Montenegro sunset.

All of a sudden something special happens in the sky over Montenegro and it alters the whole appearance of the area. The sunset tended to focus your eyes upwards rather than the usual downwards!

Maria's scone and pizza lesson.

Maria teaches the young women of the Motupe parish simple recipes so that they in turn are able to bake some 'goodies' for sale. These weekly classes have proven to be extremely successful for all involved.

Marion promised to show Maria how to bake the humble scone as well as very tasty pizzas. These recipes are very simple and inexpensive to prepare. Maria was delighted with both the simplicity of preparation and the final taste test! I am sure they will be listed on the parish cooking list very shortly.

Pilar's party.

Pilar had very graciously organised a lunch time party at her house for all the members of our first English class.
Our very first group for English celebrating and they are from left to right – Pilar, Trini, Maria Teresa, Marion, self, Juana, Paolo and Antonio. Joao and Claudia are in front and Gladys was the only person missing. She lives way up in Valle Sagrado and could not be contacted.

We had a delightful meal of champagne and ‘Lomo Saltado’ - a beef and onion stir fry mingled with French fries and served on rice. Absolutely hopeless for the diet but amazingly good for the taste buds!

All the group took turns to speak and what they said was amazing. Then they made a presentation to each of us of matching T-shirts with appropriate messages.
Marion’s reads ‘Soy la engreída de Perú’ – ‘I have embraced Peru’ and mine says ‘Yo vivo en Perú’ – ‘I live in Montenegro’ The joke behind mine is that this line was one of the very first I mastered in Spanish and the class continually loved to ask me where I lived, much to their amusement!

Are Paolo and Antonio enjoying themselves or are they planning ways of avoiding the dance floor?

As with every gathering we have attended dancing always takes a priority, the Peruvians just love to get up and dance. One of the favourites at this gathering was ‘The Macarena’, with all the right moves.

Joao was the DJ for the afternoon by supplying the music through the internet.

Pilar’s mother, Peta, took great delight in presenting me with one of her cuy, guinea pigs. She knows exactly what I think of cuy as a meal! This little fellow will not take too long before he is on the menu.

The park lawnmower!

During the year the local workers have been doing a huge amount of work in re-greening the entire park area and they have done an excellent job. However, now that the sun is beginning to shine and there is warmth in the air the grass is really taking off. So much so they have had to 'employ' a lawnmower! I doubt if this fellow has ever had life so good!

Initially they had two working on the grass, no there is only one. Heavens knows what ever happened to this one's mate.

Our final Mass at Pedregal Alto.

The ‘Christmas’ Cross…

Mick, Joao, Marion and I headed off very early Sunday morning for our final Mass at Pedregal Alto and when we arrived we discovered that there was nobody else around apart from Imelda and Martin. The locals had apparently forgotten that this was their Mass Sunday.

Marion and Joao set up their music corner hoping that a few would arrive.

Have no fear, the new bell appeared and was used very loudly, and very often. It soon drew positive results.

The first arrivals…

And then more…

Eventually Mass began with a reasonable group in attendance.

And would you believe Santa made a belated call on Pedregal Alto and this time everybody profited from his visit, old and young. He just cannot help himself, or is he simply obeying the ‘suggestions’ of Mrs. Claus?

The Montenegro Parish farewell.

Last night we were invited to attend the evening Mass for a farewell presentation and supper. You are never quite sure what to expect, however, it was a memorable evening for us both. Just another example of why it is going to be so difficult to leave these people. They are so appreciative and generous. It is quite humbling for us.
On arriving at the church we were confronted by the big screen and immediately knew we were in for some photographic memorabilia!

The A/V presentation began immediately after Mass and it was extremely well put together. Background music of ‘Waltzing Matilda’ and ‘I Am Australian’ made it all the more memorable, and enjoyable.

The presentation of gifts is always a special time for all present and they immediately chant ‘abra, abra’ – open, open! The flowers were easy to guess!

Our very special flag, what a great idea.

We were expected to make replies.

After all the speeches we were off to the hall for supper and a small skit presented by the jovens, or youth.
A very good night was had by all.

A Pedregal Alto vista.

By standing with my back to the new community centre at Pedregal Alto and moving the camera from left to right you get a very good impression of a one hundred and eighty degree vista of the area.
Move your eye from left to right in the top photo, then to the second and so on till you have view ed all five shots. I can guarantee you the area is as poor and barren as it looks.
The light industry in the first photo is a lime crushing plant and thank heavens the dust seems to miss the community centre.

