C.V. Sutherland's Blog, page 3

Peru Diaries: Days 9 & 10

(Sorry this is up so late, I was just at band camp for a week and didn’t have time to get this posted.)

June 14th-15th, 2014

The next day was mostly a day of traveling. We woke up, got ready, and went to the airport at Juliaca, a rather large city just outside of Puno that is, unfortunately, also the center of Peru’s black market. It was a tiny airport and was under construction at the time we were there. We got on a flight back to Lima, which took about an hour and a half. Then we spent the rest of the day walking around the park in Miraflores, the section of Lima that we stayed in. I counted 88 stray cats in the park in total! We joined the group for a farewell dinner, our last meal together as a group, and went to sleep at our hotel.

The next day we woke up at about 7 and had breakfast in the hotel at around 9. We strolled down to the shopping mall in Lima that is built into the side of the cliff and overlooks the beautiful blue ocean. We ate lunch there and walked around and spent the afternoon walking around and hanging out in the lobby.

At about 10 at night, our van arrived to take us to the airport. We got through security and to the departure gates at around 11. I ate a yogurt and some Pringles and tried to relax before the flight, which left at about 2 and landed at about 9-9:30! We met my mom at the airport and together we went home.

So that completes my Peru diaries! I hope you enjoyed reading about my adventures. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to include pictures :(. I thought that was something really fun and exciting for both myself and all of you that read my blog, so I really hope that was interesting to read!

Peru Diaries: Days 7 & 8

June 12th – 13th, 2014

We woke up at about 6 in the morning for a long day of traveling! We ate breakfast in the hotel and got on the bus to Puno and Lake Titicaca.

Our first stop was at a local rural school, where we met the children, played soccer with them, and toured the school. Two of the girls also gave me drawings they’d done, and I will treasure them :). Next we stopped at the site of an ancient, important Inca temple.

Other than those, though, the day was not that eventful. Most of the day was spent on the bus traveling and enjoying the scenery.

We arrived in Puno, ate a quick dinner at the hotel, and went to bed.

The next day we woke up at about 7 and met in the lobby at around 8:30. We hopped onto a boat that took us out to the floating islands on Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable lake. The views from out on the water were astounding, and it was awesome to see the ‘islands’. When we stepped onto the island I was surprised to find them very stable underneath my feet. The tour guide described them like walking on a water bed but I thought it was even firmer than that.

We toured the island, learned how the people made them, and peeked inside the houses to see their way of life. The people on the island use solar power to get things like TV and radio, but they have no refrigerators, etc.

Then we returned to the city, and I wish I could’ve gone with my grandmother to explore, but the altitude (12,500+ feet!!) was getting to me and I felt exhausted. My head and ears were pounding and my jaw hurt. So I returned to the hotel with my grandfather while my grandmother explored, and she brought me back a flute :). I spent the afternoon sleeping and using the wi-fi LOL.

We ate dinner at the hotel and went to bed.

So those were days 7 and 8 in Peru! Keep an eye out for days 9 and 10: Lima and Home!

Peru Diaries: Days 5 & 6

June 10th – 11th, 2014

We started our day very very early (5 in the morning!!) to depart on what I thought was probably one of the main highlights of my trip: Machu Picchu! We ate breakfast quickly and hopped on the bus to the train station in Ollantaytambo. On the train there we saw beautiful sights and watched the scenery and vegetation change around us from barren and rocky to thick, lush and jungle-like. We were served sandwiches, fruit and drinks while on the train as wel.

When we arrived to the small town at the base of the mountain, we boarded another bus that took us up to the ancient Inca site, and it was absolutely spectacular. I almost couldn’t believe that I was actually there! It was a lot of walking though, and the altitude definitely took its toll, but it was worth it for sure!

One thing I thought was kind of strange was that Machu Picchu, which is on a mountain, is at a lower elevation than the Sacred Valley! Another fun fact I learned was that Machu Picchu is not actually the name of the city. It is the name of the mountain across from the city. I also learned that there were no nobles living in the city – just scholars, astronomers, engineers, etc. And finally I learned that Machu Picchu was never officially finished. It was about 60 – 80% complete.

Afterwards we jumped on a bus back down to the Machu Picchu town, and wandered around for about an hour and a bit through the market where I bought two pairs of Peruvian pants – one for me and one for one of my sisters.

Then we got on the train back to Ollantaytambo, where we were treated with a ‘fashion show’ on board, in which the staff modeled different clothing items made out of baby alpaca.

When we got to the train station in Ollantaytambo, we boarded a bus that took us to Cusco. We arrived at about 8, had a little meeting, and got to our room at 8:30, where we got pizza and went immediately to sleep.

