Oh you joker, you

Yes, I forgot to knock on wood with my last blog, in speaking about Carnivales and water. That very day I had not one, but three buckets of water thrown on me while I was walking up the street back to my house! Those little Peruvian kids are freaking sneaky! Tiny and sneaky! They were hiding inside the doorways of stores so you look down the street and naively think it is all calm and safe, and then BLAM!! SPLASH!! Fortunately I was close to home so I was able to take it all with a smile. I wasn't happy to hear that Carnivales actually lasts the entire week here in Cusco, so there are still random kids out in the street with their water balloons and bottles of white spray goo a little like whipped cream that disappears after a few minutes. But they are also about 4 years-old and have really bad aim. In fact, sometimes their throws are so short that their balloons don't even pop when they hit the ground, they just roll down the street and fall into grates, and then you have a tiny flock of 4 year-olds laying in the middle of streets with their arms down grates with taxis zooming by.

Those little kids remind me - Pampers has a new advertising campaign here in Cusco, and so there are Pampers posters on all of the little tienda doors advertising their new size of diapers - XL! Because miniature Peruvian babies need XL diapers...

I had a wonderful birthday dinner with my friend Oscar's family - his brother is also a chef and had spent the day cooking a baked pasta dish with kalamata olives, eggs, chilies and spices, and also stuffed peppers with raisins, chilies, beef and cheese. We washed it down with good Peruvian beer and a giant chocolate cake! I had plans to go out and celebrate afterward, but after so much food I laid down for a little nap and woke up 12 hours later. Yes, as you all know, I am quite the party animal. Right now it is time for a belated birthday lunch at a little Israeli place that makes the best sauces for dunking your bread in, giant falafel balls, and a piping hot milk custard dessert! For $2 US! Woohoo!