This is my journey: Perú

Back in 2008 I made a list of the places I want to see before I die. During that time I have been able to see Palenque in Mexico. On the top of my list is Machu Picchu in Perú. Since I am a girl who believes in fulfulling ones dreams, I decided to set my vacacion of la semana santa to this destination. And the day has finally come!

Tonight I am taking the bus to the capital, DF. I will arrive at around 5 AM. 7 AM my flight leaves for Colombia. I have to wait on the airport of Bogotá for 6 hours before my next flight will take me to the capital of Perú, Lima. In Lima I will be staying with my friends from my studies in Norway: Linn Viktoria, Barbro and Hege Linn. They are living at the students recidence of La Catolica and are studying there this year. After spending 4 days or so in Lima, the plan as of now is that Viktoria and Barbro are joining me on the bus to the city ofAyacucho . After a couple of days there, I will be on my own. I will probably travel by train to the following sights: Lake Titicaca, Machu Picchu and then ending my trip in the beautiful Cuzco. After 12 days of travelling my return flight is from Cuzco.



Here is my plan:
# Lima (Plaza Mayor + Peru Museum + city center)

# Ayacucho

# Machu Picchu + Inca trail

# Cuzco (Plaza de Armas + cathedral + Sacsayhuaman fortress + Sacred Valley)

# Puno + Titicaca Lake (including Uros - floating islands) + Sillustani Funeral Towers


Wish me luck! I will need it!

innlevering til eksamen i tegning

i dag maatte vi levere inn 10 tegninger for vurdering i "dibujo"-faget mitt.
vi la dem utover i midten av klasserommet mens el maestro, Humberto, kritiserte tegningene. de to foerste som vise tegningene sine var veldig flinke, saa jeg kjente jeg fikk litt prestasjonsangst. heldigvis var de foelgende visningene ikke av samme kvalitet, saa jeg senket skuldrene mine litt mer da det ble min tur. jeg fikk ganske bra kritikk. selvfoelgelig likte laereren min den tegningen jeg var minst fornoeyd med. typisk:p

harproblemer med aa laste opp bilder, saa sjekk heller ut det nyeste bildene paa facebook.

skal se Alice en el país marvillioso i kveld med Luis:) gleder meg.

I morgen har jeg eksamen i arte prehispanico. tror det skal gaa greit...

Dette er "El Luchador"

my first "quinceañera"

friday me, gustavo and luis set out in luis´ car - and drove to ramzes´pueblo outside of morelia to attend the 15th birthday party of his sister, isabel. in many latin american countries the 15th birthday of girls is a big deal. like the "sweet sixteen" in the states. families will spend huge amounts of money on having a kick ass celebration, and they save money for this day for years... while driving there, i realized i had forgotted my tampons in gto. i asked if there would be any shops where we were going. and luis asked what i needed. it was quite emberassing, but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do. we ended up looking for tampons in three different places; first in gas station, then in a "Oxxo", but we didnt find it until we stopped at a big supermarked in moroleon. hahaha


we met up with my host mom lourdes and ramzes. we sat by a table and were served food and all the beer we could drink. we started drinking at 4 pm... there were mariachis playing in the back., and after a while luis and gustavo started singing along to every song. all the beer made me want to pee alot. but, we were in a simple rural pueblo, and there weren´t any bathrooms around us. which meant that us ladies would have to go behind some old church ruins to do the necessary. i had to laugh - this was really mexico.

around 9 pm the quinceañera and her selected dance partners entered the stage and performed a rehearsed dance. it was cool to look at.
the bday girls preformes one of her dances
shortly after, luis followed me to the car cus i wanted to get my jacket. he had been drinking more than i had, so he told me he wanted to rest for a bit in the car. i went back to the party. me and gustavo joined the other kids dancing to reaggeton tunes. alot of fun!
about 1 am me and lourdes decided to withdraw ourselves...it had been a long night..., with alot of conversacions that perhaps one would´ve been better without. we hiked a ride with ramz´uncle to the house we were gonna sleep. on the way we stopped to pick up the grandparents. the other kids jumped in the back of the car to make space. we slept in a house with 4 beds. i slept a good 3 hours before the guys awoke me at 4 am. luis had awoken shortly after our departure and was feeling fine, whereas gustavo had been drinking heavily all day. i was shocked to know that luis had driven the car to the house., but he said - relax! its mexico.

got up at around 8-9. drove to morolean, where we stopped for one hour. we went downtown to check out all the cheap clothes (the town is famous for its cheap clothes). i bought a tights to 90 pesos (40NOK), a denim bag (70 pesos) and a denim skirt to 90 pesos. very pleased with this.
from moroleon me, gustavo and lourdes continued in bus to irapuato, where we had to change bus to guanajuato. we were back in town at around 4.30pm. boughts some pizza. went to bed early.


