About Jessica Marshall

Well, after 4 flights and more than 30 hours later I’m finally back in Baltimore.  After all our hiking on Sunday, Heather and Maria, our house mom, threw me a mini-birthday party and then all of my housemates went out with me to one of the local bars.  After that things seem to go down hill.  I now have a sinus cold and upset stomach.  I’m not sure if the upset stomach is from random airplane food, going up and down, 4 times, or a combination of the two.  My sinus cold is no surprise with the crazy winter weather [...]

What a way to start year 29 – wake up at 4:30 A.M. and hike up, down, and around a mountain that is more than 2000 meters high in the rain, then tour the rest of one of the 7 wonders of the world all before 1:30 P.M.  Altough the morning started out very soggy and my quads ache like crazy, it was all worth it.  Heather and I finished our Peru adventure this weekend taking a train to Aguas Calientes then up to the famous Machu Picchu on my birthday.  I guess after having beautiful weather all week long, it was no surprise [...]

Wednesday was probably the best reminder why I majored in Zoology and love animals so much.  The first reminder was at work yesterday while taking pictures after my shift.  I went into the pen where the 2 Capuries (I think that’s right, they are like warthogs) were.  They (2 hembras or girls) greeted me with their wet, sloppy noses sniffing for food while I took a few shots.  Then after giving them a few rubs through their coarse hair they stood next to each other in opposite directions and started rubbing on each other.  It was adorable, I’m not sure if [...]

Today, there is a nationwide strike for all taxi and bus drivers.  The city is a ghost town.  Strikers in Lima are on the T.V.  Because there is no transportation, almost 99% of the stores, offices, schools, and such are closed today.  It’s very interesting to see a strike in another country and how different it is to what I know from back home.  As I walked to the computer lab, one of the groups of taxi workers were in front of me in the street with banners, flags, and drums.  I saw two men from the group throw rocks at an unregistered [...]

Today was my 2nd day volunteering at the zoo here in Cusco.  It is owned, run, and located in one of the main university here in Cusco.  As expected it isn’t the greatest, probably the poorest zoo I’ve ever seen.  With a lack of funding, space, education, and veterinarians it is the best I think it possibly could be at this point.  Today, 2 other volunteers and myself helped rinse off 18 turtles they have and placed what I think/hoping was saline solution or some opthalmic medication into their eyes.  Over half of them have some sort of infection that is preventing [...]

Yesterday, Heather and I did a lot of hiking, but it was well worth it.  We started out going to the main Plaza to meet some friends of our friend (Chris) Harvey in Baltimore for lunch.  We enjoyed a meal that reminded us of home at the Real McCoy – a British Pub, yes British.  After watching the tennis finals, short introductions on how we all know Harvey, where we´re from and how we all got to Cusco, Heather and I did a little site seeing.  We hiked up what seemed to be a never ending hill of roads, cobble [...]

By the grace of God I am glad I can say good afternoon to you all.  I really thought my first entry here in Cuzco would’ve just been about Cuzco, but I have to share the adventurous ordeal Heather and I went through to get here.  Our flight was to leave on Friday, 7/3 @ Dulles Airport, so our friend Melinda took directions from their website – bad idea.  As we pass through parts of DC and then Virginia like the direction stated, we pass Reagan Nat’l Airport.  After driving another ten minutes we realize something isn’t right with the directions they [...]

I can’t believe our trip is finally here!  Heather and I only have a few hours left before we start our journey to Cusco, Peru!  We are both nervous, but very excited at the same time.  I hope you all enjoy following along my first BIG trip out of the country/North America. 
Miss and love you all!  Jessie