The next day, we woke up at about 7:20 in the morning and ate breakfast in the hotel. We joined a few others from our tour group and visited an alpaca clothing/silver and gold jewelry factory. There we learned to recognize the difference between real products and fake ones, and I bought a beautiful Mother Earth pendant.

We returned to the hotel for a quick rest and began to stroll around Cusco city. After walking around in circles for a bit, we found the Choco Museo (chocolate museum) and ate a quick lunch at a local cafe before making our own chocolate from scratch! This included peeling, roasting, grinding, and mixing the cacao beans. We tried a few different chocolate drinks and then created our own chocolates! I made milk chocolate with Oreo crumbs and sprinkles. The chocolate museum was definitely the highlight of the day, and one of the highlights of the whole trip for me.

We rested in the hotel for a bit, then went out to a buffet dinner at a lovely restaurant in Cusco that had live entertainment. There were wonderful dancers, musicians, and food! Then we returned to the hotel for some sleep.

Those were days 5 and 6 of my adventure in Peru! Stay tuned for days 7 and 8: Puno and Lake Titicaca!

Peru Diaries: Days 3 & 4

June 8th – 9th, 2014

On day 3, which was a Sunday, we woke up at about 5:30 AM, got ready, and had breakfast. Then we hopped on the bus to their airport in Lima to get on our flight to Cusco!

The plane took off at about 9:15 and was roughly an hour long, give or take a few minutes.

On the plane I tried Inca Kola, the local soda. It tasted fizzy and kind of like fruity bubblegum, very sweet, and I still can’t decide quite what I think of it. While flying to Cusco we passed over what I believe were the Andes mountains, and they were absolutely stunning.

We landed in Cusco, and I bought a Peruvian hat as we boarded the bus to travel with. We briefly toured Cusco and then set out on our way.

One thing that upset me a little was the amount of stray dogs, unlike Lima which was mostly cats. I must’ve seen at least 45 dogs, and it made me so sad to see them.

For lunch we visited a weaving place in a village. They served quinoa soup, a corn tortilla, chicken and GUINEA PIG, one of the most popular foods in Peru. Afterwards we sipped coca tea, to help with altitude sickness, and watched some of the weavers do a demonstration on how they use plants that grow nearby to dye the threads they weave.

We took a few more scenic stops and then began to descend into the Sacred Valley, where our hotel was. We rested for a few hours before dinner at a local restaurant. I had Peruvian soup, grilled chicken, a brownie and Sprite.

We returned to the hotel and went to sleep.

The next morning we woke up at around 6:45. We got ready, ate breakfast (where I tried cactus fruit!) and went to a ranch in the valley to go horse back riding! We rode horses of the Peruvian Paso breed, and they rode very smoothly and comfortably. We rode through some of the meadows/pastures of some of the local livestock, like cows and sheep. We even saw a few llamas.

After the horse ride, we returned to the hotel for a casual lunch of chips, sandwiches, and candy bars. Then we joined the rest of the group on the bus.

We rode through Ollantaytambo, a town in Peru that works hard to preserve the Inca way of life. There was some sort of festival, so the traffic through the town was slow, but it was worth it because we got to see the band and beautiful dancers in costume.

While we were there we were able to visit some beautiful Inca ruins on the sides of the mountains. It was absolutely gorgeous. We also saw where the Incas had supposedly carved the profile of an Inca man’s face into the side of a mountain, which was cool.

We returned to the hotel where we rested for a bit and I began to feel under the weather. But I soon felt better, and we went to the hotel’s planetarium where we learned about ancient INca constellations and saw the moon, Saturn and Mars through the telescope.

We went to bed early after dinner in the hotel restaurant and got ready for our next adventure: Machu Picchu and Cusco, days 5 and 6! Stay tuned for that, coming up soon!

Peru Diaries: Days 1 & 2

June 6th – 7th, 2014

We boarded the flight to Lima, Peru’s capital, at about 4:50, but the plane didn’t take off until sometime after 6 due to maintenance.

Dinner on the flight included a choice of chicken or lasagna, salad, a roll, and a brownie. For airplane food, it wasn’t that bad (LOL). To drink, I had Sierra Mist.

On the plane, I divided my time between reading a number of books, including Reached by Ally Condie and Game of Thrones, and sleeping/eating. It was a 7-hour flight, and we would land in Lima after 1.

There’s nothing quite like flying at sunset. The sky was periwinkle and yellow and the clouds were gray and pink. It’s beautiful, and while listening to music, it’s very enjoyable.

We made our way to our hotel in Lima and settled down for a good night’s rest sometime after 2.

