Guatemala

12/31/2011 - New Year's Eve

We all woke up early in time for breakfast at 8 a.m. Today would be a busy day at the market, and we needed to get a lot of supplies for tonight's party. We needed to get there before all of the good stuff was sold out. Humberto and Paulina were especially concerned about being able to find a bundle of pine needles. They explained that it was a New Year's tradition to spread pine needles on the floor. Pine trees are not in great supply in Panajachel, so we could imagine the amount of labor necessary to collect them and transport them back to town to sell.

We had pancakes for breakfast. We had been waiting for the opportunity to break out the 100% pure Vermont maple syrup we had brought with us. The family usually used honey or "maple-flavored" syrup. We know that the kids love sweet things, and we were able to explain that this is a product made locally in New England. We had wanted to bring it for a while, but it's too much liquid to carry on a plane. Since we were checking a bag of Christmas presents this time, we took advantage and checked a bottle of maple syrup. We all enjoyed our pancakes and fresh orange juice. There were also some cookies on a plate. They came from a holiday package of cookies that had obviously been broken out for New Year's Eve.

We got dressed and headed up Rancho Grande toward the market with Paulina, Yasmin, Paola, Eddy, and Aracely at around 9:30. Eddy was wearing an adult-sized oval backpack, and I joked that he looked like a tortuga. A father, mother, and young girl, all in traditional Mayan dress, were sitting on the sidewalk next to large bundles of green pine needles. Paulina spoke to them and negotiated a price for one bundle. Although we were only several blocks from the house, it was too far to carry such an unweidly load. The man had a wheelbarrow and was willing to deliver it, but needed directions to the house. Paulina asked Yasmin to show him the way. Yasmin naturally didn't want to be left out of the rest of our errands, so Paulina told her we would wait for her.

While we waited, the family went into a nearby store. Craig and I stayed out in the street in the shade. When Yasmin returned, we continued walking to the market. The market was spilling into the surrounding streets. Streets were actually blocked off to traffic. Vendors sold fireworks, fruit, produce, boxes of holiday cookies, etc. There was even a toy section which boasted toys in colorful packaging like we would see at a toy store at home. You don't usually see things like that in the market, but they were obviously here for the gift-giving season of Christmas and New Year's. Aracely was interested in a particular baby doll. We have to be careful not to buy the kids everything they want. She made sure to show it to me but didn't ask for it directly. We still had some additional gifts oofr the kids back at the house, and we couldn't justify buying this doll for her on a whim, no matter how much we wanted to.

At another stall, the girls dug into a pile of jewelry and accessories. They each picked out a pair of earrings which Paulina bought them for New Year's. Eddy liked a sparkly flower ring, and was hesitant to put it back even when Paulina and his sisters told him it was for girls.

We were shopping for fresh fruit and spices for "ponche", a home-made mulled fruit punch which was traditional for the New Year's holiday. Paulina and Paola looked over the fruit to find the freshest, and purchased it. We noticed that there were crates of Washington apples. Craig and I were amazed that it could be even remotely cost-effective to grow apples in the U.S. and transport them to Guatemala.

Eddy steered Paulina to a milkshake stand with a window counter and small tables. Aracely, Eddy, and Yasmin sat on stools, armed themselves with straws, and ordered strawberry milkshakes. Paulina asked if we would like one as well. It was hot in the sun and we couldn't say no to the thought of a made-to-order fresh, cool, creamy, strawberry concoction. We momentarily debated the wisdom of trying a milk-based drink at a street stall, but thirst won out and we decided to take our chances. We sat at a small table behind the kids and shared a milkshake with two straws. It was delicious!

A teenager was walking around distributing promotional calendars. Humberto and Paulina hang one up each year in the dining room. He handed one to me which I gladly accepted for the family. It was a really festive atmosphere. The market was bustling with customers. We went to the interior market stalls and stopped at one of the butcher shops that Paulina patronizes regularly. Chickens were stacked on the counter, and cuts of beef and sausages hung from meat hooks above the counter. It smelled of blood and fresh meat. It wasmuch more "real" than the way we purchase meat at home, packaged neatly in styrofoam and plastic. Plastic bags full of chicken feet were stacked onto an enormous liver. In fact, an entire bull's head (horns and all) was on a wooden chopping block behind the counter.

