According to Blogger, this is my 300th post on this blog. How exciting! That’s an average of 20 posts a month… So not quite daily, but close. I was trying to think if there was anything special I could say about 300 but nothing is coming to mind. Oh well, I’ll celebrate another holiday that is today: the veinte-ocho (peruvian independence day)! And a few lines from the national anthem:

Somos libres, seámoslo siempre, seámoslo siempre,
Y antes niegue sus luces el sol,
Que faltemos al voto solemne
Que la Patria al Eterno elevó.
Que faltemos al voto solemne
Que la Patria al Eterno elevó.(We are free, let’s always be so
and may the sun deny its light
if we fail the solemn vow
that the motherland swore to the Eternal One.)

It’s kinda weird that we’re not celebrating it, watching a parade (maybe with the president going by!) filled with colorful dancers in traditional dress and bands playing the national anthem… And my outfit so carefully chosen of white and red. Ah, so many memories. I tried to capture 9 years of living there in one page of my senior show, but it was hard to do.

Hmm now I’m in a reminiscing mood… The other day I was trying to convince Beth to carry Olivia around in a blanket like Quechua women do. And Sopeak getting a llama on his blog made me miss seeing the llamas and alpacas all over Peru. They’re so cute. Now I’m imagining Peruvian food and getting hungry… There’s a Peruvian restaurant nearby my apartment; I’ll have to go take advantage again. In a lot of ways, I love that I grew up overseas… I love knowing another culture. I want to go back someday, and hike the Inca Trail, an 4-day long hike that follows an old Incan road, ending at the magnificent ancient city of Machu Picchu. When I would come to the States and people would ask me about Peru, it was hard to explain because it was so normal to me but different than anywhere here in the States. I think going back in 2003 helped me see Peru in a different light. The thing that amazed me the most was how bright it was at night… The smog combined with the city lights made the nighttimes look like dusk here. I miss the public transportation… the multicolored buses who thought they ruled the road, guys hanging out shouting the places the bus was heading, trying to get people on. It was crazy driving in Lima – I don’t think we ever went above 40 mph the whole time I lived there. (I remember one time my mom exclaiming in surprise, “I went into 4th gear!”) Between taxis and busses, you could get by pretty well without a car. Our family never had more than one car, and we did a lot of walking. I miss being able to get to things by walking. I also miss the bakeries and the fresh bread – there’s nothing like it here! I almost never had sliced bread; it was always rolls. There were so many different kinds, you could never get bored. And if you were lucky you got to the bakery right as they were pulling them out of the oven! Mmmm… I miss empanadas too, which were meat or cheese filled rolls. They were good and filling!

Ah okay that’s enough for now before everyone is completely bored. How many readers of my blog have been to Peru? Then we can reminisce in the comments. :-)