It is now Boxing Day in Peru and things are pretty well back to normal already. Even yesterday was a normal working day for many, especially the moto drivers, carro and combi drivers, bus companies etc. In the past weeks the market has been incredibly busy every day with extra stalls selling panetone cakes and wine, toys and christmas trees and decorations.
I went to Muna restaurant again on Tuesday having been informed by Daniel that they had postponed their tour of the northern beaches until sometime in the new year. Unlike the hot sunny day last time it started to rain just as I got there and the musicians carried on playing until the first lot of tourists departed. They then packed up their instruments to transfer everything to the indoor restaurant and whilst they were doing this I wandered around outside and took a few more photos including of the beautiful indoor restaurant. They played for a short while longer to a few diners inside and then packed up and the three of us squeezed into a moto and returned to Urubamba (Muna restaurant being on the Rumi Chaca main road between Urubamba and Ollantaytambo) and went to Dinnos restaurant where the three of us tucked into the set menu of the day - two courses for a pound a head - of a chinese style chicken soup followed by chicken Spanish style. Several other musicians joined us and we shared a few beers which was fun. Then with just a few of them we went to El Encuentro bar for more beer, but I only stayed long enough to share one litre bottle with them before heading back home to play monopoly as usual with Nohemy and Alfredo but before leaving them they said they would be playing in Cusco again on Xmas eve and I said I would see them all again then.
On Wednesday I risked having my hair permed here, the old perm having grown out after nearly 6 months. It took 4 hours with the perm lotion left on for over 2 hours and I was worried about the affect it would have on my hair, but the end result was pretty good - a much looser perm than I normally have done, and is actually quite nice and my hair left in pretty good condition too despite the perm lotion being on it so long.
I really enjoyed Christmas eve in Cusco - arriving there quite early in the morning where I found the biggest Christmas market I have ever seen taking up every single part of Plaza de Armas. It took hours to walk around and see everything and I was soon regretting not taking more money with me, having even left my debit card behind, as there was so many beautiful handicrafts on offer and at reasonable prices. I bought a silver inlaid llama on a chain, real turquoise earrings, pretty christmas ornaments, a beautifully painted cup and saucer, a lovely handbag of embossed leather and textile, a pen covered in textile with a llama on top.
At 12 noon I met up with Juan and accompanied him to the Marques Hotel where he was contracted to play for the children - a party held there for the street children of Cusco - complete with father christmas and a clown and I got some great photos of that. It was fun watching the children and when drinks were brought round to them by waiters one of them offered one for me too!
Afterwards I said my goodbyes to Juan, and then headed off to have some lunch and partook of this at one of the temporary outdoor food outlets set up in Plaza San Francisco - delicious food at very reasonable prices - for less than three quid I enjoyed a huge bowl of kingprawn soup followed by roast chicken with my favourite pastel del papa (sliced potato layered with cheese and condiments and baked in the oven) and rocoto relleno. Then set off to find Churay and soon found them playing beneath La Iglesia de la Merced, within eyesight of Plaza de Armas and I stayed watching for quite a few hours. Later in the afternoon the skies got greyer and then there was a sudden thunderclap and the heavens opened and everyone scattered in all directions to find shelter. One of the things I love about Peru is the opportunistic sellers - within moments of the rain there were two vendors selling umbrellas and another selling rain ponchos!!! The band also sheltered under the same arcade as me and we chatted for a while, until the rain petered out around half an hour later. I then said I would watch until 5 pm and then make my way home and see them soon in the new year.
I left at 5 as I was worried in case of difficulty getting back to Urubamba and as it was I had to wait for a combi - there was quite a few people waiting - then a woman appeared saying there was a combi parked round the corner if anyone wanted to get to Urubamba and there was a mad rush to get a seat in it. Traffic was pretty snarled up in Cusco too, so that it was almost 7 pm by the time I got home, where I enjoyed a large mug of hot chocolate and hunks of panetone cake with Alfredo and Nohemy whilst playing our nightly game of monopoly. Everyone buys panetone cake here instead of the type of Christmas cake we have back home.
