Road trip to Arani

One friday night we went to a ko´ah (incense-burning, new years celebrating party) thrown by a group called redTinku. This group is kind of like a cross between Otesha (for whom jeff used to work) - in that they like teaching neighbourhood kids about composting - and the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty - in that they like organizing politically against the right wing prefect of Cochabamba. (Jeff is trying very hard to win their friendship...)

At this gathering, which featured live Quechua music and wild circle dancing, we forced our friendship on some really nice people who introduced us to proper coca leaf chewing etiquette - you must receive the pile of leaves with two hands - and proper chicha procedure - you drink the chicha from a hollow gourd (totuma) that you pass around the circle. If you forget to invite the person next to you, you have to down another gourdful. They also volunteered (insisted on) showing us the little town of Arani and its surroundings, southwest of Cochabamba.

So the next day we piled into Mickey´s taxicab (Mickey´s back is featured in one photo) and headed out of town. The country outside of Cochabamba is really beautiful. Everything is very green, with hills in the background, and dirt roads leading up to old, small mud brick houses. It´s also entirely populated by Jhenny´s extended family. One aunt served us lunch at her roadside sort of restaurant, one aunt showed us where they brew chicha (fermented maize drink) in giant vats at the back of their house, one aunt sold us some tasty bread, and one aunt, with the assistance of some young cousins, let us come into her tiny farm to hold the baby guinea pigs, one of whom left a nice gift on jeff´s hand. We also got to sample the tuna (cactus fruit) growing in the back yard, beside the grape vines and fig tree. (We think fresh fig tastes like a cross between tomato and cucumber and is significantly more tasty than dried fig.)