The exchange rate in San Francisco, Peru is very good. In fact, it’s great! People are constantly sharing food, things, family members, you name it. And when it comes to currency, it’s even better!
All in all, our lives in rural Peru have been more than good to us. Now lets not sugar coat things–it’s been the most challenging four months to date, but I learned a lot about myself (everyone says this kinda stuff but it’s true), Peruvian culture and rural culture since living in this little pueblo. I learned how to weave on a backstrap loom, kill a pig, speak some Spanish, improvise like a champ, make gourmet meals out of randomness…
Saying good-bye to Carmen, Leo, Johnnie and Brayan was the hardest part of my last week. We’re actually, thankfully, meeting up with them again in Piura for Christmas with Curtis’ parents. Saying my farewells to my mud hut, all the animals and the beautiful community was suprisingly hard. I only really know how to say good-bye with one word (adios), but along with lots of hugs it sufficed.
The crazy thing, as I try to actualize this whole experience, is when I’m in other cities in the world, doing other random things with myself, Carmen and her family will be in the same place, rural Peru, taking a moment out of their day to kill palomitas (pigeons) with rocks ‘for their rich meat’ or to take Tico the donkey to the platano (plantain) fields.
This trip has emphasized, more than ever, that time is nothing but a concept we play into as organized societies looking to place people
and events. But if you remove yourself from ”real time” for a minute or for months and join a place that has different rules, you’ll slow down and think a lot more than usual (maybe too much even) and start paying more attention to the people and environment around you (it’s a good thing but kinda scary sometimes).
Maybe in that slow time you’ll even reflect and remember all the people that have touched you (both literally and figuratively). Like that very soft and round woman you chatted it up with on the bus and then slept on like a baby for a few hours, or the cute girl that showed you how to get back home by referencing pigs, or the good family man who can grow a great garden, or the woman who treated you like her family for no other reason than she believed in you and ‘had a good feeling about you’.
I will miss parts of San Francisco very much (others–no way!). But all in all, I’m ready to move forward and on to the next thing. Buenos Aires, Argentina here we come!!! Curtis and I aren’t exactly sure what we’re going to do there, but that’s the fun of it. Gaurunteed we’ll laugh a lot. We head out of Peru mid-January, so you should come visit! We’d love to have you (who ever you are).
And in the mean time, during those little quiet moments you get to yourself, slow down and reflect and remember all those that have touched you in life (this time not literally) and send them some love (I know it’s kinda corny but seriously, there’s some great people out there!). xoxox




owns cows, cheese. Now don´t get me wrong, these are all very tasty things, but they are colorless options that offer zero nutrition (minus maybe the animal protein and calcium from the cheese, although the cheese here does also include what Peruvians call Aceite de Chanco, which means Oil of Pig a.k.a. lard straight from the bucket used when slaughtering the pig). It´s all delicious, but solely comprised of fat and carbohydrates. If you´re lucky, you find a colorful vegetable available now and then. So the fact that I have a couple carrots, is a real luxury. Who knew the color orange or any other color for that fact would effect me so much? Yes, I went to art school, but this is a whole different kind of composition.
host mother Carmen one day and revived the recipe to exclude Aceite de Chanco add olive oil instead. I steamed and then sautéed my beloved carrots and some potatoes with shallots, garlic and cumin, which I served on top of the tortillas at room temperature so it made a kind of ensalada thing. Paired with the crispy crunchy dough disks (more like tostadas), it became an India-inspired meal, served in rural Peru and devoured in minutes. It´s not my mom´s cooking, but it was good and I had fun. 
