Dia de Independencia, July 4th

It’s strange being away from the U.S. on the 4^th of July. There weren’t any fireworks, no barbeques, no swimming, no nothing. We went about our day as if it were any other day here in Cusco. We definitely woke up late and were 30 minutes late to Spanish class, but luckily Walter saw we were tired so he took it a little easy on us…okay not really, but I wish. We then took a taxi home because neither of us felt well, what a day! We came home and Rach took a nap and I just hung out-I didn’t want us to miss lunch bahaha, we are starved children here. Lunch was great-Maria Elena made a very traditional Peruvian dish and I liked it. I don’t quite remember the name besides “gallina.” That means chicken/hen. It was a spicy (not really that spicy, but to them-spicy) sauce with chicken over one of their 3,000 types of potatoes. Seriously-3,000 types. We got some more new roommates for the week-Rachel and Summers. Another Rachel, funny how that works out. They are a boyfriend and girlfriend combo from Colorado here for 4 weeks. They are super nice and funny. He is totally into geology, which makes me and Rachel happy so we can think about Matt all the time haha, and Rachel just got into medical school so her and the other girls have loads to talk about! We went to work early so that we could get off and go celebrate the 4^th with all of our American friends here. Rach and I liked going early because the girls wanted to play basketball and volleyball and it feels like they want to interact with us more. They made us eat dinner with them, which was hilarious since we thought we were supposed to help cook and serve (of course, they were already done cooking and whatnot). They made this purple goo that you eat out of a bowl. Apparently it had cooked apples in it-it’s name was something like Arina maiz morada-that’s probably not how it’s spelt but those little girls talk so fast and mumble it’s hard to remember anything. Rach and I think it smelt like something from back home but we couldn’t put our finger on what it was. After dinner we came home and “got ready” aka I stayed in my sweatpants and sweatshirt while everyone else was in cute jeans and sweaters, etc. Mom, I bet that doesn’t surprise you huh? Typical ASU attire! Haha. We went to this restaurant called Jack’s. It’s a popular place down here for all of the foreigners. We got these mean Big Juicy Cheeseburgers to celebrate. Let me tell you, they were huge. Like a double double but with an extra bun in the middle. The others decided to go out for drinks so me and Rachel came home-we were tired and needed to wake up early. It’s nice having friends here.  We really like Nichelle, Heather, and Sarah.