Naomi in a nutshell

This picture is inside the cathedral at Plaza de Armas in...

Mon, 20 May 2013 20:00:48 -0600

This picture is inside the cathedral at Plaza de Armas in Arequipa.
Today’s highlight was checking out the Museo Sanctuarios Andinos, which houses Juanita, the ‘Inca ice maiden’ who was killed as a sacrifice to the Inca gods. She is one of the most well-preserved mummies ever found! It was super cool and yet kinda eerie seeing her in her -22C chamber, completely preserved and yet 500 years old. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed, but google “mummy Juanita” and you can read all about it!

Bucket list #162: get photobombed by a pigeon.

Mon, 20 May 2013 17:44:05 -0600

Bucket list #162: get photobombed by a pigeon.

1 and 2) Arequipa’s Plaza de Armas 3) A 30 year old turtle...

Sun, 19 May 2013 18:53:42 -0600

1 and 2) Arequipa’s Plaza de Armas

3) A 30 year old turtle living in our hostel’s garden

Too tired and sniffly and sneezy to blog tonight haha. My allergies need to go away right now!

Our plane on the tarmac in Arequipa :) Smallest airport ever!

Sun, 19 May 2013 06:55:44 -0600

Our plane on the tarmac in Arequipa :) Smallest airport ever!

Today was our first day in Lima and I’m so, so happy we...

Sat, 18 May 2013 19:12:12 -0600

Today was our first day in Lima and I’m so, so happy we got to meet up with Thais (a friend from exchange) and her mom for lunch! We went to a restaurant overlooking the ocean and ate some awesome Peruvian food that we otherwise wouldn’t have known how to order (like the mashed potatoes+crab+avocado plate of deliciousness as shown in picture 2). Oh, and ceviche (picture 1) is just as good as everyone says it is :)

We need to wake up at 3:30am to make our 5:30am flight to Arequipa tomorrow soo - buenas noches!

Chile

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:24:45 -0600

Chile

A 2-day update: We had the best meal in Buenos Aires yesterday!...

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:23:33 -0600

A 2-day update:

We had the best meal in Buenos Aires yesterday! The restaurant is called Tancat, but I actually don’t know what we ate because we just pointed at something in the menu, the waiter tried to explain it to us, and we said yes. But it’s basically prawns, squid, and mushrooms with a salad on the side. So so so so good.

After that we went to watch a tango show, because we couldn’t leave the city without seeing one (it wouldn’t be the touristy thing to do). This was at Tango Porteno, and it was meh. I would’ve preferred more dancing and less singing/live music. There was some Asian tour group sitting near us and a few of the men put their heads on the table and fell asleep LOL. But still glad we got to catch a show.

Today I finally caught a picture of one of the many dog walkers around Buenos Aires (see picture 3). Love it :) And we also made friends with the Chinese people that own the grocery store next to our hotel. They recommended a Chinese restaurant to us for lunch and it did not disappoint. Mom and I ate 20 dumplings hahahahaha.

Currently in Santiago for a stopover. Peru tomorrow!

The dog story

Fri, 17 May 2013 07:37:55 -0600

One thing you should know about my mom is that she’s terrified of dogs. In fact, when I used to ask for a dog, she would reply, “either you get married and move out first, or I die first.” Like any young child, I would tell her she’d die first because I was never going to get married.

Anyways, it took about 45 minutes to walk to Caminito, and the walk also included passing some semi-questionable areas in La Boca. We were walking at a fast clip when suddenly we noticed there was a black dog following us. Stray dogs and pet dogs are both very common in Buenos Aires and they never bother people, so we didn’t think much about it. That is, until we stopped at a street corner to consult our map and the dog stopped right beside us. Nervously we edged closer to two police officers (although how police officers would save us from a dog I really don’t know). The dog casually followed us and sat beside us again. We moved away from the police officers, and the dog moved away as well.

We crossed the street, the dog crossed the street. We walked faster, the dog walked faster, just a foot or two behind us. We slowed down and the dog would walk ahead, and then nonchalantly slow down or completely stop until we caught up with it. I was laughing so hard and Mom was having a complete breakdown! Finally we ran into a supermarket and hid in there, periodically peeking out at the entrance to see if the dog was still there. Every time we checked, it was standing outside, paying the entering/exiting customers no mind. After a while, it lay down in front of the door and started napping! At this point I was laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe, and Mom was all, “Why does this dog like us so much??? What is going on???”

