I Didn't Pack for a Funeral Service

This is a long one, sorry.

I Didn't Pack for a Funeral

So far there are clothes I wish I had with me from home, but I think this takes the cake. I wish I had a black jacket or blouse. I have black dress slacks but only colored blouse or other nice shirts. The reason this matters is because today is the one month remembrance for my abuela anfitriona (host grandma). She passed away exactly a month ago, and as Catholics apparently they have a one month service and fiesta in her honor. It took me a few times of them explaining it to me this week for me to get it. In Spanish they kept saying "cumple" and so I thought they were talking about a BIRTHday celebration. Wrong day though. I'm going to do my best to be respectful and do the right things, a little nervous about not understanding and being rude inadvertently. Cross your fingers it goes well for me. There's a big gathering at our place after the service and so my family has been cooking and cleaning all day. I helped prepare cebolas (onions) and this fruit that I need to ask them to spell the name for me. You have to meticulously remove the cascara dura (hard outside) and keep the inside. It was reminscent of a pepper, being mostly hollow inside, but with a somewhat tougher skin that you have to carefully peel away. It was a LOT of work for not very much product. I'm very curious to see how it turns out, to see if it's worth it. I really like my Tio, Feliz. He speaks slowly and explains things different ways when its clear I don't understand it. It seems easier to talk to/understand him. He lives next door to us and is hosting Jacob, another Trainee. He also will tell me different verb tenses and make me/let me repeat them till I get it instead of just moving on with the conversation. It's nice. Everyone is nice of course, but some people are better at helping me understand them with my limited grasp. I'm still sick from yesterday, the runny nosy is really bothering me, and the throat feels a little worse now than before. Ugh. Hopefully, with more water and tea before bed it will go away soon. Like tonight. Tomorrow I have plans to go on a hike to an altar up the nearest mountain, swim, and watch them play futbol at the field. Going to be fun, I hope. 
(Time passes)
Well, I feel much better than I did earlier yesterday. Still have a slightly runny nose, and my throat hurts. But wow last night was awesome. I don't think I can convey here the scope of last night. I mean the day started normally enough with me helping them cook and hanging out with family. Then the church service which was as uncomfortable for me as I figured it would be. It wasn't bad; just not my cup of tea. After that, we all walked back to my home and sat in the living room in a big circle and ate snacks, drinks and then dinner. There wasn't music or anything. I guess people were reminscing but I couldn't really tell. I talked with some family from Lima out on the patio, then with some of Lorena's coworkers from Chosica. When Jossy headed to Loami's birthday party at the house of Kail and Shannon I was happy to escape. That was when the awesomeness began. They had lots of music going, and I mean party/dance music some of it popular American songs. They were passing around things like Cheetos puffs (they were a knock off I'm pretty sure) jello, chicha morada, and other sweet things. There were balloons everywhere and all the kids had Mickey Mouse ears on. There was easily 30 adults and a solid 10 kids below the age of 10. Shortly after we arrived, the clown started. I will never think of clowns the same way again. This was a young guy in the typical big shoes, baggy shorts with suspenders and a tight referee shirt. He had a baseball hat on sideways (logo'ed something like Volcom). His makeup was pretty low key as was his red nose. He came out let the family introduce themselves and such and then began some music competitions. He made two of our Trainees have a lip-sinc competition. They got up and were dancing and lip-sinc-ing like crazy. Shortly after, the hora loca began. The true craziness. We all had to get up and the piyaso put on music and they starting handing out party gear. Things like crazy hats and ties, facemasks, whistles. We all had long balloons to wave around. Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention the piyaso had a whistle that he used constantly and loudly, to the rhythm of the music to give us a beat. As we all started dancing, he was spraying foam everywhere, and a loud party popper went off covering us in glitter and such. Soon everyone was whistling and dancing. Let me describe the dancing by example. The clown grabbed the dad of the birthday girl (who is two if I haven't mentioned, so the dad is a very young guy not much older than me) and started grinding with him. The dad was actually really good, leaning to the right as they faced each other and got low. The hip action from both was impressive. Anyway, that is the type of dancing that the clown was encouraging. After a solid 30 minutes of this dancing in very tight quarters, the pinata was emptied into the crowd. I hope I've conveyed some of the craziness of that party, but maybe one quote will help more. Kail said, "It was the most fun I've had at a party without alcohol ever". And it was a two-year olds birthday party. Pretty awesome. A bit before 9pm, everyone was too hot so we were standing around outside. Since the party was breaking up, we decided to head to Buenos Aires to the party for Tina's abuelo. About nine of us as a group with party gear still on did the 30 minute walk over to the nieghborhood of Buenos Aires. Their house was really nice, a two story thing with the party being upstairs on a patio that was very nice. They had a live band of 5 saxophones, a violin, a harpist and one other I believe. Everyone danced the traditional circular dance while they played. You hold hands and alternate lifting your hands while stepping and twisting your body to match your hand movements. It was interesting and pretty fun because there ended up being a solid 15 or more Peace Corps volunteers at their party with about 7 or so Peruanos. They taught us their dance and made us integrate. Soon they passed out more party gear and it was time for round two of Hora Loca. They were two clowns at this one along with a woman in a tight purple suit with a tutu. These guys were worse than the first clown, since the birthday boy was turning 70. There were more than a couple lapdances, and grinding sessions. All in the spirit of dancing, laughing and having fun of course. There was beer and sangria at this party, although I don't think anyone got really drunk. I only tried a single small glass of sangria, and I was surprised how much I liked it. But I was too dehydrated to have more. Lots of people took pictures but it was during the dancing sessions. I'm sure all of them look pretty bad because it was live action. Anyway, suffice it to say it was a very very fun night. And I only spent 1 sole, on the collectivo ride back (actually I owe that to others since I hadn't had my money on me due to going to the funeral earlier in the evening).