Oxborrows in the Andes

Fund raising - Peruvian style -

The Young Men in the ward are planning a trip to the coast to spend a day at the beach and needed to raise money so they planned a "parrillada" or barbecue. They sold tickets at 8 soles (U.S. $2.75) per person. We thought the tickets were interesting. In order to save money, they got some used pre-printed tickets that are available in a generic format. We found the wording interesting and they were a little embarassed when they realized what it said.

The barbecue ticket. The lady, "Thalia" is some singer. The caption next to the picture of the steak reads: "Enlightened by a powerful stereophonic equipment with current music and the bar will be supplied with delicious beer and cold sodas."

The event was held in front of the home of the 1st counselor in the bishopric. His wife Magdalena did most of the cooking. Notice the sound system on the right which they had on high volume so the whole neighborhood and all passersby would be attracted to stop and purchase a dinner.

Here is the view looking down the street. The wood on the street is for the grill. Juan and Marilyn are standing below.

The grill with meat cooking. Sister Huamán in the hat and green apron and her daughter Sariah on the left. The lady in the white hat was helping from the ward.

Two of the boys by the sign advertising the barbecue and the price, 8 soles.

Five of the young men. There are more but they could not be at the barbecue.

The metal basket in the middle of the picture is for putting out your garbage for collection. Since there are many stray dogs and cats on the streets, these baskets keep them from getting into the garbage. We wished we had them on our street as the garbage is often scattered by the dogs before the truck comes to pick up the variety of plastic bags that people put out, either late at night or early in the morning, since our truck comes around 7:00 a.m.

Moroni, the Huamán's son holding a bottle of Inca Kola, the most popular soft drink in Peru. It has sort of a mild lemon-lime flavor and contains caffeine.

Juan, Marilyn and I decided to sit inside to enjoy our barbecue with some Inca Kola. You can see that we got a lot of food for $2.75!

The bishop and his wife arrived as we were preparing to leave. Their house is not far down several streets from the Huamán's.

The cook behind the barbecue goodies, Sister Magdalena Huamán. Besides the meat and chicken, she served a chopped cabbage salad (in the red plastic tub), and cooked hominy, very popular here with cooked beef or chicken.

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This experience reminded us of another barbecue that we attended three months ago that was put on by the Young Single Adults (YSA, or in Spanish, JAS, Jóvenes Adultos Solteros) in the Stake to raise funds for a temple trip to Lima. We want to include it in our memories of Peru.

It was held in front of our Bishop's house, which faces a nice little park with a Catholic Church on the corner.

The church and a partial view of the park and plaza.

A nice view of the church and plaza in front. I counted 11 crosses on the church building, all on the roof.

This is the bishop's humble house on the corner above the church. Note the election campaign sign on the roof. And by the way, Waldo was the winning candidate but hasn't been able to take office yet because of some legal issues.

A closer look. The grill is on the left and the sign "Gran Parrillada" (Great Barbecue) on the right. The brown double door is the main entrance to the house.