I knew this would happen eventually

Determined to make banana nut bread, another missionary and I skipped half a block over to the local tienda to buy some flour.  All of the merchandise lies behind a counter so you have to tell the attendant what you need.  Well, although we looked it up minutes before, I forgot already and asked the nice lady if they had any orina.  She gave me the look.  I knew immediately what I had said.  "I mean HARINA! HARINA!  Lo siento."  She just chuckled as she pulled out the different kinds of flour for us to chose from.  Both of these words are now ingrained in our memories for ever.

Not that hungry anymore

Have I mentioned how good the food is here?  My host family has been kind of impressed at how much I love it all, no matter how different.  I missed lunch at the casa today. Instead of eating together for dinner, most Peruanos have a late lunch as their main meal and then just snack for dinner.  Our house does this.  I was out at a birthday party and therefor missed it today.  Not long after getting back, my ever hungry belly growled so I peaked into the fridge to see if there were any leftovers to grub on.  I found the promising container with ?pollo perhaps? grabbed a fork and popped it open....(click read more)            

Oh to be a student again

I just finished my second week of Spanish school and I must say that learning another language is more challenging than I thought.  Good though.  I go to the institute every morning around 10:00 via bus.

"Mi casa es tu casa"

Sept 4, 2010 - It was a bit stressful going into the unknown.  I boarded a plane to Arequipa without a clue in the world as to who was picking me up or where I would be staying.  And it's not that I didn't ask.  The gal with Peru Mission in Trujillo (which is about a million hours away from Arequipa) who was setting everything up for me via email, just couldn't find out.  She seemed pretty confident that I would not find myself alone at the airport, without a phone, unable to understand anyone.  After the relief of finding all my checked bags in decent condition, I slowly waltzed out to see that there were indeed no signs with my name spelled incorrectly.  Great.  Perhaps if I just keep walking no one will notice that I am completely lost, while I figure out what the heck to do. 

Well hola

Sept 1, 2010 - After an overnight flight from LAX to Lima, I arrived on (what I was told) the coldest day of the year.  Anyone who knows me knows about my affinity for gloomy weather, so this was elating.  Groggy eyed, I passed through customs to find a sweet Peruvian man waiting with a sign he made saying 'YVETTE BREDOSSIAN'.  I met his son over the summer, Giancarlo who was the primary instigator of my coming to Peru.  We took a taxi (traffic in Peru is blog worthy but maybe another time) to the house of Gian's Aunt Patica and cousin Jenny where I spent three noches.  During this time I was treated like royalty.  We ate out, celebrated Gian's father's birthday and tramped all around town.