A Peruvian Christmas

Christmas was obviously different for us this year; no Schumacher/Hess or Carpenter family gatherings, no truffle-making madness over the last few weeks, no cold and dark nights. 

Christmas Eve day seemed like any other day; everyone was still at work (even though it was a Saturday and Christmas Eve!) so Simon and I stopped at our favorite construction sites and watched cement trucks, a backhoe, and the giant buckets moving up and down on a pulley system. This is a favorite pastime – checking out construction sites – and we never have to go very far to find one!


Peruvians celebrate Christmas late on Christmas Eve, with presents and dinner at midnight, accompanied by lots of fireworks. We were excited to be invited to Christmas Eve dinner at Yannina’s home, thankfully at a more reasonable hour (for us) of 7:30. It was as if Manos Amigas had simply changed the location of its daily activities, as everyone we see on a daily basis (with the addition of Yannina and Roberto’s mom, Angelica) was there for dinner.


Dieuwe and Giuseppe have an annual tradition of putting on a little skit featuring their Santa Claus-clad teddy bears, and this year they had a special part for Simon: the tiny elf helping Papa Noel. We thought this was hilarious and taped it while all the other adults were off doing adult things like putting food on the table.

Getting ready for their annual Papa Noel skit, this time with a special guest, the little elf

Is this not hilarious? I love Simon and Giuseppe's hats! 

We ate dinner, we opened presents, and we set off fireworks. Simon was bouncing off of the walls, a combination of a late night, lots of exciting toys, and two giant glasses of chicha morada, the purple corn drink.


We were home by 10:30, only to be awakened at midnight by many earth-shattering rounds of fireworks. Somehow Simon slept through all of that, thankfully!


Christmas morning we walked down the coast via our park network (past all the used firecrackers!) on the malecón to find a group of friends-of-friends for a Christmas brunch picnic. It was an interesting contrast to the night before. There was champagne, fruit, sticky buns, and lots of toddlers. 


Sam started blowing bubbles for Simon to chase and was instantly surrounded by kids; he looked like the Pied Piper of Peru!

Look at the zeal on Simon's face! What a delight.

It was interesting to compare notes with Sam on our walk back home: people generally either work for an embassy or in mining. Occasionally I’ve met an expat who is a teacher, or works for the World Bank, or is a fruit exporter. But generally those people (and we) are outliers. It’s a completely different circle of people than we’d meet in the States. Many different nationalities, several different professions; our only real commonality is that none of us is Peruvian!


We are thankful to have opportunities to meet friends and experience a holiday in another culture, even though we miss our friends and families. Merry Christmas!