Congratulations, Ruthie! and Happy Birthday, Auntie Lorraine!

This past Saturday we Youth Development volunteers gathered early at our training center in preparation for our first trip to Lima. While we waited for the buses to arrive we chatted about all sorts of things: the wild rager I knew my Aunt Lorraine was preparing for at that very moment, the Starbucks in Lima we had heard so much about, and the pitiful six soles (cerca $2) they gave us for our trip into the city.

Well somehow we got to dogbites and I started talking about my friend from high school who had been bit in the face by a dog not once but twice! The dog bit right through her lip the one time, I said, but to this day she still loves dogs. ¨Pretty unbelievable,¨ I said before slowly realizing, ¨Actually, she´s getting married today.¨

It made me cry to think of Ruthie´s wedding day. (Ruth, if you´re reading this, Congratulations! I love you so much and am so so thrilled for you and Sean.) To imagine her waking up early to begin a day full of nail and hair appointments, rituals, and toasts and tears. I cried mostly because I always cry at weddings and I was just so thrilled for her to finally be marrying Sean. But I cried too because, for a second, I realized everything that´s going on back at home that I´m missing.

Things here are so busy. We have hours of language class, followed by hours of training workshops followed by hours devoted to following the crazy lives of my host family. After an episode of Glee enjoyed in the comfort of my bed and layers and layers of clothing, I´m exhausted! It´s a total blessing that we´re so busy because there´s hardly time to imagine everything that´s happening at home...Ruthie´s wedding, Aunt Lorrainie´s bash, even just late-night chips and queso after Molly´s inevitably belated arrival to the Cape.

There´s so much to miss! But so much to enjoy here too. Today, a day off for the festival of St. Peter and St. Paul, I woke up early, snuck out of my house and went hiking with a whole bunch of great volunteers. After sweating it out, we reached a spot way up high from which you could see below a design carved right into the ground that looked like a snake. A design supposedly made by the Incas however many thousands of years ago.

After apples and water we climbed back down, hopped on a combi, and made it back home safe and sound. The second I walked into the door of my Peruvian home, ready to lay down and take a nap, I could tell my family had an entirely different idea. ¨Vamos, Liz!¨ they said. We were off to Chosica, who knows why. So I quickly showered, and I use that term loosely, changed into the only skirt I brought to Peru, and all six of us slammed into the family´s little Volkswagen Bug.

Packed in the back with the three little brothers I never had, I watched as we passed dry rocky mountains, a bridge they call Los Angeles and a town they call California on our way to Chosica. There we found a two story restaurant selling Pollo a la Brasa aka heaven on earth- Peru´s answer to Whole Food´s rotisserie chicken. For just about $20, we shared an entire rotisserie chicken, an enormous bottle of Inca Cola (yes, it´s called Inca Cola), two salads, a huge basket of amazingly greasy french fries and, don´t forget, four pieces of cake.

If there is anything we will have to do when you all come to visit me here in Peru it is most definitely eat Pollo a la Brasa. I know that seems a ways off but before you know it, we´ll all be together again! And I´ll have so much more than just chicken to share with you all.

So much love everyone! Congratulations, Ruth! Happy Birthday, Aunt Lorraine! And Congratulations Aunt Lorraine and Uncle Anthony!

Enjoy the cape kiddies...enjoy an extra jar of queso for me and don´t go to bed until your teeth are purple! XOXOXO