Busy-Crazy-Exhausting-Bliss

Meet  Pip. They have lots of baby chicks so we all got to pick one to be 'ours' and named them. (Mine is cuter than Carrie's, just sayin)

On the walk to the pool...beautiful!

We had a runaway cockroach and I didn't really want it under my bed while I was sleeping so we convinced it to come out.

There are little rectangles above our doors and most of them have glass but a few don't, including the one to our front door. On occasion it has been necessary to send a little kid through that gap to unlock the door. We wanted to see if I would fit...I fit enough to reach down and unlock the door, but not get all the way through. 

We had secret friends for Valentines day with the young adults but didn't have time or the supplies to wrap them so we improvised and used paper towels from the bathroom...

Flor got adopted on Thursday. She is so stinkin cute!! I miss her so much!

One of the activities with the young adults was fun random activities, one including one where we got wrapped up in balloons and our teammates had to pop all the balloons. The catch is their hands were tied behind their back...it was hilarious.

Chan Chan = absolutely incredible!! 

This is Alfredo. He's coming home with me. 

We helped them make valentines for each other and then delivered them on Monday to all the kids. They were all so excited! It was really cute. 

classic game of chicken in the pool. We take them swimming every monday, wednesday, friday. A lot of them don't know how to swim though so I spend a lot of time teaching them how to swim. We put a huge log in the pool and the kids love to try and stand on it and balance but since there's at least 10 of them trying at the same time they find it kind of difficult. Entertaining for me though! (no that isn't a coloring fluke, the water really is brown due to all the algae floating around in it) 

Random Facts

We were serenaded by a big Peruvian band in tights.

The kids in the Aldea are hilarious. Especially when the boys laugh in a high pitched squeal, gets me every time.

In February they have a festival where you throw water balloons and everyone, so we are going to get soaked everywhere we go. The older boys in the Aldea have already started a war, they don’t stand a chance.

All of the sidewalks and floors at the Aldea are slippery because they wax them regularly…needless to say there’s never a shortage of entertainment from people slipping.

It’s not a good thing to be skinny in Peru because then they’ll just try to give you even more food to fatten you up.

 I don’t know why they even bothered to paint lines and arrows on the roads or put up stop signs, they really don’t mean anything.

We had 26 people in a combi (kind of a mix of a van and bus…don’t really know how to describe it) that had 15 seats. I was on a wooden stool that decided to tip backwards after 5 minutes, so for 30 minutes I was trying to balance myself on a wobbling stool on bumpy roads so I wouldn’t tumble back onto the clump of people packed in behind me. Not unusual circumstances.

I still love Peru.

Peruvian parties are insane. We had a dance party with the young adults from our ward on our roof for Carrie’s birthday that went from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. They named it the ‘white party’ and we had to dress in all white (shirts, pants, shoes, everything) which actually looked really cool until at the end when I sat on a stool that was wet and muddy…that didn’t look so cool. It was so much fun but I am exhausted!! They kept making me and Katie dance ‘americano’ for them, ha good thing they don’t know what it’s supposed to look like. They all got a big kick out of seeing us white girls try to dance their dances, so much so that I only got to sit out a few songs the entire time. Fact, our hips just don’t move like theirs do. They would all watch us and laugh then try to tell us we were doing good…yeah real convincing. It might have helped if someone would have been willing to teach us, but they didn’t want to, they were enjoying watching us look like fools too much to teach us how to really do it. But they tried and couldn’t do our dances so we got to laugh at them. All in all it was a very entertaining night.

some of us at our white party

my friend Brian, we taught Wendy and Candy a game called chubby bunny and they loved saying it so much they nicknamed Brian chubby bunny...I don't think they really know what it means ha

the band that sang to us

typical view of Peru. I love it!

the view on the drive to the Aldea. There are sugar cane fields forever!

