So Christmas has come and gone, and things are more or less back to the way things are. I tried to remind myself of the experiences I was having rather than focusing on the things that I was missing and that more or less worked. I mean, it’s not every day that you get to celebrate Christmas by having a dance off to 80’s music with your very inebriated uncle. That is for sure, but hey, I’m not going to have another Christmas like it, so better enjoy it right?. Christmas Eve was full of everything I thought it would be: dancing, beer, paneton, dancing, cocoa, and more dancing…and as soon as midnight rolled around, everyone said “Feliz Navidad” and went on their merry way.
Christmas day itself was a bit uneventful in that I slept in until 10:30 am (which is the longest I have slept in ever in Peru), had the biggest and weirdest breakfast ever (cold soup, rice and cuy, left over paneton, and biscuits in honey), then basically sat around outside enjoying the sunshine. I also opened the rest of my Christmas gifts my parents sent me (and I mean “rest” because I couldn’t wait 5 days to open them all…sorry Mom), and had my own mini-Christmas in my room complete with Handel’s Messiah playing in the background.
My stockings were a hit with the host family. I think they forgot that they were to be filled on Christmas day, so I had to bring them to them or else I’m pretty sure they would have hung on the wall until the New Year. I had stuffed them full of sweets and a small gift. For my mom I gave her some earrings since she had her ears pierced, but didn’t have any earrings. Well I had the earrings wrapped at the market in some wrapping paper, so as she would get to open at least something…When she pulled out the wrapped gift, she starting stroking the paper and saying how beautiful it was and asking where I had bought it. It then dawned on me that she thought I had actually given her wrapping paper for Christmas, so I politely told her that there was something else inside. Needless to say the earrings were a big hit. Take THAT American consumerism!
Since then I’ve been trying to occupy my time to the best of my abilities since people still appear to be on vacation. All the professors have left, since school is out and the majority of them live out of town, and as for the health post, most of my community partners are still on holiday vacation. So I’m mainly been biding my time with my host family by hiking up the mountain (to grandma’s house we go...literally), planting my first garden (let’s see if I have my mom’s famous green thumb), learning how to make papas rellenos (glorified French fries stuffed with meat), and eating my first REAL sierra-style panchamanca (complete with bananas!). I’ve also taught my cousins and brother the chorus to “Jingle Bells” and they haven’t been able to stop singing it, so the Christmas spirit may very well last until summer at the rate they are going.
But now comes the time for yet another Peruvian celebration: New Years. It’s basically like Christmas only bigger, better, and stuff on fire. Like any other holiday, Peruvians do it up in style and New Years means burning life-sized dolls made of old clothing and stuffed with hay. My host dad, at this very moment, is putting the finishing touches on our two dolls. Unfortunately I didn’t have any clothing to spare, as my clothing is few and far between, but that wasn’t a problem. My host family appears to stock pile old clothing special for this occasion. New Years also consists of some other “not-so-American” customs, one being to wear different colored underwear: yellow (luck), red (love), and green (money). My host mom bashfully admitted that she only ever wears red underwear on New Years. Ha. Oh my! Peruvians also crawl under the table to eat 12 grapes come midnight, as well as bathe at midnight. 1. I’m not sure we even have grapes and 2. I have a hard time getting in the cold shower during the hottest hour of the day, so not sure how I feel at the dead of night. And last, but not least, no Peruvian celebration is complete with dancing and the passing of the beer bottle. So it looks like I’m in for another night to remember…
Everyone keeps on asking what Americans do to celebrate the New Years and honestly I don’t even know. I mean, as far as my past New Years’ go, it mainly consists of hanging out with friends and more or less watching the Time Square party on TV. But somehow watching a giant ball drop is not the same as seeing a life-sized doll go up in flames.
So on that note, I need to go find my lighter… Hope everyone has a great New Year! Espero que tengan un Feliz Año Nuevo!
Now for some photos from the past few weeks:
Making French Toast in my kitchen
The view outside my house. The yellow building is my health post, we are neighbor-ee-nos...
This is our only source of water, which is right outside our front door. That is my host mom, Adela, collecting some water to cook lunch with.
This is me trying to find out who my "Amigo Secreto" was...and by jobe, I got it right!
This is Brando, one of my host dogs, and my friend Diana at the 6th grade graduation
This is a map of San Juan de Lacamaca. I live in Sector 4 (81 families).
This are some ladies in the caserio, Ahijadero, about a 45 min walk from my house. The women in my site where the typical clothing of the sierra: skirts, cardigans, and tall hats. And most every woman I know can knit up a storm.
This is me and my cousin Marion, who just graduated high school...their graduations are a lot like our proms, but I never recieved the dress code memo. ha.
A little girl in a caserio where I helped vaccinate dogs.
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