The Peña

Nov 5, 2011

Some friends from Church put out a notice to everyone on the email list that they were planning a date night at a Peruvian buffet that included a peña, a floor show of typical Peruvian dances.  We were happy to join them.

The upscale shopping mall of Larcomar.  A park on top...

and 3 levels of shops underneath.

Plus a view of the coast.

The majority of the stores are foreign.  I bought shoes at the Florsheim store.  It's hard to remember that you are in a foreign country when you have Chili's, TGIF, Northface, Timberland, Radio Shack, Cookie Factory, Dunkin Donuts, KFC, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Hush Puppies, Nicole Lee, etc.

The arcade had games I'd never seen...but that is not saying much.

Julie and I think we will go back for a night of bowling.

The restaurant we went to was called "Lady Jane"

The buffet was all typical Peruvian foods so we got to eat great things including ceviche, lomo saltado, lucuma, chicha morada, arroz con leche and many others.  They served food for 2 1/2 hours, even after the peña was over.

The region and history of each dance was explained but my memory isn't good enough to repeat much of it.  Obviously, this dance showed the indigenous roots of Peru. 

Several of the dances reflected events of everyday life.  This dance was a campesino flirting with a girl carrying a jug of water on her head.

This was a cute "flirting" dance that turned in to a jealousy match.

There is a paper hankerchief pinned on to the rear-end of each dancer.  They also each have a candle.  The "pursuer" tries to light the kerchief on fire while the "pursued" dances and sways trying to avoid getting their kerchief lit.

These guys were from the area that raised llama for the wool. The dance they did developed over centuries, apparently by bored llama shearers. They danced with scissors in on hand and did all kinds of acrobatics, each taunting the others to out do their moves. It was a cross between Russian Cossacks and breakdancing.

A very fun evening!