It's Raining, It's Pouring



Teaching by candlelight



There's been a lot of rain in Talara lately, which is kind of interesting considering we're in the desert! Some days, there's so much water that the streets look like rivers. The ceiling in our apartment is in pretty rough shape, so our place starts to flood pretty quickly. We have to continually sweep water out the front door and place buckets all over the apartment. One night, we were forced to shut off the power for safety reasons. Nathaly, one of my roommates, pulled her mattress into my room and we sang and told stories by candlelight all night. On another rainy night we decided that we HAD to have pizza and since they weren't delivering due to the flooded streets, we trudged through the streets to get it ourselves. Then we hung out in our living room having deep discussions and telling scary stories by candlelight.



Using whatever we could to
catch the water



These floods and black outs are teaching me to be patient. Some things are just totally out of my control. During power outages, we have no internet and thus no connection to the rest of the world. The fans obviously don't work, so we sit here and melt. I can either be annoyed by these things, which won't change anything anyway, or I can just go with the flow. Patience has never been my strong point, but through these experiences, I'm learning how to roll with the punches. Thank you for the life lessons, Peru.

Happy 2 Month Anniversary to Me!



Partying with my Peruvian Familia



Today makes it 2 months since I arrived in Peru. Everyday life in Talara is starting to feel normal now: navigating the town, taking mototaxis, hearing Spanish all over. Things are feeling less and less foreign and my life in Toronto is feeling more and more distant. Although it's only been two months, it feels like it's been years since I lived in my apartment in Toronto. I'm having such a hard time picturing coming back to Canada. Not that I don't want to, because I definitely do, but because I feel lightyears away from my Toronto life. Being reunited with my boyfriend and my friends and family feels like a distant dream. It's so hard to be away from them all, but I don't regret embarking on this journey.

I thought Peru may have given me another parasite as an anniversary gift, but it turns out it's just food poisoning. Yay! You know you've been through some crazy times when you start celebrating when it's "only" food poisoning! Although I'm counting down the days until I can see my loved ones again, I'm enjoying every moment of my Peruvian life.