Week 1 at the Aldea

The week starts out with us all getting really sick. yeah so great. We stayed an extra day in Trujillo to get better before we ventured to the Aldea for the first time. It was actually a good thing because the meals we missed was cow intestines, so i'm not too bummed about being gone for that. The Aldea is great!! Our house is nicer than I was expecting and has a big open living room area. Our beds cave in at the middle so I feel like i'm in a taco and we don't have a toilet seat on our toilet...The kids are so cute!! No one speaks English though, so its kind of funny sometimes because we can't understand each other and the kids think we're crazy. I have learned a ton of Spanish already and actually understood a lot of sunday school, congratulations to me. I do have to admit I gave up by relief society though, 2 hours is enough.
It's really relaxed at the Aldea and we just do whatever whenever basically. We are supposed to help with the pools for an hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays and do English class but other than that we just play with them or do whatever we/they feel like doing. We eat in the houses with the kids and have to finish everything (thanksgiving feast at every meal...only its mostly rice with meat). I've have learned the art of pawning off food to the kids when the Tia (the women who stay with the kids, kind of like a mom for them) isn't looking. There are many techniques I've learned. Good skills for life right? We play a lot of futbol with them and they love the frisbee and american football I brought. I love it there! The only part that isn't amazing is the complete dreading of meal times, just because I know how much they are going to put on my plate even if I ask for a little bit and I've got to find some way to get it all into my stomach.
This Friday we had a party for all of the kids with January birthdays. It was so much fun! The kids got all dressed up for it and looked so nice. They had presents for the birthday kids and a piñata for the rest of them. We had a big dance party where the kids showed off their great skills. Some of them have some pretty good moves they whipped out. Everyone had a great time! We had a big lunch before outside with everyone...we now have 3 sheep wandering around instead of 4.
Friday night we went to a place kind of like a night club to watch Candy's friend Alex and his band. They are really popular here in Trujillo and well known. A lot of people come to see them so the place was packed! Alex plays the piano for their band and asked if any of us played, so I told him I did to which he responded, okay then you'll play tonight. say what?! He didn't have any music so I was supposed to just wing it, they called me over and introduced me then Alex played the first few bars to show me which chords and rhythm then it was all me! It turned out good and was way fun! So, yes, I am now famous. After they thanked me then said some other stuff but I don't know what so it doesn't matter, I just smiled while they were talking and pretended to understand ha. Everyone was already staring at us because we are white first off, and we weren't drinking, and now I was playing in the band...way to blend in, not.
Things are going great and I'm having a blast!!
Here are pictures....there's a lot this time.

When I got sick I had to drink that ENTIRE bottle....I like American medicine.

This is the living room in my house.

LUCHO!! He is so cute! Very chubby, but way cute.

This is Renzo. No need to say more, just look at him.

Victor. Easily one of my favorites. He is a goof, he helps me with my Spanish but teases me a lot. He loves to pose for the camera though so all the pictures of him are funny. He is a great kid!

This is outside my front door. The middle area of the Aldea

Some of the kids. And just for the record i'm not that pasty white anymore....just so you know.....

Flor is adorable. Enough said. 

3 sheep....not 4.......

These are the little boat things they use to go out fishing...

This is one of the views from the roof of the house I stay at. The buildings don't look nice from the outside, but on the inside they look a lot better! Kind of interesting. And none of the houses have roofs, they are all just open.

Trujillo!

These past few days have been spent in Trujillo with my host family the Castillo's. They are the sweetest people ever!! Mama Carolina doesn't speak English so it is hard to communicate with her, but she acts everything out--really funny--so we get a little bit. Mes hermanas Wendy and Candy are very funny! They laugh at everything and are big jokesters. They both speak a little English and Candy speaks french, so I can talk to them. I'm sure you're all wondering how i'm handling the food, since I was fairly picky back home...It is better than I was expecting. I am actually able to eat most of it and even like a lot of it! I just struggle with the portion sizes, they seem to have bottomless pits in their stomachs because they eat enough for 3 people!

