Our Final Weeks in Peru

It's been a while since our last post, but we wanted to recap our final week and a half in Peru. Our last blog post left off after our hike at Laguna 69, and we had only five days left in Trujillo before we set off for our final week of traveling!

Enjoying one last sunset from our rooftop in Trujillo

Our last few days in Trujillo consisted of some really fun activities. A few of the Venture with Impact crew were able to take part in a "cooking" class held by a local Peruvian, Patricia. We say "cooking" because it was more of a "eat the delicious food and watch Patricia cook" class. Patricia was so nice and explained everything she was doing while she made the three traditional Peruvian dishes: papa a la Huancaina, sudado de pescado, and ceviche. Out of all the foods we tried during our two months in Peru, the sudado de pescado was Daniel's favorite dish! The dish is basically steamed fish stew that has been seasoned with a bunch of herbs and spices, and the flavor was absolutely amazing!

Sudado de pescado. Delicious!

On our last day in Trujillo, a ceremony took place in one of the communities that Moche and VWI partners with called Cuidad de Dios. The ceremony was held for the progress of the Moche Women's Collaborative over the last few months, which was highlighted by the opening of an Etsy shop (you can buy their products HERE!) and the mayor of Laredo presenting a brand new paper cutter for the women to use for future production of their bookmarks and cards. After the ceremony, a celebration was put on by the community which included the preparation and cooking of cuy (guinea pig) for the volunteers involved in helping the community.

Some of the products made by the Moche Women's Collaborative
Photo credit: Emily Mayer

After the ceremony and celebration, we packed our bags and said our final goodbyes to the apartment where we had spent the last two months. Alyssa, Emily and Kelly were kind enough to host a Taco Tuesday, which was the perfect ending for our time in Trujillo! It was definitely bittersweet, but we are so thankful for all of the friendships that we formed through Venture with Impact.

Taco Tuesday shenanigans

After saying our goodbyes, we took a taxi to the bus station and waited to board the overnight bus to Lima. Just as we sat down, a little boy around 12 years old sat in the chair right across from us and said "hi"! We spent the next few minutes speaking with him (in English) and were so impressed that he was brave enough to speak to random strangers to improve his English! We once again got pretty lucky with our overnight bus, and we were able to get some sleep before we arrived in Lima early in the morning. We took a taxi from the Lima bus station to the airport and had about 3 hours to spare before we took our flight to Cusco. All in all, our travels to Cusco went really well, and we were the first ones to arrive at our hostel so we put our bags in our room and headed out to explore!

Plaza de Armas in Cusco

We walked from our hostel to the main square and immediately fell in love with Cusco! The weather was a lot cooler since the city is at an elevation of 11,000 feet, and the air felt a lot cleaner. The city has a very European vibe to it, with narrow streets and alleyways and a lot of stone architecture. The main square, or Plaza de Armas, in Cusco is a big open green space surrounded by ornate cathedrals and lots of shops and restaurants, and in the background of the square are beautiful hills covered with colorful buildings. We had so much fun exploring the different alleys that were filled with shops, restaurants and churches. After our friends arrived in Cusco, we all met up and had dinner at a restaurant on the main square and then called it an early night so we could rest up for our day of traveling to Machu Picchu.

Cusco is just as beautiful at night!

The next morning we woke up early and took a two-hour shuttle ride through the Andes to the small town of Ollantaytambo (say that three times fast!). The next leg of our journey was PeruRail – a really nice train complete with leather seats and lots of windows! The two-hour train ride took us through the scenic mountains and paralleled a raging river. Unfortunately, Kayla wasn't feeling very well, so the train ride was not as enjoyable as we thought it would be. We arrived in Aguas Calientes in the evening, checked into our hostel, and got a quick bite to eat before calling it an early night since our next day would be spent at Machu Picchu. We sent out some texts to close friends and family, asking them to pray for our health since we both weren't feeling well at this point and really wanted to be able to enjoy the day that we had been looking forward to the most!

