Año Nuevo en Cusco

You know that feeling when you wake up in the morning, knowing that your day is going to hold an experience of a lifetime? That was exactly the feeling I had waking up on New Year's Eve. Before I had time to even think about breakfast, Alex was up and dressed, stressing the fact that we needed to go buy fireworks. After witnessing the incredible display of fireworks on Christmas, he was determined to be a part of the mayhem on New Years. With the prize in mind, we scurried off through masses of people to Molino, the black market, we were sure to buy an array of fireworks. The streets were packed with vendors selling any and every yellow object they could come up with. We quickly learned yellow is the color of "buena suerte" or good luck, therefore the representing color of New Year’s. Everywhere we looked we saw yellow underwear, yellow bras, yellow feather boas, yellow plastic "Happy 2003"glasses (close enough), yellow confetti and most prominently, yellow flowers. We weaseled our way through merchant tents, Alex surveying each firework stand for the perfect collection of explosives and me scoping out fullest bouquet of flowers for Jully and the cheapest bottle of celebratory champagne. Content with our purchases, we swam home through the yellow-laced streets even more excited for our Peruvian Año Nuevo celebration. 

Alex and Angelica 

New Year's glasses = success

I was able to convince one merchant to sell me her leftover sparkly gold and silver pipe cleaners from Christmas and Alex and I headed off to the orphanage for a fun afternoon of New Year's crafting with the girls.  We arrive to an uncommonly quiet orphanage, with not a child in sight. I asked Janet, the director, if it was not a good day for us to come. She explained the girls were “napping” because they had a party to attend at church that began at midnight and they probably weren’t going to get home until around six in the morning. It was at this moment that Alex and I realized we were in for a treat. If a group of children were going to be partying at a church until six a.m., what in the world was our night going to consist of? Janet said it wasn’t a bad time to come because she didn’t think the girls were sleeping anyways. As I climbed the stairs to the bedroom I heard their muffled giggles and knew I’d made the right decision to spend New Year’s Eve afternoon with my favorite Peruvian kids.

Delicious dinner

Alex and I helped them make classic sparkly New Year’s pipe cleaner glasses. They got a kick out of them and couldn’t wait to wear them at their party later in the night but after an hour of crafting and trying on each others glasses, they scurried back down to their room insistent on getting in a nap before the big night began.  Alex and I followed suit and returned home to nap before going out to dinner and meeting up with friends for the night.

La Plaza de Armas close to midnight 

During our search for a suitable restaurant, we stumbled upon a small courtyard with Justine’s Pizza and Wine tucked quietly in the corner. After enjoying what we both swear to be the best pizza we’ve ever had and a bottle of delicious Chilean wine, we paid the $27 bill (we are SO spoiled) and headed off to a local hostel to meet our friends.

King Alex at the hostel - notice all
the yellow! 

The hostel was completely crazy. A large television was displaying countdowns to midnight across the world, so every hour a new group of people would go absolutely bonkers welcoming the New Year in their part of the globe. Around eleven thirty we decided to make our way to La Plaza de Armas, the central gathering area for the city of Cusco to celebrate. You could hear the premature fireworks and booming music from blocks away, hinting at the chaos unfolding in the center. But as we rounded the corner to the plaza, I finally understood what Jully meant when she said that everyone in Cusco went to the center for midnight. With the exception of firework-launching zones, the plaza was packed to the brim with people. Groups of rowdy college kids were jumping wildly to the live music, excited little kids were dashing around with sparklers, packs of drunken partiers were trying to sing along with the band and men were dashing in and out of firework circles, lighting various explosives. It was sheer pandemonium.

Alex didn’t waist a second in lighting his fireworks. I warned him not to blow his hand off as he ran off to one of the firework zones and he returned with an ear-to-ear grin, saying he gave the firework to a little boy standing next to him. Apparently, Alex proceeded to light the firework, and the boy, with an expression of sheer excitement, launched the firecrackers straight into the air. Everyone in the near vicinity scattered like rats as the boy calmly backed away, fireworks exploding at his feet and a perma-grin glued on his face. As the minutes ticked down to midnight, the craziness of the plaza cranked up. When the clock struck twelve the entire plaza erupted in an ocean of cheers, screaming and excessive firework lighting. I’m not sure how or when it happened, but at some point everyone standing in the surrounding streets started jogging clockwise around the center, dancing, singing, laughing and screaming as they went. It didn’t take long for more people to join the procession and in a matter of minutes there was a river of jovial partiers flowing through the plaza. Of course Alex and I couldn’t just stand by and watch this event unfold. We jumped right in, skipping along with the crowd. It was incredibly fun and definitely a highlight of the New Year’s celebration, but when we emerged from rapids of people, I noticed that in the hustle and bustle of the excitement, my wallet had been taken. While it was a bit of a bummer for me, I bet it was an even bigger bummer for the person who took it, when they realized I didn’t have much to offer. After Alex realized he was given a fake ten soles bill, we decided to cut our losses and head back to the hostel to reunite with our friends, who we inevitably lost in the crowd.

We returned home around four in the morning, fully satisfied about the manner in which we welcomed in 2013.

New Year's breakfast at Jacks - yum! 

In keeping with the welcoming of the New Year, we woke up the next day and enjoyed a heavenly breakfast at Jack’s Café, arguably the best breakfast spot in town. With full, happy stomachs Alex and I reminisced about our New Year’s; we enjoyed great food, friendly company, an amazing midnight celebration, parading around the plaza, even more crazy fireworks and all the while dwelling in the incredible city of Cusco, Peru.

Yes, New Year’s 2013 is sure to never be forgotten.