Today's Document
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
tumblr dot com
ojovivo
occasionally subtle
$LAYYYTER
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
oozey mess
No title available
almost home
Origami Around
Sade Olutola
todays bird
PR's Tumblrdome
祝日 / Permanent Vacation
Alisa U Zemlji Chuda
No title available
Janaina Medeiros
TVSTRANGERTHINGS
I'd rather be in outer space 🛸
seen from Germany
seen from T1
seen from Türkiye
seen from Maldives
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Singapore
seen from Pakistan
seen from Singapore
seen from China
seen from Germany
seen from Brazil
seen from Malaysia
seen from Austria
@halenabohs
Many city wanderings!! If you are wondering who I am wearing this flannel in ALL the pictures I've posted so far, it is for many reasons. (1) it covers my new tattoo which is not yet allowed to see the sun, (2) it helps make my body look less feminine which in turn helps me feel more comfortable, and (3) I look great in it!
Re: the wall with many different tiles of plants -- I said to Sierra "I want my body to look like that someday!"
WOW. Sierra didn't have to work during the day on Saturday, so we went to a market just down the street from her house. I've been eyeing a tortilla place on her block since my first day here, and I finally had. The chance to get myself a MOUNTAIN of tortillas for $14.5 pesos (about $0.80usd). I also got Oxacan cheese, avocado, and half a papaya (definitely one of my favorite fruits).
We made quesadillas, chopped up a bunch of fruit, microwaved some leftover chicken wings (hahaha), and made our way to the rooftop with our spread.
Honestly, it was the most gorgeous day, the food was so so so good, I was just totally blissed out. Seriously, look at this!! We all had to lay down and digest for a while afterward :)))
Alright yall, I've got some serious catching up to do...
These are from Valentine's Day -- it's pretty similar here to the US. I chilled at Sierra's house while she got dinner with her boyfriend, and then we went to get some "chelas" (beers) with friends of his. There's a pretty intense beer-drinking culture here, which is obviously not totally up my alley, but the atmosphere is really nice - no clubbing, discoteca, super high energy vibes; just chilling and having a beer or 10.
CDMX day 3
It’s been frickin cool!! Sierra had to work this afternoon, so we spent the morning packing in as much as we could. The city has a thing called ecobikes where you pay a flat amount for the whole year and then have access to bikes located all over the city for 40 minutes at a time. It’s a fantastic system for getting around, as it’s a little too far to walk everywhere all the time and the public transit (metro and bus) costs money every trip. I’ll try to remember to take a picture of the bikes next time we use them. Anyway, we went to three different parks and three or four different districs of the city this morning.
The parks are all so beautiful. Chapultepec is the biggest park in the city — it has multiple museums AND a zoo within it, plus a lot of undeveloped land. We also went to Polanco, one of the wealthy districts. The difference is striking. Even though the area where Sierra lives feels very safe and developed and middle-class to me, the difference is obvious. Polanco feels like how I imagine New York to be — designer stores, everything perfectly taken care of, people well dressed (and a lot more light-skinned). I definitely felt like I didn’t belong there with my flannel and flip flops.
Here I am with a mouth full of salad. (ps I just got that sweet tattoo y’all can see)
HELLOOO OUT THERE!!
Guess what y’all? I’m back abroad, this time in Mexico City, Mexico visiting Sierra. I just got in yesterday, but I’ve already had two delicious Mexican meals with many more to come. These are our tacos from last night:
Can you see how lovingly I’m looking at them? They were delicious, and it cost about $2 for that whole plate.
Breakfast this morning egg was super traditional — cafe, jugo, huevos revueltos, y chilaquiles — and also put me out about $2.
Sierra works every day, so I’m finding ways to occupy myself during that time.
This afternoon, I will check in to my Airbnb where I’ll be staying for the rest of my time here.
If anyone has suggestions of where to go or what to do/see, let me know!!
the end, for now
I left Peru 2 weeks ago today. There has been a lot of adjustment, a LOT of food, some babysitting and trust account reconciliation and drafting of divorce documents, a drive to delaware and back for a 4 day music festival, hours and hours of video calls across the country, drinks with friends, coffee, and a lot of sleep in my very own bed.
