I have been a really busy person since my last update. (sorry about the spelling in this update, it was written on a spanish version of Word) I worked a bunch last week and then relaxed over the weekend. The Project was celebrating the anniversary of their señor citizen's group. On Thursday, we had a huge party in the afternoon for them. I worked at the Project all day helping to set up. Then the party began. There were about 80 members in the group. It was so much fun to see them celebrate. Mili had set up a collage dance group to come out for entertainment. They performed some tradicional Peruvian dances for the elders. They also did some comedy skits. We served the group drinks, food, and cake! Then they danced the evening away. Watching all of them dance was so funny. I was surprised at how much energy they had considering their ages. At the end of a long evening, we handed out party favors and got ready for the next day of celebrating. Friday, we had a chill morning at the house, but then we all headed to the Project to get ready for the parade. We had a parade with the seniors around the community that they live in. Mili said that it was for two reasons; to make the community aware that these elders live there and that they should respect them, and to allow the group to show off and have a bit of fun. They were adorable. Some of them were dressed up in nice Peruvian clothes. We also had a band, some dancers, and another local orphanage join us in the parade After the walk we returned to the Project to enjoy the band play and then the señor group danced the night away once again. Too much fun! Later that evening Moisés took Laura and I to a friend's house for a party. I couldn't believe that we had the energy, but we danced till 4 in the morning to latin american music. That is my new favorite thing to do right now. Saturday was a day of sleep since we stayed up so late. Then that evening Moisés and some of his friends took us to a local discoteca. I didn't really want to go, but I did and I of course regreted it. The music was fantastic and the band was wonderful, but I hated how crowded it was and Laura and I were so tired from the night before. Sunday was so much fun. Ignacio and Moisés took us to a fútbol game in Lima. It wasn't a really big game so the crowd was low, but we got to experience the atmosphere non the less. Laura plays soccer, so she was really excited all day. It was a really cool experience. I worked again on Monday with the kids during their classes. Mili also had me come up with some songs in english to teach them, which I will do later this week. That evening we had their neighbors over for dinner and then we practicad dancing to Salsa and Merengue music. We are throwing thier daughter a welcome home party on Saturday evening and Mili wanted Laura and I to know all of the dances. Tuesday, Moisés, Ignacio, Laura, and I left for a vacation down south. We traveled to the little town of Paracas. It was interesting to see the desert coastline along the way. I had no idea that so much of Peru was covered in desert. Ignacio told us that there are towns about every 50 km where the rivers meet the sea, other than that it is deserted everywhere else. We saw some of the most poorest areas. I put a Picture on the site of the shanty towns. There are people that live in these huts with no water or electricity. Mili said that Tablada, the area where the Project is located began just like this. Amazing to think how far it has advanced since then. On the way we picked up their friend, Luiz who went with us on this little adventure. We checked in to an adorable hotel by the ocean and then walked into town. Laura, Luiz, and I booked a trip out to see the famous islands nearby. Then we grabbed some food and drinks for the evening. We spent most of the evening playing cards, drinking wine, and listening to music. It was nice to sit outside on our deck enjoying some warmer weather for a change. We had a very busy day ahead of us on Wednesday. We left for our boat trip early in the morning. We stopped first to see the famous Candelabra, a giant figure etched into the coastal hills of sand. It is over 150 meters high and 50 meters Wide. There are similar lines, that are even larger in a town south of there called the Nazca lines. No one knows how they got there. This one especially is estimated to have been around since before the Inca civilization. They don't know what it signifies, except they think it may be a cactus. The most interesting thing is that it was strategically placed in that spot because there is no wind there and it never rains. That way it has lasted for a very long time. Anyway, then we went out to Islas Ballestas. This island is famous for its seabird droppings (guano). Yeah, I am not kidding. There use to be a huge business in exporting the droppings for fertilizar. They harvest it every six years and when they do, the workers live on the island for about five months picking up bird poop to export. Gross! I can never properly explain how bad this island smelt. There severel different species of birds living there. I felt like I was in the Hitchcock movie itself. Also, the island is home to hundreds of sea lions. We got to see tons of them sun bathing and playing in the water. It was a strange type of place to visit, but I am glad that we saw it. Odd, that this island placed a huge role in Peruvian history because of the money that was involved in exporting guana. After that, Ignacio and Moisés met us at the dock to take us to the Paracas reserve. Wow! What a place. We literally were just driving through a huge desert. We visited a small fishing town in the reserve and then drove out to the famous cathedral. What a beautiful sight! Laura and I couldn't get over how deserted it all was. We drove on to another southern town about an hour away called Ica. There we visited a local town, Huacachina, which is a actual oasis in in the middle of the desert. I was in awe, because I never pictured myself visiting an actual oasis before. We took a two hour trip out on a dune buggy through the sand dunes. It was a blast! Our driver was crazy! He sped around up and down hills and we went sideways on dunes. Then we stopped at a couple of places to sand board. I of course fell a few times my first trip down. Then I decided to go down on my stomach, which was much faster. When we were done, all of us had sand inside all of the places on our bodies, but it was well worth it. Our driver also took us out to watch the sun set over the desert and then to get a great Picture of the oasis town from above. It was such a fun adventure! We had to sit in the car full of sand for 4 hours though to make it back to Lima. Oh, well it was a small price to pay for so much fun.