Thursday was food-poisoning day. I blame a piece of cheese I ate. It was a day full of shakes and projectile fluids.
Friday I was fine and it was time for David's promocion, the Peruvian version of sixth grade graduation. They rented a hall, all the kids dress up, there are lots of speeches and ceremony, then they dance all night long.
Here's a part of my family looking fabulous before heading out.
I was the madrina of diplomas, so I made some up using my mediocre design skills and gave them out to all the kids on stage. I also had to give an impromptu speech.
I didn't expect to be called up on stage and was so flustered that I asked the teacher, "What do I do?" in English before I got it together. I ended up giving a nice little speech about the importance of education and how I'm still a student at 24.
I previously had a nice dress on, but ended up changing before going out because it was frigid and muddy. I'm really glad I did because I wouldn't have wanted to attract any extra attention to myself. Everyone wanted their picture taken with me and my cheeks hurt from smiling so much. While we were dancing, the band leader kept calling out my name whenever I'd do a spin or anything other than shuffle from side to side.
Speaking of which, after the formalities, it was dancing time. There was a live band and they started with reggaeton and some cumbia, which is like salsa and I felt like I wasn't being horribly gringa for a while. Then they started the huayno, the traditional style of this region, and didn't stop. Huayno is a special kind of beast and not my favorite genre ever. You dance by holding hands in a big circle, doing some fancy foot-tapping that I still don't have the hang of, rotating side to side, and usually not smiling. The songs last 20 minutes and are based on flat saxophones. Sometimes there's a female vocalist who shrieks and yells. I can't tell any of the songs apart, either.
Here's a pretty good example of every Huayno video ever. Sadly, they don't have saxophones, but you get the idea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryWQBi8dNV0&feature=fvsr
And here is my family getting down. There are enough of us to form our own dancing circle. Also notice that we are dancing around a tower of cases of beer.
Drinking until you black-out is another Peruvian tradition at parties. It's usually achieved through drinking circles. Everyone passes around a cup and a big bottle of beer. You pour some beer into the cup, take a swig, shake out the foam, and pass it to the next person. This continues until you lack the coordination to keep the circle going and you take a nap in a chair.
I had a revelation as to why I've never been super drunk. There was a man who was intoxicated enough to not be able to form sentences, but he was huaynoing like nobody's business all by himself. I could never do that. I realized that when I drink, my motor skills go before my good sense. I'm always still aware enough to notice this, so I get all self-conscious and stop drinking. I don't think I could ever have a lost night dancing at a club because I wouldn't be able to dance anymore. The drunkest I've ever been was in the middle of the night in a canoe in Montana, and I still had it together enough to realize that I was drunk and focus really hard on my paddle strokes.
I had fun at the party until about 2am and then hit the wall. It's considered rude to turn down an offer of a drink or a dance. Fortunately for me, the drinking circle had been going for some time, so nobody remembered that I was being rude. The first members of my family weren't ready to leave until 3:30 or so, and we were some of the first to head out. The rest of my family, including my 11 year old brother and my 60 year old parents, didn't return home until 6am. I have to work on my party stamina if I'm going to be going out in Peru. It sounds like a lot of complaining, but I had fun. I was just tuckered out and surrounded by very drunk people by the end.
I had a great time dancing with my little brother, David. He's much better at huaynoing than I am.
On Christmas eve, I was one of the first ones up at 11am. We took it easy and then went to the city of Cerro de Pasco to do some last-minute Christmas shopping for paneton and fireworks. Have I talked about paneton yet? If not, it's a fruit cake like thing that comes in pre-packaged bags, smells like rum, and has been on sale since Halloween. It's a necessity for a Peruvian Christmas. They don't do much for my American taste buds.
We were treated to lovely snowscapes on the way up to Cerro.
It's the highest city of it's size in the world at over 4330 meters. It's also a mining town with a huge pit right in the center of it. I was introduced to the weather phenomenon of lightning sleet there. All the peruvians had their umbrellas up and their spokes hover right at my eye level. I struggled to follow my tiny host mom as she darted through the congested marketplace. I felt like a big white, wet, elephant begging to be pickpocketed.
Things were better once we got home. We changed into warm clothes and all hung out together in one room waiting for midnight. At 12, we put baby Jesus in the nacimiento, had paneton and hot chocolate, and set off fireworks in the back yard. The first photo is my whole family minus my sister Elena who took the picture and my host dad who was out back. There were all these people in one room together, and I was still wearing a t-shirt, long sleeved shirt, hoodie, North Face jacket, long johns, sweat pants, wool socks, and a hat. Christmas is cold in Junin.
Here's a closer look at paneton.
Then fireworks! I'm glad nobody lost a finger.
It was a clear night and the stars were incredible. I'm like a reverse hillbilly to my family. I was so awed by the sky and kept telling everybody to look. They just said, yup, that's how it is here.
And here's the nacimiento. It plays 30 second versions of tinny Christmas carols. It's not awful, but I'm pleased when they shut the music off at night.
Christmas day was relaxed. It poured most of the day, so we chatted together in the kitchen. I made a camote pie that was delicious, but turned out an unappetizing green color. The camote we have here is yellow on the inside and purple on the outside. I'm not sure how that made green, but that's what happens with campo cooking. We also don't have any measuring tools so I was mostly winging it. I'm glad it turned out as yummy as it did.
Christmas here was an interesting experience. It was my first away from home. I didn't have as many moments as I expected where I was really sad. There were tough times when my mom would send me pictures of our tree or I'd hear about the Christmas lights. I was also bummed after I talked with my whole family Christmas morning. It was wonderful to speak with them, but it made me sad that I wasn't there. I think it wasn't so hard in general because there aren't a lot of the cues that tell you it's Christmas. There are some decorations, but so many of the American traditions are absent. It's a totally different animal here. I'm glad. It would've been a lot harder if they had a real pine tree with a train around it and white lights everywhere.
I made a wonderful discovery a few days ago. There was snow on the ground when I woke up. I asked my family about it, and it turns out that we get real snow here later in the season. I thought it was all rain. My family says they make snowmen, which they call "osos de nieve" (snow bears), so there must be a good amount of accumulation. They've also never heard of sledding. We're at the edge of a valley surrounded by huge hills. If we don't die, I think this will be the best part of American culture that I'll impart this year.
Though, to be honest, the only other American things I've taught them are swear words and fist bumps. My whole family is proficient at the rocket ship, explosion, snail, octopus, and hand hug.
On an unrelated note, my family found a tiny lamb in the field. They've since given it away, but for a little while there I had a lamb and a kitten in my lap. My cup of adorable animals runneth over.
Merry belated Christmas and fist bumps to all!
And Merry Christmas to you and all your family there. Just when I think this blog can't get any better it does!
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