Tacna: Part One
Tacna: Part Two
Arica, Chile
The next segment of our trip was full of exploration and celebration. The tradition for the JVC's living in the house has been to celebrate the roommates who are leaving with a big party and then to welcome the new friends to Tacna with another. All of the host families are involved and welcomed as well. We had a lovely mass for the two roommates whose time in Peru was ending. Then around Christmas there was another celebration - their kind of last hoorah with the community but then us the families who were visiting got a special taste of Tacna.
The weather was so lovely so my dad and I spent some time together wandering around the city. I wanted some last minute shots because I knew we were leaving to head on more adventures around the country soon.
My sister arranged for us to go to a fun restaurant with some of her friends. She had the restaurant cook us all sorts of traditional Peruvian cuisine. I wish I remembered all of the names right now - but it's been a year. The one I do know for sure we ate was cuy [guinea pig] !! It traditionally is served as a whole animal but in order to get us to actually eat it Emily had them prepare it fried so we couldn't tell what it was. I thought it was very good, very chewy but I just couldn't get over the fact that I was eating a cute little guinea pig! And I peaked in the kitchen and saw them before cooked. I know we are so distant from our food source in this day and age - things like that make me eat more veggies. I like looking at a garden but not animals.
Christmas was very fun for us. We got to go to a lovely mass, had dinner at Emily's host family's house, then celebrated at midnight with fireworks and the whole city. It was so wonderful being welcomed in by so many people who love my sister and are there for her while she is so far away from home. Language barrier aside I felt the love among all the people we interacted with. They had nothing but positive affirmations to say about my sister and our family.
The day after Christmas we were on a plane heading to the Andes mountains!
Stay tuned for the next part of the trip: we head to Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley.
No comments:
Post a Comment