Next we went to the clothing section of the market. Paola got a call from some friends on her phone and she ducked away for a few minutes while Aracely and Yasmin picked out and tried on a new outfit. Eddy sat down at the stall across from them, and asked me to sit next to him. This was a good place to stay out of the way. Craig and I always feel gigantic next to the petite locals, and we feel like we are always in somebody's way when we are in the market. The locals are always good-natured about it and smile when they see the kids hanging on us.

Little Gisele from next door was at the market and was excited to see us all. Aracely picked out a bright purple top (her favorite color) witha cute little ribbon around the waist. Yasmin picked out a pair of dark jeans and a deep turquoise top.

After purchasing everything that we needed for tonight's party, we piled into a tuk-tuk with all of our purchases and returned home. Yasmin showed her new clothes to her best buddy Yoselin. Josue was over to play, wearing a cute T-shirt that said "I do all my own stunts." Neli was here as well. We went into our room and played with the kids.

There were so many kids around that it seemed like a good time to give them another gift, an Angry Birds game, based on the app. Yasmin and Vanesa pioneered the game. It came with blocks that you needed to set up in a configuration, and then you use a catapult to slingshot plastic birds at the structures to try to knock them down. Eddy needed to be distracted because he was knocking the blocks down faster than Yasmin and Vanesa could set them up.

The kids called us to the kitchen to watch Paulina grind some spices the old-fashioned way. She knelt on the floor behind a flat grinding stone that reminded us of the one that Rosa uses in Ecuador. She had a rolling-pin shaped stone that she dragged back and forth along the flat stone, grinding a brown spice. Aracely and Eddy scraped a little bit onto their fingers to have a taste. The kids passed out some home-made coconut milk popsicles made in little plastic cups.

Paulina used the ground spice to season our lunch, which was stew beef with squash in a red sauce served with rice. It was quite tasty. We had juice made from fresh mandarins.

After lunch, Eddy watched the "Wiggles" video over and over on my computer and also played pinball surprisingly well. I played the Angry Birds game with Yoselin, Aracely, and Josue. Paulina, Vanesa, and Abuela were in the kitchen cutting up fruit for the ponche. All of a sudden Paulina realized that even though she and Paola had been looking at papayas at the market this morning, they had bought every fruit but the papaya. Paulina made a quick run back to the market to pick one up, hoping they hadn't sold out.

Craig and I took showers and also got dressed up for tonight's party. We had no idea what time the festivities would start, and wanted to be ready. Paola got dressed up too, wearing a peasant skirt insteasd of her usual jeans. She looked pretty and mature.

Humberto gathered the kids together and instructed them to scatter the bundle of pine needles onto the floor in the guest building hallway, in the vacant guest rooms, and on the staircase. The kids enjoyed doing this, and soon the floor was green with fresh scented pine needles. It is the same way that we get a nice pine scent from a live Christmas tree. Aracely and Yoselin enjoyed dancing around in one of the empty guest rooms, slipping and sliding on the pine needles on the tile floor.

Junior came over and Yasmin played Angry Birds with him. Paulina came home with a papaya, cut it up, and added it to the rest of the fruit. She put the mixture into a very large pot and got it simmering on the cooktop.

We took the tables from the guest rooms and moved them out into the hallway. Eddy sat under one of the tables while Paulina and Humberto moved it. It looked like he was riding in a palinquin. Other tables were borrowed from the Yulex Restaurant owned by one of Humberto's brothers. The kids carried chairs from the restaurant as well. Even little Eddy hoisted a chair up over his head and carried it down the alley.

We put up red and green streamers and blew up green balloons. Aracely got changed into her new outfit she had bought at the market, and was in her favorite color purple from head to toe. They brought the Christmas tree over closer to the guest rooms so that it was visible from the tables and chairs. Humberto brought his computer and speakers from the office to provide music.

The kids played with sparklers in the alley. Yasmin was the keeper of the candle and she lit al of the sparklers and handed them out to the younger kids (Neli, David, Josue, and Eddy). They twirled the sparklers around in the dark, enjoying watching the tracers. David's mother had some massive sized sparklers that she handed out.

