Anca$h Updates

Reporting live from Carhuaz in my Internet café favorito. I have a fever and sore throat among other enfermedades but it´s all bueno. ¡Tis the season for the flu! My family always takes great care of me... Anywho.

So. Don´t read the next little paragraph if you don´t like bugs, eggs in your skin or blood... skim down about halfway to where I talk about communicacion instead :) I now know that I must wash my feet more often. ¿Why you ask? Because apparently there are these little bugs called pikis (pronounced peekees) that can burrow into your skin and lay their eggs. I saw it first hand in my abuelita´s feet (grandma). It mostly just looked painful and hard to get the little eggs and critters out with an aguja (needle) shoveling into her flesh. My job was to swish the flies away from her feet. Man. I feel bad for her. I can´t communicate to her because she only speaks Quechua.. just some phrases like "nanan?" Does it hurt? or "Yameiyakukekanki?" which roughly translates to How are you? But I did notice yesterday that I was understanding a lot more Quechua than I did when I first arrived. yay! Mostly because I know some words and gestures and the interjected spanish words help a montón.

A ver. Más noticias (more news). The new Peru 14ers will be arriving to their sites next weekend which is pretty awesome. I´m no longer a newbie! hehe. Lisette (fellow volunteer and friend en Anca$h) just got a puppy!!! Now two Peru 13ers in Ancash have puppies.. Baja too... she named him Juneau (because he´s a husky) and Baja has Oso (which means Bear). They are adorable. Colleen and I think it would be kicker if we both got puppies. And then brought them to Early IST in December (our first meeting up with everybody since training). However. Puppies are a lot of work... sooo.. don´t worry madre. I don´t think I´m getting a puppy. More likely a horse :)

Thanksgiving is coming up ya.. we will have a pilgrim/indian theme. ¡¡¡¡ANCA$H is BETTER!!! I will be makin´the mashed papas. Although I am SICK of potatoes mashed ones will be a good change from the regular boiled ones I get. In one day I must be served at LEAST 8 to 10 potatoes... probably more. And they´re the thing that usually stays on my plate. That´s including beakfast lunch and dinner though.

I hope all is well in the U.S. of A. Extraño a todos and I can´t wait for Raquelita´s, Jenna´s and my trip in one month!!!

Abrazos,
Em