It's Christmas time and we've been celebrating! Christmas is the time for PARTYING in Colombia. Between our neighbor's garish Christmas lights that turn our living room into a discoteca, or the fireworks until the wee hours of the morning, if you don't embrace it, it would be easy to turn into a grinch during this time of year in Colombia.
Velitas is one of my favorite Colombian holidays. It translates to "Day of the little candles" and takes place on the eve of the Immaculate Conception which is a public holiday in Colombia (not sure why we should celebrate...poor Mary missed out on all the fun of baby making...but I digress...). It is a night when everyone is on the street lighting candles and luminaries in the Virgin Mary's honor. There is a clear spirit of joy and excitement in the air. Of course, it is also the favorite holiday of all pyromaniacs in the world (Aaron being one of them). As we sat on a street corner sipping wine from paper cups, we set fire to candles, lanterns, and styrofoam nativity scenes in true pyro, celebratory fashion.
That same night, our friend hosted a white elephant party. However, there was a twist: every present had to be purchased off the street from inside of a vehicle. In Colombia, there are people darting in between cars and motorbikes at every intersection selling anything you could imagine from brooms to avocados to fly zappers to hats. It was a blast! We all ended up with some very unexpected gifts.
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| Diego with his America Devils (local soccer team) hat. |
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| Bernie chose my gift: a Vietnamese hat! |
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| Aaron got a nativity lantern and Katie chose a headlamp! |
Last weekend the festivities continued when I hosted my annual cookie exchange! We had over 10 different kinds of cookies to try! There were awards for most creative, most delicious, most festive, and best overall. It was a fantastic time!
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| Melting snowmen sugar cookies won the most festive award! |
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| The peanut butter blossoms won best overall! |
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| My Minnesota gingerbread cookies...it was the only cookie cutter I brought from home! |
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| The lamp from A Christmas Story cookies won most creative! |
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| I shared some of the cookies I got from the exchange with our maid. She gave us some delicious traditional Colombian Christmas sweets. Arroz con leche is in the mug and I have to say, the coconut in it rivals the scandinavian rice pudding of my youth. |
Winter break is now upon us, and we are thrilled! We are calling Vanna Blanca our home for the next 3 weeks and heading out on an epic Colombian road trip including relaxing in hot springs in Parque de Los Nevados, climbing in the Chicamocha canyon, star gazing in the Tatacoa desert, and exploring ancient ruins in San Augustin.
Warm holiday wishes from South America!
