Veniendo de las calles de Sicchez (coming from the streets of Sicchez)

To all those that follow my blog I apologize that my entries have more spaced out than New Jersey Nets victories. In the past two months, Anne Barry (a fellow UA alumni and Peace Corps Volunteer) visited my site, I celebrated my 23rd birthday, my town held their annual carnival celebrations and I had the chance to go to Zorritos, a beach town in northern peru.

Anne Barry´s visit, which lasted through my birthday and Sicchez´ annual carnival celebrations, was an amazing time that ended way too soon. Although she spent only a week and a half in Sicchez, I believe every man in my site was preparing marriage proposals. My socio, who had met Anne previously, had the biggest smile on his the day I informed him of her impending arrival and could not contain himself from constantly smirking at me when we were all together (his desperation desperation definitely brought a smile to my face). During my birthday, which happened in the municipality he danced more (with Anne) than John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. It truly amazed me...I mean I know he wanted to lose weight but I didnt realize he wanted to lose 10 pounds in one night!

Speaking of my birthday night..talk about unforgettable. Which started out as a typical Peruvian fiesta with beer, shots and dancing, quickly transformed into a strip show where all the girls were forced to dance provocatively in front of me. Sitting down in a chair, the enfermeras (nurses), began to un-do my shirt buttons and sing happy birthday in spanish. Lets just say I wasnt expecting that...Following my strip down and the provocative dancing, I blew out my canfles and went back to dancing until around 1 o´clock when we were foreced to leave...

Following my birthday the whole town of sicchez got together to celebrate carnival, which encompassed alot of drinking, eating and throwing flour on each other. For whatever reason every kid in my town decided to join together against Anne, forcing her to run for her life and evade the little Peruvian gremlins that chased after her until the bitter end. While she did her best to evade them, Anne left the party looking like a chimnea sweeper (however in this case covered in white powder). I even felt bad for her and had to tell the kids to stop picking on her! To say that I didnt laugh at the look of her though would be a lie!

Maybe thats what she gets for stealing my possible site on the beach....

Following all of February´s celebrations, I got back to work (don´t worry...not too hard Dad) before heading to Zorritos, a beautiful beach on the northern coast of Peru. Although I only got to spend 3 days on the beach it was definitely worth the 11 hour drive from my site. Well, maybe not for my site mate who got attacked by a group of dogs while she strolled on the beach...

Well in upcoming news, Nick, one of my best friends and former college roommate, is traveling to Peru and we are going to meet in Piura before heading to the popular beach spot, Mancora. Nick and I will be meeting many other volunteers in Mancora for Semana Santa before heading back to my site for a bit...

By the way mom I showered two days in a row for the first time since arriving in Peru!