Boarding PeruRail in Ollantaytambo

The cute little town of Aguas Calientes

We woke up the next morning feeling better and super thankful (God is good!) and our group woke up early to take the 20-minute shuttle ride to Machu Picchu. It was really cloudy and rainy so we bought ponchos and got our first glimpse of the ruins. It was breathtaking and felt so surreal! We decided to take cover and wait for the rain to die down so we wouldn’t get completely soaked on our hike. After a while we decided to head back out and start climbing up Montaña. We were already expecting the trek to be tough, but we were still caught off-guard by how difficult it was! The ascent consisted of a steep, slippery stone staircase around every turn, and after about an hour in we both sat down and debated if we wanted to continue as it was still very cloudy and drizzling, and we weren't sure if the view from the top would even be worth it. 

The hike up Montaña: So. Many. Stairs.

We ultimately decided to push through the last half of the hike, and took a lot of breaks along the way. It took us about two hours, but we made it to the top and ran into our two friends along the way! We took some time to catch our breath and take in the views, which was mostly clouds and fog, but nonetheless it was still amazing. And we were so glad that we did it! Our trek wasn't over though – going down the mountain was just as hard, and with wobbly legs (and our friends by our side) we began the two-hour trek back down to Machu Picchu.

At the top of  Montaña!

By the time we made it back to the ruins, we realized that our prayers had been answered and the clouds slowly started to clear! We were finally able to see Machu Picchu in all of its glory! The sun shone down and the view started to look exactly like all of the pictures that we'd seen. It was magical. We enjoyed walking around from view point to view point until we saw what Kayla really came for... LLAMAS! We made our way down and got to interact with a few of them, and sometimes were even approached by them (dreams came true)! Even though the morning weather had us a little worried and we were not able to see the ruins from Montaña, Machu Picchu was just as incredible as we hoped it would be. It was a day to remember! 

Our view of Machu Picchu

A llama friend :)

After a long day at Machu Picchu, we were all exhausted and ready to get some rest at our hostel. Unfortunately, Daniel wasn’t feeling well and decided to stay in for the night while Kayla went out to dinner with Neil and Alexis, which included a few intense rounds of Jenga. The next morning, we boarded the train to Ollantaytambo, then hopped on the shuttle back to our hostel in Cusco. We were all still pretty exhausted from all of the traveling we had crammed into the past few days, so we grabbed some burgers and beers while discussing what we had planned for our final days in Peru.

Enjoying some local beer at a brewery in Cusco

Instead of going to Rainbow Mountain like we had originally planned, we decided to spend our last day in Cusco just walking around exploring since we both fell in love with it! Little did we know that exact day was the city’s Carnival celebration, where the youths ran around with water balloons, water guns, buckets of water, cans of spray foam, and colored powder. Exploring the city was a whole new ball game now! We were both constantly looking over our shoulders as we heard kids yelling and screaming and spraying people with foam – even tourists! It was a lot of fun watching the chaos and ducking into shops as we walked down the alleyways and trying to stay clean and dry. But alas, we got sprayed with foam out of a bus window and Kayla also got sprayed in the neck by a boy walking past us. We couldn’t trust anybody!

Trying to avoid the madness of Carnival

We were able to explore so much of Cusco on our last day. We spent a lot of time at Mercado Central, a huge market where you can purchase everything from fruit to souvenirs to cans of foam (if you wanted to partake/be a target in the Carnival celebration). After walking around the market for a while, we walked a few more blocks down the street and stumbled upon a smaller market where we quickly noticed that we were the only tourists. Instead of souvenirs and foam spray cans there were locals hacking raw meat and baskets of goat heads. Yikes! We quickly turned around to and made our way back towards the main square.

