Falta Menos Que Un Mes...

I cannot believe that we will be home in less than a month! Things are pretty quiet around here these days. My brother, Kevin, stayed for a couple weeks and we were busy sightseeing, but now that he´s left, we´re just sitting here, twiddling our thumbs, waiting for August 20th to arrive.

Peruvian Independence Day was July 28th, but they celebrate for two days. On Monday, the park in front of our house had a ceremony for the neighborhood while the Peruvian president attended a televised Catholic mass and then gave an hour-and-a-half-long speech (think State of the Union Address). The next day there was a televised parade. This was not a typical parade--no floats, no balloons, no clowns, just hundreds of military men and women marching with very large guns. I really miss the Macy´s Thanksgiving Day parade!

I learned that for Independence Day in Peru, every building is required to have a Peruvian flag, and if they don´t, the police can give out a fine. In Peru, you commonly see two forms of the flag--one with the crest and one without. I guess only institutions and government buildings are supposed to fly the flag with the crest, but a few of our neighbors have one atop their houses, so they must think they´re pretty important people.

The last difference between Independence Day here and at home was the lack of fireworks. I think we heard a total of 5 distant "pops" and that was it! For a city that is notoriously loud, I was surprised that it was so quiet. Back home, we have fireworks going off days before and days after the 4th!

Pedro will have so many new experiences, both for holidays and regular days, in the U.S. Now that August is arriving, he´s getting so nervous, and I´m getting so excited.