Cassie Stockamp

So today I got my first taste of a Peruvian birthday party… but the lead-up deserves its own moment 😄

I found a sweet little café that was actually open (it’s Labor Day weekend here), set up my iPad, and joined a 90-minute Zoom on Spanish grammar. Yes… 90 minutes. Yes… grammar. Living the dream, people.

Then it was back home for some good old-fashioned handwashing of clothes, followed by hauling them up to the top floor to hang them out to dry—basically my new full-body workout routine.

The birthday party itself was for my 22-year-old host “brother,” and it was honestly delightful. I spent most of it happily soaking in the rhythm of the language swirling around me—still catching pieces here and there, like a linguistic scavenger hunt.

We kicked things off with the birthday song in English, then immediately leveled up to a full-on, enthusiastic Spanish version. The cake? A FOUR-layer, homemade masterpiece with dulce de leche between the layers. I’m just going to say it: I have zero complaints.

Then came the music—The Police, The Verve—and suddenly I’m smiling like I’m back in my 20s.

But wait, there’s more.

After the party, I heard music drifting up the street. Turns out, here they celebrate when a new floor is added to a home under construction. And when I say “added,” I mean every bit of concrete is hauled up by hand in wheelbarrows. Respect. The music, I’m guessing, is both celebration and survival strategy. Judging by the concrete-splattered clothes, these folks earned that party.

AND… small personal victory this week: three of us taught a 90-minute lesson on design thinking—in Spanish—to 30 sixteen-year-olds. Yup, I had a script… and yup, I clung to it like a lifeline… but by god, we did it! No one ran out of the room, and I’m calling that a win!

A full, beautiful, slightly surreal day in the life of a Peace Corps trainee.

And yes… still no hot showers. I take a deep breath every night before stepping in. Character building, right? 😅 #slowtravel #perú #todobien