Valentine's Day in Peru

Valentine’s Day in Peru is probably up there in my top three all times Valentine’s days…possibly top 2 (Ok, so I can’t remember any SUPER great Valentine’s days, but I like to think that I’ve had good experiences with this lovely holiday).

Here’s how it happened:

The morning started beautifully. I got mucho amounts of laundry done and hung out, I did Ab Ripper X and I took a cold shower. So Far so Good!

Also, we got two sets of flowers :) Perfect!

Almost no kids showed up today.. maybe like 40 total, which is a lot less than usual. We made them each Valentine’s with really yummy suckers. Brit took the boys to go play futbol and a lot of the girls ended up going with them. Abby and I were left with just one little girl.

I was pretty tired, so I came upstairs, did some blogging and sacked out for a good 20 or so minutes. When I woke up, it was time to go to into Cajamarca. We had with us Alecksi and Ricardo and were going to meet up with Robert, Jorge and Daniel at the movie  theater in the Mall.

We watched a movie called Los Illusianauts. It was Peruvian made and only in Spanish (no subtitles). Even though I didn’t catch all of the dialogue, I know for a fact that it is a movie I will never have the desire to see again. Pretty much it was a cartoon about a boy with deadly flatulence and his friends. Super gross.

Our Movie theater snacks: We go into the Peruvian store and come out with all things American...lame

After the movies we walked over to Capilla Aueropuerto and met some of Ricardo’s family. We waited there until it was time to walk over to the Capilla Pueblo Libre for our first Peruvain YSA dance.

While waiting for the dance we delivered our Valentines to our friends (we gave them homemade chocolate chip cookies!) We also told them all about American Dancing customs….like how you dance in a big circle to the fast songs as opposed to with one partner and you know…just the other basic American customs: Dancing while combing our hair with forks, dancing on our knees at REALLY elegant dances,(girls wear knee length dresses to these dances, and boys cut off their tux pants at the knees) and the really cool kids dance without shoes. We are so bad.

And the dance began! With an opening prayer, spiritual thought and a hymn.

Latin music, Reggatone, Brasilian Music, Columbian Music and a bit of unedited “I Want to Be a Billionaire..” American music.

It was SO much fun! We pretty much got paired up with one partner for most of the night and they taught us the ways of latin dancing..Salsa, Merengue etc.  I asked my partmer where he learned and he said that pretty much everyone is born just knowing, “It’s in my latin blood”. And that’s when I got jealous because this girl has not an ounce of latin blood and even less rhythm so dancing does not come easily for me!

But our friends were more than willing to teach us and help us learn. The last hour of the dance is called “Hora Loca” and it started with confetti being thrown in our faces, balloons and streamers being thrown and an hour of upbeat music where you aren’t allowed to sit down!

While we dance, people come around offering you small treats on silver platters and if you sit down, you are lazy. Towards the end of the dance, the DJ started playing a slew of popular American music. We of course were rocking out to these songs and singing them at the top of our lungs. The DJ thought it was super hilarious to blast the music and then turn the volume off so that it was just us singing. He did that multiple times. While we were dancing to this English stuff I looked around and found that we were the ONLY ones on the dance floor. Everyone else was sitting and just watching us…laughing of course J But we’re used to that and continued with our interpretive/crazy dancing.

Oh it was sooo fun! We took lots of videos, but alas, they would take forever to upload here, so if you’re curious, find me when I get home and I will show you Stake Dances, Peruvian style.

Also, there is a really formal YSA dance next week…it’s a big deal, and translated into English it’s called Prom!!! And it just so happens that I got asked to it during this dance! At first I didn’t really realize what was going on, but it looks like I’ve got myself a date to the fancy dance!

We came home that night exhausted but happy. It’s how we’ve been ending most of our days recently. I think it means that they day was a grand success!

Hope yours was too!

-Elia

Safety First

Remember when the only safety rules we had to remember were “look both ways before you cross the street” and “stop, drop and roll”? 

Child’s play I tell you. Childs play.

Today we visited with our first (and only friends, thus far) in Peru. Liz and Miguel. We love them! We walked home from  church with them and then they invited us over for lunch. We brought the chicken, veggies and bread and they cooked up some good ol’ American pasta with ketchup! Anyways we stayed and chatted with them for a couple hours and asked them all sorts of questions that we had (Liz is from Utah and interned here at El Bichito a year ago, met Miguel and got married to him about a month ago).  

Here's what we've learned:

To be afraid, be very afraid.. Just kidding!... kind of.

