So last weekend was my first opportunity to view one amazing sunset...my first over the Pacific Ocean from the coast of Perú! The other volunteer and I headed up the Panamericana Highway a bit further north of Mancora via combi (see previous entry for description) to the town of Punta Sal, a beach resort much less travelled to and thus a whole lot quieter and less crowded than Mancora. After mesquines saltado, a native seafood dish, for lunch, we hit the beach just as the sun broke through the heavy clouds that had been hanging around all morning. It just kept 
getting better, too, and the sunset, which we had all to ourselves, was absolutely amazing!! You ask how it could get any better? Well, how about watching humpback whales jumping and breaching only about 200 yards off-shore?! It was absolutely incredible and we couldn´t believe our eyes, or our luck, at seeing these magnificent creatures at play as the sun sank over the water and created the most beautiful sky ever! Wow is all I have to describe it!Last weekend was also the last few days for donations to be collected for the earthquake victims of Pisco and Ica. It´s absolutely amazing seeing bags full of things for these people that have lost everything, but it´s even more humbling when I realize where these donations are coming from, in a town that is on the brink of poverty itself. Giving when you have next to nothing to give, but then again, that has been a recurrent theme that I have been blessed to witness everywhere I´ve travelled to this past year.
So this blog entry is going to be a sort of hodgepodge of updates on the past week and the 2 weeks that I`ve been here. I don`t know if it`s me or just coincidence, but I have now realized that the television show American Idol has infected the entire world it seems. The competition of picking the best singer in the country over and over again appears to have caught on in every place I`ve been this year (excluding Africa thank goodness), as it had completely swept up India when I was there, and now that I`m here in Perù, I am able to follow the Latin American Idol competition! Lucky me! It`s amazing to me how they can find a Simon, Paula, and Randy in each country as well! Ok, that`s enough space devoted to something that should only get 2 lines.
Work at the center has been wonderful!! I still can`t believe I get to live at the beach and play with kids all day for the next 4 weeks!! Home visits are still my favorite, including the journey to get to each place! The adventures of foreign public transportation continue...I even have my top taxi and combi drivers, winners in each category earn the title by going the extra mile, for example, playing a Michael Jackson CD AND doing the dance moves to `Thriller` while driving and still controlling the vehicle! That`s quite a fete of achievement in my book. Bus rides hold no less of a thrill, as the road to the one town I travel to is uphill and very windy in one long section. To make up time, as the driver has to go slower on this stretch, I have come to look forward to the high speed and careening that occurs around corners for the stretches of road before and after the uphill section. If they ever wanted to make a roller coaster out of a bus ride, this would be 
it. I`ve attached a picture of the landscape that is pretty much typical of the coastal areas here.Alas, the other volunteer that was here for my first 2 weeks has left now, and I`m all by myself. It was absolutely wonderful to have her orient me, as her enthusiasm and giving 110% were great to work with. I am completely immersed now, having no one around to retreat to using English with, so I figure the Spanish 
should start coming more rapidly now that I`m forced to use it all the time! So for her last afternoon at the center, we made lemonade and chocolate-marshmallow cookies with the kids...who absolutely loved it! (Probably not so much as the parents though who had to deal with the sugar highs when their children came home). I`ve attached some pictures of the kids hard at work on their treats.
should start coming more rapidly now that I`m forced to use it all the time! So for her last afternoon at the center, we made lemonade and chocolate-marshmallow cookies with the kids...who absolutely loved it! (Probably not so much as the parents though who had to deal with the sugar highs when their children came home). I`ve attached some pictures of the kids hard at work on their treats. 
OK, one last picture...this is the dog of the family that owns the hostel where I`m staying. Her name is Queenie and she`s quite cute, but a bit of a beggar at the table. I took this picture last night at dinner, as she was keeping me company. Does anyone else have the phrase, `Yo quiero Taco Bell` pop into their head when you look at this dog? I can`t help it, every time I see her, that`s what I think of, because she looks exactly like the chihuahua from the Taco Bell commercials!! So that`s been the happenings of my 2 weeks so far in Mancora. Had a bit of a worry this week with the leg, which was a little achy, and I was completely paranoid after the very long bus ride, but no worries...I`m completely and totally fine...surfing and salsa lessons here I come!!
