How many gringos can you fit in a taxi? Part 2

Same day, same night. Now were over at Drew’s family’s house for a party with Anticuycho. Take a good look at the picture above and tell me what you think I might be graciously chompin’ on. (don’t worry I didn’t actually eat any). Any guesses? Come on….Cow heart! A Peruvian favorite…. Yummm! To be honest, it actually looked and smelled good but I was not about to try it.

Drew’s family is very nice and his dad just built that massive BBQ grill so they wanted to have everyone over to try it out. They are much more social than my family (that’s not hard though seeing how my family doesn’t leave the house). His dad and uncles all love me. I think its because I go hiking and play soccer with them. There are a lot of social “rules” for what a girl can and can’t do in Latin America. I try to abide by most of them but when it comes to being active or doing sports, especially running, I’m sorry but I’m going to break each and everyone of those rules. Although I get a lot of strange looks and whistles from people on the street I think in time I’m slowly earning respect from my family and the other Peruvians I know.

Anyway, great BBQ..... even though it was a celebration of eating cow heart. When it was time to leave, Wes’s dad (Marino) called a buddy that owns a taxi to come pick us up. Tiffany, Wes, Alex, Marino, and I all shoved ourselves into a 44 yr old VW Bug. After barely making it up the hill to drop off Alex, the car slowly rolled down the hill backward with the rest of us in it. Before we knew exactly what was going on, the car stopped in front of a store and Marino hopped out. In a flash he was back with a handful of Crystal bottles. He snapped the first one open with his teeth, poured himself a cup and passed around the bottle. At this point it was late and all was quiet in my little town but we could do nothing but laugh hysterically. Have you ever been in a car that is 44 yrs old, let alone ridden in one with 5 other people, only to coast down the hill backwards to save on gas and then watch a Peruvian man open a beer bottle with his teeth?? I have.

Wow, it was a really long, really fun day. Bye bye homesickness… hello Peru (well, at least for today. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?)