July 29, 2011

Day 10- Lima, Peru

After our 5-set match with Peru that resulted in dinner at 11:45 PM, we were all exhausted. Luckily the wonderful hotel staff agreed to leave breakfast open until 10:30 this morning. We then went to watch video. We were not expecting the best video session today seeing as we lost last night. However, we were proven wrong upon entry to the projection room. Today was mainly about our positives and focusing on our personal abilities as opposed to negatives in our play.

We left for practice at 12:30 and were allowed our standard hour and a half court-time. Practice was especially beneficial since it was held on the main match court. We were joined by our bird friends again, one even perched herself on the net between serves, and they left us plenty of presents around the court.

Afterwards we grabbed a bite of food for lunch at the hotel and had about an hour to get ready to go shopping. At 4:00 we left on our upgraded bus (it’s bigger than the one we started with here, there is even enough leg room!) and headed off deeper into Lima. We were happy to be joined by Gipy, a former Peruvian Olympic Team Member and a University of Texas grad—Hook ‘em! :)

Our first stop was to a market that focused on media. The first time we went shopping in Lima a few girls bought movies at awesome prices, so obviously the rest of us were sad we missed out on the deal, but today we made up for it. Every member of our team now owns 4 to 12 new movies, and none of us paid more than $15. Now we’re just hoping that they all work correctly and are in English!

Next, we went back to the Inca Market that we had briefly visited a few days ago. It was great to really look around and find the neat things that only Peruvians offer. The leather and alpaca products here are remarkable. There are also many items available that are… off the beaten track so to speak, such as Haleigh’s new dagger, bejeweled with real goat teeth and a hilarious painted face.

As usual, volleyball fans requesting photos or autographs interrupted our shopping intermittently. We are always happy to oblige, as we want to keep the Peruvian fans cheering for us.

On the way to dinner our FIVB helper guy, Fabrizio, surprised us with key chains. He’s really adorable, and quite useful for bargaining while shopping.

Dinner was amazing; the local Peruvian restaurant had a lot of interesting cuisine. Some of us ended up going family style and sharing so we got to try many new things. A few (including me!) were brave enough to try cow heart, and it really was good.

To top off the fantastic day we went to a lovely little ice cream shop! Our team literally took over the shop for about 15 minutes. We covered the glass, asked for a million samples (we didn’t understand the flavor names) and filled the checkout area. The locals didn’t seem to mind; some asked for pictures or watched us crazily maneuver the tasting.

We all loved today, but are wiped and looking forward to a good nights sleep to prepare for Brazil tomorrow. It’s a tough road ahead, but if we pull together, play our best, and have some fun we definitely can win.

Go USA (oo-saaw)!

Madelyn Hutson