SP Apt & Some Thoughts on Brazil

There have been a couple of requests for pics of my apartment. As you can see, there is a lot of space and the sofa pulls out into a bed...so come visit!

A few more observations about living in Brazil before I jump on a plane for SF.

I am finally starting to like my name in Portuguese. At first, I really hated it...thought it sounds like a combination of someone hawking a loogie and a soundtrack to an adult film. Here is my attempt to describe what my name sounds like phonetically Kkkhhrrreeee (loogie sounding part) sshhtooowwe (bow chica wow owe part). It is growing on me though and the Brazilians keep telling me it is cool and asking me if my parents were hippies, so I am down with it now.

Also, other thing I noticed in Brazil is that germophobia doesn't exist here. At lunch, everyone eats off each other's plates and shares drinks and desserts. My family is like this, but it has been a little strange adjusting to it in a professional setting. The tricky part is figuring out ways to avoid the germ sharing with certain people. For example, I am not ok with sharing germs with my boss, but the other day at lunch he sat down and drank out of my coke can and then said "you don't mind if we share right?"...um - yes! My attempt at a non-offensive response was to say - you can have it...I shouldn't drink it anyway because I am getting fat. This was funny to him because he calls me fatty at lunch almost everyday.

Last thing and then apt pics, the weird part about learning a new language is that I turn into a liar. I am limited to the vocabulary that I know, so I tend to just make things up when I can't say things that I am actually thinking or things that I did. Example:

Friend: What did you do on Saturday?
Me: I woke up (true), I did some cleaning at my apt (not true...I have a helper come to my apt during the week, so there is really nothing to clean - I just sat around for a while), Then, I went to the store (true), I bought groceries (not really, I bought toilet paper and then couldn't find the other stuff I needed and left)...you get the point.

In Portuguese I make up tons of stuff, but I even still do it in Spanish. On the flight to Lima, I had to check all of my luggage, so I ended up grabbing a few things out of my bag and carrying it onto the airplane. We had to get on a bus to drive us to the plane and this really nice guy offered me his seat. He was asking while I had so many things and I told him "they stole my bag in the checkout line"...I meant they made me check it, but he thought I meant someone robbed me. He said I hope you don't have anything valuable in the bag. And instead of explaining what I meant originally, I just said...fortunately, I don't have anything too valuable and the person probably needed the bag more than me. Then in the back of my head I was thinking - WTF - I am such a liar...I could totally just explain what really happened! I guess I am just lazy sometimes.

Alright - that is all I got for now. See most of you soon!

Peru: Arequipa & Lima

We had quite the memorable Thanksgiving in Arequipa. We warmed up for dinner by taking a walk around town in search of empanadas. We found a place that specialized in empanadas and tried one of every kind. We considered alfajores (or as Deanna pronounced it "alfa-whores") for dessert, but opted for the Peruvian version of cheescake instead - we probably should have stuck with the alfa-whores.





After lunch, we played an epic game of progressive rummy while drinking the best beer in Latin America: Cerveza Cristal. Ok, ok, so the beer with my name isn't very good...tasted like bud-light, but flip cup worthy at the very least.




Dinner was definitely the main event and we were excited about our Thanksgiving feast a la peruana.





We drank a lovely Peruvian Malbec.










Appetizers were important because we weren't sure if we would be able to stomach our entrees. We had the Tequenos con Guacamole, which were very fried & cheesy. The highlight of the meal for me was the Rocoto Relleno, bell peppers stuffed with some spicy meat something or other - yummy.



Our Thanksgiving entrees were of the typical Peruvian cuisine variety. We had a steak prepared medium-rare, barbecue alpaca & grilled cuy (aka guinea pig). Our server was not joking around when he told us the cuy would come out with his little carita (face) & brazos (arms). It was something else. I will let the videos do the talking...

The next day Rob & I were supposed to hike Cabanaconde, but there was a little mix-up at the bus station. It kinda felt like we were being tortured by forces outside of our control (maybe the Inka Gods were a little mad at us for nicknaming their finest architectural achievement "the Mach"). We also held hands fearing for our lives while the bus driver zoomed down the canyon...but it worked out well in the end because we had such an awful day, we decided to leave for Lima a day early.

