Peter McGovern ’11

Sorry I haven’t written in a while! Today I finally have some time to sit down and write a bit.

Everything here is great. I start classed March 15 so I only have a couple weeks of summer to enjoy. In the last few days I have attempted to pick classes and attempt to put together a schedule for the semester. The past few weeks I’ve been keeping busy with a Karate Class at a nearby Martial Arts center, reading, and going out with friends. I have also been making the itinerary for a group of high school students that are coming to Peru in June from my high school…I am going to be one of the chaperones for the trip, as well as the translator. This Thursday I am also looking forward to a writing seminar I am taking at La Católica. It will be a good review and good practice before the start of the semester!

Right now Peru, in the days following the big earthquake in Chile — 8.8 on the Richter scale, has Tsunami warnings so I’ve haven’t been to the beach. I have heard even a few of the major beaches on the Lima coast are closed due to the Tsunami warnings. In El Correo, a Peruvian newspaper I am reading at the moment, it says about 1.5 million household were affected by the quake. This is one of the worst earth quakes Latin America has seen in many years. The only Earthquake stronger than this one was in Chile on May 22, 1960 which was measured at 9.6 on the Richter scale.

In the past couple weeks I have also been able to meet up with the new Holy Cross students: Conor Donoghue ’11, Samantha Howland ’11, and Yazeirys Pena ’11. Last week I also went with them to El Parque de los Aguas.

This past weekend several friends (Rey, Daniel, Juan Pablo, and Puma) went out with some of our new friends—from Worcester, MA—who are volunteering here at a local orphanage. It was memorable night. The girls (volunteers) that we went out with have only been here for a couple weeks and as we shared experiences and talked about the culture I remembered arriving here in July and how far I’ve come since then—with both the language, Castellano, and the culture. I feel very comfortable and at home here, but spending a night with people new to Lima made me remember this long process to where I am today.

Next weekend I think I will be heading back down south, to Chincha, to attend some of the festivities of Verano Negro: an important tradition in Chincha and specifically El Carmen. Until then I will be busy with an Aikido (type of karate) class I have been taking, picking my classes, and spending some extra time with friends before the start of the semester.

I’ll be sure to write soon!

Chau,
Pedro

I just got back to Lima last night after a three week visit back home to Boston. I arrived with all of my luggage and when I “pushed the button” I got a green! Haha. (That means that customs does not rip apart everything I brought with me).

Since we are in the middle of summer down here in Lima, Boston was extra cold since I am not use to the cold weather.

Luckily it didn’t snow much…just once…which was perfect. I just wanted to see the snow while I was home.

When I got home my family and I had a “mini-Christmas” since I wasn’t home for the actual holiday. The rest of the time I spent around my house, with my family, visiting my grandparents who live nearby, and spending time with friends from home as well as visiting Holy Cross a few times. It was great spending some time at home with my family. And just like in July when I left, my parents had another going-away party so I was able to see a bunch of my family. This time for the going away party I made Pisco Sours, a typical Peruvian drink, to share with my family. It wasn’t the best Pisco sour I have had in my life, but I think they came out okay.

Here in one of the pictures I am with my mom’s half of the family: my grandparents, my cousins, my sisters, and myself. This was during my going away party, which was complete with a cake that said “See you in July” in Spanish!

During my trip I also made it into the city twice! I absolutely love Boston and was glad that I was able to spend two days, one downtown and one a Northeastern University, walking around the city and taking some pictures to show my Peruvian friends and family.

Today, I am going to be spending sometime visiting friends, and tonight I am going to see Avatar 3-D (the movie) in a new theater in Lima! I also hoping to meet up with the three new Holy Cross students that have come to Peru for the semester; I am looking forward to a many more great experiences this semester.

“I’m wicked excited to be back in Lima!”

Chau,

Pedro

Well, I am finally back in Lima after almost four weeks of traveling. Since December 23 I was south of Lima with a friend from the University, Rey, and his family for the holidays until January 8 when we arrived back in Lima and two hours later boarded another bus north to Mancorá, Tumbes, an Piura; three well-know cities in the North of Perú.

