Peruvian Clown Day

One of my new Sunday afternoon habits is to help myself to the Sunday paper while waiting for Alvaro's family. We do a lot of waiting on Sundays. Waiting for lunch. Waiting for company. Waiting for dessert. Waiting for everyone to wake up from their Sunday nap. Waiting for real time to collide with "Peruvian time". I do a lot of waiting, so I read the paper.

Since I've been here through a full calendar year, I have noticed that Peru has an unusual number of special days. It seems to me that most every food, drink, age group, occupation and cultural event has a special "day" when it's celebrated. Here's a short list from my memory:

- Women's Day
- Children's Day
- Grandparent's Day
- Friendship Day
- Rotisserie Chicken Day
- Pisco Day
- Pisco Sour Day
- Potato Day (which happens to be today)
- Teacher's Day
- Psychologist's Day
- Nurse's Day
- Limean Song Day (which coincides with Halloween, causing tension and mixed alliances)

These days aren't simply notes on a calendar, they are advertised, celebrated and showered with gifts. Everyone and everything has a day. On Sunday, the front page of El Comercio showed that a new group wants their day. A peaceful protest full of 500 colorfully dressed clowns marched through Central Lima on their way to Congress requesting that May 25th be declared "Peruvian Clown Day" to celebrate "all of the happiness that Peruvian clowns bring to children."

As of Sunday, there's no word if May 25th has been officially declared "Peruvian Clown Day". I guess I'll have to wait until 2013 to find out.