Christmas in the City (a very "white"Christmas in the summer time)

Last year I spent Christmas in Huallanca and had a wonderful experience. This year I decided to spend Christmas in Lima with my boyfriend and his family and it was VERY different from my Christmas experience last year. Wealthy Lima is a totally different world from the world that I know in Peru. Basically when I am in Lima, I feel like I am in the US because the culture and daily life so similar in so many ways to life in the US. The wealthy Lima culture is very modern and western and not at all like the Andean/Indigenous culture of the part of Peru where I live. Which is why I say that I had a very "white" Christmas this year because it was celebrated with literally very white and "western" people. There was no hot chocolate, no paneton, no huayno music, not dirt floors or dirt houses, no drinking or dancing all night. Every thing was just so normal and so clearn and I swear that I could have been in the US. So basically this Christmas was completely different from how I spent it in the mountains last year but it was still wonderful. In Peru they celebrate Christmas on the night of the 24th at midnight. At midnight everyone hugs and kisses each person and says "Feliz Navidad"(merry christmas) and the kids open their presents. In the mountains, the party is just getting started for the adults but in Lima after midnight everyone just went to bed. 

Something else wierd is that it's now officially summer time on the coast in Lima and it's very hot and humid! So this Chrsitmas was a very sweaty one for me because of the weather and we have been spending a lot of time hanging by the pool or at the beach with our friends. Which I am definitely not complaining about because it's a good change for me from the cold mountain weather where I live!

On Christmas eve I was lucky enough to get to spend the day with my big brother and my sister-in-law and her parents who are visiting from San Diego. We had a great time spending the day in Lima and catching up :) They are currently visiting other parts of Peru and we will be reunited in Huaraz in a few days to spent New Years together!

The Christmas tree at Jerry's sisters house (see this could be your average house in the US!)

Christmas eve

Jerry and his niece and nephew

Christmas eve dinner

Jerry's sister and her husband and two of her kids (we spent christmas with them and the husband's family in Lima)

Christmas day

Christmas day

Christmas day

We spent the day after Christmas at our friends house laying by the pool

Making a toast with some close friends

Toasting again with our friends on the beach

Summer has arrived in Lima and I am looking forward to the weekends when I can visit to spend laying by the pool or at the beach with our friends in Lima :)

Another day spent at a different friends beach house :)

 I wish a very happy holidays to every one back home! I love you all and miss you! Thanks for all of your support!

My Goddaughter’s Kindergarten Graduation

 About 8 months ago, I was asked to be the godmother by a humble family that I have been very close with for the past year in Huallanca and who treats me like a part of their family. I had been asked by several families to be the godmother of their child but politely declined until I was asked by one of my favorite families and I accepted with honor.

What does it mean to be a godmother or godfather in Latin America?

Being a godparent is a very catholic tradition and Latin America, being a very catholic part of the world, is very big on having godparents; not only for the emotional support of the child but for the financial support as well. Being a godparent generally means being the financial supporter for an important event in a child’s life such as a baptism, school graduation, or wedding. Supposedly they are also supposed to be like a second parent to the child but if you ask me, it’s a purely financial commitment. I was asked to be the godmother of a 5 year old girl named Beranic (pronounced Bear-uh-nees) for her kindergarten graduation partywho named. Thankfully, a good guy friend of mine in Huallanca named Leonardo agreed to be a “compadre” with me or a co-godparent-Beranic’s Godfather- so that the entire financial burden wasn’t on me. Graduation ceremonies in Peru are very fancy- even a kindergarten graduation as you will see from the photos below. For her graduation ceremony my co-Godparent and I bought her dress, pea coat, dress shoes, purse, stockings, present, and hair style. Because of tradition and culture and also economic reasons, kids who do not have Godparents cannot participate in the important event that is due to take place. Less than half of the students Beranic’s kindergarten class were able to participate in the graduation party because they did not have godparents. 

I painted here nails while we waited at the salon to get her hair done. They don't make appointments so you just have to show up and wait a long time sometimes! 

Mid hair styling :)

She just warms my heart :) 

Make up time :)

Beranic, her Godfather, and I ready to walk into the promocion

Dancing with her Godfather

The students dancing

Playing games with the clown

Playing games with the clown

My precious little goddaughter! 

Piñata time!