Finally we left the supermarket and as expected, the dog got up and followed us once again. Every so often I would turn around to check if it was still there, and Mom would also tell me not to look at it and to pretend it doesn’t exist :P This went on for at least another 10 blocks until suddenly, the dog wasn’t there anymore. So weird! I jokingly told Mom that it must be an angel sent to protect us from unsavoury people, and Mom vehemently protested that she did NOT want an protector angel-dog. If it was an angel, she would prefer it be anything but a dog, really.

Today was fun, tiring, and adventurous as usual :) We took the...

Wed, 15 May 2013 21:03:00 -0600

Today was fun, tiring, and adventurous as usual :) We took the subway to San Telmo, walked around that area and then along Defensa where we checked out antique stores and other shops. After grabbing some lunch and using the restaurant’s tape to tape my map back together (it fell apart into 3 pieces due to overuse), we walked to La Boca to check out Caminito, where there are lots of colourful buildings as shown in the first picture.

I’ve seen a lot of cool stuff in Buenos Aires so far, but Caminito definitely stands out as the one thing that separates the city from other cities in my mind. I love the buildings and the colours and everything!

The second picture is in a restaurant called Siga la Vaca. One of my friend’s grandparents live in Buenos Aires and they were kind enough to offer to take us on an ‘evening tour’ in their car and have dinner together. It was really neat to see parts of the city at night and not have to struggle to decipher the menu to choose what to eat for dinner :P We ate at an all-you-can-eat meat/veggies place. The picture basically shows what it’s like :)

I also have a hilarious story about a dog, but that’s going to have to be saved for another night. Ciao!

We took a free walking tour today (called BA free tour) and...

Tue, 14 May 2013 18:26:36 -0600

We took a free walking tour today (called BA free tour) and wandered around downtown to areas such as the congress (picture 1) and the pink palace where the president ‘works’ (picture 2). Gaston our guide was really knowledgeable and all-around awesome - he even put up with all of my mom’s questions ;)

After the tour, we, along with 3 new friends, went to the 12th floor of a random office building to exchange US dollars for Argentinean pesos using the ‘unofficial’ exchange rate. Let me tell you what that means… the official exchange rate today is around 5.2 pesos for $1. Using the unofficial rate, we received 8.2 pesos for $1. Apparently these cambios are all over the city, you just have to know where to look because obviously they don’t outright advertise it. What was funny was the office itself because it wasn’t sketch at all. There was a receptionist in the front, and when we asked to exchange money, we were taken to another room where the guy told us the exchange rate, wrote down how much we wanted to exchange, and disappeared into another room to get us the money. When he came back, I got a glimpse into the ‘other room’ and was surprised to see the room full of people, working on computers doing who-knows-what! Super interesting ‘underground’ business going on here.

Picture 3 is of the La Recoleta Cemetery, which is a huge, impressive cemetery full of statues and mausoleums. It was really unique and fun to wander around and peer inside the different mausoleums. One of my favourite parts of Buenos Aires so far :)

1) Let’s talk abut Buenos Aires’ customs issues, and...

Mon, 13 May 2013 16:08:56 -0600

1) Let’s talk abut Buenos Aires’ customs issues, and then migrate from that into traffic issues. As you can see from the photo above, there is no such thing as an orderly lineup to get through customs - it’s a mass congregation of people jostling to move up and get out of the airport as fast as possible. That leads me to the traffic in Buenos Aires… I have never in all my travels ever encountered a city where traffic lanes are optional for cars (e.g. 3 lanes become 4-5 lanes), and PEDESTRIANS ACTUALLY DON’T MATTER! It’ll be the ‘walk’ sign for pedestrians, and cars just keep zipping on by in between us. That being said, I can say that I have yet to see even a local texting while walking across a street - proof that I’m not being dramatic/a noob! And after today, I’ve nearly perfected the continuous head-swivel to check for cars.

2) I like how small grocery stores display their fruit. That is all.