I am so glad we were able to spend time in Lima. I was reunited with my beautiful Peruvian family and we got to do some really fun stuff (amazing how articulate I am as a blogger, huh?). The fam recommended we go to the centro in the morning and check out the main plaza in Lima. The cathedral and palacio del gobierno were worthwhile, but thanks to a recommendation from Selma we ended up at this amazing home, Casa de Osembela. It isn't in the Lonely Planet, but the Peruvians can tell you where to find it. From the outside, it looks like a blue colonial home...from the inside, it gives you quite the peek into both historical and modern day Peru.








The house was built in the 1700s. It still has its original balconies & narrow staircases, which were designed to protect the home from intruders. From the roof, we could see Santo Domingo Cathedral, the first church in Lima, the dilapidated top of the neighboring building, which is home to 60 families!, and the shanty towns of Peru across the Rio Rimac.






The view from the roof was something else...and so was our experience in the medical library. Currently the house is dedicated to the study of Peruvian culture. There is a medical library with books dating back to 1520...and our guide, let us open them & take photos. It was unreal.



After our adventure in downtown Lima, we decided it was time to take things up a bit. We went paragliding in Miraflores. Ten minutes & $40 gave us some spectacular views of Lima's coast. I know I am officially yuppy scum & a huge fan of big cities, but I honestly can't believe how some backpackers skip Lima on their trip to Peru - it is a super lastima!

To decompress after our mini-adventure, we walked around the Parque del Amor. I love the story behind this park. In Lima and in most of Latin America, you live with your family until you are married. Of course, it is a little awkward to spend time with your bf or gf in the bedroom next to your parents, so teenagers & young adults head to the parks and literally make-out on top of each other in front of the whole world. The park in Miraflores is dedicated to these young love birds & features colorful tiled walls with quotes about love & famous couples (think Romeo & Juliet, not Brangelina) & a giant statue of a man and a woman making out. Priceless.







I got to spend my last night in Peru with some of the great loves of my life: Robyn and my Peruvian family. I already miss Robyn and I won't write too much or else I am sure I will start crying again, but she is one of my best friends and to steal some words from her...it is pretty tough having the other half of my brain and heart on another continent :)



I can't begin to explain how lovely my family in Peru is. They are so welcoming and generous. I love them so much. Selma & Augusto are an inspiring couple and after knowing each other for 38 years, you can feel how much they love and care for each other - and they still have fun and laugh together - which I love more than anything else! Even though I am totally ok with the idea of being a single-parent-by-adoption-at-the-age-of-35, I hope that we all find the person that we can love for that long and have that much freaking fun with.






A little note for anyone interested in doing some good in the world, Selma is helping build houses in the outskirts of Lima. You would be amazed out how far $20 USD can go to help a family in need. I am going to work with Selma to find out the best way to get her donations. She keeps track of every penny. If any of you are interested in donating, please let me know. There is also the opportunity to help build the homes. I told her to give me a heads up next time they start construction and I am going to head that way. If any of you would like to join, please let me know...and you should definitely take some extra days to get to know Peru...I am sure my blog does not do it justice.

BESOS - Cristal

Peru: Lake Titikaka & the Mach

I just got back from 10 days of vacation in Peru and it was amazing - you all should go! I spent most of day one in the Juliaca airport waiting for Robyn to arrive, but I had a great time finishing Eclipse (Lane! I know you bought me the Team Edward t-shirt, but I think I may be on Team Jacob - Edward is sort of boring me) and laughed out loud at the local music selection (seriously, they played Return to Innocence by Enigma eight times!).




Our first stop was Puno and things got started with a bang - literally, my facewash exploded hitting me right in the eyes because of the altitude (12,562 ft above sea level)...it kinda burned. The city of Puno is a little ugly, but it is the jumping off point for Lake Titikaka, which in addition to having a fantastic name is also the world's highest navigable body of water.



We endured a painfully slow three hour ride on a lancha across the lake (poor D-Ho sat next to the Italian couple that were on top of each other making out almost the entire time and Rob & I were next to a dude that fell asleep with his hairy ass crack showing). Isla Tequille was our ultimate destination and it was probably my favorite stop on the trip. The island is absolutely charming, beautiful and peaceful. The first thing we did was grab lunch (no big surprise there). All meals in Tequille consist of the following: Quinoa soup to start, Trout for the entree & french fries for dessert. I loved it.












