Kidding Around

By Alli Sinclair

When I lived in Cuzco, I taught English to street kids and quite often they asked me to join in their games. To be honest, I sucked at most of them, but the gorgeous laughter coming from kids who had such tough lives always warmed my heart. After that experience, whenever I had the opportunity to join in a game with kids, I jumped at the chance. Here’s a list of games I’ve played throughout South America:

Colombia – La Cachanga (Cotton Sandal)

Players form a close circle and kneel on one knee, the other knee is at right angles. While the person who guesses is on the outside of the circle, the players quickly pass the cotton sandal under their knee in a clockwise direction. The player on the outside tries to guess who has the shoe. While the game is going on, participants chant “Que corra la cachanga” (the sandal that runs). Game is over when the person on the outside guesses who has the sandal. It sounds simple, but when you get a bunch of kids well-practiced at this game, the sandal can literally, fly between the players.

Brazil - Luta de Galo (Fight of the Roosters)

This game requires a minimum of two. Players tuck a handkerchief in their belt and place their right arm across their chest while hopping around on their right foot. The left arm is used to grab the opponent’s handkerchief. If a player’s left foot touches the ground or the right arm moves away from the chest, the player is disqualified.

Brazil – Vivo ou morto (Dead or Alive)

A leader is chosen amongst the children and they stand in front of him or her, awaiting his instructions. When he yells “vivo!” the children stay standing, when he yells “morto!” they crouch down. If one of the participants gets it wrong, they’re out of the game. The fun part of this game is when the leader shouts the instructions really quickly and the kids get super confused. The last person to have followed all the instructions correctly gets to be leader in the next round.

Chile – Quien es? (Who is it?)

If the idea of 20 or more teenagers congregating in one noisy place frightens you, don’t play this game! If you do decide to brave the gaggle of hormonal teenagers, it’s well and truly worth the effort.

One player is chosen as the leader and is the head of the line. The remaining players stand in an orderly line. The leader asks the question, “Have you seen my friend?” and the players answer with, “No, Sir/Madam.” The leader than asks, “Do you know who my friend is?”, the group answers with, “Yes, Sir/Madam.”

The leader takes nine steps forward and doesn’t look back at the other players. The other players quietly change positions and the (new) first person remains quiet while the other players shout out, “Who is it?” The leader asks three questions before they guess. Typical questions are, “Boy or girl?”, “Dark hair or fair?”, etc. The leader then guesses who’s standing behind him or her. If the leader wins they can stay in that role or if they lose, someone else is nominated for this position.

Los encantandos (The Enchanted)

This game is similar to “freeze” or “tag”. One person is chosen as the enchanted one and if they touch a person, that person has to stay frozen until one of the unfrozen players touches them. There is usually a safe place where the enchanted person can’t enter, and if a player makes it to the safe spot, they can form a chain with other players to release frozen people.

And just for fun, I’m adding my all-time favorite game for kids—one that is played in many countries around the world. I only discovered this after I became a mum and this game is a firm favorite in our house (especially when little friends are over):

Dead Fish

A fisherman is chosen from the group of kids and the players lie on the ground, not moving. The fisherman moves between the fish and if he/she spies a moving fish, that fish is moved over to his “basket”. The game keeps going until there is only one fish left. Needless to say, the idea of a group of kids lying on the ground and being still and quiet is a caregiver’s dream!

What I’ve discovered since playing games with kids is it doesn’t matter where you come from or language you speak, as long as you join in and embrace the spirit of the game, you’ll always be welcome. Games breakdown barriers, create friendships, and encourage the sharing of moments that can stay in our memories forever.

How about you? Have you ever joined in a kid’s game on your travels and ended up with an experience you’ll never forget?

Carlos Vives - Doing It His Way

Photo by Brent

Music has always played an important part in my life. When I hear certain tunes, I’m transported to a time and place, just like it was yesterday. I have soundtracks for different occasions—Shakira for housework, tango for writing my current novel, and The Wiggles when I need the kids to calm down (hey, at least it’s better than Barney!). For the past 10 years, my summer soundtrack has been Carlos Vives, and it doesn’t look like that’s changing anytime soon. I do find it ironic that Carlos’s music represents summer to me, given that I first heard his songs in a nightclub in La Paz in the middle of a cold and stark Bolivian winter. But I’ve never been one for logic. 

Carlos Vives was born in Santa Marta, Colombia, in 1961. When his family moved to Bogota 12 years later, Carlos played in bars and cafes around the city to help the family make ends meet. In 1982, Carlos debuted in a telenovela (television soapie), and his acting career took off. His popularity as an actor grew, and in 1986, he released his first album, Por Fuera y Por Dentro (Outside and Inside). The music consisted of ballads and, unfortunately, was a major flop.

Undeterred, Carlos released a second album of ballads in 1987 (No Podrás Escapar de Mí - You Can’t Escape Me). This time Carlos’s music reached #30 on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks, but the success wasn’t reflected in sales. Perhaps thinking three’s the charm, Carlos released a third album of ballads. Some of his songs were featured in telenovelas, but the album didn’t create any fireworks.

Carlos accepted an acting job in Puerto Rico in 1989, and took a break from his music career. Four years later, in 1991, he returned to Colombia and was cast in a series based on the life of composer Rafael Escalona. Escalona composed Vallenato music, traditional folk tunes that hail from the Caribbean region of Colombia.

