Dancing, speeches, food and fun

The title of this post refers to the perfect ingredients to make a truly fantastic Bolivian party. Yesterday we were lucky enough to be invited to an awards ceremony and after party.

The award was being given by the municipal government in recognition of the amazing work done in the community by the Mallasa Mothers Club. The club of mostly single mothers banded together to improve the lives of their respective children by mutual support and dedication. In turn the mothers club was instrumental in the founding of the Centro Infantil Valle de la Luna, which as per our previous post, is an incredible day nursery for the community.

The day was filled with speeches, reporters and an actual medal. Joe played an extra special role as Papa Noel, handing out gifts to the children of the clubs founders and posing for family photographs (it was especially cute to see the kids rushing for hugs and to hear 'Gracias Papa Noel!' with real meaning).

We were treated to drinks, finger food and cake before being whisked away to a restaurant for a gigantic evening meal. The mountain of food was served in a particularly Bolivian way - around 2 hours after we arrived at the restaurant! After came speeches and dancing to traditional music. We thought we'd escaped without having to join in (typical embarrassed Brits) but as we tried to leave we were caught up in a big ten minute group number that saw us travel all around the room shuffling our feet and hold hands.

By the end of the night we were exhausted but so grateful to the community for inviting us to share their special event and for welcoming us with open arms!