Giff's Visit

Giff arrived the night of September 12th. I didn’t do much of anything that day because I was so excited to see him. Sometime mid-afternoon I realized I didn’t know his flight number, the airline, or where he was flying in from. Oopsie. I did know the time though so I assumed I would figure it out once I got to the airport. Luckily there was only one flight arriving at the time he was supposed to get in. His flight was delayed about 20 minutes so by the time he got through customs it was close to 11 pm before I saw him. As you can imagine, it was so good to see him. I couldn’t have been any happier in that moment.

We took a cab back to Miraflores where we were staying and went out to dinner at this good Italian restaurant I like. We each had lasagna and wine and at $30 it was our most expensive meal for the entire trip! Back at the hotel Giff was showing me all of the presents he brought for me. My mom had sent a big box of things to Giff to bring down to me so I was enjoying looking through all of that stuff. A little while later he got up to go to the bathroom and when he came out he told me he had another present for me. I thought it was going to be the jeans I asked him to buy me or a shirt from his mom or something. But he came over to me and said “I know things have been really crazy lately and this is coming a little late, but I still wanted to ask – will you marry me?” Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I was sooooooooo excited! I said of course I would and couldn’t stop smiling. It took me completely off guard; I was not expecting it at all. He told me he was going to wait to propose at the beach, but as soon as he saw me at the airport he wanted to ask me right away. He said he couldn’t wait to ask me to spend the rest of my life with him. It was adorable. I couldn’t stop smiling and staring at my beautiful ring. We have never talked about what I want for an engagement ring and he couldn’t have picked a better ring. I wouldn’t change a thing about it even if I could. I was so proud of him for doing all of the research on it and knowing what I would like. He is the best!

The next day we had sushi for lunch to celebrate our engagement and our move to Japan. We went to the Museo de la Nación in the afternoon and then boarded the bus for our 14-hour trip to Cajamarca. We took the Super VIP bus with seats that recline 180°. Giff was really impressed how nice it was and luckily was able to sleep most of the way. I was worried he would be uncomfortable because the seats are too short for him and he can’t straighten his legs when he lies down. We arrived in Cajamarca around 9:30 am, ate breakfast, ran a few errands, and got back on the bus at 11 am to go to Bambamarca. Giff slept most of the trip, but I made sure to wake him up to see Yanacocha Mine – the third largest gold mine in the world.

We were both exhausted when we finally arrived in Bambamarca since we had been traveling for close to 24 hours. Unfortunately I had some things I needed to do though and Giff was such a good sport about coming with me and meeting everyone. I had promised the girls in my youth group they could meet Giff so we hung out with them for about 30 minutes. I also had to go to the health center to talk with Rita and to the high school to make sure the teachers were still planning on having the training session with me on September 24th (the day I got back from my trip). Giff thought it was funny how many times I had to repeat myself and remind them about what we were going to do since in the States you don’t have to go back and remind the people every week that we have a meeting planned. In Peru you have to remind people everyday in the week leading up to the meeting or no one will come. After my errands were done we ate dinner at this good restaurant in town and went home to relax the rest of the night in my room.

I got up early the next morning to help with the party preparations while Giff slept in. Chabu got there early with Carol and Martin to start putting up the decorations and I ran all over town with Karina trying to find someone who had cake pans to lend us. Some of my family had met Giff the night before when we arrived, but the rest were dying to meet him. I knew Giff would understand most of what was said, but I didn’t think he’d speak to them because it’s more intimidating. However he completely surprised me. He spoke to them and was a really good sport about meeting so many people and answering all of their questions. My family couldn’t believe that he helped me bake all three of the cakes and played with the kids. They were really impressed at what a great guy he is – I’m one lucky girl!

We were able to escape for a little while in the afternoon to take a short hike so Giff could see Bambamarca. My house can be very overwhelming with so many people so it was nice to get away for a bit. When we got home Giff had his first experience with the freezing cold shower. I offered to boil him water, but he said he was fine. I felt really bad when we came back shivering – at least he was really getting an authentic experience. It was interesting to hear Giff’s perceptions of Peru since I don’t think twice about a lot of it anymore. He couldn’t believe all of the trash everywhere and though Bambamarca smelled everywhere we went – I didn’t notice it at all so I guess I’ve gotten used to those gross smells. His favorite part was how they water the ground. I still haven’t quite figured that up. They water the ground everyday, but keep in mind, the ground they are watering is either dirt or cement so it isn’t meant to help it grow. I hear the philosophy is that the water helps it be less dusty when they sweep a little later. Who knows, but I still find it hilarious.

