Huanuco

So I had a pretty interesting Sunday. I got up early to be ready for my flag raising ceremony in the main plaza. I had written a little speech of what I would say, so after making sure that was in my pocket and I had my first daily layer of sunscreen on, I headed to the plaza. I there proceeded to wait on Peruvian time. Eventually, the governor, his tenant governor, the Municipality secretary, and two workers from the Municipality all congregated, and we carried the Peruvian flag out and around the Main Plaza's park area. I got to tie it up and raise it to their flag raising song, and then proceeded to stand there solemnly while they sang their national anthem. I've been in that position before, and I'm honestly still not sure how to act. It's uncomfortable. Do I put my hand over my heart like them? Do I look at the flag like I would if it were mine? Do I attempt to sing their anthem with them? It's interesting. I ended up putting my hand on my heart and staring forcefully at the ground, humming along. Interestingly, they don't look at the flag during the anthem, so I'm not sure staring at the ground is really much of a statement. Anyways, I said my little words about the flag being a symbol of the country and a promise to the future. I said we promised to leave a beautiful country to our children and that's why I was dedicating this flag raising to Migratory Birds day and Environment Day (June 5th), that we needed to remember and honor these important days. I think I would have felt prouder of my little speech if more than 5 other people had heard it.

During that, I received a surprising text from my Peruvian friend, Omar (the one who brought me Hersey bars and Pringles) about him having borrowed a car and wanting to take me to Huanuco. Understandably, I was a little uncomfortable with the idea. But he invited my host brother and his sister was going to, so I said I'd ask Jon if he wanted to go. Jon did...but Wilda was in a bad mood  so he backed out. Wilda was understandably very unhappy because my chef friend who had disappeared for awhile and then showed back up, had taken off in the middle of the night or early morning without a word. She was stuck cooking and short-handed. So anyways, Omar showed up with his sister in a nice Yaris (they're pretty popular here for some reason) and we set off. The road to Huanuco is past Cerro de Pasco to the north. Its another department, ie state, but the capital city is also named Huanuco and was where we were headed. We arrived around 1pm or so, and headed to get some food. We were supposed to meet up with Omar's sister's friend at a pro soccer game, but first we had to eat. So we ate at this place called Senor Limon. Apparently its pretty well-known to Peruvians, and I now know why. It has EXCELLENT food. The best ceviche I've had in Peru, the best calamari, the best fried fish sticks. I put money in for my part of our shared lunch, and we headed off to the soccer game. We were super late, so got in free, and watched the last 10 minutes. Peruvians are a little crazy about live soccer. As the game finished, police in full riot gear came out and formed a barricade so the referees could leave without being mobbed in thrown things. We filled out with the mob, and meet up with her friend. From there, we headed out of the city to Churubumbo (I think that's how it was spelled). There was supposed to be a resort/retreat type place we could hang out for awhile. But they said it was closed, so instead we went to the museum there. That was pretty awesome. They have pre-Incan mummies. You enter this small doorway that's supposed to be a replica of the civilization's homes and descend a rickety staircase into the semi-darkness. There, you see glass cases of dead people in fetal position screaming silently at you. It was a tad unnerving. Apparently, because the culture believe in an after-life, they put all their dead they mummified (important people only of course) into fetal positions. Basically, so that the dead were prepared to be born into the next life, like from the womb. Pretty cool huh? As I was moving through the museum, I saw some adult mummies, some children mummies, some stone mortal and pestles they used for medicine and then......A glass case with the placard "Piedras en la forma de huevos". Ie...stones in the shape of eggs. Yep, I am serious. There were 6 oblong rocks sitting in a glass case in a museum with Pre-Incan mummies. Not only that, but there were rocks in the form of hearts right beneath them. I took a video, just in case someone didn't believe me. I also have photos of the 400 year old bible they have. You know...400 year bibles definitely should be preserved alongside those rocks in the form of eggs. Omar's sister found a egg-shaped rock the museum must have misplaced right outside in the dirt as we left.

Anyways, after that we headed back to Huanuco. On the way, we picked up and old Tio on his way into the city. He had pure cane-liquor with him that he was going to sell. He let us take a shot of it from the bottle. Incredibly potent let me tell you. I only had a sip and I definitely felt the heat spread as if I'd taken two shots of tequila. That was pretty much the end of the day; we headed back to Vicco after dropping off the Tio and the friend. It was a long dark ride, but Omar and I passed the time chatting. I still have my mind blown that I CAN chat with him, that we have conversations that vary and are interesting.

During the week, I taught classes of English in the High school. They were good, and I felt like a real teacher since I was teachin the same kids I'd taught the week before in actual class periods. Yesterday, I hitched a ride with the Municipality in their truck to Cerro de Pasco. There Omar helped me get prices for my solar project budget that I'm working on. We also encountered an elementary school's anniversary celebration. It was an incredibly large procession through the streets. They had kids dressed as animals, doctors, witches, their traditional "negritos" garb, and even robots. I managed to spot Bender amongst the robots, and Omar took a photo for me. He was so kind as to post the photo on Facebook so you can see what a great job the kid, or his parents, did.

As for today, I had my 5th recycling buy. I bought 280 kilos more of recycling. I got extra bags from the Municipality beforehand and filled them up. I officially have nowhere to put more recycling. If I can't get this stuff sold this month, I think I'm going to put off buying more. That'd be sad, but may be necessary anyways. June is going to be a month of parties in Vicco; I'm not sure who is going to come sell me recycling. We have Rally Vicco, the highest race in the world? or maybe just in South America I don't know. After that, we celebrate the town anniversary for a week and a half I believe. So anyway, June should be fun.