Almost a year....

Here I am a few days away from marking my year in Peru and still I have those moments where I am in awe of my life here.  It still seems surreal, but incredible.  This past weekend I was with Edgar, he had taken me site seeing a little bit in Peru.  We ended up in this one town where there was a parade and it the music, colors, costumes, smells and everything was amazing.  It was like watching a movie, except I was a part of it.  As we made our way home the sun was setting over the rice fields and I just kept thinking about a year or two ago when I read "Eat, Pray, Love" and was just so envious of an adventure like that.  Here I am living mine, and I have done it for almost a year, and I still have a year left.  Only so much more to look forward too.

After the home invasion a few weeks ago, things have calmed down, but it has been int he back of everyone's heads.  The rumors have also been flying so I am not sure what to believe.  However, September is a busy month with the anniversary of the valley including the schools.  This has got everyone excited and I can definitely feel that something huge it coming.

Me and my host nephew Paul waiting for the contest to begin.

The elementary and preschool queens!

The other day I had the honor of serving as a judge in the "Miss Chipillico" contest.  That was interesting!  There were girls from preschool, elementary and high school in the pageant.  There would be a winner from each part.  I served as a judge alongside the doctor, Miss Las Lomas, and an engineer from Las Lomas as well.  The girls came out in their "sports wear", cutural costumes, and evening attire.  They also had to each answer a question.  I must admit, I was blown away.  These kids acted like they were born to walk the runway.  Even down to the little girls.  They costumes were amazing, and everyone had great answers to their questions.  It was a hard contest to judge.  However, some of the girls made it easy for me to deduct points.  Even though I know skimpy outfits are apart of their culture, I don't agree with little girls looking sexy, so there were minus points on that.  As well as for one girl her came out licking her finger and "dropping it like it's hot", I think she thought it was a music video set.  But I believe the teachers were trying to keep it classy!!!  In the end I was happy with who we choose at winners and very impressed with how much work each girl, as well as the teachers had put into the contest.  However, in true peruvian fashion, they managed to keep an invent that was scheduled to begin at 4:30 going well into the night.  I was asked to present the high school Miss Chipillico, however, at around11pm when the band was playing and everyone was drinking  and no final crowning anywhere in site, I had to quietly sneak out. 

In true fashion of peruvians loving to celebrate everything, we also had a little presentation for the elderly the other day in the health post.  Since I have lots of experience working with this population I took the lead.  It was really fun actually, they were really intersted, more so because 2 of them were going to win a can of ensure at the end of the presentation.  However, this has inspired me to do work with this population, not one of my goals as a volunteer, but I am going to make it a secondary project.  I think it could be really fun, I am thinking about starting a mini exercise class like there used to be when I worked at healthsouth.  I think they would love it!

Full house for the chat.