Jessi and Nicchola's birthdays!

Man did we ever celebrate for our teammate’s birthdays??!?? Jessi’s birthday was April 18^th and Nicchola’s birthday was April 21^st. We had been planning to go on a small trip for their birthdays. A couple of days before we decided to go leave, we decided on going to Huaraz. We were going to get a room for the 3 of us girls and a room for Nicchola and take a couple of different day tours. We took an all-night bus ride to get to Huaraz, got to a hostal Monday morning after being literally – stalked by a tour guide, ate a quick breakfast and went out to look for tours. We got to a tour place and he was explaining different options, and he mentioned camping. Jessi decided that was what she wanted to do, she was so excited, I was a little (or maybe a lot) skeptical, but that was the consensus of the team, so off we went! 

On the bus ride there. Sleeping in the "camas"

It was a beautiful hour drive out to the mountain. The tour guides quickly set up our tents (2 person tent – that 3 girls slept in & a pup tent for Nicchola with sleepy bags that had probably not been washed in a long time), ate some yummy bread and avacado, and then set off for a hike to the waterfall. Might I add, we were cold so we put on most of the clothes that we brought, since part of the trip we were going to be back-packing with all of our stuff, we didn't bring many clothes. We got to the waterfall, and it was BEAUTIFUL. Right when we got there, it started pouring down rain, my camera got ruined in the rain, and our clothes were soaked. I literally only had another pair of dry jeans to put on, but no other tops. Angela and I both practically had no clothes, so we just had to get in our sleepy bags half-naked, and it was pitch black outside at 7 pm. We had a tiny tiny flashlight that Angela had brought for just in case on the trip. We ate some Peruvian food that the guides made, and then just talked for a little while as it continued to rain. Then we decided to go to bed since there was literally nothing else we could do. That night I was having horrible dreams and hallucinations that someone was in our tent, that there was a huge spider, etc. I finally just got up and read for a while. Then we woke up at 8 to go on a mountain hike on horses. Can I just state that I had never ridden a horse, and I was absolutely terrified, but I was going to do this because it was for Jessi’s birthday and she LOVES riding horses. We set out for our hike, it is super straight up hill and 8,000 meter mountain! Did I explain that there were huge rocks, rivers, trees, and thorns that you had to go through. Oh yeah, we had to get off our horses several times because it was too steep and too scary to go riding on horses.  Oh yeah, and Jessi had really bad asthma without her inhaler. 3 ½ uphill hours later, we get to a pretty lagoon. Right before we got there it started sleeting on us. While Angela and Jessi waited, Nicchola and I went exploring to see the other lagoon and a waterfall. 

Such a beautiful drive there. 

Camping

Waterfall the first day. 

Our sweet friend Sylvia who walked all the way up and dow n the mountain with us. 

The beautiful lagoon at the top of the mountain

I am riding a horse!

One of the many rivers/ waterfalls on the mountain.

Then we started the famous descend. Oh yeah, we couldn't use our horses for the like the 1^st hour because it was too steep and dangerous. Then our tour guides just left and took off without us with Angela. Angela finally made them stop for us. Since Nicchola, Jessi, or I did not know the way down, we literally walked down for the first hour in rivers. Then we finally caught up with our guides because Angela made them wait for us, and it started a downpour for the next 2 hours. It was literally freezing. I could not feel from my waist down. After 2 hours of walking down a mountain in pouring rain, we finally got to our campsite without any clothes to put on. We put on our swim-shorts and get back in our sleeping bags until someone comes to pick us up so we can go back into the city. We ditched the other walking part of the trip. We get into the city, picked up our luggage, took showers, and get back on a bus to go 8 hours to Lima. All I can say about this trip, was it was an adventure. Lesson learned: Be prepared if you are going to go on a backpacking trip! At least, it was a trip that will never be forgotten. J

Then on Thursday, Jessi’s actual birthday, we surprised her with a funfetti birthday cake (cake mix all the way from the states), took her to Chili’s, bought her some cute accessories, then we had a surprise nertz/ papa john pizza party for her. It was a really fun but chill day! 

We had a birthday week for Jessi, a little something special each day of the week!

Sporting her new pants!

Funfetti cake with lots of candy!

Chilis!

Then on Sunday, we surprised Nicchola with about 12 of his family members mostly from Lima or other areas far away from Ventanilla came to eat a homemade Peruvian lunch that we had made with Nicchola’s mom that morning. Then we had 2 Bible studies. Then we tried to go see a movie, but once we got there, we realized they were just selling tickets for it a few days in advance. So Jessi, treated Nicchola to Chilis for his birthday dinner! It was a great time of celebrating our teammates birthdays and might I add a little CRAZY!

Nicchola's family!

Nicchola's daugher

His granddaughter

The Soppranis!