An Accidental Party

I am sacrificing my turn to write about Machu Picchu to write about our holy week. (We are leaving for Machu Pichhu on Wednesday, doing a 7 hour hike, followed by a 2 hour hike, staying in Machu Picchu pueblo, then hiking another 2 hours arriving in Michu Picchu at 5am....if all goes well, we have descided not to take a guide, its kinda like a treasure hunt and it shouldn´t be that hard...I have a compass) Now on to the story.

Ahhh Semana Santa, a fine week with a miraculous ending.

We started the week in Cusco watching the procession of Senór de los Temblores. Then, enjoyed the 12-dish lunch on Good Friday. On Easter, after having missed mass because we were sleeping at 2am (when mass was) and because we never heard the bells ring (The church here rings the bells when mass is to begin, which is all fine except we do not always know when mass is.) we decided to hike up a very large hill that has a church as its crown. We started walking and about halfway up we heard the church bells from the cathedral below, but we continued our march uphill. As we got a bit closer we started hearing music and the sounds of merry people. We were then greeted by a big gang of people who were playing music and drinking, a lot. After walking around the church a bit, I was offered some beer and accepted. Then I was offered another 675ml bottle, and accepted, then I was given another...then Sara and I were dancing to a song about some gringos. Sara was offered some Chicha (fermented corn beer which is a beverage made by the Incans). It taste like a fruit beer.

I have never spoken so much Spanish in my life. We were asked all kinds of questions, like where we are from, what our jobs where, and eventually we were asked to become private English teachers and were invited to the house of the host. We danced down the mountain side (led by the musicians), paraded with a band to the town center and back to a large house where 60+ crates of beer (12 bottles in each), another band, and a marvelous meal awaited us.

 

Sara was then asked to dance about 50 times and I got a tour of the house and learned how they make bread, which is a separate story all together. Basically it was an Easter experience like I have never had before. One which did not include any eggs or a rabbit and ended with kids at school today asking if I drank yesterday. I said "NO, now do your work."

photos added April 11