On Christmas day we had the traditional roast turkey and enjoyed this along with a huge jug of pina coladas made from pisco and fresh pineapple. Afterwards we packed up more of the turkey and other items, including a bottle wine and glasses, and got a combi to Yucay, the next village along from Urubamba, where every Christmas is an annual fiesta complete with live music performers. Their friends Hugo and Eva came with us too. We arrived in time for the huge parade which was brilliant, and stopped all the traffic whilst it took place, including several saints being carried by groups of men, dancers from all over Peru in beautiful costumes. Nohemy´s favourite was the Majeno dance where the men dress up with masks with long noses and dance holding bottles of beer. There was no way of stopping the traffic while this event went on as Yucay is on the main road that goes through the Sacred Valley with no other way to detour the village. As you can imagine the place was crowded with people and the sides of the roads were lined with old ladies frying trout or pork and others selling chicha de quinua etc - but seeing the bucket of dirty fly speckled water in which they were washing the glasses, we decided to give that a miss! None of the others wanted to pay the entrance fee to see the live music on stage and had I paid for all five of us I wouldn´t have had much left to spend, so we found a little cafe and went through to the patio, taking a table and chairs from the cafe to sit at and relaxed there next to a beautiful garden full of fruit trees and flowers - Yucay being a very fertile place. We lingered until well after dark enjoying litre bottles of beer and what was great was the fact that we could hear all the live music from there - I heard the music of the two I was most interested in seeing - Pueblo Andino and Max Castro - so didn´t mind missing the actual music festival - the main star was Rossy War who is not a favourite of mine. At 8 pm we were lucky enough to find a combi to get back to Urubamba - had we left it later it would have meant either a long walk or a taxi. Back at the house we had more turkey along with the bottle of wine before Hugo and Eva went home. By this time I was quite tired and glad to get to bed.
It rained all night and didn´t stop until 8.30 this morning and today has been a quite quiet and relaxing day really with games of scrabble before and after lunch. Tomorrow a friend is cooking a special Pachamanca meal for us whereby the food is cooked over hot stones underground and we are looking forward to that. On New Year´s eve I am going to a birthday party and on 6th January to another fiesta in Ollantaytambo.
The entry before this one has a link to my Urubamba 2009 photo album at truprint where you can see my photos from 1st October up until 21st December. I will add the next lot around mid January with all the Christmas and New Year photos.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Urubamba 2009 (506 photos), by Angela Amanatullah
I'd like to share my Truprint photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
Click here to view photos
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Muna Restaurant, Music in Urubamba and Cusco
It has been a fairly quiet week or so since I last wrote. I still visit the restaurant to see Beatriz and the others once a week and have started giving the occasional English lesson there. Wilber, the resident musician has moved to another restaurant and the one who replaced him doesnt play nearly such nice music.
Last week I went with Beatriz to see Wilber and Patricia´s new baby, 2 weeks old, a dear little girl called Yarina. You will see the photos in January when I next download. They live up the hill which climbs out of the valley in the direction of Cusco so for the first time I was able to take a picture other than from a moving vehicle. Unfortunately at 5 pm half the valley was in shadow, but I will visit Patricia again earlier in the day sometime and get some good shots then. They were both delighted with the dress, cardigan and booties I gave them. We were able to get a moto up the hill fortunately as it would have been a stiff climb otherwise but we walked back down just as it was getting dark. When we said our goodbyes Wilber said to come and see him play at Muna restaurant, that he was playing a fusion type of andean music along with Daniel, one of the Peruviandina brothers.
