Un fin de semana en Surco

This weekend I went to a small little pueblito called Surco about forty minutes from Chosica, where the training center is. We took a taxi to a bus on a corner which took us to Surco. I'm not sure how anyone was supposed to know that this bus existed as it was definitely not posted anywhere that the bus to San Mateo and assorted destinations will be leaving momentarily from the intersection next to the chicken restaurant. Anyway, the town is pretty small and when we got there the procession was just about to the church. Saturday was the festival of the patron saint of the community of Surco, San Jerónimo. You can find out about him at this website: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08341a.htm but since I'm running out of time, I won't read and summarize it right now. Also, my family did not know the story of San Jerónimo, just that he was the patron saint. Another interesting site, http://www.geocities.com/grupo_wayra/surco talks about the town of Surco and has this fun picture shown here. I walked here with Gabi on Sunday morning! It was really fun! We went on a little 30 minute hike and saw this water fall and could walk up to the top or the base. I have some other pictures as well but haven't downloaded them yet.
Anyway, on to the fiesta. . . My host-dad was actually one of the people that carried the statue, of sorts, to the church. So we watched him carry it in and went in the church, there is a patron saint of the high school and the elementary school as well and students from those schools parade those around the town too. Then we watched the band play and a drunk guy with a balloon dancing around. The band started to play a song and my host-dad got really excited and grabbed my hand and the people next to him. Pretty soon everyone was making this big snake/circle and running around. Then the circle/crowd left the plaza in front of the church. We danced in a circle up the street, over three blocks, down two, and through this little doorway, with the band following us. The dance was called "la ronda" and basically the point is you dance in a circle and wander around town and the band will follow you around. In this instance, we ended up next to a tent where they were serving food and we all ate dinner. I was very excited about this surprise, as I was starving. After dinner, we had a small glass of wine made from some fruit that I forget the name but it is the only fruit that the flower is inside the fruit. At least this is what my host-dad tells me.
Ok, so then we walk to another little party which is bascially the same as the one we came from, with free food and so on. But we just ate so we didn't have food but we did meet like 25 of my host family's relatives. Not exaggerating. And then they introduced me as "a friend" which I thought was rather ominous so I tried to explain who I was to as many people as possible. I danced several dances with family members and found out that a lot of these people traveled a long time to get here for this party. From other parts of Peru, from Argentina, from the U.S., this was a major even, kind of a family reunion for the town. And, really almost every person that we saw was related somehow. At the third party, we lost electricity, so people just started dancing in the dark.
At this point I was getting tired and I still have a little bit of a cold left so I was coughing. My host-mom turned to me with an accusatory look in her eyes and asked, "Did you take a shower this morning?" I said of course and she said, "That's why you're worse." Later I was coughing again and she told me to zip up my jacket so my neck would be covered. Um, this brings me to one of the untold secrets of Peru. They have a strong aversion to anything cold. As in cold beverages, cold food, cold air (I've left with a scarf for the past week to keep my neck warm), cold water to wash your body. It makes you sick. I had some cold Pepsi today not at my house it was the most magnificent experience. Unexplainable really. My host family even puts hot water into my water bottle so I'll have tepid water to drink. Oh, and for the most part, they also don't drink water. They are still getting over me not puting lots of sugar and coffee or tea in my water. Ok, miss you all!!!