My First Solo Journey...Destination: South America

PERU!

kristinblack — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 11:23:00 GMT

Wow, Peru went by in such a whirlwind! Here's a recap of my last 2 weeks, where I tackled some of the highlights of Peru.

Started out in Lima, where I ate some good food, and browsed some markets for an evening. I didn't spend much time in Lima as I was anxious to get to Cuzco, but from what I saw it seemed like a nice city. I flew from Lima to Cuzco with TACA airlines to save myself a 24 hour bus ride, but that turned out to be a rough morning at the airport. Luckily, someone had told me it took over an hour to get to the airport, so I left the hostel extra early in the morning... In reality it only took about 30 minutes, but when I arrived at the departures terminal the line-up of people trying to drop their baggage off stretched the length of the whole terminal. Literally, I'm thinking there were over 2 thousand people waiting in line... I patiently waited for an hour and a half, before i realized I might miss my flight and hurried to the front to drop my bag, run through security, and run to my gate just as the last people were getting on. So in the end everything was fine and I made my flight, but I'm certainly not impressed with taca right now!

Cuzco was awesome! I stayed at Loki hostel, which was non-stop fun. I had 2 days before leaving for Machu Picchu, so I spent some time in the local market getting decked out in tacky tourist llama gear, and went on a free walking tour of the city (we tasted alpaca, chocolate tea, and saw lots of old buildings). I thought Cuzco was a really cool city with so much to see and do, I could have easily spent more time there.

Machu Picchu! I chose to do a bit of a non-traditional trek to Machu Picchu and went with Lorenzo Expidition's Inka Jungle trek, which ended up being a blast! It was a great combination of hiking on inka trails, and adventure sports that are so prominent in the region. The first day, we drove a few hours from Cuzco to the top of a mountain at 4,600m and strapped on our helmets and elbow pads, and hopped on some bikes to cruise down the mountainside until we reached the jungle hut by the river we spent the first night. The second day, we woke up bright and early, donned some bathing suits, and jumped into some rafts to go white water rafting down the river! After that, we changed into hiking gear and were dropped off at the start of the inka trail, where we climbed stairs. So many stairs. Hours upon hours of stairs. But, we had lots of stops along the way where our guide Wilburd would give us lots of interesting information about the region and history, and many many photo-stops. The third day, we woke up and started the day getting our heart rates' pumping with some zip-lining! One of the zip lines between two mountains was over 1.5km long and you zoom along at over 80k/hr. Then we were back into hiking gear for the last leg to Aguas Calientes, or Machu Picchu town. The last day, my alarm went off at 3:50 am, and we were off walking to the gate of machu picchu before 5am. The gate opened promotly at 5, and for the next hour we were stampeding up stairs to reach the main gates of Machu Picchu and get inside before the sunrise. Our guide spent a few hours showing us around the ancient city and explaining the history, and then I climbed up Machu Picchu mountain (which was another hour of mothing but steep rock stairs... But it was completely worth it for the view!). We left Machu Picchu early afternoon, I went to the hot springs in Aguas Calientes for a quick soak for my sore legs, and then we hopped on the train back to Cuzco! All in all, I was so happy with my tour. The destination was amazing, but the journey to get there was so fun and filled with adventure that it was worth it in itself.

Last day in Cuzco was pretty chill. I was fairly sore, so Rebecka and I walked up to some ruins near Cuzco (they're pronounced "sexy-woman", and for the life of me I can never remember how they're really spelt, so i'll just call them that), and rented some horses and let them do the walking to a few ruins. Was a fun way to spend an afternoon.

That night, we jumped on a night bus to Puno, which is a town on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca. We arrived and had a tour arranged to the islands that left right away. The tour of Lake Titicaca was so much fun! We started off visiting the Uros, who live on floating islands made of reeds. Then we went to Isla Amantani, which is one of the 6 islands that are inhabited in the lake. We had a local family who we stayed with, which was a really cool experience. They made us a delicious meal of quinoa soup and fried cheese and salad, then we hiked up to the top of the mountain to watch the sunset. In the evening, our house-mom pulled out a bunch of the local traditional clothes that they wear and got us dressed to head to the fiesta! We enjoyed some local musicians and some circle dancing until bed time. The next day, we visited another island (Isla Taquile) to walk around and eat lunch. We spent the night in Puno, and enjoyed a delicious last-Peruvian meal of quinoa, alpaca, and pisco sours.