So I went there for around 1 pm next day, taking a moto out into the countryside in the direction of Ollantaytambo (from where one can get the train to Machu Picchu and Aguas Calientes). It was a beautiful place as you will see from the photos later - hacienda style and with the two musicians playing in the open air. I took photos of them playing and when they saw them afterwards Daniel said one of them would make a brilliant CD cover. There were two bulls grazing just outside the hacienda walls and I took photos of those too. I decided to splash out and enjoy the buffet and it really was delicious - I had alpaca stroganoff with fresh pasta and it was so yummy I went back for seconds. There were excellent puddings and coffee too. It was pretty expensive though, 70 soles which would normally last me a couple of days instead of just one lunch, but for the first visit I though it best to have the buffet. I have already ascertained that I can go there and just have a beer or coke and listen to the music and intend to do that once a week alter Christmas.
After they finished and packed up their instruments we walked up the road to a little shop and shared a large bottle of inka cola outside, with me cudding a baby duck and a puppy. Then we had to wait for a passing bus or moto for me to get back and when one arrived, Daniel hopped on the back of Wilbers motorbike as they were taking their instruments home and then meeting me in La Tranca Fija bar for a few beers. I had arranged to go there on Sunday to see Victor and Nora and the beauty of that bar is that in the afternoon it is in full sunshine with seats outside and a little alcove with 3 tables - I sat in the sunshine and they sat in the shade in the alcove and we chatted and shared a litre of beer. Daniel and Wilber arrived about half an hour later and I ended up staying with them a couple of hours and before I went we agreed to meet up on Friday and go to the live open air music concert here in Urubamba that evening, starting at 6 pm in the recreation field opposite the bus Terminal. William Luna being the main star, and five other groups playing beforehand, including Pueblo Rebelde, Sabor Latino and others.
The past two Saturdays I have gone to Plaza Tupac Amaru street fair – the first time with Nohemy and whilst there I bought Christmas presents for her and Alfredo – for her a lovely knitted bag she fell in love with and for Alfredo a pair of budgies in shades of pale green, pale yellow and pale blue, the male with black speckles on his wings. Unfortunately the male died two days later which meant I would have to go again before Christmas to buy another one. Unfortunately my lovebird escaped when children messed around with the cage doors, so with a large cage going spare it seemed an ideal gift for Alfredo as he is particularly taken with caged birds. That day the theme in Plaza Tupac Amaru was Arts and Crafts and there were over 50 extra stalls of beautiful handicrafts, the knitted bag being one of them.
On Friday I met Daniel and Wilber in La Tranca Fija bar at 5 pm, with the intention of going to the open air concert with them at 6 pm, but nothing in Peru ever starts at the time stated. We were still having a drink at 10.30 with no sign of any music – this bar being only a couple of hundred yards as the crow flies from the recreation ground. When it did finally start at almost 11 pm, it started to rain as well and I went off the idea of going there as I didnt fancy sitting on wet grass nor standing for hours on end and I know it would go on really late. Such events would be so much more fun if they were held in the daytime, especially now we are into the rainy season. In Urubamba it nearly always rains at night and is mostly still warm and sunny in the daytime. Knowing I was getting up quite early to go to Cusco next day I said my goodbyes and went home.
I went to Tupac Amaru Plaza this Saturday on my own as Nohemy and Alfredo had workmen for their extensión so were too busy to go with me. I dont mind going to Cusco alone as it only takes around an hour in a shared taxi, and is a short taxi ride to either the centre or Tupac Amaru once I get there. The theme this week was an enormous Christmas feria with over 100 stalls in addition to all the usual ones. My main reason for going was to see Churay playing music there. Daniel, Wilber, and Pedro are three of the eight members of that band and I was all set to stay there all day watching them perform. Unfortunately whereas the rain usually dries up by morning it didnt on Saturday and was still raining off and on. I watched them play most of the morning though until around 1 pm – they were playing Ecuadorian music which went down very well with the Christmas shoppers and they sold several CDs – one of which I bought to add to my collection as well. I had a nice lunch in the gastronomic feria and went back and watched a while longer but the skies were getting blacker and blacker and I eventually said my goodbyes and made my way back to Urubamba. Having made the decisión to return I bought another budgie in similar colours to replace the one which died last week, then whilst waiting for a taxi the heavens opened and it poured down, so I detoured into a nearby supermarket and stocked up on a few more Xmas goodies. I was back in Urubamba by 4.15 where it was warm and sunny, but the rains came back that night as usual.
