Halloweeeeeen?

The peruvians seemed to have adopted Halloween, but something has been lost in translation.

I was walking around Av. Larco in Miraflores, a busy, commercial part of Lima. Lots of families were out, with most kids under the age of 7 or so in costume. All of the costumes were commercial, none homemade. Most of the kids who were in costume were actually under the age of 2. The kids would go into shops (like shoe shops, clothing shops) and ask for candy. Except that instead of "trick or treeeat" they said "halloweeeeen" in the same plaintive voice. rather amusing, actually.

Later on we went to a combination birthday/ Halloween party at Gringo House. Which comically enough our friends Ximena and Mariana assumed was our apartment but is actually the apartment run by Prisma where most of Bob's US employees seem to live in for some period of time.

The gringos tended towards witty costumes and the peruvians towards traditional characters. Perhaps this is a reflection of Hollywood Halloweens, where nurses, pirates, and fairies are the norm over actual American grown-up Halloween, which trends towards witty. There were a variety of peruvian-themed costumes from the gringos. I was a cobradora (the guy on the bus who collects fares). Peruvians didn't get it till I repeated their monotone sayings "Pasajes, pasajes . . . baja, baja" which are immediately recognizable to all who have taken carros here. I found the company of two other cobradoras at the party, as well. Rathika was Doña Pepa, a character from a popular sweet here.

It was a good night, all in all, though I heard there was a rather American frat-style cleanup to be done the next day.