La Última Semana

Well, I apologize for not writing in my blog since Tuesday. Basically I spent all of Wednesday and Thursday relaxing because I wanted to conserve my energy after being sick. I was still pretty exhausted for the rest of the week and didn't really do anything of note.

Friday night Jackie and I finally went out to town. I fell asleep around 8 o'clock on that night and was out like a light until 10 when Jackie pounded on my door telling me that she would not accept another night of boredom. So I had to get ready really fast so we could meet up with our friends in the Plaza de Armas at 10:30.
We were all out dancing and ran into a group of folks from the United States that we had met a week ago. Jackie and I were supposed to go out with them on Monday, but that was the day I was throwing up all my insides (you're welcome for that detail) so we didn't go. We didn't have any of their phone numbers at the time so they thought we had stood them up. Whoops.

Yesterday was wonderful. Jackie and I finally got to sleep in (we wake up at 7:00 every day, or at least I do) which was greatly appreciated. I ate about four bowls of cereal for breakfast because I was just so excited to have cereal and soy milk after eating toast every morning for seven weeks. Also, Peruvian children's cereal has some really wonderful stories printed on the back about superheroes and evil villains who want to rid the planet of flavor and joy.

In the afternoon, we went to Mercado San Pedro to go "mysterious fruit shopping," as I called it. Basically I just wanted to go to this giant marketplace and buy every kind of fruit that I had never eaten before. We bought chirimoya, lúcuma (suprising that I've only ever had the ice cream...), granadilla, granada (okay, so that's a pomegranate, but whatever), noni (which legitimately smells like garbage), pepino, and this weird alien fruit whose name I can't remember. The last one and the granadilla seriously look like slimy alien pupae when you open them up, but they are surprisingly delicious. I know food is a complete sensory experience, but if you can get over the off-putting appearance of both these fruits, they both valen la pena.

Afterwards, I hung out with my friend Kevin at his host family's house. They were all making fun of him to me because he doesn't speak Spanish as well as I do. Let me explain a little tidbit about Kevin. He was kind of randomly selected to be on the Food Network with Bobby Flay because he put on this big charity barbecue and an article was published about it in some newspaper, etc. So I basically have a minor Food Network celebrity friend now! Really the point of sharing that was to explain that it's great to have a fellow foodie in my midst. Last night we talked all night about our favorite meals (I went into great deal explaining the black mission figs, chèvre, white polenta, acorn squash, pomegranate quinoa and almond creme that Ajay and I ate at Leaf in Boulder) and it was great. Then we went downtown with his host family to watch fireworks and a concert in the Plaza de Armas. This whole week is basically the week of Cusco leading up to Inti Raymi (the festival of the sun) on Tuesday, so there are festivities every day. I should mention that I ate the best candy apple of my life last night. I LOVE CUSCO.

When I got home, Jackie and I stayed up til three in the morning talking about all sorts of wonderful nostalgia from elementary school. We woke up late again today and went to Jack's for brunch. I cannot even believe how much food I ate. Again, I think I was just excited to not have to eat toast and jam for breakfast that I went a little overboard. We each had a milkshake, a fried egg and toast, and separate orders of pancakes. Oh but these were no ordinary pancakes. We each had a stack of three pancakes covered in homemade whipped cream (normally I am not a whipped cream fan, but I made an exception), bananas, mangoes, strawberries, and honey. I had to be carted out of the restaurant essentially, but it was so worth it. It's my last week in Cusco and I have to go all out!

Today I think I am going to the boys' hogar to teach them kickball. Tomorrow night Jackie and I are going out to celebrate the day of Cusco and then we're going to wake up super early on Tuesday to stake out a good spot at Sacsayhuamán to watch the ceremony on Inti Raymi. This is going to be a great last week.

Felicitaciones,
Adrien