A Peruvian Year: Random Things

It rained here today for the first time in months (I don't remember the last time I saw rain!)
School began again for the majority of Lima's youth on Monday (here their summer break is mid-December to end of February) and I've been seeing lots of kids walking home from school in their uniforms.
Now that it's summer, I see tons of cockroaches in the streets and sidewalks, and mostly at night. They are so disgusting and huge. I'd never seen one before coming to Lima.
I have now been in 4 countries: USA, Peru, Chile, and Ecuador.
In Ecuador they use the US dollar; and when I visited, I learned they use Sacajawea (not sure if I spelled that right) dollar coins and those big 50 cent pieces.
I'm still learning jerga (slang)!

Tono = fiesta = party
Gilear = coqueatear = to flirt
Taffin = poser (that ones hard to explain...my friend explained it to me like this: you see a guy wearing skate shoes, skate apparel, and carrying a skate board. But he doesn't know how to skate. That's 'taffin')
Jato = casa = house
Jatear = dormir = to sleep
Calet/caleta= secret

I feel very mature because yesterday I went grocery shopping and to the bank. At the bank I paid for my cell phone for the month. Then I went and bought the following:

I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but in Lima there is a very well-known (and very tourist/gringo filled) park called Parque Kennedy. This park is known for being filled with cats. Literally, there are just a ton of cats and kittens hanging around. It's really cool. I've been there a ton of times but have never brought my camera with.
My host mom and host sister recently went on a trip to Pucallpa (a city in the jungle). They brought back a suit case filled with jungle bananas. We have been eating fried bananas everyday. They're delicious.
I started drawing again a few weeks ago (just before I went on my trip). I finished my first drawing (I'm pretty proud of it):


Left: Photo I took. Right: Drawing of photo I took

A Peruvian Year