Just A Little Dog Bite... Mother's Day Flowers

Little Diego

Izcuchaca Family Group

Parents Lined Up For Mother's Day Programs

Julie in Regocijo

Rich on the  Amargura Steps

Julie on Cool Cobblestones

Big Doors

Julie in Siete Culebras

Siete Culebras Acrobat

Random Dog

Julie in Inca Roca Street

Julie in San Blas

Mother's Day Costume

Mother's Day Costume

Sports Marchers

Sports Marchers

Sports Marchers

Sports Marchers (The Opposite Direction)

Origami Artist

Mother's Day Kitsche Sellers

Mother's Day Cake Sellers

Mother's Day Kitsche Sellers

Mother's Day Kitsche Sellers

Mother's Day Fake Flowers Seller

Mother's Day Ceramic Cow Seller

Mother's Day Kitsche Sellers

Epic Gas Station Fail (For the record, this is pronounced KeeKay and is short for Enrique...)

Julie's Mother's Day Flowers

In Izcuchaca last Sunday we had wonderful morning with the members there. Julie helped in Primary and had a quiet two hours as there was only one little girl. Arianna is nearly eight years old going on thirty. She is so funny and loves to correct Julie’s Spanish if the case arises. Julie was reading a story out of the scriptures and pronounced the word “carcél” when the accent should have been on the “a”  “cárcel” which means jail. Arianna slapped her hand on the table and said, in Spanish obviously, “Sister Hasler, say cá, cár, cárcel! Now read it again and say it the right way!” Julie had a good laugh over that and she won’t mispronounce cárcel again!

When we got there, a very young, unwed mother began to spill her problems to Julie. She told her that she feels weak, cannot eat and is worried generally about raising her baby alone. Of course the baby’s father wants nothing to do with her or the baby. Julie suggested that she get a blessing from the elders and she asked for one for her baby too. It turned out that she had come to have the baby receive a name and a blessing. Anyway, when it came time to do that, she asked Rich to bless her baby. This is always quite an honor. She asked that he be named Diego. We have decided that this may be the most popular name for boys in Peru. Though we are not sure, we figure this may be due to the saber-tooth cat in “Ice Age,” the movie is very popular here.

On our way to work we pass through a narrow street/walkway that always has dogs roaming in it and we have never been bothered by any of them. Just recently however, a golden lab “wanna be” has taken a dislike towards Julie. Most days she can walk through with not even a glance from him, but he has become very unpredictable, sometimes growling at her or coming towards her. On Tuesday, while walking through and unbeknownst to her, he snuck up ninja style from behind and nipped her on the thigh. Fortunately, it didn’t break the skin and is just a bruise, but needless to say, she is nervous about walking that way now.

 

We’re not sure who the owner is, and probably never will know, so we can’t talk to anybody.  However, she feels more confident now that she is armed with a little squirt bottle filled with a concoction of vinegar, dish soap and lots of good old New Mexico extra hot chili powder. She’s anxious to give it a try on the beast.

All this week there have been hoards of school children marching on the sidewalks and streets for their “juegos de deportivos.” (Sporting games) Something similar to the “field days” we used to have in school. The different schools have their own day and march to the field or stadium where they will compete against each other by classes or teams it appears. There have been firecrackers going off continually, and pom pom and confetti remains all over the sidewalks and streets. We decided it would be fun to track how many days we don’t hear fireworks of some kind and so far we’re up to zero! There is always a celebration of some kind in Cusco.

Mother’s Day is a big deal here. Much bigger than Valentine’s Day and of course Father’s Day ;) There are red, heart shaped balloons and fake red roses on every corner and at the San Pedro market, stalls were set up selling trinkets, glassware, cakes, and perfumes. Everything was decked out in red hearts, lace and ribbon. Rich bought Julie a dozen long, beautiful stocks of red/yellow gladiolas. Flowers are so cheap here, not that Rich is cheap, hahahaha, Julie says…! They just don’t cost much; $6.00 for 12 big stocks of flowers! So we have flowers on our table nearly all the time which makes Julie happy.

The schools have all had their Mother’s Day programs with kids dressed up in all manner of fancy duds to show their appreciation to their mothers. Of course, their mothers had to make or rent the get-ups and do all of the work but it is part of the shenanigans. Likewise, the sidewalks have been congested near the schools with parents lined up to see their little ones singing Mommy Dear…

We have gone about three days without rain and the temperature has begun to drop. It is late fall here just now. We do notice that many a North American tourist seems to have neglected to check the weather report before coming to South America, and/or they slept through/missed the Earth-Axis-Rotation-Unit in Social Studies. We swear that they must just think it is always hot in South America, because it is South. It is crazy to see number of tank tops, flip flops and shorts topped off with recently purchased alpaca sweaters, gloves and ear-flap-stocking caps. It is all good for the Cusco economy, so it is not in their interest to get the Weather Channel to be more aggressive in getting the word out there…