Chocolatada for 500 children!

Yesterday at Los Gorriones was the day of the chocolatada - when the home invites children from the neighbourhood to join them for fun, chocolate, paneton, and presents. It is something of a tradition and Gil doesn´t even have to advertise it - they just seem to know! Gil collects donations and presents for this during the year ... and some of our contributions helped towards this too.

When I arrived at 2 o´clock, there were already about 50 children outside the gates, and I was pretty much mobbed trying to get in! By 4 o´clock when the gates was opened there were hundreds of children eagerly waiting to get inside. All the tables and chairs were cleared from the patio and the Los Gorriones children sat around the edge, and then the rest of the children were let in slowly. There was a whole routine - get hand stamped, then get shown where to sit ... otherwise there would have been Peruvian chaos!!

Then the fun started, with a clown warming up the crowd with dancing and games. And hundreds of cups of chocolate were poured and paneton distributed. At the end, the childrern queued to receive a present - probably the only one they´ll get this Christmas! There must have been 500 happy children - quite a sight!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and all the best for a great 2009! It would be lovely to hear from you! Hazel x