peru #3.

So first, let it be known that finding time to blog here is most difficult. I´m sorry to everyone who has written me and has yet to get a response. Know that im working on it, and that I really do love hearing from all of you. You have NO IDEA how much news from home means. It´s crazy.

This past week was full of all sorts of random adventure. To start off, I was struck with illness which meant that Monday-Wednesday I wasn´t very productive. I mostly just layed around our apartment hoping to die. No just kidding, but really it was bad. If you thought being sick in the States was bad, try being sick in the face melting heat of Peruvian desert. Sweet sweet Mari Carmen was there to take care of me though, and I can´t tell you how grateful I am to have her around. She was constantly checking on me and bringing me this herbel tea that tasted like black licorice. She swore up and down it was the cure all, but I couldn´t stomach the stuff so I usually dumped it down the sink after she stopped watching me. When Thursday rolled around I woke up at the early hour of six to go running, but instead found that my entire apartment had been flooded with 3 inches of water. No worries though, nothing was ruined and it only took us about an hour to scoop up. I say scoop, because literally we had to scoop all of the water out with our cereal bowls. They don´t have floor drains or water vaccumes like the US here. It was funny and honestly I´m glad it happened. We laughed all morning about it.

This weekend was definitely less eventful than the last. While the rest of the gang was out exploring all Peru has to offer, I had to work. I had the opportunity to present our business plan to Juana and her artisan association and that alone made my day. For those of you who don´t know, Juana is a super talented weaver and I am working with her this summer to expand her business internationally. Things are going super well right now, but it is all taking so much more work than I ever realized. Research in Peru is so much harder to do than in the States... partially because everything here is in Spanish and partially because I have very little clue as to what I am doing yet. Fake it ´til you make it right!? No..? I´ll keep you posted on Juana, but for now just know that we have great things in store for her and she is going to make the big leagues. I just know it.

In other news, I noticed a couple more things you might care to know about Peruvian life this week. First, the people here have no shame when it comes to breast feeding. Too much information? Maybe. In any case they just whip it out like nobody´s business. I was shocked the first 10 times but now I feel like I´m getting used to it. I don´t know if that is a good or a bad thing. Next, even though the streets are made of dirt the people here will spend hours and hours sweeping the road in front of their house. They are basically just moving dirt around, and I´m not sure yet as to why they do it. I think it´s because they just have great pride in their homes and neighborhoods so they want to take care of them. That, or they´re not sure what else to do with their time. I don´t know. They also spray them down with an excessive amount of water each day. This I get, they´re trying to keep the dust out. I just don´t know how effective it really is.

So there you have it. Another week has come and gone in Peru and I wish I had the time to tell you more about it, and if you wrote me a letter I will.

Until next time-

lakin