Today, we woke up super early and hopped on a bus to Copocabana, which is just on the other side of the Bolivian border on Lake Titicaca. This town is AMAZING! We couldn't have picked a better place to take a day to just chill out and enjoy the views. I think I was over-due for a mini-vacation from my vacation. Tomorrow, we are going on an island tour of Isla del Sol, then taking a bus to La Paz! My time on my trip is going by so quickly, I have less than 2 weeks now to explore Bolivia before I head back home. I'm so grateful that I've had so many positive travelling experiences so far on this trip, and hope that this continues into Bolivia. Cheers!

Buenos Días from Baños!

kristinblack — Sat, 13 Jul 2013 17:00:00 GMT

Wow! It's been such an amazing 2 weeks here in Ecuador, the time has gone by way too quickly!

I started off in Quito, where I stayed with Rebecka and Andres. We did awesome amounts if sight-seeing in the two short days I was there. Went up the TelefériQo and hiked up a volcano, went to the equator (mitad del mundo), checked out some lovely hot springs in the mountains, walked around the old town and many of the buildings there, saw a gold church, and spent lots of time touring around! While in Ecuador, I tried canelazo, which is a hot alcoholic beverage that is delicious but slightly dangerous. All in all, I loved Quito! Such a beautiful city with so much history and culture.

Next stop was the GALAPAGOS! Those of you who know me know that going to the Galapagos is something I've been dreaming about for many years, so I've been so eagerly waiting, hoping, and planning for this trip! I could sit here and write for hours about how truly amazing my time was... But I'll try and keep it short! There's lots of ways to see the islands, but most people choose to do a boat cruise to see many of the islands. I looked into cruises, and decided against it for a few reasons... In general, they're quite expensive (which is a big reason when I'm trying to stick to a backpacker's budget), and many companies I've looked into were either foreign owned, or hired foreign guides. This trip, I've really tried to make an effort as much as possible to support entirely local businesses (hostels, restaurants, tours... I always try and make sure the money is staying here!), so that was another big reason I opted against the cruise. Plus, it seemed like a thing that couples or families or older people do. So, anyway, I did some research and I decided to do my open water scuba diving certification in San Cristóbal! I went with the company Galapagos Underwater because the owner, Jimbo, is one of the friendliest guys you will ever meet, he gave me a great deal, and all the money stays in San Cristóbal! (A portion even goes to support development of programs for kids with special needs in the Galapagos).

The scuba diving was AMAZING. I don't think you could pick a better place to learn! We would be doing dives to practice skills, and you would look up and see 5 sea lions just playing in your bubbles, or coming and swimming right up to your face. And even in the practice areas there was amazing reef with so many unique and brightly colored fish! Once I finished all the practice dives, I got to do some deeper open water ones. The first was a reef dive, where again we saw tons of super cool fish, quite a few sea turtles, and many playful sea lions. We also did a wreck dive, which was pretty cool. But by far my favorite was the day we went to Kicker Rock. We did 2 dives out there, and it was unreal. We saw LOTS of sharks (blackfin, galapagos, and hammerhead sharks), sea turtles, sea lions, manta rays, puffer fish, octopi, and soooooo many schools of fish!!! It was so amazing. Being so close to so many sharks was a bit scary at first, but then you realized that they actually have no interest in you at all, and I calmed down (Still went through my tank of air pretty quick though, I was definitely excited). That night, I had the opportunity to go night diving! Which was intense. Outside of your tiny flashlight beam was black abyss... But we saw lots of cool nightlife and at one point shut off all the lights to see all the phosporescence. All in all, just the most amazing week, and I'm officially obsessed with scuba diving!!

I also did lots of land touring on the Galapagos - saw lots of ancient tortoises (which was super cool!), hiked up a few volcanoes, crawled through some lava caves, went to some beaches, saw lots of wildlife like iguanas, blue footed boobies, and other things indigenous to the Galapagos. Just the best time, I honestly can't wait to go back!

And from the Galapagos I went straight to Baños, where I am writing from now. Baños is this cool little town in the mountains about 3 hours from Quito, and it's known as the adventure capital of South America! I was only here for 2 short days, but I was able to go mountain biking, bungee jumping, and canyoning (rapelling down 30m high waterfalls!). Plus the town itself is so pretty, set in a backdrop of the Andes, and there are waterfalls almost everywhere you look. I wish I could stay longer!

