another birthday party- this time, it's of a 2 year old...

25.6. 2011

I have been going up to a school in the middle of nowhere-
( I will write about it later) and except for that not really gone out of Willka T'ika.
And I desperately wanted to do so.
I have been to ruins, and more ruins, but I wanted get out, explore for myself in the villages nearby.
I asked and borrowed a bicycle from one of the workers and left at about 12:30, with the intention of returning by three or four.
My goal was to go take a few pictures, go drive a little bit and go to a family I was introduced to in Urubamba. The family, a mom and two children 13 and four- the dad is working far away and comes to visit once a month- is a continuous host family, usually for girls, to those young people who have just finished school and want to go to a far away country. The visitors come for no more than three months and live with the family as if they were a part of them.
The family is now hosting two girls from Norway for the next six weeks- they arrived two weeks ago. The two girls, in their late teens early twenties, got here through an organization, placing them in the family and introducing them from time to time with other exchange students in the area, who are also included in the program. Because I am in no program, I had no idea there were people from around the world who are staying far away from anywhere.
Both the family and the girls gave me their phone numbers, but both did not work. So I decided while I was going around to pop in and say hi. And that's what I did.

I got out of Willka T'ika, passed Urubamba and continued to a small village close by called Yucay. I stopped there- I had a few problems with the bicycle and my mom called me, so we talked for a while.

                  Abi, Mom- this is the pink house I told you about- it was more pink
                                                            in reality...

going back....

               A bridge separating the way to Cusco and Urubamba-
           Urubamba is on the right. This is not the way to Yucay though...

All over the mountains they have these writings- names of schools, written very   big. 

Urubamba overlooked by a mountain with a very complicated name...  

             On my way to Yucay. All over the place there are farms and farmers.
               (There is a farmer, behind a bush. Here he looks like a white spot.)

                                                    MOUNTAINS

 
And again- there is a tiny blue house- can you see it?

                                             Me and the bike in Yucay.

                                                    Golden Wheel 
                (they weren't really that golden because they would always brake...)

It is difficult to see here but the mountains in the middle, there are trees, covering exactly only the triangle. I thought it was impressive...

From Yucay back to Urubamba I went onto a very narrow dirt path. On the one side a field on the other a tunnel leading water from the mountains. My bike almost slipped there...

        URUBAMBA-

Louisa- the mom with the husband who works in the jungle, lives more in the outskirts of the town. Her mom lives across the street, her sister down the other street. More family lives in other part of Urubamba, some in Cuzco and just a few in Lima.

I arrived in Loiusa's house and no one was there except for a guy who was renovating so he opened me the door. As soon as I started writing a note, Louisa and her young son entered. She explained to me that today was the birthday of the son of her sister- she invited me right away. We went to her sister's house- here seen in the picture, where the preparations for the party were taking place.
In the picture you can see Louisa- in the blue, her four-year old in the red and her older son on the left at the back. Her sister, with the birthday child are both on the right.

 As I already said, Peruvians like to party. For the two year old the bought things, decorated, prepared, like it was a birth or something more important. The mom dressed him in this white concert-pianist suit, which was too small for him, and he ran all around the place. There were two HUGE cakes decorated with Winnie the Pooh pictures.
There was a HUGE poster 'welcome to my birthday party! Happy birthday- my two years'- you can see it in the picture...

They decided to change the celebration room because the one they chose in the beginning was too small...

The birthday boy with POPCORN

              sneaky sneaky.....

I don't remember any of their names except for Louisa, so here are the birthday and boy and his 10 year old brother.

Louisa's uncles and one of their wives- the one in the middle- I remember his name- Ebert- he lives in Cuzco and is a police men. The one on the right lives in Lima. The have the same sense of humor as my dad... hayavin yavin. 

                                            PINATA

                                               Cake time

They were singing him happy birthday.
Two things I am sure of-
1- none of them will EVER be a singer
2- they will never learn English...

          Now singing in Spanish.

I felt perfectly comfortable there- as if it were my family. Though after sitting there for a while it was a bit boring. But the best part of the night came to when the brother of the birthday boy, the older son of Louisa, her youngest brother 16,  and I went outside and drove bicycle. We were outside for a long time. In complete darkness, it was very funny....
Later on Carol called and I had to return back to Willka T'ika. There was no question about me sleeping there she said.
But I am going back now.