Elaboration

To elaborate a bit and to fulfill two of my promises, I figured I would take advantage of a lazy Sunday after my youth group (we talked about upcoming encuentro juvenil activities and the order of the liturgy - and things went smoothly, which was nice after the group split in two because of my other two co-leaders not being able to work together).

So first of all, the Fiestas de las Cruces in which my community mates did the whole dress-up-and-dance-with-a-group (see picture) thing was an incedible experience. On a side note, incredible is a word I catch myself using a lot here (increible). Anyhoo, it basically involved them dancing for long stretches of time (but the morenada dance is a very easy and not so tiring dance), all of us recieving food and bastante beer (at one point, a truck pulled up an unloaded fifty cases of beer that someone was giving as a gift to the padrino of the party. What I really enjoyed the most was the spirit of camaraderie and sharing that penetrated everything. People just had fun, talked for long hours, danced, watched others danced, listened to the band and just generally enjoyed life. The darker side I guess would be that drinking within this context is not just to enhance the enjoyment or to be social - for many, it is to get to the point where they are no longer in control of themselves. This leads to such problems as drunk driving - I, for example, tried to stop a random guy I saw getting on his motorcycle and tipping back and forth as he tried to drive away. I failed in preventing him from driving off drunk, though my friends said they saw him the next day (so at least he survived).

On a little bit less of a mixed note, Chile was a great trip and I loved getting a new stamp on my passport (it helps my little jokes that I am making my way south down the continent - the first country in SA that I ever visited was Colombia, then Ecuador, now Peru and Chile). Arica is right on the beach and has the aura of a beach town. The houses are all low and many are brightly colored (in some ways, it reminded me of Florida in this sense). It has its huge supermarket - and I later found out that the chain is in fact owned by Walmart since this past January. It has a nice strip right in the middle that is closed off the cars and ends in a McDonalds and Blockbuster (oh my god!). I shared the experience with Nate and my host family, and we probably walked over five miles all told in the day (wowy). But it did finish with a stop in an artesanal ice cream shop where we had some sick dessert and cracked open a bottle of beer - which was a great relaxing way to end the day.

On a last, completely random note, this song has made many many many appearances in my life here recently. I´ll leave it to you to figure out: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1328k_boy-george-karma-chameleon_music

Photo Promise - Check

Here is one of the girls in my community (Christa, Cara and Chelsea from left to right) dressed up for their Morenada dancing. This was the big ole block party extravaganza.









Here is a photo from incredibly westernized Arica. Starring front and center are Nate (my other housemate and fellow sports fan) and the Famosa Carmen Rosa - my host mom. She is loca, but oh so wonderful.

Teaser

It´s been a long time since I have last posted and now I am just posting to say that I will post about everything that has happened - I promise.

But for a short, short update before running off to school:
- Participated in Fiesta de las Cruces in Natividad, which is basically just a big block party with lots of food, drinking and dancing (very fun)
- Had a strange experience at a Quinciañera (basically a sweet sixteen but for when you turn fifteen)
- Went to Chile (and walked everywhere with the crazy host mom)
- Learned a ton about the Peru/Chile War
- Saw Peru lose again in World Cup Qualifying....though they do play Colombia on Wednesday
- Taught a whole bunch
- Tried unsuccessfully to mend a feud in our youth group that has now led to a split (nooooooo)
- Am learning to love guayaba (though this is in French, at least it will give you an idea: http://ia.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guayaba)

I also promise pictures are on the way.