On to Cusco

Well, tomorrow our SST group leaves for Cusco and Machu Picchu. Naturally I'm really excited about that, but as I sit here in Lima, I realize that I'm pretty sad to be leaving my host family here in Callao that has treated me so well over the past five weeks. They have opened their home to me, always going out of the way to make me comfortable. I don't know how many times they let me have the front seat when we got a cab, walked to the bus stop with me in our potentially unfriendly-towards-Americans neighborhood, sent a few pieces of fruit to school with me, or any number of other things to make my stay in Lima enjoyable. This past Friday we had a going away party for all of our host families which was a great way to say good bye. We sang some songs for them, had some words of farewell and thanks, and spend time mingling and talking to everyone.

This past Saturday I also said thank you as well as good-bye to my family in the best way I knew how - by getting up early and making them breakfast. After a discussion with my sisters and host mom, I realized that here in Perú, they don't have pancakes like the ones we are used to in the States. So, thanks to my mom for sending a recipe to me, I made my family some American-style pancakes. They weren't quite like in the states, but they were pretty close. Afterwards I went to Lima zoo with my mom, sisters, and a couple of friends of the family. That was a great way to spend a little time with them here on the last weekend. My family also took me out to eat on Sunday night and then we walked around a bit in an area of Callao called La Punta, which, as the name suggests, is a peninsula that sticks out into the Pacific. What really struck me during our time at the good-bye party, making breakfast, at the zoo, and at La Punta, was my family's desire to take pictures of us together. It really makes me happy that they want those memories of me, because it shows that they've enjoyed having me around and want to remember. And I know that I'll remember them, pictures or not.

This week, we'll be leaving Lima for Cusco, where we'll spend one day. We'll head to Machu Picchu and Ollantaytambo (a historic village of sorts close to Machu Picchu), and spend two days in that neighborhood. On Friday we'll return to Lima, and then everyone will head out into rural Perú for their service assignments. So, in about a week or so I'll have a whole new host family, surroundings and daily routine to tell you all about. Until then I'm going to enjoy Cusco and Machu Picchu, which I know I'll have a lot to write about when we get back.