As a side note, Vallenato was originally considered low-class music. It was a way for farmers to entertain themselves as they traveled from town to town trying to sell their cattle. As a result of their traveling, these farmers became unofficial messengers, informing people of news of their loved ones in far-off locales. The popularity of Vallenato slowly grew, and was helped along by Don Clemente Quintero, a man of high standing in the region. He played the music at his parties at the Valledupar Social Club, and the contagious rhythm was finally accepted by the upper class. 

Vallenato features three main types of instruments--the caja vallenata (a small drum played with bare hands), the guacharaca (a wooden stick with ribs that is played with a fork), and an accordion (an instrument of German origin that has three reeds per note). 

Vallenato impacted Carlos’s career in a big way. The telenovela was a hit, as were the songs Carlos sang for the series. He released two albums from this work, Escalona: Un Canto a la Vida (The Song of a Life) and Escalona: Vol. 2. A whole new world had opened up for Carlos, and he started to fuse Vallenato with rock, pop, and other ethnic rhythms from the Caribbean. In 1993, Carlos released an album of original work, Clásicos de la Provincia (Classics of the Province). While this work caused uproar amongst the traditionalists, Carlos’s music spread quickly and soon all of Latin America was singing along. 

The album won the Billboard Latin Music Award for Best Album, and was followed up by La Tierra del Olvido (The Forgotten Land), ensuring his continued success. Finally, the world was paying attention to Carlos Vives’s music and this was reflected in the ongoing sales of his albums. Since then, he’s continued to collect accolades, including his first Grammy Award for Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album in 2001 for Déjame Entrar (Let Me Enter).

Carlos now spends his time with his family between his homeland, Colombia, and Miami, USA. He continues to produce his unique fusion of traditional Colombian music with rock, pop, and Caribbean beats and, in my opinion, doesn’t tour anywhere near as much as I would like (ie, Australia!).

Often on gray days, I’ll put on a Carlos Vives track and before I know it, I’m dancing around the house in my own little world of sunshine. His music transports me to white, sandy beaches, palm trees, and clear, warm waters. Ah…

And of course, here’s some music to get you inspired to book a beach holiday!

Feliz Navidad

I spent my first Christmas away from Australia in South America. I had figured it wouldn’t be dissimilar from the Land of the Long Weekend. After all, South America was in the same hemisphere, and experiencing 40 degrees C on Christmas Day wasn’t unheard of at home either. Catholicism was common in Australia, as in South America, so really, how different could things be? You’ve got it—our traditions were poles apart. I was living in Peru at the time and had the pleasure of celebrating with friends from various parts of the globe, including many South American countries. We decided to group together our Christmas traditions and make it one big cultural mash-up. And here’s what I learnt:

Colombia: The nativity scene is made of clay figures, known as pesebres. The Mary and Joseph figurines wear traditional Colombian attire, such as a poncho, fedora hat and shawl. El Dia de las Velitas (Day of the Candles) is held on the seventh of December and that’s when Advent prayers start. On 16^th December is the start of La Novena de Aguinaldos, a prayer that is said over nine successive days up until Christmas Eve. These prayers tell what happened during the nine month pregnancy of Mary and Joseph. This Colombian tradition dates back to the 1700’s and little has changed since the first prayer was said.

Peru: Nativity scenes are called retablos. Historically, priests carried small altars from house to house with a nativity scene similar to the one in Colombia. Nowadays priests use portable boxes instead (I guess their muscles got tired). Dances and plays are put on throughout the festive season and traditional Peruvian food is served during these celebrations. As an act of good will, churches and generous people make choclotadas (cups of hot chocolate) and give gifts to those to the less fortunate.

Venezuela: On December 16, families display their pesebres. (They’re called the same in Colombia.) At dawn, church bells chime and firecrackers explode to wake up all the worshippers on Christmas Eve. On the 5^th of January, children leave out hay and water for the camels of the Magi (the wise men) and in the morning they find their offerings are replaced by gifts. If the children wake up and have a black smudge on their cheek, they believe that Balthazar, King of the Ethiopians, kissed them while they were asleep.

Ecuador: Children write letters to baby Jesus and place their shoes on their windowsill on Christmas Eve. The next morning, the children usually awake to find noise-making toys in their footwear. Firecrackers, brass bands, and dancing in the streets are popular and most families attend Midnight Mass.

Brazil: Christmas is influenced by the Jesuit monks. But, over the years, Brazil has adapted many North American traditions, which means the old traditions are falling by the wayside.

In South America, the commercialism of Christmas is no way near the frantic extent it is in other parts of the world, and to be honest, it was a welcome relief. The focus was on family, friends and celebrating beliefs, which at times, are a combination of modern-day religion and the traditions of their ancestors. Santa and presents is not the be all and end all. For me, I found the true spirit of Christmas in South America.

The mother of my “adopted” family in Peru did a great deal of volunteer work for the children’s hospital and a psychiatric home for children in Lima. On Christmas morning, she invited me to join her in her own Christmas Day tradition—handing out presents to children at the hospital and psychiatric home who either had no family or were so poor their family couldn’t afford gifts. Armed with sweets and books we set off. I had no idea this particular morning would be the one that changed my whole view of Christmas. Previously I had thought it was one commercial rip-off. But in that moment, when I was surrounded by children who just wanted a hug and were happy to see someone show them some love, I finally got what it was all about.

How about you? Through learning about another culture have you changed the way you view a familiar tradition?