Tourism is pretty low in Urubamba at the moment and many of the musicians are struggling. Because of this quite a few of them, including Wilber, Daniel and Rosalio are thinking of going on a tour of the beaches in Northern Peru for a couple of weeks. If they go they will probably leave on Monday and return for New Years Eve or maybe even sometime in early January, depending on how they get on. Because of that I will delay going back to Muna restaurant until I am sure they have returned as it is only for the music that I visit these restaurants at all, not for the food! Beatriz and I are going to visit Wilber´s daughter again on Monday though and if her husband has found time to learn what I gave him 10 days ago, I will test him on the English he has learned so far.
Things have been full of the Christmas spirit both here and in Urubamba in the past couple of weeks. They celebrate it in exactly the same way as us with Christmas trees and decorations, wreaths or bells on doors, trimmings, father christmases etc. Unfortunately I missed an excellent festival in Yucay on Friday in the daytime with troups of dancers from all over and lots of children singing Christmas carols, but there is a music festival there actually on Christmas day in the afternoon and I am planning to go to that. On Christmas Eve I will go into Cusco as there is a huge street fair around Plaza de Armas which will be interesting and worth a visit. If Juan and other musicians are playing that day I will probably watch them for a while as well. Tourism will peak for a while around Christmas and New Year before dying off again due to the rains. Although we still have warm sunny weather in the daytime in Urubamba they get a lot more rain in Cusco during the rainy season and tourism drops drastically, making life very difficult for all the musicians, restaurant owners, sellers of artesania etc.
I will write another entry early in January, by which time the photos taken over the past month will be available in the truprint album as well.
Last week I went with Beatriz to see Wilber and Patricia´s new baby, 2 weeks old, a dear little girl called Yarina. You will see the photos in January when I next download. They live up the hill which climbs out of the valley in the direction of Cusco so for the first time I was able to take a picture other than from a moving vehicle. Unfortunately at 5 pm half the valley was in shadow, but I will visit Patricia again earlier in the day sometime and get some good shots then. They were both delighted with the dress, cardigan and booties I gave them. We were able to get a moto up the hill fortunately as it would have been a stiff climb otherwise but we walked back down just as it was getting dark. When we said our goodbyes Wilber said to come and see him play at Muna restaurant, that he was playing a fusion type of andean music along with Daniel, one of the Peruviandina brothers.
So I went there for around 1 pm next day, taking a moto out into the countryside in the direction of Ollantaytambo (from where one can get the train to Machu Picchu and Aguas Calientes). It was a beautiful place as you will see from the photos later - hacienda style and with the two musicians playing in the open air. I took photos of them playing and when they saw them afterwards Daniel said one of them would make a brilliant CD cover. There were two bulls grazing just outside the hacienda walls and I took photos of those too. I decided to splash out and enjoy the buffet and it really was delicious - I had alpaca stroganoff with fresh pasta and it was so yummy I went back for seconds. There were excellent puddings and coffee too. It was pretty expensive though, 70 soles which would normally last me a couple of days instead of just one lunch, but for the first visit I though it best to have the buffet. I have already ascertained that I can go there and just have a beer or coke and listen to the music and intend to do that once a week alter Christmas.
After they finished and packed up their instruments we walked up the road to a little shop and shared a large bottle of inka cola outside, with me cudding a baby duck and a puppy. Then we had to wait for a passing bus or moto for me to get back and when one arrived, Daniel hopped on the back of Wilbers motorbike as they were taking their instruments home and then meeting me in La Tranca Fija bar for a few beers. I had arranged to go there on Sunday to see Victor and Nora and the beauty of that bar is that in the afternoon it is in full sunshine with seats outside and a little alcove with 3 tables - I sat in the sunshine and they sat in the shade in the alcove and we chatted and shared a litre of beer. Daniel and Wilber arrived about half an hour later and I ended up staying with them a couple of hours and before I went we agreed to meet up on Friday and go to the live open air music concert here in Urubamba that evening, starting at 6 pm in the recreation field opposite the bus Terminal. William Luna being the main star, and five other groups playing beforehand, including Pueblo Rebelde, Sabor Latino and others.
