Last friday, it was Michael's sister Angie's birthday, so we headed over to hid dad's house, where the four children including some grandchildren still live. We arrived just in time to be served some anticuchos and potatoes just off the bbq - cow/ox heart in chili/soy sauce marinade grilled on small skewers.
Picture courtesy of http://images.rpp.com.pe/portada/
Then the Mariachis arrived. They had been hired for the birthday girl by her husband, who was on military assignment in Argentina. I regretted not having brought my camera, because they were fantastic in green, yellow and black, I suppose slightly improved cowboy "uniforms", playing trumpets, a pregnant-looking guitar and a smaller string instrument. They stayed for about 45 minutes, emploring everyone to have a turn on the dancefloor with Angie, singing everything from romantic oldfashioned salsas to a speeded up version of Juanes' La Camisa Negra. Then they marched off again, and our ears let out sighs of relief - the accoustics of the living room with low concrete ceiling was not quite suited for two loud trumpets! The rest of the evening was spent making merry and conversing with lots of interesting people, drinking beer and dancing salsa. It is common custom here to drink the fridge dry, then collect all the bottles and head off to the closest corner shop to get new beer. This is repeated for as long as anyone has beer and/or can stand up. However, since we had planned to get up early, we left around 2 am, accompanied by Cesar, one of Angie's cousins. He's a chef, and now we have decided to cook dinner together some time after we get back from France, mmmm!
