Exploring the Peruvian Coastline

April 26, 2013April 16, 2015 / Maria / Leave a comment

Peru has been amazing so far, I don’t even really know where to start! We left around suppertime the day after we finished university, so it was a pretty hectic day and a long overnight flight from Toronto to Lima. It was misty rain and overcast when we arrived as well, which was a little bit anticlimactic and had us wondering what the rest of the trip might hold. Fortunately, every day here just seems to get better and better!

We spent a day and a half in Lima trying to cram in what we could. We stayed in Miraflores, which is this tourist area located on the southern coast of Lima. The misty rain cleared up pretty fast and the sun came out for us. We spent a bit of time exploring the parks in Miraflores and went to Huaca Pucllana, which is an ancient ruins from Lima culture (400AD) that is still standing right in the middle of the city! From afar it kind of just looks like a huge bunch of clay bricks, but they actually form a large pyramid (with a pretty nice view) and a series of living areas. One fun fact I liked about it is that the bricks are all vertical instead of horizontal, the reason being to leave room for flexibility in the event of an earthquake, which does frequently occur along the coast.

Atop the pyramid in Huaca Pucllana

One of the first things we noticed about Lima is that it has some of the craziest drivers ever! Drivers somehow manage to fit their cars into the smallest of places, completely disregard all pedestrians, and drive as fast as they like. We had one of the craziest bus rides ever into the city center to visit the historical center. So far as we could tell, there’s one guy that is responsible for driving the bus and repeatedly honking the horn, and there is a second guy who is responsible for getting people on and off the bus as fast as possible, sometimes while the bus is still moving! We pretty much had no idea where to get off, which incited a huge discussion between the bus guy and a large group of the passengers about where we should get off. It certainly made our job a lot easier, although it didn’t really shorten the amount of time we spent wondering around after trying to find the right way (we made it in the end).

Plaza del Armas in Lima

After leaving Lima, we moved on to the small town of Paracas. Paracas is a home base for the Ballestas Islands and Paracas National Reserve. Most of the southern coast of Peru is actually a desert. The moisture all gets trapped along the Andes mountain range and the coast gets very little rain, so it is very dry. However, it has a thriving sea life!

Seth making some Pelican friend in Paracas

Seth making some Pelican friends in Paracas

First we visited the Ballestas Islands, which contains large nesting colonies for lots of different types of seabirds! Sometimes the island is known as the Galapagos of Peru, or more unfortunately, poor man’s Galapagos. We thoroughly enjoyed it though! One of the most common birds you can see there is the Peruvian Booby (yes that’s actually what’s its called), but my favorites were the Peruvian pelicans, Inca terns, and the cute little Humboldt penguins! There’s also lots of sea lions hanging out in the area!

A few Peruvian Boobies hanging out in the Ballestas Islands

After the Ballestas Islands, we took a tour of the Paracas National Reserve. It was a lot different then we expected as the whole thing was just one big desert, but it was still quite unique to experience! We took the time to try out some local Peruvian Cuisine, one dish that is very popular in Lima is Ceviche. It’s basically raw fish that is marinated with onions and a lot of lemon juice! I actually didn’t mind the raw fish at all (I had sea bass) but I had a hard time with how acidic it was from all the lemon juice!

Trying ceviche in Paracas

Overall, we’ve had a pretty interesting foray in local gastronomy. We both tried the popular soft drink, Inka Cola, which I actually really like, and we tried a shot of pisco sour when we were in Paracas, which was really sweet. Over the past few days, I also had the opportunity to try both alpaca meat and guinea pig meat! The alpaca was pretty tough, but tasty, whereas I just found the guinea pig to be tough.

I was hoping to fit a few more things in this post, but I hate long posts so I’m going to stop here. In my next update you can look forward to hearing about our trip to the worlds deepest canyon and learn about altitude sickness and how much it sucks!

Love Maria

A Tribute to my University Years

April 16, 2013April 16, 2015 / Maria / 2 Comments

This week I’m reaching a milestone. I’m finishing my degree in Civil Engineering! After five years and six work terms, they’re finally letting me graduate! I wanted to take the time to write a little tribute for the last five years and how much I’ve appreciated everything that I’ve experienced throughout my education.

Engineering has definitely been one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done, but also the most rewarding. I had the opportunity to live and work in Malawi and England, and I discovered my huge passion for traveling and international development. I’ve learned so much from all of my work terms and I’ve had the opportunity to work with so many incredible people. I’ve also been lucky to work with a great group at school over the last three years and I’ve made some great friends. We ended the term on a great note last week, finishing up with a presentation on our senior design project presentation. So a special shout-out to my wonderful classmates: Steve, Jess, and Will. We drive each other crazy sometimes, but I still love you all for some reason.

