Souvenir Photo Studio, by Al Bourassa: Thursday December 31, 2015 NYE at Joe's Secret Garden

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Thursday December 31, 2015

It was kind of a mixed-up day. I had to run to Ucubamba for a birthday meal to go, prepared for me by the great cook Lotis. I am so fortunate to have such good friends.

Then I tried to go to Carolina Bookstore around 4pm with my Hearts Of Gold gift certificate from the Gala, only to find the place shuttered tight. Hmm, now I have to kill some time, so I stop for gas but still get to Joe's 45 minutes early... However I had to skirt a small parade going down 3 de Noviembre so I quickly got my camera and tried to follow it for a bit but they were in travel mode so I couldn't get many shots.

Coming back I saw a familiar figure walking the very recognizable scruffy form of Spike, so I hollered out and ended up spending 1/2 hour catching up on news with my buddy Teresa.

When I arrived at Joe's and reported into the kitchen I saw that Joseph was visibly upset. Apparently Joe, around 5pm, slipped on the floor near the back of the kitchen an put his arm through one of the glass panes on the door. He had been taken to hospital and did return around 6:30 with 48 stitches to his credit and a well-wrapped arm. Trooper that he is, Joe would not allow me to take a photo to get the sympathy vote but helped as best he could one-armed to get the meal out.

There was almost 100 people at Joe's including a French-Canadian bishop who was sitting behind me. Since he could speak 4 languages, I had to mind my p's and q's.

This being New Year's Eve there were several of Joe's traditions to observe, such as the celebrating of midnight on Greenwich Mean Time, or 7pm our time, and consume 12 grapes, one for each gong of Big Ben.

Finally the Beef Wellinton was served before the scrumptious strawberry pie (where we managed to have 2 helpings).

Then David of Dance Mob Cuenca and one apprentice did a practice outside that I could photograph unhindered and then the crowd came out to watch the real performance.

The two effigy dummies of Joe's were joined by a couple of others brought by guests. Joe and Joseph handed out paper and pencils so people could write down their problems from 2015. These pieces of paper are then stuffed into the dummies before they are set alight and everyone's troubles are burned away. Then another tradition is to jump the fire 3 times for good luck. I am not sure that everyone checked their flammability labels before attempting this feat.

I drove one of the ladies home on Toxic and quickly rushed home to get there by 10pm. I had understood (actually misunderstood) from my neighbour Nilo that he wanted us to jump in with them at 10pm and go to a celebration somewhere, but they weren't home... Oh well....

So I took Cristina and Christian and we went to the local celebration across the Monay bridge. There was a 4-woman group on stage who turned out to be from Colombia and they were very impressive with their vocals and their choreography.

This was followed by a couple of groups, led by men in drag, and I was amazed at their vocals until I realized that they were lip-synching... Oh well, it was a cute performance. Then we went home before midnight, had our one and only rum and coke (only to get a headache) and watched the fireworks and effigy burnings right down our street. Thankfully most of the festivities and noise were pretty well finished by 1am, although we did find a group sleeping between the walking paths at 6am...

I hope you enjoy the photos. That was the day's excitement, Cheers, Al