Christmas: A Pisco-Injected Chicken and Fireworks

So Christmas in Peru has officially come and gone. You may be wondering what it’s like to celebrate Christ’s Birthday here in Iquitos. There are alot of things that are very similar. There’s a Christmas tree in the living room, lights hanging on the house, Santa comes, there’s a big dinner that involves a turkey, and families all gather round…but not near a fireplace. However, my personal Christmas with Jorge was unique for several reasons.



Unable to go to Lima or California, Jorge and I chose to spend our first Christmas together, just the two of us. The Air Force recently allowed me to move into an empty house on the base because we are getting married. I am so thrilled to be in what will be our future house together, even if there’s no furniture, no stove, I am borrowing a bed, and I have a little plastic table with chairs for eating meals in the kitchen. But this is the first time in months that I have had access to a kitchen and an air conditioner. And I feel so blessed. So, Jorge was here with me to celebrate and we created a Christmas celebration for two.



We decided we wanted to go all out even if it was just going to be the two of us. We wanted to make a big dinner with a turkey and stuffing and all that stuff. Everything pretty much worked out except for the turkey part. Jorge is given a Christmas Turkey every year from the Air Force and we planned on picking it up the day before. But unfortunately we received a call that our turkey was being held hostage in Lima because Jorge was still listed on the “Lima Turkey List.” But it’s okay because his dad picked up the Turkey and used to feed his family, and they have a lot more mouths to feed than we do. So we went to one of the only grocery stores here and found ourselves a Christmas chicken!




So Jorge being as manly as he is, decided he would be in charge of the meat of course, along with the mashed potatoes, rice, and hot chocolate. I was in charge of the salad and the stuffing and moral support during the Christmas Chicken project. And the Jello was a team effort. I want you all to know that tracking down ingredients for this meal was not easy at all. Between the open air market of Belen and the various other grocery stores that carry ‘this’ and not ‘that,’ I think we spent more time looking for items than actually cooking. And all of this was cooked with a tiny electric grill, a mini rice cooker, and a microwave.



So here we have Jorge working on his Christmas chicken.






I love my future husband because he does things like injects chicken with Pisco and Coca Cola. Yep. That’s right. He bought a legit surgical needle (how he managed to find that and I couldn’t even find garlic powder is beyond me).





He proceeded to pump the little chicken full of the liquids and then stuffed it with something and basted it with something else. I wasn’t watching the whole time because I was trying to figure out how to make stuffing without an oven. Which may lead you all to a question…how does one cook chicken without an oven? I will tell you. You get on your moto with your freshly pisco-injected/basted chicken balancing on your girlfriend’s leg and you drive around Iquitos until you find a bumpy dirt road where there is a little handmade sign that says “Hornean” with a little arrow pointing down the street. Hornean means “we bake” by the way. Then you get a little lost as you are driving by people’s houses and right under volleyball nets in the street until a little boy on a bike yells to you “pavos, pavos, pavos?” (turkeys, turkeys, turkeys). Then you follow the boy on the bike until you find a little house where a sweet lady charges you 5 soles (less than 2 dollars) to bake your chicken in her oven and you can come and pick it up two hours later. I wish I had pictures of this little journey but I was too busy holding the dripping chicken on my leg. But it was all totally worth it!!!!!



The chicken was delicious and so was everything else. We planned to eat after church and by the time we had retrieved the chicken we ended up eating really late, like 11:00pm. And much to my surprise around midnight I heard what I thought was a war zone outside the front door. Turns out every one and their grandmother was setting of fireworks and firecrackers right in front of their houses. What? Yes, fireworks everywhere on Christmas Eve right at midnight. Okay awesome. Jorge set off a few little fireworks that he had bought and then we played with some sparklers the next day when our friend came over for leftovers.











A note about our Christmas presents to each other, we didn’t have any. It was a gift to just be together, so made Christmas cards for each other. I think it's one of the best presents I have ever recieved. We also spent time sneak attacking family members with phone calls, hanging out with friends and eating their leftovers, and taking in a movie. And that's it.

Anyways I hope you all had an amazing Christmas. I love you so much.

There's no sign of Winter, but I know its Christmas

Joy to the World! Thanks to God for giving me a savior! I didn't deserve it, but You sent your Son here anyways to give me the gift of grace.


So this is my first Christmas ever that I have been away from my family and only the second time I have not spent a Christmas in Oakhurst. The only other Christmas I spent away from home I spent in Las Vegas. It was an awesome Christmas and also the year I stopped believing in Santa Claus. I was milking it the last few years anyways. But now I am here in South America and there is not one sign of winter. I feel strangely like it must be warm everywhere else. But then I see all your pictures of snow and people in jackets and people ice skating which makes me remember that winter is actually occuring for those who don't live so close to the equator. Well here's what Christmas looks like in Iquitos, Peru.

It's a bit different, I know. But it is totally amazing to feel Christ's love all around the world and see how people celebrate his birth. From the Alligator skeleton to the decorated hamburger cart, Christmas is all around me here.




















Here's my favorite so far....the main plaza's Nativity Scene. Complete with a native tribe and an anteater. Don't neglect to notice the monkey and the jaguar about to attack all the people.









I miss my family dearly, but I am so thrilled to be spending Christmas with Jorge. Our first Christmas together and I am grinning from ear to ear because I am with him. I hope you all have a blessed Christmas! I love you all!

