During the months of June and July, my school had organized
a school trip to Peru in South America; I had attended the trip. On June 13, 20
students and 3 teachers had boarded the plane from Saipan to Lima, Peru; the
total amount of time spent flying was around 36 hours non-stop. We were
supposed to leave at the 12th but our flight from Saipan to Guam had
been cancelled due to the ‘weather’ or something of that sort; delaying us by
one day and rescheduling our entire group’s plane tickets. Though through the
whole ordeal, I have experienced many new things that not only bring
entertainment but a new perspective in things; making the trip one of my
favorite.
The trip was during the summer of 2013, I had recently
graduated from a sophomore to become a junior. The whole trip had been planned
out and we were to visit multiple places in Peru: Lima, Arequipa, Cuzco,
Lunahuana, Colca and Puno. During that time Peru had just entered winter and
the entire place had been freezing cold, ranging around 60 to 70 degree Fahrenheit;
so almost throughout the entire 3 week period everyone in my group wore
long-sleeved shirts, long paint and heavy jackets. Though it was freezing cold,
the group and I still did what we were supposed to do; we had visited Machu
Picchu, Colco Canyon, the hot springs and the sand dunes of Cuzco.
The most memorable part of the trip overall was when the
group and I had visited the local children’s hospital to play and make cards
with the children. We were all placed in group of two into multiple rooms; I
was partnered up with my best friend Sophia. We were stationed in a room with 4
boys ranging from 6-12, each very unique in their own way. Though they only
spoke Spanish and we only spoke English, Sophia and I found some pretty weird
ways to communicate with them. The only words we knew in Spanish that was
relevant to what we were doing was “Muy Guapo” and “Muy Bien”, which made the
first 10 minutes with them quite awkward. Once we got to know each other as
time passed, the boys soon loosened up to us and everything went well. Being
Sophia and Hatsuko, we did the weirdest things we could do to make them happy,
we’d go around the room screaming Muy Bien and Muy Guapo, after all that we
started letting the little ones play with our Ipods. With the older boys we
started to help them make letters for their supposed girlfriends, which was
very cute because we told them to write “I Love you” in multiple languages
(Saranghae, Mahal Kita, Aishiteru, Wo ai ni). Throughout the entire stay with
them, I feel in love with this little boy named Miguel, he was about 7 years
old and was the cutest thing I have ever seen in my entire life; it broke my
heart when we had to leave the hospital because I wanted to stay longer and
play with them. The most memorable thing that Sophia and I had gotten out of
the visit was the two letters Sergio had written for us in Spanish (we had
asked out teachers to translate the message for us.).Sergio had written one
long one and a short one, the short one almost made Sophia and I cry, it had
said “There are no words to describe how happy you made us. Thank you.”
Throughout the entire trip, I had experienced a lot of
things; I've experienced the beauty of nature, the advanced technology of the Incas
during their time, how to sand board, never go on a bus without a motion
sickness pill when you have motion sickness and always eat. (By reading my blog
you should already know that I am a fan of food and nothing will change that.)
The trip to Peru, so far, has been my favorite trip of all time; I hope one day
I can visit again and meet my Miguel.