The past two Saturdays I have gone to Plaza Tupac Amaru street fair – the first time with Nohemy and whilst there I bought Christmas presents for her and Alfredo – for her a lovely knitted bag she fell in love with and for Alfredo a pair of budgies in shades of pale green, pale yellow and pale blue, the male with black speckles on his wings. Unfortunately the male died two days later which meant I would have to go again before Christmas to buy another one. Unfortunately my lovebird escaped when children messed around with the cage doors, so with a large cage going spare it seemed an ideal gift for Alfredo as he is particularly taken with caged birds. That day the theme in Plaza Tupac Amaru was Arts and Crafts and there were over 50 extra stalls of beautiful handicrafts, the knitted bag being one of them.
On Friday I met Daniel and Wilber in La Tranca Fija bar at 5 pm, with the intention of going to the open air concert with them at 6 pm, but nothing in Peru ever starts at the time stated. We were still having a drink at 10.30 with no sign of any music – this bar being only a couple of hundred yards as the crow flies from the recreation ground. When it did finally start at almost 11 pm, it started to rain as well and I went off the idea of going there as I didnt fancy sitting on wet grass nor standing for hours on end and I know it would go on really late. Such events would be so much more fun if they were held in the daytime, especially now we are into the rainy season. In Urubamba it nearly always rains at night and is mostly still warm and sunny in the daytime. Knowing I was getting up quite early to go to Cusco next day I said my goodbyes and went home.
I went to Tupac Amaru Plaza this Saturday on my own as Nohemy and Alfredo had workmen for their extensión so were too busy to go with me. I dont mind going to Cusco alone as it only takes around an hour in a shared taxi, and is a short taxi ride to either the centre or Tupac Amaru once I get there. The theme this week was an enormous Christmas feria with over 100 stalls in addition to all the usual ones. My main reason for going was to see Churay playing music there. Daniel, Wilber, and Pedro are three of the eight members of that band and I was all set to stay there all day watching them perform. Unfortunately whereas the rain usually dries up by morning it didnt on Saturday and was still raining off and on. I watched them play most of the morning though until around 1 pm – they were playing Ecuadorian music which went down very well with the Christmas shoppers and they sold several CDs – one of which I bought to add to my collection as well. I had a nice lunch in the gastronomic feria and went back and watched a while longer but the skies were getting blacker and blacker and I eventually said my goodbyes and made my way back to Urubamba. Having made the decisión to return I bought another budgie in similar colours to replace the one which died last week, then whilst waiting for a taxi the heavens opened and it poured down, so I detoured into a nearby supermarket and stocked up on a few more Xmas goodies. I was back in Urubamba by 4.15 where it was warm and sunny, but the rains came back that night as usual.
Tourism is pretty low in Urubamba at the moment and many of the musicians are struggling. Because of this quite a few of them, including Wilber, Daniel and Rosalio are thinking of going on a tour of the beaches in Northern Peru for a couple of weeks. If they go they will probably leave on Monday and return for New Years Eve or maybe even sometime in early January, depending on how they get on. Because of that I will delay going back to Muna restaurant until I am sure they have returned as it is only for the music that I visit these restaurants at all, not for the food! Beatriz and I are going to visit Wilber´s daughter again on Monday though and if her husband has found time to learn what I gave him 10 days ago, I will test him on the English he has learned so far.
