We are currently experiencing a nice pleasant blue sky Sunday (great for laundry) and what better thing to do than make a blog post.
The other day, I am not sure which day, just the other day. Sara and I got an invite to visit Azul ("blue") Wasi("house" in Quechua). It´s a blue house that is home to 12 orphans or abandadoned boys on the outskirts of town. We had a bit of trouble finding it at first, but lucky for us, Sara is kinda a celebrity in town and some of her admirerers (students) started shouting her name to say hello and told us where to find it. We were greeted by a resident of the house who gave us a tour. It is a program that is completely funded by a private donor and frequently has extraneros volunteer there (when we visited there were two gringos, Matthew from Iowa and some other guy from the Holland). I am going to visit again tomorrow (Monday) to talk to the jefe ("boss") and probably help some kids with homework and play some soccer.
I do not have any photos of Azul Wasi so here is a photo of a cow we passed on the way there
One occurance that is always a bit odd while traveling is that when I meet a white person, it does not mean he or she speaks English, so when we met the volunteers at Azul Wasi we spoke the whole time in Spanish, even after we knew the other Matthew was from Iowa. It was fun and I actually knew what was being said.
Ok fast-forward to yesterday.
We ended up attending another accidental party. We went to visit the house of Elias to possibly purchase a charango (see the Music Stuffs post). We arrived and were told it is his wife´s birthday, and we all know that Peruvians love their birthday parties, and this one was no exception. We were given Chica (a fermented corn beer), wine, and coke mixed with beer, but best of all we got to try our very first cuy (guinea pig). The former vegetatian Sara dug right in and started with the innards (heart and other organs) and was picking meat off the rib bones in no time flat. It was actually pretty good but the skin was a little rough to eat. We ate the whole thing with our fingers (the only way to do it). The only part that bothered me was seeing the claws...and I was lucky enough to get a head as well. We liked it so much we are going to eat it again on May 12 for Elias´s birthday.
And now the question of all questions.
This is what I look at everyday, a real head scratcher
Since living in Oropesa I have been renting a room. In this room is my bed and next to my bed is the back side of a desk (the front side faces Sara´s bed and separates our "rooms") to make this desk a bit more pleasant to look at, it is covered with a blanket with a picture of Papa Noel. The question I ponder every night before I sleep is this: Why is Papa Noel telling us to be quiet, with a finger to his lips, while he is also holding onto a bell? That just seems silly, Papa Noel.
And since I do not have many photos to share on this post, here is one of the Incan king and me dancing.
Matthew, have you not heard the Night Before Christmas poem?? He is not telling you to be quiet, he is "laying his finger aside of his nose." Now, why he does that, I don't know, but he can certainly do that and ring a bell at the same time :)
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