Day Nine

Whoops.

I did not really sleep much last night due to my stomach, but Christie gave me some medicine and it has been working so far, thank god.
Another early day, we left by 7 and headed to Paracas. Though we were all tired and did not want to spend two hours on a boat, this ended up being one of my favorite days so far. For the readers that do not know, Mom and Dad pay attention, Paracas is known as the Peruvian Galapagos as it is a series of islands that serve as a sanctuary to the marine life. We toured the islands and say everything from pelicans (which were a lot bigger than the one in Nemo) to sea lions to , my personal favorite, pinguinos!! It was incredible, and I got to remember how much I love boats (Dad).
After Paracas, we headed to Carmen. This was about an hour away and is a very impoverished Afro-Peruvian village. Unfortunately, we were the obnoxious Americans who drove our bus through a river because the local bridge was broken,  and to make matters worse, the bus was so big that it took down one of the few local power lines. I still feel terrible.
However, the day quickly got better with the Ballestas, a family famous for their spectacular dancing and performances. We got to listen to the history of the Peruvian slaves and their culture, then got to watch the dancing, step and drumming that left us all in awe. Though the performance was incredible (especially the eight year old who could merengue like no other), the best part to me was how happy they all were. Here they were living with what many would consider nothing, but they are so proud of their culture and who they are, that the material goods do not matter. I hope i never forget it.
We parted ways and headed back to Lima to prep for teaching tomorrow. Wish me luck!