The coolest thing about Tequille is that most tour groups only stop here for lunch and then they take the gringos to other islands or back to Puno. Because we decided to stay the night, we basically had the entire island to ourselves. There are no hostels here, so we found our home for the evening when an adorable 10-yr old girl named Natalia found us and asked if we wanted to stay in her home. Our home on the island, which did not have running water and only limited electricty, was amazing. Unfortunately, there are no street names, so all I can tell you is that if you ever have the opportunity to go to Tequille, ask for Natalia, she lives on Scrunchy Sheep Lane (we came up with the street name ourselves because the house had a bunch of scary sheep running around with scrunchies on their heads).












We spent the day roaming the island and taking a million pics. A definite highlight was when these two little boys came running up to us and jumped in our photo shoot. Most of the time the kids ask if you want a photo with them for "Un Sol" (roughly 30 cents), but these guys didn't ask - they just jumped right in. After the photo shoot, we gave them each a sol and they went running away - too cute.





The family made dinner for us and we had a very romantic meal by candle light. The three of us did pretty well braving the altitude, no vomiting and only minor headaches...but I think the combination of the altitude and the coca tea did have some interesting effects on us. We broke into song several times (I think Lisa Loeb would be incredibly proud that we could all sing nearly every word to Stay). We had some slip-ups in English:

Crystal: (Insert Move Title) won a bunch of awards at Sunset (um, I meant Sundance)
Crystal: You little house breaker (um, I meant home wrecker)
Robyn: Upon winning one of many card games exclaimed "See ya later, Crocodile" (how about Alligator)
Robyn: Vamonos Chicanas (oops - meant chicas)
D-Ho: In GW fashion said "what comes around goes around"
D-Ho: My Spanish isn't that great, so i wasn't sure what that guy was saying...Robyn then pointed out that the guy had been speaking in English :)












All our friends that went to school in Tucson will appreciate that we named the locals on Tequille "T-Locs"...of course, then we scared ourselves before bed by making up a story about the T-Loc monster. After freaking ourselves out, we all decided it would be best to walk to the bathroom together with our pencil light shining the way. We were brave enough to turn off the light (probably one of only a few lights on in the entire island) on the way back to our room and check out the stars. I swear I have never seen so many stars in my entire life. It was gorgeous.










We left the following day around 2PM after learning a lot about each other (who knew that Robyn has flossed her teeth with paper?), many laughs (in the future I will not dare Deanna to light her bush tea on fire), a trip to the T-Loc beach and a couple of pretty bad sunburns.







Next stop was the precious town of Cusco. We didn't get into our hotel until 4AM, so we woke up late and found a nice balcony on which to eat lunch and drink some Cusquenos. Cusco is really adorable. The plaza is great, except for the people yelling at you about massages, manicures and free drinks.




















Spent our time walking around and buying some essentials: Aloe Vera & friendship hats (Rob & I needed to both heal & cover- up our serious sunburns), Friendship Bracelets (D-Ho & Rob were clever enough to figure out these tricky rope things) and of course a couple more decks of cards so we could play progressive rummy.










On Tuesday, we jumped on a train to the Mach (aka Machu Pichu). Actually, it wasn't that easy...we didn't purchase our tickets the day before, so we had to take a cab to a town 1.5hrs from Cusco & grab the train from there. It worked out well because we got to see some of the Andean hillside and most importantly, we got to rock to our cab driver Boris's Infinite Playlist: Mr. Jones, Two Princes, Wonderwall, Wannabe, Zombie, I Will Always Love You and many other of our fav hits from the 90s.










The Mach is quite the place. Ruins (or non-ruins as D pointed out), alpaca running around & low-hanging clouds surrounding the mountains makes it feel like you are on another planet. Deanna had quite the theory on Machu Pichu...(can't figure out how to upload the video right now, but will give it a shot from work tomorrow)





We were temporarily interuppted from our tour de Mach, when a group of young boys caught a look at Robyn's smiley eyes (the boys luv Robs even when she is crying from allergies). Somehow I got caught in the photo shoot as well...literally there were probably 50 kids that took pics with us gringas. It probably wasn't appropriate, but after the 25th kid I had to ask for "un sol"...fortunately, they laughed. Deanna sneaked away and captured the moment for us (still not sure how u escaped that one D-Ho!)





I am boring myself with the blog now...so here are some of my fav pics



















Will try another post later in the week to cover Thanksgiving in Arequipa and Paragliding in Lima. Peace Out Kids!