El Campo y la Quisinera

It´s been an interesting ride so far. I´ve been here for about a week now, and although I have yet to settle into a routine, I´ve become pretty comfortable. I`ve had a few adventures on my mountain bike, but I haven`t actually gotten to do any mountain biking. Most of it has been road biking. I did also have to fix a flat tire today. That was a good experience in learning how to get around Huancayo. It took me an hour to find a tire repair kit, but it worked like magic. Way better than the kits I have bought at home. The bike is a really good way to see the countryside. I get to see all these little small towns and farms that would be hidden if I just stayed in the city. Next adventure is off to the mountains.




I have had some interesting experiences in town though. The first involved going out to a Quinsinera. When a girl turns fifteen in a Latin American country, it´s a big deal. The parents rent out a hotel or something and have a huge extravagant party for the lucky girl. I don´t know what it signifies, but I have a hunch that it´s supposed to be something along the lines that the girl is now ready to be married. Anyway, I was invited by a family member of my teacher and since I really have nothing better to do, I said yes. I knew there were going to be a lot of youngsters there, but I thought there were going to be more people my age who had been invited. As my friends used to say in high school...stupid Joel.

Well, we got there and proceeded to enter. I was the only person who was wearing street clothes. Everyone else was 15 and wearing a suit. I usually stick out wherever I go because I`m tall (5`9 is tall here), I`m white, and I have a beard. So my situation was only complicated by the fact that I also wasn`t wearing a suit. Most people gave me the "What the heck are you doing here" look. I get that a lot.

Anyway, I sat there surrounded by youngsters for about an hour before the thing actually got started. The lights turned off and Lord of the Rings style music came on. A red carpet was rolled down some stairs and 15 year old girls started descending in white dresses. I couldn`t figure out what the announcer was saying and also couldn`t figure out what was happening. Finally, some spotlights came on, the music changed and another 15 year-old descended in a pink dress. Guess this was the one. She came down and all the lights came back on and she danced with her father, her brother, her uncles, her grandfathers...basically a lot of older men. I felt kinda bad for her actually. All her friends had gone upstairs to dance and she was stuck down there dancing with her family. She had a pained look on her face.

We eventually went upstairs too and then the party really got started. For anyone who has never heard Reaggaton, it`s basically Latin hip-hop. It has a good beat at first, and some catchy hooks, but after about two songs, your mind is pretty tired of being constantly pounded by the same beat. It`s kinda like being beaten with a wooden bat by Vanilla Ice. I was hoping it was going to be like the latin nights I had been to back in Boulder. A mix of salsa, merengue, and reaggaton. I was sorely disappointed. They love their Reaggaton here.

Overall, it was a good cultural experience that I wouldn`t want to repeat in a million years. The second experience was getting to wash all my clothes by hand. I don`t really have that much, but when you have to wash it all by hand...it gives you new appreciation for washing machines. This amount of clothing took me about an hour and a half. Sometimes we don`t know how fortuante we really are.