Favorite Trip~

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 12^th 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.