I've had a great time in Ecuador, and while I'm sad to leave I'm also super excited for the adventures ahead in Peru and Bolivia. Right now, I'm waiting for my 1am overnight bus to Guayaquil, and then tomorrow afternoon in Guayaquil I hop on a 30 hour long border bus all the way to Lima, and then the next day fly to Cuzco. So, all in all I'm preparing to spend nearly 3 days in transit. I stocked up on snacks and a book, so I should be set! I'll write more updates from Peru, bye for now!

Chau Chile, Entonces a Ecuador!

kristinblack — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 21:55:00 GMT

Well world, I made it to Ecuador! But first, a quick recap of my last week in Chile.

My last week in Coquimbo flew by. I spent some time with my host family, and made them some thai food for lunch one day (I couldn't decide on a "Canadian" meal so I settled for something i know I can do well). I was quite sad to say goodbye to my family; they have been so welcoming and so friendly to me during my stay in Coquimbo. I learned so much about Chilean culture and values... All while not speaking the same language. This experience in Chile really caused me to appreciate the value of non-verbal communication, a smile can go a long way to help communicate!

On my last day in the lab, as fate would have it, my experiment that I had been working at (& at this point thought I wouldn't finish) FINALLY, somewhat miraculously worked and we were able to collect all the data needed to finish my part! I was pretty excited, to say the least. That's one of the things I like about research, the feeling of accomplishment when you finally get something to work after hours/days/weeks(/months?) of frustration, and to know that you might be the first person who's ever done exactly that before. After this breakthrough, Liliana and the guys in the lab took me to the port to eat some amazingly fresh seafood at a restaurant right on the docks of Coquimbo. If it's possible go eat a dangerous amount of seafood in one sitting, I'm sure I was at that point.

My last night in Coquimbo I went to a pub on the beach with Consuelo and her friend Humberto. We enjoyed a few pisco sours, and the night became entertaining when Humberto decided to take the stage and sing with the band! Went home and managed to get a couple hours of sleep before making my way to the bus station to catch the bus to Santiago.

I spent 2 full days in Santiago, and managed to fit SO MUCH sightseeing into that time. The first day, I woke up and to my dismay it was raining. Like torrential downpour, not just a nice sunshower. So i ate breakfast and pondered what my backup plan should be. Ultimately, i put on my coat, bought an umbrella from a guy on the street that was only 1000pesos (& only 1/2 waterproof), and continued with my sightseeing plans while getting soaked in the process. I went to the Plaza de Armas, walked into an incredible church (catedral metropolitana), walked past the correos de chile building, justice building, and a few important governmenty-looking buildings (it was too rainy to pull out my book and figure out what i was looking at). Then i went to Bellas Artes area and walked through the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes as well as the Musea de Arte Contemporareo. I don't think I get contemporary art. What they call art, I call soft-core porn. I guess there's a reason I was never an art major. Then i walked to San Cristobal, the hill in the Parque Metropolanito. Luckily, it stopped raining just in time for me to take the funicular up to the top of the hill and check out the AMAZING views of Santiago and the Andes mountains! Then i went and walked to La Chascona, Pablo Neruda's house.

My last day in Santiago, I met some IFMSA friends at the Cousino Macul vinyard, a picturesque winery set in a valley near the andes built in the 1800s. it's been around for over 6 generations! The tour was interesting, and the wine was poured with a heavy hand. Then I went to Santa Lucia, an incredibly old building (I think from like the 1500s or something) on a hill overlooking the city. Plus, there were people up there dressed in medieval gear dueling, so that was entertaining. My last night in Chile, I met the girls for drinks in the BellaVista area where we enjoyed pisco, wine, and many great stories!

...so that brings me to today! This morning's 3am alarm clock was less than ideal, but I managed to sleep more or less the whole first plane ride to Lima. I arrived in Quito just before 1pm, and was greeted by Rebecka (a friend I met the last time I was backpacking in Asia), and her boyfriend Andres. We started off by going to a "fair", and I wasn't sure what to expect. When we arrived, I realized that it was bull-fighting, like the kind you would expect to see in Spain, with the guys in the tight pants and the red flags and everything. We watched for awhile, and I tried not to be too quick to judge as I realize this is an important part of the culture here...but it didnt take long to realize that this truly is an awful spectacle, purely for human entertainment, that causes significant injury to harmless animals, and should have been left in the medieval ages. In the 21st century, with so many animal rights groups (not to mention that the average person has the common sense that hurting animals for fun is immorral, unnatural, and just plain wrong?) I'm surprised that this is still legal... Not only that, but apparently is widely popular throughout latin america. I could go on for several more paragraphs about how strongly I feel against this, but you get the point.