Thievery: They told us that Peruvians are notorious for being robbers. They are good at it and they are fast! They taught us all sorts of warning signs that we’re about to be robbed and precautions to take so that we are not. It was very helpful but kind of scary to think about. Let’s just say we won’t be carrying around backpacks or purses anymore!

Dogs: We go running every morning, and every morning our dislike for dogs increases 10 fold. Not a day goes by where I don’t see at least 80 dogs. They. Are. Every. Where. Apparently when we moved into El Bichito, we gained custody of two dogs ourselves (Andy and another one whose name I can’t pronounce). Anyways as soon as dogs see us come running, they bark SO viciously and bare their teeth and come at us full force. I’ve heard missionaries tell dog stories like this, but holy cow, when it’s you, it’s the scariest thing in the whole world. I’ve never sprinted so fast out of sheer terror in my entire life (mainly because I know those dogs carry all sorts of diseases and they WILL bite you.)

However, we have learned a new trick that I tried several times on our walk back up the mountain today. You simply yell NO at them and bend over and reach for the ground. They instantly think that you are reaching for a rock to throw at them and will run and hide, yet continue with their obnoxious barking. I have to remind myself everyday that I like dogs, because I’m pretty sure after spending 3 months in Peru… I will never, ever come close to a dog again.

Waterballoons: Yes, we have to even take security precautions against waterballons. We went into Cajamarca yesterday where I swear there was a huge announcement that said, “Hit the Gringa’s as hard as you can!” They were literally pelted at us full force. Abigail took one to the arm and my entire backside was soaked by the time we left. They thought it was soooo fun to chuck them at us and watch us try to scramble for cover. It was actually kind of scary because they really did throw them as hard as they could and from not very far away. How we’re going to avoid those? I know not.

Bad Boys: Miguel loves to use the term “bad boys”. He told us that if we are out after dark, the “bad boys” will come find us and take us away. Or sometimes they stalk women and follow them home, so we need to be wary of that too. He also said that if they say hello to us or whistle that we should not even acknowledge them at all cause that means we’re interested (usually we say Buenos dias or hola… whoops!) Also, side note that I forgot to blog about, probably cause I was still in culture shock, but on our first day here, Hermano Sandro was showing us around the city and while we were waiting for the bus a man came up and asked Hermano Sandro if he could purchase us! The nerve. Bad, bad boys.

Either way, we know the key is to be smart.  We try to be extra cautious and aware of our surroundings when we’re out and about and we’re trying to make friends with the Mormon boys so that they can take us around the city.

Speaking of which…. We’ve decided that there is nothing better than a clean, Peruvian, priesthood holder in a white shirt and tie. 

And that's all I'm going to say... for now :) 

......

 Well and this..

His name is Herman David…  I know, I know, in America, that’s a weird name, but when said by a native, it’s the most beautiful name we’ve ever heard!
Shhh don't tell my dad :)

Sunday's are so fantastic here! We are happy, healthy and having so much fun!

Sickness Strikes

So as we were contemplating the fact that we had spent one whole week in Peru, we were so amazed that none of us had gotten even the slightest bit sick yet! They told us that within 2 or 3 days our systems would freak out and get us down, but we were all feeling strong… until we said that.

We’ve had a contest going on to see who could go the longest with out getting sick. I must regretfully inform you that I was the first to go.

Last night as we were story swapping I began to notice that my throat was really sore and my nose was stuffed up. I woke up the next morning feeling like I had been hit by a truck, but decided to try and shake it off. We went on our usual morning run down into Banos and that was quite the mistake. I was ready to collapse/throw up/ cough up a lung/have my head explode/shiver to death/die… you name it, I was feeling it. But, not wanting to be the weak link, I kept trying to shake it off and suggested that instead of taking the bus up the very incredibly steep hill home, we should climb up it. What were you thinking Elia?!? 

One foot in front of the other. Just keep moving. You’re almost there.

 And finally, we did make it back to El Bichito. I staggered up the stairs and made it half way onto my bed before I collapsed and slept for who knows how long. I woke up to find that the kids were here and lunch was almost ready. Not wanting to miss a day with the kids (especially since it’s Friday and I won’t get to see them til MONDAY!!!) I decided that I was feeling well enough to go down and play with them. Mistake number three. It was soooo good to see them and have them tease me and hug me and beg me to read to them, but the chaos and moving around did me in. I ate my lunch of rice, arvejas and a deep fried egg and then headed back up to bed. 

How could I not want to spend the day with these kids??

They even do my hair for me!

 I’m feeling pretty good now, except for the fact that I have zippo energy.  Abbi and Brit are in Banos getting some groceries and I miss them already! I haven’t done hardly anything productive today, although I did make my bed and I uploaded a lot of new posts and pictures to facebook. Enjoy!

