Music in the city...

I spent the whole day at the beach once again. Ah! so nice and sunny and just peaceful. I love to just lay out and listen to the ocean. I wish I could just stay here forever. Julio came and picked me up early to go to the beach. We went to Pimentel. It was kinda cold at first, there is so much cool breeze here but after a while of just laying on the beach it gets warm. I walked to the edge to feel the water and it was freezing! But I didn't care I jumped in anyways..Well it was cold, very cold. So we pretty much just worked on our tan the whole time. There would be random people coming buy trying to sell jewelry or snacks. Which is actually pretty annoying when trying to just take a nap. Then there was this little boy that came up to us and he was selling jewelry. Julio told me to just ignore him because otherwise he wouldn't leave me alone. But of course I didn't listen because he was so cute and I felt bad. But I really didn't have any extra money other than my change to pay for transportation back to the house. So I told him that I couldn't buy anything. Well that little boy stood there for atleast 30 minutes. He kept tapping my foot asking me to buy something. He kept saying "compra, compra" which means "buy buy". I was annoyed but I didn't care so much. But Julio was getting mad because he would just not leave! Finally we ended up just getting up and moving somewhere else because he wouldn't leave. Augh. Oh well. After the beach we went to downtown Chiclayo. I really wanted to get this thing called "cremolada". It's kinda like a smoothie but way thicker. It's made out of fresh fruit and some have milk in it I think. But they are sooooo good! My favorite flavors are mango, coconut, and lucuma. Lucuma is this round, green, fruit orange on the inside with a round, black seed in the middle. You can't find those in the States. They have kind of a chalky texture but they are so good. Anyways, after we ate cremoladas he took me back to tia Chelita's house so I could take a shower and change and go back out. I was sooo red!

me and Julio

with Tia Chelita and Tio Miguel

me and Sabrina

So Julio came to pick me up and he ended up giving me this awesome jacket! It was his that he had worn before and I had really liked it. I was so happy! He is so nice! So we headed into town. There was going to be some music event in the middle of the town in the Plaza de Armas. So we walked over there but they were still setting up so we decided to go get another cremolada (or I did, I love those things!)and just walk around. I had to change my American money to soles anyways so we went to find a "cambista" the people that sell the money. So I did that and then Julio took me to this place called "Las Musas" which means "The Muses". It's this area where there's all these statues of different muses and it's just really pretty. Chiclayo is known for it. We walked around there for a while and I took some pictures. I had been there before about 10 years ago but it has really changed, it's alot nicer now and they have fixed it up. As we were walking back there were all these little girls just dancing to some music next to one of the statues. I love just how I can be walking and just randomly see people dancing on the streets or playing instruments. I just love the randomness of it all! We walked back towards town again and all the little hippies were out selling there stuff so I HAD to stop and check their stuff out. I stopped at this one guys little set up and it was just awesome! I ended up buying this really cool bracelet that has this turquoise stone in it and he weaved the rest of it. We ended up just hanging out with him for about an hour. His name was Miguel and he was from Chiclayo but he had traveled like all over! He said that most of the stones in his jewelry he had found in his travels. I asked about places to go climbing and he was telling me about this one place that's about 3 hours away and ah I just want to go so bad.








So after that we went to go check out that music thing. There were alot of people there. I tried to stand on these huge stone steps, but I still couldn't see very well. For the first part some kids came out and danced these awesome dances. The music was just great. Then this other guy I don't know where he was from but he came out in some gold body suit outfit and was singing and dancing it was hilarious! I got aggrivated that I couldn't see very well so I just made my way to the front. There was some rock band that was gonna play next. Julio was all looking foward to it too. He had never heard of them or anything but you would think that they would be atleast kinda good. Well when they came out it was kinda wierd. Well the girl was like 8 months pregnant, and she was all wierd and loud and screaming and jumping around. The guitar player was way off and not even in tune. It was so loud that nothing even made any sense. I thought it was just hilarious! But it sounded terrible. We eventually had to just get out of there. So we walked back to find a "colectivo", it's like a taxi but they fill up the car and drop people off on the way. So it like taking a bus but in a smaller vehicle. Hmm if that makes any sense? Well as we were walking we started hearing good music. Apparently the bad acts start the show. So we left before it actually got good. Oh well. It was too late to go back anyways plus I was so tired.

the terrible rock band

Ceviche by the beach....

