La Raya Celebrates an Anniversary

La Raya is one of our favorite villages. Physically it is a long, narrow village located on the eastern edge of Purgatory Mountain. Many of the houses are within a stone’s throw of what remains of ancient Moche culture pyramids and temples. Some of the houses were probably partially constructed from adobe bricks that had once been part of a majestic temple.  

Among the many poor villages of the Tùcume District, La Raya is exceptionally poor and yet there is a feeling of community spirit. The parent’s association does the best it can with limited means to support their school, so when school director Jorge Luis Cabrera phoned to invite us to attend their 44^th anniversary yesterday we gladly accepted and offered to help them by providing candy and entertainment for the 75 plus students.  

The noise made by 75 kids in one room as the candy, cookies and chocolate milk were being unpacked was deafening. Jorge explained, “…these kids have never seen anything like this.” We thought they showed remarkable restraint in not approaching the table (later, when the clown was handing out candy both he and the table were nearly knocked over).

Cua-Cua the clown entertained the kids for over an hour, including a ‘parade’ they enjoyed on the school grounds. Notice the appearance of the school and the enclosing wall in the background. That is the work of the parent’s association with donated paint from a Tùcume merchant. That’s Purgatory Mountain in the background. Years ago villagers believed that the spirits of Moche rulers roamed the mountain and pyramids. Probably some still hold that belief.

We weren’t sure if the kids would appreciate the Marinera dancers who accompanied us but they were a big hit with the kids and adults. Two of the young boys asked if they could dance with the woman and were surprisingly good. The dancers are law students at a Chiclayo university and dance semi-professionally to pay their school expenses.

At 1:00 in the afternoon the party was over, which was a good time to finish as the desert heat was starting to make the room uncomfortable. Before leaving we, the dancers and clown were treated to a lunch of ‘arroz con pato’ (rice with duck) and thanked many times by teachers, parents and kids.

Our thanks to Chris R., Yescenia and Wilmer for making this event the success that it was.