Walking around the Mercado Central

We dined al fresco for lunch (they had a yummy pumpkin soup, or crema de zapallo) and enjoyed the gorgeous weather. Our next stop was ChocoMuseo – a free chocolate museum where we got to try chocolate tea, chocolate liquor, and of course a variety of chocolate samples. The unique flavors of chocolates were the perfect souvenirs to take home to our families. After shopping around the markets and haggling for more souvenirs and gifts (one of our favorite things to do!) we strategically began to make our way through the chaos of Carnival to meet up with friends. We were able to snag some seats on a pub balcony and were entertained by the mayhem below with drinks in hand. We thought we were safe two stories up, but some kids saw it as a challenge and we had a couple of water balloons that came too close for comfort! For our last evening all together, we couldn't pass up taking advantage of the amenities at a hotel that one of our group members splurged on. Our sore muscles were very thankful for the hot tub and sauna, and it was a nice, relaxing evening enjoying each other's company.

Enjoying our view of Carnival festivities down below!

The next morning we said goodbye to Cusco and got on a flight to Lima for our final day and a half in Peru. After arriving in Lima, we checked into our Airbnb in Miraflores that we split with Neil and took a much-needed nap before heading out to see what Lima had to offer! That evening, the three of us walked on a path along some cliffs near the ocean and were lucky enough to see one of the most beautiful sunsets ever! We made our way to a nice Italian restaurant for dinner and treated ourselves to delicious pasta and wine.

Gorgeous sunset in Lima

Later in the evening when we were dropped off at our Airbnb we weren't able to unlock the front gate with our key. After each of us made several attempts, Daniel volunteered to climb over the gate (right as a cop drove by) and thankfully he was able to let us in! The next morning, it was weird waking up and realizing that this was the last day of our two-month adventure. We wanted to take it easy and headed out for a nice, relaxing breakfast and had another amazing meal – churro French toast! It was even more delicious than it sounds. That afternoon, we leisurely walked down to the beach and sipped on drinks while watching paragliders swoop around in the air!

Watching the paragliders along the beach in Lima

After we packed up at the Airbnb and handed back the keys, we were able to meet up with most of our group at a restaurant near the Lima airport before everyone’s flights home. It was a short and sweet visit, but we all enjoyed sharing stories about adventures in the Amazon rainforest and hiking up Rainbow Mountain. And then, we had to say our goodbyes (for real this time) and made our way to the airport. Of course Daniel couldn’t pass through the duty free shop without buying some ingredients to make Pisco sours at home! We were able to hang out with Neil for a bit in our terminal and then boarded our flight back to the United States.

One final meetup before going our separate ways

Since we've been back home in Kansas City, adjusting back to our "normal" lives has been interesting to say the least. We have had our fair share of all of the foods that we missed while we were abroad, and are amazed at how "easy" things are when we speak the same language as most everyone else (like ordering at a restaurant). We've even noticed that we picked up some habits while living in Peru (aka this blog post) that have been funny to point out. We really miss all of our VWI friends and people that we met along the way, but love that technology makes it very easy to stay in touch! We are so incredibly thankful that we had this opportunity to go on the adventure of a lifetime. Peru is a beautiful country with beautiful people and now holds a very special place in our hearts. 

New Venturers and a Weekend Trip!

Hola! It's been a while! The past two weeks in Trujillo have been absolutely jam-packed with volunteering, meeting new people, trips, and more! The February VWI volunteers arrived early this month, and we have already formed some amazing friendships. We intentionally skipped last week's blog post so that we were able to fully soak everything in and to get to know the new volunteers as much as we could!

Since our apartment has an extra bedroom, we were able to host Alyssa, a fellow Kansas City native, for two days before her apartment was available. We also experienced a city-wide blackout on Emily's first night here in Trujillo that left everyone without electricity for about 12 hours. The night of the blackout we took advantage of a Mexican restaurant that was running on a backup generator, then went back to Alyssa and Emily's apartment to have a nighttime ice cream party illuminated by a headlamp.

