Carnavales

February 26, 2009

Well today I started off good and motivated then all of sudden, I got horrible stomach pains and have been sick all day which sucks and think I have a fever too. Which I have concluded is a combination of the cold that Maria, Iris and the kids had last week combined with eating at their house this week. Sometimes, when families invite volunteers, we get sick because that family didn’t get the talk about our weak stomachs and also how to prepare foods so we don’t get sick. (Which host families get).

Yesterday I was busy making CDs for ALMA, finally the last thing for the camp from January. I’m glad to finally have that done annnnd just in time for the camp of VALOR (which is the boy version of ALMA) to start their committees and planning. I already got a call to help out and I was like umm, I will but what I do shall be limited. It was just too much work laid on top of me the last time, with me being the closest to the city and all. And I know that if I get too included in the beginning the same thing could happen again and I don’t want to deal with that much stress and responsibility.

Later in the afternoon, I had the business plan course in Piura but my artisans called and said they weren’t going so I didn’t have too, therefore I just went to the market bought paint to finish my world map on Friday (tomorrow). I also got some letters in the mail and an amazing birthday gift from my great uncle dave, a book about the Emperors of Rome. This is perfect for a history person like me. Speaking of good books, my aunt ba sent me a bunch of classics which I’ve been reading and have gotten into. It’s ironic that some of the most enjoyable writing I have read recently has been classics and not so much the so called Chic Lit. I’ve also been reading a lot of British Historical Fiction, which I always find fascinating. Secretly, I think, entering their world, I get to be part of that royal family or high level of society, which I always fantasized I would live like, if I had been born then. But isn’t that the point of books, to escape and enter an entirely different world and experience line for line the lives of these characters. And many times believing these personalities are parallel our own and discovering ourselves, in each character, of every novel. I read a really interesting book called the Yellow Light-Lighted Book Shop. This book goes in depth about the pastime of reading, historically and presently. Also, the book disputes the current belief of the “dying” hobby of reading books, as is stated through facts and figures, not only are libraries and bookstores more apparent than any other time in history, more books are being bought, published and written than ever before.
I’ve just been so busy and can barely get everything that has been happening all on paper, nor do I want to sit and write on my free time that I have! But, here are a bit of the details from the weekend.

I went to Carnavales in Catacaos with my sobrina (niece). Carnavales, they say, is the real version of Mardi Gras. I don’t know if I agree, personally I think it is like Spirit Week (from high school) on crack! Catacaos divides up into 6 bandillas (gangs) of colors. The separation is according to the streets that you live on. I participated in the Bandilla Roja (Red gang). This is considered the best one of the bunch, because the neighborhood is the wealthiest, thus can obviously prepare the biggest and most extravagant performance in the concorso and largest floats in the desfile. The concorso of bailes was on Saturday. I went with Lichy my niece and sat in the red section. There we watched each color compete, each color was a certain traditional theme of Peru and they danced the traditional dance of the culture/place they represented. I did take fotos, so I will explain each group a little more when I do the foto captions. Yellow went first which are our biggest competition every year, they did the local ruinas of Narihuala with a marinara. Then next was Red, we did Cusco and did a cusquena traditional mountain dance. Then went the Multi-color who did another costal ruin and did a dance with a machete…. I looked intense and dancing with sharp machetes just made me close my eyes thinking an arm was going to be the next thing getting flung thru the air instead of their dance partner. The green group from monte sullon did the same thing. The other green group did a dance from the selva (jungle) and even built a house during their dance, it was amazing, and they should have won. And then the other groups were small in comparison and did do that great of a display of fireworks or presentation. There seem to be some scandal (as always) and the red team didn’t win, didn’t even place in top 3 (first time ever) and came in 4th. This the judges said was because they weren’t dancing, they were just jumping. I think it was a completely ignorant thing for them to say. I’d like to see the judges go to Cusco and tell the people there that their ancestral and traditional dance isn’t a dance and just people jumping. They also made the same comment about the dance that the selva group did. Now, I have seen videos of these traditional dances done by professional dancers and also by the people of these locals themselves, and trust me ask them and they will tell you that this is their traditional dance. Therefore I think these judges were in no place to decide what a dance is and what isn’t. Okay well after that ended at about 11:30 pm I went out to chifa (Chinese food) with my sister her husband their kids, Lichy and Diego. It’s like common on the weekends for people to go out and then eat at like 11:30 at night... kinda like college students and late night eating, but family style.

I slept there on Sat bc there are no cars back to Pedregal after 8:30, then woke up amidst a rain storm (crazy, right?!) …cancelled plans to head up to the beach for the day for sophies bday and went with my old plans of participating in carnavales with my niece and nephew. I was clean for about umm 2 blocks of walking from their house to the plaza… within 2 feet inside the plaza some guy ran up to me and put shoe grease all over my face…then 2 feet after I was sprayed head to toe with water. And it begun… lol I was out all day playing. The point is either to throw paint at other people or have it on your hands and rub it on their faces. Then as you walk past houses the people inside throw water from the roofs on top of you. Then by 8 I was in the house again and done with the games. By the time night came, people were getting pretty drunk and ruff with their contact. So I went to my sisters, stayed there for the night then headed to a meeting on Monday at 9 till 2 at Cite about preparing our groups for the fairs in 2009 and also creative ideas for stand preparation. Then had my LAST computer’s course with the artisans, it was nice because we gave out certificates to those who completed the course and those that finished the exam advanced to intermediate, the others get a certificate but also are encouraged to take the class over. It was a proud moment for me!

Okay I’m tired, will write more another time and will put up the pics probably sat or Monday from carnavales. 1 week and 1 day till my familyyy comes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So excited!

Xoxo elizabeth