This is Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone!

This is my first Halloween ever out of the country, without costumes and candy, trick-or-treating, bobbing for apples or pumpkin carving. Still, Halloween does exist in Peru. There is an interesting dichotomy that happens here at the end of October. The youth, tend to celebrate "Halloween." Little kids do sometimes dress up in costume and collect candy. Instead of "trick or treat" they just say "Halloween!" but you get the idea. Our idea of Halloween is pretty integrated into their Halloween culture that we get images like this in the more upscale places.

But on the other side of Peruvian culture is the Dia de Todos Santos (All Saint's Day). This celebration is more akin to Mexico's Day of the Dead in that families buy special breads and candies and set the table for the souls of their loved ones to join them for dinner. Some families go to the cemeteries to have a party. It is not solemn or scary but a true celebration of the lives and the spirits of the living and the dead. It is a happy rememberance. As we were coming home from the training center last night we passed a couple of cemeteries where there was a lot of celebration happening. Outside the entrance to the cemetery was a flower vendor stall (expected) and a beer vendor stall (not quite expected). And that is the idea: we celebrate our loved ones, living and dead.

As for my celebration for this time of year this year, I will maintain my Halloween traditions with my fellow American trainees and I will experience Peru's traditions tomorrow with my family. We will have our own party (costumes optional) with candy, food and drink and I'll bring my standard Halloween movies: Hocus Pocus and Rocky Horror. Tomorrow I hope to go with my madre to the cemetery to experience how my familia celebrates this time of year.

In other news...

If this blog is the only way you are keeping up with me, then you have not yet heard. Tuesday, was "Site Assignment Day" and as you can imagine, we found out where we have been assigned. They put all the assignments on little slips of paper and put one slip of paper into a balloon, tied to a string in a tree. Like this.

One person began by popping a balloon, reading the name of the person and their site on the slip inside and then that person would pop the next balloon until everyone had heard where they were going. As the person who popped the last balloon, I had a long wait to find out that I will be going to....

Laraos, Yauyos, Lima, Peru.

This means - Country: Peru, Department: Lima, District: Yauyos, City: Laraos.

This is within a naturally protected area and everyone says it is beautiful. My town will have about 300 or less people and I will be working with the national park service (SERNANP - SERvicio Nacional de Areas Naturales Protegidas). I get to visit this place in a week and a half and I cannot wait. Then, in one month, I will be packing my bags to move there. I have a lot more research and learning to do before I get there.

But for the rest of this weekend, I will be doing the Halloween/Todos Santos celebrations. Let me know how you spend your Halloween.

Blessings.