la familia. i share house with ramzes to the right in guanajuato

me and lourdes
8)
luis, ramzes, me and gustavo - 3 of my 4 host brothers
me and gustavo
luis and meee;)

litt praktisk info

her i guanajuato flyr dagan. har snart vaert her i to hele maaneder! det foeles ikke saann ut. eller kanskje, paa en maate. har jo opplevd mye, og den norske kulda virker merkelig fjern. problemene her er faa., livet er generelt veldig greit. jeg tar 5 fag, men de tar ikke like mye energi som i norge., saa jeg er overlatt med ganske mye fritid. denne fritiden bruker jeg paa aa spise, moete en venn eller to paa café, eller aa trene. jeg har begynt aa trene ganske mye. nesten hver dag. jeg har faatt sansen for aa springe med bikkjene i en park som ligger like ved. de tispene trenger all mosjonen de kan faa, for til daglig er de fastbundet i hagen med lite mobilitet. jeg synest synd i dem, saa hvorfor ikke ta de med paa loepebanen naa og da. ellers har jeg kjoept med et treningskort paa et treningssenter like ved skolen. hittil har jeg kun bertalt for aa bruke vekter/tredemoelle, og ikke saltimer. jeg har ikke helt sansen for spinning og slike ting. men kanskje neste maaned boer jeg proeve noen nye aktiviteter - yoga, pilates, zumba... for ikke aa snakke om at jeg burde begynne aa ta salsatimer.
det har blitt lite salsadansing hittil. er nok litt for sjenert til aa slaa ut haaret uten viten om den noedvendige grunnteknikken! det er typisk norsk og ikke toerre aa proeve noe nytt, fordi man ikke er god i det! men det er jo et kjent faktum at oeving gjoer mester. det er litt innteressant, det med aa hive seg ut i nye ting, og hvor forskjellig det er her i forhold til norge. ta karaokebarene, for eksempel. her er alle superivrige etter aa faa synge sine sure toner, mens i norg ville man heller spist hoppetau enn aa utsette seg for en slik offentlig ydmykelske. eller dersom det skal taes et bilde - her flokker alle som kan seg til linsen, mens hjemme i norge saa snur man seg heller bort og unnskylder seg med hvor lite fresh man foeler seg... - "IKKE FACE, OKAY?" Her i Mexico roper alle etter et bilde er blitt tatt: "FACEBOOK!" Jeg tror aabsoluitt janteloven preger det norske samfunnet i alt for hoey grad. - du skal ikke tro du er noen.

skolen er grei. liker best kunstfagene jeg tar. om 5 dager er det praktisk innlevering til eksamensvurdering i "tegning"-faget mitt. vi maa levere inn 10 tegninger, pluss en stor tegning paa minium 1 x 1,5 meter! jeg kjoepte meg en stor papirrull i dag og jeg og Nestor, kompisen min, satte paa musikk og limte lerretene paa veggen og satte igang med aa vaere kunstneriske. jeg brukte kullstifter og han splaesjet sporadisk paa med maleklatter. det var goey!


noen av tegningene fra "dibjuo" faget mitt

han er en bra venn. har faatt et par venner her og en hel del bekjente. av og til foeler jeg meg litt ensom, men det man maa taale aa vaere til tider. ironisk nok tror jeg at jeg har bitt mindre uavhenging enn jeg var da jeg kom. kjenner jeg er blitt veldig avhengig av aa ha folk rundt meg. tror det er som foelge av at jeg har bodd i kollektiv i Bergen over et aar - og er blitt vant til aa ha noen der dersom jeg har behov for aa snakke med noen, eller rett og slett bare henge.







paa mandag dro jeg og Nestor til det lokale mumie-museet. disse forsteinede likene ble funnet forskjellige brakker her i Guanajuato, og er mindre enn 200 aar gamle. dvs. at de fremdeles har klaerne sine paa, og noen av mumiene har det vaert mulig og identifisere. snaale greier. de var veldig ekle aa se paa. jeg troestet meg selv med at jeg aldri kommer til aa ende opp slik, fordi jeg skal hvertfall bli kremert da jeg doer.

Nestor paa vei til mumie-museet

et utvalg av de relativt freshe lokale mumiene

ellers skal jeg til en naboby paa fredag med folka jeg bor med, for aa feire 15-aarsdagen til en av vertsbroedrene mine sin lillesoester. 15 aarsdagen til mexicanske jenter is a big deal, og det feires stort! kommer til aa bli artig. skal overnatte der til lordagen. gleder meg til aa pynte meg. luis skal kjoere her i fra i en av bilene sine.haha. jeg har blitt lovt shotgun.

