I made it (Part 2)!

I arrived in Chosica on Friday (Valentine’s day) and I have officially been here for 4 days now. Chosica is about an hour and a half from Lima, so thankfully I had a very chatty taxi driver who explained to me all the things we passed along the way. He was especially excited to show me kilometro zero on the “carretera central,” so much so that we had to pull over to admire the sign.  When we arrived at my apartment in Chosica, there were 3 people outside waiting, David and Rueben from the university where I will work, and Ursula, my temporary landlady. I say temporary as I only plan to stay in this apartment for 3 months at the most as it is way too small to fit our family of 5.

I was feeling apprehensive about my first weekend in Chosica as there was nothing scheduled for me until Monday, when I would go to work for the first time. Thankfully, David and Rueben had other plans. After a tour of the apartment from Ursula and a quick stop at a bank to get her the first month of rent, David and Ruben took me out for a delicious lunch of “pollo a la brasa” (complete with my first Peruvian pisco sour) and then to a grocery store to get me stocked up on basic supplies. They were attentive in helping me pick out their favorite Peruvian products while we shopped. 

After our busy afternoon, I was happy to go back to my apartment and settle in. This apartment is very small and simple, but has a beautiful terrace that overlooks a patio that is full of flowering trees. My first day in Chosica ended with a Facetime dinner with the family where we all opened up our Valentine’s day present. 

The rest of the weekend was what I expected: quiet. Mostly, there were a lot of exploratory walks around the town. The highlight of these walks was coming across a stunning parade that consisted of dance groups wearing unique and colorful regalia. When I finally summoned the courage to ask the person next to me what the parade was for, they told me it was the Festival de la Candelaria. I’m still a bit fuzzy about what that means, but it was a sight to be seen! I cannot claim credit for this beautiful picture from the parade, it comes from the "Visita Chosica" facebook page.

At last, Monday was my first day of work at the university! The official name of the university is “La Universidad Nacional de Educacion Enrique Guzman y Valle.” Thankfully, most people just call it “La Cantuta” (which is a flower that grows in Peru). I had a tour, met the rectora (head of the university) and various other deans and directors. At the end of the afternoon, I had a lovely lunch with some of my new colleagues at a traditional Peruvian restaurant. 

Since it was a short day of work, I decided to try out my first “combi” bus so I could scope out a couple of schools for the kids. These buses are the size of 15-passenger vans but the one I took on the way back from my school visits had more than 25 people in it. But for .25 cents, I didn’t mind.  I was so proud of my accomplishments that I treated myself to a big slice of tres leches cake in the park. Yum!