let the quilting begin!

sewing sewing sewing up a storm to try and get this quilt finished for jenny's birthday! pictures to come soon!

need some good summer reads?

so while in peru, i read some really amazing books!! 

so if you need some good suggestions, for some great books....

water for elephants

my sister's keeper

eat, pray, love

love in the time of cholera

into the woods

bittersweet

yesterday was officially the longest day of my life! we started it off at 2:50am and it didn't end until last night at 2:20am!! AH! leaving lima was bittersweet! i am soo happy to be back in virginia surrounded by those whom i love, but so sad to leave the wonderful country of peru! i am so glad that i chose to do this experience, because it was completely amazing!  this trip tested my body and my mind and was SO much fun!  i am happy to report that i have met some awesome people, who i cant wait to see again!! i am COMPLETELY inspired by what i saw, and am already sketching designs for my senior jewelry class, SO EXCITED! i am most excited for the potential opportunity that my friend and fellow traveller, deborah shapiro, and i are planning!! we are curating a show for all of those who attended the trip and created work inspired by their travels! cross your fingers that it works out! not only have deborah and i started to scheme about the show, but we have so many exciting collaborations planned for the following year, i can't wait to hang out with her in the PAPR studio!  watch out for deborah, she is an amazing artist, and an awesome person!!!  

so yay for the wonderful experience, the great memories, and the awesome personalities on the trip! i can't wait to share my photos with you all! i'm going to try to start uploading,editing, and sharing today!? i think?  

also, i can't wait to cure my craving for mac&cheese with pickles!! i have been craving it since i left a month ago, and for any of you who know me, KNOW i love mac&cheese!!! i can't wait for lunch! hahahah

much love.

cant wait to see you guys soon!

happy :) and sad :( to be back, but so happy to see you all and share the wonderful memories, 

em

nasca

sooo we arrived in nasca last night, after what was supposed to be a 6.5 hour drive, which ended up being a 9 hour one, yuck...but its absolutely gorgeous here! we are staying at the hotel majoro in nasca, out in the middle of nowhere, with a beautiful pool, a roaming alpaca, bouganvillas EVERYWHERE, and a poolside bar...not too shabby. today has been so completely relaxing...i have laid out by the pool, swung on the swing set, and ate some icecream...have i mentioned im getting credits for this? hahahah...in a couple of minutes we are going to a ceramics workshop, to learn the ancient nasca tradition of making pottery, and we get to bring our creations home! hopefully mine isnt horrible!

if you want to see the beautiful hotel here is the website....
http://www.hotelmajoro.com/the-hotel.html
i was joking earlier, because it felt like we were in rehab, we are soo far away from civilization, and there is not a stressful situation in site! yay!

incase you didnt know, nasca is in the desert in peru, so it is hot during the day, and COLD at night! tomorrow morning we are going on dune buggies up and over the sand dunes...and then finishing it off with some sandboarding!!

sadly i only have a couple more days left!! ill be back in the states on tuesday at 12am! ah!

have fun! see you soon!

back in lima

just arrived in lima and sooo sad to leave cusco! i loved being able to explore the city, i was starting to know how to get to places! AH! hahha....

tomorrow we are doing all the cathedrals, plazas, and tourist mumbojumbo..

but for now i´m going to go say hello to the pacific ocean!

talk to you guys later!

gagggggggggggggggg

yuck yuck yuck. all i have to say is beef heart..........................................gag.

i thought they were beef tenderloins!!! little did i know!

mcdonalds never looked so classy!

honestly, mcdonalds never looked SO CLASSY! i thought it was gorgeous in france, but the peruvians showed the french up! cant wait to show you!

no gracias!!

so my favorite new saying is NO GRACIAS! no, i dont want a massage (ew), no i dont want a manicure (ew), no i dont want to look at your paintings (although looking is free, as i am told), no i dont want your finger puppets!!, nooooooooo i dont want your candy?!, no no no no no no no GRACIAS! hahahhaha....man oh man. i swear almost every other person on the streets of cusco are trying to sell you something, NO GRACIAS! i was asked why all americans say ¨no gracias¨ and i gave this long drawn out explanation of the over weight charges on airplanes, he didnt understand my humor, he just continued to ask me if i wanted his flute. dear god. hahahhaha....thought i would share!

