Barro, Barro, Barro -- Mud, Mud, Mud!

So yesterday was El Dia de los Compadres up in a little mountain village called Marcacocha. There was food, dancing and a bull fight (I use this term lightly). Ana, Shura, Fabricio and I went up there aroud lunch time and stayed for quite a few hours. We brought our own lunch and camped out while watching some dancing. Then we snagged a good seat for the bull fights. Unfortunately, it was an extremely cold and rainy day so the roads were pure mud, the walkways were pure mud, and our shoes and pants were covered in mud. Actually, it was a pretty boring day. The dances were boring and the bull fight was ridiculous. The first bull was small and skinny. Many times during the "fight" he just stopped and started eating grass! The bull fighters, again I use this term lightly, were sitting around drinking beer and trying to get the bull to charge by waving their jackets at them. Definitely not what a true bull fight is. The second bull kept trying to get back out of the ring and into the area where the bulls are kept. By the third bull, I decided to socialize with some family members and stop watching! Also, the band decided to set up right behind us so that was a little loud and annoying to be near. We finally decided to leave once the bull fights were over and everyone just started drinking. We did not want to risk being driven back down the mountain on the curvy, muddy roads by a drunk driver -- very likely as the night went on. We were lucky and found a car and down we went.

Unfortunately, the altitude and cold got to me and I was feeling pretty sick by the evening. Throughout the night I had a splitting headache and was really nauseous. Luckily, I slept in the next morning and drank a lot of water and was good to go by the afternoon. I missed the chocolatada at the posta though. I was able to track Noah down in the afternoon and we set up a meeting with Kaitlyn, Sunny, Noah and myself. The meeting went well. Sunny and Kaitlyn brought me up to date on the health program and its current projects. They are working with disabled children and adults in the surrounding communities. Basically trying to offer support and rehab to the disabled and their families. We are now in need of physical therapist and Occupational therapist volunteers -- Mary Ellen, I need you!!! I am going to be spending my mornings in the clinics and then my afternoons gathering data for grants. There is so much data down here that no one has really used.

We are still running the chocolatadas, but my public health classes have fallen to the wayside. So I will also be creating new education curriculum to begin again in the telecentro after school program.

Friday night was a lot of fun. The volunteers got together at Will, Jess, Noah, Willa and Blair's house for Sushi Night! The sushi was all vegetarian, but it was delicious! Our friend Alex joined us later with his brand new puppy who is just a ball of fur. So darn cute! It was great to be back with Will and Jess and Emma. The other volunteers seem to be really nice. I really like the volunteer coordinator, Kaitlyn. So all in all, I think the next couple months are going to be great. I am excited to get back into things.

Yesterday was a beautiful gem of a day. It didn't rain at all! I got up in the morning to sunshine and warmth. I ate breakfast and then went on our old usual morning hike -- I miss Hallie! It was gorgeous up in the mountains. Looking down on the town and all the green mountainsides. Beautiful! Then Shura and I ran some errands in Urubamba and hung out with Ana and Fabricio. I also had the pleasure of helping Ana prepare mashed potatoes for lunch. This meant peeling the potatoes. Of course, at home we use a peeler. Well, here they just use a knife. As I peeled more potatoes, I got faster, but it was pretty pitiful that Ana could peel about 5 potatoes to my 1! Back to the carb overload. We had white rice, mashed potatoes and corn for lunch. It is all delicious but just so much starch!

Today I am catching up on this blog, calling some friends and just chilling out. Of course since it was sunny and beautiful yesterday, it is rainy and cold today. I did book my Inca Trail trek so I am for sure going to Macchu Pichu via the 4 day hike this time. I leave on April 30. All of May is already booked out. Would love to hear from everyone so email if you get a chance.