This past weekend I spent at the beach with some family and friends. It was awesome!! And it was educational.....

First and awesomeest is that I was able to get into the water! I haven't been able to actually go into the ocean for years!! Some of you know and others may not that I have a kind of odd allergy.....I'm allergic to cold. Yes, cold temperatures, not the sinus infection. I actually break out in hives if exposed to cold temperatures for an extended period of time or if my skin has a shock contrast exposure to something very cold. I'm not uber sensitive, but it does make winters interesting and most definitely rules out polar plunges... Usually when I've been at the ocean the water is too cold for me to even gradually work my way in.

But not this past weekend!! I was in that water catching waves on a boogie board with the rest of my family! Or at least trying to... It was amazing! I absolutely loved it!!! It was such a special treat from God to be able to enjoy the ocean, the salty air, the gorgeous sun, and the sand exfoliation from IN the water instead of at the edge! And on top of that, the only sunburn I got was on the back of my hands...odd, right, but I obviously forgot to put sunscreen on them. Ahhhh, the little things in life...

So the weekend was going great, enjoyable, awesome, and then I was informed of something that I was previously unaware of.... we were chilling at the beach house during the hottest part of the day and decided to play a nice, friendly game of Scattergories. If you do not know what this game is, you should try it. Its tons of fun! But it can also be educational.... The way it works is you have 16 cards with lists of 12 things/random items on them. Someone rolls a dice with the alphabet in it. You then are timed and have to think of things to match the list of 12 items that all begin with whatever letter was rolled. For example, the letter "R" is rolled and the list of things you have to think up names for that begin with the lettter "R" could include: a boys name, a professional sports team, a hobby, something that goes in the fridge, etC. After the time is up, everyone shares what they wrote for each item on the list.

Well, we were on the letter "P" and one of the listed things was "something found in the ocean." I thought I was clever and wrote Perch(the fish). My mom wrote Piranhas. As we were sharing our answers, one of our friends repsonded that my mom's answer isn't accurate. He said that piranhas are fresh water fish and therefore would not be found in the ocean, but would actually be found in rivers. After he said that I had a sudden, mind-numbing thought and asked if piranhas are in the Amazon and Ucayali Rivers in Peru? There was then laughter as they all realized what I had just figured out and was informed that it is common knowledge that piranhas are native to the Amazon Jungle.

HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT?!?! First, I find out that Tarantulas are native to the Amazon jungle, and now I find out piranhas are too??? I thought all those strange, scary animals were native to Africa where all the other strange, unfriendly animals are. I had originally thought that I might go swimming in the Ucalyali River occasionally once I move there, but I am now seriously reconsidering that plan....Piranhas??? Seriously?????

Oh, the neverending life ahead of constantly learning new things...it shall indeed be an adventure, and Lord willing, I will have the benefit of actually finding out about them prior to becoming personally aquainted with them..... I hope...... :-)

#peru