Feliz Año Nuevo

First and foremost- Happy New Year, or as they say in Spanish- Feliz Año Nuevo! I worked in the bar last night as we had a masquerade party. In Peru, it's good luck to wear yellow on New Years so we decorated our bar in tacky yellow decorations and watched as the superstitious Peruvians flowed into our bar in hideous colored clothing. I wore shorts and a purple, blue and black snazzy top that I brought with me from the states. I wore a yellow masquerade mask so as to look like I was participating in the customs but I am not superstitious at all. I did let a drunk Peruvian put some kind of wood chips (or maybe it was potpourri) in my pockets which is supposed to give me lots of money in the year to come. I let her do it because I didn't feel like explaining that I didn't think my life would be any better if I was richer and that money can't buy happiness so I just went with it! We handed out free strawberry daiquiris (concocted by yours truly) and champagne upon entry. I was surprised with how small the attendance was considering the success of past parties but I suppose native Peruvians find places to celebrate the new year other than a backpacker's hostel. The only outsiders were friends of staff with very few new faces. At midnight we all went into the garden where we watched fireworks light up the sky for about 10 minutes. We then walked over to the park across the street to watch more fireworks over the ocean. It's strange to see fireworks on a holiday other than the 4th of July and even stranger to celebrate New Years in warm weather! No one has to worry about coat checks or whether their feet will be cold. Earlier in the day Robbie and I went to Surco to buy our yellow decorations, plastic cups, and strawberries. We had lunch for 7 Soles which included an appetizer and a main dish for each of us meaning our lunch cost about $2.64 per person! We returned to the hostel, took a cat nap, and decorated the bar. After my nap I played doubles in ping pong with 3 other guys, one of whom is 6 ft 7 and blew them away with my killer serve. I went to bed surprisingly early, slept all afternoon, and woke up without a hangover- mostly because I made sure to chug a lot of water before going to sleep. It's been low key at the hostel today as i'm pretty sure mostly everyone had a crazy night/morning. I'm working at 8:30 and confident it won't get too busy in the bar. I hope everyone reading this had a magnificent welcoming of the new year and is looking forward to what 2012 will bring (hopefully not the end of the world)!