Fiesta Firsts

After a long week of training, there is nothing more that I´d like to do than sleep...but alas, that was not an option this weekend, since there were not one, not two, but three fiestas going on in and around my community. So what do I do? Go to all of them of course...

I started out my weekend in Chosica, where I got to see my first (and hopefully last) beauty pageant. Girls ages 15-23 were battling it to be Miss Chosica. The girls dressed in traditional dresses of Peru, evening gowns, and sport wear, which didn´t make a whole lot of sense to me since I´m not sure what sport you would play in a mini skirt and see-through top. Keep in mind that this was all set to the backdrop of "Cristo Blanco," along with party lights and lighted palm trees. It really became tense once they got down to the finalists and started asking questions. One girl was asked the meaning of the "Chosica," and she totally bombed it and unlike in the states, the crowd was ruthless. Everyone starting booing and yelling that I couldn´t help but feel bad for the poor girl. In the end, the girl we were routing for got 2nd place, but there was some stiff competition.

Next up, was a fiesta in the community "Tres de Octubre" on Saturday night. Being as how it was indeed the third of October,  there were having a big community celebration. After having arrived at 8:30, we soon discovered that parties don´t exact start until around midnight, so we were a tad bit early. Some volunteers were going to perform some songs for the crowd around that time, but didn´t actually end up going on stage until around 11:30 pm...which we should have known. ha. Schedules here are mere suggestions on when things are actually supposed to start. While we were waiting though, we were easily entertained by a few groups of dancing children...some dressed up like devils, other in sparkly cowboy outfits, and of course, Michael Jackson impersonators. Since arriving to Peru three weeks ago, I have seen about 10 different Michael Jackson performances, and heard "Thriller" in the discoteccas far too many times. It appears to be that Michael Jackson is never going to die, at least in Peru.

Finally, I ended my night in Yanocoto, for they too were having a fiesta in their town including a live cumbia band and fireworks. Fireworks in Peru, however, put us Americans to shame. I´d say what is typical in America is to light a firecracker and have everyone stand as far away as possible, so that they don´t get hurt. Not the same in Peru. Here they strap firecrackers onto a paper mache bull and someone wears the bull outfit while running around in circles underneath meanwhile firecrackers are shooting each and every direction at the crowd. The coolest and maybe most frightning thing I have seen so far.

I ended my weeked of fiestas back in Chosica, where I got to see the "desfile" or parade....twice! First time, I saw the parade at the beginning. The floats were pretty ingenious. There was an ice age "Era de Hielo" and another Star Wars float...although float is a rough term. It´s more like pickup trucks decorated in such a way to look like floats, but like I said, they get pretty creative with them. The funniest part was probably all the little kids on the float throwing candy to the crowd. I got nailed in the head by a piece of candy being thrown at full force by some kid. And ofcourse, I ate it...I saw the parada a second time as it looped around Chosica back to wear the "Alcade" was sitting, so there was more dancing to be done. I also saw a member of the "Lions Club" shake and open a few bottles of beer and spray the audience. There was this other man spraying baby powder at the audience as well. Not sure the purpose, but the guys were pretty proud of themselves.

Like I said, Peruvians know how to party. While I did regret not getting as much sleep as I would of liked, I don´t regret any of it at all. In fact, I can´t wait for more fiestas to be had.