Mommy!

My mom is here! My mom is here! ¡Mi mamá está aqui!!

I wanted to give a brief update before we head out for our real traveling tomorrow morning. My mom was supposed to get in at midnight on Friday, but it snowed in Houston (for the 4th time in 15 years...go figure) so her flight was cancelled and she was rerouted all around America, but scheduled to land at 5:30 on Saturday morning. Luis and I waited up all night for her, just driving around and getting hamburgers at 3 AM. It was really fun and we were so excited to see her. We did, however, fall asleep in his car around 4 and wake up at 5:20--a ways away from the airport. I had been assured from friends that going through customs takes so long that there was no way I'd see my mom for at least an hour after she landed, but the minute I walked in the door around 5:45 she was there looking for me! I felt bad we had left her stranded, but she assured me it was just a few minutes.  Luis gave her a big hug and drove us back home, only saying a few words the whole time as my mom and I chatted on.  He was so nervous to meet her, it was really quite cute.

We got to my house a little after 6:00 and slept until 11:00. We were both so exhausted. However, once we got up we decided to get going and see the town. I took her to my school, La Catolica, and we ate the famous Tio Bigote burger for lunch. (She wasn't quite as in love with it as my friends and I are, which was disappointing, but it was fun to show her my spot). We walked around campus a little then took a taxi to Parque del Amor, a really beautiful park next to the ocean in Miraflores, a very nice part of Lima.  There is a huge statue of two lovers embracing in the middle of the park, and all around the edges are benches and walls with spanish love quotes from famous poets written in colorful mosaics.  We walked around and I translated the quotes for her, and showed her my favorite one, which reminds me of Luis and I: "Tú de este lado, y yo del otro, como dos remos." AKA: You from this side, and me from the other, like two oars. Simple and beautiful.

We came home and got ready to have the first meeting of the Gondo and Oschwald/Sorem families. We had decided our parents would meet while my mom was here, because who knows when else we'd have the opportunity.  We were to meet at Parque de las Fuentes, an enormous park in Lima full of extravagant water fountains.  We met Luis and his mom (his dad couldn't come) there at 8 pm, and began the awkward evening. Luis' mom doesn't speak a word of English, and my mom knows how to say hello and thank you in Spanish. This led to a lot of smiling and nodding, and Luis and I uncomfortably trying to start conversations and translate everything said.  The park was beautiful, and I really do like his mom, but it was just hard that they couldn't talk at all.  Afterwards we went to eat anticuchos (beef hearts on a stick) and picarones (sweet potato donuts) for my mom to get the real Peruvian experience (plus they are both foods Luis and I LOVE!) It was fun and yummy, but still kind of awkward as everyone was nervous and the language barrier was very real.  I'm happy they met, but happier it's over.

On Sunday morning my mom and I got up early and walked to a juice stand near my house that my friends and I frequent and got fresh juice before starting our day. We took a cab to la punta, an area in Callao right on the ocean.  The neighborhood along the beach is, as to be expected, very nice and populated by rich people and lots of foreigners.  We got dropped off on the beach and found a nice man with a little rowboat, paid him 10 soles (about $3.50) and he took us out in his little blue boat on the water for about 20 minutes. It was fun, and somehow we lucked into a sunny morning so it was really beautiful and something I had never seen.  I think my mom really wanted to see the ocean so I'm happy she got to.  After that we caught a cab to the center of Lima, to the Plaza de Armas. We arrived just in time to see el Cambio de los Guardios (Changing of the Guards ceremony).  It mostly involves a lot of marching and parade-ish like music with gun-flipping baton moves and flag poles and some yelling. I was bored after about a minute, but we stayed for a little longer before we ditched, and I found out at the end of the day it was actually my mom's favorite part of the whole day!! She really likes parade music though, I have no idea why.  We went to see an old church and the catacombs, which were fun and a nice tourist-y thing to do.  Then we took the combi home (my mom actually really likes the combi which I think is wonderful) and had about a 10 minute break before a big family lunch.

Luis came over at 3 pm, as Nancy had asked me the day before if he would come to this lunch. We hung out outside, just me, him, and my mom for awhile, and that was really fun. My mom and Luis get along famously, and they both are crazy about each other which I adore.  She got him more presents than she brought me, and today informed me that those aren't even his Christmas presents, she'll be sending him more when she gets home! She really loves him and he's starting to open up a little more around her.  He even offered to take her to a psychiatric hospital here in Lima next Saturday if she has time, and she seemed more interested in doing that than anything we've done so far, so I think we're going to try to make that happen. 

About 3:30 family started arriving, as Tito's cousins were visiting from Arizona for the first time in 17 years.  Nancy and Tito made pollo a la brasa, roasted potatoes, and a really good salad for lunch.  Melissa made mini apple pies for dessert. It was all delicious and my mom loved every bite which was good.  It was fun to hear everyone in my family speak English with my mom, and cute to watch Nancy try to talk to her (with Luis and I translating). My mom even taught Nancy a new crochet stitch :)

Afterwards I finished up a paper for school and we went to bed around 12, only to get up at 3:30 and Skype with my sister before heading to the airport at 4:15. Before we went I was feeling very ill but decided to suck it up. But as we were standing in line for our flight I began to feel worse and worse and I felt like I was almost going to pass out as my vision got blurry, so I laid down on the floor. Between this and three bathroom runs in 10 minutes, my mom made the suggestion that we just try to change our flight tomorrow and not go.  I took her up on her offer and luckily there was a flight leaving at the same time tomorrow.  We booked it and headed home, then passed out until 12.  Upon waking I realized all the other plans that would now need to change. I would no longer make it to the orphanage today. We couldn't get on our train that leaves tomorrow morning, or the one that takes us back the next day. The bus tickets to Puno for Wednesday were shot as well. I started freaking out a little bit, but with the encouragement of my mom and the help of Luis we got it all figured out and our trip will be almost exactly the same as we planned it. Phew!!

Today we just laid in bed, and our one excursion was to show my mom the grocery store (moms are so funny aren't they? That's something she really needed to see before she left apparently).  Now I think we'll watch a movie and go to bed really early before trying this whole flying thing again tomorrow. Wish us luck! We'll be in Cusco tomorrow donating our two huge suitcases full of winter clothes to an orphanage, then on a train to Aguas Calientes the next morning, then in Machu Picchu the morning thereafter!! I can't wait to share pictures and stories :)

Hope the end of the semester is treating you well. Study hard!