whims

Mariachi and Sea Lions

Rightnow, I should be on a bus to Chiclayo, but I'm going tomorrow because of ridiculous problems with my credit cards. It's scary because if I don't have credit cards, I dont have money and i CANt help myself get out of tight spots easily. BUt, it's all woked out and I'm going tomorrow! YOu'll hear about htat when i get back.

My life was going pretty smoothly for a few days (I think I was recuperating from the Cusco trip. Sleeping and sleeping and sleeping.) But these past few days have been crazy again.

I went to see my friend Erika (who passed her English exam with 125% improvement! and who's leaving for Texas on Sunday. tear) First we went to the Museo de la Nacion, which is a historical museum of Peru (so so many tribes and cultures are there in this country!) We spetn 5 hours wandering around. Wow. BIg musuem. The building itself is like the death star. 100% military architecture. I didn't like that part. After, she invited me to Huacho, the town she was born in to the birthdya party of her boyfriend's sister. Hm. 2 or 3 hours in bus and we were there. Very cool. Midnight party on the roof/patio with the entire family. A bbq. A huge cake and, at 1 in the morning...a Mariachi band came! I thought it was a tradition in Mexico...which it is, but they've adopted it here too. THe poor bday girl had to dance with all the guys present, which was sad at points because some of htem had more than 2 left feet. Very cool. I felt very much in the Spanish world at that point. There were young and old people partying together. IT was a party than ran late into the night (and the young people stayed and the adults stayed up). THere was food at the party (the famous Peruvian bbq), not just alcohol. And, people danced. Very very different. So, we stayed there the night and hten returned the next morning.

This morning, I went on a little cruise of about 5 hours to some islands close to Callao! So cool! We went to Islas Palomino. I had never entered the sea, any sea, like that before. HOurs just sailing towards our destination, watching the waves, and letting the sun burn my face. Gr. But soo beautiful! We went by the island that used to be a prison for the most dangerous criminals but int he 80s there was a riot and Alan Garcia (Who was the President then and is the President now) ordered that all of hte prisoners be killed. So, they were, and it's now just a deserted island. Horrible. We went by an island filllled with birds (ducks, sea gulls, pelicans, and penguins!) Wow. THey're noisy. and sooo sooo cool! THen, we got to the Palomino island, where about 4 or 5 thousand sea lions live. THey greeted us with their odor and thier loud yells. Each male sea lion has about 12 females. THen, we put on our wet suits and entered the quite cold water to swim with them! That's right, we swam with the sea lions! They came so close, I guess they're accustomed to people, and were quite playful. One even touched me! It scared it me, honestly, but wowowowowowowo! Incredible trip. Totally totally incrdible. Beautiful and surprising and wow. I won't forget it! It was the 1st time i got in the Southern Pacific, too.

Well, that's all. Tomorrow I'm off on another journey. !

posted by Marielly @ 5:20 PM