11 days! say what?!

In exactly 11 days I'll be on a plane flying home to Austin, to stay this time. Everyone has been asking me how I feel about going home and having to say goodbye to Peru. I'm actually not really sure how to answer that.

I'm excited of course. I have missed home. Being gone so long has even given the word home a new meaning.

Home is where my support system is, home is where most of my memories are, home is where the people I'm crazy about are, home is where I feel the most comfortable and free, home is where I've never laughed harder, home is where the little moments are the most valuable, home is where all my favorite foods are, home is where I feel known and feel like I know others.

I'm excited to be back to that :) Being away where you are out of your comfort zone, out of your element, where you are being defined and challenged daily, where you struggle with something so simple as the language, where you've never felt more out of control, where you have no choice but to just trust in God's hand and mercy is...

actually pretty epic.

And I might miss that even more. I've learned a lot here, I've grown a lot here, I've seen a lot here. I've met people who have shown me unconditional love, who have shown me fearlessness and freedom, who have shown me what it looks like to give constant thanks and praise to Christ, who have shown me the beauty of being honest and open and letting someone into your life.

And when I say people, I´m referring to but a handful. And my heart might just break upon having to say goodbye to life with them. It´s not like our relationship is over, of course. But there is a great difference between living life daily with someone and simply keeping up with them in cards or emails.

So I have to say goodbye to Peru soon. It'll be so hard. It's such a strange thing to have to say goodbye to such good friends without guarantee that you will see them again. But the adventure isn't over. One thing I've realized is that Peru isn't my only adventure. Life in general is something that should be seen as crazy, awesome, and one of a kind. So I'm excited for what comes after this. It'll be good :)

Some random photos of life here

These are coca leaves. Here, they have been used to help calm altitude sickness or fight fatigue. This is also where cocaine is derived from. So I can't bring any coca leaves back to the US. Darn. Why must good things like this be abused?
I like to drink coca tea here :)



These are some pieces of ancient pottery from the Lambayeque civilization.
They are so many pretty pieces like this in Peru.



This is also from the Lambayeque civilization. Cool design, no? Nice Lambayeque, nice.



This is Abby and me drinking something called Chicha de jora en poto. It's basically a drink made from fermented corn. Super good! And poto, refers to the bowl that it's drunken from, which is part of a dried and painted squash. Poto also means butt. Just sayin' :)



These are the wonderful people we met on our trip to Chiclayo/Lambayeque. Chiclayo's motto is 'la ciudad de la amistad' or 'the city of friendship' These people really lived up to that slogan. They were so sweet and loving towards us. I'll miss them :)



These are some cute lil' ugly baby birds from Alejo's collection of birdies.



These are one of the adult birds. Aren't they pretty? There are about 60 of them. And they chirp all day. It's beautiful. It adds another element to the environment of the house. Love it!



This is a stand in selling food in the park in Miraflores.



This is what I bought from said stand. It's a dessert here called 'Arroz con leche con mazamorra morada.' It's basically a rice and milk dessert accompanied with fruity goodness. So good! Possibly my favorite Peruvian dessert.



This is beauty in a pie pan. Also known as a pie I made from a pumpkin that I bought, because they don't sell pumpkin puree. My first legit pumpkin pie, and it was epically delicious. I was excited and my host family loved it!



This is a dish called 'Choritos a la chalaca' It's basically mussels, or maybe scallops? covered with lime, spices, tomato, onion, and a bunch of other veggies. Something like that. Since Lima is on the coast, there is a lot of seafood. Mmmm!



Ok look closely. On the statues head there is a small llama. See it? There is a funny story behind this. The sculptor of the statue, while he was in the process of sculpting, was told to put a 'llama' above the head of the statue. In Spanish 'llama' not only means llama, as in the animal, but it also means flame. So the sculptor, instead of interpreting 'llama' as flame, which was the desire of the designer, interpreted it as the animal. So know, in one of the major plazas of Lima, there is a statue with a llama on it's head, instead of a flame. Hehe.



These are churros. Sooo good. They are churros filled with manjar blanco(caramel milky saucy goodness), churros filled with chocolate, and churros filled with pastry cream.



This is one of my host dad's paintings that he sold at his art exhibition. Isn't it beautiful? My room is right beside his art studio, so I get to see him painting a lot. It's neat :)



This is the typical cocktail here, called Pisco sour. It's made from Pisco, which is Peru's typical liquor, lime, sugar and egg whites. I'm not a big fan of Pisco. It's reaaaaallly strong.




These are my beautiful friends from CBU! CBU is a christian group on campus. I've had a lot of fun with them :)



Look at all those potatoes! Did you know that the potato originated in southern Peru? Cool, right? There are sooo many different species of potatoes here, about 300 varieties of them.



I'm crazy about the yogurt here. There are so many flavors! Most of the yogurt here is drinkable, but it's really good!



These are anticuchos! Another awesome Peruvian dish. What are they, you ask? Oh, just pieces of beef hearts on a stick. Super good though, trust me ;)



Palta!! Or Avocado!!! The avocados here are amazing! They are always in season, always huge, and always really yummy. I eat avocado here a lot. yum :)




This is a Peruvian hairless dog. They're kind of cute. Maybe. Sometimes. Not really. Haha. They're neat though. Since they don't have hair, they make up for the lack of protection from the cold by giving off a lot of heat. So a lot of people claim that their heat can ease arthritis pain, if you let the dog sleep in the bed with you.



This is Chancho! He is my host family's dog. Chancho means pig. Haha. He's scared of the camera so I tried to trap him between myaelf and the door, but he still managed to run away. Silly Chanchito.