24 hrs later, we are in Peru!

Hola amigos!

It was a long journey here but we finally made it. We left at 11pm on the 5th, the first flight went pretty well and it was nice because we all were grouped together (there were 7 of us at this point). We made it to Toronto in a daze, it was 4am our time. The next hours were spent staring into space or trying to sleep on the airport floor. I was lucky enough to get to leave the airport and see some family (Thanks Auntie Sheri!)

Our next flight was pretty long, especially because we ended up getting an older plane with no personal TV´s. We landed at about 1230am and were out of customs ect by 130am. Then, we realized that Ronal, Leah´s friend and the hostal worker, was not there to pick us up. So after some gibberish spanish, we arranged some taxis and got to bed by 4am.

I ended up sleeping until 1pm today because I was so tired. I definetly feel much better now. We had a small orientation, although the 9 of us are already getting along very well. Then we went exploring! We are in the ¨Miraflores¨ part of Lima. We walked down to the water and had gorgeous weather, probably in the 20´s! I am still sitting here in short and a tank top, love it.

It´s such an interesting place and I can´t help compare it to Ghana everywhere we walk. It´s quite a bit more developed than I was picturing.. There are KFC´s, MacDonalds (which delivers!), Chilis, Tony Romas, Starbucks, ect. The area we walked by the water is very beautiful, with kind of gardens around and lots of people walking their dogs. There is also paragliding, which we plan on doing! There is so much Spanish so I hope to practice a lot because I am realizing that I don´t know a lot, haha.

Our hostal is a cute little place, maybe 25 mins from the water. We have 3 rooms and theres a little living room, a kitchen and an open balcony. Theres a more modern super market 1 block from here so it is easier to get food and things like that. Tonight, we ate at a little cafe and I ordered an omelette. Haven´t seen many gluten free options so we will see how that goes!

We are headed out on the town tonight after settling in this evening. Tomorrow, we are going exploring some more including the big market for knick knacks and such. We are starting work either Monday or Tuesday, we aren´t sure yet. But there is definetly lots to do in the mean time... and get my tan on!

Thank you to everyone who helped me out with this trip, especially the Irving K Barber School International Education Subsidy, as well as all family and friends who contributed. Thank you so much!

I was a little weary after all the travelling but I was so excited to go out today and explore. It´s completely different from Africa but in a very good way. Lima is clearly very developed and it will be very interesting to venture to our work site and see the difference between rich or well off and poor. I´m very excited to learn about this part of the world!