Sometimes When We Don’t Know a Word… We Try and Act it Out

And let me tell you, it is quite the show.

Three Prong Adaptor

We went into town to buy a three-prong adaptor thingy for Abigail’s laptop and for our BRAND NEW fridge. We had no idea what it’s called in Spanish (or English really for that matter) so we put on quite the show as we tried to act out what it was:

 We held up three fingers on one hand, two fingers on the other and the smerged them together with a “CHHHH” sound that was supposed to be electricity. Sheesh, who wouldn’t get what we were talking about from that great description? 

 We went to several different tiendas to try and find it, but to no avail. They all directed us to a store down the road. So we went there and knocked… and waited. And knocked and waited…. Nothing. We went home empty handed. It turns out that the place where we knocked and waited for so long was actually a Polloria, a restaurant that I guess sells mostly chicken. We saw the sign and knew what it said, but for some reason we believed that we could get our adapter there… I’m really glad they didn’t answer cause they would have had a hayday watching us act out a three-prong adapter at a restaurant.

Honey

Today we went to Cajamarca with Hermano Sandro (we think that’s his name… but we might be off). He took us to the Metro (a big supermarket that looks a lot more like America than anything else we’ve seen thus far). We wanted to buy some honey for our bread, but had no idea how to say honey. So we started “BZZZZZZ”ing and flapping our wings around the grocery store in hopes that he would get the idea. He said, “Oh Si, SI!” (I think that was just to get us to stop buzzing and embarrassing him.) And then told me that he knew where the bug spray was. 

I said, “No, no, para comer!”(No, to eat!)

He gave me a disgusted/confused look and said, “Quieres comer insectos?”  (You want to eat insects?)

At that point, I had no idea what to do, our BZZZing clearly hadn’t worked. Then I said, “No, es dulce!”

It finally clicked for Hermano Sandro and he laughed at our little charade.

To Grow

Today we were sorting out bugs, rocks and grass from our lunch of lentils today. Brittany wanted to know where the lentils were grown. (Brittany always has great questions, but they sure are difficult to put into words sometimes.) So we said, Los Lentejos, donde fueron….. (The Lentils, where were they….?) We didn’t know how to say grown or planted or anything of that sort so we did the following:

 (luckily Abby was close by and snapped a picture of us struggling to communicate)

After realizing what we were asking, Feliciana said: “El Suelo” or The ground.
And she thought she was hilarious.
Mornings sorting bugs out of our food are our favorite because Feliciana and Melchora just laugh and laugh and laugh at us! It's so funny, mainly because we have no idea what we did wrong. But oh how we love it here!

Mis Abuelos

My dear grandparents drove down to Overton today to come say goodbye before I venture out to Peru and ended up spending the day with us. It was so fun to have them!
We even got them in on Sunday Night Sushi! Although Grandma insisted that she eat it with a fork :)
(Also, I said the blessing over the food in Spanish, wahooo!)



Well luckily for me, Grandma and Grandpa served a mission in Peru about 10 or so years ago. So they had all sorts of good advice for me concerning what to do and what not to do. I got out my pen and paper and took the following notes:

Do's

• Wash absolutely everything in Clorox water before you eat it
• Eggs, bananas, cherries everything!
•  Order bottled water when you go to a restaurant, or they'll bring you tap. 
• "Agua purificana por favor!"
• Keep a pocket full of change to flip at the beggars so they don't continue to pester you
• Eat the cherries
• Fall in love with the sweetest people ever (not romantically of course), they have a great love for the Peruvian people
• Get used to being dirty and around dirty people
• Learn to love it
• Ask the Bishop for his phone number, or get some sort of contact that you can have readily available
• I figure that could be good if ever we needed a Priesthood blessing too!

Don't

• Eat ceviche
• I love this stuff and would have scarffed it up at first sight, so I'm glad they warned me
• Eat the strawberries, even the gorgeous ones the size of a softball that seem to beckon at you to eat them
• I'm also glad they warned me of this one, cause I would have been all over that! You can't soak strawberries in Clorox water because they are so porous... so eating them is out of the question
• Go anywhere alone
• Check
• Accidently purchase carbonated bottled water
• They're right next to each other at the store and the carbonated stuff is awful!
• Eat any lettuce or salad or anything raw for that matter
• Brush your teeth with the tap water. 
• Tap water should never get passed your lips, for anything!
•  Wear jewelry, watches or anything that you value while out and about
• You might not come home with it
• Say "No Habla Espanol"
• Espanol offencds them, say Castellano 

Pretty good stuff eh? Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! Feel free to add to the list as you remember more stuff!