots of pretty intense meat. I saw a table with like 30 lamb heads on it, their facial expressions still totally visible, and a bucket full of cows faces, and about 800 dead fish. And then Wyatt and Josie and Quinn and I drank a popular Peruvian drink - a frog blended up with hot cereal and sugar. It was really good, and really weird, and pretty strange to see them put a frog in a blender, and then drink it. It was pretty yummy. I´m gonna go back soon with my camera and take a trillion pictures - today has been one of my favorites of all the days here.

I accidentally logged into the wrong account, so I´m just gonna blog here and then reblog once I log into the right one.

So. I forget where I last updated. I am no longer sick, thank fucking god. Because I was a DISASTER. I could barely walk, Lani had to convince me to do everything, like eat or go to sleep, I felt so, so bad. But it only lasted about 3 days, which was nice. I think it was something I ate plus dehydration. Anyways. Fluxy week ended, and home stays started. For weeks we´ve all been dreading or looking forward to the individual homestays, and then they changed it and its 2 to a house, so, that ended that.

Josie and I are staying at the Spanish School together, with the family that owns the Spanish School. We are still in Arequipa, but a slightly different part of town. It´s going okay so far. I´ve been pretty homesick, and missing my food and my family more and my Kitty and my city (hey a rhyme) and everything more and more every day. But I´ve been dealing.

The first memorable thing that happened was coming out to my homestay family. This whole trip its been like, DONT TELL YOUR HOMESTAY FAMILIES YOU´RE GAY. But this homestay started with the woman telling me her favorite TV show is Glee, and her favorite character on Glee is ¨Kurt, the gay one.¨So that was a reallyyyyy good sign.

So we were sitting at diner, and she was like, so do you have a boyfriend? And I said no, and she was like, oh. And then I decided to just go for it. And I was like, I have a girlfriend. And she seemed to get REALLY excited, and was like, ARE YOU A LESBIAN? And I was like, uh, no, I like boys and girls. (not gonna try and explain pansexuality to her), and she was like, oh, boys AND girls, you like to ENJOY life! And then we all laughed, and it was fine. So that was really nice.

The next day on the way back from the mall we passed a chinese resteraunt, and the food in Peru kinda sucks, so I got really excited, and asked if I got get Chinese Food. So I ordered a bunch of amazing stuff (wonton soup, garlic broccoli, orange tamarind duck), and then she was like, ok, I´m leaving, you can find your way home. Its really close, it will be impossible for you to get lost.

It is never. NEVER. Impossible for ME to get lost. I have the directional sense of a mop. Maybe not even that good.

So I got lost. And after wandering around for like 30 minutes I gave up because I was so hungry, and started eating my chinese food with my fingers sitting on the sidwalk. And that´s when I saw Jalen and Claire, and they rescued me.

That was fun.

Classes started yesterday, we´ve all been meeting up in the mornings at this cafe for card games and frappuchinos and stuff, last night we all met up at like 10 and drank milkshakes and went to the park and played Never Have I Ever.

I´m having a really good time here, and I´m psyched for Machu Pichu.

So, I haven´t posted much this week, because I have spent most of the week crying, sleeping, trying to eat, or on the toilet. Basically, I have been horrendously sick. Which also means I have nothing interesting to report, because I havent experienced much of Arequipa. We went to one cool Museum, and then everyone else went all over the city the rest of the week while I watched bad movies and drank lots of water.

But Im better now.

And in like 5 minutes we are heading over to the next portion of our trip, individual homestays. Im nervous, and excited. I think Im gonna learn a lot of Spanish this week. Because we are gonna be in Spanish School for I think 4 hours a day, plus Im gonna be alone in a house with peruvians, so Im gonna have to learn how to communicate better. 

and then we are gonna be in CousCous for a week, and then we are going home.

like, this trip is over in 15 days.

what the fuck. 

Last night, I went out to dinner with Blake, Lani and Benji.

And I tried 2 new foods.

Guinea Pig, and Alpaca.

WUT. 

my favorite.

me a few minutes ago.

Okay so. Its February 19th, and Im in a Hostel in Arequipa Peru.

Today is the first full day of Flex week. Flex week is the week where the students are in charge of everything. Budgetting, meals, activities, living situation. We are in charge of it all. So we found this Hostel online, called the Bothy Hostel. We took a long taxi ride across the border of Peru from Arica Chile, and then a 7 hour bus ride to our destination in Arequipa. We took the most terrifying Taxi rides ever to our hostel. The driving here is INSANE.

Arica is the driest city in the world. Literally. And then we got to Arequipa, and it was clowdy and rainy, which I have missed sooooooo much. Reminded me of home. So, we got to the hostel, we were all starving. We hadnt eaten all day, except for some chips and bread on the bus. And a few people had some breakfast, but not me. So, I volunteered to make dinner that night. So I walked with a few people like 10 blocks to the store, and got zuchini, onion, garlic, pasta, and tomato sauce to make a veggie pasta thing. We came to the kitchen, and Lani and Jalen were helping me cook. The kitchen light was so dim, we had to wear headlamps so we could see. There was only one knife, and it was horribly dull. The water here is undrinkable. So, Lani is chopping onion, and Jalen and I are trying to light the stove. And it wont light. So i

OH MY GOD SORRY I JUST GOT INTERRUPTED BY THE WEIRDEST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO ME. I WAS BLOGGING NEXT TO LANI, AND WE STARTED TO HEAR MARCHING BAND MUSIC, AND SO WE WENT OUTSIDE, AND THERE WAS THIS HUGE FESTIVAL MARCHING BAND, AND WE IMMEDIATELY STARTED GETTING SPRAYED WITH THIS GROSS SILLY STRING STUFF, AND THERE WERE ALL THESE DANCERS IN THESE AMAZING OUTFITS, AND SOMEONE PULLED ME OUT TO DANCE WITH THEM, AND IT WAS RIDICULOUS, AND I DANCED WITH THESE GIRLS, AND THEN I GOT A BUCKET OF SOAPY WATER THROWN ON ME, AND CONFETTI POURED OVER MY HEAD, AND IM SOAKED AND COVERED IN PRETTY RAINBOW CONFETTI AND I CANT STOP LAUGHING AND THAT WAS AMAZING.

Ok so, anyways.

It wouldnt light, and we went to ask about it, and it turned out that there is no stove function here. So we had sandwhiches for dinner. And then this morning we discovered there is no hot water. SO basically this Hostel is a piece of shit.

And then we found out that there is stove function, but it costs money. SO we will at least have hot dinners.

I CANT STOP LAUGHING OH MY GOD.

ATTACKED BY A PERUVIAN MARCHING BAND.

I LOVE MY LIFE.