Bautismo and more food

The old volunteer at the site I will be teaching became a double godfather this past weekend. It was a pretty interesting experience all around - from the fact that it was a mass baptism of 10-12 people ranging all ages, to the fact that the priest arrived late, to the way he had to ask for volunteers from the audience to do the readings on the spot. On a random side note, the lack of timeliness and the way I am mocked for mine is starting to get to me at times. I have to find a way to adapt or work around this aspect of life here - its so different than what I am used to.

But all in all, it was pretty incredible - this humble, poorer family clearly was very happy and excited by the event. They invited me, Brad, and my host family - who came to support Brad since they know him well - to dinner at their place afterwards. They of course gave us these giant portions of choclo (the type of corn they have a lot of down here), big potatoes that came from the highlands and were indeed more delicious, and chicken. It was one of those tough situations where they clearly served themselves less, but as a guest, you are almost madated and it does make them happy when you finish it all off. We talked for a couple of hours and they come from the highlands and basically are just good people trying to get by. The father is away all week working at the beach and was lamenting that he didn´t have any friends there and how life is just kind of passing him by. I will need to make sure to stop by from time to time on Sundays or to invite them over - their openness and hospitality were just touching, and I think very common in the sierra.

On another food note, I had cuy (Guinea Pig) on Sunday and it was served spread eagle and fried (also with big potatoes and choclo). We had it at this nice touristy restaurant, though you still go at it with your fingers and inevitably make a mess. Also, you eat everything - and I mean everything. Probably strangest part of the meal for me was riping the testicles off of the little body and dousing it with some of the hot sauce in order to make myself brave enough to try it. But all in all, it was a tasty and awesome experience. I probably should have saved the head for posterity´s sake, but I did take pictures and will get those up online at some point.