I miss you!

Sorry it has been a while since I posted last.  Everything is fine here, just trying to find more collections to look at.

Yesterday we went downtown to a beautiful museum to see Moche ceramics.  We were even able to go into the storage space to see the hundreds of ceramics that weren't put on display!

Today we are going to walk to the neighboring district to shop for gifts...I am pretty excited to buy things for everyone, but I think they may have to be small so they are easy to travel with!  

I am counting down the days until I return to the states.  I had a nightmare the other night that Heidi didn't remember who I was when I came home; hopefully that wasn't foreshadowing the future! 

I miss and love you guys so much! I absolutely can't wait to come home and see you!!!!!!

Skinny Sara

We just returned from Jose Antonio's house for the day. We analyzed a man today, and I noticed a compression fracture on his right tibia! So I think he fell from some great height. He also had some fractured toes on the same side. Tomorrow we are going to reconstruct his cranium because it was bashed in...murder?? I am pretty excited!!
Jose Antonio told me that I have lost a lot of weight in the past week because of my illness. I have noticed that my pants are getting huge on me, as are my tops that used to be tight. Please don't worry mom and dad! I am coming home soon to eat burgers and brats!!! And spaghetti, oh my!
Dr. Murphy only buys super healthy food, which is great except for when you need to gain weight, so I am going to stock up on the Sublime's later!
I am going to post all of my pictures on a Flickr account (Reggie is teaching me how), and I will send you the link so you can check all of them out! I am excited for you to see Peru!!
Last night we went to a party with some other students from the states. I met a guy who climbs and lives in Ft. Collins, Colorado. Reminded me a little of Ben! It's a pretty small world. After we ate with them they got on a bus headed for Chachapoyas, a twenty hour ride. I am suddenly more appreciative of my cold showers and hard bed...
I love you and will send you the link to the pics soon!!!

Yesterday was my first official sick day.  We were scheduled to go to Jose Antonio's house at 2 pm to meet up with some other archaeologists.  Jose Antonio really believes the two subadults from a bundle were sacrificed, but they clearly weren't.  He thought that someone broke their necks, however, they have no evidence on the skeleton that this occurred, and it would be difficult for that to leave any evidence on subadult bones anyways. Also, one of them had TB which he hadn't noticed until our analysis. But I digress....  I was excited to hang out with the other archaeologists from the states to see what they thought of the skeletons.  At around 1 pm I started vomiting a lot and I had cramps, so unfortunately I had to stay home and miss the excitement! (The archaeologists agreed with us, and said that the subadults were not sacrificed). I stayed in bed all day and watched DVDs on Reggie's computer in my bed.  Today I feel fine, just a little crampy and weak.  I am drinking some special Peruvian electrolyte drink today that tastes kind of gross, but I am feeling so much better because of it.

I talked to roommate on the phone today!! I am so happy that I got to hear her sweet voice.  I cried a little when we first said Hi, but when she told me that she saw Heidi I started bawling!  I am really missing everyone in Wyoming.  I love you all so much and can't wait to see you in two weeks!!!

The other day the sun was shining so we went to a bar called Mangos and had drinks on the balcony looking over the ocean.  It was really nice. Every day here is so dark and dreary, so it lifted our spirits to be out in the sunlight.

Our maid is coming in about twenty minutes to clean the house.. Yep, our maid.  I told The Murph. that I love to clean and would gladly do it weekly for free as a fun activity but she said no.  It is the norm for people to have maids and gardeners here.  

I love and miss you all so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Past few days

Sorry I haven't written in my blog for a few days.  We have been super busy lately trying to figure out which collections we can see and what not.  We went to Jose Antonio's and analyzed a couple more skeletons on Tuesday, and yesterday Mafe, Reggie and I went to downtown Lima to check out some sites there.  Jose Antonio had to go out to the island to get more skeletons so we didn't have anything else to do.  We went through the catacombs, but the tour guide must have been hungry because he didn't want to give us the whole tour or look at things too long. Mafe would take us to the rooms and say "he didn't show you guys this, so I will!".  Mafe had a meeting with an archaeologist at 5 pm, so after the catacombs we paid 5 soles for a bus ride up to San Cristobal which was through shanty towns and on top of a hill to kill some time.  A very high hill.  And the road was very precarious and zig-zaggy, and the best part of all was that there weren't any railings on the side.  So we are in this greyhound bus truckin' on up to the top of a hill at about a 75 degree incline doing zig zags on a dirt road.  But we made it safely!

Our TV died the other day.  It made some incredibly loud popping noises, may it now RIP.

I am a tad homesick this week...I am still having the time of my life, but I do miss everyone a lot.  I'm sure it will get better soon though.