My cousin Gaby came over today and we decided to go to the beach. I was so excited because I can never get enough of the beach! I got ready and then we went to her apartment so she could get ready and get her boyfriend to come with us too. She lives a few blocks away from tia Chelita's house. I love walking everywhere it's so nice to be able to do that. So we took a taxi to the beach, the beach is actually too far to walk. it took about 10 minutes to get there. When we got there it was so cold! So we just layed out and finally it got warmer. It was such a beautiful relaxing day. I could've just layed there forever! We were here a few hours and then we were starving. So we walked to up the beach towards the area where the fisherman fish. There are many Cevicheria's (restaurant's where they sell ceviche specifically). When you are just walking down the strip of the restaurants the people come out and they try to convince you to eat there. It is so annoying and funny. You just have to act like you can't hear them because they won't leave you alone. This one girl just stuck the menu in my face and kept going on and on about how good their food is. Ahh! So we finally go to the place they wanted to go to. It was one of the last ones. We ordered this huge plate of ceviche mixto which has different types offish, octopus, calamari, shrimp, and who knows what other kinds of sea creatures. It was sooooo good though! And just sitting there with the sun hitting me and looking out and seeing the ocean was just the best feeling in the world. There's nothing better than eating ceviche by the beach. Ah..

Nalva's Birthday..

Julio came to pick me up this morning to do some shopping. He had told me about these sandals that are made out of tires called 'yanques' and that they are really cheap so I really wanted to get some. We went to this kinda sketchy part of town. He told me to just keep my eyes open and be careful because it's not the safest area to be. We went to this big market. It was awesome. There were so many things to see! Food, clothes, fruit, toys, shoes, just about everything you can think of. It took us forever to find where they sold those sandals. But we did finally find them and I bought some they cost me 4 soles which is less than 2 bucks! They were not very comfortable at all and they left black marks all over my feet. But I like them anyways because they are so different than anything I have ever worn before.

Then we went downtown to just walk around and see more stuff. It's so small. I just love it. The streets are really narrow . Julio told me that many, many years ago there were those little train thingies (trollies maybe?) that would take people around town. And that they never thought Chiclayo would grow so much so the streets were built that way. Now cars go through it and its kinda scary because they barely fit. So Julio has this red Adidas jacket that says Peru on it that I really liked and I really wanted to find one for me. We went to just about every little clothes store there and no luck. Oh well. I'll keep looking though. Then we went to this street that's kinda a street within a street with buildings on both sides, but cars can't drive through, and that's where all the hippies go and sell their jewelry and shoes and all kinds of cool things. I really wanted to go check it out. My cousin Chavela was telling me how they make these leather sandals by hand and so I definatley wanted to buy some. But we got there too early in the day. They don't usually start setting up their stuff until around 6 pm. So we decided to just come back later.

Mary has this Brazilian missionary volunteer staying with them for the week. She is so sweet and cute. Me and Julio went to go pick her up at the church to come home for lunch wih us. Her spanish isn't very good and so it's kinda tough communicating with her. But she tries really hard. She taught me some portuguese words too which I just love. It sounds so pretty. She had to go back and do more volunteer stuff so she left. Today is her birthday so they bought her a cake and we planned on having a little celebration whenever she came back in the evening.

After we ate me and Julio went downtown again to look for the leather sandals. The hippies were out selling their stuff and I found this guy that was selling some sandals. they were so awesome. I wanted to buy them all! I bought a pair and I told the guy I would come back again to get another pair. I loved everything! I wanted to hang out there and just talk to everyone. I bought alot of little jewlery and stuff. It amazes me how talented these people are. After that we went back to Mary's house to have some cake. Nalva was so happy that we had a little celebration for her. The cake was absolutely delicious! It was a "Tres Leches" cake. I had never really liked that kind of cake before so I was hesitant to try some but when I did it was amazing! The best cake I have ever had! I think I ate like 3 pieces!

Happy Birthday Nalva!

Mary, Nalva, me and Kela

Kela, Julio, Claudia, me,Nalva, and Mary

I'm going to Chiclayo!!!

Yesterday was the graduation at the seminary where tio David is the director. I was looking forward to it because my cousin Julio was graduating. And he lives in Chiclayo, another little town north from Trujillo. I hadn't seen him in about 8 years! I was also excited to see his mom Mary which is my first cousin and the rest of the family. Plus I was going to go back with them to Chiclayo. They got in late Sunday night, I had gone over to Yesenia's house and hung out with her for a while at the little store and when I came back Tia Palmira told me that they had gotten here. They were staying in some dorm rooms at the seminary. So I went to go look for them. Well that didn't quite go very well, I went into the wrong room and apparently they all had left to go get something to eat anyways. Oh well. So I figured I would just see them in the morning.

The next morning I went for my daily run. I got back and got ready and went downstairs for breakfast. Mary and Claudia, her daughter, my cousin, was there with her 2 little kids. It was so awesome to see them again. We had some coffee and bread and just talked and talked. We decided to go for a little walk and then go buy a bus ticket for me. The ticket only ended up costing me a little over 5 bucks! We went to this little place to grab a bite to eat beforehand. We got this AMAZING fruit salad there. It had so much good fruit in it: watermelon, pineapple, banana, apple, grapes, ciruelas(I don't know what this is in english), canteloupe, honey dew, oranges, mangos, ahh it was great!

