Day 56

I was going to post this on Saturday, but then I was too tired. Then I was going to post it on Sunday, but I was feeling a little nauseous. So, here it is on Monday.

Saturday night, Alba (our cook here) invited me and a couple boys to go to a fiesta (party/celebration) in the village with her. It was a traditional celebration, something about the Virgin. It included a shrine, a parade, fireworks, and food. I think it's a typical Latin American thing. Anyway, after a little hassle getting permission for the boys to go and then after changing boys a couple times, we set out for the party. When we got there, there were people dancing in a circle wearing costumes. It reminded me a lot of the dances of the older people at pow-wows, but the costumes these people were wearing were those of contemporary super heroes and cartoon characters. (This is some cultural thing I haven't yet figured out.)

After the dancing was finished, they set off some fireworks. They were literally lit about 20 feet from where I was standing...and that's only because the guy lighting them told us to move because he was going to light them right where we were standing! (eek!) And they were exploding right over our heads. Nice experience, really, but not one I want to repeat.

After we survived that, they started the parade. The shrine started in the church at 7 pm and the slow walk out the door began. We walked with it for just about 3 minutes. The boys wanted to do the whole thing, but Alba said "no." In all fairness, I didn't want to do the whole thing either. She said it would end at 3 am, but at 4 am the noise of the parade woke me up. 9 hours of walking in 40 degree weather isn't high on my agenda.

We went back to get some food. I had churrascos (a sort of meat served with tortillas and what appeared to be cole slaw) and chuchitos (sort of like a tamale...in fact, I'm not sure what the difference was), and we also had hot punch. As far as I can gather, it's their version of warm apple cider. I'll take it. :-P

When we were done eating, the boys and I walked back to the Hogar. Juan Elias kept putting his arm around me every time a vehicle passed us. I am aware that as an American female, I'm a little bit of a target around here. However, as a single American female, it is worse. So, Juan was making sure that I was as protected as I could be. Erick and Jorge were mostly oblivious to our entire walk home, but they all enjoy our trip.

Anyway, the boys are bugging me to come to breakfast; so I'll get headed out for now.