It must be extremely hard down here to move on after splitting up with your husband down here. Even from my brief time in the country already I have noticed the inequalities between men and women. Riding up the mountain last weekend, Auden was telling me about the old mountain ladies who were carrying their weight on their backs while there men were probably back home getting drunk... He said it kind of jokingly, but I'm pretty sure there was a lot of truth there. Kevin and I also noticed while we were up there that there was an extreme lack of little girls running around the city compared to the little boys. Where they not Man enough to run around the city alone, or were they expected to stay in the house and do chores with their mothers? I know my feminist thoughts are probably overactive in this situation, but there I definitely wouldn't be okay living in such a conservative society. There was even a wife beater joke that placed US women in a lot better situation then Peruvian women.
There were 3 women, An American woman, a Canadian woman, and a Peruvian woman who were all telling their stories of how they told their husband they were becoming a feminist. The US and Canadian women both told their husbands that they weren't cooking and cleaning anymore. After the first and second days the women still didn't see any change in their husbands, but after the third day their husbands started doing the cooking and the cleaning. The peruvian woman told her husband the same thing, that she wasn't going to cook and clean any more. After the first and second days the Peruvian woman couldn't see any thing either, but on the 3rd day she could finally open her eye's enough to see again.
Now I really hate wife beater jokes, but this one seemed to strike something in me. Is it so bad here that they think America is so much better, because let me tell you, America is not all that different. I already have friends that have been beaten by their husbands.
Sorry for that tangent.. this was supposed to be a happy blog. A real Peruvian birthday party :-) This was just like how I imagined a Latin American birthday party. Lots of people, lots of food, REALLLLLLY loud music, and definitely a pinata. There was even a little girl who was overly dressed in a fancy green party dress. When I wasn't getting hand fed food my the hostesses, I was being pulled into the middle of the room to dance, which I happily obliged. I keep telling people that I want to go dancing. I want to find one of those clubs from Dirty Dancing Havana Nights, for those of you who were dorky enough to go see that movie. :-)I loved the music at the party, it was just ridiculously loud. It's like they make it so loud that you have no choice but to dance. There is no way to have an actual conversation.
When we weren't dancing, like I said we were being forced food. First jello, then some other goop that kind of reminded me of chichimarado jello, but it was called something else. Chichimarado is a sweet dark corn that they make into juice and other interesting things. Then the plate of cookies and candies were brought around as well as an individual bag of popcorn. All very good might I add. After we sang to Gabriel he blew out his number 4 candle 4 times and they shoved his face into the cake so he could take the first bite. It was all very cute. I'm just sad I had left my memory card at home so I was working with the 7 pictures I could take with my internal memory. Lordes also made some of the best chicken that I have had down here. It tasted just like our game day hot wings. :-) The best part of the night was watching the kids beat the pinata with a huge blown up hammer. Lordes stood on a stool while the kids attacked it. It could have been extremely dramatic seeing as the two cakes were about a foot behind her, making a fall detrimental to the evening. Thankfully, that didn't happen though.
What came out of this pinata was about a pound of confetti, some candy and a whole bunch of straw whistles, which the kids played with for the rest of the night. After our huge confetti fight we brushed our selves off, said good bye to the family, and received a piece of cake on the way out. I don't know why, but cake is usually a parting gift. Apparently it is custom to leave shortly after the cake is cut. Overall a great night.. especially because I got a little Latino dancing in and wasn't completely laughed at for trying.
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