A view of the city-wide blackout from our rooftop

It's definitely been a crazy few weeks. Some notable things that we have enjoyed:

• Trying a lot of new food spots
• Playing volleyball (it's awesome living by people who love volleyball as much as we do!)
• The Russian Ballet

The Russian Ballet performing in Trujillo

• Taco Thursday
• A yoga class taught by Josie
• Aldo Diego Ice Cream Shop - seriously the best ice cream we've ever had!

Aldo Diego - our favorite ice cream shop!

• Happy hours :)
• Multiple trips to Huanchaco (the beach town close to Trujillo)
• Our first surfing lesson - we had a blast! Everyone was able to stand up and catch some good waves! 

Venturers ready to surf in Huanchaco!

Weekend Trip to Huaraz

This past weekend was our second weekend trip of the VWI program. We got to go to Huaraz, a city in the Andes mountains with an elevation of 10,000 feet. Huaraz is about a 7-8 hour bus ride away, and our group took an overnight bus that left Trujillo at 9:30pm on Friday and arrived in Huaraz at 5:00am the next morning. We have had some pretty interesting bus rides during our travels in South America, but this one was by far the best we have taken! We were provided pillows, blankets, extremely comfortable seats, the bus was air conditioned (PTL) and we even got some snacks and juice! Buses in South America are definitely hit or miss, and this one was a hit (can't say the same for the bus ride back... which was literally the opposite of all the perks that are mentioned above... oh well!).

A view of Huaraz from the roof of our hostel

Since we arrived in Huaraz early in the morning, we checked into our hostel and grabbed a few more hours of sleep before heading to the Monterrey hot springs. Since we had missed the first hot springs excursion, we were thankful that we were able to partake in this one. The larger pool was warm compared to the temperature outside, and the smaller pool was what you would expect a hot spring to feel like. The water is pumped from the mountains and is a brown because of all the iron in it. Everyone had a great time chatting in the pools and we felt nice and relaxed afterwards!

The Monterrey hot springs in Huaraz

After we were dropped off at our hostel, our group ate lunch at a nearby restaurant and then went to the city's main square, which is apparently where dreams come true... 

Loving the alpacas at the Plaza de Armas in Huaraz

After needing a few hours to recover from the excitement, we all headed to a cool bar where we played pool and jenga, feasted on some american-type food and had some locally brewed beer that had quite a bit of carbonation, but was really good! We called it an early night and tried to get a good nights rest before the main part of the trip the next day: Laguna 69. 

We woke up at 4:30 am and took a 3-hour bus ride high up into the Andes where we began the most beautiful hike that we have ever been on! The hike to Laguna 69 starts at an elevation of 12,000 feet, which is why we loaded up on altitude sickness pills and coca tea and prayed that the previous day would at least help a little with acclimating ourselves to the altitude. 

Huascarán - the highest mountain in Peru!

The entire hike is about 6 kilometers and our guide explained our hike perfectly by breaking it up into 3 sections, so we will use that to describe the hike: 

The first third of the hike is fairly flat, not too difficult, and takes about an hour to complete. The landscape is absolutely breathtaking, and was Daniel's favorite (which is saying a lot considering what lies at the end of the hike!). The first hour was filled with wide-open grass fields surrounded by mountains, and a large stream that ran through the field. There were tons of cows and bulls grazing which made for some awesome pictures and it was incredibly peaceful to listen to the sounds of the stream while making our way to the next part of the hike.

The first part of the hike to Laguna 69

The second part of the hike was also about an hour and this is when it started getting a lot tougher: a gradual incline up into the mountains that really made you start to feel the altitude. This is probably a good time to mention that we got EXTREMELY lucky with the weather! We had heard from some people that had done the hike the previous day that they got absolutely soaked during the entirety of the hike, and some hikers even had their passports and other belongings damaged due to the amount of rain.

The trail is starting to get steeper...

