Beliefs in the Andes

Sometimes it is hard for others to understand what we do and the things that we are up against.  

This is a story that was told to me by a good friend. It is a personal account. 

Just a few weeks ago, as I had a chance to visit with our friend, D. I asked about her family. She told me that they have had lots of stuff happen. She told me that I wouldn’t believe her,  that she barely believed it at first, and then she proceeded to tell me the following.

Just after she got home to her family, her sister M. got sick.  M. had had a baby a month earlier.  One night, when D. checked on her sister in the next room, she said she had a very strong pain in her side.  There was nothing visible on the skin where she said it hurt.  The next morning, M. began to have a high fever.  They took her to the doctor, and the doctors told her that it was appendicitis. They wanted to operate right away. However, the parents did not want them to operate. The family believed that it was the “sobreparto,” a sickness that a woman can get after childbirth, especially if she leaves the house within the first 40 days—the time period that she is supposed to rest and recover, and basically stay in her bed, or at least her house.  The only time that her sister was out of the house was the 2 nights that she spent in the hospital for the delivery.  M. thought back to the time when she was in the hospital and she remembered a nightmare that she had.  She dreamed that someone was sticking a big needle in her from her head all the way through her whole body to her feet.  They believed it was the “Pishtaco”—the name given to a fat sucker in an Andean legend. Only the people don’t consider this to be a legend; they consider it to be fact. 

The family decided to take M. from the hospital, with the doctors still recommending a surgery.  They consulted with her brother’s new girlfriend who was specialized in “healings” (basically she was a shaman or witch doctor). In order to diagnose the problem, she told them to get a young ginnea pig. She was to sleep with this for a few hours. Then the shaman cut open the ginnea pig to examen it. She then  told the family that it was Pishtaco and that they would need to do certain things so that she would survive.  These steps were necessary not only for her survival, but also to replace the fat that was stolen from her. 

They had to take some fat from a cow and boil it into a broth for a soup.  M. was to eat that.  Then, they needed a vial of human fat.  The shaman had a small bottle that she sold to them for s/.1,000, about $380.  They were to heat this up by rubbing it in their hands, and then take a dropper and put 3 drops in a hot cup of water.  M. was to drink this, several times a day, for several days, until the pain was gone.  My friend described the smell as absolutely horrible.  She couldn’t stand the thought of having to drink it, but she prepared it and gave it to her sister, hoping that she would get better.   

M. did get better after a few days.  She then traveled an hour away to see her boyfriend, and she got a fever again.  She returned home sick and drank the hot water with human fat concoction for a few more days, and she was then well again. 

This story was told to me 2 weeks after she was better. 

This family also claims to be believers. 

Even for many believers, there is always a mix of the old practices and the underlying beliefs. 

This is the syncretism that exists in the Andes.  

P.S.  My friend said that the family is guarding the little vial of human fat like gold, just in case they need it again in the future.   

Unexpected Gift

 Yesterday, just after lunch, the doorbell rang.  We weren't expecting anyone, and as John answered, he told me that it was the guy that we have hired some in the past to  help with the garden and cutting the grass. 

After talking with him for awhile, John came back in the house holding 2 big, heavy bags.  This man had given us a big bag of potatoes and an even bigger bag of habas.  I was shocked. He came by just to give us some of the food from his fields as a way of saying thank you. 

Now, for those of you that don't know what habas are, well, John always calls them Lima Beans on Steroids.  They are huge.  But they don't exactly taste like lima beans; they are kinda sweeter.

Then, our dilemma was what to do with all of those beans!!  Who could we give them to? We would never eat that many on our own!

 What about freezing some beans? Or canning some?  Well, I have a tiny freezer. I mean, the refrigerators are smaller here than they are in the states. MUCH smaller. There isn't much room in there for anything. 

I then decided to call my mother-in-law to ask her advice on canning beans, and after talking to her I was sure that it wouldn't be too hard and we were going to try it. 

 It was actually REALLY easy!!  Plus, my

 wonderful hubby did all the hard work in shelling them all. :)

We had some habas for dinner last night and still have some left over. I also canned 5-quart size jars and so now we will have a few more "easy" options for sides for a few meals.  And they are yummy!

The finished product! I think the sound of the lids as they "pop" and seal is just about one of the best sounds in the world!

Family Fun Night

For the past few months we've been doing Family Movie Night.  Every Friday night, the boys are excited because they get to stay up a few extra minutes.  We eat dinner a little early, put on their pajamas and brush teeth, and then try to pick out a movie together (sometimes it is easier to come to an agreement than another times).


The boys also love reading books, playing board games and playing Wii.  We then decided that instead of just a movie night, we should change  it to Family Fun Night.