First, Chincha. I had a great time with my friend, his family, his cousin, and his grandparents for Christmas. It was the first Christmas I have spent away from home, but I am really glad I took advantage of the opportunity and stayed in Peru for the holidays this year. For Christmas it is typical to eat turkey and they always have dinner at midnight, and then open presents. I know at least in my family, the presents and family parties were always during Christmas Day. Several days later, for New Years, we had another family dinner and stayed in the house with the family until midnight to celebrate with pisco (a alcohol that is popular here) before going out to a local club were we “celebrated” the New Year. It was a great night…it began around 7pm December 31 and ended around 8:30am January 1 and I have some great pictures, hahahaa.

During my time in Chincha I also spend a lot of time at the beach, enjoying the nice sunny weather in Peru, played basketball at the local sports complex, visited El Carmen a district in Chincha that is historically all black and has a very interesting and unique history.

Two memorable experiences while in Chincha was the birthday celebration of Rey’s (my friend) grandmother, la mamá, and a mass we went to in El Carmen where Rey’s cousin, Guillermo played el cajón, a typical Peruvian percussion instrument. For the birthday party of la mamá we all sang happy birthday at midnight and Rey’s cousins who play guitar and cajón played along and then we enjoyed aguadito a typical Peruvian soup.
Then, after my two weeks in Chincha, I then went up north to enjoy the famous beaches of Peru in Moncorá, Los Manglares in Tumbes, and the city of Piura. It was a great vacation and I was able to spend a lot of time at the beach…and the beach for me is one of the best vacation spots.

Now I have a couple days to get settled back into Lima and January 19 I am flying to Boston to visit my family, grandparents, and friends for two weeks. I am very excited about seeing my family and friends although I am also happy to say I will miss Peru while I am gone. With my great friends and family here in Peru I have never found myself really home sick saying “I need to go home”.

I’m on my way out now…I have some more last minute shopping to do. I was to get a couple more small gifts for my parents and sisters!

Chau,
Pedro

¡Feliz año y Feliz Navidad! I just got back to my house in Lima about an hour ago from Chincha, where I spent the holidays with Rey, a friend, and his family. His family was very welcoming and it was a great couple of weeks. The weather is finally getting really nice and we went to the beach, played basketball, and had a lot of time to just relax around the house. Now (in about an hour) I am off again to the North of Peru—Mancora. I have not been to Mancora yet, but the beaches are suppose to be beautiful and the climate is much warmer than Lima.

Sorry for the short post…As soon as I get back from this trip I will have some time to sit down, write, and upload some of the photos!

Be back soon!

Chau, Pedro

Last week I went to Arequipa where I did a 3-day/2-night trek in the Colca Canyon. It was absolutely beautiful and although at the time it did not seem like it, the trek was worth the 20-hour bus ride (each way)! Here are a few of the pictures I took while we were in the Canon. One night we stayed in a small village in the Canon and the other night in a small city overlooking the canon. Once again, the sites of Peru have amazed me!

The past few days I have been busy doing a little Christmas shopping and now in the next few days I will be busy spending time with the rest of the Holy Cross group, or simply “las chicas” who all leave next week! It’s been an awesome group, and there will be some emotional nights in the next few days. I know we already have a final dinner planned which will be nice to have some time together the last night with our closest friends (and in the case of a couple of the girls their boyfriends).

Next week I will be leaving Lima to go south to spend Christmas and New Years at a friend’s house. We will be in Chincha, a smaller city in the south of Peru. I have already been a few times, so I am familiar with the city. I am very excited to spend a Christmas with my friend. Although I will obviously miss my family and Christmas at home I am sure it will be an incredible experience to spend it with another family. I will definitely be writing a lot about my Christmas and New Years so look out for a new post in the next couple weeks.

And maybe it is different up there…in Boston…with the snow! But here, is definitely does not feel like Christmas. I cannot believe it is next week! Plus, it doesn’t help that I associate snow with Christmas, and here it is sunny, hot, and muggy. Here I also included a picture of my Christmas tree, here at my house.
Ciao,
Peter

It’s been a while since I have written, but I am done with first semester! Classes, exams, presentations, and I even had an oral exam. In the past few days I have recently received all of my grades, and I am very happy with how the semester turned out.

