Independence Day Celebration (1 day early)
Since we won't be together as a group on the actual 4th of July we decided to celebrate today instead by doing American things and making American food for our host families.
We started the afternoon by grocery shopping at Plaza Real. Our house is basically the social committee and so it was a group effort to get all the supplies and make it home in time. The first American activity of the day was to go to the local "country club" to play basketball, volleyball, soccer, frisbee, etc. the "country club" is actually just a rec center but that's what it's called here! But it sure had the view of a traditional country club...
We played volleyball and soccer from 4pm to 6:30pm and it was beyond fun!! I've never had some much fun playing a disorganized 12 v 12 game of volleyball. This group of fellows I'm with are just awesome!
Carlos's house hosted everyone for our American BBQ which was a modified BBQ since the grill was not happening. The grill / fire pit on the roof was a very good attempt but the charcoal just would not light. So instead we cooked burgers on the stove and I can't even tell you how delicious that burger was!! We made guac and fruit salad from delicious fresh produce. The fruit salad had a local fruit, chitimoya, which has a green scaly peel and sweet white inside. There were also lots of grilled veggies and sangria.
Carlos is also known for his Pisco Sours and so he taught us the secret recipe. The trick is 3-2-1. 3 units of pisco, 1.5-2 units of Goma (sugar liquor), and 1 unit of lime juice. Then add 1 egg white and ice before blending! "Units" literally mean whatever you decide to use as your measuring device... Could be a shot glass, a cup, a vase, etc.
After dinner we went out to the park for some fireworks and sparklers to celebrate the 4th!
And then came the BIG SURPRISE!!! In Peru they like to build "burning towers". We had no idea what this meant until we saw Danel and Lauren carrying a plastic llama towards us that was rigged with fireworks...
It's also customary for someone to pick up the burning tower and run around with it... Carlos did this without hesitation and scared us all to death bc he came running right at us and we had no idea what he was doing!!!
The llama was pretty awesome and so we were not expecting what came next... Danel and Lauren led us around the corner to another area of the park where we found the GIANT BURNING TOWER!
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