Adios 2012, Bienvenido 2013

Thanks to the holidays I have been learning a lot more about Peruvian traditions, and New Years was no exception. I quickly discovered that yellow is the color of the last day of the year. Yellow is everywhere; hats, whistles, noisemakers, garlands and even underwear. They also buy or make a large doll, stuffing it with old clothes etc and at midnight they set it on fire. In Homer we have the burning basket and it reminded me a bit of that; getting rid of old things and starting over new.
I usually talk to my mom on the phone at midnight, Swedish time, but we were in a taxi on our way home from the market so I talked to her shortly after instead.
I spent the afternoon and night at my friend A's house with her family and I got to know her sisters a little bit during the evening. I felt like I was in a beauty salon; got my hair straightened and my nails done... What a treat!! The rest of the evening was just as wonderful and I got to practise lots of Spanish by trying to keep up with the conversation. We started eating a little before midnight and then ran out and watched the sky explode in color once again. We had a couple "burning men" outside the house too, so it was quite the show! Stayed up until about 3am, but more and more relatives showed up and the party didn't quiet down until 7am so we didn't sleep much last night. It was like trying to sleep in a nightclub, next to the speaker! :)

Came back to the apartment today and helped prep lunch/dinner for the team that arrived from Nome, AK early this morning. They had to spend New Years in the air. One of the girls will be staying in Peru when the team leaves, but she will be in Cusco for the first months to study Spanish. She would also rather be in Huacho, so maybe we might end up being roommates if it all works out!