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