Dia del Padre - Father's Day

Father’s Day wasn’t as big as Mother’s Day here, but it was still more of an event than in the UK. The shops didn’t make so much of it, but many schools did shows again and our church did another special service.

Sammy’s pre-school did a little show on Saturday morning, the day before Father’s Day. The smallest ones did a song about being builders, all dressed up in shirts and jeans with little tools. They are only about 18 months old so most of them just sat there staring at the audience of parents, but one or two managed actions! The other classes did various action songs and dances including one with them all dressed up as chicks, another with them dressed up as dads going to work, another did a traditional local dance, and another class all wore pyjamas.

Sammy’s class did a version of ‘Rock around the Clock’. They did very well considering they are all only 3 years old! Sammy seemed to enjoy it – he and his friend Diego had cardboard guitars to play which they were very happy about. All the children had made presents and cards for their dads.

Sammy had made a big table mat with his hand prints on. He had also made a lovely card with a picture of Daddy that he had drawn inside, plus the following questions (in Spanish) and answers (in English):
What’s your daddy called? Daddy.

What’s your daddy like? Happy and tall.

What does your daddy do? He has breakfast with yoghurt.

What do you want to say to your daddy on his special day? I like my school.

What will you give him? A present.

On Father’s Day itself we took a trip on the bus to a small town called Chinchero. There is a craft market there, a pretty church and an impressive hillside of Inca terraces and walls. It is higher than Cusco and you can see amazing views of snow capped mountains in the distance. We had hoped to find a café or restaurant for lunch but could only find food cooked on the streets which we tend to avoid on the whole. We did buy some tasty hot choclo (corn-on-the-cob) for lunch though and then went back to Cusco for our main meal which we ate at about 4pm.

In the evening our church did a special service starting with the normal worship time and then going on to various poems, songs and dances, some of which had some relevance to Father’s Day, others we weren’t too sure! They finished by presenting all the dads with a gift. Roland was given a pair or warm gloves which are just what’s needed once the sun has gone down here.