When you come to a fork in the road...take it: No habla espanol. Oh wait...no habla

For the last few weeks I've been battling a cold. And by the way...this is not the place to joke about tuberculosis...my bad!!! Anyway, it's not been a raging cold to any extent, but this morning I woke up with NO voice. Can barely manage to eek out a few squeaks. But you know what that means? I'm off the hook for trying to have actual Spanish conversations today. I tell ya...I really am trying to learn this language, but it is EXHAUSTING! If only there were just 100 words that I could speak and understand that could cover every possible aspect of conversation I'd be set hahaha. But just when I think I've got it pretty much covered, someone sneaks a new word or phrase in there! Anyway, I'll enjoy my temporary reprieve for the day and enjoy the silent world.

Thanksgiving was sooooo relaxing! We went to the beach, had a REALLY good fish dinner, and then got to relax at our hostel for the rest of the night. Best part was...this place had actual showers!!! My first real shower since I got here. Mind you, the water was cold and there was no electricity (lights are only on from 6-11pm), but I still very much enjoyed my cold, dark shower. Oh to be clean!

We got back yesterday afternoon and I was able to call my parents. Caught them at Scheels, but I got to talk to Dad, Mom, and Tom which was great. Suprising at how fast a 50 minute phone care wears out! Sounds like they had a fun fun time in Bismarck and got to see all the relatives. Lucky!!! And a big congrats to Tom who finished 4th over in the Turkey Trot and to my dad who took 2nd in his age group. There were 1600 people in the race!!!

Last night was a special Mass in remembrance of Fr. Jack's sister who died a month ago. A bunch of priests, sisters, and tons of people from around the parish showed up. I'd say about 400-500. Afterward the soup kitchen fed the parishoners and then there was a special meal of these REALLY good parmasean shell things and then turkey. So I even got to have some turkey around Thanksgiving time :)

Next week is my last week in Chimbote. After that I'm going to Machu Picchu for a 5 day hiking/camping trip. Should be a blast! I still am not a 100% sure what Machu Picchu is. To be honest, I thought it was Stonehenge. And then when I got here, I really thought it was Stonehenge, becuase the computer here has its desktop picture of Stonehenge. Well, now I know. I'm going to see Machu Picchu that is NOT Stonehenge. Obviously I missed geography and history classes somewhere along the line. Geesh! Anyway, I'm ready to come home and at the same time I'm very sad to leave Chimbote. That must mean the trip was worth it for me huh?!

Here are a few more pics from the last week!

Katie, Sr. Peggy, Maggie, and Fr. Jack walking along the ocean for our Thanksgiving celebration!

Thanksgiving dinner. Fish and french fries. Muy rico!!!

The ocean still is a little cold, but I was brave enough to go up to my waist :)

Self portrait. This was where I worked out in the morning. Can't beat this view!!!

Maggie took a spill on one of our runs. Pretty good road rash! Luckily that morning we were stopping at a nursing home type place, so a nurse there cleaned em out for her.

Fr. Jack's Mass for his sister. A packed house!!! I'll post more pictures of the church later. You can't tell from here, but the alter is actually a fish tank.