ellers ellers...blir det jo Perú om noen uker. jeg er lite forberedt mentalt paa den over 10 dager lange reisen. jeg skal fly fra Mexico City - Bogotá - Lima. Jeg maa henge 6 timer paa flyplassen i Colombia! kanskje jeg kan ta meg en tur utenfor....:) Og flyturen hjem tar jeg fra Cuzco - Lima - Mexico City. Flyturene har mellomlanding, og det er nok derfor billettene var saa billige. Jeg skal besoeke venner i Lima noen dager, forhaapentligvis gaa inkastien til macchu pichu, kanskje faa sett Titicaca-sjoen, og saa avslutte turen i det vakre Cuzco-landskapet.

jeg er litt usikker paa hvordan jeg ligger an oekonomisk for tiden. kommer ikke inn paa nettbanken til spv. her. men jeg tror jeg ligger bra an. det eneste er at jeg mottok all laan og stipend fra laanekassen for dette semesteret paa samme tid i januar. lett aa bruke penger hvis man har det...men jeg har satt en et shoppeforbud paa klesfronten. det hjelper nok litt.

vel det var alt for denne gang. kommenter gjerne.

no pasa nada

todo bien
esta bien

ive been foolish to such an extent that i shouldve realized i was far off what is acceptable. i should stop the constant worrying; it never leads anywhere good. i want to learn to be in peace by myself, without any so-called problem hanging over my shoulders, consuming my thoughts and happiness. but i havent done that before. being without anguish, i mean. i wonder who i would be without the "problem". hahahaha. if so - i sure enough would have to change my blog title.

im sorry ive been writing in such codes as of late. its just that ive been feeling very emotional the last couple of days. yesterday i fell asleep crying and when i woke up i cried a bit. if someone asks- whats up, martine? why do you look so sad? - i dont know what to say. in the afternoon i cried. but luis comforted me and somehow it made me happy so hear that he didnt want me so be sad. i dont understand myself these days. but ya! enough. i want to remove all doubts and just go with it. and do as ive been adviced: live in the now and enjoy. no pasa nada.

i think perhaps i miss home - without realizing it. cyber hug!

yo no sé mañana

perhaps sometimes you just have to jump into it
knowing the consequences will be hard to deal with
i once read a phrase that i remembered:
"above all...guide your heart"
but at the same time, no risk - no reward
i guess there aren´t any manuals to happiness

i told him of my worries of the time to come
and he told me to relax
and focus on the now
and of course, he was right


picture from my favorite café in town, Antik

tk = te quiero;)

yesterday was a fun day. woke up at 7, ate my daily hotcakes with maple, and went to my painting class at 8. we´re in the studio for 3 hours and i love it. we started on a new project. i will put a pic out when im done. it think its gonna be rad. at first i lacked selfconciousness of my ability to produce good art. i felt as i was an wannabe artist among all these talended kids who actually studies art. but now i dont worry so much about it. whitney said something smart about art; that everyone can do it, and it doesnt matter what other ppl think, as long as you let your self go and create something that means something to you. as long as u do just that, you´re fine. whitney is so wise and i am very fortunate that i got to know her. i hope one day i can visit her in Oregon.

after class i sat down on a bench and wrote in my journal, whilst soaking up the sun. these days the sun gets really warm and i have to apply sunscreen with factor 50in my face. later when i returned to casa i took Camilla out for a run. she was hyperactive and pulled the chain so strongly (shes a big dog),so that i fell and me knee started bleeding. it hurt. but as the typic norwegian i am, i immediately got up - checked if anyone had seen me, and started running like nothing had happend. hahaha.

i had prehispanic art class at 5, and got out at 7. me and some mates from class went to see an opening of an art exhibiton at La Casa del Cultura. anyone who wanted could contribute with their paintings. the theme was Jesus mother, Maria. needless to say, there was a mixed quality of the paintings, but some of them were really good.

after that me and a guy from my class, Mario, went to a mexican "cantina" to get a beer. These kind of places are almost only for men. It was an interesting experience. everyone was looking at the blonde who clearly was out of place. a guy walked up to me and offered to pay me a song on the old jukebox in the corner. how nice. i had never seen a jukebox before, and thought about "Grease". the men there went over to the corner of the bar to pee in a pissoar. i looked in the other direction, and mario had to laugh.

afterwards i met Maria. We went to Café Santo to grab a bite along with Woo, a Corean guy. i have a vegitarian salad. it was okay, but i like meat (sorry Kjersti). While there Luis texted me and he finished the message with "tq..." It kinda puzzled me,`cus i didnt undertand what the abbreviation stood for. I asked the waitor, and he said it meant "te quiero":)that made me smile. i smile alot these days.

Next off we went to La Luna to meet up with the other exchange students to celebrate one of the mexican girls´ birthday. i had a strawberry daqueri (duno how u spell that), but i wasnt really feeling it. it was monday and i had to get up early in the morning, so i went home. i went up to Luis´ room and we talked until midnight. i really like talking to him....

in other news i just figured out that i have to produce elleven drawings in the next 12 days for my drawing class exam. i think i need to start ahora mismo!

love is like a butterfly

went to Michoacán last saturday to see the famous butterfly reserve. it was amazing!