Here are some things everyone should know if they are ever planning on visiting Trujillo, Peru…
- Make sure to pack a snack to eat in between lunch and diner because you will most likely eat lunch around noon and then not eat dinner until 8 or 9pm.
- Quinoa is NOT a good drink no matter what every single Peruvian will tell you. It is made up of an over liquefied jelly substance that is so thick that the “fruit” in the juice is suspended. There are also random twig and stick like things in the drink…not appetizing…
- Make sure you like to eat rice and chicken because that is what you will have every day for lunch and dinner…and breakfast…
- If one person in your group is sick, it is automatically assumed everyone in your group is sick and must be treated as such. Example: You will be given tea that apparently is for your stomach, not your throat and soup.
- Peruvian time is at least two hours behind regular time. So, it is safe to assume that if someone tells you they will be at your house at 6pm, be ready by 8pm and then still be prepared for them to arrive even later than that.
- There is no such thing as cold drinking water. Any bottled water you can manage to find will be at room temperature.
- Juice and soda are always served over water.
- You will gain at least 10 pounds. Expect eggs, sausage, bread, fruit, juice, coffee, milk, peanut butter and jelly, yogurt and granola. For your FIRST lunch, expect to have, juice, rice, rice and more rice, chicken, spaghetti, any form of potato (since they have 1500 various forms of potato) salad and possibly soup. For your SECOND LUNCH, expect to have two hamburgers (because one is certainly not enough), fries and more juice. For dinner, it can be the same as lunch with some variations but mainly it will be comprised of chicken and rice and potatoes. This is a typical meal day…
- Moto Taxis are a must-do…just not while you are feeling nauseous already…
- Drivers in Peru just honk before an intersection. Whoever honks first, has the right of way. Sometimes, if your car is large enough, you can ignore the honks and take your chances….worst drivers ever award! (we almost get into three accidents every day)
- Children are NOT disciplined and therefore are under the incorrect assumption that they can do whatever they like whenever they would like to. No one can tell them otherwise.
- Chicken feet are delicacies along with quail eggs, guinea pig and duck.
- Breast-feeding in the middle of a small group session is perfectly normal. In fact, if you are sleeping and almost drop the child you are breast-feeding during the middle of it, no one will notice. I actually felt left out because I could not participate.
- Tight bright colored sweat pants are totally in here along with shirts that have English words on them that are misspelled or just don’t make sense…Like, “How be my boyfriend” what?
- “Camping” does not require a tent or fire…just a soccer ball, bathing suit and food. A volleyball is optional.
- School starts at 1pm for most children. Therefore, it is ok to be out until 4 in the morning if you attend middle school because you can sleep in as late as you want the next morning.
- Birthday parties never end before midnight. If they do, they are lame ones. The cool ones tend to last until 2 or 3 in the morning.
- Peruvians can last days without water or sleep…I don’t know how they do it.
- If you sleep two hours during your siesta time, that means you have slept enough to last you until 3am. Then, you can get 4 more hours of sleep before you start your next day…clearly that is enough time for sleep.
- When you are singing a song, you need to clap off beat and then switch it up half way through the song so everyone can clap at random times. If you are on beat the entire time, you clearly should not be clapping along. (Same applies for singing…it must be out of tune)
- The bathrooms are designed so that you can be on the toilet, wash your arms in the shower and your feet in the sink. The running water you have will be below freezing so your best bet would be to use a small bucket to scoop out water from a large tub of room temperature water. Then splash that all over your body multiple times. You will only be cold of a couple seconds. I have become a pro!
- If you decide to overload your car with people (which is a must) you must drive all around town to avoid the cops because clearly, they care…we got stopped once but got out of it.
- Dogs like to chill on rooftops and bark at everyone that passes by. They also like to fornicate on the rooftops as well…it’s really interesting to watch.
- Never, under any circumstances, make friends with a four-year-old girl named Marina!
