NSYNC, NSunk, N-out-of-sync

My last weekend in Chimbote! It had such promise! Friday started out with my going away party at the PT clinic I work at, followed by a surprise lunch with them. That was followed by another planned lunch with Enrique and Rosio, some Peruvian friends, and Maggie. Good food and good times...and some good beer.

 Rosio and Maggie...but basically this was to get a picture of our "crush", the guy at the other table in the middle :) He DID wave at me as he was leaving...

 The bracelet was a going away gift from one of the patients I worked with. Muy bonito!

 Ceviche and wine for my going away party at Corozon de Jesus.

 Me, the therapists, and some of the patients I worked with while here :)

 At my surprise lunch with the therapists. They wanted to dance. So at 11am we danced. You know I don't like dancing, right???

 The guys at our surprise lunch...hahaha...its a poster in case you couldn't tell...

 Enrique, Rosio, and I at ANOTHER ceviche lunch!

After that, the afternoon was going to be spent getting ready for the Machu Picchu trip. I needed to email a copy of my passport to the tour company we will be hiking with in Cusco, so Katie, Maggie, and I headed across the street to the business office of the Parish. Berta, the woman who was helping us, is one of the nicest ladies Ive met here. . Katie mentioned that the other day, one of the other workers was playing NSYNC in his office, all morning. At first, I thought "I must go meet my soulmate", but was quickly distracted when Berta offered to pull up some NSYNC on youtube. And so the dance-karaoke party began.

And that was to be my last party in Chimbote. I ended up getting really sick shortly after this picture! Fever, BAD stomach issues, head ache, body aches...you name it! Spent Friday and Saturday in bed, but by Sunday afternoon was able to return to the land of the living. My host family took SUCH good care of me, though. My host mom came and checked on me in the night about every three hours (I think my fever freaked her out) and continuously brought me tea or hot water. Saturday my host dad asked if I wanted something to eat. I asked for crackers and he looked at me strangely and came back with the tiniest sliver of a breakfast-type cake. Cracker and cookie have the same name in spanish. I assumed he thought Id be talking about crackers, but he must've thought it very strange that this sick girl was asking for sweets! The worst part of the whole deal (besides missing my big going away party on Saturday)...my host family only has water turned on in the morning. To "flush" the toilet when the water is off, you have to use 1 or 2 buckets of water. By 3am Saturday morning, I had used the last of the water. I was PRAYING to God that I could hold off using the bathroom again until 5am when the water got turned back on. Thanks God for listening...and I'm sure my host family thanks you too :)

So today is my last day in Chimbote. Maggie and I hop on the bus tonight at 1130 to head to Lima. Then on Tuesday we fly to Cusco where we hang out until Thursday...mainly to get used to the altitude (going from 0 to 14,000-some feet). And then the fun begins! Thursday we head out for a 5 day hiking-camping trip to Machu Picchu. Then I shall head home!