A great weekend

This past weekend was by far the best two days in Peru so far.

I got up early Saturday morning to go volunteer at Flor de Amancaes, in Rimac. I volunteer twice a week in Rimac proper, but this was my first time going up to the hill to volunteer. The homes can easily be described as shacks, and most, if not all, do not have running water and electricity. We spent the morning hanging out with the kids that live there, and playing games with them. I'll talk more about my experience there when I write my post about volunteering, but here are a few pictures the organization we're working with posted.

I spent the rest of the afternoon with my host family. We had a full house for a few hours, because both of my host parents sons came over. It's always fun when they all come over, because our normally quiet house is full of activity for a few hours. When they left, I went shopping, because I'd decided to make dinner that night. I made tigadegena and crepes, and it seemed as though my family really appreciated it. My host dad opened up a nice bottle of wine with dinner, and we sat and chatted for about two hours. I feel so comfortable here with my host family, it's really great. I feel so lucky to have been placed with these wonderful people. My host dad took a picture of our dinner, and I'll try to get a copy of it, but I don't have it yet, unfortunately.

The next day, we went off on a hike near San Jerónimo to a waterfall called Pacalaca. It was about a 4 to 5 mile hike, but was pretty steep, and at a high enough altitude to be challenging. Our guides were two Peruvians named Jose and Jason, and I spent much of the hike talking with them. They were good friends with Meg Tuta, who went on the program last year. It was really fun getting to know some more young Peruvians, because I feel like it's been hard to do here. With my host parents being older, and not taking classes at an actual university, it's been hard to get to know many young Peruvians, so I jumped at the chance to talk with them. The hike, while being difficult, was incredibly beautiful. Here are some of my favorite pictures from it. Unfortunately, they don't even close to capture the expanse of the view, but it was worth a shot.

                                               

                                     

                                                

                                     

We leave tomorrow for our trips to the South and North, and I am not bringing my computer, so I will probably not be able to post again for about 3 weeks. But when I do, you can be sure I'll have some awesome things to say!