Things have been full of the Christmas spirit both here and in Urubamba in the past couple of weeks. They celebrate it in exactly the same way as us with Christmas trees and decorations, wreaths or bells on doors, trimmings, father christmases etc. Unfortunately I missed an excellent festival in Yucay on Friday in the daytime with troups of dancers from all over and lots of children singing Christmas carols, but there is a music festival there actually on Christmas day in the afternoon and I am planning to go to that. On Christmas Eve I will go into Cusco as there is a huge street fair around Plaza de Armas which will be interesting and worth a visit. If Juan and other musicians are playing that day I will probably watch them for a while as well. Tourism will peak for a while around Christmas and New Year before dying off again due to the rains. Although we still have warm sunny weather in the daytime in Urubamba they get a lot more rain in Cusco during the rainy season and tourism drops drastically, making life very difficult for all the musicians, restaurant owners, sellers of artesania etc.
I will write another entry early in January, by which time the photos taken over the past month will be available in the truprint album as well.
Monday, December 07, 2009
Carmen and Henrys Wedding
On Saturday 5th December we attended Henry and Carmens wedding in Cusco. Nohemy and I had to have our hair done in the morning because Ruben, her tenant hairdresser, had to go out in the afternoon - I wasted over two hours in there and hated the end result! Once we left the salon Nohemy was anxious to get to Cusco as she wanted to post the birthday present for her son in Switzerland. In Cusco we had a late lunch and then travelled by bus to deliver the wedding present to Henry´s home so that we would not be lumbered with it at the church. By the time we got back Nohemy had time to go to the post office and I was busy tonging my hair trying to create something reasonable, plus had to iron my clothes.
When it came time to leave for the church I had to go on ahead of them because Nohemy had to mend her outfit as a load of stitching had come undone on the skirt. I entered the church just as a mass was finishing and once the people left I made my way closer to the front, but when Henry and his mum arrived a bit later he said I had to sit in the front next to his mum. It was a beautiful wedding, and lasted about an hour with mass as well - and the bride and groom were right alongside me with the bridesmaids and pageboy and when the rings were exchanged I held Carmen´s wedding bouquet for her. It was just like any English church wedding with the bells ringing, organ music, stacks of flower arrangements everywhere, the bridal march etc and confetti thrown once outside. All the flower arrangements were pure white with greenery, with only the two arrangements each side in front of the alter having apricot coloured flowers to match the apricot roses in Carmens bouquet. Even the bridesmails were dressed in white satin dresses embroidered with silver flowers and sequins.
Then everyone piled into a load of taxis to make our way to the Sala de Exposition where the civil ceremony and reception took place. Once everyone had arrived the bride and groom had one dance together – a waltz - and then they each selected people for a dance, mainly the participants - witnesses, godparents etc and then soon after that the civil ceremony took place which didnt take long and I signed the wedding certificate as one of the witnesses. After this the bride and groom, godparents and witnesses stood in a receiving line in front of the principal table and all the guests proceeded to make their way along the line to shake hands or kiss cheeks and those carrying their wedding gifts handed them over at the same time. While all this was going on everyone was served a glass of champagne.