Anyway, the rest of the day in Quito was great! Went to a pub to get some food and watch the soccer game (it was an important one, and Brazil won just FYI). Then Andres and Rebecka took me on a tour of the centre of Quito at night, which was amazing! All the buildings are lit up at night and you can see the city sprawling in the distance through the mountains and valleys. Then we drove up the mountain to Panecillo, a big virgin mary statue on top of the mountain that is lit up at night and you can go walk around inside.

We have lots of plans for touring around the next 2 days, I think tomorrow we're doing a big hike in the morning and going to the equator in the afternoon! Hopefully checking out some hot springs and the centre by day as well. Then Wednesday I'm off to the GALAPAGOS!!!!! Can't wait!

Cheers!

aquí viene el sol

kristinblack — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 00:14:00 GMT

In English, "here comes the sun". I woke up today and it was gloriously sunny outside, not a single cloud in the sky which is rare for this city right on the coast! So i went into the lab for a couple hours to do a few things, then took the whole afternoon to enjoy the sun. I walked from the university up a few sizeable hills to reach Coquimbo's cruz del tercer milenio - a giant concrete cross located on top of the highest hill around. I paid the 2,000 pesos ($4) to ride the elevator to the top and was rewarded with the most amazing panoramic view of the coast, mountains in the background, colorful city houses, and the distant horizon of the pacific ocean. I took so many pictures that don't do this amazing view any justice!

That was by far the highlight of today. It's been a busy last week here in Chile! Over the weekend I took a bus 6 hours south to go to viña del mar and valparíso with the other IFMSA exchange students. We were an interesting mix of Canadian, American, Russian, El Salvadorian, Brazilian, and Chilean. It was definitely an action-packed weekend! When we arrived Friday we went to grab some food then came back to our hostel to prepare for a night out in viña. We went to a super trendy and cool disco that was half in a building and half on a patio, right on the beach! As per usual here in Chile, we danced the night away until the wee hours of the morning.

Saturday, we woke up early to grab some breakfast and head to the neighboring city of Valporíso. I loved Valporíso, it was such a cool bohemian city set on the hillside overlooking the ocean, with thousands of brightly colored houses peeking out everywhere you looked (I promise to post some pictures soon!). We started at la Sebastian, Pablo Neruda's house, which was this super funky 5-story house with a stunning view of the bay. We walked down the hill to the center, and ate at a local hole in the wall restaurant called J.Cuz (pronounced "ho-tah crus". We indulged in a local favorite called chorianna, which is french fries topped with eggs, onions, and meat. Probably one of the least healthy things I've ever eaten in my whole entire life. We went on a boat ride around the bay, took some cool diagonal elevators up the side of cerro alegre ("happy hill") and ate some fresh seafood on the beach. We were all so tired by the time we returned to the hostel that we didn't make it to the disco that night.

Sunday we spent the day walking around Viña. We took lots of pictures on the beach, walked through a cool park, and played some peso slots in the casino. All in all, it was a fantastic weekend with some amazing new friends from around the world!

One last fun story. Last night, Thursday, my supervisor Liliana took me to La Serena to see a cultural demonstration put on by the university in the evening. It started at 7, so instead of just staying at the university with her and going directly there, I thought I would make things a little complicated and try and go home and eat and change then come back (I had about an hour to complete this mission). So from the university, I walked to the corner where you catch collectivos (remember the taxi/bus hybrid?). (Side note- I can, and often do, walk home from the university. In total, it's usually about a 45-50 minute walk, so given the time constraints i thought collectivo would be faster). So I waited for a collectivo. And waited. And waited. And tens, maybe hundreds, drove by...all completely full. So after half an hour of waiting, I knew I was running out of time, and made an impulsive decision.. I buckled up the chest strap on my backpack, and took off running down the side of the highway towards my house. I'm not talking a nice leisurely jog along the beach... like a full out, run like a dog is chasing you/Phoebe on friends/fast as your feet can go run. So I can only assume it isn't every day in Coquimbo there is a tall giant with a lime green backpack, madly sprinting down the side of a major highway, obviously winded and cursing under her breath. I made it home at exactly the time we were supposed to leave the university, but Liliana was nice enough to come pick me up (although some unfortunate miscommunication did involve me running back and forth on the highway a bit more between a few blocks trying to find her). Anyway, the evening ended up being fantastic. I enjoyed the show, after we went to Liliana and her boyfriend Ian's house and ate a late dinner and drank some wine with 2 of her friends.