So Rita arrived around 7:40 pm even though the party wasn’t supposed to start until 8 pm. I wasn’t even ready when she showed up because I figured no one would arrive until at least 8:30. I quickly visited with Rita and Melany and then hurried to get dressed (Karina, Miki and I had to dress up since we were the guests of honor – I also had to buy a new dress for this because the public has already seen me in my other dresses and since this was my party, it had to be something new – oh boy). It started drizzling as the guests were arriving and my family was freaking out. They were afraid everyone would leave because we didn’t have much protection from the rain (the party was outside in our patio). Karina was so stressed out about it that she almost started crying. I wasn’t too worried about the rain because I figured it would pass, but I was stressed out because after Giff and I had spent all afternoon baking the Funfetti Pillsbury cakes, they told me we weren’t going to use them. Karina told me cakes were usually more than one color and the frosting I had given them (that my mom sent with Giff) was only white and it looked bad. She had sent her friend Sara out to buy us a new cake and told me they would just keep my cake in the kitchen for us to eat later. I was so annoyed since Carol and my mom had been kind enough to send all of the ingredients and I lured my friends to the party by telling them we were going to have cake from the U.S. Luckily since it was so last minute, Sara couldn’t find a cake and we ended up just decorating it with flowers and a little doll figurine. Even after it was decorated though, we still weren’t sure we’d be able to put it out on display since it continued to drizzle.

By 9:30 pm we had around 40 guests and the rain had stopped for the most part so we decided to get the party under way. My host uncle, Anibal, gave a little welcome speech and Karina gave another speech. They asked me to give the toast and when I was finished they asked me to translate for Giff. Then they asked Giff to come up and say a few words that I could translate. I thought he would be so annoyed, but he was really good about it and they loved it. After all of the speeches were over, we started dancing and didn’t stop until 4 am!

Four of my friends from Peace Corps came to the party and we all had so much fun together. I was relieved to have them there because then I could dance and visit with other people without having to worry about Giff. We all really had a great time. I thought it was great that Giff was experiencing his first Peruvian party where we drank beer by sharing one glass and passing it among our group. Haha. He got really annoyed that by 11:30 pm we still hadn’t been served dinner, but we told him we wouldn’t eat until midnight. Don’t ask me why but at big parties they never serve the food until midnight. After the food there was more dancing and drinking until everyone sang Happy Birthday to us around 2 am. They had Giff come up and say something then too, but we’re not really sure why. Then Honsler (the doctor’s 35 year old nephew) came up and shoved our faces in the cake because apparently that is the tradition here. I had cake all over my face and it my hair, it was really funny. We didn’t cut the cake though because they never do that at parties. This is another tradition I haven’t quite figured out because they spend all of this money on the cake, but it’s mostly there for decoration. They normally don’t cut the cake until the next day. It is shared among family members and hand delivered to close friends. My friends and I were really craving it though since we never get delicious cake like that here. We decided it would be a good idea to start breaking off pieces with our hands when we thought no one was looking. Haha. It was a disaster. At 4 am when we were tired of dancing, we took the smallest of the three cakes into the kitchen and ate the entire thing! Haha. Chabu told me that the next morning when she and the doctor went to the house to take down the decorations, they asked for some cake, but my family said it was all gone. She told me she really wanted some because she tried some with her fingers the night before at the party after she saw us doing it and thought it was excellent – oopsie!

We didn’t go to bed until about 5 am and were on the bus to Cajamarca the next morning at 11 am. Of course some of my family was still up drinking when Giff and I got up at 8:30 am to use the bathroom. They made me drink some beer with them while I was waiting to go pee. Gross. Don’t judge – it’s much easier to just do it than to say no because they will harass you until you give in. Gotta love this country! Even though it was a short visit with my family, I think we all had a great time. I know my family really enjoyed meeting Giff and they thought he was so much fun at the party. He danced with Karina, Marta and my host mom so they were thrilled. They kept saying he doesn’t know how to dance “in Spanish” (because he doesn’t dance salsa or cumbia like they do here), only “in English”. I thought that was a funny way of saying it. I’m really glad we came up to my site though because it was really important to me that he see where I’ve been living for the past year and meet my family and the friends I’ve made here.

