Las Brisas del Titicaca and La Punta

I'm writing about two different weekends in one post. I cannot believe I've been in Perú for 3 weeks now. In a way I feel like I've done a lot- figured out how to get around, where to buy what, making friends at school and managing 7 classes. In other ways, I feel like a bitof a loser/failure because I've been so sick I've barely traveled around Lima at all!!! I went to a club last night at LarcoMar called XSess, but it was a younger crowd and mainly for drinking. They were playing great music, so it was a waste. Then Pedro and I went to get dessert (tiramisu..mmmm) and by the time he finished telling me about his work, it was already 2 am and I was about to fall over!!! I wanted to check out Aura, another club there, but I was too exhausted to go. It is supposed to be THE place right now, and safe to go to alone as a woman. I am going to suggest it to Lita for her birthday next weekend, since she wants to dance. I'm hoping to go out with some friends from school in the next week or two to go dancing. There are some cute single guys, but I can't date another teacher! It would just be fun!

Speaking of dancing, Lita (my exchange partner's sister) took me to Las Brisas del Titicaca my first real weekend in Perú. If anyone comes to visit me, this is a place I would like to take them. It is a folkloric show that lasts about 4 hours, but in between every two dances or so, the band plays popular music and the whole floor fills up with people dancing! It was really fun! The costumes of the performers are incredible! Some of them are so intricate, and they are the truly typical outfits and dances done all over the country. I have pictures to add to this blog. I can not even begin to explain how beautiful the experience was. I just found out they have dance classes there, so maybe I can enroll. I might join a gym closeby that Elisa is familiar with that has dance classes too. She knows the owner and says he likes to organize outings for his members. I would join to meet people. There's a really nice pool not too far away that I could go to. I want to go to church here to make more connections, but I'm waiting for a response back from the church closeby that I'm interested in. They have weird times and nothing is posted, but it's within walking distance and big!

I went to La Punta today with Elisa and Rodrigo. This is a beach area in Callao not too far away from my school; I could take the bus there easily. The sun came out today so we wanted to be outside by the water! This is the 3rd time I've seen the sun since moving here.I'm lucky because most of the time it is very cloudy here this time of year! Anyway, La Punta is filled with great ceviche, seafood and picarrones places to eat! We couldn't do seafood today because Elisa is having allergy problems, but we hit a little pizza dive. It was good, but the bathroom was crazy!!! I could barely fit in there because on one side was the sink, the other side had a urinal attached (I'm still trying to figure out how the short guys here used that one because it was high!) and then the toilet in the middle. I tried to take a picture cuz I was amused, but I don't think it turned out well. Anyway, La Punta is filled with all these old colonial houses; it reminded me of Viejo San Juan in Puerto Rico. It had antique lighting and an interesting beach. It was made of rocks!!!!! Yes, I sat on a rock beach! Then we all tried to skip rocks, unsuccessfully, I might add. But the water was calm and you can go out in a rowboat to explore. The funniest thing we saw was a woman filing the claws of her giant iguana!!!! Yes, with an electric filer!! I was dying! I have a picture to prove it! It was a very relaxing day!!!