Guatemala

1/1/2012 - Yasmin and Paola's Birthday Party

We got three good hours of sleep, but then at 8:30 a.m., the music started up again. We laid there in denial, trying to get a few more winks of sleep. The kids were making noise outside in the hallway, and were knocking on our door. At 10:30 we got ourselves out of bed, made ourselves look mildly presentable, and emerged from our room at around 11.

We helped to clean up everything from last night - from leftover food to spent fireworks. We noticed that the bottle of XL Light Rum was now empty. We were glad that we hadn't stayed to help polish it off. Eddy and Josue came into our room and played with the netbook. Yoselin and Aracely played with Humberto's computer, which was still set up in the guest house. Paulina made us coffee and we partook of the caffeine gratefully. Ever the professional, we learned that Humberto had gone to work at 7:30 this morning. And we thought we had had a rough morning!

Aracely, Yoselin, Eddy, Paola, Josue, Neli, Junior, Andrik, and the two kids who had spent the night (Dereck and Jose) were all milling around. Aracely was asking if we have more surprises. We thought this was a good time to hand out some candy that we had brought, so that everybody could have some.

Paulina asked us if we would like some breakfast, and we agreed to a single scrambled egg with salsa, refried beans, and cheese. It really hit the spot. Domingo, Ange3lica, Dereck and Jose joined the kids in having some leftovers from last night. Everyopne was quiet and in slow motion. While we were eating, a couple of Humberto's brothers snuck into the yard and lit off firecrackers to try to scare the dad. Everyone jumped.

Yasmin and Vanesa finally woke up. Today was Yasmin's 11th birthday! We wished her a happy birthday. Paola's birthday was the upcoming week as well, so the family had planned a party for both girls this afternoon. We didn't know what it would entail but we knew that there would be a piñata at around 3 o'clock.

The kids played the Angry Birds game in our room, while others played pinball on the netbook. At one point eight kids were gathered around my little computer. Paola and Alex were now on Humberto's computer in the hallway.

The kids really wanted us to take them to the lake today. Junior was really advocating it, as he hadn't gone with us on any of our three previous outings to the lake. Ordinarily, we would take them. But with the party planned for this afternoon, we knew that there wasn't enough time to schedule a lake trip and the obligatory showers that would follow. However, we didn't know if the kids knew about the party, so we didn't want to use it as the excuse and possibly spoil the surprise. The kids tried to make us believe that when had said "we'll see" in regards to takikng them, that hey had interpreted it as "si", meaning yes. Nice try, kids, but we weren't going to fall for it.

They started chanting "Vamos al lago!" in unison in an attempt to break us. "Let's go to the lake!" We kept expecting to be called outside to a party at any moment. 3 o'clock came and went, and Humberto wasn't even home from work yet. We realized that their 3 o'clock estimate was just a ballpark figure. Paulina told us she had to go out and get the cake, and left us with a greoup of kids who still desperately wanted us to take them to the lake.

In preparation for the party, I took a shower. Then while Craig was in the shower (at around 4 o'clock), Carlos, Vilma, and Elizabeth showed up. Vilma, who enjoys baking, had brought a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Craig got out of the shower and got dressed and joined me in welcoming the guests. Another family arrived as well, with a toddler boy named Chino and his even younger sister Diana, who was in beautiful traditional dress.

Paulina arrived home with the birthday cake, and Humberto arrived home with a large piñata in the shape of a blue bunny. More guests arrived: Junior's mom and sister Fatima, Domingo, Angelica, Dereck, and Jose, Gisele and David and their mom, Julisse and Neli, Humberto's brothers and their wives and kids... Humberto, Paulina, Elizabeth, Aracely, and Paola went into the dining room and filled up the piñata with hard candies, lollipops, and gum.

Once the piñata was filled, they attached a padlock to a wire overhanging the alley and tied the piñata to the lock. Kids and adults were armed with plastic bags to collect the bounty that would soon rain from above. Yasmin got the first swings at the piñata, as some of the men pulled on ropes to make the piñata swing back and forth on the wire. Paola was the one who really demolished it. With her blindfold still on, she grabbed it with one hand to stabilize it, and whacked the thing apart with the stick in her other hand. Candy showered down and the kids gathered it up. Before anyone could get hurt, Humberto stepped in and shook any extra candy out of the piñata. There had been too much candy to fit into the piñata, so birthday girls Yasmin and Paola took the leftover bags of candy, ran up the stairs to the second floor of the guest building, and tossed handfuls of candy out to the crowd.

