Volunteering continues

Alright friends, I am trying to be better about including pictures. I can't believe I haven't mentioned volunteering since I first put the entry in awhile ago.

Right now I don't do that much other than help out with the snack cart. It's a type of fundraising the volunteers do to raise money. Then, when people have no money, they'll use the funds they raised to pay for hospital exams, medicines, and other stuff for poor people.

So every Friday morning since I've been here, I wake up at the crack of dawn and make my way over to Arzobispo Loayza. I still get intimidated when I get there because as always, there are NO other foreigners there but me.

Granted, all I've been doing is helping with the snack cart, but I'm finding it is a great way to practice spanish. Best way to learn is to be around people who don't speak any English, which many of them don't.

There is a term in Spanish, Dama, it's kind of like Dame. It's a respectful term they'll call volunteers sometimes. These Damas are the sweetest women ever and it's like having ten grandmothers.

Nelvita, the president of the association, she is the one who I said looks like Mother Theresa. Well she IS Mother Theresa in my opinion.

Anyway, one of the volunteers told me a couple of weeks ago about a celebration happening this Friday. It's the "El Hijo de Los Milagros" (The Son of the Miracles) procession. Peru being a fairly Catholic country has celebrations for the Saints all the time, but I guess this is a really big one.

From what they told me they are going to close the gates to the hospital as the parade goes through (remember, it's like a college campus). The Damas won't be selling anything that day, they are preparing food, and I think there is even a raffle I got goaded into participating in today.

Their big concern was making it ready that I'd be able to get into the gates in the morning because I guess security is tight. I was like, "I'm sure the guards will recognize me. I kind of stick out."  But they still insisted on making sure I'd be decked out I'd have no trouble getting in.

I have to say, I'm looking forward to it myself. If I want something authentic and Peruvian, here I go!