Enter the bucket!  We made a list of fun activities that we all like to do together. Some of these are specified, as in play a specific board game. Some just say pick a movie. Or read books together. Some cards have a snack of popcorn on it as well, for something extra special. 

A ton of ideas are printed on little cardstock cards.  Then, they are folded up and placed in our handy, dandy bucket.  (We buy honey in these little buckets, and so I have a ton of them, which I use for a variety of storage ideas).  

This past Friday was our first time to use the bucket for Family Fun Night. The boys rolled a die to see who would pick for the first time.  J. won, and he enjoyed picking.  S. enjoyed reading the card.


And the first ever Family Fun Night was…......

S. gets to pick a movie.  He was happy. :)

Mother's Day 2012

The "Huarichuros"

 Mother's Day is celebrated on the same day here, and so yes, this post is just a little bit late, but I still wanted to share.

J. in his frog costume

Most of the schools do a Mother's Day presentation, with the children doing traditional dances.  The parents go to local shops to rent the costumes for the children.  I was given a couple of days notice to rent 1 costume for each child, and then as soon as I got back from renting them, I went to pick the boys up from school and was told that S. was doing another dance and I needed to rent a 2nd costume.  Now, they don't cost that much to rent, but it is a PAIN to stand in the long, long line at the rental shop!!  I told his teacher that I had just rented the costumes and she said, "Well, he really likes to dance and he decided he was going to do another dance as well."  What could I say? I wasn't going to deny him the chance to dance if he liked it so much.

Pasacalle dance

 S. ended up doing 3 dances in total, and J. was supposed to do 2 dances, but most of the other kids in his class just didn't show up and so he ended up only doing the "Frog dance" all by himself. Well, he wanted big brother on the stage too, for moral support. :)

All the kids did a great job, and of course, it was fun to watch all of their cute performances!

Big brother providing moral support to little brother

Criollo Negro dance

The school did a good job of trying to make it a special presentation for the moms. There were a couple of special bands that came in to sing and to perform, and then they also did a drawing for one of the moms to win a prize.  A tasty meal was served at the end of it all.

The final group that came in while we were eating was....well....let me just say it was interesting.  Think men in tights--like from Shakespeare--coming to serenade everyone. They sang good. I have just never seen anything like them before here. They also invited people to come on the dance floor and they invited people to come dance with them. I was lucky enough to be pulled up there by the leader of the group and then he asked me where I was from. He then proceeded to thank all the moms for being there, especially the lovely lady from America. :)  *blush*  I was a little embarrassed. :)

Refried Beans

I've never really eaten refried beans before; maybe in some meals in a Mexican restaurant, but I never tried making them before.  That is until I saw this recipe from 100 days of real food. 

For some reason, this recipe looked good, and easy, and so I decided to try it.

Now, we can't get pinto beans here, but I've managed to find something that works anyways, and it is yummy!!

Yesterday I went out to lunch with a few ladies, and I wanted to have something easy ready for John and the boys. The day before I cooked this all day in the crock pot, and so they were able to heat up some beans and make bean and cheese quesadillas.

I missed out on having the refried beans yesterday, and so today I had some for lunch and dinner. And they were YUMMY! (and super easy to make!!!) 

Humbling Moments in the Kitchen

So, I took a long break from the blog (not really sure why), but I’ve decided to get back at it.

I usually consider myself to be a good cook. At least pretty good, anyways.  

 When we first got married 10 years ago, I have to admit that I didn’t know how to cook at all!!  My husband was always adventurous enough to eat the meals I prepared (or struggled to prepared).  However, since then, I’ve learned quite a bit!! I’ve had to learn even more the past few years as living overseas has forced me to make MANY items from scratch—including gravies, instead of just opening a packet, and even cream of chicken soup, instead of just using a can.  I have to say that I think I’ve gotten pretty good at cooking from scratch.

And then, enter yesterday.  I had a very humbling day in the kitchen.  I was feeling pretty defeated by the end of the day after breakfast consisting of burnt bacon and still slightly crunchy grits. We grind dried white corn kernels to make homemade grits. I normally rinse off the bad stuff 2 times, but yesterday I guess I was in a hurry, and I only rinsed once.  I. Won’t. Do. That. Again.   Everyone else ate it just fine, but I really didn’t care for the extra crunchy stuff that was still left in the grits. 

Somehow, I made it through lunch without destroying anything. Leftover black eyed peas from the freezer and then cornbread.  All was yummy. 

