Api y Cunape, mmm!

This is the amazing breakfast I woke up to this morning, courtesy of sweet Juana. She made cheese empanadas with powdered sugar, which were amazing, combined with Api Peach cider. The cider is a traditional drink they have here for breakfast or afternoon dinner. It's thick, warm, and full of dried fruit, mmm! After breakfast we went to the Saturday market. I love walking around the market looking at all the produce and fresh flowers. There are a lot of little boys that hang around the market with their wheel-barrows asking if you want help carrying your stuff. We didn't need their help today, but I'm sure after purchasing a few kilos of vegetables their energy and assistance would be much needed. On our way out of the market we stopped at the flower ladies and bought a few bouquets to brighten up the apartment. The picture is of Juana and I with our bouquets, and yes, I am that much taller/bigger than her! While we were standing in the street holding them a sweet old man walked up and told Juana that he had smelled them all the way down the street but that they smelled much sweeter when he saw the pretty ladies that were holding them.

This afternoon, we rode the bus out to a small village to look at Juana's house. She owns a house there that she used to live in, however since her move to the city she rents the house out. Well since it is Saturday, the busiest day in the city, it took us a long time to catch a bus, but when we finally did it was packed! We had to stand basically on top of everyone for almost the entire 30 minute ride. Also, it did not smell very good in there. The reason we went to her house was to check up on the woman who was cleaning it. It had gotten very dirty from the last tenant so Juana had hired an old cholita lady to clean it for her. When we arrived a little boy ran out to shake our hands and took us up to his grandmother who was cleaning. The picture is of the grandmother, with two of the four children she cares for who were abandoned by their parents. They were a sweet family, and the two girls' outfits show what all of the traditional Cetchua women who come down from the mountains to sell things in the city wear.

After we left the house, we went to La Cancha to buy some food for the week. It was packed with people! While we were riding back home on the bus I was watching all the women here, and I cannot believe the work they go through just to survive. They pack up all of their wares on their backs and come into the city every day. Once here they sit on the sidewalk with all of their things displayed, hoping someone will stop and buy an orange or some potatoes. Then they buy what they need for their family and add it to the already bulging packs on their backs. Then they must pile onto the bus, usually standing the entire ride until their stop where they walk back home. It's such a physically draining way of life, it's no wonder the women age so fast here.

Juana just taught me how to make her special cheese biscuits, cunape, for dinner, and I think they might be ready, bye!