Thankful for amazing views and a flat part of the trail!

The last third of the hike was by far the toughest part - a switchback trail up the mountain with an incredibly tough incline. This was one of the most difficult physical feats that either of us had ever done as we were constantly needing to stop to try to get some air into our lungs, slow down our heart rate, and rest our shaky legs. This continued on for about an hour before we finally reached top and were rewarded with a stunning turquoise lake and a backdrop of snowy mountains. It honestly didn't even seem real!

Almost there!

The beautiful Laguna 69

We did it!

We were able to spend about an hour or so near the lake admiring our surroundings, eating lots of snacks (tortillas and peanut butter for the win!) and taking pictures. And then, it was time to begin our 2.5 hour journey back to the bus. Going down is sometimes just as difficult as climbing up, as you're constantly trying not to slip on rocks and your legs already feel like jello from the trek up the mountain. Everyone made it back to the bus (most of us had pounding headaches from the altitude) and we arrived back at our hostel around 8:00pm, only to head out 30 minutes later for the bus station. We arrived back in Trujillo around 4:00am and to say that we were exhausted would be an understatement. It was all worth it, though, and was definitely a highlight of our adventures in Peru thus far.

This will be our last post from Trujillo, as we leave in less than FIVE days to go to Cusco! We plan on writing one last blog post once we're home to recap our last few days of volunteering and week of travels. Any prayers for safety and health are very much appreciated! As excited as we are to be at home, we don't want our time here to come to an end! This has definitely been the experience of a lifetime :) Hasta luego!

Updates Galore!

First, we want to start out by saying THANK YOU to anyone who left us a comment on any of our previous posts! We didn't realize that we had to approve them in order for them to be posted and we were pleasantly surprised that we even had any! (We changed it so that the comments will no longer need approval.) Thank you so much for taking the time to write us a little something - we really enjoy reading them :)

We have lots of catching up to do with our weekend trips! The second weekend that we were here we went on a day trip to Simbal, a town about an hour away from Trujillo. Here we hiked with a local tour guide through a sugar cane field, climbed up a mountain to a spectacular view, and then did some more hiking through the Andes mountains!

The town of Simbal, Peru

What a view!

Everyone brought their swimsuits and was excited to swim in the lagoon that we were told about where locals hang out and sometimes even pumas are spotted! We hiked for what seemed like forever over a rocky terrain in the afternoon heat. When we finally arrived at our destination, there was no lagoon (not even a small pond, or puddle for that matter) to be found. We all had a good laugh and ate lunch in the mountains before heading back.

Hiking to the "lagoon"

Lunch in the Andes Mountains

Last weekend our group took a trip to Huamachuco to see some ruins and visit the hot springs. We got pretty lucky and had a huge bus (almost) all to ourselves! It was about a 5-hour drive through the mountains and honestly one of our favorite parts of the trip! It was so cool be able to see all the different communities, farmlands, rivers and some pretty amazing views of the mountains.

Incredible views on our 5-hour bus ride to Huamachuco

Overlooking Huamachuco

Our first stop in Huamachuo was the Marcahuamachuco archaeological site (dubbed by some Peruvians as the "Machu Picchu of the North"). The Marcahuamachuco ruins are located atop the Andes mountains at an altitude of over 10,000 feet! It was crazy to be standing where a whole civilization lived on top of this mountain thousands of years ago. After the ruins, our group headed back into the city and explored the local market. Everyone was pretty wiped from the altitude, so we all were grateful for an early bedtime after dinner. Unfortunately, we both got really sick that night and were unable to go to the hot springs the next morning. We stayed in our hostel until 1:00pm and somehow survived the 5-hour bus ride back to Trujillo. It took us both about a week to feel 100% better, and now we are so thankful to be in good health (and eat whatever we want)!

Venture with Impact group photo!

