Day 74

I thought I had gotten a tan, but when I'm sitting in the middle of a bunch of Peruvians, I look so pasty. Meredith is even tanner than some of the Peruvians. From left: Christian, Gabriel (lying across the laps), Claudia, Nadia, her sister Cynthia, and Meredith. My last whole day in Peru was pretty cold, smelly (like dead fish) and boring, but I think I needed it to relax a little. Thinking about everything happening in the next week stresses me out -- it's going to be an emotional week. Today I just went to the post office, went to the mall (I'm not good at shopping by myself -- I was in and out in less than 10 minutes), and went to the grocery store to get stuff for my third despedida. A lot of people came -- some Panaggios, some Blocks, gringa teachers, and jovenes from Buen Pastor. They gave me a picture frame with the framed picture of me at the group on Saturday. They joked about how I have a rectangular smile -- like when I smile really big. So, in the photo, they all did the rectangular smile and I had my normal smile. It's so awesome. Cynthia told me that I had to explain that to everyone who sees it or they're going to think all Peruvians are crazy. And Eden gave me a picture that she had drawn -- it's so going to be framed when I get back to the states. After all the gringos left, it was just me and the Peruvians, and they wanted me to give a speech, but I really couldn't. First of all, it would feel like public speaking (even though there were only five of them there); secondly, they wanted it to be in Spanish, which would be pretty difficult; and thirdly, I'm not good at saying emotional things like that -- I can only barely write emotional goodbyes. I started crying! That's why my face is a little splotchy in this picture (and apparently the word "splotchy" doesn't have a Spanish equivalent). They all prayed over me, which of course made me cry even more. I can't believe I'm leaving...