Emotional Roller Coaster, July 14th

Today was a great day-both happy and emotional.  We woke up and went to class and hung out with Walter.  He decided we should go on a field trip today to experience Cusco and talk Spanish.  We first walked to the Plaza de Armas where we happened to find the cutest little parade/celebration going on.  The whole plaza was filled with little kids from about ages 3-6 or so dressed in costumes from different parts of Peru.  It was seriously the cutest thing I have ever seen.  If I was not baby hungry before, I definitely wanted to take a few of them home with me after seeing this!! We walked around the plaza and watched the little kids dance and model their costumes and of course we took pictures.  After a bit we decided to walk uphill to this other plaza close to the main square called San blass? Who knows if I spelled it correctly, but it was so beautiful.  Walter says it’s the plaza/neighborhood for artists-I guess this is where they come to get their inspiration.  I can totally see why though-it’s gorgeous.  We stayed there and talked and sat on a bench for a while til we decided to head back to class.  We talked in Spanish for a little bit more until our time was up and as we walked downstairs with Walter to part our separate ways the cutest thing happened-I hugged Walter and then he hugged Rachel and his eyes filled up with tears and he mumbled in Spanish something along the lines that we were going to make him cry.  I just about died-Rach and I walked the opposite way and the tears soon followed. Why hello, we are just two gringas walking down the street crying, no biggie.  It was seriously the sweetest thing ever.  After this we made it home to eat lunch and one of our roommates decided to make homemade quiche-it was delish. Since it was Rach & I’s last day at the orphanage we decided to have a party.  We bought lots of Inca Kola & Fanta plus 3 cakes and some candy. It was great-the girls wanted us to bring our cameras and of course they put them to good use.  By the end of the night both mine and Rachel’s camera’s batteries were DEAD. They seriously made us take pictures of their every movement. It was hilarious but also somewhat annoying since all of the girls freak out like you’ve forgotten that they all want you to take pictures of every move they make, including breathing.  I shed a some tears as we left-I got some of their emails and we are planning on sending pictures down here for them so it should be awesome to keep in touch.  It was just so heart wrenching for us to say goodbye.  I couldn’t help it when the girls kept hugging us and wouldn’t let us go.  We finally left and of course we got home to our mamita who can instantly read my mood and came to hug us and kiss us-this is where Rachel broke down and I shed a few more tears.  I didn’t realize how attached I had become to everyone here-my life has truly been changed. We were supposed to go out for a Salsa lesson but of course we were emotionally drained so we took a taxi to the store, got some Coca Cola, and watched Emperor’s New Groove (it’s a must when you’re in Cusco!).  We laughed hard and just hung out. We also bought some things for Walter for our last day of class tomorrow.  We bought his favorite tea, pinguinos (basically ding dongs BUT in peru-we talk about them at almost every class), some coupons for 10% off Machu Pizza, Tres Leches cake, and we got him a Book of Mormon in Spanish.  Rach and I wrote a message to him on the inside basically telling him that we want him to be able to understand how important the church is to us and how much we love him. It was nice to not feel so much pressure-our relationship with Walter is great because he KNOWS how we feel about the church.  He KNOWS about temples because of our other conversations.  I hope he receives everything with an open heart because he truly changed mine and Rachel’s lives.  We love Walter (as if I haven’t said that before…)! Well, we have to get up bright and early to get ready for our last day of class and last day with Walter-Goodnight Peru, 3 more nights here and then we are back in America….