july 28 is independence day here in peru. students here get a two week break from school to celebrate, as it would be the equivalent to winter break in the states. my training center hosted a celebration where all the trainers performed traditional dances from all the variou regions. on saturday, i made french toast with my family, and victor and i watched “where the wild things are” together. later on in the evening he began building forts, which he has never done before, so i am going to go ahead and give credit to us watching and reading all about max as his inspiration for his forts.
my family and i went and celebrated fiestas patrias by going out to pollo a la brasa. we went to a different restaurant in chosica this time, but being the pollo a la brasa connoisseur i have now become, i can confidently say that my favorite a la brasa is at norkey’s with their delicious fresh garlic concoction. anyways, after we had a fun and yummy lunch, we then went to the dress shop for norma to try on her dress for her upcoming birthday party.
dress shopping.
norma in her dress for her quince.
after dress time, i went to my friend’s host mom’s birthday celebration. i love this family. i spent a lot of time with them, mainly using the internet, but also just practicing my conversation skills with them. also, they have really, really cute puppies.
too cute to be true.
cutiepatootie!
the party was a blast. it included more eating for me, and in peru you can never say no to peru, as this is how they show their love. and of course, DANCING!
the birthday girl with her wonderful family.
after this birthday celebration, i then attended another birthday celebration in my neighborhood. it was a surprise party for another friend’s grandpa. it was great. it included more food and A LOT more dancing. i left this celebration around 11, but i was told that it lasted until 5am. that is pretty early by peruvian standards…they sure know how to have a party down here.
SURPRISE!
the band.
i would say that the top thing i took away from both parties was the love that existed in all of the families. there was an apparent love that each family member had for the others, and it was so tangible. it is something that is not seen at many us parties i have been too. if anything, peruvians have so much love to share that i cannot wait to share more of that with them.
perusing peru... 