A fun and relaxing weekend...

Hola! I´m really enjoying the weekend here! On Friday night, a group of us went dancing at this really nice club in downtown Chimbote. Don´t worry, we had to Peruvian friends along to escort us which was very helpful. The club was actually really nice and clean. We were able to all sit down for awhile and enjoyed a beer. No one was really dancing, even after we had been there for an hour, so us American girls started the dance. It was pretty comical actually, because as much as we tried to do the Spanish style dancing, we couldn´t help but pull out some good ol`American moves. haha. It was pretty fun though, no guys tried to dance with us, everyone there was really classy and nice, and we actually stayed for about 3 hours! The location was really cool too, the back window looked out over the ocean, which is where we sat. It was a lot of fun! When we got back, we headed up to the roof to talk with the St. Bens/St. Johns kids, since they were to leave on Saturday morning. And then we called it a great night! Saturday morning we woke up and were set to climb a mountain. Wilder, a worker at the Parish, took us up the mountain. We drove most of the way, and It was so horribly scary! There were only rocky dirt roads with nothing but a huge drop off on our side, no guard rails or anything! But once we got to the top, wow was it worth it! There was a church on the top of this hill, as well as many other pieces of architecture. We were just so amazed at the view, a beautiful view of the ocean as well as the city of Chimbote. It was a wonderful way to begin a Saturday morning, we truly enjoyed that journey so much! Then we were taken to view the cemetary of the poor. Over 400,000 people are burried on this piece of land, some are marked with a simple wooden cross, others are just burried under the sand. Some have coffins, others do not. An average burrial here costs only 5 dollars in American money. That was a little hard to see. But we were then pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the Bakery in downtown Chimbote! We all bought this cookie that looked really good, but did not taste anything like it looked like. Bummer. But the Ice cream cone that followed sure made up for it! It was so good! We also went to the supermarket for the first time, which was really exciting! I´ve never been so exicted to find a can of pringles, or an ice cold DR. PEPPER like I was here. Wow, I´m really appreciating everything we enjoy in America! So it is safe to say that our morning was most enjoyable! The afternoon was amazing. Emily, Alysha and I put on some comfy summer clothes, went up to the roof and laid there for about 3 hours. We put sunscreen on, don´t worry. We had our iPods goin, the sun was shining, and it was soooo great! I still can´t believe I´m enjoying this weather in January! However, every now and then we would catch the strong smell that Chimbote produces. It seriously takes your breath away and makes it hard to breathe. It will be so great once we can leave that behind. I don´t know how people get used to it! Then we were happy to make some calls to home, and finally shower after a day outside! A group of us decided we wanted to go out for dinner, so we headed downtown again and ate at this Chinese place. However, Emily, Alysha, and I are super picky here, and we could not be more thrilled to report that they served us, somehow, Ice cold coke in a bottle, popcorn chicken, and French Fries!!!!!!!! Are you kidding me!!! It was SO great, and we were all shocked at how fast we got full! Then we headed back, talked for awhile, and hit the sack early. Thanks for the prayers and support, they mean the world to me! Send me a message anytime, ezehrer@gac.edu Love, Emily