Today I went to the final soccer game of the season. Alizanza and La “U” are two of the most popular national teams and today they played their final game of the season. Although the team I was rooting for, Alianza, lost it was still a great experience. The game was crazy. They call is a classic…something like “Red Sox vs. Yankees”…but it was very, different to say the least. You could say the fan behavior is a little different than in Fenway Park…as you can imagine soccer is kind of important in Latin America.
It was an incredible experience I really enjoyed the game. I am looking forward to going to more games the following season in 2010.

Ciao,
Peter

Although they obviously don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here, tonight I went out to dinner with the group of Holy Cross students along with all of our closest friends from the University, the study abroad program director, and our cultural advisor. It was a really nice night and it was great to do something as a group, especially during a time like Thanksgiving when we are all thinking about our families and our homes.

Earlier today I also “skyped” with my family…almost my entire immediate family. We always have Thanksgiving at my grandparent’s house (the parents of my mom), and this year was no different. My mom brought her laptop to my grandparent’s house and I skyped with my cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, my sisters, and my parents. In total about thirty people. It was really nice to talk to everyone because I really have not been able to keep in touch with my entire family…especially since my family is so big (my dad’s side of the family is double the size of my mom’s side).

Now I am off to finish up some final projects, papers, etc. The next couple weeks will be extremly busy, but I cannot believe I only have about two weeks left of my first semester!

Ciao,

Peter

At "Voluntarios" in Mira Flores, Lima

I can’t believe I only have two more weeks of classes, then finals, and my first semester is over! The time has just flow by.
I haven’t done any traveling since Iquitos since I have been so busy here, but life is great. Last night, since I have finished most of my work for the semester minus studying for finals, I had a couple friends over my house before going out to one a favorite spot in Mira Flores, a part of Lima.

Although the semester has been great, I am looking forward to finish the rest of my work and have a couple months off to relax. Christmas and New Years are only about a month away too, and I finally confirmed that I will be staying here in Peru! I’ll be spending December with a friend and his family in Chincha, south of Lima, and I am sure it will be an incredible experience. It will be the first time I am away from home for Christmas so it will be

The boys in my group from the school, Fe y Alegria in Canto Grande, Lima

enjoyable to see how families here celebrate Christmas and New Years, two of my favorite holidays. Then, in January, if all “goes according to plan,” one of my sisters will be coming down to visit!

Finally, I am still working at the school Fe y Alegria every Friday and everything is going great. I work with a group of boys who have family problems and poor grades and since we started in September all of them have improved their grades and significantly reduced there “behavior problems” in and out of the classroom. It’s a great group of kids and I always enjoy spending my Fridays with them. Like me, they only have a few weeks of school left too, but we plan on continue this group next year (the next semester) and I am anxious to see how much they have improve over an entire year. Until next time…

Ciao,
Peter

Several of the boys in my group at the school, Fe Y Alegria, in Canto Grande, Lima

My monkey and Me

I just got back from my trip to Iquitos. And like I said in my last post, Iquitos is suppose to be one of the “‘most exotic cities’ in all of South America according to my guidebook”—and it is. One could say it was my most interesting trip so far.
In Iquitos, I spent three nights and four days in the rainforest. In the lodge where I was staying there were only eight people including myself…so it was, in my opinion, pretty close to an “authentic” jungle experience. My stay included eating alligator, turtle, and fish from the Amazon River, swimming with piranhas, (trying to) sleep while monster-size cockroaches overtook my room, and almost stepping on one of the most venomous snakes in the jungle. Our guide explained to us that he has seen people bitten and within five minutes, “they bleed out of their eyes and are in excruciating pain.” However, he did kindly remind us after this scary story: “that’s why we were these rubber boots.” This made me feel a little better, but I had little faith the flimsy, old boots would do anything if I were bitten…so for the rest of the hike I looked twice before I stepped forward.

I then arrived back at the lodge, sweaty from the hike, and decided to take a swim in the river. As soon as I dove in I felt small pinches all over my body, I assumed it they were just little minnows, which I had seen swimming on the top of the water, but my guide was nice enough to tell me “those are just piranhas.” I didn’t believe him at first, and thought he was kidding, but his piranha story proved to be true the next day when we went piranha fishing and we were able to catch a bucket-full in little.