And that more or less sums up my last week or so in Chile! I leave for Santiago next Thursday night, and from there to fly to Ecuador on June 30th. My time is so quickly coming to an end, but I'm so grateful for all the wonderful people I've met and all the amazing places I've had a chance go see so far.

More stories, and hopefully photos, coming soon!

¡Hasta luego!

La chica muy alta

kristinblack — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 21:45:00 GMT

... So apparently I'm tall? "La chica muy alta" more or less means "that really tall girl". I've been called this on several occasions, its hard to try and describe in my limited spanish that in Canada I'm totally average height, I just seem gigantic here compared to the average woman (or man, for that matter, I think I've met maybe 3 guys total taller than me so far?).

Other than people commenting on my freakish height, its been a great week here in Chile! I've been keeping busy at the university doing some DNA isolation and PCR, as well as working on my Spanish in bits and pieces. On Thursday, Liliana (my awesome supervisor) took me to her home in La Serena for coffee, and showed me around the city (and where the mall is). I've been frequenting the fruit and vegetable stand near our house and eating almost inhuman amounts of pineapple (it's just too good!!) On Friday I spent the day with Aly, she made a big lunch and then she and her boyfriend took me to Lider (Chilean version of Walmart) where I bought some sweaters (it's colder here at night than i was prepared for) and a bike! Although while biking home I think I rode over something sharp and now my tire is completely flat and it's proving difficult to fix when I have no idea how, and I can't take it anywhere and ask because my Spanish skills still suck. Hopefully this week I'll get that sorted out.

On Friday night I went to Aly's friends house to watch the football (and by that I mean soccer) game. Chile won, and when the game was wrapping up around midnight I assumed this meant it was home time. Was I ever wrong. Apparently, here in Chile people go TO the bar after 1 am, and bars (called discotheques) stay open until after 5!!! Crazy. So we went to Ovo disco, which is in the beautiful casino, and danced. And danced. Then danced some more. Apparently, people don't go to drink, or talk, or meet friends, or sit down... Just dance. For several hours. Needless to say, by 3:30 am my feet were dying, and I was relieved when it was home time. Although at some points throughout the night, they would have dancers come on to the stage and teach the crowd a dance, or professional dancers performing very impressive numbers. It was definitely an interesting experience!

Saturday, I met Consuelo (and Anna, an exchange student from Russia) in La Serena. We had a supremely awesome day of shopping, walking around the city, checking out some beautiful gardens and local markets, and it ended with having some traditional Chilean food on the beach! I ate my first empanada, and tried pisco (an alcohol made from grapes that they make into an insanely strong drink). Sunday, my host family took me to their relative's house for lunch (which here means a meal in the mid-afternoon). It was interesting to see a different part of the city (they lived across the street from a field that literally had cows in it, I have pictures to prove it). Everyone has been so great and welcoming, even though it's hard at times for me to communicate with the languge barrier.

One thing I've been trying to keep track of is things that I find really interesting/different here in Chile compared to Canada, and I thought I'd share a few of those with everyone. Firstly, when you greet someone, whether you're meeting them for the first time, greeting a relative you haven't seen in a long time, or just saying hi to someone when they arrive back home from the day, you exchange hugs and kisses on the cheek. As a Canadian who is very accustomed to having a large amount of personal space, this caught me VERY off guard at first. The next thing is "collectivos" - Chilean hybrid between a bus and a taxi. It's a taxi car, that drives around a specific route, and picks up people on the side of the road and drops them off at a select destination along the way. Sometimes convenient and cheap... Sometimes frustrating when you don't know the route or don't know where you have to walk to catch one... And sometimes just plain uncomfortable when you're stuck in the middle seat between two large strangers. Third thing- dogs. Everywhere. Literally, everywhere, I'm not joking. From what I've been told, it isn't super common to spay or neuter pets here, and many people will have a pet and then just let it go for a variety of reasons. So there's dogs everywhere, but for the most part they seem friendly, and I feel bad for them because they just want some food and some love. Kind of sad to think about. Four- tea, people herre drink lots of tea. And, more on that, something I really like here is that when people take coffee/tea, or eat meals, it's something they do with friends or family, I don't really see people grabbing Starbucks and eating on the go... Mealtime is to be enjoyed and is an oopportunity for families to come together. Definitely something I really admire in the culture here.