After that, it was time for the cake. It was a round cake with "Feliz cumpleaños Paola y Yasmin" written in lavendar icing with heart and star confetti candy. Two little dolls in blue outfits were sitting on top of the cake. We all sang "Happy Birthday" to Yasmin and Paola in Spanish. That was followed by a second verse with the words "Queremos pastel" ("We want cake"). The guests then count to 11 and 13 (Yasmin and Paola's ages, respectively) and the birthday girls blew out the candles. Then the girls were supposed to each take a bite of the cake without using their hands. They bent forward and attempted to take a dainty bite, but Humberto and Junior pushed the back of their heads and they ended up with faces full of frosting.

While the crowd dug into its candy, the cake was brought into the house where it was cut and put onto plates by Paulina. Some of the other women put salsa and a little bit of cheese onto tostadas. Everyone was served a slice of the marble cake and a little tostada mini-pizza, and a cup of leftover ponche from last night's party. We enjoyed sitting and chatting with the guests while music played on the computer.

The party started to wind down, and everyone had pretty much gone by around 6 o'clock. We saw Rocio in the alley and told her that we would be leaving tomorrow. Humberto came over and invited Rocio to come over with Juana and Abuela for dinner at 8 o'clock. The tables and chairs were still set up in the hallway, so there was room for plenty of people at the dinner table. This would be nice, as it meant that we dind't have to say goodbye to Rocio just yet.

It was time for us to give Yasmin and Paola their birthday gifts. We had gotten them each a purse with a small box of candy inside. But the best part was the musical greeting cards. Greeting cards are not popular in Guatemala, and we wondered whether the family had ever seen musical cards. Paola and Yasmin opened their cards, and one started playing "Happy Birthday" and the oher started playing "The Mexican Hat Dance." The whole family loved the cards. They had never seen anything like them, and they all got a lot of entertainment from them. Eddy loved them most of all; he kept taking them from the girls and opening and closing them to hear the music start and stop.

Paola said goodnight because she was heading over to her cousin Elizabeth's to spend the night. She told us that she would be back before we left in the morning.

Humberto opened a bottle of red Chilean wine given to him as a holiday gift by a restaurant he patronizes with clients in Chichicastenango. Humberto, Paulina, Craig, and I toasted the New Year, and Craig and I thanked the family for another fabulous visit. Their hospitality is amazing, and we were happy to be able to celebrate the season with them.

Eddy rode around on his little plastic tricycle holding a sparkler, and inadvertently set some pine needles on the floor of the hallway on fire. I quickly stamped the fire out. Humberto said that they wanted to give us some gifts in celebration of the New Year. They gave us two gorgeous paintings. There is a style of painting around the lake whereby artists take a bird's eye view and show indigenous scenes from above. One of the paintings was of Mayans harvesting coffee and the other was was of Mayans harvesting corn. Humberto explained that he chose these particular paintings because they are both crops that his family grows to this day. We had visited the family's farmland on our visit last July.

We gave the family a couple of mirrors that my parents had made, and we gave the last set of small gifts to the kids: some stationery, bookmarks, and a colorful wooden Jacob's ladder which always seemed to be falling that blew everyone's mind. We gave our ahijada Aracely a teddy bear from Habitat for Humanity. Habitat had actually built their current home years ago, so it had some special significance.

It had been a busy couple of days for Eddy, and he fell asleep before dinner. At 8 o'clock Rocio, Abuela, and Juana came over for what Humberto dubbed "The Last Supper." We had Paulina's chile con carne with scrambled eggs. David, Gisele, Neli, Andrik, and Josue came over and played Angry Birds with the other kids in one of the empty guest rooms. Aracely sat with us at the table. As she made her bear do the macarena, she said, "Thank you for my bear," in English. We're still not used to hearing her speak English. She surprises and delights us every time.

After dinner, we said goodbye to Rocio, Juana, and Abuela. As a parting gesture, Rocio ran to Humberto's computer and friended us on Facebook. (Paola would do the same once we got home). And just like that, we would be connected over the 6 months until our next visit.

We all went to bed early; two parties within twenty-four hours had worn us all out. Aracely didn't want to let us go. We gave many hugs and said goodnight. Humberto told us that Paulina and Paola were planning on going with us to the airport in the morning. We were happy to hear that we would have company for the ride. We went to our room at 9:30 and went to sleep at 10:30, with our alarm set for 7 a.m.