Christmas 2008 in Lima, Peru.

It has been a very interesting Christmas this year. Firstly, it was a Christmas for us without any of our children and that certainly felt rather strange. And secondly we have experienced a completely different way of celebrating Christmas.
The two day Christmas diary…
Christmas Eve:
The 24th of December began by getting up early and waiting for the man to arrive to repair our fridge, yes the fridge blew up; or rather the thermostat blew up. He was supposed to arrive at 8.00 a.m., by 5.00 p.m. we were reliably informed that he will appear at 8.00 a.m. Christmas Day. I will wait and see and in the meantime my diet takes on a completely new meaning – no food of any description! Happy Christmas!
10.00 a.m. Mick and I decided to go and shop in Metro for essential supplies for Christmas Day at the Columban Centre House. It would not be too difficult to guess the nature of the ‘essential supplies’. Yesterday morning shopping at Metro was an experience, all fifty-five checkouts were operational and there were queues at each. Slow queues at each!
12.30 p.m. We were invited to a very pleasant lunch at the presbytery with the two priests Mick and Napa and also Nancy, the housekeeper.
2.30 p.m. Wander back to our house through the local market. Today some of the people had set up makeshift enclosures and were selling live pigs and turkeys for Christmas. At least they were ‘fresher’ than the meat hanging all around.
The pre-Christmas fireworks had started early and every now and then you were startled by some exploding rocket or bunger. I have been told that they are supposed to be illegal; believe me that seems to make little or no difference in this part of Lima. I would have also thought that they would be too expensive for the people but I have been assured they are quite cheap to purchase.
4.00 p.m. The computer comes into play and Skype to Australia is worked overtime. We both had long Christmas chats to Simon and Kate in Mildura, Kate and Dale down Gippsland way and my brothers in and around Melbourne.
8.00 p.m. We head off to Santa Rosa Capilla for our 9.00 p.m. Christmas Mass. It was already crowded when we arrived. People had brought figurines of Jesus from their Christmas cribs to be placed in front of the altar and blessed with water after Mass. Some even bring the entire crib scene. As long as I live I do not think I will ever see as many statues of baby Jesus as I saw last night! A veritable maternity ward. They were all shapes, sizes and colours, and mostly beautifully dressed in silken outfits, obviously lovingly sewn for the occasion.
The parishioners had also erected a massive crib in the Capilla and during Mass a family came forward and placed the figure of Jesus in the manger. Another very interesting tradition is that each year you place a new animal in the crib. That may be the reason why some constructions are so large.
The Mass was temporarily halted twice when the power failed. Nevertheless, Marion was very fortunate that she had left the batteries in the keyboard so the music continued to flow.
10.30 p.m. Make our way back home through the continued bombardment of fireworks and head off to bed. Not so the locals, they went home to open the champagne, eat Christmas panettone and sit down to the full Christmas meal at midnight! They wondered what was wrong with us; we assured them nothing apart from our age!
Midnight and it all began in earnest. The noise was unbelievable, I did not know they made exploding rockets and bungers so big and powerful. And I also did not know that they had purchased so many of the things.
At least I felt very safe in our house of concrete and steel, a stray rocket could not cause too much fire damage and a giant bunger would not even rattle the foundations!

Christmas Day:
6.00 a.m. Check the emails, await for further Skype calls and hope that the fridge repair man arrives! The fireworks continue, however, only on an intermittent basis. They must be running very low on supplies after last night. Over our breakfast coffee I discover that Marion heard very little of the fun and games last night, I couldn’t believe it!
8.50 a.m. Pedro, the repair man, arrives with a plastic supermarket bag full of tools to work on the fridge.
10.00 a.m. Off to the Columban Centre House for Christmas Day.

10.15 a.m. First stop is to bless a brand new motor taxi.

12.30 p.m. Drinks before the Christmas meal as the crowd gathers.

1.30 p.m. A delightful Christmas meal is served – turkey and ham with all the normal veggies and trimmings followed by a fantastic Christmas pudding, Pavlova and ice cream.

It was a great day and we stayed the night in one of the cabins.

The gardens of the Columban Centre House proved to be an idyllic setting for the celebrations. Can you imagine the joy to be able to kick off your sandals and walk bare footed on grass? A great feeling.

Is my bike better than your scooter? Sharing and comparing presents has to be the same the whole world over.