I leave in exactly 1 month!! Sadness!

So I have hit my one month left mark. I can't believe these last 4 months have gone by so quickly. This next month is going to fly by since both Betsy and Mare will be here for most of it. I am soooo excited for their arrival. I have been figuring out fun but inexpensive things for us to do in the area. They arrive on Monday!!!

So Sunday marked "El Octavo" or the 8th and final day of the festival. Everything ended with the bull fights. I don't mean the kind of bull fight with matadors, either. These are literally bulls fighting bulls. There were about 20 gigantic bulls that would fight until one would run away. The only problem with this is that the townsfolk gather down on the field in a big circle around the fighting bulls, so that when one decides to run away, it runs right into the crowd. Then you have screaming and running people everywhere. From the safety of the ground above the field, I watched in amusement as people scattered. No one was hurt, don't worry. So it actually was pretty fun, watching the bulls and placing bets on who would win. I just stood around with Celestino and had a couple beers and cheered on the bulls that I liked.

Afterwards, a group of us hung out at our friends' house. I am very lucky that such a large group of us arrived at the same time towards the end of Jan/early Feb. We have all just had such a great time over the last 4 months. I will really miss these people when I leave. I am happy to know that Emma and Annie will still be in Ollanta when I return, but everyone else will have gone on their own ways. Luckily, I can easily visit Hallie up in Ann Arbor while she is in law school. I think I will see Will and Jess in August when they are in Michigan for a wedding. Sorry, Mom, but the invitations to Thanksgiving at the Peaper's this fall are growing!!

Anyway, the town is finally back to normal after all of the festivities. Hallie and Hayden leave on Thursday. I actually have to go to Cusco for a meeting on Thursday so I will accompany them and we will grab some food before they head to the airport. It really doesn't seem real that Hallie is leaving. All good things must come to an end.

Tonight, Rachel and I are the quiz masters for the pub quiz. We have some good topics so hopefully everyone will enjoy themselves. We on purpose barely used a computer so at least one person on each team should know the answers to our questions. I always hate it when the questions are so out there that they make you feel extremely stupid!!

Okay, we have pub quiz tonight, bonfire at the house (this is when having an open floor plan and upstairs patio comes in handy) tomorrow night for Hallie and Hayden's going away, movie night Thursday, and pizza party on Saturday to welcome the 4 volunteers who arrive on Friday. We definitely keep ourselves a busy social calendar!

On a side note, our electric shower is broken so for the past three days I have had absolutely freezing cold showers. Please think of me as you stand under your warm, high pressure showers. My hands have still not warmed back up since my shower and washing my clothes this morning! There are definitely some things that I really look forward to having again upon my return to the States!