Peruvian Christmas!

OK so I have to wait for Andrea to come home since I don´t have a key to the house.

Christmas was a couple days ago, and still super exciting. We didn´t open presents or eat until midnight on the 24th. To tide us over we ate cookies and drank Whisky and lit sparklers in the living room, which turned out safer than it sounds. Shaun and I joked around with the little kids until they fell asleep and then we made friends with the cousins Andrea didn´t know.

finally midnight came and all these other family came rushing into the room and suddenly everyone had to hug and kiss each other and it was such a flurry of activity and happiness and everyone had been drinking slightly and it was super fun and amazing!!! then we had to sit down while select people served plates of turkey and applesauce and served everyone else. After eating as fast as possible, we opened presents. Andrea´s family got me a present! it was super exciting. Then we danced Cumbia for way too long and at about 2 we drank hot chocolate and went screaming home so we could sleep. the next day we spent eating leftover turkey, and Shaun made a novela out of Barbies. it was fun!

I will update you about New Years soon! I bought my yellow underwear today!!!

Sorry Guys...

So I put up that schedule, but I haven´t written about Ushuaia, Calafate OR Machu Picchu yet. I know you´re all sad. But I don´t have free internet so it is expensive to blog. But ten minute summary!!!

1. Ushuaia was really cold. Seeing as it´s Antartica. But it was light forever because it´s summer there--roughly 4am to 11pm it was light out. I ran around with penguins and went canoeing and it was beautiful. I also got wind and sun burn at the same time, which was a new and interesting experience.

2. Calafate was warmer and looked like a desert. We went on some hardcore hikes and started to get really sick of each other, but had a really good time running around on the glacier!!! There are almost too many pictures of it.

3. BUS RIDE!!! I forgot, probably because I tried to block it out of my mind. It was 60 hours of the same salsa mix and every Nicholas Cage movie. People kept throwing up because of the extreme altitude changes and the guy next to me tried to convince me to have his children, but it was an interesting experience. I´m still flying back to Buenos Aires.

4. Machu Picchu and Cusco was beautiful! Totally intense hiking and I did the sissy hiking, but also I did it cheaply so I had to walk on the train tracks intead of taking the train. You guys should go too!!! And eat peruvian food.

5. LIMA!!! I am there now. I met with Sergio yesterday and I am probably going to be doing production and development of maca beer, which should be super challenging but super interesting as well! Lima is really cool and super delicious! Also it is a ton cheaper than Buenos Aires so I am unhappy about having to return. I am living with Drea´s Grandmother right now, and she is adorable. I am super sad that I don´t have my own Peruvian grandmother.

I will try to write more eloquent and interesting things later okay!? About Lima and Lonche and Life!!!

Christmas is soon!!! I am super excited.

Colonia!

In the flurry of papering, I forgot to write about Uruguay part 2.



Colonia was pretty much everyone pretending they didn´t have large amounts of essays waiting for them in Buenos Aires. As such, everyone tried extra hard to be calm and just enjoy life. Colonia, it turned out, was the perfect place to do such a thing. There are very few permanent residents there--everyone is a tourist. They accepted Pesos of every kind and even Dollars even at the most hole-in-the-wall places. It had cobblestone roads and flowers everywhere. I would move there in an instant if I had the money and a job that let me work remotely.



for Thanksgiving, we went to Mario´s house. He owns a bed-and-breakfast in a lemon orchard and we all ate ourselves silly. A lot of people went swimming, but I just sat around and enjoyed the, as we call it at camp, nature. He even had pumkin pie! Which was super exciting and better than I expected. I want to get married there. With the large tent and wads of happy people, it felt a lot like a wedding. Also, the weather was incredible. We couldn´t have asked for a sunnier day or a gentler breeze. It definitely didn´t feel like Thanksgiving, but it´s fun to break with tradition now and again!

DECEMBER!?

So I am totally supposed to be writing my very last paper right now. My last tango class is in 2 hours and I'll definitely go out with the gang afterwards because it's our last night.

It is already December first!!! I realized that December is going to be every flavor of crazy. I also realized I won't have time to do laundry for the next 2 weeks, so I bought 3 more pairs of socks and another outfit out of desperation.

Also I am going to be online really rarely from now on. If you catch me online, you might want to talk to me. I'm sure I'll have a story to tell you.

here is my schedule, in case you're wondering. which you probably are.

DECEMBER!

1-that's today

2-Castellano final

3-get on the plane and ship myself to Ushuaia (the end of the world)

4-5-Explore Ushuaia

6-Get on plane no. 2 and go to Calafate, a glacier. (snow in december! my goal!)

7-8-explore El Calafate

9-Haul @** back to BsAs

10!!!! Board the bus to Lima

11-lose excitement over being on the bus

12-Probably be in Chile by then. on the bus.

13-Arrive in Lima! Minus my sanity

14-Get on plane no. 4 to Cuzco (which I will have driven by on the bus)

15-16-17-18-19-hang out in MACCHU PICHU!!!

20-Get on plane no.5 and go back to Lima

21-realize i'm broke

22-do nothing

23-eat soup

24-start celebrating christmas

25-celebrate more christmas

26-calm down about christmas

27-explore lima?

28-Shaun leaves-ish

29-Drea and I cry

30-start preparing for new yeras

31-PARTY REALLY INTENSELY

01/01/11 wake up hung over on a beach. i've been promised that's what is going to happen.

DID YOU NOTICE THAT THERE IS EXACTLY 1 DAY THAT SAYS DO NOTHING. I AM ROASTY TOAST.