Day 229 15/2/12 Party Day

We had a frustrating morning out at the Reniec, government office, trying to get Michael’s ID card issued. Still no luck with this. They seem to be very obstinate in there and also convinced that Rocio can’t possibly be married to a Mr Jenkins and have lived in England. They don’t seem to believe that Michael was born in England despite his birth certificates being issued in London.

We have asked for Uncle Adam’s help with the violins. He is leader if a local orchestra and his violins player has taken the violins to repair and set them both up for me. It’s muchbetter to have someone do it who actually knows what they are doing.

Here is a picture to show just how brown Michael is going despite hiding him from the sun almost always. Sorry about the food on his forehead and the snotty nose, it’s hard to stop either of these from happening these days.



This afternoon Michel and I played Ukulele and watch the boys playing their run- around games whist Rocio helped mum making hats. They were trying to finish quickly because we had all been invited to a party next door at cousin Jose’s house. This looked likely to be a wild and loud affair and didn’t disappoint.

Here are a couple of Pics of Michael in his party suit getting into the spirit.





The party started with many bottles of beer passing around and stayed that way for a long time. The hosts made a special journey to the local shop just to buy fizzy pop for me to drink, which was very touching to me and Rocio’s Mormon brother Ademir even came for a short while. This couldn’t have been easy for him at all considering all the beer around and it was so good to see him there. I shared a few glasses of pop with him before he was briefly dragged into the dancing. I did ask Ademir about the other drug being used at the party, coca leaf, as several of the women were sitting chewing it. He said that he didn’t like to chew it (neither do I it tastes like privet hedge) but according to the Mormon church it’s nothing so not banned. Strange that for what would be a class A drug in England. I’m told it’s a stimulant but from my experience it isn’t as strong as a cup of coffee. As the party went on and the beers continued even Bob was drawn into the dancing. Rocio had quite a hard time at the party because several people insisted on smoking in the room. Rocio is still strongly affected by cigarette smoke and had to leave the party and hide upstairs each time. Cigarette smokers of whatever country are the same. They always confuse “Outside” with “Just inside the door blowing the smoke inwards” and can never tell just how bad they make a room smell. This aside it was a great party and we all had a great time.



Bob enjoyed himself so much that at one point he needed to go outside and hold on tightly to a small tree for support whilst he cleared his head. It was then that a papaya fell from the tree and landed by him (His good luck as it is now called) and Rocio’s sister Sonia (shaggy) and husband Neri and the rest of their five children who we hadn’t yet seen in Peru all turned up. Bob was pulled off his tree and introduced to all of them Sonia, Neri, Yandery, Yadhira, Leidy and Alvaro (Funny that because by the morning he had forgotten them and asked me “Who are all these children in the house?” ) Bob went to bed and wasn’t heard from again and the party continued for a few hours longer.



My boy was taken away from us and spirited upstairs with the children whilst they played computer games quietly and brought out lots of little plastic toys form Michael. I was worried about him and went to check up several times but he was fine sitting fiddling with the toys and watching the others. It was a real haven of tranquillity up there compared to the pounding music and dancing and beer and coca leaf chewing downstairs. I think the party went on long after we went to bed, in fact to keep drinking for two or three days is not unheard of here. We’ll see what happens about that.