day 97: KOREANS IN PERÚ!?

This beach holds the record for the longest wave going left to right in the world.
Also, surfing is on my list of things to learn while in Perú.

Yup, that's right kids, there are Koreans in Perú.
Now, this isn't shocking. I am well aware of the Asian population that exists in Perú: Chinese, Japanese, Thai, you name it and you'll probably find it. What's exciting to me is that these Koreans live within visiting distance from me. And they have Korean food with them.

I didn't realize how much I missed Korean food.

The local priest in my community had mentioned to me that there were 2 other Korean priests located not too far away. He invited me to go meet them this week, to which I gladly agreed. I show up at the church at 8:30am, as he asked, and was delighted to see that when I showed up at 8:30am, on the dot, he was outside waiting for me.

I hate hora peruana. It's a cultural thing, I understand, but the concept of everything running late to accommodate for everyone being late drives me mad. I was always that kid who showed up early to things. The sense of fear that has been instilled in me, and that fluttery nervousness in my stomach when it feels like I'll only be on time, and not early, is part of my very core. So imagine me now living in a place that runs on Peruvian hour. An example of this? The other day, there was a meeting with the leadership club at one of the schools. The teacher told me to get there at 10. Knowing very well that it would start later, I showed up at 9:55 to the room she had told me they would be meeting in. Turns out, there's a text fair happening that day, showcasing the many forms of literature that exist, happening in that room, so we're next door.

It's a ferria! There are lots of ferrias happening, at least once a week
(depending on the school, I guess)

An hour later, a few of the kids from the leadership club have been rounded up. Unfortunately, the teacher also has another meeting and is running back and forth between that and trying to find more of the kids. Classes have once again begun, and many of the teachers are refusing to let the kids be excused, rightly so. The kids who are there are preparing what they had been told to prepare from last week. Another 30 minutes later, the professors show up. It is now 11:30 and the meeting is about to start. Their first matter for discussion is when to hold meetings so that everyone can join. Another 30 minutes later, it is decided that they shall meet on Tuesdays, except the professor has a meeting and now must leave. The second professor starts a discussion on why they're doing the project in the first place. It is now noon and with apologies, I excuse myself because I need to go home and prepare for my second meeting. What... the.... heck... End rant.

So the father was waiting for me, we get into his car and speed off!

Lemme tell you, it only takes 15 minutes to get to this place because the father drives at roughly 95mph the entire way there.

Finally we get there, I meet the first father and he's wonderfully pleasant and invites me to lunch: kimchi jjigae! he says. It's not great, but if you'd like some Korean food...

YES PLEASE.

He leaves to prepare for morning mass and the father and I decide to drive over to the next site, about 5 or 10 min. away to see the other priest.

The other priest lives 1 min. from the beach. He lives in a very touristic part, a beach that is well known for its awesome waves and caters to surfer during the summer time here. There are tons of hotels, including a 4 story hotel that costs about $200/night to stay in... Oof.

The beach here is known for being the location of the longest wave you can find in the world. The wave starts on the left and a surfer can ride it about 2km or so down the coast, towards the pier. It's crazy beautiful, and I am making plans to go visit it during surfing season (when the waves are larger).

The plaza has this gorgeous sculpture on it.
Wow.

BEACH!

That man over there? Fishing for mariscos (seafood)
like shellfish and the like. You can't see it here, but there are
big crab things crawling around too. Or at least I think they're crabs....
I couldn't really see them from where I was. Maybe I just
made all of that up in my head...

Anyway, we check out the beach and then all of his head back to the first place with the first father. We park, walk into the door and...

... oh the scent of kimchi jjigae. Amazing.

Your mouth started watering, didn't it?
It probably means you're Korean.

So yes, I devoured 2 bowls of that. And then as I was about to leave, Father Park looks at me and asks, "do you have gochujang at your place? Would you like one?"

To which I replied by asking, "seriously!?" and he smiles and walks over, pulls open this box and hands me not only a big thing of gochujang (red pepper paste for those of you who don't know what that is), but also 5 packages of ramen.

"Enjoy!"

om nom nom nom noooommm!

We left with me making plans in my head to find a day when I'm free so that I can return and see these 2 wonderful people once more. When we got back to my site, the father grabbed one of the ramen to try for himself, and I'm thinking of having a Korean lunch with my fam sometime soon with the other 4. It's gonna be totally awesome.

That's all for now!
Hope you are all well, and if you have access to some Korean food, please go and enjoy it. And then go write me a letter about it and send it to me. My address is on the side bar :P

Love and Peace.