Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
What a strange experience we had in Mollenda...we spent most of our time chilling by the beach and the pool and not one other tourist could be seen in town so we really were here to experience a true Peruvian New Years Eve party, and this was just great. So now I will explain just a few of the odd things we experienced during our stay in this small local town...
- Ok, so all 4 of us are vegetarian (yes, I have actually been trying to eat vegetarian meals for the past month, just to see how I feel so I am trying to be a little more healthy...and maybe avoid being ill too) So we walk into a few different local restaurants and ask what vegetarian dishes they serve. The response from all these restaurants was first, a shock of horror on their faces, closely followed by a "no, no tengo platos sin carne. Todo con carne" (which is something around the lines of "no, we don't have meals without meat. Everything with meat") and then they quickly hurry us out of the door! Ok, so it seemed that they could only visualise the pasta dishes, rice and salad only to be served with meat, and we were felt like we were being looked at like we were aliens for us to even think of eating a meal without meat?!
- So we manage to find a place that we could just about explain "no meat with pasta". Ok so it took about 2 hours before we were served, and then to be told no, we can't have a "spoon", because they ONLY have a spoons for soup. We don't give spoons for spaghetti! I am glad Olivia (Frida's Swedish friend/supervisor) was with us as she has been living in La Paz for the past 3 years so understands Spanish and can speak fluently...so she was able to confirm that what we believed we were hearing was correct. Then I ask for a 'Te de manzilla' and was also told "no, no, solo tengo te normal"...so I agreed to this, and then 10 minutes later I am served Te de manzilla!
- My experience in the Farmacia to buy some suncream was "tambien loco"...I ask what suncream they have, so the lady behind the counter passes me the suncream, which I decide to buy. So I give her the bottle back and say yes I would like to buy this. She then puts the bottle back on the shelf and instead gives me a ticket and tells me I have to go to the other lady to pay. So I went over to give her the ticket and paid the money. She took the ticket from me and gave me...yes, another ticket! So I then have to return to the same lady as before for her to give me the same bottle of suncream she picked up from the very start!
And that was just a few highlights of the crazy time we had in Mollendo. There were several other strange moments during our stay but it was all an experience we will never forget. Our NYE was good fun. For the past 2 weeks people have been selling yellow underwear everywhere and I didn't know why until Olivia explained to me that if you want 'luck' for the new year, you must wear yellow underwear! Luckily I had my yellow bra to wear that night so I have luck this year J Also, it is tradition that at midnight you should eat 12 grapes, 1 for each year. And the taste of the grape, good or bad will determine how good that month will be. We tried this out too - the Swedish girls had bad Octobers and I can remember my May was not a great month, a little bitter! It was also strange that the parties/celebrations didn't really start until midnight. Before then people were just chilling in the streets, watching people walk by, drinking a bit and chatting with their friends or lovers. It was a really nice atmosphere and it was interesting to see that wherever you are in the world, you still celebrate with friends, drink and good music! It's a universal enjoyment J Many people were camped out on the beach too, making fires and chilling in their tents....it was a lovely chilled evening! (not too crazy for us!)
- comments