Tonight Mafe's friend is having a concert at a bar in Barranco (he plays latin jazz funk) and I think we are all going to that.  Should be a lot of fun!

I love you, and I will call you this weekend!

BONES!

Go Diego!! Glad to hear he is a pony express horse now!
We got up early this morning and ran a few errands. Then we went to Jose Antonio's family house to study some Incan skeletons. He does not have a laboratory, which made the full inventory a little difficult, but we set up an outside lab to the best of our abilities. The house is gorgeous, and our "lab" was basically in an early twentieth century porch...you should have seen the peoples' eyes as they walked past and saw skeletons on a fancy dining table outside!
One skeleton was an elderly woman, and the second one was a subadult (WITH HAIR! MWAHAHA). The dentition of the subadult was incredibly difficult, as deciduous teeth and permanent teeth were present! It was way cool though...I will tell you more about the skeletons later.
I dropped off my laundry at a lavandaria, where they wash and fold it overnight tonight, and I will pick it up in the morning. Pretty cool!
I have also become addicted to a candy called Sublime, which is basically a Mr. Goodbar only twice as thick, and three times as cheap. :)
Mafe's best friend Valeria is coming over in a few minutes, and I think we are going to make zucchini and fresh tomato pasta for dinner. Girls night!! ( I have been told by The Murph about ten times now that every night is a girl's night...I am still excited beyond words) :)
One more quick story: I woke up in the middle of the night to Reggie holding my left arm straight up in the air and snoring. She must have been dreaming, but it was super funny nonetheless!!
Tomorrow I will see two more Incan skeletons!!! And maybe even take a shower...we will see!
I love you! Give Heidi a big squishy hug for me! (but not too squishy, she is frail.)

Lima in the dark!

Last night at around 11:30p.m., The Murph, Reggie and myself were watching a scary movie when all of a sudden the power went off! We sat for a moment and then looked out the shades to find that the whole city was dark.  We found The Murph's headlamp via the light from our cell phones (it is always good to have an archaeologist with a headlamp around in a time of crisis). We locked the front door and tried to find candles.  Mafe called us from across town at a party and said that the power at her friend's house was out as well.  The cops came out in full force, and we could watch them driving around from our windows.  It was pretty creepy that the only lights on the street were from automobile headlights.   I heard a knock on our door and (being the oddball that I am) ran out of my room to make sure The Murph wouldn't open the door for anyone in the power outage. Relax mom and dad, it was just the guard of our apartment.  He was making sure everyone was OK...(and The Murph did not open the door).  

A couple of hours later the lights came back on, and The Murph stayed up watching a Stephen King zombie movie alone, which apparently really scared her.  

I woke up today and read for a few hours, and then we walked to Barranco, a really cute little district.  We went shopping in an art/antique store and then had dessert and drinks.  The dessert consisted of homemade shortbread cookies with powdered sugar and caramel inside.  I ordered a melon jugar to drink, which was basically a frozen cantaloupe processed in a blender.  Nothing else was added, and it was soooo delicious and refreshing.

Tomorrow we are going to analyze some skeletons!!! Then for lunch we are getting cebiche, tacu tacu and pisco sours.  Apparently with our order the restaurant will give us a grilled baby octopus with olive oil and spices on it!!! I am pretty excited!

We are going to make quiche now with artichoke hearts, grilled asparagus, tomato, basil and cheese.  We are also making a queso fresco, tomato and avocado salad with olive oil!

I love you!!!!

Bones?

In about thirty minutes the man with the skeletal collection is coming over to talk to us about where we are going to lay out the bones!  I am so excited to finally see the bones! 

Last night we went to a pizza place for dinner, which was really delicious.  I ordered a pizza with prosciutto, ricotta and mushrooms.  Then we went to a bar (which wasn't at all like the bars in Laramie).   It was pretty fancy. 

I am getting a little homesick now, but it's not terrible. Last night I had a dream that dad took a helicopter to ski patrol, but forgot his skis.  Mom and I took the skis to dad via clinging to a chain dangling from the helicopter, but as we were flying across the mountain a bobcat tried to eat us so I had to save mom while clinging to a chain and fighting off the cat! 

 I am really enjoying getting to know Mafe and the Murph better..  The Murph really is a lot like Aunt Lisa!  

One thing I did want to mention: The showers here aren't hot.  The first ten minutes of water are probably warm at best, but when the next person takes a shower it is pretty chilly.  I definitely took hot water for granted at home! 

I hope everything at home is going well! I will be there in a little over three weeks!

Mom and Dad: How is Heidi??

Roommate: How are you? How is the move coming along??

I love you all!!