Lo que hago.

**Sorry for not posting something for a while. I've become extremely busy! Recently, I've been looking for a host family for the remaining 2.5 months that I'm in Arequipa. Finally, last night, I found a family to move in with on March 1, but it took a very long time. Also, there has been a lot of volunteers that have been here for 5-6 months that are leaving now, creating a lot of restructuring among the volunteer base. I have taken over as the coordinator for all prospective volunteers all over the world. My job is to answer questions and prepare for the arrival of volunteers (housing, contact numbers, etc.). I have also become the coordinator of the English classes when school starts in March. INTIWAWA's job is to create a curriculum for the year - for all grades (120 students); implement that curriculum in two different schools; and, finally, organize all the English professors. Finally, we have a "Congreso de Ninos" in the indigenous Colca Canyon region on the 27th and 28th. This is basically a conference for our kids in San Isidro and Colca Canyon (150+) to gather and talk about their rights. I am working with two other volunteers to prepare about 15 children from the Colca region to present and lead certain segments of the conference. I am going to Colca Canyon this weekend, and then, again from Wednesday-Sunday next week.


BUT, today in San Isidro we had a mini-Carnaval with the children. The Carnaval is a HUGE celebration all over the Spanish-speaking world (Spain included). This is how I understood it: the Carnaval is a weekend long event every year. It started back in Medieval times. It was originally a protest against the Catholics, but has since morphed in to a big party - and Catholics celebrate it too (sort of like Halloween). Every country has different traditions. I hear the streets of Arequipa are going to be packed all weekend, but I'll be in Colca (where I hear there will also be huge celebrations with traditional food, drinks, music, costumes, and dancing). I will post photos of the Carnaval with the children. But basically, they mostly all arrived in costumes. We fed them a basic breakfast (pan con marmelada, "bread with jelly")... Then we painted faces... and arms (as you will soon see my arm in the photos). We played some games - tag and musical chairs. Then, came the most interesting part. We had cut a tree down, dug a hole, and basically planted it again. The kids decorated it with crazy streamers. Then, as partners, everyone danced around the tree. Partners took turns swinging a axe at the base of the tree and then drinking a cup of soda (it's usually beer, but these were children). We did this until the tree was cut down... again. Then, during the Peruvian Carnaval there is always has a huge block of time where the participants throw confetti, silly string, and this colored powder at each other. It was an amazing amount of fun! Then we ate cake, and planted three new trees. Photos are below.

I wanted to share a couple of other interesting things about this week:
> Rainy season has officially started in Arequipa. It rains EVERY day.
> The volunteer coordinator left Arequipa this week and we went out for traditional Arequipan food. I had a chicken dish, but a solid four volunteers had "Cuy". That is fried guinea pig - with eyes, teeth, everything. It was awful, and kind of interesting.

Ciao for now! I'll post about my experiences in Colca Canyon next week.