chile

I have just arrived back to Piura after a trip with Dave to Chile. This is Dave’s fifth and final visit down to South America to see me. We had a wonderful time together, as usual. We got to see some cool parts of Chile, including the city of Santiago, the coast, and the mountains. We started out in Santiago, which is a very cool city, unlike any other Latin American city I’ve visited. We then traveled to Valparaiso, a city on the coast. We really liked Valparaiso, it had a young artsy feel to it. After Valparaiso, we traveled down to Cajón de Maipo, where we stayed in a little cabin. In the canyon, we went on several beautiful hikes and explored the area. It was a great trip, unfortunately the last trip I’ll be taking in South America before I come home. I feel so lucky that I’ve had the opportunity to visit so many amazing places on this continent while living in Peru.

mi aijiada

In rural Peru every family has a ceremony for newborn babies called “echar agua.” The baby has a madrina and padrino for the cermeony I was asked to be the madrina of my host cousin, Erica’s, new baby, Ariana Thais. I participated in the ceremony with the whole family. As the madrina, I was expected to dance and eat the most. The dancing was not a problem for me, the eating, on the other hand… They killed two chickens for the evening, which is a pretty big deal here. Because I was being honored as the madrina, I was served the BIGGEST plate of fresh chicken and rice and noodles and potatoes (balanced, right?). I broke my vegetarianism for a day to show respect for my new aijiada and family.

fiestas patrias

July 25 is Independence Day for Peru, or “Fiestas Patrias”. After spending my second Fiestas Patrias in Peru, I would say that it is a bigger deal than our July 4. Everyone wears Peru’s patriotic colors of red and white, there are parades all over the country, and school shuts down for over two weeks. My town, although small, shows abundant pride during this holiday. On July 25, all of the school children, town leaders, members of sports teams and clubs marched for Fiestas Patrias. Marches and parades here are nothing like parades in the US. It is a very serious affair, no smiling or waving; actually quite the contrary. Starting with 5 year old preschoolers to the oldest members of the community, everyone marches in a militaristic manner with straight arms and legs. They practice for weeks to perfect this art of marching. They take the parades very seriously and all of the parents came to me to take pictures of their kids. Here are some of the many pictures I took for Fiestas Patrias.