3) There are monuments everywhere! At least everywhere we walked today. I love them because they add so much history and depth to a city, although every single statue we saw was covered with graffiti. Whyyyyy.

4) I was intent on checking out the Japanese Garden today, and it actually took us over an hour of walking around in circles before we found it. We asked multiple non-English speaking security guards for directions, and one even hand-drew a map for us because we were just staring at him, blinking in total incomprehension. But we FINALLY found it, and I’m so glad we did because it was gorgeous and calm and peaceful and just what we needed after a long day :)

Currently sitting in a cafe in Buenos Aires and eating what I...

Mon, 13 May 2013 07:49:08 -0600

Currently sitting in a cafe in Buenos Aires and eating what I hope is a legit Argentinean breakfast :D

The most interesting part of this breakfast is the fruit soaking in freshly squeezed (aka extremely sour) orange juice. Yum yum. Healthy eating is a success so far! Although we’re only on day one…

A recap of my first impression of Argentina will come tonight. Hint: taxi drivers calling the traffic “loco”, widespread graffiti, and ridiculously long customs lineups.

It’s 5:40am and we’re waiting for our flight to South America so...

Sun, 12 May 2013 05:48:18 -0600

It’s 5:40am and we’re waiting for our flight to South America so I thought now would be a good time to say happy mother’s day to the bestest mom on the planet.

This is the woman who has been my constant since before birth (lol), still makes lunch for me, reminds me to eat my fruits and veggies, and holds me and cries with me when my heart breaks. I could not ask for a better mom :) It’s so cliché when people say their role model is their mom/dad, but I’m completely honest when I say my mom is my role model and someone I look up to so, so much.

May 4-9: Enactus Nationals in Toronto This was probably the last...

Sat, 11 May 2013 15:05:07 -0600

May 4-9: Enactus Nationals in Toronto

This was probably the last time I’ll ever have to memorize a script and use a cheesy, over-the-top voice for a presentation. We went to Toronto a few days early to prep, and it was so useful since our script was still rough, no one had memorized anything, and the slides were half done. Still, so happy we made semis, had great presentations, and got lots of swag :D And this marks my very last school-related activity! Now I’m actually done for real!

In Toronto, I also got to meet up with an old high school friend for dinner, Shad friend for lunch, and exchange friend for coffee so that was awesome :) It’s so nice to be able to catch up about what we’ve been up to the last few years. And thank goodness I also have a fantastic cousin who was willing to drive me around on the last day so I got to meet my cousin’s new baby, eat dinner with my uncles, and saved myself a $60 cab ride back to the airport :)

This is why everyone at UofC needs to take DRAMA205.

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 22:25:51 -0600

This is why everyone at UofC needs to take DRAMA205.

Today was bittersweet. I wrote my last final exam, did work in a...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 22:58:06 -0600

Today was bittersweet. I wrote my last final exam, did work in a syndicate room, ate at the LDL, gossiped in Mac Hall, and played squash - all for the last time as an undergrad student.

These tables in NuWest have given me countless hours of study-time and talk-time, Brew & Blendz has given me countless amazing smoothies (further yummified due to the ‘splurge’ to buy one), and I made some of my best friends in Scurfield Hall. I’m gonna miss this. Sniff!

My go-to spring nail art is always flowers :) Lately the...

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 21:59:51 -0600

My go-to spring nail art is always flowers :)
Lately the sky’s been blue, the sun’s been shining… and I’m stuck inside studying. Meh, one last exam - the ‘final final’ of undergrad!

"I thought of a rather cruel trick I once played on a wasp. He was sucking jam on my plate, and I cut..."

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 23:37:19 -0600

“I thought of a rather cruel trick I once played on a wasp. He was sucking jam on my plate, and I cut him in half. He paid no attention, merely went on with his meal, while a tiny stream of jam trickled out of his severed esophagus. Only when he tried to fly away did he grasp the dreadful thing that had happened to him. It is the same with modern man. The thing that has been cut away is his soul.”

- George Orwell (via evlyn)

Watch :)

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 19:57:55 -0600

Watch :)

The last week in review - last day of school AKA BSD, watched my...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 19:24:07 -0600

The last week in review - last day of school AKA BSD, watched my cactus sprout more flowers, dinner with Dad, and hours upon hours of studying. The end is in sight!