¡Cumpleanos Feliz! (Happy Birthday!)

So, why am I sitting at the computer at midnight, updating my blog? Because I currently have egg drying on my head and need to take a shower, but, gotta love Peru, it takes about 45 minutes for the hot water to warm up, so since I have to be awake anyway, I thought I'd recap the last few days.

Now why do I have egg on my head, your wondering? Well, today was my birthday, and in Peru, it is tradition to smash an egg on the head of the lucky person celebrating a birthday. Wierd, yes, but think about birthday spankings...every country has it's weird birthday traditions, I guess. I thought I was going to escape the day without getting egged, but as we were leaving the guys' apartment at 10:30pm, Jill got me...she seemed to enjoy smashing that egg...I wonder if I should be concerned about that :)

I must say that my 27th year is off to a good start. Yesterday, Casa Job got over about an hour early, so a group of us decided to walk to the park that overlooks the ocean on Salavary Street. It was a perfect day to lay on a blanket, read a good book, play MASH (do you all remember playing MASH in elementary school?), chat, listen to the ocean, and watch the sunset. Seriously, I could go to the ocean every day.

Today, after getting some much needed laundry out of the way (Mom, you'd be proud of how clean my clothes are here!), my roomies made me breakfast...French Toast...yummy! The festivities officially started at 1:30pm. We visited the Inca Market, a tourist trap for neat Peruvian stuff. Shopping there is a little stressful because they call at you to come in their store and try to show you everything once you get in. I just want to say to them, "Leave me alone! You don't know what color my house is or what kind of things my friends like!" but, of course, I didn't. Instead, I just play the tourist part and ignore them.

Next stop on the adventure was the Parque de Amor (The Park of Love). We went there because we've all been dying to see the main attraction there...a giant...and I do mean giant....statue of two people kissing. And not just a peck on the cheek...laying on their sides, kissing (fully clothed, but still weird). We've seen it on postcards and joked that we had to see it in person. The funniest thing about the park (which also contains some awesome mosaic artwork) is that all around the statue are people actually kissing. They come to the park especially to stand around and make-out! That's one thing about Latin culture...they definately believe in public displays of affection!

There is a park nearby that overlooks the ocean. There we played Ultimate Frisbee (I was so excited!) and watched the sun set over the ocean...beautiful! Then we enjoyed dinner at a great sandwich shop, where I had the best chocolate cake I've had in this country. To top off a great day, we played Nerts at the boys' apartment. Nerts is the one card game I am consistenly good at, so that was fun.

Upon leaving, I got the egg smashed on my head, so that rounded out the day. I highly recommend a birthday abroad if you get the chance. I guarantee I won't forget my 27th! Today reminded me of what a great group community I have developed here in Peru and what a blessing it is to be part of a community of people who really love and care for you....life is meant to be lived and celebrated with people. It also reminded me of how much I love all of you back home and look forward to celebrating life with you when I return.