I am happy to be back and also missing a lot of the things about Peru. I am learning to balance and value the chaos of my life here, which is always a challenge, but one I’m feeling a lot more qualified to confront these days. I am happy, really happy. So here’s to the adventure of a lifetime, and here’s to planning the next one. Thanks for reading.
Until next time,
Hally
The Nazca lines! We opted for climbing the tower ($1) instead of the flight (minimum $80), but they were still amazing.
Dune buggys and sandboarding!
Cusco --> Lima
Huacachina with (left to right) Abbey, Leah, Maya, and Rachel (and me, obviously). Huacachina is literally an oasis in the middle of the desert in the Ica region south of Lima.
Maya, Abbey, and I got to Lima in the early morning and sat on the floor waiting for Leah and Rachel, who were on a later flight, to arrive. During this time, we said goodbye to Estephanie, Merare, Liz, and David, who were all passing through the airport. Goodbyes suck, that is all. Once the five of us were assembled, we hopped in a taxi (I don't know if you picked up on how poorly 5 people fit in a tiny Peruvian taxi, but we got used to it), which took us to the bus station where we caught a bus south to Ica.
When we arrived in Ica in the evening, we took a taxi to Huacachina, checked in to our hostel, and all went to bed almost immediately. The next day, we had a really enjoyable lazy morning and then went dune buggy-ing ion the afternoon. The desert is HUGE and the views from the top of the dunes over the city and into the mountains are beautiful! We also went sandboarding (?), which is just laying down on snowboards, holding on for dear life, and careening down the dunes. It was so so so much fun and I survived with only a few bruises and sand burns.
That night (Sunday), we took the bus to Nazca and had a totally horrible hostel experience which left me literally in tears and down s/50. It was decidedly not awesome, but my friends are really really wonderful and were so supportive and comforting. In the morning, we got up and got the heck out of the hostel. We had a nice breakfast, bought some snacks, and headed to a tower in the middle of the Nazca Lines, skipping the $80 flight and opting instead for a $1 view of three (tree, hands, and lizard) of the twelve designs. They were beautiful and mind blowing. It’s east to just shrug and have an oh these are nice and pretty neat reaction, but when you think hard about the fact that the lines were dug MORE THAN A THOUSAND YEARS AGO, they are astounding.
We spent out last night back in Huacachina, where we watched the sunset from the top of a dune and then ran down in the dark. It’s hard to convey the feeling of those few hours, but my heart was so full of the beauty of the world and of the sweet friends who I shared that experience with.
On Tuesday, we had a last breakfast together, took the bus back to Lima in the afternoon, said some difficult goodbyes, and I hopped on a plane to Miami.
AMAZING double rainbow on our last afternoon in Cusco. What a way to end the semester! Also, the mountain it’s pointing at is the one David, Isaac, and I hiked up!
The Plaza de Armas on our last night in Cusco.
Last week of SIT
Just as a quick overview of the last week of the program, I turned in my final paper on Monday (25 pages on Spanish), and had my presentation (20 minutes in Spanish) on Tuesday. Then all that was left was to sit through what felt like 100 more hours of presentations. Everyone's projects were interesting, but it's just hard to pay attention for that long.
After everyone had finished their presentations on Thursday, we had our little goodbye ceremony where we each talked about the person next to us and then were gifted a necklace with the Incan cross on it. Many tears were shed, and it was special to see how much we value and know about each other. On Thursday night we all went out for one last hurrah. It was so fun to be with everyone, and the changes between this time and the first time we all went out together we're noticeable because we all know each other and are so much more comfortable and able to have fun. Lots of dancing and laughter -- a great way to close out the semester.
Friday was logistical - talking about "reverse culture shock," getting money for taxis to the airport, returning library books, etc. On Friday night we had a final dinner with our host families at a ridiculously fancy restaurant on the plaza de armas. It was odd because there was "traditional" music and dance being performed for us during diner. On the very first day in Lima back in February, we watched a video advertising the tourist attractions of Peru which clearly appropriated the culture as a form of financial gain for the tourism industry of the country. It was clear even back then that this was problematic, and then there we were on the last night of the program participating in the same damn thing.
Anyway. I woke up at 4 on Saturday morning, headed to the airport with Maya and her host mom, said adios to Cusco, and took off.
Salchipapas with Lupita (Sierra’s host sister), Sierra, and David. I didn’t get a picture before we dug in, so this is just the carnage.