P.S. I just heard from Aunt Sue that she reads my blog every single day. I was touched by that because sometimes I feel like this is just a diary for myself. So I am glad she enjoys it. I love you Aunt Sue and anybody else who is reading this.

Flight Group No 42 Celebrates Another Year

Jorge belongs to Flight Group No 42 here in Iquitos and there have been ongoing celebrations for the 46 anniversary of the Flight Group. The celebrations have included ceremonies and marches, most of which took place early in the morning (I slept through most of these). Also there have been soccer matches and lunches, again I slept through those. But I did make it to a morning of “Olympics.” This event was like a contest of athletic and somewhat silly events that put all of the Air Force staff against each other in different color teams. Our team, the “Green Team” sadly lost in this battle, but it was still fun.



The events included classic items like Tug-of-War, Relays, Potatoe Sack Race, and a Volleyball game. My favorite was the huge game of musical chairs in which the contestants were so rowdy that eventually they had to have their hands tied behind their backs. My other favorite was a game in which two opponents buzzed in to answer a question about Air Force Trivia. The loser of each round had to take a plate full of shaving cream to the face…awesome.









Before all the shenanigans (I love that word) of the “Olympics” started, I took a walk around the property. Here’s what I found….

17 Again

17 Again….

I am not sure if any of you actually saw the movie “17 Again”….well somehow Jorge and I ended up seeing it here in Iquitos. Random, I know. Not to spoil the thrilling plot for anybody, but basically this 40-something guy gets to go back in time and relive his life as a 17 year old. Ironically about a week after we saw the movie I encountered a few events that made me feel 17 all over again.

A friend invited us to an event at the local “discotec” which was a fundraiser for the Language Center at the local University. The event was to raise scholarship money for English students at the University through a mock version of a Miss Universe/Mr. Universe Pageant. All of the contestants ranged in age from about 15-17. The whole event was in English and at times I found myself to be the only one laughing at the jokes made by the MC’s, because most of the audience was under the age of 15 and didn’t understand English. So I was the weirdo laughing out loud all by myself and singing along to all of the English songs that nobody knew the lyrics to.





After introductions were made there was a musical number performed by the students. It was pretty awesome and reminded me of a Spanish version of High School Musical. I loved it. Then of course there was the evening gown portion of the evening, followed by a Question and Answer portion. They were asked questions like “What do you think defines the Amazonic Woman” or “What is the best regional dish that represents the people of Iquitos?”





Then of course the winners were crowned and given all kinds of prizes, including scholarships for a year of classes. Afterwards they opened up the dance floor. Jorge and I were excited to take advantage of a non-crowded discotec (that hardly ever happens, usually there is barely any breathing room). It didn’t take us long to realize that we were quite a spectacle. Not only was I the only blonde, but we realized we were about 10 years older than everybody else. Haha. We were like the awkward chaperones that actually dance at the high school dance….but nonetheless we really enjoyed ourselves.



The next day I attended a birthday party which I was invited to by the mother of one of my students. Her older daughter was turning 18 and was celebrating the event at their house. So I was told the party started at 9…so I showed up at 10:30…and I was still way too early. (I gotta get a better grip on Peruvian party time). But not too worry because as soon as I walked in I was given a number of things to do. First I fixed the family video camera, then I futzed around with the stereo pretending that I knew how to fix it, then I became the videographer, and then I sat with the aunts and uncles and blew up balloons. I loved it.



The guests began to arrive and soon there was a patio full of high school students awkwardly standing around looking at each other. The girls would squeal from time to time and look at the pictures on their digital cameras, and the boys would look down at their shoes or play with their cell phones. Made me feel like I was in the States. The best part was watching all of this from the sidelines, again like an old chaperone. I sat with my student’s mother and contemplated whether or not we should go get the dance floor started. We decided not to and ate a lot of food instead. Oh, to be 17 again…. I feel old, but somehow happy to not be 17 anymore.

Party White White

I know I am really behind on my blogs, sorry! Well better late than never. About a month ago we were invited to an awesome party by our friends Fio and Cali. The invitation of the party actually said, “Party White White.” I knew merely by the sound of the invitation that the party was gonna be great. It was a fundraiser organized by the Army. While all the guests wore white, all of the decorations were made of vibrant colors. I thought it was beautiful and I am huge fun of bright colors. So of course I took a lot of pictures.









We had amazing guests at our table, including Fio’s parents and all of their friends. They were so much fun and they had me rolling with laughter most of the evening. There was plenty of delicious food, drinks, and great music. Our table won the raffle item for the evening which just happened to be a drink call the “Super Orgasmo.” And our table really enjoyed it. (Sorry if that is inappropriate, I am just reporting the facts).




Just when I thought the party couldn’t get any better this guy showed up and really shook the place up. This clown on stilts came waltzing in with a bag full of tricks. He had balloons, whistles, masks, noisemakers, hats…oh my goodness. Again I felt like Alice in Wonderland and this time I was at the Mad Hatter’s Party. I think my favorite part was the congo line that ended up passing through a tunnel made by the clown’s stilts. Apparently this can be pretty typical at Peruvian parties and weddings. Um…lets start this tradition in the States, no? I love Peru!









Also, before we arrived to the party we stopped at the grocery store to use the atm. The following is evidence of how I told you before that at random times you will find live musical performers in the grocery stores. Check out the awesome band behind Fio and Jorge.





I love you all and I miss you. Besito!