Well, those are pretty much all my thoughts for right now. I think this weekend I might be going on a quick trip to viña del mar to meet up with some other exchange students, so hopefully that works out! I'll try to keep adding to my list of differences for next time I write an update.

¡Chau!

No hablo español...

kristinblack — Tue, 4 Jun 2013 20:00:00 GMT

¡Hola mis amigos!

Its been a busy couple of days since I left from Canada, so I'll try and keep this short and sweet. My first flight, to Minneapolis, left Saskatoon at 5:45am, Sunday June 2nd. In Minneapolis, I had breakfast with my classmate Sam and her friend Sarah who were on the same flight en route to Thailand! I had a long layover in Minneapolis so I killed some time by getting a pedicure then walking around the airport in those super cool disposable sandals they give you. Definitely a head-turning fashion statement. Next I flew to Atlanta, where I learned that in Georgia if you try and order something healthy like a spinach salad, that really means they bring you a massive container of cold green fettuccini noodles in cream sauce.

My overnight flight to Santiago was relatively uneventful, slept on and off for most of the 10 hour flight. But when we were almost in Santiago I woke up just in time to see the sunrise over the Andes mountains and knew it would be an amazing day!

We landed in Santiago and it took nearly 3 hours to go through customs... I consider myself a fairly experienced traveller and I've never seen an immigration situation quite like that... There must have been 3000 people pushing to get towards the booths, and nothing that even slightly resembled a line. If anyone out there is claustrophobic, I'm pretty sure it would have been your worst nightmare! After surviving customs I had a few hours before my short (40min) flight to La Serena. During this time, I attempted to get some food and a coffee, and even though I'd only been in South America a few hours i was getting many opportunities to practice my spanish.... In particular phrases such as "¿Puede repetir eso por favor más lento?"/ "yo sólo hablo un poco de español"/"Lo siento, No lo entiendo"... For those of you who speak about as much Spanish as i do, those phrases roughly mean "Can you repeat that slower please?"/"I only speak a little Spanish"/ and "I'm sorry, but I don't understand."...

Consuelo, my contact in Chile, was at the airport in La Serena to pick me up and drive me a few km south to Coquimbo, which is where I will be for the month. When we arrived I met some of her friends, and my new friend Alvaro took me for a walk to show me the university, la universidad Católica del Norte. The campus is beautiful and is right on the ocean, Alvaro told me that students often take study breaks to sit on the beach! In the evening, I was taken to my host family's house. They are a lovely family, and they all live in their second house in a nearby city except the daughter, Aly, who is attending the university here. She is a very nice girl, and things are going well so far.... The only slight problem is that she speaks even less English than I do Spanish, so communicating has been interresting. Google Translate has come in handy. I'm attempting to improve my Spanish, so I usually try and ask her a question en español, and she will attempt to reply in English, and then we'll have no idea what the other is trying to say and start madly miming, before giving up and staring blankly at eachother. I may try and secretly videotape our conversations sometime, as I'm pretty sure the whole situation is pretty hilarious.

Today, I went to the university in the morning and spent some time in the lab where I will be working this month! My supervisor, Lilliana, is super awesome and friendly. She spent a lot of the morning explaining her research and the background information to me (all of which is SUPER interesting!!) and then let me spend the rest of her morning help her start an experiment (we're running a COMET assay on eukaryotic lymphocytes to look for DNA damage). I was weirdly excited to be back in a lab, pipette in hand, madly calculating dilutions and making solutions. I think this year I missed Biochemistry and lab work more than I realized!!! After work I left the lab and walked around the city for awhile before making my way home. Aly has night classes on Martes (which is Tuesday in Spanish, I'm totally improving already), so I'm here alone. I managed to walk around and find a local market and buy some fresh produce to cook up some supper, and now I'm currently just finishing unpacking before heading to bed (I think I'm still a bit jet lagged).

That's about all of the excitement so far! I am so happy with my living and work situation, and am really looking forward to this next month!

Hasta pronto, ¡Adiós!