Last weekend we went to the countryside all day for a “saying good bye to summer” party, there was a band from the highlands that played “Marinera Chicha” music all day, which all sounded like the EXACT SAME OBNOXIOUS song to me although they all swore it was different songs. So we danced in the traditional highlands way from Cajamarca (Cajamarca is nearby, by the way, for anyone interested in Peruvian history, which I know you all are, Cajamarca is where Francsico Pizzaro came and tricked the Inca Ruler and captured him, ransomed him for a lot of gold and silver, and then assassinated him but spared him from being burned by baptizing him right before death). Anyway, we ate pacha manca which is food cooked in the ground, pig, potatoes, sweet potatoes, lima beans, corn, Not that good but of course I always say “que rico,” as Nikki taught me to do, to all foods offered to me.

We drank a lot of beer, do you know the way Peruvians drink beer? They stand around in a circle with a cup and a bottle of beer and each person pours himself a small amount of beer in the cup, then hands the bottle to the person next to them, then drinks the beer, pouring the last bits to the ground, and passes the cup around. If you are a girl the guys pour the beer for you. So you drink slower making it so you can drink all day, and you share the same beer and the same cup with everyone (hence Herpes is passed very easily, note to self) Also, girls seem to always get skimped on the beer because the guys pour themselves more and often serve the women every 3 or 4 times around (something I am currently annoyed at because last night at Alex’s birthday I was getting seriously skimped on the beer and it was hard for me to stay up because everyone was trashed but when you only get a little beer at a time you just get sleeping meanwhile Alex’s 18 year old cousins were guzzling beer but just sitting in the corner by themselves smoking and being drunk and not being cool) Anyway, at the end of the night last week there was a huge tree filled with gifts and everyone drank and danced around the tree with an ax doing interesting dances with the ax and hitting the tree until it fell down. Very dangerous and people have been killed by this before! Drunk people cutting a tree down with a dance, good idea? I think not.

I was so interested in this tradition because I have never heard of it or seen it before. I keep asking people where it comes from, they all say the highlands but no one knows why or exactly who. I am not sure if it is in many countries in South America, if it is from the Spanish, the Incas, or what. Anyway the people at the party were a huge change from the rich Lima blondes who were at the party the weekend before when I went to go see my student sing.