The graduation started at 7 so I got ready and we all went together. The place was packed. There were alot of people there and it was so hot in there too! No air conditioning! Ah! But I'm kinda used to it by now. The ceremony seemed to take forever but it was kinda nice because the guy that spoke only spoke english so it was easier to follow. After the ceremony everyone went back to the seminary for supper. It was so fun to just all hang out and laugh and remember old memories and just catch up. The dinner was good we all ate so much. And I met alot of interesting people. There were alot of people from the U.S. that came for the graduation. So it was nice to speak english again for a change. I rarely ever do unless I call my brother or something.

Julio(dad), Julio, and me

Mary, Lucas, Julio, me, Claudia, Raquel, Julio

waiting for the food to finally get there
The next day we went to the bus station. We got there maybe 15 minutes before time to leave. We sat around and waited a while, apparently they don't let people board until 5 minutes before they take off. I wanted some snacks for the road so me and Julio left to go to this little corner store next to the bus station. We tried to hurry since we didn't have much time. When we came back we just all sat there and then all of a sudden I heard my name on the loud speaker and then they started saying everyone elses name. I guess everyone had boarded the bus but us! We never heard them announce they were even boarding! So they were just waiting for us to get on, ha! So we got on the bus and headed to Chiclayo. I was soooo excited! I'm told it's always warm there so I was definatley looking forward to that. The bus ride was only about 3 hours. Not too bad. The scenery was really pretty. We went through all these little towns that looked so cute. There was a point where when I looked through the window on my right I could see lush green grass and mountains in the distance, and when I looked to the left there was desert and behind that was the ocean! It was crazy! I've never seen that many different types of nature scenery all together. It was beautiful!



rice fields
Chiclayo is so cute. It's alot smaller than Trujillo, which isn't very big to begin with either, and when we got off the bus it was really warm and sunny. We got to their house and just hung out and my cousin Raquel(we call her Kela) came over too. I was going to be staying with my Tia Chelita and Tio Miguel and they only live down the road a few blocks away.

I went to their house later on that evening. Tia Chelita is so cute and little! I just love her! I hadn't seen her in about 8 years either, any of them for that matter. And I had never really met my cousin Chavela, she lives there too with her son Jorge. I couldn't believe how grown up he was. Last time I saw him he was only 8 years old! Kela has this cute little mutt names Sabrina. She didn't really like me at first but I think she is warming up to me now. In the front yard, (well it's not exactly a yard but it's infront of the house and then there's another metal door to get out)there are all these cages with guinea pigs in them! I have never seen so many gunea pigs all at once, not even at a pet store! There were baby ones, medium ones, pregnant ones, it was unbelievable! My cousin Samuel raises them and then sells them as food and also sells their poop for fertilizer. Yeah there were huge bags of that all over..I can already tell this is going to be a fun visit..Ah I love it here!

guinea pigs

guinea pigs

and more guinea pigs

Wedding Extravaganza!

Yesenia invited me to her cousin´s wedding. I was so excited to go to a real latin wedding. I knew it would be crazy and so much fun. I was not disappointed! Well She had told me the day before that the wedding started at 7 pm and to meet her at her house at 630. So I got all ready and when I got to her house her mom told me it actually started at 8 and that Yesenia was still getting ready. So I went back to my uncles house and waited. I went back to pick her up at 730 and she still wans´t ready. So she was hurrying and trying to get done quickly. As we were leaving already it was 8. And she remembered she didnt have the reception passes! So she had to track some down so we could get in. We finally got to the cathedral around 815. It´s so funny to me how nothing here ever starts on time. Kinda like how my life has always been, but everyone is always ad that I´m late for everything. Here I seem to fit in just fine! So our friend Luz was already at the church waiting for us. She had actually got there 30 minutes early! Well the wedding hadnt even started the bride was late ad everyone was waiting. There weren´t many people there yet either. So the ceremony finally started. It was a little unusual to me because I had never really been to a catholic wedding and you have to repeat stuff and do all these things. I just stoood their really confused. Then towards the end the priest said that he needed 2 witnesses. And he said that he chooses the 2 girls in the front row. Which were me and Yesenia! I was so embarrassed. But I went up on stage anyways. The priest said all this stuff and then asked my name and I had to sign some paper. It was funny, Ive never even been a witness to anything before.


After the ceremony we went to the reception. It was in a different part of town. It was so nice and exclusive too. We had to have passes to get in. It was this huge tent like thing decorated so nice with flowers and candles and a huge dance floor. As we walked in they handed us Pisco Sours.


