Day 69

We packed a lot into one day. Bethany and I were ready to go about 15 minutes before we had to, so we ran over to get coffee from a local restaurant. Then the four of us went to a store about 5 minutes away owned by a guy named Chicho -- a well-known Tarmeño businessman that owns two "dollar store"-type stores. We led a devotional time with his staff members -- all college-age girls -- and I shared my testimony in Spanish! I was pretty nervous, but I think they understood and it went well. As a thank you, Chicho gave us the cheesiest, tackiest pencil holders (mine has a dog head figurine attached to it -- maybe a Boxer?), but it was so sweet. We ate breakfast and then headed over to his other store, but because Mother's Day is coming up this weekend, the place was pretty busy, so Chicho couldn't let his employees take a break for a little devotional. Instead, we did another demographic survey with Chicho, and learned a lot about Tarma as well as about him and his beliefs. After that, we had quite a bit of free time because a lot of the people Meredith and Elsa would normally visit were out of town or really busy. Meredith and I went to an Internet cabina -- only 1 sol (30 cents) for an hour, so I was there for an hour, and Meredith stayed for probably two. I ran over to Tarmenito, a little store near the bus station on the main street, Calle Lima. I bought two half-liters of manjar blanco, the Peruvian dulce de leche, to bring back with me to the states. And then Bethany accompanied me to the Indian market, a much smaller version of the ones in Lima. We met back up for a late lunch (saw the end of the Chelsea/Barcelona game... wow), Meredith did another demographic survey, and then we toured the Tarma market. That was where I took this photo -- I love love love how the women of the sierra dress, and I especially like the white and black hats that they wear. After the market, we crammed into a mototaxi to head to an English class taught by a guy named Lucas. For three hours, Bethany and I spoke in English to beginning/early intermediate English students. It was more exhausting than I thought it would be. While we were in class, Meredith and Elsa went to a church service and were a little shocked by how the pastor presented some topics. We discussed our nights over some bowls of arroz con leche (amazingly delicious) and then had some coffee back at our regular restaurant before heading back to the hotel. In the style of my friend Emily's blog about her European adventures:

Tarma is. . .
- no toilet seats
- alpaca wool everywhere
- amazing cinnamon-y arroz con leche
- blue skies (which you can't see from pollution-filled Lima)
- the "City of Flowers" (seriously -- they grow flowers and sell them to people in Lima)
- dry weather + no hair straightener = bad hair days
- small-town feel, friendly people
- tasty tamales