Some of the ruins at Marcahuamachuco

As promised, here is an update on both of our volunteer experiences so far:

Kayla
I am now volunteering with Espaanglisch 3 mornings a week! I get to be with the same co-teacher every day (before I was paired with two different ones) so I am really getting to connect with her and the kiddos. I really like it and am so thankful that it worked out this way! This week we are teaching them vocab for the interior and exterior of houses (window, roof, bedroom, kitchen, etc.) and they are each making their own house out of paper in art class. We also started reading "Curious George" to them - I read in English and my co-teacher, Marie, reads in Spanish - and they really seemed to like that! We even had some students stay in the classroom during their break to read books in English! It made me so proud and honestly almost brought me to tears.

Reading "Curious George" during their break in-between classes

I started volunteering with Vive Peru last week and have helped with two English workshops so far. On Friday, we had 6 kids ranging from ages 10-16 and we played some games and let them color while we did some pre-testing to see how much English they know. The workshop ended early so I got to watch the end of Daniel's soccer camp which was one of the most entertaining things I've ever seen (see his recap below)! Yesterday the workshop had almost 25 kids, ranging from ages 5-8! It got a little crazy at times but overall it was really, really fun! The kids got so excited to learn colors and animals :)

Vive Peru students excited to learn English!

Daniel
Since our last post about volunteering, Ali and I have made a lot of progress with our project to get clean water the community of Jesus Maria! We were able to semi-teach ourselves how to survey with the donated equipment by practicing outside in front of the apartment. After a bunch of trial and error, we were ready for the real deal and made our way out to the Moche valley. The first day we tried to walk the whole length of the new waterline with a GPS, but we couldn't make it through all the crazy thick sugar cane (it's like 15 feet tall and cuts you when you walk through the fields!). I guess when I say "we" I mean Ali and I, because the Peruvians were more than willing to get cut-up and swim in the canals.

Walking along the waterline with a GPS

The new waterline will be about 3 kilometers of pipe from the new clean capture point to where we are tying into their existing waterline. The first 2 kilometers of the proposed waterline has crazy terrain and tall sugar cane and is almost impossible to survey, but the good news is the new waterline will follow an existing line that serves another community close to Jesus Maria. So the goal is to obtain the plans from the existing community so we can skip surveying the first two kilometers (fingers crossed).

Surveying the land

The last kilometer of proposed waterline is in a more open area, and we were able to successfully survey about a half of the final kilometer last week! We hope to finish the last half very soon, and then we will begin making some plans for the community to take to the municipalities. This is still a work in progress, and any prayers would be greatly appreciated!

 The last kilometer that we will be surveying

This past week I also started volunteering with Vive Peru, where I will be working with two other volunteers to run a soccer camp for fifteen 6-9 year olds. I put together a schedule for the hour-long camp (thanks Matt for the soccer drills!) and had everything ready to run a well-structured camp... or so I thought. I was literally laughing for the entire hour as the kids ran around like whirling dervishes and we were able to complete one drill before resorting to a huge scrimmage with everyone involved. Although it didn't go exactly as planned, it was incredibly entertaining and an overall success. We will see if we can actually complete two drills this week :)

"Soccer Camp"

How is it February already?! We can't believe that we will be back home exactly one month from today, and we have a feeling that the rest of our time here will fly by. Two of the January Venture with Impact participants left and the February group members are starting to arrive! We have 3 more weeks in Trujillo and then we (a total of 6 of us) are headed to Machu Picchu!

Random Things We've Learned While Living in Peru

Hello, friends! We thought it would be fun to share some differences from life in the US and facts that we've learned while living in Trujillo for the past 3 weeks. A lot of these may resonate with people who have traveled to other countries, and some might be completely unique to Peru. It's funny how we (as Americans) can think that our way of doing things is "normal" when in reality the United States might be one of the only countries to do it that way! It also makes you realize what all we may take for granted on a daily basis. Read on to find out what we've learned so far!

