Completely Random and Completely Wonderful.

¡Hola amigos! Please excuse my lack of blogging as of late. If I have been bored at any point during my time here in  Chulucanas, those days are long gone! Any free moments

that I have are filled with preparing for class, tutoring, cooking, or breathing (which seems like it needs to be scheduled in now!). This past weekend, however, we celebrated Chantelle's 23rd birthday: woohoo! The celebration began Thursday night with the quema. This translates to "burning" and is a time that is supposed to be spent with friends, remembering the old year and looking forward to the new!

Cake #1.

Chantelle with our friend Mercedes (on the right) and her niece. They both joined us for the quema celebration.

Chantelle and I have a choreographed dance to the song, "Volvi a Nacer."  Be jealous.

Wilson, one of Chantelle's university students, is a chef. He came to our house on her birthday to cook her some traditional Peruvian dishes... that were DELICIOUS! Here he is washing "pulpo," octopus!

The master chef at work! Note the adorable apron that he brought himself!

Chantelle with the defrosted pulpo!

Wilson and Anderson (another university student who came to "help" Wilson) put a candle in  one of the dishes.

Seco de Chavelo con pollo. A dish made of mashed, fried plantains and chicken. It sounds werid  but is AMAZING. Note how beautifully and artistically he prepared it.

The sign that Britt and I made to decorate! We also had balloons.

Beer in the fruit drawer as the rest of our fridge was stocked full of cake!

Wilson, proud of a job well done.

Chicharrones de pulpo. Fried octopus! Tastier than calamari and garnished with chifles, aji peppers, and onion. Mmmmm!

Cake #2. Left to right: Roderigo, Antonio, and Dr. John (the same doctor who treated me in the hospital actually!)

The successfully opened pinata! It was shaped like a large Pilsen (a local beer) bottle.
 

Pinata on her head!

Dancing at the party! Left to Right: Suzy and Britt, Chantelle and Dr. John, Wilson. 

Everyone who came to Chantelle's birthday party! Back Row Fom Left: Britt, Suzy, Antonio, Roderigo, Angela, Dr John. Front Row From Left: Me, Nelson, Chantelle, Wilson.

Saturday night we went to the discoteca (obviously) and off to Piura for some grocery shopping on Sunday. All in all, it was a fantastic and fun weekend. Completely random and completely wonderful. We live in Peru.