In the Near Future

February is going to be an exciting month for us! We’ve got quite a bit planned. Mira:

February 8: Gran Picadora- We’re not exactly sure what this is, but we do know that if we bring one sol to the church on Wednesday, we get some of the most amazing homemade Peruvian food ever. I think it’s a fundraiser for the JAS Convention (keep reading for more info on that) coming up, so we just might bring some extra soles and some Tupperware J To support the cause and to satisfy our home cooked food cravings for a  couple days.

February 10: We’re taking the kids on a field trip to Cajamarca (giant city about 30 minutes away). Cajamarca is a really cool city with an awesome history and lots of cool, historical things/buildings to see. So we’ve hired a tour guide, who happens to also be our Bishop AND Stake President (and this guy’s wife is about to have a baby any day now, seriously, if you think you’re busy, THINK AGAIN!)  We’re excited because a lot of the ninos haven’t been able to go to some of these sites and they’re going to learn a lot about where they live. We’re hoping we have time/money to treat them all to ice cream afterwards too!

These women are awesome!

February 14: Valentines Day! We’re not sure how much the people here in Puylucana get into Valentine’s day, but you can bet your bottom dollar that we’ll be celebrating it here! I want to get Feliciana and Melchora flowers/chocolates (tacky in the states..yes, but in Peru.. we’re hitting the jackpot with this one). I want to write love notes for all of my ninas and think of something nice to do for my ninos.  Also, we have lots of friends in the ward and we’ve made friends with several of the tienda owners in the stores that we shop at frequently, so we want to make cookies and write notes and deliver those to all of our friends in Banos. Twill be a great day!

February 20: Hoodie Hoo day. It's a national holiday...in America. But I must celebrate it here. It's tradition

February 11-23: We’re pretty much not allowed to leave our house during these several days. Why? Because Peruvians celebrate Carnival (Think Mardi Gras, but crazier) all month long and it simply isn’t safe for three white girls to go out. People travel from all over to celebrate Carnival here in Cajamarca. The price of hotel rooms/transportation etc skyrockets and hundreds of people end up sleeping in the Plaza de Armas (Kind of like a big park in the center of town). Miguel said that some people even die because they spend all day getting wet and then sleep outside and die of hypothermia! Crazy, no? If you’re ever bored, look up Carnaval in Cajamarca. It’s supposed to be pretty intense. So since we’ll be locked inside for several days, we’re more than open for ideas of crazy things to do on our own to celebrate carnival!

Aurora dancing with Keiko

February 23-26: JAS Convention- JAS stands for Jovenes Adultos Solteros (Young Single Adults). This is a giant youth conference type thing for ALL the Young Single adults in Cajamarca as well as in Chiclayo. We’ll spend three straight days in Cajamarca, doing all sorts of fun things! There are two dances scheduled. One called “Baile de Gala” which google directly translates to “PROM!” haha we died when we saw that. Especially since the dressiest shoes we have are our Chacos. Looks like a shopping trip is in order… and maybe some Peruvian dance lessons. 

Something tells me this isn’t going to be like a typical Stake Dance. Either way, we are SO EXCITED for the convention. We’ll get to meet hundreds of Peruvian youth our age!

February 29: LEAP DAY! How does one celebrate leap day? I haven’t a clue. But I’m going to Celebrate and it is going to be fabulous.