corpus christi festival

so yesterday was the corpus christi festival, which involved lots of drunk people, catholic saints being paraded around the plaza de armas, and sooooooo many people! it was soo much fun! i dont know what else to say about it, hahaha, again the pictures will tell all!!

the inca trail....dun dun dunnnnn...

holy crap! i honestly believe those last four days were the hardest physical days i have EVER done!! we went a total of 26 miles up and down hill from 9,000 ft to 13,000ft....my god. I cant wait to post my pictures, because they will express what i saw soooo much better than what i can, but to summarize for now..

first day, mostly ups and downs, LOTS of animal poop, very smelly....

second day, hardest day of my life....completely uphill, up STAIRS AND STAIRS AND STAIRS, THE WHOLE DAY, for 6 hours....i felt my heart beating in my head, not a good sign!! when we got to the top of the worst mountain in existence, we felt soooooooo accomplished! to be able to look down at what you just climbed is amazing, and especially to see the little ants of people just beginning, muwahaha. on a brighter note, we walked through parts of the jungle, saw LOTS of orchids, huge hummingbirds..i think we climbed about 3,000 ft in that one day!

third day, best day of my life! mainly down, although it hurts the knees, and ankles, it was much more enjoyable, my heart beat was not in my head this day! haha..the end of the day was the best. our campsite was literally in the clouds, you could feel a cloud passing around you, the air would go white and it would get SO cold, SOOOO AMAZING. the best views i have ever seen, i cant wait to upload my pictures!! ive already filled up at 4gb memory card, hahahaha...oops.

fourth day, was about 5 hours long, and all i can say is HUMID, jungley parts, rivers, and YES CIVILIZATION! hahahaha...on the way to machu picchu, we had to climb these stairs that were basically at a 90 degree angle and as tall as my shins, i thought i was going to fall back and die with the weight of my pack...man oh man...luckily i made it!

machu picchu was gorgeous, but i honestly believe the hike was way more special! i have definitely proved to myself that i can accomplish most things put in front of me!

i hope you all are doing well!
today we are watching the festival of Corpus Christi, should be amazing!!!

hope to talk to you guys soon!

em

tomorrow i leave for the inca trail!

hello! tomorrow i leave for the inca trail, AHH, so nervous! we just finished packing up our back packs and getting our sleeping stuff in order, so i´m almost ready! today we are just relaxing, conserving our energy, before we basically die over the next 4 days! hopefully i will see you on the flip side!!! byes!

horseback riding...

so today we went horseback riding at around 13,000ft! holy smokes! this was my first time EVER riding a horse, and man was it interesting, haha. the whole trip was about 3 hours and we were able to ride around great viewing spots over the city of cusco. i learned i that i am allergic to horses on this trip! basically the whole time i was holding on for dear life and sneezing simultaneously, makes for an interesting ride. also, didnt know horses were so GASSY, my horse, principe, had lots of hot air to add to the city of cusco. anyways, it was great, photos coming when im back in the states, so sorry guys! i hope everything is going well! im trying to save some money by eating pb&js, haha, how peruvian! talk to you soon!

emmm

also

ps. my spanish has come back to me! I can understand most sentences and have been able to communicate, which has been amazing, I don't know what I would do if I couldn't communicate!

adios muchachos!

loving life in peru!!!

Hola! So let me catch you up on what has happened so far! We arrived in Lima 3 days ago at 1am, needless to say I was SUPER tired from having to wake up at 4am the previous day to make my flight to Miami. Lima was crazy, super crowded and very populated, and also slightly chilly! Ah! We stayed in Lima for two days, went to a couple of museums, and saw some beautiful artwork! I finally was able to see the work in person that I have studied for the past couple of semesters.

