26!

When I first came to Peru and had a thought about turning 26, I imagined it as a sort of quiet and unremarkable milestone. As with most things in Peace Corps Peru, what I imagined was the opposite of what I got. As mentioned in my previous post, my host family and friends here are an amazing group of people and I am very lucky to have had them all here in Ascope to celebrate with me on my birthday. Lucky for me, not only is my birthday a holiday here- but it also fell on a Saturday this year. This meant a full day of celebrating. All of my fellow Peru 17ers in La Libertad, Slack, Nicole, Sue Song, and Alex made the trip to Ascope as well as our Peru 14 'big brothers' Matt and Brian. The fact that they all spent the morning on a bus just to come to Ascope in itself makes me so happy. On top of that though, they brought their party pants and present bags (one of the bags is even Hannah Montana, oh Peru)  filled with nail polish, fun jewelry, and of course, SNACKS! We had a great day filled with food, drinks, dancing, snacks, and (my favorite part) a Hello Kitty piñata. I'll let the pictures do the talking, though I should explain a few of them.

Matt, better known as Mateo in these parts, is tall. Peruvians are short. Piere wanted to smash my face in my cake, as is tradition here. When I had pointed out earlier in the week that he wouldn't be able to reach my face to smash cake into it, he snapped back by saying that he would just ask Mateo if he could sit on his shoulders... that way he wouldn't have any problem reaching. I can't believe this kid is only 6 sometimes. Of course Matt was barely in the house before Piere was whispering in his ear to solicit his height and mutual mischief. So, I figured I would just let it happen. No use fighting it. Here you have what ensued... 

I think they were afraid I would run away...

And there it is.

Fudge and caramel do not belong in your nose, hair, or eyelashes. Just sayin' 

Hora Loca featuring... Amanda Slack!!!

Pals :)

Treats!!! 

Hello Brian? 

I also want to mention how GREAT it was to talk my family that day. They were all together for little Cora's baptism, so I was able to talk to them that night, which was the best present I could have asked for. Thanks Joe for all the calls that day and for filling my spot at the baptism, you're the best! Thanks to everyone else for the emails and facebook posts. 26 was a great birthday and better than I could have imagined. I am a very lucky girl. Love you all, thanks for being awesome!