Serve it room temp

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Today the dad made pisco sours at lunch, totally cool and very very
good might I add. Did I mention the alpaca sweater was the best
purchase ever? I am moderately warm in the evenings now!

To take a shower you have to flip up an electric switch above the
shower to activate the hotwater. It is a little dangerous, the whole
electricity and water combo thing, but whatever. Yesterday I had a
warm shower. I almost cried I was so happy! Then I went and sat in the
courtyard and let my hair dry. I also snuck my feet out of my shoes
for a few minutes, don´t tell! It is cold at night but the sun is
really intense during the day. You have to wear sunblock or you´ll
burn.

For lunch yesterday I had something called ¨chifa¨which a peruano and
chinese mixed together. It was like pork fried rice. The dad, Carlos,
his girlfriend Sophia is a baker and made us a cheesecake with sauco,
a type of berry found in Peru. I like them, I eat the sauco jelly in
the morning.

My lamp in my room is wired oddly, if I put my hand on it, my hand
vibrates and heats up. It´s a little game I play at night when I´m
trying to go to sleep. Only kidding. It scares me! I´ve learned a new
trick. When I go to sleep at night, I put my clothes for the next day
under the covers so they´re nice and warm in the morning.

I was a little freaked out today. I opened up my underwear drawer and
it was empty. I was like, um, I locked the door when I left. It´s
common, everyone locks their bedroom door because the house is open
air. I didn´t know what to think. But then, Cecilia, the maid
indicated that she had taken my laundry. There she was, washing it in
the sink, underwear, bras, etc. I was like, um, would you like some
help. She said no. it is like an old timey washboard and then they
have some sort of wringer they put it through and hang it up to dry.

There are dogs that are all over the place. They are always out and about.

Ah, the chicherria. So I went to the chicherria last night. This is
the corn beer they make and chew up like cud and spit it out and then
it ferments. So the place was a total dive. Let´s just say it wasn´t
for the faint of heart or smell. I had a sip. It is very yellow and
mucus looking. They can only make it in high altitudes because it will
explode. So you aren´t allowed to take it with you on the bus. Too
bad, I wanted to take it for snack time at school. And it is served
warm, a la room temp (that´s for you, Allison)..

You may be warm in the morning, but I have a bread man that delivers
hot and fresh bread every morning. I bet that makes you a little
envious! My host grandma is also an excellent cook and always has a
bottle of boiled water for drinking at the ready and two thermos´ of
hot water for tea. It isn´t a day if you don´t drink tea at least 10
times. Today´s lunchtime juice = starfruit juice. This morning was
passion fruit. A treat. We don´t usually have juice in the morning. It
was kind of like jello in a way. Very gelatinous, if such a word
exists.

There is also a drink called jugo especial which is a bunch of fruit
pureed with molasses and beer. You have to know to ask for it in the
market. My host dad is taking me there to do some grocery shopping on
SUnday. I´m excited. I´m also going to some ancient ruins called Pisac
this weekend.

Oh, and here´s one for safety. They use a lot of propane here. An old
guy is always on a bike with a cart hauling the containers around. It
seems a little dangerous... but what do I know!

And for hygiene. Do you think you should flush your toilet paper down
the toilet? What, are you crazy. We don´t do that here. Why do you
think there are trashcans next to the toilet. What do you want to do,
clog up the pipes of the whole town?

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