My time spent in Lima so far has been extremely eye-opening. Lima is a beautiful, but dirty and populated, city. Although these first few days have been exciting and jaw-dropping, I cannot wait for what the next several days will bring for me. 

We ate breakfast at 730am. It was the normal Peruvian breakfast: bread and butter or jam. Coffee, tea, and water were available to drink. The majority of the day was spent at the University Antonio Ruiz de Montoya. To begin, we took a tour of the university. It seemed similar to Creighton University in Omaha. About 1,000 students attend UARM for a regular school year. They run their school year similar to quarters with a long summer break and long Christmas break, opposite of our semesters. Because Peru is located on the southern hemisphere, the seasons are opposite of the United State's seasons. We listened to a lecture about the history of Peru and the Jesuits from Dr. Jeff Klaiber, S.J. Dr. Jeff  Klaiber, S.J. is from Indianapolis, Indiana. His lecture pulled out several key aspects from our lecture material to prepare for our travels during Peru. A few major events that Dr. Klaiber, S.J. spoke about the Jesuits in Peru. The Jesuits were expelled from Latin America and Spain in 1767. In 1773, Pope Clement XIV suppressed the Jesuit order, which was more of a political movement compared to a theological movement. 1971 marks the beginning of liberation theology. Dr. Jeff Klaiber, S.J. teaches history at UARM and guest-lectures at the nearby Catholic university. This is especially important to our trip in Peru because it allows us to understand the history behind the way Peru is today.

After Jeff, Dr. Kolak continued with lecture regarding more biology information. He spoke about water sheds and microvertebrates. He focused on our plan for water testing and the characteristics of Lima, Cusco, ocean, and the mountains. Following Dr. Kolak's lecture, we went to lunch which was one eye-opening experience. Elizabeth and I were the students who translated for the rest of the group. The opportunity to hear Spanish and respond in Spanish to indigenous people is amazing. To me, it is literally inexplicable how amazing it feels to speak two languages. The opportunity is priceless so I thoroughly enjoyed translating and learning more Spanish. Lunch was enjoyable and most of us even enjoyed desserts as well. Following lunch, Dr. Davis bet me that if we won volleyball against the other students, then we would not have lecture later. The challenge was accepted. The science lectures were as interesting as the history lecture by Dr. Klaiber. These lectures are vital to our trip because it will increase our knowledgebase about a platform of our trip: water. Our professors taught us about the basics and complexities of toxicity, immunology, and the water quality in Peru. This helps all of us understand one of the reasons of why we were given this opportunity to travel and study in Peru. We can now appreciate our abilities to speak with locals and potentially help the city's water situation simultaneously.

Elizabeth and I asked the students if we could play volleyball with them and they were so welcoming and allowed us to play immediately! We lost the very first game but over time, we won. (Dr. Davis lost the bet.) We played volleyball for roughly three hours. I learned a lot of new words in Spanish like "fuera" which means out, "dentro" which translates to in, and "cancha de voleibol" which means volleyball court. It was extremely interesting to play volleyball with students. These students barely knew English and most do not study English at the university. At UNO, I did not have an opportunity to learn words about sports. I realize that there are many words that I have never considered speaking in Spanish, or needing to know. For instance, I never needed to know how to say "nice hit!" except for today. In Spanish, you say "Buen Mate!" After volleyball, we did listen to Dr. Davis lecture for about an hour. To me, it was all interesting. He focused on how altitude affects your body and its functions. Cusco is nearly 11,000 feet in altitude, quite a difference from the sea level that we were at right now. He said that knowing what is happening in our bodies will help us get through the mental half of the high altitude ;). Playing volleyball with locals was, and probably will remain, one of my favorite moments in Lima. This unexpected opportunity allowed us to drastically increase our confidence and abilities to speak Spanish.

For the remainder of the night, we ate a delicious dinner at Cafe Mango near the ocean in Miraflores. It was absolutely wonderful and delicate. I ate a dessert, similar to a cream puff, that was shaped like a swan in a chocolate lake.  After enjoying each others company and dinner, we walked around Larcomar, the outdoor shopping mall near the ocean. The sights were breathtaking. This situation was kind of a paradigm. We experienced one of the poorest areas of Lima, Ate, and then one of the richest and most beautiful areas of Lima, Miraflores.

On Sunday the 2nd, we walked around downtown Lima as a group. This relates to the title and my opening paragraph. Words cannot describe how jaw-dropping and humbling the experience felt for me. The most crowded city I have visited is Denver, Colorado, which inhabits nearly 620,000 people. Denver is roughly 400 km^2. Lima inhabits nearly 9,000,000. Lima is roughly 805 km^2. As a group during a debriefing session, we concluded that the streets of Lima were extremely clean. We saw more people sweeping up the cement and caring for their city more so than in the United States, presumably speaking. On the contrary, graffiti dramatically covered the walls of businesses, houses, and streets in every direction in Peru. One student tour guide from UARM, Frederico, said that Lima does not have enough police force to stop or clean up the graffiti around the city. In Omaha, I see virtually no graffiti around the city. There is an area in Lima known as Ate, that is the poorest area I have seen. Surprisingly, it is not the poorest area of Lima. Our professor, Dr. Celle, informed us that only 10% of inhabitants in areas outside of the richest areas (two neighborhoods) pay municipal taxes in Lima. According to what we learned during our lecture before Peru, we learned that 33% of Lima is below the poverty line. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 15.5% of inhabitants below the poverty line in Omaha, and  18.8% of people in Denver are blow the poverty line. People in America may be able to compare and contrast the city statistics to try and understand Lima as a city. I am often overwhelmed in both cities because of the population. To me, its amazing to see that nearly 7x more people live in Lima, per square kilometer, than in Denver. Walking through downtown, street vending is quite common, and presumably the only monetary support for these people. I assume that there are a lot of people downtown and in Ate in a poor situation. Vending in small stores and in kiosks seem to be extremely common in Lima, especially downtown. In Ate, families often have to travel down the mountain for certain goods. This experience was especially jaw-dropping and humbling because I was able to compare and contrast different ideas learned throughout lecture to an actual real-life event. I am brought back to my life in the United States for a quick minute, and rapidly return to Lima: truly jaw-dropping and absolutely humbling.

Hasta Luego,

Lauren Dahlquist