4 Cakes and an Alfahor later…

"You're birthday should be national holiday"

"Well it kind of is…"

This week was one of the most important in Peru, it was Dias Patrias (Independence Days) and of course my birthday!

Dias Patrias were Wednesday and Thursday of this week so we had a lot of Peruvian culture things going on at the center. On Tuesday all the language facilitators prepared a special little presentation on Dias Patrias. They wore traditional clothing, danced, sang, and we all learned the Peruvian national anthem. Wednesday we had off but my family doesn't really do much to celebrate. The grandparents are in town visiting from the selva though so I helped make Juanes during the afternoon. You may remember from a previous post they are the rice, egg, chicken ect… wrapped in a leaf. Thursday it was holiday for Peruvians but we still had to go to the center for classes. Among other things, we learned all about traditional uses for different plants as medicine which was really interesting and made Panchamanca for lunch. What is a Panchamanca? I'll explain in 18 simple steps.

1. Elect a Padrino and Madrino for the Panchamanca (Godparents)
   
2. Dig a hole in the ground.
   
3. Fill hole with rocks.
   
4. Start a fire to heat the rocks.
   
5. Once rocks are heated remove some of the rocks.
   
6. Fill the hole with all sorts of goodies.
   
7. Banana leaves
   
8. Meat (in our case just chicken but it usually include multiple kinds of meats)
   
9. Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes
   
10. Herbs
    
11. Banana leaves
    
12. Usually followed by humitas (think tamales)
    
13. Put rocks back on
    
14. Cover with moist sheets and basically anything you can find
    
15. Cover with dirt
    
16. Godparents place cross on the pile and dance around it (Godparents are also expected to supply the first caja (case) of beer)
    
17. Uncover and dig out the food
    
18. Enjoy!

The next day of course was my birthday. Everyone was really great and I had so much fun. I think like 75% of what I ate that day was sugar or some sort of dessert so I think I can organize the day using desserts.


Cake 1-We had Spanish class in the house of one of the girls in my class and we made a delicious tres leches cake, which has quickly become my favorite cake. It helps that my Spanish Professor used to work in a bakery making cakes and she still does it on the side. They also got me a few little presents which was really sweet.

Alfahor-Then at the center the group sang happy birthday to me around an alfahor with a candle stuck in it. Actually, I think they sung to me 3 different times at the center.

Box of Chocolates-The whole group also signed a card and got me a box of really delicious chocolate. We'll see how long it lasts.

Cake 2- After classes I went to Morochita (a pastry restaurant really close to the center that will probably get its own post in the future). There some friends bought me a slice of delicious cheesecake.

Cake 3- My family surprised me with little impromptu party when I got home they invited my friends over, we had cake and champagne, and then my host dad gave a little speech. It was really adorable and really sweet of them. We got hamburgers from a little stand in the neighborhood for dinner and then a ton of volunteers and I took over a karaoke bar.

Cake 4-Karaoke was awesome, but really when isn't it? It was so much fun and then they brought out yet another cake which a gift from bar.

Yesterday I had a little taste of America when a group of us went to a movie theater in Lima to see Inception which was totally worth the 16 soles. I mentioned previously even when you're in an area or situation that reminds you of the states or makes you feel American there's always something to remind you that you're still in Peru. Our combi home detoured because of construction, drove quite a while going the wrong way on a one way street and drove past our stop and then they told everyone to get off the combi in the middle of who-knows-where. Oh Peru…

2 more days until site assignment! On Tuesday afternoon we find out where we will be living for the next 2 years. They have a big reveal planned for us and nice lunch which we were promised will not include rice and potatoes. The possible regions for me are Ancash, Arequipa, la Libertad, Lambayeque, Cajamarca and Piura. Ancash, Arequipa, and Cajamarca are all considered sierra areas and I have a suspicion that's where they want to send me but it is Peace Corps so it's best not to expect anything. I can't believe it but next weekend ill actually leave for about a week to go on my site visit! It's so crazy how fast these last 3 weeks of training are going to go. I think it's actually going to be hard to leave training. We've all made a lot of friends and gotten really comfortable in our situation here. It's kind of being in your own little comfy world. We can speak English all day, we're around people who understand us, and we have virtually no responsibilities. At the same time I think everyone's really excited to get to our site, get settled and start doing what we came here to do.