Mis cumpleaños

My birthday here in Cusco ended up being a blast. Of course I missed my family and Jesse and all of my friends back home terribly, but I made it work here!

A few days before Halloween I convinced Edson and Maria that we had to have a jack-o-lantern, so we went on a quest with Evelyn at the Molino to find the perfect calabasa (which I always learned was the word for pumpkin). It turned out calabasas were not much like pumpkins at all. They're a lot smaller and an entirely unsuitable shape. So then we started looking for a good zapallo (squash which also sometimes means pumpkin so I'm kind of confused, to say the least), but they were all HUGE... about 25 kilos each... So we didn't find one that day at the molino. But the next day Edson went out and brought home a nice, round, green zapallo that could sit up on its own! So we got to work. We decided to make a traditional face since this was the first jack-o-lantern for the household. Edson was really into it and he did most of the carving himself. I was really thrilled by how much he enjoyed it, and how Maria and Evelyn ooohed and ahhed and wanted to have their pictures made with it after we put in the vela (candle) and put it outside in all its Halloween glory.

On the night of Halloween, my sobrinos (niece and nephews) came over and Edson and I took Valeria and Eduardo to the plaza to go trick-or-treating. It was really interesting to experience it in a different way. Valeria was the evil witch from snow white (although I'm pretty sure she thought she was the princess), Eduardo was hombre araña (Corey and Jonathan would get along well with him) which from what I could tell was the most popular costume of the evening. I was a cuy (that's right, a guinea pig) and Edson was Pablito or Pablucha, a guy from a legend about a girl who got raped by a bear and Pablito saved the day by killing the oso. His costume was pretty awesome. You'll have to consult the pictures.

To say "trick or treat" the kids would just scream "HALLOWEEEEN" at each of the stores in the plaza. By the time we got there, almost all of them were saying "ya no hay" since they had run out early on. Clearly these people have not yet mastered the concept of Halloween. But they do it in their own way, I suppose. It was really cool to be in the plaza with all the lights and a TON of parents and children. It was a little bit more magical than walking down the streets of Greenbriar, but it didn't have the same neighborhood feeling when you ring the doorbell and see someone who has essentially watched you grow up and knows it's your birthday so they give you a dollar!

After we went around the plaza for awhile, we headed back since Eduardo was almost asleep and just barely trudging along. Estrella was there too, but her fear of masks kept her from going out in her cute Tinkerbell costume. She probably stayed at home where she could rule everyone by looking cute and screaming, "agua!" because she didn't want to eat. Anyway, we got back home and started getting ready for my birthday party! All the students in the program came along with my friend Denis and her friend Rocío. Most of the ProPeru girls were dressed up as "revolutionaries" including Tupac Amaru, Fidel Castro, and Che Guevara. Essentially their costumes involved drawing mustaches on each other and wearing hats. Although Michelle's Che costume was pretty convincing. Dane, Grant, and Carly wore traditional outfits they rented complete with limp stuffed llamas. I really enjoyed the party, and probably drank most of the cuba libres (coke and rum) available. During the course of the evening, each of Maria's other children called me to say Happy Birthday! We went out to the plaza shortly afterwards, but I didn't last long.

It was really an amazing birthday. Thanks to everyone who sent me something in the mail or wrote me an email or a facebook message or even sent me warm wishes! I'm a very lucky girl. It was a great birthday! I'm 22!