This week instead of heading back to Lima with the rest of the group I decided to go to Juliaca. This is the hometown of my host family. That same day I had to go to the bus station through a taxi and find a bus that went to Juliaca. Thankfully I did, I had to wait about an hour before the next bus left. However, during that time I started talking to this family next to me. They are involved in the company Herbalife. I thought this was interesting because before I left I got involved in a company called Amway. I have heard of Herbalife and we started talking about their business and life. We talked the whole hour, and they even gave me their phone number. Once I got on the bus I was ready to see and meet the life that my host family grew up in. It was a six-hour bus drive and when we arrived at the town my first thoughts were, this town is poor. Coming into the town there was no pavement just dirt roads. The houses and building looked old. I am one of those people that like to experience the culture through the locals. Not so much the touristic places although those are fun. The bus stopped at the bus station and my host mom dressed in the Peruvian outfit was waiting for me at the door. I had never seen her like that and asked why she was dressed that way. She said she was dancing in the Carnivals. How excited, they took me to their house where I placed my stuff and then took me to the party. This week this town celebrates their carnivals. Keyla had told me it is one of the best carnivals in Peru. The party was amazing! I sat down and started talking to people, since it was early there were only adults there. The younger adults like my age were at another town but would arrive later in the day. Young kids would spray some sort of foam at each other and so would the adults! There was music, beer, food and laughter. What caught my attention the most was how much youthful spirits the adults had. They were not afraid to have fun spray each other with foam, run around and dance. This was a different culture of Peru that I had not met yet. Later that night everyone started dancing and they invited me to dance. They showed me the steps and I was having fun! It was a little difficult at first but I got the hang of it. The younger adults and my roommates came later that night and we had a great time. The next day was the parade. They asked me if I wanted to dance in the parade and I said yes. That morning everyone was rushing to get ready and the mom had to get a dress for me. I did the girls makeup and we got the costume on and thankfully it fit! We practiced the steps for five minutes and left the house. We didn’t have to leave until 2 p.m. so we waited at their aunt’s house and watched some of the dances from the door. Then we had to be at the door, and Keyla talked to the President in charge of the Parade. She wanted to make sure we danced in front of them. We waited about an hour before it started and let me tell you, it was cold! I was actually freezing, however once the parade started I warmed up. I can honestly; say this was the best experience ever! I felt so famous! People kept asking to take pictures and while you are dancing they give you drinks! We danced for two hours straight. There was so much music, laughter, cheering, pictures and videos. All I could think of was smiling and performing. I thought of everything I’ve learned as a performer and applied it to the performance. I was able to do well because of my experience with choreography and dancing. We took pictures and sang along! When we arrived at her aunts block they gave us whiskey, it is a tradition to give the dancers you know an alcoholic drink. After two hours we had five more blocks to go, however I was way to tired to continue and if you would have worn the boots you would have understood. I actually left five blocks before we were done. I think my roommates continued because they were tipsy. I went to the house to change and eat and my roommates had another dance! However, I was too tired to dance so they changed and left. We then went to go watch them but it was late and by the time they arrived at the block were we awaited them they were drunk. So the family didn’t give them any whiskey. But the rest of the night we tried to convince them to come home and eventually they did. When we got home they went straight to bed. That night we were suppose to go to the disco because of Keyla’s birthday but in a sense I am glad she slept because I was tired! The next day Keyla was disappointed because she wanted to go to the discotheque. That day we celebrated Keyla’s birthday. It was so much fun! We ate and the young adults (us) were in the living room. We all talked drank and played games. Keyla got drunk again, but it was so much fun! We didn’t go to sleep until 3 a.m. On Wednesday Keyla had to return to Lima and I stayed. Gabby and I went to a cookout with some friends and hung out there all day. These people lived out in the country but it was beautiful. There were mountains and had a huge house! We then went to the bar afterwards, talked and danced. To truly experience a culture in a country you need to spend time with the locals, travel like the locals, and think like the locals. I truly feel that I have done that through my traveling around Peru.
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AuthorLife is a beautiful structure of art. An art that God has created. Travel as much as you can. Be active, and eat healthy. Archives
April 2015
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