In the morning, we ate breakfast and joined the rest of the group in the lobby for an exciting morning tour around the city of Lima. One of the highlights for me was the San Francisco monastery, where we ventured into the catacombs beneath the church and saw the bones of benefactors buried there in rewards for their service to the monastery. Also, we saw the building’s amazing library, with books that are centuries old, including the first translation of the Bible to Quechua, the native language of the Inca people that is still spoken today.

One thing I did not anticipate about the city was the number of stray/feral pets, mostly cats but a few dogs as well, that were in the parks and streets. It surprised me when I saw at least 30 cats sprawled out in the park, curled up for a nap! I was relieved when I learned that the city cared for the cats by feeding them and giving them a place indoors to sleep at night.

I also liked being able to watch them switch the guards in front of the presidential palace in Lima at noon. A small marching band came out and performed. I enjoyed it a lot, especially because I am quite serious about my French horn playing.

We ate lunch on our own, without the rest of the group, at what I can best describe as a small Italian-style cafe. I had pizza and Sprite.

Afterwards we decided to rest in our hotel room for a few hours before dinner. I read for a bit and slept for a bit.

At 7:30 we went to dinner, which was a buffet-style restaurant with Peruvian dancing as entertainment on a big stage in the middle of the restaurant. I was very tired, though, because we didn’t leave the restaurant until after 10, and I had had a long day. We returned to the hotel in Lima and fell asleep.

So there was my day 1 and 2 in Lima, Peru! I hope you enjoyed; stay tuned for days 3 and 4: The Sacred Valley!

I’m Back + Announcement!

Hello everyone! This may go without saying, but I’m back and I am not going anywhere for a long time! I’m SOOOOOOO sorry that I was gone for so long, but I just kind of lost the spirit and the motivation to keep blogging, which made me really sad but I didn’t have anything left in me to help me change that. So I’m kind of proud of myself for coming back and writing this, because I know that it will never happen again. I promise!

But this entire post can’t just be an apology, can it? No, it can’t.

So, as some of you may know, very soon I will be traveling to Peru! I’m super excited, and I’ve decided that a cool way to both document my adventures across the exotic land and share my experiences with you guys is to blog about it!

Now, I don’t know how much wi-fi I’ll get, but if I can post during the trip that would be good. If not, I’ll just post afterwards. I’ll try to write something for each day I spend there as well, and include pictures as well!

You can also keep up with me and my life on Twitter (@CVSutherland) so if you aren’t already following me there, what are you waiting for??

So, I think I’ve covered everything. I’m glad to be back :)

- C V SUTHERLAND

Symbiosis

There’s one thing I feel the need to make clear – authors are confusing, confused people. Sometimes I don’t even know where I stand. So I thought I’d write up something to explain the various relationships that include authors – to clarify for both you and me how it all even works.

1. Author, Author = Friendly, yet competitive. Authors can be great friends to each other and are able to share their tips and experiences, but it’s always a competition in the industry.

2. Author, Reader = It depends on the author. For me, personally, I love my readers so much, but I pity them sometimes, as I do right now, when I’m writing a book that I know has parts that will crush them with sadness (sorry in advance!). But I know how it feels. I think that’s the most important trait of an author, to be able to connect with their readers.

3. Reader, Author = Sometimes the readers don’t exactly feel the same towards their authors. You’ve seen how the Divergent fans reacted to the ending of ALLEGIANT, the last book in the series. They were not happy at all. Because the authors can’t please everyone – I had people who loved the ending of Wildflower Dreams, thought it was beautiful and perfect, and I had people who hated it and wished it ended a different way. Everyone has their own opinion on the perfect plot, the perfect ending. You’re bound to have some unhappy readers no matter what you do.

Well, I hope that helps a bit, because I know that writing these out was definitely useful for me. Until next time, keep smiling and laughing and writing!

Obsessions

I have a confession to make. A deep, dark secret that has burdened me for months upon months. It’s time to tell the world that….

I’m obsessed with Doctor Who.

It’s devastating, the amounts to which I’ve allowed this show to control my life! But it’s a good kind of devastation, because even though Doctor Who is complete nonsense, it’s wonderful nonsense.

Let me tell you about a few of the ways that my life has adapted to revolve around this show.

First of all, whenever and wherever I see anything Doctor Who-related in the real world, I freak. I just flip out of control. Like, the other day I saw a girl that was wearing a sweatshirt with the TARDIS on it and my mind went haywire. Or, I saw a display of Doctor Who merchandise at my local Barnes & Noble and I lost it, right in the middle of the store.

Second, I have to get my hands on anything and everything that has to do with the show that I possibly can. I’ve spent the remaining money on my iTunes gift card to buy episodes of season 7 just because they don’t have it on Netflix yet, and probably will soon, but I don’t have the patience to wait around! And that was last night, and I’ve already watched all three of the episodes I got. That’s 120 minutes last night! 2 hours!

