Christmas in Tomas, Yauyos

Well, Christmas has come and gone and the New Year is only days away. To say the least, this was the most unique Christmas I’ve ever had. In Tomas we have a four day Christmas celebration that feels more like the 4th of July than Christmas, but it was fun and exciting nonetheless.

During the 4 day celebration people come from Lima, Huancayo (the closest real city to Tomas) and all over the province of Yauyos, so more than twice the population of my town was here to celebrate. The celebration started in the afternoon of Christmas Eve with speeches from the four families that sponsored the party (a HUGE financial commitment because each family hires a band for 4 days and they hire cooks and provide free food for EVERY meal of the next four days). It was raining really hard all day but that didn’t stop the bands from marching and playing while a few people danced along.

On Christmas day the festivities began around 7:00 am, which makes for a short night after midnight mass. The day begins with the dance of the “Negritos”(meaning little black ones), which, as it sounds, is people wearing blackface masks who dance to represent the darker skinned pre-Hispanic Peruvians and to adorn the baby Jesus (I’m not sure how the two are connected, but that’s what I was told). It is kind of a parade as the dancers walk around the entire town and there are people lighting fireworks (hence it’s like the 4th of July). To an American, the costumes seem pretty racist, but that is NOT the intent and in Peruvian culture it doesn’t appear racist. After the Negritos groups of women dance the Paya, which again is to adorn the Baby Jesus. Each sponsor family has a group of Negritos and Payas, so these dances last for about 6 hours, with each band playing the same song for every dance!

After the dances and a free lunch (or in my case, free LUNCHES because I would receive lunch invitations from different families…at least overeating is consistent between American and Peruvian Christmases) the general dance begins. Then, from about 3:00 until midnight people are dancing and drinking (a lot of drinking) while the 4 bands rotate playing music (although, with many of the same songs and basically the same dance with little variation for 3 solid days!)

On the 26th the 3 other volunteers in Yauyos (my province) came to Tomas and we had our own little celebration and gift exchange. We had a great time and it was really nice to celebrate with some close friends and American Christmas music (including St. Olaf Christmas Fests, a GREAT change from the repetitivness of the bands). Overall, it was a great experience and a lot of fun. It was definitely not a Minnesota Christmas with the family, but certainly was a unique way to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Peace, Love, and Happy New Year!,
Jared

Dance of the Payas, to adorn Baby Jesus
One of the 4 bands with a group of Negritos dancing

The Nergritos beginning their parade around town, only to continue dancing for hours on end to the same music.

Settling in to Tomas

I've passed the 2 week mark and aleady i'm feeling very comfortable in my site. Each day i get more acclimated to the cold wetness (which isn't really that cold, but there are no heated buildings to escape the temps in the 40's at night). It's good that i'm acclimating because every day 2 or 3 people ask me if i'm accustomed to the weather yet...they are all very concerned about my wellbeing! Life has been a little busy recently, which has been good.

Last saturday night was the graduation and celebration of the 18 seniors in my town. Many people of the town where there and after we ate a small dinner and they passed out the diplomas, we began the night of dancing and drinking. The drinking customs are a little different here than in the US. In Peru everyone stands (or dances) in a circle and passes a bottle of beer and one cup. You fill the cup then pass the bottle. After you drink the cup, then the next person does the same. All that i've learned about not sharing beverages or glasses in my life is completely out the window here in Peru. My biggest challenge with this is avoiding all the offers to drink from nearly every person in the town. The people were a little surprised at how willing I was to dance though...who knew that dancing would help me get to know my community better.

I've also been getting busier with work. INRENA, or the Dept. of Natural Resources in Peru has been having a lot of end of the year meetings with updates on their projects. I attend all of these because i will be working directly with INRENA and their environmental education, along with trying to achieve some of their Protected Area goals. I live in one of 2 Land Reserves in Peru, which is a little different from a national park becuase the Reserve's master plan directly involves the communities within its limits, and there are efforts to improve tourism (we have great potential for ecotourism if we can get a little more infrastructure). Becuase of these meeting i've met a lot of mayors from different towns, as well as all the biologists and full time staff from INRENA. There is a lot of pressure with this because INRENA always presents the 4 volunteers from the Peace Corps (including me) as experts who are going to greatly help the effort. I sure hope that they're right.

The whole town is preparing for our four day Christmas party and celebration of the Virgin del Carmen, which will be four days of music, dancing, drinking, and Paneton (fruitcake, although much better than fruitcake in the U.S.) So there is a lot of excitement and all the kids are playing in the streets during the days because school ended. Again, i'm excited for the Christmas celebration here even though i already miss the traditions of a snowy, Minnesota Christmas!

Peace and Love,

Jared

This is a picture from the town graduation party. My community counter part (who I often work with) is the young man with the beer. 18 graduates, 1 town party that ended at 5:00 am, and 50 crates of 12 bottles of beer (each bottle is 600ml, or almost 2 US beers).

A picture of me and my parents, Hugo and Inta. Final, i'm tall for once in my life!

Finally here...permenantely.

So 8 days ago I arrived in Tomas, Yauyos, Lima, Peru to begin my 2 years of service. Training is done, and i'm out on my own now. The transition was a little difficult, as expected, to leave my host family in Lima and the 47 other volunteers, but I can already tell that these next two years are going to be exciting and full of adventures.

In my first week i've milked a cow and made cheese, done surveys with community members about the community of Tomas, studied lots of Spanish (the first verb I learned was "abrigarse", which means to bundle up), I've met all the health post workers, painted my furniture, exercised twice, showered once (becuase it is too cold to shower, or sweat for that matter), and many other things that seem minor but have helped me to get to know my community. Each day I get closer with my family and friends and each day Tomas feels more and more like home (although not quite yet).

My typical day thus far entails waking up around 7:00 or 7:30. Everyone in the town normally gets up around 5:30, but as of now i still need at least 9 hours of sleep because of the altitude (12,000 ft). After taking my vitamin and daily banana, i eat breakfast with my family. Around 8:30 I either head out with my dad or counterpart to do random tasks, or I head to the plaza to chat with whoever I can find (there is always someone around). I eat lunch between 12:30 and 1:30. Sometimes I eat 2 lunches if I get invited to eat at someone elses house, which isn't normally a problem for me. In the afternoons I make sure to wash up a little bite, becuase the other times of day are too cold. I have different meetings with people in the afternoons, or sometimes I just talk with the kids and shop owners about the town and life in general. I sometimes play soccer in the evening before dinner, although the rainy season has started so games are much less frequent. It now rains pretty heavily each day, but we normally get a few hours of sun as well. My family and I have bread and tea around 7:00 and around 8:15 we eat dinner (rice, potatoes, and a variety of foods ranging from lentils to eggs to hot dogs). I read in the evenings and fall asleep around 10:00, to ensure that I have enough energy to do it all again.

Things are moving along well though, even though it often feels like I haven't done anything tangible during the day. My spanish is rapidly improving and i'm getting pretty well known in my community. I also have a lot of meetings set up for the next few weeks and there is a lot for me to look forward to. Tomas has a 4 day community festival from December 24-27 (for Christmas and the Saint Virgin de Carmen), so that should be a fun, nice distraction from being away from home on Christmas.

I'm enjoying my time and staying healthy, and the time is moving very fast. I feel so much more accustomed to my site that 8 days ago or my first visit here, it is incredible. I hope all is well at home and i'll try to get some picture up from my site. Happy Advent and Peace to all!