Last weekend could be classified as the best weekend yet. Either in Perú or perhaps in my entire life. Simply because it was chock full of good company, laughter, and memories in the making.
It began last Friday with a delicious meal of Pachamaka, food cooked under the ground. Chicken, potatoes, sweet potatoes, apples. Yummy!! Then that night I had a sleep-over at my friend´s house (the one dancing in the combi from a previous blog post), and my name-sharer, Erica L. (E-Loc). We busted out animal crackers, cookies, peanut butter, a bag of fudge, nuts, and raisins. E-Loc sliced her finger open while trying to open the bag of fudge, blood everywhere. Luckily I´m trained in first aid, and was able to advise her on washing the cut, then applying sufficient pressure.
Saturday morning we spent our last day at the University where we have learned how to make compost, dry seeds, plant trees, animal husbandry, amongst other stuff. We ate a lunch of salad and veggies, which is completely rare in this country unless requested. Vegetables grow here, in abundance, but no one is accustomed to eating them. So we ate them. More yumminess!! Then my friends and I headed over to the horse stable on campus where they have the national horse of Perú, the Peruvian Paso. For anyone unfamiliar with this breed of horse--it is beautiful!!! Long flowing black mane and tail. We asked if we could rent one, and they saddled up 2 horses for us. This would NEVER happen in the states!! You just can´t get on a horse. I got to ride both the mare (who was preggers) and the stallion. Coming from a horse person, I was in heaven. The gait of the Paso is smooth, so even going really fast, it wasn´t bumpy at all. Unfortunately, no one had a camera, which I´m still mad about. Let me premise the next part of my story with WHY I didn´t have my camera. Because we were planning on going to the black market, and it´s not good to have purses or backpacks. So all I carried with me that day was my small coin purse.
After free horseback riding, I went to the PC office to have my final language interview before leaving for site. It went really well, and I went up 2 levels. YAY! We went to the ¨American¨ mall where they have Pizza Hut, Dunkin Donuts, Ace Hardware, Chili´s, movie theatre, and anything else extremely american and too expensive for the PC volunteer budget. We ate lunch at TGIFriday´s where I indulged on a bacon & mushroom cheeseburger. On the combi going back home (Oh, the glorious combi) I was sitting next to the window and enjoying the company of my friends. We were sitting in traffic and wondering why there was a picture of a beaver on a dentist´s office. We were in the middle of looking up the word in the dictionary, when I feel my coin purse get ripped out of my hand. Ripped out of my hand!!! I screamed and immediately knew what happened. I yelled ¨bastard¨ in english out the window of the combi, then started laughing. I didn´t know what else to yell in that moment. Everyone was staring at me because I screamed, and my friends didn´t know why. I told them I got robbed. How hilarious. The window was hardly open. I didn´t even see the arm enter the combi. When the guy came around asking for my fare, I told him I was robbed. Did he not hear me scream? haha. When I got home, I called the PC security officer to report the incident. The thief got my ATM card, easily cancelled, and my house keys (luckily I left the small window open that day so I can still get into my room) and 20 centimos. haha haha. That´s 7 cents. hahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Sunday morning, I spent a wholesome day at the zoo with my brother. I was once again surprised by Perú. They had a large selection of animals and they all looked healthy and active. In pure Peruvian style, they aren´t too strict on rules. So people were feeding the monkeys and touching their paws through the fence. They were howling and bearing their teeth and I thought surely someone will get bit. I had a blast.
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