Mollendo: The Return

After returning to Arequipa to take care of some family matters, we headed back toward the coast, to Mollendo, for Howard’s niece’s special 15th birthday.
Mollendo—remember, we were there in 2019. But this time, the weather was a bit chilly and gray.

We had dinner at their house and stayed at a simple hotel near the sea. The Plaza Hotel—spacious rooms and hot water, which was the main thing.
Other than that, the rooms were very chilly.
That evening, we went out for our first pisco sour since arriving, but since my stomach hadn’t fully recovered, the acidity knocked me out the next day, so I stayed at the hotel to rest while waiting for the birthday party.

I had to find a solution for this infection I had; I ended up getting some coconut oil, probiotics, and vitamins—including magnesium—to treat my ailment, which has actually been going on for almost 10 days now.
The party night arrived, and I found myself in a party room on the rooftop of Howard’s uncle’s house, which they had decorated and lined with fabric walls.
A fairy-tale princess theme in blue.
A sort of rite of passage for turning 15.

Before the party, we went to church for my niece’s blessing.

In the end, we were all gathered together with about fifteen people holding a large candle, waiting for Nayara. When she arrived in her princess dress, she blew out each candle and thanked the person holding it.

Then she stood in front of the decorations, and her father was the first to speak, giving a speech about his daughter—I have to admit I understood nothing, or almost nothing.
It’s true that I haven’t yet explained to you how I’ve been getting by since I’ve been here.
It’s actually pretty tedious.

I knew very little Spanish—just what I’d picked up on the fly as a child.
Time passed, and I’d lost even that little bit of knowledge. In 2019, I had a brief immersion experience, but it wasn’t easy—I spoke French with Erika, English with Howard, and “Spanlish” with Mirley.
From then on, I tried speaking Spanish with Erika’s family.
Over the course of three years, due to a lack of practice, I’d lost it all again, but I could still generally understand the gist of a situation.
Here, I’m almost completely immersed. So much so that people speak very quickly to me, and in the end I don’t understand a thing, but I try to speak as much Spanish as possible.
Let’s get back to our evening.
The young woman’s father takes a pair of high heels presented on a tray to help his daughter put them on, symbolizing her transition from girl to woman.
From that point on, the mother, uncles, and aunts danced the waltz with the new woman.
The party lasted until almost 1 a.m. for us, at which point we headed back to our hotel.
The next day, we learned that the police had come by around 2 a.m. because of the music. Fortunately, only the family living under the same roof was still there.
The next day, we hit the road again for Arequipa.