Friday we went and played sports with their equivalent of a singles ward. It was SO much fun!!!! Some of them spoke a little bit of English but mostly we were trying to communicate in Spanish. It was funny trying to talk to each other because we didn't understand each other much. I was actually able to have conversations with some of them! Obviously not very complex ones, but still a conversation. After playing we went and got drinks and just talked. It was a blast!

Saturday we went to Huanchaco, a popular beach just 15 minutes or so from their house. If you have 6 white girls at the beach you will get a lot of attention...fact. The weather was wonderful! We ate at a restaurant there and got hair wraps. It was a lot of fun and really relaxing. I love how relaxed everything is here!

Now for the pictures, the part you all want...

Huanchaco Beach

All of us at the restaurant in Huanchaco. Very delicious!

This is what I had at the restaurant. It is beef and rice and other stuff...It was way good. And shock to all, I actually finished all of that!

I thought Dad would appreciate these. They are everywhere!

This is my hair wrap

This is why we are supposed to wear bug spray at the Aldea...poor Carrie!

All of us at the beach. From left to right...Julia, Izzy, Ally (2 interns from Holland and England), Candy, Wendy (mes hermanas), Katie, Carrie, and me.

Day in Lima

Josue! He was the cutest boy! We played futbol with him and played with his toys while he jabbered on in Spanish laughing when we tried to talk to him. He was way funny! My name was chica blanca (because my shirt not my skin!)

This is right outside my window in Lima. The birds are way sweet and fun to watch. It was very pretty in her yard! 

Naturally...

So I'm here!! Only 20 hours in an airport/plane and I made it! It was an interesting day...good in all, but full of little adventures. Being that our first layover was only 1 hour, our first flight to Denver was delayed 1 hour. Naturally we got of at terminal B71 and our next one was B15...the very last one on each end of one long strip of airport. We barely made it to our next flight and were one of the last ones to board. I was seated in the window seat by 2 grandmas who were very fragile, so naturally I got the sudden urge to have to go to the bathroom during take off. I wasn't about to ask them to let me out in their conditions so needless to say I was not so excited to see how long it was taking for people to get off when we finally landed. No I did not wet my pants, but yes it was a close call. We board for the final flight from Houston to Lima and take our seats. I am surrounded my a bunch of old men speaking really fast, I felt doomed! there was no way I was going to be able to understand that! But then I realized that even though I don't speak Spanish, I knew they weren't either, so I kept listening and found out they were all Japanese. Spanish is one thing to try and catch onto, Japanese is a hopeless cause. The one sitting next to me spoke very minimal English but wanted to show me everything is companion had made. It was all quite impressive actually. One of his other companions got out a video camera and was sweeping over all of them and when it got to me he stopped and they all started chuckling so I waved and said 'Konichiwah' (I have no stinking idea how to spell that, just sound it out!) and they all got a big kick out of that! They had me say a few other things in Japanese and were having a great time listening to me sounding like a fool. That was an interesting flight to say the least ha. Julia was sitting my a couple who was traveling to Peru to go bird watching. *not a joke. A few of you might understand why I almost died when she told me that...But anyways, that flight ended I said goodbye to my new Japanese friends and we went to get our luggage. Only problem was, it was there. Our luggage was no were to be found, so we spent an additional hour trying to get the proper forms filled out before we met up with Katie. Then we all had to go talk to the agents for a while so they could get the information to send it to us. We are only in Lima for 24 hours, so naturally it will take about 25 hours to get it to us. They arranged for it to be sent to Trujillo but wanted an address, naturally the family they would send it to is on vacation. We will just end up picking it up from the airport when it comes...cross your fingers that it comes soon!! We were finally able to leave the airport at around 2 a.m. and come to her house. I love it here!!!! It is so warm and beautiful! They have a lot of birds right outside that are way cool and the houses are all way sweet! Pictures will come shortly, I promise!

CHECK IT OUT!!

Considering the amount of requests i've received from a wide variety of people for updates during my trip I decided it would be easier to just put them all on my blog and everyone can check it as they please. Ideally I will update it at least once a week...but no promises!