So now you can see that it really is something that’s taken over my life. Like Flappy Bird has for all of my friends. (See, I had the willpower not to download that onto my iPhone, but Doctor Who is a whole different story. When it comes to Doctor Who, every last ounce of willpower in me disappears.)

But, of course, I can’t be the only one. Right? Right?

Tips & Tricks for the Writer In You

Well…. I’ve been thinking.

Really, it started with Instagram (funny, right?) when I saw a cute little drawing and it read, “Everyone is a reader, some just haven’t found their favorite book yet.”

I guess something clicked in my brain, and I decided that maybe, if you changed it to writing instead of reading, that would be true as well. So here I am!

(Although I’m not quite sure why anyone would really want to be a writer, because you get really tired and stressed and kind of addicted to writing, especially really late at night. You kind of just get sucked into it, really.)

But anyway, I do believe that everyone’s got more or less of a writer in them, just as everyone’s got an artist, a reader, an athlete, a musician, and everything else inside them. And if you want to make the writing part dominant, well, here’s how to do it.

1. Be original. Technically, you could argue that any book has similarities to another, but with the best books, it’s difficult to find any specific elements at all, really. Plots must always come first – the plot should be the first thing on your list of writing priorities. Once you have a good, detailed, clever plot that works well and flows easily, then you can go back and spice it up with descriptive words and fancy things.

2. Patience is a virtue. Unless you don’t spare yourself time for anything else, you can’t expect just to whip up a story in a couple days! It’s a very long, tedious process – Wildflower Dreams took me almost a year – and you’ll need to be very patient with yourself and determined. Writing is not a sport for the hotheaded! It’s good to be a quick thinker but if you are always jumping on yourself and getting frustrated with yourself, then maybe writing’s not for you – at least not writing a novel.

3. Apply your own life to your writing. Ever heard the saying “write what you know”? It’s true – just don’t go overboard. Have you ever seen the Disney movie Read It And Weep? Well, you don’t have to go as far as turning your novel into your diary, but you can definitely add small little parts of your own life and experiences into your story. Bonus: it’s a great test for your friends and family when they read it to see how well they know you!

So that covers everything, I think! I believe that writing brings out the best in everyone, because it forces you to focus on building skills and traits like patience, passion, and even kindness and empathy, for guiding your characters out of sticky situations!

Someone once told me that you can’t feel emotions from just simply reading a book. And I know that that’s not true at all, because books – whether you read them or write them – unlock a whole other universe for you to explore and create!

One Purpose, Many Uses

Whoo! It’s been a while since I’ve blogged about anything, really. My apologies. But fellow writers will understand that when one overcomes writer’s block, one finds it extremely difficult to do anything other than write. And also, when doors open others close. Not much exciting stuff has happened – I really haven’t had anything to blog about. Which is why I doubt this will be an interesting post (at all) but if you wish to read something of mine that I am desperately churning out just to give you something to read, for those of you that are active followers of my blog, then keep on going.

Recently, at school, we had to create a Glogster poster about ancient civilizations. Glogster is a sort of blog-virtual poster hybrid that allows you to put text, videos, graphics, photographs, timelines and more onto this one page poster that can be created and accessed completely on the website.

However, as soon as we were finished with our Glogster project we were immediately taught an almost identical site called Padlet, which lets you choose a background and then allows you to put little ‘post-its’ all over it, like you’re taking notes or something.

So, if you weren’t putting much thought into it, you could say that they were identical, or at least very similar. You might even say that one was pointless because the other existed, or something along those lines. And that’s not really true, at least for me, because when you look closer they are so much difference even though they originally had the same exact goal in mind – to help take notes and organize data and information.

My teacher suggested I use Padlet to help organize my chapters and the events in them for my new book, Golden Hour. I thought that was a really great idea and I instantly knew I would not be able to use Glogster for anything like that, because Glogster has a lot more elements. It’s basically only for school purposes because there’s so much you can do with it that it would be nearly impossible to use it for anything other than educational purposes. It’s overwhelming, the things you are able to do with it.

With Padlet, you don’t even need an account. You simply press a button and start, which allows you to do almost anything about any topic, regardless of whether or not school requires you to.

I’m not trying to be biased between the two, believe me. But anything you want to do can be achieved by either one.

I guess what I’m trying to prove here is that when you dig a little deeper, you can make undeniable connections between two things that seem completely different and irrelevant to each other at first. And this doesn’t just apply to two note-taking, information-organizing websites. It applies to anything. As they say, your brain makes connections that are sometimes unnecessary. But it also makes wise, smart, educated connections that you probably won’t pick up on at first.

So, yeah. I hope you learned something from this. And if not, that’s okay too.

- C V SUTHERLAND