Hi folks. Well, have had the most wonderful Christmas here in Cusco. Its so nice not to have the whole commercial side of Christmas, but just the festive side of Christmas for a change!
Christmas Eve was a special day. A friend, Willy, asked if we would like to help hand out food to some street kids at 5am Saturday Morning. We were happy to help, and got up early, with plans of a nap later on in the day....however, it turned into a 10 hour adventure, with the full details not quite making translation! Anyway, it was fantastic. We headed out of town with a local Peruvian band, full of rather nice looking men. We drove about an hour out, right into a valley, so peaceful and beautiful, it reminded me of home. Went to a small village called Taauca, where there were about 100 children. Pots and pots of hot chocolate were made (with NZ anchor milk powder!) and huge Panetone breads, for everyone. The kids were all so filthy, poorly dressed, I don't think a pair of underpants existed in the village, but they were absolutely adorable, and I sized up a number of them to take home! The band played some music for the kids, and later we did some dancing after the village fed us lunch of boiled potatoes, which were quite delicious with a spicy sauce! I danced with what we believe was the oldest (and possibly the shortest) women in Peru. Was fun, and all the kids got dolls or cars. On the way home, squashed into the Combi Van, we were stopping whenever we saw kids to give out the rest of the gifts. We would stop when we saw 3 children, but somehow, within 10 seconds you would see another ten running down the paddocks.....the grapevine rivals the internet speed there!!!! It was a wonderful day out, I didn't have my camera, but will post a few photos from Emmas camera later on.
Back in Cusco, it was a hurried trip to the Supermarket, which was the first taste of a home Xmas!! packed out, and a nightmare, but we got all our goodies for the big Xmas Day.
Headed off down the Plaza, as on Xmas Eve, people come from everywhere and have a huge market in the Plaza. It was hard work walking around the crowds, but a must see. We went out around midnight, the plaza was empty of stalls, but full of rubbish and people sleeping there, as they cant get back to thier towns. Illegal and dangerous fireworks everywhere, so not an altogether pleasant experience.
Here in Peru, the peruvians have thier big meal at 12 midnight on 25th Dec, so, town was pretty quiet, and only the gringoes out in the bars. Had a few bevvies, headed to bed about 3am.
A good sleep, and a wake up for Xmas morning! I had a lovely parcel from Erica and Brian, with thier beautiful wedding photos in, and a parcel from Mary, with little bits of NZ treats in. Jaffas!!!!!! A cookie time cookie!!!!!! Fantastic!!
We had bacon sandwiches for Brunch, and the ever present cups of tea. We relaxed for a few hours playing our favourite word games, and then did some cooking. We hosted Xmas dinner for a few close Peruvian friends, and had a BBQ. The day before, we had no BBQ, but Juan came to the rescue with a big dish, and not much else, and as we had no fuel, I just put it over the gas stove, and we were away!!! Great Kiwi improvisation. I also roasted a chicken in a toaster oven, interesting, but came out well. We made some Coleslaw, Potato Salad and tuna Pasta Salad, and I introduced the gang to the delights of curried eggs, a huge success!!!
So, after a feast of a Kiwi type BBQ, Willy got out the guitar, and we started singing and then there were drums, flutes, and dancing! It was such an amazing night, and a lot of alcohol was consumed! We had a few fireworks, still pretty crappy.....most of them fizzled out without doing anything!!!
Lots more dancing and singing (who knew they did ´she´ll be coming round the mountain´ in spanish!!!!)
Not feeling so flash today, but we are off this afternoon to drink Chicha, which is an alcoholic drink made from corn, and then play sapo, and great game involving coins and metal frogs!!!
Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and will catch you in the New Year.
Rach
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