A Few Things I Forgot to Mention

Well just as I suspected, I had lots more to say that I couldn't think of when I was updating my blog the last time so I made some notes and want to fill you all in. I don't have much time so I'll write them in bullet points to try to make it go faster.

• The day I got to Cajamarca for ALMA, Lindsay called me to say there had been a murder in her town right outside of her house! She was obviously really shocked by everything that had happened and not thinking clearly. I told her she couldn't sleep there that night and I'd figure out how to come get here (she lives 45 minutes outside of the city). I called our director and told him there had been a murder and the dead body was in her house (because her host dad has a pharmacy and they brought the body there in hopes he could resussitate it). At 10:30 pm we went to get here and didn't get to bed until 2 am that night. We were up again at 6 the next morning to go back to her site and meet the girls she was taking to the camp. It turned out to be a very long weekend because due to some other problems, she ended up having to change sites. I helped translate for her for most of the weekend because José doesn't speak English and she was too upset to do it herself.
• That same weekend I started to feel very sick from some of the food we had eaten at the camp and called my doctor. Based on the symptoms I had, she thought I might have Giardia (a parasite living in my stomach)! I was supposed to go to the clínica the next day, but luckily I started feeling better. Hopefully whatever I had just went away.....
• A group of about 6 of us went to see The Devil Wears Prada at the movie theater one night. All of a sudden one of the guys in the movie says, "It's not like I'm in the Peace Corps or anything"! We all happened to read it in the subtitles before they said it and thought we were hallucinating to see Cuerpo de Paz on the screen. When he actually said it, we all started cheering! I'm sure everyone else there thought we were crazy, but we thought it was great.
• Before I left for Chiclayo, Chabu had told me to be very careful because there is a lot of theft, but of course I got lazy when we were walking in a group of friends and someone stole my sunglasses case out of my bag. Luckily the only pocket they opened didn't really have anything in it, but it was still really scary and a good wake up call that I need to pay better attention!
• Peruvians are really funny about requests to buy things that aren't exactly on the menu. Sometimes it seems like they don't understand that they're losing our money by refusing us a simple request. For example, while in Chiclayo, Lindsay and I saw waffle fries on the menu at this place called Bembos (the Peruvian version of McDonald's). We asked to buy them and he said we couldn't because they only come with a platter that costs 15 soles. We didn't want the whole platter, just waffle fries. We argued with him for about 10 minutes, trying to convince him that it would be worth it for them because we were willing to pay 5 soles (regular fries cost about 1 sol). We finally asked to talk to his manager and he said he'd see what he could do. While we were waiting for the manager, he was talking to us about where we're from and kept saying, "McDonald's doesn't have anything on us. BEMBOS!!!" It was hilarious. When he told us his name he flexed his muscles, pointed to the sky, and said "Arthur" and then gave us a peace sign. So funny! After he told us we'd have to come back "siempre" (and I refused because I thought he said diciembre), the whole staff came to the counter and gave us a basket of waffle fries....for FREE! They said "from Bembos to you". It was so funny! We only got about 5 fries in the end, but it was funny anyway.
• The other day I went into one of my favorite stores in town and the woman who works there said, "Hi Kristen, you've gotten fatter!" Oh thanks a lot, way to boost my self esteem. Then her sister walked in and said, "wow, you're getting fatter!" Two sisters, within one minute of another. I said, maybe it's because I'm wearing a lot of clothes, and they said no, you must love the food here. Bambamarca is doing you a lot of good. THANKS A LOT! I asked them what they meant by it and told them it's an insult in my culture, but they said it just means I'm getting more and more beautiful. That will take a while for me to believe. That's not a compliment I'm so fond of here. Ironically, no less than an hour later a man I knew was driving by and was yelling "FLACA.....FLACITA" (skinny) out the window to me! Hahaha. I love this country!

There are a few more stories, but I'll leave it at that because we're about to leave for the beach! Woo hooo!