We got a table and then we had to wait for the bride and groom to get there. They were going around to all the tables giving away bottles of Wiskey. It was crazy! When the bride and groom got there they had their first dance. Then the DJ person was calling family members to come and dance with the bride and groom. Yesenia told me that the witnesses have to get up and dance too and that they would probably call my name. I was freaking out because how embarrassing! Luckily that didn´t happen though. After the dance they had a couple dance La Marinera. It was so beautiful. They were dressed in the typical dress. It was awesome!



After that the servers started serving some appetizers. They served mini empanadas and they were delicious! The also served some champagne for the toast. I couldnt wait to eat dinner though! The tradition here is to serve dinner at midnight so we had to wait until then. But it was fun in the meantime.


Cheers!


Dinner was so good! The rice was shaped like a heart. Everything was delicious!

After dinner the dancing began. The music was fun and everyone was dancing. Her family is so much fun. The band played all these cumbias the whole time. It was funny. So I went to the bathroom for a few minutes and when I got back to the table there were balloons everywhere! And these clowns on stilts! Crazy! We went back to the dance floor and everyone was just dancing and jumping and throwing balloons and beach balls and the lights were all frantic. It was sooo fun! We ended up dancing and having fun until 5 in the morning! They didnt serve any cake though. The tradition is to not serve any cake but that the next day the brife and groom go from house to house and pass out the cake. Sounds strange to me. All I wanted was to taste the cake! Oh well. This was the funnest wedding I have ever been to!



dancing

dancing

and dancing!

me and Luz

Yesenia, me and her cousin

standing outside the tent

me and Luz

with the bride and groom

the stage


the cake that was never cut

baloons!

we took the ross from the center pieces

another beach day!

Today I went to the beach again with my cousins Cleusa and Jonathon. We left early to get as much sun as possible. We took a tent and set it up and just hung out and took pictures. This beach is kinda rocky though. Everytime I´d get into the water my feet would get all scraped and roughed up by the rocks. Once I got out and my feet were all bloody! Oh well. I love being at beach no matter what.



getting trampled by the ocean waves

me and Cleusa

my bleeding feet

some people drove their moto taxi onto the sand and it got stuck..what a bunch of idiots!

Day at the beach...

I just got back from Huanchaco..It was so nice to just lay out on the beach. The weather was perfect! I got up this morning and went for my morning run at the park and it was already warm and sunny! I knew that I just had to go to the beach. I decided I would just try to make it out on my own. I have to learn to get around alone eventually. I can´t just depend on everyone else. But if I was in Lima I probably wouldn´t even try. But it is pretty safe here. Atleast alot safer. I made some oatmeal and was sitting eating breakfast and I told Tia Palmira that I planned on spending the afternoon at the beach. I told her that I know what buses to take there and which one to take back. She was a little nervous at the thought of me going alone. But I assured here I knew my way around well enough to make it back safely. And if I did get lost I would just call the house with my cell. Well before I left the house she said she´d feel better if my cousin Jonathon would picked me up in the afternoon. He would call me when he got there to know where I was at. She said she just didn´t want me coming back by myslef. Well I guess it probably would be better that way. So I had to get a prepaid card for my cell phone because I had no minutes left. I went to all the little corner stores around the neighborhood and no one had any. I ran into Pepe, Yesenia´s brother in law who was supposed to walk me to the bus stop yesterday,at one of the stores and told him I was headed to the beach. So he walked me to the bus stop, which was good because he took me to a different one where more buses come by with less people. So I got on and just hoped to get to the beach safely. When I got there I walked around for a little bit and looked in lsome of the little stores. It feels so good to be alone sometimes. I just need alone time every once in a while. The sun was so bright! I knew I would finally get a good tan. I laid on the sand and tried to take a nap. Then some other girls laid down close by. They were so loud and annoying. Well the good thing about them being there was when the tide started to come closer they all screamed, so we all moved up a little bit so we wouldn´t get wet. After maybe 10 minutes I heard that girl scream again. I opened my eyes and looked up and this huge wave just came upon me! Ahh! It was awful! I tried to grab my purse and my clothes and my book but it was too late. Then I remembered my cell phone was laying next to my head. I couldn´t find it anywhere! It had been swept away by the ocean alone with one of my flip flops! Augh..So I tried to find it and one of the girls had ran down to grab the rest of their stuff that had been swept away too. She had found my phone and some man came up and brought me my flip flop. It had wandered all the way to the dock. I was so happy. But when I tried to use my phone it didn´t work! I was so pissed and annoyed and kinda worried because Jonathan was supposed to call me when he got there. And I wouldn´t know where to find him. So the only thing I could do was call my mom. I spent almost 3 dollars on making that phone call. Oh well. But she was able to call and let them know where I would be at to find me. So after all that I just got in the ocean. I figured now that my cell phone is broken I didnt have anything valuable left for anyone to steal. The ocean was freezing but it felt so good to be in it. I think I´m going to have to live by the ocean for the rest of my life somehow..