Christmas

So Christmas passed of quite plesently.
The tradition here is to have a big meal at midnight of the 24th so a group of us Gringos (anyone not local) decided to do something similar. We went to an appartment that was being rented by two of the party. Quite luxurious when you have become used to grotty hostels where you start to really value things like toilet seats, couches and an oven.
Everyone cooked something different. I did roast chicken and spuds, my favorite dish as it requires no work and tastes yummy. This was the first time I cooked since going away. There resteraunts are so cheap there really isn´t much point. There was also spicy meat ball (I forget the name), and Jamacan chicken, mmmmm, along with yummy spud bake and tasty salad. Deserts were Rum balls and cake. So basicly it was like an all you can eat buffay.
On the 25th I rang home and was invited to a party in the afternoon by a Cusqueñan friend.
It was actually a birthday party that seemed to have run straight from the Christmas festivities.
The house was up on a hill with a great view of Cusco and the party was a big famaily affair with all generations represented. There was lots of dancing in the kitchen. Alot of Huayno music which is typical from around here. There was also chicha, home brew, which is a corn (maize) based fermented drink which can be alcoholic. Tastes as good as it sounds (not very).

Music and busses.
In the discos you tend to get, among other types, Reggaeton music which has a distinctive beat present in every song and was made famous in much of the world by the "Gasolina" song. Has this hit Ireland yet? They really like Reggaeton in Equador, particularly on the busses where it seem to suit the crazy overtaking manuvours that they do arround blind corners with near vertical drops off the side. Even when there isn´t a car to be overtaken they swing over to the wrong side to get arround these bends (virages) at a higher speed. Crazy.