Mi vida loca en Peru! :): Dancing the night away, BBQing with Americans and Hiking all in one weekend!

This weekend was jammed pack with so many fun activities, I've hardly had enough time to breathe. :) Thursday marked week two of classes here, so what better way to celebrate than go to the discoteca and dance the night away, right!? I have been so lucky to have such great host parents here who are always so welcoming to my friends and I. We had a little get together here on the rooftop to "preview" ( their saying for pre game here in Lima ) before we headed out to the clubs. My sister Thalia was able to get us onto a list, so we were all able to get into the clubs for free!! It's so crazy re-reading that..I feel like I'm some sort of celebrity, or some important person or something (Which, clearly I'm not :)) Rooftop and on a "list" say what?? Anywho, We all socialized for awhile and then around 1130 we split up into taxis and went to the club, Arula, which is in Mira Flores. It was about a 30 min drive and only cost 5 soles for each of us--which is like 2 dollars! Now, I thought my friends and I back at home knew how to have a good time, but Peruvians definitely know where it's at! This club was definitely not like any bar or house party I've been to in Nebraska that's for sure :) We all had such a great time and definitely made some memories we will not ever forget..AHEM (Jorge). :) I can't wait to check out some more clubs and see what they are like!

As you've read from all my previous posts, I've already done so many

wonderful things here, but one of the most memorable so far has been the BBQ

Amber took Finn, Marina, Emily and I to on Saturday night. Amber was connected by a friend back home to a group of missionaries, who are originally from the US, but just recently moved to Lima to provided services to those in need. The BBQ was to celebrate the opening of the church they just started here! I love Lima and all of the different people I have met so far, but it was nice to hang out with some Americans who spoke English, and also who live here and have experienced the same culture shock we are all experiencing right now! They live in this beautiful community and share one HUGE backyard between 6 or 7 other families'. All of the surrounding families of their neighborhood gathered for the BBQ as well, so we were introduced to even more friendly, peruvian families! It was so heartwarming to see how these two families from the US moved here to Lima for the purpose of helping other people. John's family has been here for 5 years and Josh's family has been here for a year. It was a definite eye opener and made me think twice before the next time I wish I was home or wish I had some of the luxuries I do back in the states. It is just another reminder to myself how lucky I am to be apart of this experience here in Lima! I was even able to talk with them about doing volunteer work within some of the lower socioeconomic levels here! Overall, they were so welcoming and told us that if we ever needed anything their doors were always open, which was the kind of reassurance I think we all needed to hear :)

So, we were all told on the first day of our intensive grammar class that we had a class hike coming up and that we had to be at the school at 5:45 AM for it... ayayaya! Well, that hike was today, and I think it is safe to say I got my work out in for the next few weeks :) No but really, this hike was absolutely breathtaking! We took a 2 hour bus up to the town, Matucana, which was the cutest little village where basically everything is hand crafted and made there by the local people. Our tour guide Ivane met us when we got off the bus and directed us through our 2 mile hike up the mountain! He told us so many fascinating things about the mountains and the community of Matucana, it was really interesting! He kept mentioning una cascada ( a waterfall ), and so we were all anxiously wondering when we were going to hit it. Once we did..I could not take my eyes off of it! It was such a refreshing and rejuvenating feeling, especially since I have never really seen anything like that before. Ah, why can't Nebraska have landscaping like this!? Nonetheless, we all survived the 3 hour hike and were all so very thankful that our professor was nice enough to take us there! It is definitely something I want to go back to when I hopefully return to Peru in the future :)