4th of July

Somehow I was actually able to sleep late on my last day here. I made it all the way to 8:30 am, which is a full hour longer than I have been able to sleep all the days I have been here. I can't believe today is my last day here. I was catching a flight back to Lima at 5:00 pm, so I had much of the day to pack and celebrate the 4th of July.

I ate my favorite breakfast one last time (honey cornflakes and then a bowl of coconut yogurt) and then updated the blog a little. I picked up one last thing from the sandal lady at the prison market and made the mistake of wearing a tank top and shorts out of the house. I had packed everything else, so I had no choice. I got some loud yells and immediately regretted my outfit decision. Oh well, made it back to the house safely.

At about 10:30 am, it was time to start getting ready for the 4th of July cookout. We had asked Paulina, the cook, to get all the necessary food to properly celebrate the 4th. Hamburgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, watermelon, and potato chips...all with a Peruvian flare of course. The corn was choclo, which has huge kernels. The hamburg meat was fried in little patties, like they fry everything else. The hot dogs were more of a reddish sausage and the potato chips were homemade. It was as good of 4th of July meal anywhere! We were excited.

Pictures-Frank cooking the hot dogs, no, not on a grill (none to be found),but fried in a pan. Elizabeth in charge of boiling the choclo. My favorite homemade potato chips being fried. Some gals getting ready to eat lunch right before I made everyone sing the "Star-Spangled Banner."

As Frank, Elizabeth and I "helped" Paulina get everything ready, we tried to fry some bananas. I say "helped" because it soon turned into us trying to fry anything we could find while she continued to work hard cooking. We decided to make it a real American (pronounced Uuh-muur-ii-cun) celebration and fry everything. I even got inspiration from the Texas State Fair and decided we should fry a candy bar. Sublime was the candy bar of choice, as it provided the Peruvian flare we needed (a popular candy bar here that is a chocolate bar with peanuts in it). We experimented with battering it and putting it in the pan of hot oil to fry. Somehow, it worked. Not the most beautiful presentation ever, but delicious none the less.

As we were sitting down to dine on the great American meal, the fireworks tower arrived. Amy and Danielle had gone to pick up the 7 foot tower that Frank had ordered for the celebration they would have tonight. It was so large that it would not fit in the front door, so we had to figure out another solution for keeping it safe until tonight. Thus, the sheet rope idea was born. In true old summer camp movie style, Amy and Frank tied a bunch of sheets together to make a rope to hoist the tower up off the ground (see above). On the ground, Danielle tied the "rope" to the tower and on the roof Frank and Amy pulled the end of the rope to hoist spinning tower of firework fun off the ground. I took pictures and laughed the whole time. It actually worked though. Feeling quite proud of the solution, we went back inside and ate our marvelous meal.

I enjoyed my last few hours of Peru by basking in the warm sun on the roof and reading, like I had done so many times before. Finally, I gathered my things and said my goodbyes. I tried to pretend I was just walking out of the room soon to return, but knew that I probably would never see these great people ever again. Instead of dwelling on that, I focused on the amazing experience we had shared.

Alejandro drove me to the airport and I enjoyed speaking my last conversation in Spanish (for a while anyway). Alejandro asked me about my past travels and if I would be coming back to Peru. He is interested in learning about and seeing the world, but confessed that he probably would never have the money to make the travels that he wanted. We arrived at the airport and he chatted with me as I waited for my flight. Near the end of our conversation, he told me my Spanish has improved over my stay here and that I am speaking much more. I smiled and felt proud as he unknowingly told me I had accomplished one of my goals for this trip.

He departed and I went through security to wait at one of the two gates in the Ayacucho airport. I silently basked in a sense of pride and accomplishment as I waited to board.

Soon the woman who checked me in (who was also the gate agent and the ground crew) came in rapidly speaking Spanish, clearly asking us something important. I quickly snapped out of my new found pride for my Spanish skills, as I didn't understand one word she had said, and looked at the closest person to me and pitifully said, "no entiendo." My neighbor explained to me that because of the temperature the plane won't be able to carry all of the weight, so we have to leave the bags here....Ugh, what?

This was going to be a problem for two reasons:
1)I am leaving the country tonight, so that was not OK.(No problem, turns out we can bring my one bag.)
2)I am not sure I want to put my body on a tiny plane that can't carry our bags too. (Oh well, I am sure these other people don't want to die either, so I guess I'll go for it)

Pictures-My view inside the plane (notice:one seat on either side of aisle, no overhead bins, and shadow of captain on the curtain.) View of my seat. There was a cute little snack box waiting for us in our seats with a sandwich and a juice box (no in-flight service on this one). Also,as a result of no overhead bins, my carry on is under my feet, so that explains the smushed, cross-legged position. My view out of the plane looking to the left.

I enjoyed the beautiful flight and reflecting on my last five and a half weeks. What an experience! No words can describe all I got from this once and a life time adventure.

I looked to my right and took this last picture of the trip--
a beautiful way to end a beautiful experience.

4th of July, Shooter Jennings