New Year's Eve

On New Year's Eve we celebrated with local traditions.  We took a chiva ride.  A chiva is an open two-story bus (sit on the bottom and stand on the top).  (See picture 1.)  There's also a band that plays as we drive through town.  We throw candy from the chiva to people on the street.  Landon threw candy into the empty beds of trucks so that people would find candy the next day.  Mary and her friends played a game where you got different points for hitting (I mean throwing candy to) different types of people.  Hitting a policeman gave you the most points!  (Picture 2 is of Stan and Landon throwing candy from the top of the chiva.)

Afterwards, our mission got together for a meal.  Then we burned the "old man" which is a dummy filled with sawdust.  (See picture 3.)  This act symbolically burns up the regrets of the old year and ushers in the hopes of the new one.  For us, it is just fun.  After the old man finally burned up, we shot off firecrackers.