Guatemala

Friday 1/3/14 - Preparations for Paola's Quinceañera Party

We slept a little bit late today. Eddy knockoed on the door as we were getting up, and then Aracely did the same. We went over to the house for breakfast of huevos rancheros, black refried beans with cream, and plantains. It was delicious!

We gave the girls some fashion design stencils (a seemingly appropriate gift as the older girls had been drawing fashion designs the night we arrived). We gave Eddy two little Hummer trucks which light up and make noise. They came with a plastic log roll to drive over. The kids' 8-year-old cousin Josue and his 3-year-old niece Brittany came over to play. Brittany smiles constantly, and she is such a cutie! The kids drew fashion designs and played with Eddy's trucks.

Two welders with a young boy helping them were installing iron railings on the staircase in the guest building. The party tomorrow night would be on the unfinished second floor, and railings would make the stairs a lot safer. Everything happens just in time here, hence the handrails being installed the day before the big party.

Throughout the day, the kids' cousins came and went, eager to watch the party preparations. Neli and her brother Andrik arrived. She asked if we could play monsters, so we went out into the corridor between the guest rooms and Craig and I took turns chasing and catching Josue, Eddy, and Neli. Aracely and Andrik played on the computer. Loren, a cousin from Paulina's side of the family, helped Paola to touch up the gold glitter on some party decorations. Junior came over. He is now 12, but looks older because he is quite tall. We noticed that his voice had deepened since our last visit.

Paulina left to go the market. Soon afterwards, plastic tubs full of chicken arrived at the house. The girls peeled and cut beets.

The weather was beautiful and sunny, and the tinsel on the small Christmas near the bamboo gate was shining in the sunlight. We liked the fact that the Christmas tree had a dried ear of corn at the top, as corn is so important in Mayan heritage.

For lunch, we had fresh home-made guacamole, toasted tortillas, fresh tortillas, vegetables, and fresh lemonade.

At around 4 o'clock, Craig didn't feel very well. He went to the room for a nap and wound up getting sick. He probably just needed some rest, so we rested in the room for a couple of hours.

When we emerged from our room, party preparations had kicked into high gear. Dozens of plastic tables and chairs arrived and were being brought up to the second floor of the guest building. Paulina's sister Olga had arrived with her son Chilo to help prepare the chicken. Humberto's nephew Juan Carlos and his wife Yolanda arrived to help with decorations and cooking. Their children, Junior and Fatima, came to help as well. Josue and Brittany were also around.

Aracely had found some photos from our recent trip to Vietnam on my computer. She asked all kinds of questions about our trip to "China". She was especially intrigued by the photo of ice cream served inside of a coconut. She asked, "Could you bring me one the next time you go to China?" I laughed and said that I didn't think that it would survive the trip. "But maybe some day you can go there yourself and have one," I suggested. "Would you take me?" she asked, suddenly very excited.

This was the first time she had ever voiced a desire to travel with us. Her school had participated in a Chinese dragon dance in a parade several months ago, and Humberto had sent us photos of Eddy and Aracely in Chinese dress. This had obviously stuck with her and piqued her interest, which I'm sure is what caused her to insist that our Vietnam photos were actually China. We were happy that the seed of the idea of traveling with us was germinating in her head, because we would love to travel with her some day. [Update: This would actually come true in 2016, when we took Aracely and Vanesa to Ecuador with us.]

The welders finished up the work om the hand railings on the stairs.

Paulina and the women were cooking in the kitchen while the guys and kids put up decorations on the second floor. Paola and Junior filled the piñata with lollipops and oter hard candies. The piñata was in the shape of Belle from Beauty and the Beast. It stood taller than Brittany! Paola said that her dress was going to be gold, like Belle's. She was going to pick it up in the morning. I couldn't wait to see it.

Everyone took a break from their preparations to eat a nice dinner of pasta in meat sauce. The kids ate in the first shift, and the adults ate in the second. Josue fed Brittany, and blew on her food to cool it for her. It was adorable. He is a very good uncle to her. I let Chilo use the older camera and he was thrilled. He ran around taking photos of everyone, telling us how to pose, etc. He has been quite shy around us in the past, but the camera definitely broke the ice this time around.

Then Humberto broke out a bottle of Venado light rum. They sent Junior to the store to buy some Squiz citrus punch. Juan Carlos mixed up some drinks, and all of the adults toasted to the occasion.

The kids were watching videos on the computer. Eddy was obsessed with our New Year's 2012 video. Juan Carlos asked if he could get copies of it, since it contained footage of his young nephew David who had subsequently died tragically at the age of 4. He also requested a copy of Wiggles, a video from 2007 which contains footage of a much younger and totally spastic Junior. We told him to bring a thumb drive the next time he comes over, and we would be glad to share them with him.

After a couple of drinks and some good laughs, everyone returned to their duties. Humberto gave the kids bags of green pine needles to spread on the floor to infuse the air with a lovely pine scent and "bring the outdoors in". The kids blew up gold and silver balloons. Humberto's niece Sandra brought over a beautiful arrangement of yellow roses. The walls were decorated with gold ribbons and images of Belle.

They hung up the letters Paola had covered in gold glitter "Mis 15 Años". Unfortunately, one of the cousins had destroyed the "~". "Anos" has quite a different meaning than "Años", so we were sure that Paola would make a new tilde in time for the party.

At around 11:30 p.m., we all stopped working in favor of socializing. Juan Carlos' brother Victor arrived, and we capped off the night with a little more rum. Fatima kept tapping me and then looking away when I looked at her. It was very cute. Tomorrow would be a long day, so despite the fun that we were having, we called it a night and went to bed at 1 o'clock.