Day 2: We left Lima for an early flight to Cusco, Peru, which is at 13,000 ft! Most everyone was feeling the effects the altitude had on us, some passed out (ek) and most couldn't catch a breath, just sitting on a bus! We drove to our hostel, La Casa Campesina, dropped off our bags, after we marched them up hill for four blocks, on a uneven cobble stone street, with honking vw's flying past! Drivers in Peru follow NO signs, basically the bigger car goes first and everyone yields, kind of intense! After we dropped our stuff off we left for the Urubamba Valley, which is completely surreal.

We took a 3 day, 4 night trip to the Urubamba Valley, to adjust to the altitude, the valley is around 9,000ft! On the drive we saw, snow capped moutains in the distance, llamas and alpacas grazing, and small andean villages full of people wearing brightly colored clothing. On this 3 day trip we visited the towns of Pisac, Ollyantambo, and Chinchero. All of the hotels were completely breath taking (my pictures will be uploaded when I'm back in the US), but trust me, it was an oasis! Flowers everywhere, smiling people, all in between the Andes mountains. I honestly felt like I was standing in front of green screen, because the views were sooo unbelievable. Pisac offered a wonderful market, where I learned to bargain with Soles, the national currency in Peru. I went CRAZY in this market, taking photos, bargaining with natives, and just taking it all in. I purchased some great handmade, hand dyed woven textiles, some hilarious hats (wait for the pictures, ha), and accidentally walked down the "butcher aisle", which was HORRIBLE. Those of us on the trip have gotten used to the phrase "No Gracias," almost every other second someone comes up to show you pendants, cloth dolls, artwork (IT'S FREE TO LOOK!, thats what I always hear). After Pisac, we drove to the other side of the valley to Ollyantambo, in which there are wonderful ruins, and I have beautiful photographs. The town of Ollyantambo was a PARTY town, we arrived at 6pm and everyone was out in the center dancing, drinking, and completely dressed up in these amazing outfits (pictures to come) to celebrate the festival of a saint. We were lucky to be here for this experience, we saw a procession of natives completely dressed up in masks, some looking like animals, some representing other dieties. Completely amazing.

We visited the Maras salt mines, which were blinding, but yet so beautiful, and also the Moray concentric circles.

the salt mines

I was looking forward to the village of Chinchero, because it is known to have the best textiles in Peru. The women in this community spin their own alpaca, dye it with natural plants around the area, and weave the pieces all by themselves. It honestly was the best and worst experience of my life! I wanted to purchase everything, BUT did not have the money! I caught sight of the most wonderful, full sized blanket, everything completely patterned in traditional imagery of Peru (the birds, mountains, puma eyes, water..etc), it was simply stunning. When I asked Cuantos Cuestas (how much) I was completely shocked, 1000 American dollars!!! Holy crap! The lady was wonderful and told me I was her "special friend" and asked me what I could offer, in which I replied "solamente dos cien!" (200 dollars)...this conversation went on for a good fifteen minutes. The director of the program came over, helped me haggle a little, but she wouldn't budge! I am completely aware of the work and time that is put into weavings of this size, this particular one took over a year! Finally, towards the end, we comprimised at 300 dollars!!!! I only had 200 on me, in which she offered to make the 45 minute drive to Cusco the following day to pick up the rest. I was completely stunned, and still am. I had buyers remorse about 2 minutes after I handed over my money, that was half of my trip budget, all I could say to myself was, Oh shit. Honestly, it was the best deal ever, the director Javier said that this would sell for thousands in the states, and I will have it forever! (I slept with it last night, hell no was it going to stay wrapped up in bag). I still can't believe I did that, but I know I will love it forever! I can't wait to show you all! AHH! haha...

We arrived in Cusco that night, went out for some pizza, and relaxed.

Today, we started exploring the city, finding spots to draw, areas to avoid, and the best hot chocolate that has ever existed! Cusco is a beautiful, busy town. Every "street" is uphill and has thousands of stairs, I can honestly say my butt hates me right now! I'll update you later in the week, we leave for the Inca trail this Friday!! Oh man!

The food is wonderful, the people are soo nice and happy, and the scenary is breathtaking. I am having the time of my life, but I wish some of you guys were with me, because I know you would have loved it too! Hopefully in the future!

Alright talk to you soon, byes!