Las Posadas

Last night was the first of eight posadas. Las Posadas (The Inns) is a tradition here where the nine days prior to Christmas are celebrated by reenacting the difficulty that Mary and Joseph had finding a place to stay before the birth of Christ. Nine neighborhoods each take their turn hosting an evening where the kiddos sing from door to door asking for a place to stay. The third place they ask accepts, and this is followed by song and then: piñata!

So the village nearby has small parties for the next week or so, and each neighborhood takes a turn to host. It's fun! Although the piñata seems a little dangerous... normally the kid is blindfolded, and the piñata moves up and down as the kid wildly swings a giant heavy stick. Yikes...

And hot food is served along with ponche, or punch made of fruits and spices. Guys walk around with bottles of tequila and other booze to spike the ponche as soon as it is poured. And people from the neighborhood hand out bags of treats. It is nice to get a little holiday-ish stuff in my system. I barely feel like it is December here, let alone near Christmas. With no stores to constantly remind me, I kind of forget. Although, now that power is back on we played Christmas music this morning! Yay!

I really like the village nearby. Around 400 people total, and everyone seems very nice and accepting of the strange gringos who come to their parties. One man stopped us to make sure we would attend the posada his neighborhood will host. Very nice of him!

Today I walked down to Eronga and back which has made me quite tired. I will watch a movie tonight and then zonk out.