Saying Goodbye to Molinopampa..

Wow, how did our exit from this town sneak up on us.  We were just getting warmed up and, boom, our closing date comes up and we’re on the way back to Lima to finish all logistics.  It has been quite a bit of time that we’ve been situated here, since Sept 14, 2012 in Peru; and since end of November in Molinopampa.  I guess all things in life have their duration and our commitment of volunteerism for the good folks of Molinopampa is no exception.  Check in with Andrea’s Farewell post (HERE).

 

Were god-parents for Riksy from Tingo during a mass on our last weekend in town.

Left soap and drinking water containers with some of the classrooms.

Kindergarten made signs and wanted to say bye.

Had a final guinea pig dinner with members from the municipality.

Primary school lined up in formation and sung songs for us. Then each kid waited to hung us.

Saying goodbye to Reyna, Mike, and Jobo, and their dog Hurrican.

And after the baptism mass there was a quick procession for the Senor de los Milagros holiday last month.

Circus comes to Molinopampa..

And only for about a week they set up the tarp and loudspeaker at the losa (concrete court) near our house.  This traveling circus is definitely low-key, without any animals and only a 1/2 dozen performers they seemed to get by.  Much like the small scale circus we saw a couple years ago in Lima, this one had magic, plenty of clowns, a lady being able to hang from her neck, a guy balancing stuff on his head, same guy with a cross-dressing routine, and plenty of waiting around.  Started and ended late, but worth it in the evening..

The grand finale.. a guy in drag.

Hanging from neck.

The get out of chains routine.

Peruvian Independence Day 2014 Style..

Though it was very much like last year, it was a event not to be missed: the celebrations for this years Fiestas Partias (or ‘Homeland Party’ or Peruvian Independence Day).  Started the weekend before the Independence day (on July 28th), and Andrea has posted quite a number of photos from the events, but here is a bit of my impressions:

Farol or Lanterns the Night Before..  really fun to march in the streets with little kids and fire chanting about how great Peru is.  Sandwiches and hot chocolate to follow.

 

Parade.. And the school and institution marching in front of authorities right after the flag raising.  Going to miss seeing this kind of order from elementary school kids.

This ‘parade’ was also an opportunity to dress small kids up in costumes of historical figures or the country’s president.  Some kids could barely walk but their folks had them out there contributing.

Also, found a very good summary of how Peruvians (and all of us visitors to the country) are required to drink their beers..  shared With others and often not very cold I would say, but these rules from Deborah Vacs during her Fiestas Patrias post give a good impression of how it’s done..

HOW TO DRINK BEER IN PERU

As in lots of places, drinking is a big part of the festivities for many people. Some people take swigs of hard liquor (like pisco or cañazo) but most people in Santiago drink beer together in a standard ritual I and many other volunteers refer to as the “Beer Circle”. The rules of the Beer Circle are as follows:

1. For every circle there is usually one bottle of beer and one communal glass. Sometimes if the circle gets really big there are multiple bottles and multiple glasses but the ratio of glass to bottle is always 1:1.

2. Drinking is only done from the glass – never from the bottle.

3. Each person in turn pours some beer into their cup (or has it poured for them) passes the bottle to the next person in the circle and raises the cup to the circle before drinking.

4. After drinking each person empties out the foam/backwash onto the ground before passing the cup to the next person.

5. In general, if you are in the circle you cannot pass on the beer. My strategy when I don’t want to drink anymore is to pour very little into my cup and throw most of it away without drinking. I know this is wasting beer but I’ve never seen anyone react negatively to this as they do when I refuse more beer.

Andrea and I Have a Child..

A God-Son that is..  And we’re very happy to be an important part of Jheik (‘Jake’) Paul Carrion Pilco’s spiritual upbringing.  Jheik had his baptism last month and we’d been prepping for the event long before that.  Small, quaint mass and nice dinner reception afterwords.  It’s all your looking for in a baptism.

This was my perspective during the ceremony, our god son likes taking pictures w his mouth open.

Jheik excited about his gift from us, an authentic one dollar bill.

Family and friends during the reception.

Our camera disappeared during the reception, and while Jheik was using it, this is what ended up on it.

Corpus Christi Baby Competitions..

At the old market in town and in front of judges (of which, Andrea was the local-celebrity judge), babies competed strenously in the folling competitons..

1. Crawling across the floor

2. Throwing balls into bins

3. Putting Beads into Bottles

4. And of course, Milking contest..

As in, which baby can suck for milk the longest. Unfortunately there was only one competitor in this event. Great job battling it out to all the little kids, overall; the annex of Pumhermana seem to have won most of the events and prizes this year. Keep training babies!

Peruvian Child Carseat..

Sometimes a cage seems to be a bit more adequate.

Little Kid, Big Axe..

And that’s exactly what this is.  Spent the afternoon w young Darwin yesterday putting together a cookstove for his family as he prepared most of the firewood.

Isn’t a bit ironic that the little kid who’s swinging around the axe hap-haphazardly is named ‘Darwin’?

Handwashing Education, my wife is a pro..

For this important topic, she can excite and stimulate the kids interest like no other..

Showing the kids just how much germs can be spread by shaking hands..

Prepping for creative project..

Results of their work..

Pre-schooler getting used to good habits..

Parents helping out..

Andrea said she was not comfortable supporting this company..

But as padrinos, we gotta be the ones buying nicer cloths for friend, Jake, who’ll be baptized next month and there aren’t alot of options in Chachapoyas.

Easter Sunday, and Molinopampa’s 1st egg hunt..

Easter mass was nice and finish with a white-robed baby coming out of the ceiling..  bouncing up and down on a strap that was quickly rigging up.  The baby seemed to have a fun time.  After flag raising, the fruits of several weeks of planning were seen as we got to run the town’s first ever Easter egg hunt.  Borrowed a couple rabbits to help with the story of the Easter Bunny and eggs, but the kids didn’t pay much attention.  When the doors opened to the school (where the rabbit visited) the 50-60 children went crazy looking for eggs and whatever treats where around.  Good time had by all and we think this Easter tradition may be here to stay..

Where did that kid come from and why are you hanging it from a rope?

Some church goers were more interested in fixing a statues head-dress more then the baby swinging behind them.

Ready to go look for eggs.

Looking..

Still looking..

Easter bunny showed up with one of her offspring at the event..