long day of sunshine

yesterday was the anniversary of Pisac and in that tradition exists many activities in the sun. as fun as the day was i felt like i was in a microwave oven the entire time.

we started the day with fun in the plaza. all of the schools from neighboring communities were honored so there were approximately 34,567 kids in the plaza. it was a huge to-do. teams of dancers showed of their traditional dancing skills to the audience of pretty much every governing official in the sacred valley, all adorned in sashes specifically from their area. once the dancing had commenced a group of nine adults dressed up like Incas did what i thought was an interpretation of what those times were like and a lady sang a most interesting song in Quechua.

our kids were up next so we organized them in lines to march down the plaza. they all had their uniforms on which made them 198 times cuter. they went down one by one then it was the teachers´turn. by teachers i`m talking about myself as well, not that i knew that until 5 seconds before we started walking. the other teachers had on nice green tweed suit jackets and heels and of course i wore raggedy jeans and a gray wifebeater from Walmart that day. classy, i`m aware. i was surprised when they started calling out names and i heard "señorita Sarah"... it`s funny though how awkward it is when you aren`t looking at anything specific except the ground you`re about to walk on. i didn`t know where to look and scanning the audience was even more awkward. thank goodness it only took 20 seconds...

after, we found our host family in the plaza and waited while another family member was presented for her work in one of the community organizations. we ate lunch really late and took naps. around 5:30 we headed to the athletic complex for another party.. this time complete with crazy peruvian dances and costumes galore. it took forever for them to get the lights working but we had fun laughing and talking with our family. we ate CANDIED APPLES, dad, and had popcorn... i felt like i was at the circus.

libby and i slept till 11 today because we didn`t have school and watched Grey`s Anatomy in bed. ha, it was really nice to shake up the routine for once. i found out that i`m going to be home DECEMBER 12th for sure so everyone get ready to be harrassed!!! i`ll be bothering you until i`ve caught up from the last 3 months :)