Yellow Underwear, Monster Fire Crackers and the Year of the Sheep, What???

Year of the ram, sheep ... Wait a minute, this is Peru

Grapes for Good Luck

Yellow for Good Luck

Yellow for Good Luck

Yellow for Good Luck

Yellow for Good Luck

Yellow confetti and lentils for Good Luck

Bodacious glasses!

Universal New Year's Supplies

Grapes for Good Luck

Yellow for Good Luck

Yellow for Good Luck

Shock and Awe 2015

Shock and Awe 2015

Shock and Awe 2015

Shock and Awe 2015

Shock and Awe 2015

Shock and Awe 2015

Plastic Man 

Zither in the rain

Some winks

Mother and daughter

Shoeshiner

Little bitty Schnauzer

Salt and pepper shakers shaped like propane gas tanks; thinking we need to "get us some..."

Roof dogs on alert

Blind Mandolin player

Fuser, complete with festive Hawaiian/New Years lei...

We are still recovering from our nasty colds. Last Sunday we were supposed to travel with President Harbertson to Izcuchaca to dissolve that family group. They will be now attend the Villa Maria Branch, so they will have to travel about 20 minutes. We hope they will be faithful and able to make the change.  We were sad to hear that news but understand the need. The Area Presidency said that was what had to happen to help strengthen the Villa Maria Branch. 

Unfortunately, Rich woke up Saturday evening with a very high fever, so our travel plans got nixed. Rich spent Sunday in bed and as of this blog we are feeling much better and have been out a few times, but the cough is hanging on although every day it is less and less.  

Because of this illness we haven’t taken any pictures for a couple of weeks, but come Monday, fingers and toes crossed, we’ll be back to work again. We have enjoyed our time off and have read a lot, which we both love.  It has been nice. 

New Year’s Eve day, we walked through the open air market in the Tupac Amaru Plaza. It was crammed with stalls selling every kind of yellow underwear for good luck and every imaginable yellow hat, glasses, streamers, flowers etc. for the New Year.  There were heaps of grapes and of course there were also tons of fireworks for sell, it was quite the adventure.

We decided we needed a hamburger so we went to Papacho’s which appeared to have been a mistake because it was packed with people and a big line of people waiting to get in.  We gave our name and they told us it would be about 15 minutes. which here means anywhere up to two hours.  Surprisingly, they called us 5 minutes later! It’s nice to have friends in the restaurant. Our lunch was delicious and we were ready for a nap when we got home.

New Year’s Eve was noisy and loud and it was fun to watch the fireworks (Peruvian Shock and Awe) from the roof top of our apartment. It was quite the spectacle.  We came in after about 20 minutes because the smoke was so thick and we knew it wouldn’t help our cough any. We had a relaxing New Year’s Day; Julie made cinnamon rolls that were wonderfully delicious. 

We ventured out again on Friday and went to the central market for some pecans and almonds. It was nice to get out and walk around a bit and get some fresh air.

We have learned how to fill our own printer ink cartridges. The new cartridges are so expensive here and most of the time it’s impossible to find the correct ones. We bought the bottles of ink and a hypodermic needle and our neighbor Fernando Agüero showed us the finer points of this little project. 

Mostly, there is not much to report this week other than our improved health. We hope you had a Happy New Year  celebration and we wish you all the best for the upcoming year.