Outside the center a crowd of almost 100 anxious kids waited hardly able to contain themselves from knocking the door down. The holes in the tin door where filled with peering eyes and the windows where pressed with little dirty faces trying to catch the first glimpse of what was to come.
We had decorated the dusty room with spirals of colorful paper, tiers of popcorn cones, cheese curls and goodie bags. The clown was ready and at 4:15 the doors burst open everyone pushing for the best seat in the house...but of course not before giving Prof lili a big wet kiss on the cheek (which of course I loved!).
The room filled with music and the clown began his routine. Fire, doves, disappearing acts, knives, puppets, dances and much, much more filled the next 2 hours. The kids screamed, giggled, yelped with glee and ohhh´d and awed with amazement. It was wonderful to see them filled with such glee! The pictures don´t do the clowns performance justice so you will have to take may word that he was pretty damn good. Anyone who can put a live dove in a small canister, stick 12 knives into it and then remove the bird fully in tact gets BIG kudos in my book.
After the magic show he proceeded to set up an entire puppet stage and provided skits and dances with various puppets...everything from small skeletons to shriek. The kids LOVED it and the laughter and applause grew louder with each performance.
The puppet show was proceeded by a rather chaotic dance, which without the assistance of myself and various other volunteers would have turned into a slam dancing mosh pit with the 3 year olds unfortunately at the bottom of the pile...BUT... with persistence we were able to keep it under wraps and maintain a good experience for all. By the end of the performance two volunteers had sleeping children in their arms, exhausted from the excitement.
When the clown wrapped up and disappeared without a trace the festivities did not stop there...to my surprise the kids had planned a whole event for me. They burst into a show filled with improv, songs, dances and a final presentation of a bound book of letters and cards that they had made. It brought me to tears ...of course the entire celebration was in Spanish and with my mere 4 weeks of study there was much that went over my head...but I got the feelings.
There was one incident that I have to share...during the performance the boom box that we had brought did not play the CD´s that they needed to perform their dances to. In order to make it happen 2 kids ran down the hill and proceeded to carry back an entire stereo system with speakers, turntable and more...all for my goodbye dance...I was amazed when I found out. I was oblivious to this whole trauma because I was being entertained by my two 15 year old improv performers...I was amazed by their talent...no wonder they were such trouble makers during my days of volunteering...they were actors! Once they got the stereo set up (after again running down the hill to get an adaptor to plug everything into the one plug in the room) they proceeded with the rehearsed dances.
After the performances Carlie, Ali and I handed out 100 goodie bags, said our tearful goodbyes and were whisked away in a taxi home to the Family House...exhausted and satisfied with the days events...I will miss those kids...I must see them again...or do something for the center that will ensure its continued existence...at this point I am not sure what that is, but I am determined to figure it out. Cusco and the center have left an indelible mark on my heart that I know will last a lifetime.
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