The Last Chocolatada…

The last chocolatada for this Christmas season was a bit unusual. It was held in a private home in the district of La Victoria; one of Chiclayo’s poorer areas. This was the only Christmas party these kids will have and honestly, if you judged it with a ‘fun meter,’ it wasn’t much of a party. We were told the kids were not accustomed to gringos, which probably accounted for the look of apprehension on most of their faces. They weren’t a whole lot warmer even with Maribel. These poorer communities tend to be close-knit and don’t easily warm up to strangers. The house dog shared their uncertainty…growling at us continuously from under a table all the while we were there. Still…when we passed out the toys, paneton and chocolate milk there was a ‘thank-you’ from each child and a momentary look of excitement in their eyes.

They didn’t loosen up until they got outside, and even then many of them ran to their homes, apparently to show mom what they had received. I’ve been wondering about this situation since we returned to our apartment. I’m sure these kids play normally among themselves, but have they ever been to a party? They didn’t seem to know what to do or how to act. This location is only a 10 minute taxi ride from our apartment. I’m already thinking that next year we’ll return, and this time do it right. We’ll do it outside, and have a clown and games and loud music and we’ll do it for the whole neighborhood! And we won’t let the party end until every living soul has a semi-permanent smile on their face!...well, maybe not that damn dog.

We’re going to take off our Promesa Peru vests for a few days and relax. Joyce returns to the States in two days, and there are still things we want to show her. And I’d like to get back to Patapo to do some mountain climbing, and Maribel swears she can hear the pier at Puerto Eten promising lots of fish for our baited hooks.

We’ll be updating the Promesa Peru web page soon and hope you’ll find the time to check it out occasionally. In the meantime Happy Holidays to all of our readers!

Tom & Maribel (and Joyce & Brian)