Me and my princess

With Beranic's mom, now my "comadre" (my co-mother)

Opening the gift we gave her

Something I have found very obvious in Peru is that parties for kids are in fact not actually for the kids at all but rather for the adults. The kids will hang out and have fun for a little bit and then will get tired or bored and the parents will literally drink and dance until the sun comes up. Beranic’s graduation was set to start at 7:00 pm “on the dot” but of course in true Peruvian style it started around 8:30pm. The party was started with a clown show for the kids in which they played and danced around and broke open several piñatas.  At around 10:00 pm the kids were totally exhausted and began to fall asleep in the parents laps and in the chairs which is when the parents were just getting started with the partying and literally didn’t stop partying until 6:00am. I have said this several times throughout this blog but it’s so true that I feel like I can never say it too many times: PERUVIANS LIKE TO PARTY!

I wasn't joking when I said the kids fell asleep in their parents lap while the parents started to drink!

Dancing to huayno music 

While the adults partied my goddaughter sat in her chair and played with her new baby doll that I gave her

She loved her new doll :)

More of kids sleeping while parents drink

These are called "cajas de cerveca" (boxes of beer) and when drinking Peruvians always buy "cajas" to pass around. 

So now even though Beranic’s graduation party is over, I still have the title as her Godmother which means I will help to buy her school supplies every year and I will financially support her in her graduation from primary school and from secondary school in the far future. I better start saving up now because those events aren’t cheap! Even though it’s a bit of a financial commitment, being Beranic’s Godmother has been a great cultural experience and an honor for me and I am thankful to have this opportunity that I would never have in the US. 

Bolivia!: The Salt Flats

And now onto the second half of our Bolivian adventure: THE SALT FLATS! 

To take a tour of the Salt Flats we had to bus from La Paz to Uyuni, Bolivia. Uyuni is in South East Bolivia and was a long 14 hour bus ride from La Paz. We arrived to Uyuni groggy and disoriented after getting little sleep from the long bus ride. Our tour guide met us at the bus station (by bus station I mean the street corner where it dumped us off) and then took us to the tour office. Shortly after we begam our three day tour of the Salt Flats. The tour company put us in an SUV with a tour "guide" who would basically drive us around for three days to all the places that we were going to see. Once again because of being broke Peace Corps Volunteers we could only afford the cheapest tour possible which left us with a bit of a questional "tour guide" who was quite odd and didn´t really tell us anything about what we were seeing. There were a few weird problems such as the car overheating, our driver almost falling asleep at the wheel, and almost not having a place to sleep the fist night. But thankfully we made it out alive and surprisingly we all formed a bit of a soft spot for our very odd tour guide after spending three days straight in the car together.

In our car it was us 5 Peace Corps Peru ladies plus one really sweet Colombian girl that we got along really well with. Oh and there was our odd tour guide driver as well. On the first day we ended up meeting a group of 4 guys from Peace Corps Paraguay. When you are a Peace Corps Volunteer you will always have an instant bond and connection with another PCV no matter what country they served in. We got to hang out with the Peace Corps Paraguay guys and it was a lot of fun to talk about our experiences and the differences/similaries between serving in Peru and Paraguay. 

While on our tour of the salt flats we of course saw the famous salt flats themselves as well as many beautiful lagoons, mountains, rock forests, geysers, and on the last day we got to relax in some beautiful hot springs. My favorite sites were the salt flats, the "mountain of 7 colors", and the "colorful lagoon" which was literally a lake with every color imaginable! We literally drove for 3 days straight and saw only nature and and a few tiny little towns. No cities or highways at all. 

First few of the salt flats! Which was actually when our car almost broke down. 

It looks like sow but it´s pure salt!

On our lunch break on the first day we stopped at a house that was made of salt! Even this llama is made of salt. 

Salt house. 

We got to take some fun photos in the salt flats :)

Another fun salt flat photo 

On the first night we slept in another house made of salt. Even the bed fram was made of salt!

The quite village in the middle of nowhere that we slept in on the first night

I love my Peace Corps friends :)

A pit stop in the middle of nowhere. 

Flamingos at one of the many lagoons we saw. 

In front of the "mountains of 7 colors"

Part of the rock forest

La Laguna Colorada (the colorful lake)

Photos don´t even do it justice! 

Relazing in the hot springs with our Peace Corps Paraguay friends on the last day of the tour.

In conclusion I would just like to say that South America is (in my opinion) the most beautiful and geographically/culturally diverse continent in the world and I am so thankful to live in this part of the world!! I´ve fallen totally in love with every country in South America that I´ve spent time in and I look forward to exploring even more of South America in the futre!