Then everyone was seated for the meal which was delicious roast pork, although I didnt eat the accompaniments - a kind of potato I dont like, maize and stuffed rocoto peppers (stuffed with beef!) - I really enjoyed the pork though. Before the meal everyone was given a pisco sour which was so beautifully chilled it was almost like an alcoholic ice cream, and with the meal jugs of coca cola and bottles of Whisky or Jamaican spiced rum were placed on the tables and these kept flowing all night along with ice buckets - drinks are normally served at room temperature here, even beer, so it was great to have iced drinks. After the meal the dancing began and didnt stop all night and everyone had a marvellous time and the music provided was absolutely brilliant – loads of Andean music but also some Salsa music. Nohemy and Alfredo did well to stay up until 4 am when we said our goodbyes and went home. In addition to all that booze, 40 cases of Cusquena beer were distributed (620 ml bottles) and around 2 am the parents of bride and groom each paid for another 30 cases. Although I love Cusquena beer I didnt drink mine, preferring to stay on the rum and coke. I didnt have too much, being really careful in that respect. The wedding cakes were 7 cakes linked by stairs and later on all of these were cut up and placed in boxes for the guests to take with them at the end. Back at the house we only had about 4 hours sleep before coming back to Urubamba so when we got there we went straight to bed and I didnt get up again until almost 5 pm. The photos I took will appear on my blog in January as I probably wont download to dvd until then. It really was a fantastic wedding with Henry and Carmen both circulating amongst the guests throughout
When it came time to leave for the church I had to go on ahead of them because Nohemy had to mend her outfit as a load of stitching had come undone on the skirt. I entered the church just as a mass was finishing and once the people left I made my way closer to the front, but when Henry and his mum arrived a bit later he said I had to sit in the front next to his mum. It was a beautiful wedding, and lasted about an hour with mass as well - and the bride and groom were right alongside me with the bridesmaids and pageboy and when the rings were exchanged I held Carmen´s wedding bouquet for her. It was just like any English church wedding with the bells ringing, organ music, stacks of flower arrangements everywhere, the bridal march etc and confetti thrown once outside. All the flower arrangements were pure white with greenery, with only the two arrangements each side in front of the alter having apricot coloured flowers to match the apricot roses in Carmens bouquet. Even the bridesmails were dressed in white satin dresses embroidered with silver flowers and sequins.
Then everyone piled into a load of taxis to make our way to the Sala de Exposition where the civil ceremony and reception took place. Once everyone had arrived the bride and groom had one dance together – a waltz - and then they each selected people for a dance, mainly the participants - witnesses, godparents etc and then soon after that the civil ceremony took place which didnt take long and I signed the wedding certificate as one of the witnesses. After this the bride and groom, godparents and witnesses stood in a receiving line in front of the principal table and all the guests proceeded to make their way along the line to shake hands or kiss cheeks and those carrying their wedding gifts handed them over at the same time. While all this was going on everyone was served a glass of champagne.
Then everyone was seated for the meal which was delicious roast pork, although I didnt eat the accompaniments - a kind of potato I dont like, maize and stuffed rocoto peppers (stuffed with beef!) - I really enjoyed the pork though. Before the meal everyone was given a pisco sour which was so beautifully chilled it was almost like an alcoholic ice cream, and with the meal jugs of coca cola and bottles of Whisky or Jamaican spiced rum were placed on the tables and these kept flowing all night along with ice buckets - drinks are normally served at room temperature here, even beer, so it was great to have iced drinks. After the meal the dancing began and didnt stop all night and everyone had a marvellous time and the music provided was absolutely brilliant – loads of Andean music but also some Salsa music. Nohemy and Alfredo did well to stay up until 4 am when we said our goodbyes and went home. In addition to all that booze, 40 cases of Cusquena beer were distributed (620 ml bottles) and around 2 am the parents of bride and groom each paid for another 30 cases. Although I love Cusquena beer I didnt drink mine, preferring to stay on the rum and coke. I didnt have too much, being really careful in that respect. The wedding cakes were 7 cakes linked by stairs and later on all of these were cut up and placed in boxes for the guests to take with them at the end. Back at the house we only had about 4 hours sleep before coming back to Urubamba so when we got there we went straight to bed and I didnt get up again until almost 5 pm. The photos I took will appear on my blog in January as I probably wont download to dvd until then. It really was a fantastic wedding with Henry and Carmen both circulating amongst the guests throughout
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Urubamba 2009 (362 photos), by Angela Amanatullah
I'd like to share my Truprint photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
Click here to view photos
48 photos taken in Echarate
I have just uploaded 48 of the photos taken in my recent visit to Echarate but at present am having problems uploading my photostream into my blog, having set up a new flickr account for these. However, if you enter www.flickr.com and sign in, and search with the tag Urubamba09 you will be able to see them there. Hopefully within a week or two I will have worked out another way to get photos onto my blog.
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