There was a power outage in Cajamarca so we couldn’t really do much. We went to Baños del Inca and took baths with thermal water. It felt wonderful after staying up all night, not to mention after the bathing experience Giff had at my house. I had wanted to take Giff to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in Cajamarca, but just about everything was closed from the power outage so we ended up just getting Pollo a la Brasa (very traditional rotisserie chicken) with four of my friends. My friends were so excited to meet Giff since they have been hearing about him for the past year and a half. After dinner we went out for dessert and hot chocolate and then hung around until our bus left for the coast at 11 pm.

We finally arrived in Piura city at 8 am the next day. After a whirlwind beginning of the trip – two overnight bus rides, staying up all night partying and meeting tons of people – it was nice to have a day just to relax. We went out to breakfast and then to the market so Giff could see what a typical Peruvian market is like. Markets here seem so much more practical and we both wondered why we don’t have more of them in the States. You can buy pretty much everything you could dream of at the market. We had a gourmet lunch of ham and cheese sandwiches, which was quite a treat for me since we never eat anything like that, and then slept all afternoon. We got carry out at this really good restaurant in town and then headed back to the hotel to watch Monday Night Football because they Eagles were on! I was really excited to watch them, but they played horribly and lost. Lots of my friends arrived at night because they had spent the weekend at the beach. Giff got to see an old friend (it was an illegal vacation so I can’t mention names) and meet lots of other volunteers. After the game we hung out with my friends and watched a movie. It was really chill though because we were all exhausted. (I did make sure to show all of them my ring though. Giff and I agreed that I couldn’t wear it outside so the rules were I was only allowed to take it out if the doors were closed and locked. Haha.).

We finally headed to the beach the next morning and the rest of the trip was just the two of us. Giff met something like 20 volunteers in four days (not to mention all of the Peruvians I introduced him to) so I was happy we had the rest of the time to ourselves. He was such a great sport about meeting everyone and the unusual travel schedules. I really appreciated it.

Our time at the beach was perfect. Our hotel was about a mile and a half from the main strip so it was really quiet. Our room was right on the ocean and had a balcony with two chairs and a hammock. I loved going to bed and waking up every day to the sound of the ocean. The hotel had a pool and a restaurant so we spent a lot of time just hanging out there and relaxing. We also walked into town everyday for lunch and sometimes dinner. We had a nice mixture of Peruvian and American food while we were there. I was thrilled because we got to eat waffles, brownie sundaes, crepes, good pizza and wine – treats I never get here. But we also made sure to eat some seafood since we were at the beach (yes even I ate seafood). The first day we headed to a mud bath nearby that we had heard about with thermal water. It was kind of cool, but also a little weird. It was way out of town in this campesino “gated community” that we had to pay to get into. When we arrived there was one other couple there. We ended up talking to them and their taxi driver a lot. They were really nice and told us Johnny Depp had just finished filming a movie there called “Máncora” – have any of you heard anything about this? Giff and I weren’t sure if it was true. We stayed in the “bath” for a little while and I even spread mud on my arms since they say it has curative powers, but I was a little grossed out because the mud felt like it had clumps of women’s hair in it and I did not like that. It was a fun experience, but I definitely don’t ever need to go back. Like I said, our time at the beach was wonderful though. The beach was beautiful and the sunsets were gorgeous. The best part though was just being alone with Giff. We haven’t spent that much time alone in over a year and a half so I was so happy just to have that time together.

Of course I was really sad when the trip finally came to an end. We took yet another overnight bus ride from the beach to Lima and arrived the day Giff was going to fly out. His flight wasn’t until 10:50 pm so we took the opportunity to spend the day exploring Lima. We went to lunch at this cool soccer bar Giff read about in my guidebook and also went to the Plaza de Armas and did a little souvenir shopping. Of course the day came to an end faster than we would have liked and before we knew it we were headed to the airport.

As I was standing in line with Giff at the airport, I wished I was just leaving with him. My time here has been an incredible opportunity, but at that moment I realized that I’ve gotten out of it what I wanted to and now I’m ready to move on with my life. I was planning to stay until December, but after Giff left I realized that my heart really isn’t in it anymore. It’s hard to stay here knowing that I have an engagement ring and a fiancé at home waiting for me, let alone a wedding to plan and another move abroad.
I didn’t cry when I said goodbye to Giff at the airport because I knew I’d be seeing him again soon. Plus we just had a wonderful vacation together and there is way too much to be happy about so crying wasn’t necessary.