Steve, Jess, Will, and I after completing our final design presentation

Steve, Jess, Will, and I after completing our final design project

After my work terms, the best decision I’ve made was to get involved in on-campus organizations. I’ve worked with Engineers Without Borders for the last five years and I’ve gained more from that experience than from the rest of my engineering degree. I’ve met some incredible people through EWB who have challenged me, coached me, encouraged me, and helped me to grow. I’m glad that I can look back on the work I’ve done with EWB and be really proud of what I’ve accomplished and what I’ve helped other people to accomplish. The MUN Chapter won ‘Volunteer Society of the Year’ last month and I really can’t think of a more deserving group of individuals. I’m so thankful for all of the opportunities that I’ve had through EWB and for the opportunities I believe I will continue to have as a result of what I’ve gained from the experience.

An amazing group of EWBers from the MUN Chapter

I write my last exam tomorrow and on Thursday I get my iron ring. I haven’t lined up a job yet for post-graduation, but I’ve decided not to stress too much about it yet. In the meantime, I do have some pretty awesome plans for the next month. It turns out it’s pretty hard to get me to stay still for too long, so on Friday, Seth and I are heading out on vacation for 4 weeks. This time the destination is Peru!

My key motivation for wanting to go to Peru was to hike Machu Picchu and to visit the Amazon – so that’s exactly what we’re going to do! We’re spending the first 10 days backpacking around Peru, and then we’re going to settle into the tourist capital, Cusco, for the rest of the trip. We’re planning on hiking the Salcantay trail to Machu Picchu for five days and we’re volunteering on a conservation project in Manu National Park in the Amazon for another five days. My goal is to try and write a blog entry for each portion of the trip, so stay tuned!

Beyond that, I’m pretty happy to be finishing my degree and I’m ready to move on to the next chapter of my life. Throughout my time at MUN I’ve learned a lot, made some great friends, and even met my wonderful boyfriend. After Peru, I’m planning to be around Newfoundland for the rest of the summer and I’m hoping to do some road trips around the province. Please give me a call if you’re here this summer. I feel like I have so many people to catch up with and I’d really like to see you!

Love Maria

Changing Rape Culture

March 18, 2013April 17, 2013 / Maria / 4 Comments

I’ve decided to change gears today and to write about something that is hard to write about and hard to talk about. Three things caught my attention today; two young men were found guilty for raping an unconscious girl at a party (see article), a Swiss woman was gang-raped outside a small village in India (see article), and my friend Erin shared with me the fact that rape is the first sexual experience of 20% of Ghanaian women. These things all frustrate me and I think it’s time we talked about them. I’m certainly no expert on rape, but I am tired of the way we talk about (or don’t talk about) rape in our society. I’m tired of a culture that blames the victim and doesn’t talk about sexuality and respect.

As a young female, rape has always been by biggest fear when traveling. When I went to Malawi at 20-years old, my biggest fear was that I was going to find myself in an uncomfortable situation, outside of my control, that might result in rape. When trying to meet new people in London, I was consciously aware of the guys I was meeting and the situations I would put myself in with those guys. When walking back to my flat at night, it was instinct for me to stick to busy streets and I was always intensely aware of my surroundings until I reached the safety of my house. I’m sure I’m not the only female that thinks this way.

I’ve always watched my drinks when I’m out with friends. I’ve always been careful about the company I might attract. I’ve felt a relative amount of security because I thought I never put myself in situations where there was the potential for rape. The problem is that I should never have to think like this. What a woman wears or whether or not a girl is drunk should not constitute an excuse for why she might have been raped. Instead of analyzing the actions of the victim, we need to be talking about a culture where boys don’t see anything wrong with sexually assaulting an unconscious girl; a culture where men feel entitled to sex and where women don’t feel safe walking down the street at night.

The thing that struck me about the cases in the news this week is that they both involved groups of people. The friends of the two football players that raped a girl at a party participated in that crime by not stepping up to help the young girl, by laughing at her shame, and filming as she was assaulted. On two different occasions, groups of men in India got together and thought it was acceptable to gang rape a woman on vacation with her husband and to sexually and physically assault a young student on a bus (see article). 20% on Ghanaian women should not be dealing with rape as their first sexual experience. Clearly we are living in a society that doesn’t talk about equality, respect, and sexual expression.

I know ranting about rape culture is not very effective, but if we’re ever going to change it, we need to start talking about it. Advising women on how to be safe and not get raped is not addressing the causes for why it happens. Engineers Without Borders put a lot of focus on gender representation for International Women’s Day this month and it got me thinking about the inequalities that exist within my own profession and the way that we address (and ignore) gender within our respective cultures. Our overseas partner Erin Aylward wrote a great blog on how we’re not afraid of changing culture, but of addressing the deep-rooted issues that result in that culture.

To finish, this is a completely different type of blog for me and it was difficult to write. However, I’ve always felt that my voice does have power and that it’s important to share it, even if I’m not that eloquent. While the circumstances that started the discussion are awful, I’m hopeful about the conversation that has resulted from it. I hope we can keep talking about it and I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Maria