Viernes
This was definitely another busy weekend. Who would've thought? My professor told us we didn't need to go to school Friday morning and still I was exhausted. Friday was our last day at the Air Force School, so they had a closing ceremony for us. There was music and dancing and they presented us with really cool presents. Of course every student wanted to take pictures with us, so we spent a good chunk of our time there taking selfies.
Afterwards, there was an optional activity to visit the Buckingham School in Callao. Originally, I had decided I was going to pass on this, but some friends and I changed our minds, and I'm glad we did. It was probably my favorite thing I've done here. The Buckingham School is a primary school for students age three to about 6th grade. We got there and walked in to a band playing for our entrance. All of the students were dressed in costume and we all paraded through the streets of Callao. Coming to Peru, I knew I'd get to experience some awesome things, but I never thought I'd walk in a parade that was dedicated to me. The sign at the front of our line was a picture of our group from the airport and it said "Welcome Our Friends From Northeastern." It was so cool. It made me a little upset that only 11 of the 32 kids in the program chose to visit the Buckingham School, but my professor said that it was such a special experience, she only wanted students who would really appreciate it to go.
Anyway, the parade ended at the school and we sat down for a wonderful show put on by the students. They acted out different elements of Peruvian culture and history. All while we were being fed traditional Peruvian dishes by the students' moms who could not have been more thrilled to have us there. The show ended, and then every parent wanted us to pose with their kids. The school is trilingual, so the kids speak Spanish, but learn English and French. Moms were just shoving kids at me and asking if I would talk to their child for just a few seconds in English. It was pretty crazy.
Sabado
Saturday, we got an early start to our day. We went to Caral which is about a three hour drive north of Lima, so we left at 7 in the morning. Caral was the oldest civilization to have inhabited the Americas. They existed from about 3000 BCE to 2000 BCE. I had learned a lot about them in school and in our culture text books, so I was eager to see the site. It certainly did not disappoint. The site was huge and I was just in awe as to how well preserved everything was. The area was discovered in 1994 by Ruth Shady, so for about 4000 years it had been untouched. And yet there were still substantial parts of pyramids and temples. It was truly fascinating.
Saturday night, my professor took us to a club. The club has different themes different nights, and I had been there before, but Saturday night was unreal. It was an Afro-Peruvian dance show and it was insane! We got to participate too and they gave out so much free beer, which was obviously an added bonus.
Domingo
Sunday was my first (and I think only) free day. Some friends and I decided to try out the Peruvian surf scene. There are always so many people down by the ocean with tents offering surf lessons and rentals, so we thought we'd check it out. I had never surfed before, and I was a little nervous, but my friends assured me it would be awesome. We got a really good deal on lessons, and after some brief dry land instruction, we paddled out to sea. It was hard. Really hard. The waves were pretty rough and I was only in the ocean for about 45 seconds before I got hit by a surfboard. I did get a couple good rides in, but I am really not coordinated enough to surf. I stood up one time for about half a second, but hey, I did it. My instructors were really fun and funny and we did have a really good time, but it was really tiring.
So after, we spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out. Some of my friends went parapinting (which is like hang gliding slash just parachuting along the cliffs) I offered to sit with their bags and take pictures. Although I didn't do a very good job because I fell asleep in the park. But they had a really good time and it was perfect weather for it. Peruvian winters aren't cold, but they are a little grey. But today there was a lot of sun and clear skies and you could actually see into the distance.
Overall, I'd say it was a successful weekend. I'm justifying being this tired because of how much I've done.
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