Más Fotos

 Here are a few pictures from Rose and my trip up the southern Peruvian coast this past February, as well as a few random pictures I wanted to share! Enjoy!

Huacachina...the first stop on our adventure

Oasis in the middle of the desert



The sand dunes...check out the people in the distance! 



Posing for a pic :)

He looks like such a valient little penguin. Oh ya...there´s penguins in Peru :D

Poor man´s Galapagos Island...Islas Ballestas

Sunset at Paracas...a tranquilo little beach town

I really liked this house in Chincha...it had a lot of character!

Rose and I were napping at the beach when we were suddenly interrupted by a herd of cows.

My first time eating anticucho...aka (beef) heart

Our recent journey to Lima allowed for a little bit of sight seeing!

A lesson in simplicity

A few weeks ago I went on a trip with one of my roommates (Rose) for one last hoorah before school started. We journeyed up the coast from Tacna to Ica to Huacachina to Pisco to Paracas to Chincha and back! It was quite an adventure and a great way to end the summer vacation. It was also a good lesson in simplicity, and it gave me a lot to ponder in terms of privilege as well.

I´ve been fortunate enough to be able to do a lot of traveling in my few 23 years. I know that traveling in and of itself is a privilege and I´ve definitely exercised that privilege. When I´m traveling with my friends I´m more than happy doing it on a budget, but up until this excursion, I had never traveled quite so frugally. Although living here in Tacna on my stipend has been quite easy, attempting to travel on a stipend was another story. Our goal was to be able to travel within our budget. On the trip it was a little bit difficult for me to get out of the mindset that I have had while traveling in the past or studying abroad, to take advantage of everything...food, activities, going out, etc. I didn´t throw around money in the past, but I never worried about it too much. I was used to doing what I wanted and saying no very few times. I didn´t distinguish between wants and needs.

It was difficult, because I felt like Rose and I were constantly fretting about money. Rose and I would spend literally hours walking around looking for cheap options for lodging and food. When you stop to do the conversions the differences were a matter of dollars, but when we were doing this trip with such little money, every cent counted. Rose and I were getting low on money and we had splurged to go on a trip to see penguins (yes, there are penguins in Peru...soo cool), yet we still wanted to visit a national park. We decided that to save what would essentially be about $9 to do a tour that we would do it on our own. This meant that we had to walk about 3 miles to the park entrance and then an additional 5 or so the next landmark. We made it to the park entrance and with the sun beating down on us gave up and turned around a bit defeated and tired. Another day, when we were visiting the sand dunes in Huacachina we were being hassled by people to do a sand buggy trip. One guy kept asking me over and over and I kept telling him no. He kept repeating that it would be so fun, and I told him I sure it would be and that we would love to. Finally I told him we couldn´t afford it. To be honest I wasn´t used to saying that and not used to not doing something I wanted to do for the sake of finances.

I learned that trying to save money can of course be costly in the end, but this can be a difficult things to balance. For example, Rose and I decided to spend more money to travel on a bus that has a reputation for being a safe option. Likewise we had to look for lodging that was within our budget, but wouldn´t put ourselves in a dangerous situation. This is not always an easy thing to balance. I learned that it´s so much easier to eat horribly unhealthy food on a budget. On several occasions Rose and I opted for the 50 cent mystery hamburger rather than the better food. Sadly that backfired one day. In an effort to save money, Rose and I looked for a cheap ¨menú¨one day, which is basically a 2 course meal and a drink. We found one for about $1.50 which was exciting until I was hit with some sickness later that day, from which now after over 2 weeks am finally recovered. Nevertheless you have to make sacrifices, but obviously not at the expense of your well-being although that simply is not the reality for many.

It was a good and humbling experience to learn to make sacrifices (like not going out dancing despite the prevalence of salsa music...so sad!), to have to distinguish between wants and needs, and to say no. I had to remember that I am not here to aprovechar (take advantage) of everything, but also to try and live a bit more simply. I´m a bit disappointed that because I spent a lot of my money on the trip I won´t be able to participate in a dance class that I was hoping to do in March, but the reality is that you have to make sacrifices to do certain things. I´m fortunate in that I was able to travel at all and that really the sacrifices we made were quite minimal.

Although it was a humbling experience and a good lesson in simplicity, in the back of my mind is still my struggle with fully being in solidarity with the poor. The sacrifices made during our trip were really quite superficial things. I´m living more simply, yes. I´m learning to say no to things. I´m learning to better distinguish wants and needs. At the same time though, it´s tough to really be able to understand when I have a bank account that could be accessed if I wanted to. I have family at home that I could call up at any moment to help me. I have support. I have a back up plan. Unfortunately much of the world´s population does not have these lifelines that I do. So while I´m trying to live a little bit more in solidarity with those who struggle economically, I cannot truly understand their position. I cannot really be in solidarity with them. Sometimes I feel like this is somewhat of a social experiment of sorts that I´m choosing to partake in for two years. I´m sure there are many people that wish they could live somewhere and live ¨simply¨ for just two years. My being able to do this is a privilege in and of itself. While yes it is a sacrifice of sorts, it is also an expression of the privilege that I have. There are many people that cannot give up two years to serve. Nevertheless, although cannot fully understand the situation of a lot of people here and all over the world, I am going to try to understand, try to serve and continue trying to live out the values of simplicity and solidarity.