Christmas Eve started with a big turkey dinner at the hostel. There were about 10 of us, from the United States, Switzerland, Germany, Brasil, Australia and Peru. Arturo has 'discovered' that Brasilians call turkey peru (this is pavo in Spanish) because the turkey originated in Peru. I don't know if I believe this claim so I looked online and didn't find anything. Arturo has yet to provide me with a credible (or any) source to prove this. However, it is true that Brasilians called turkey Peru and I will leave it at that.After dinner at the hostel, we went to Arturo's uncle's house for more of the same. His parents, brother, uncle and aunt and cousins all joined together to celebrate the holiday and, as promised, at midnight there were fireworks, cheering, champagne and a lot of kissing all around. Then, at
midnight (!!!) dinner was served. After we ate, the kids were woken up, and presents were handed out. At about 3:30 a.m., his parents drove us back to our apartment where we promptly passed out.One part about this tradition that I really like is that you don't have to buy presents for everyone. You exchange presents with your immediate family or the people you are closest to. No obligation to find some small, but nice, but inexpensive present for every single breathing being. We gave his mom new clothes, books to his dad, and a really cool laptop adapter set to his brother, as well as gifts to the young kids. His brother brought some food, and we brought three bottles of wine. Surprisingly, I also got some gifts myself. Arturo's brother gave me a fantastic t-shirt from Abercrombie and Finch, a pretty expensive brand here. He called Arturo a few weeks ago to ask my size. This made me feel very much a part of the family and means a lot to me. However, as nice as my t-shirt was, the star present was definitely Arturo's gift to me. He bought an incredible necklace/earring set from some designer he knows here in Lima. It's polished silver, and a piece of special wood from the jungle. It's beautiful and definitely the nicest piece of jewelry I own (perhaps it's time I stopped buying the $1 earrings on the street!).
More than just presents, though, what I enjoyed most was being part of Arturo's family. Everyone was friendly, gracious and warm. They even said that they were impressed with my Spanish (which, of course, made me like them immediately). It felt like any normal holiday, talking, laughing, catching up on old times, and getting to know new people (me!). I felt so comfortable. When I was telling Arturo how much I enjoyed the night and how sweet it was for his brother to buy me a gift, he said "of course, you're part of the family." (Is it too cheesy to write how great my boyfriend is?)
Christmas morning, December 25, we enjoyed a relaxed morning and delicious lunch (thanks to a big surprise and very appreciated food delivery from his brother and fiance in NJ). Then, Arturo went to the hostel and I went...drum roll, please...paragliding! An Australian guy, Pete, who has stayed in the hostel on and off for the past six months offered to take me (ok, he didn't exactly offer, I sort of asked - but he said yes!). Marco, who works at the hostel, went with me. I didn't feel nervous at all, even while Pete was connecting me to all the straps and tightening the helmet. Then, just before we took off, he started talking about how I shouldn't worry and it was safe. This, of course, made me a bit nervous. But, within two minutes we were floating in the air, sailing over the sea, the cliffs, the buildings of the city and it was incredible. I left the camera on the ground so all I 
needed to do was sit back, relax and enjoy. Many people feel queasy their first time. Luckily, this didn't happen with me and Pete told dirty jokes, old paragliding stories, and spun us up, down and around. It was beautiful and peaceful. Then, just as my stomach started to react, we cruised back to the ground and landed gently on the grass. I decided that instead of a car, we should buy two para gliders, but Arturo thinks that might be a difficult way to commute to work. I think we could make it work...
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