1. Most buildings here do not have air conditioning so it can get pretty toasty, especially during the middle of the day. During a salsa class that our group took last weekend, we were all dripping with sweat and then noticed a huge fan in the corner that wasn't even turned on! After it was on, we all stood around it for a few minutes while probably being laughed at :)
2. Dryers do not exist here. You can either hang your clothes on a clothesline on the rooftop, or in your apartment on a drying rack, hangers, the kitchen chairs, etc.
   

   

   Daniel's genius sock-drying invention!
3. Drinking bottled water is a must. Even the locals don't drink the tap water (some hardly drink any water at all!). We also have to use bottled water to boil pasta and wash fruit and veggies. But luckily we can wash our dishes and brush our teeth with the tap water. 
4. All used toilet paper goes in the trash can. No further explanation needed...
5. The currency here is the Peruvian sol. The exchange rate is about 0.3 US dollars to 1 Sol, so everything that we buy here we feel like we are getting a huge discount! :)
   

   

   Peruvian Soles

6. Most restaurants have a “menu del dia” (menu of the day) that consists of different variations of rice, yucca root (similar to a potato) and meat/fish. These meals also come with a salad or chicken soup and juice. And the best part – it only costs around 7-12 soles, or 3-4 US dollars!
7. It is not common to tip at restaurants. If it's a nicer restaurant, 10% is an acceptable amount to tip, but 20% is not customary.
8. Most restaurants close for a siesta in the afternoon, any time from 1:00-7:00pm. Also, there are hardly any restaurants open on Sunday evenings. We learned this the hard way!
   

   

   Fried trout and chica morada, a Peruvian drink made from purple corn

9. There are NO rules when driving. The lines on the road don't matter, cars on the inside lanes turn right and cut across traffic, and people honk all the time. But we have yet to see an accident! Also, we haven't seen anyone get pulled over by the police in Trujillo.
10. You don't wave taxis down, they honk you down. They will even honk at people when driving on the opposite side of the road.
11. Adding onto #10, we are pretty convinced that the back-up beeper for taxis is a rendition of Jennifer Lopez's "On The Floor". We will gladly obtain video footage as proof.
12. There are no bus stops. Each bus just has a route that it follows and passengers get on and off wherever they want. So if a bus route passes by your house, that's where you can get on! And whenever you need to get off you tell the driver to "stop" the bus. Convenient? Yes! Efficient? Sure!
    

    

    We somehow were able to fit 22 people into a combi, pictured above

13. Speaking of efficiency, Peruvians will cram as many people into a bus as physically possible. Basically, take the maximum number of people that you think you would be able to fit onto a bus, and then double it. 
14. Getting your coffee “to go” is not normal here in Peru. We have not seen one person carrying around a coffee cup for the 3 weeks that we’ve been here. Also, iced coffee basically doesn’t exist (cue Kayla crying). Which leads us to #15... 
15. It is not common for Peruvians to drink cold beverages. Most of them like their water/juice/basically anything but beer to be room temperature. This is because they believe that the cold causes sickness, therefore drinking cold water would increase your likelihood to get sick. 
16. During our first grocery shopping trip, we spent the longest time looking in the refrigerated section for milk. Little did we know, milk comes in boxes, unrefrigerated! Also, yogurt comes in milk jugs and has a liquid consistency, and Peruvians drink oatmeal and quinoa out of a cup.
    

    

    Yogurt, bottled water, and milk

17. Loud (and we mean LOUD) music is completely appropriate 24/7. Would you like to host a party in your apartment with a live band from 2:00pm-12:00am on a Tuesday night? Or would you like to celebrate getting into work at 6:30am on Monday with Pitbull on full blast? These are all acceptable, and were written in detail for a reason.
18. The typical Peruvian greeting/goodbye between friends and acquaintances is a kiss on one cheek, although men greet other men with a handshake.

We will write about a couple of weekend trips and an update on our volunteering soon! We hope you enjoyed this post! :)