Finally, the best story I have from the trip was our boat ride back to the city from the rainforest. Now, I’ve been on a lot of boats in my life—sail boats, motor boats, little boats, big boats, canoes, and kayaks—but this hour and forty minute boat ride in a small metal boat was easily one of the scariest experiences of my life. It started as a rainstorm, but within twenty minutes, we were attempting to recreate the movie “The Perfect Storm” on the Amazon River; luckily, this boat ride didn’t end the same way. Lightning bolts were striking all around us and it was pouring so hard the rain hurt as it smacked against my body. I was saying the Rosary while others in the boat were crying. During all this, we also hit a log in the river…and if you ever played the computer came “Amazon Trail” in elementary school, you know that the boat flips over and sinks when the boat hits the log. Lucky for us, it only just made a scary noise and there was no sinking or dying involved.

The Storm...

One hour and forty minutes after we left the rainforest we arrived in the city, Iquitos, and I had never been so happy to get off a boat.

Now I am back in Lima, alive in well. Even though my trip to Iquitos was “eventful” and at times scary, it was a good trip (in retrospect) and I did enjoy myself. As always, it is nice to get out of Lima and see a different side of Peru. Everything here in Lima is great and I cannot believe I only have about five weeks of classes until finals! The semester has just flown by. The next couple of weeks I will be reading and studying for my final quizzes and then my final exams. The semester has been fantastic so far and I am looking forward to the next couple weeks as I wrap up my semester and prepare for summer break…and the sun, which is just starting to come out in Lima!
Ciao,
Peter

In our wetsuits before heading to the beach to surf

I am now about halfway done with my first semester and it is crazy how fast the time has flow by…this also means that, unfortunately, the following two weeks I have mid-term exams. Although I am now busy studying for those the past few weekend, luckily, I have been able to find time to travel. Two weeks ago, with the Holy Cross group, I traveled to Huanchaco, a part of Trujillo, in northern Peru, and this past weekend I spent a couple nights in Chincha, two hours south of Lima with friends from the University.
Huanchaco is a small area of Trujillo on the beach. The people are extremely friendly and relaxed, and the weekend was just what I needed to get away from the constant schoolwork. It reminded me of Cape Cod where I love to spend time on the beach when I am home in Massachusetts. The entire weekend in Trujillo was fantastic, but undoubtedly, my favorite afternoon was spent surfing. It was the first time I had surfed in my life, and surprisingly I left the beach with no bodily injuries, and was even able to stand up and actually surf almost every time. After we surfed, we had to hurry back to the hotel to shower and get ourselves to the bus terminal. We got back a little late, due to the usual horrendous traffic in Lima, but at least by now I am use to sitting in traffic forever. Despite the slight delay turning our “8-hour” bus trip into an 11-hour trip, we arrived safely in Lima for classes.
Then, this past weekend, I found myself traveling yet again, to Chicha. Luckily, the trip to Chincha is only about 3 hours—much more accommodating for my legs (I am 6’2). In Chincha, I stayed with the family of one of my friends from the University. There I enjoyed many great home cooked meals, like carapulcra, which is a pork dish served with “sopa seca,” and it a traditional dish of the area. The pork is served in a sauce mixed potato, peanuts, and I don’t really know what else, but it is absolutely delicious. On Saturday, we attended a graduation party and on Sunday afternoon, we went to the beach—we were lucky to be in Chincha one of the first nice days of spring (which just started two weeks ago)!

In Chincha

So, despite the mid-terms and many test and papers that remain I keep remember we’re quickly approaching summer here, while my friends and family back home in Massachusetts are approaching winter…and snow.
Well, I still have sixty pages left in “From the imperial reform to a reluctant independence,” so I am off to read. However, yesterday I bought plane tickets to Iquitos…so I will have a lot more to talk about and many great pictures coming soon! It is in the rain forest and is suppose to be one of the “most exotic cities” in all of South America according to my guidebook…

Ciao,
Peter