This Christmas I had the opportunity to see how
Peruvians or actually Limeaños celebrate Christmas. This was also my first time
in Lima so I was looking forward finally to see the capital city full of
contradictions. Planning my trip to Lima from Cusco surprised
me again how big Peru is as the bus trip between these two cities lasts for 22
hours! In the end the trip wasn’t as bad as I
thought it would be, as most of the trip was during the night and the seats
were comfortable and the movies shown along the way were entertaining enough.
I had heard many bad things about Lima so I
wasn’t expecting a great city but actually I was positively surprised! Yes the
traffic is really bad and it’s not the safest city to live but there are also
many good things about Lima. First of all there is a beach what I had missed
while living in the mountains. Also there are great shopping places, cinemas,
good restaurants, fast internet etc. All those things that I don’t have while
living in the countryside.
(The Plaza de Armas)
(Cebiche)
During my week I filled my days lying on the
beach, shopping clothes, visiting sights, meeting new people and eating good
food. I enjoyed the city life!
The actual Christmas we started to celebrate on
the Christmas Eve and we prepared a big meal consisting of a turkey as a main
dish, various salads and my traditional Finnish dishes. However, as a Peruvian
habit, we had to wait to eat the dinner almost until the midnight and the whole
dinner was done under half an hour! I was still finishing my plate as everyone
else was ready to welcome the Christmas Day when the clock turned to midnight.
The Christmas Day was welcomed with a toast of sparkling wine and the sky
filled of fireworks. I’ve never seen that many fireworks in any other country
than Peru! For me it felt like New Year’s Eve more than Christmas. However,
it looked beautiful. After admiring the firework show it was time to change the
gifts. Actually it was only children who got gifts and them also only one gift
each. This was definitely something different to the Western countries where
children often are spoiled with several gifts.
The overall experience in Lima was definitely
positive and seeing the local way of spending Christmas was interesting too.
After the busy week in Lima it was time for me to see how the Chileans spend
their New Year's Eve…
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