Today was another amazing day! I woke up after everyone had eaten, which was fine by me, but the house was oddly quiet. I got dressed and looked around, only to hear screams emanating from the roof. As I was about to climb the stairs I saw soaking wet rags covering the floor in some places and droplets cascading down onto them from the ceiling. Then when I got to the roof I saw my Farina, Iris, Julissa, Margarita, Magalis, Victor, and a new girl all wearing pajamas and throwing big buckets of water at one another. Carnavales! They told me to join in, but first I went and changed into some easier clothes, especially cause I had been wearing my one clean pair of pants. On the way up Papa Angel, who was either watching the news or soccer, as usual, wished me luck. Then began the big water fight! It was so very fun! We really did just throw big buckets of water at one another and laughed and yelled, as the dogs on the roof hid away in their little doghouses in the corner. Everyone, alternately, had to be dunked in a basin of water. Fun, but ooh cold! I have many fond mental pictures that I will cherish of this fantastic morning.
After I got cleaned up I sat down to do some Spanish homework, CELS searching, and emailed Donaldo and the director of the Choropampa documentary about my ISP idea and some possibly contacts. The other day Casey told me that he and Alma were already looking at apartments to rent in Cusco. That is just too in advance for me! I am not even 100% sure where I will be for that month, nonetheless what I will be doing, who I will be with, or how much it will cost. Taking things one thing at a time.
Then continued the fun weekend with the family! We went out to a restaurant for the very first time, and thirteen of us crammed into two taxis and went to a Cevicheía on Avenida de la Cultura called Olas Bravas. I tried just a bite of ceviche in Lima, and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Though it seems like the fish might be raw, it truly is cooked by the acid of the limes (cause apparently Peru has no lemons?). A taxi driver in Lima told me all about ceviche and how proud she was of her country’s cuisine, especially lomo saltado and ceviche. She told me how special the ceviche is here because the super acidic limes cook it better than what Americans would consider normal limes. Anyways, I got a whole plate of Ceviche Mixto and could barely eat half! The portion was huge! Ceviche is actually really nice – it tastes clean, fresh, and simple, although very sour. A little bit spicy. Overall, not a bad dish!
Yesterday Iris asked me if I wanted to go to the stadium today, and of course I said yes! Unfortunately she her co-worker’s father had died and she had to go to a funeral today instead, but I still went to the soccer stadium with my host dad Victor, Papa Ángel, and Tío Alfredo (father of Angelito). So crazy! Cusqueñans sure love their team! (Cienciano aka La Furia Roja) We won 4-0! The stadium was fairly packed, but the scene on the streets outside the stadium was pretty wild as well! Tons of political propoganda, which is everywhere owing to the upcoming election, but this was like girls in bikinis painted with the names of a candidate and a man in a Qowe costume. PPK is the party, or as my neighbor said when he saw the costume, PP Qowe. Bah ha ha. I kept seeing people eating a dish that I find quite hilarious which is called Salchipapas. Salchi = Salchichi aka hot dog and Papas = potatoes, or in this case, French fries. The dish is literally just French fries with some hot dog pieces on top. Mostly I just think it’s a funny name. The game was pretty dang insane! Apparently about 10 thousand people can fit in the stadium and just hearing so many people react to the same things at the same time, like a goal, gives you goosebumps. It raises the hair on my arms to hear that many people scream and whistle and obviously CARE so greatly for something as precisely the same moment. Very emotional.
xoxo,
Claire
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