Some fantastic still-warm fresh satisfyingly crunchy tortilla chips and fresh homemade guacamole was the first food to be set out. It was delicious - and addictive. We couldn't stop eating it.

At around 10:15, Paulina's brother Carlos, his wife Vilma, and their daughter Elizabeth were the first guests to arrive. We sat with them at the dining room table and drank an incredibly sweet fruit cordial which is produced locally. It was bright red and very sweet, stored in a re-used Johnnie Walker bottle. They were only able to stay for a little while, but as it approached 11 o'clock, other guests began to arrive bearing food to share. Everyone milled around chatting.

We recognized so many people - David and Gisele and their mother, Junior and his mother and little sister Fatima, Juana and Abuelita, Andrik, Alex, Humberto's brothers and their families, Humberto;s niece Angelica, her husband Domingo, and their kids Dereck and Jose...more and more people kept arriving. We noticed, however, that Paulina's sisters Estela, Olga, and Isabela and their kids were not in attendance. Humberto told us that being a holiday, they were offered overtime work at the hotels where they are employed, and obviously that was not something that they could turn down.

Everyone had brought a dish of food, or a bottle of soda or alcohol. Everything was placed on the tables in the hallway. Someone had even brought a grill and was cooking up steaks and sausages in the alley.

Some of the older kids were acting as dj's, cueing up music on the computer. Aracely was very excited and broke into a spontaneous dance in front of the Christmas tree. Humberto had been given a pair of 2012 novelty sunglasses from his clients today, and I took photos of him wearing them. Even camera-shy Paola came by and posed willingly wearing the glasses. It became our quest to photograph as many people as we could wearing them. This was a good ice breaker with people we didn't know. Everyone got a kick out of it.

Even without looking at a clock, we knew when midnight struck because it seemed everyone in town lit off fireworks simultaneously. Everyone hugged and wished one another "Feliz Año." The fireworks went on for quite a while. Humberto lit off a bunch in the alley. There were small spinning ones, ones that rained down showers of sparks, etc. Josue climbed up on the roof next door to shoot off some rockets.

The kids' cousin Rocio arrived. We haven't seen very much of her over our last two visits. It was nice to see her and to be able to give her a nice New Year's hug. She apologized for not being around very much and told us about a medical problem she has been having with her digestive system.

One of the women swung an incense burner over the table of pot-luck dishes in the hallway, blessing it with pleasant smelling copal incense. At 12:30 a.m., the buffet was open for business. We got into line and filled our rectangular styrofoam plates with Paulina's chili con carne, thin steaks, chicken, rice, sausage, and blood sausage. We had glasses of warm ponche with fruit at the bottom. Humberto poured us some orange juice and rum.

We took our seats at the table and enjoyed the meal. Everything was delicious. Paulina's chili con carne was mouth wateringly good. This was our first time ever trying blood sausage, and it was a lot spicier than we expected. We liked it very much.

Yoselin fell asleep while sitting at the table. It reminded us of the time on our first visit when we had gone out for pizza and she fell asleep at the restaurant. Everyone enjoyed chatting, eating, and drinking. Soon Eddy was asleep at the table and Vanesa brought him inside to bed.

We all sat around chatting and enjoying one another's company late into the night. Though there was music, there was no dancing (as there had been at Vanesa's quinceañera). Eventually families said their goodnights and took sleepy kids home. All of Humberto and Paulina's kids had staggered off to bed with the exception of Vanesa, who was still going strong playing on the computer. Angelica, Dereck, and Jose crashed in the room next to ours. Angelica couldn't sleep because of the music and eventually came back out to join her husband Domingo and the hard-core partiers who were still left sitting at the tables in the hallway.

We did a double-take when, at 4:18 a.m., Eddy came stumbling out of the house. I intercepted him and held him on my lap, where he promptly fell back to sleep. After a few minutes I brought him to his room (where Aracely and Yoselin were already asleep), tucked him in, and turned off the lights. Craig and I took that as our cue to call it a night. We left Humberto, Paulina, and three other guests to finish off a bottle of XL Extra Light Rum (the preferred dark rum had already been completely consumed). Since the party was literally right on the other side of our wall, we didn't really get any sleep until the party ended at 5:30.