Happenings

Not too long after my mom left, we had an event scheduled, that I really could not get my head around. Our “president” of the town asked me to help gather donations for what he said was 500 dancers who were coming to the old school for a dance competition, I was able to collect a small amount (the money went for buying medals for the winners). The day of the competition I went down and was surprised to see the competitors were childrens dance troupes. Some teams were large, some small, some had custom costumes, and some only had matching tshirts, some were pretty young, and up thru high school age.

I found my friends Leo and Rene, they were upstairs, with a great view of the dancers and crowd. The music was loud, and dancers were fun to watch. After each age group, they awarded medals, and at the end they awarded large trophies. Some teams competed in more than one genre of dance, some had gymnastics thrown in, much like cheerleading competitions, and others were purely dance.

After several hours, we decided we had enough, and left before it was all over, but I do think everyone had a good time.

Last weekend the neighboring town of San Clemente had their annual festival and the expats were invited to participate in the parade. We finally got the catepillar train and for a mere $5 per person rode it thru town throwing candy to the spectators.

As we were sitting at the starting point, waiting for our turn, the Police chief’s wife and daughter walked by, and asked if Domenica couldnt ride the “worm” with me...of course!! Later as we went thru town her dad got to see us, and I felt pretty special having her sit next to me.

The same weekend there was a surfing competition, and another parade of more than 100 horses!

After the friday afternoon parade, I stayed for dinner, but got the heck out of San Clemente, their parties are bigger and have waaay more people than my little San Jacinto one in August, and too much for me. I stayed away the rest of the weekend, but know it was a good time. The Caterpiller was in town all weekend, and many of the expats rode it thru the streets and down the malecon with lights and noise blaring.

The next events are in Charapoto, our nearest stop light, the town is turning 484 years old this month, and they have been doing a lot of work in their town square area. Of course it is also time to start gearing up for Christmas, and neighborhoods are holding Bingo and raffles to collect money for gifts and food for the needier families. So, stay tuned, the adventure continues...