New Year's Eve in Humahuaca, a small town in northern Argentina. Nati and I followed the music of a marching band to an obscure part of town. We found a small brass band playing outside on a corner. We're grooving and tapping our feet for about 15 minutes when all of a sudden about ten boys in bright costumes burst out of a doorway, dancing and jumping in the streets. The parade starts off. Costumes in front, band, line of girls with a line of boys just behind. A new year's song; something something "todo alegre". Nati and I follow the parade up and down the streets of Humahuaca. We meet two locals who dance with us and lead us to the front of the parade. Running running running. At the end of the parade, the two guys invite us up to their house. As we enter, their grandmother is spraying sparkling cider (instead of champagne) all over the balcony and us. We sit down at their table with grandpa, grandma, brothers, cousins, grandchild, and other various family members. Two plates of food are set in front of us. On insistence, Nati and I take down our second dinner for the night. The whole family treats us like long lost cousins! Grandpa declares that he is so happy to be able to be our surrogate family while our parents are so far away. "Nunca se olvide Humahuaca!"
He's right, I won't ever forget New Year's 2007 in Humahuaca.
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