How many types of fruit can you identify?

The cuy is the meat in the upper left of the left plate...what is cuy? Answer in a comment.

This past weekend I enjoyed a very laid back weekend consisting of going to the beach and visiting my host family's relatives! Since I had learned my lesson from the previous weekend at the beach, I made sure to put on sunscreen and surprisingly enough I only ended up with a slight burn on my back after two days at the beach!

Saturday was the first time in about 5 years that I had really been to a nice sandy beach and gone skipping into the ocean, I have to say I missed it a lot! Splashing in the waves and getting the taste of salt water in my mouth sealed the deal to a great day at the beach, not to mention I was with a bunch of friends!

On Sunday I joined my host family as they ventured up north to visit part of the extended family. Before seeing the family, however, we hit the beach for about an hour to soak up some sun and enjoy the relaxing sound of the waves crashing onto the shore. After a short time at the beach we went to the house to see all the family and I was warmly welcomed with kisses all around and a nice hardy snack of choclo (big corn on the cob) and freshly squeezed orange juice! When we finished our snack we headed off to pick up our lunch which consisted of lamb, cuy, ceviche, rice, and an assortment of other foods. Sunday was my first time trying cuy...Who knows what cuy is? If you know comment below with the answer.

To finish off the adventures with the family I got to accompany my host parents to a market where we bought a copious amount of fruits and vegetables. I have to say the market was definitely my favorite part because we were warmly welcomed by mountains of fresh fruits and taste tests all around! Not only was there tons of fruit, which all tasted fantastic, but it was also as cheap as can be! I don't know if I will ever be able to bring myself to purchase fruit from a super market ever again in the United States. Above you will see a picture of just a small part of the market...Who can guess all the types of fruits? Comment below with all the ones you know, I am still trying to try them all!

As the weekend came to a close I packed my bags for school, got some sleep, and started the week off rested and ready for a full week of classes!

This is why I'm hot!!!

My lobster red face

Ceviche!

Amazing fish dish with rice and french fries

Shells with sauces. Can you guess what the three sauces are?

After one week in Lima, Peru I have finally experienced the reality of the extreme intensity of the sun. While living in Alaska we get a lot of sun during the summer but Alaska is not located very close to the equator. That being said, Lima is a whole different story, and this past weekend I experienced the full intensity of the sun's UV rays.

Friday evening my host family and I packed up and headed to the beach (playa) for a weekend at the club where we were able to play tennis, play pool, frolic in the pool, and enjoy the beach. On Saturday morning after breakfast my host dad, Luis, asked if I wanted to go play tennis; since it was morning and I was still waking up I forgot that even though it was cloudy I still needed to put on sunscreen. That being said, after about two hours of tennis it was time to get in the pool and cool down so I went back to our room, applied a copious amount of sunscreen, and headed to the pool. It didn't take long to realize that the added sunscreen was not able to protect me from the time I spent soaking up the harmful UV rays in the morning, so as you can see I now have a nice red (rojo) color added to my body. My host mom, Elena, said I looked like a lobster (langosta).

Now that I have a sunburn I would love to get suggestions for good remedies to overcome the pain and discomfort of my burn. If you have any suggestions please comment on this post so I can start trying them out. I am scheduled to go to the beach to take a surfing lesson tomorrow so I am definitely needing to sooth my aching burn.

While getting sunburned hurt a bit, the pain I am in has been overcome largely in part due to the amazing food that is present at the beach. Since the club is right on the ocean front there were plenty of fish (pescado) options on the menu. Saturday afternoon I had my first ceviche, one of Peru's classical dishes. The ceviche was very flavorful, but without growing up eating sushi the raw fish was a bit much for my taste buds. Today, however, I had an amazing fish filete that was accompanied by french fries (papas fritas) and rice (arroz) and it was fantastic. Besides the hot sun, salty air, and plethora of people walking around in bathing suits, one additional identifier that you were at the beach was that all the sauces came in sea shells.

Overall it was very relaxing to go to the beach and experience some more fine Peruvian cuisine, now I just have to learn how to protect myself from the sun! Please do comment with some of your favorite sunburn remedies!