And then dinner.  Well, the main meal was actually pretty good. I was cooking Arroz con Pollo from Costa Rica (chicken and rice).  Then I decided that I wanted a good desert to go with it—Arroz con Leche (kind of like rice pudding).  That was my demise.    You can see the BIG mess in the picture. I mean HUGE mess!! I don’t know how the arroz con leche kept boiling over, but it spilled out and over the pot and onto all of the stove and made a big, sticky, gooey mess.  Not fun at all to clean up!!!  And then---the rice was never cooked all the way.  It had a great flavor—just slightly crunchy. 

Thankfully, my wonderful hubby gave the boys their bath and then did all the dishes so that I could spend the next 45 minutes trying to clean up the entire thing. 

Oh, and did I mention that the morning before I served porridge with bugs in it? This was the very last of the mix that I had in the bag. I’ve been saving it for a special day for the past month or so as I experimented with making a homemade kind.  Well, it was a special day! :)  I didn’t care for the extra protein though. 

It was a very humbling day in the kitchen, and honestly, I was feeling kind of bad for myself. I wanted to pick something really good and easy for today to make myself feel better and to feel like I could do it again. Anyone else ever been there?

Then in my devotion time today I read from Corinthians: “God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.”

Even when I feel like I'm no good or like I fail at something, my God is ALWAYS faithful!! I can rest in this and feel a peace!  

Even when all things around me are a mess (like my kitchen floor because I spilled cream all over it cooking lunch), God is faithful. AMEN.  

Christmas Differences

Paneton-the Christmas bread

This year we will be celebrating Christmas in our home, here in Peru.  Of course, I’m already missing family, traditions that we did in the states, the food, the decorations and even the weather! However, I’m also glad to be celebrating here in our home!  We don’t have many decorations, but I love getting to decorate for this time of the year!

Christmas in Peru is celebrated a little differently.  I’ve been thinking of and noticing some of the differences and so I thought I’d share.  I’m sure that some things vary according to the area of Peru and even among the classes, but this is information from where we have lived.

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• Presents--Santa Claus is known here, but he does not bring the kids presents.  Many families only give each child 1 present.  I asked my neighbor what she got her kids and she got a car for the boy and a doll house for the girl. 
• Decorations—these aren’t as big of a deal here as in the states.  There are a few houses with a strand of lights outside, but a tradition I enjoyed of driving around looking at Christmas lights just doesn’t go over so well here.   Some houses put up a Christmas tree, but almost every family has a nativity set.  And these aren’t just the nativity sets that we have.  These people understand what it must have been like to be born in a stable.  They put a TON of animals all around!!  I literally laugh at all the little plastic animals lined up around the fancy ceramic Mary, Joseph and Jesus.   Additionally, a lot of the decorations must be sent down from the US—they all have snow!!  It’s summer time here! There are snow decorations and snow men in the stores, but most people are thinking about going to the beach during the upcoming summer vacation (Jan. & Feb.).  These decorations must be confusing the boys because they have asked me a couple of times if it will snow on Christmas and when can they go throw snow balls!  Many decorations also say, “Merry Christmas”, instead of the traditional “Feliz Navidad”. 
• Christmas party—here the traditional Christmas party is called a “Chocolatada”. That’s the name of the homemade hot chocolate (use a bar of chocolate, evaporated milk, cinnamon, cloves and sugar).  You will always have the hot chocolate and a sweet bread called Paneton—think of a sweet bread with just a couple of the fruit jelly pieces in a fruit cake and some raisins.  I don’t like fruit cake, but I do like this bread!  Actually, my favorite is the paneton with only chocolate chips!!  I have to admit, when I think of Christmas, this is one tradition I have adopted from Peru—I think of hot chocolate and paneton (with chocolate chips!)  Yummy!!!  This is my downfall during this time of year! 
•  Family gathering—the family gathers on the night of the 24^th.  Everyone stays up till midnight to celebrate.  LOTS of loud fireworks will be set off!! But, they aren’t the pretty ones to where you can go outside and look at them.  They are just noise makers and so it sounds like a war is going on outside the wall that surrounds our house!  Fireworks on New Year’s Eve aren’t such a big deal, but for Christmas day at midnight it is LOUD!!    Then the meal is served. Yes, I said that the family eats at midnight!!!  Turkey is what most families will be serving.  However, they don’t make a huge assortment of sides to go with it like we do.  Most will only make a simple salad (once again, different from our typical lettuce, tomato, cucumber), and maybe add some mashed potatoes or rice on the side.

                

We will mostly do our typical family celebrations this year, but we will most definitely be woken up by the storm of fireworks, and I will include a piece of paneton and hot chocolate in my celebration!  Happy birthday Jesus and Merry Christmas to everyone!