Guatemala 6/21/2025 |
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 Yoselin and Paola made this invitation for my surprise party and sent it to the family. They invited 100 people, and around 60 attended. Saturday, June 21, 2025 - Steph's Surprise 50th Birthday PartyBeing Saturday, we slept late this morning. When we woke up, we had pancakes, fruit, coffee, and juice for breakfast.Paulina and Humberto went to the market and came home with sacks full of pineapples The kids' cousin Pamela came over and helped Paulina to prepare lunch. Humberto had told us ahead of time that with all of the June birthdays (mine, Ian's, Humberto's) and the fact that we hadn't gotten to see many of the extended family members in the past couple of years, we would have a party on Saturday the 21st. There would also be a Mass at the San Francisco church dedicated to us for our birthdays. Craig had asked if the family party that was happening tonight would be here at the house. Humberto had said that there wasn't enough room at the house (which is true, now that they rent rooms to tourists), so it would be at the nearby Hotel Nakbe, where Vanesa's wedding reception had been held. Yasmin and Yoselin used the pineapples to make piña loca. They cored the pineapple, cut the rings into bits, put them back into the pineapple, drizzled them with sweet red syrup, and sprinkled a hefty amount of Tajin spice onto them. They then put Takis Fuego chips into them. These would be edible centerpieces for tonight's party. Vanesa, Danny, and baby Emiliano came over. I fed Emiliano his bottle. Isabela's daughter Roxana came over as well. We had lunch: hamburger patties and fried eggplant. Most of the kids disappeared for a while with Humberto; we assume they were taking the pineapples to the party venue. We had some nachos and cheese as a snack. It started to pour, just as it had on Aracely's wedding day last year. We hoped that the weather wouldn't be too bad today, as we would be going to both the church and the hotel. Luckily, Humberto had the van and could drive us. We got dressed in our party clothes. We were grateful that Humberto had told us ahead of time that we would need nice clothes; usually we dress pretty casually in Guatemala unless there is a special event. The rain let up a bit by the time we drove to Iglesia San Francisco at 5:30 p.m. with Ian, Roxana, Paulina, Humberto, and Yasmin. The Corpus Christi multi-day festival was technically still going on in front of the church, but only three dancers were braving the rain, and the marimba musicians were under cover. As we entered the church we met up with Priscilla, Humberto's sister-in-law, and we sat with her in the second pew. Before Mass began, there was a little prequel where they read the prayer intentions, which included my 50th birthday and Ian’s 10th. During Mass, Vanesa, Emiliano, Yoselin, and Paola showed up and sat in the pew in front of us. I was blessed by the priest at the end of Mass, and he wished me a happy birthday as he used palm leaves to sprinkle me with holy water. We left the church and got into the van, but we had to wait a while for people who had parked blocking us in to leave. Paola took off on her moto to go to the party venue. We arrived at the Hotel Nakbe and immediately saw Aracely and Joel waiting outside. Paola was manning the door, handing out leis to everyone. We entered the hall, and several tables already had many extended family members sitting at them. I looked around and noticed big blue mylar balloons which said "50" hanging on the wall above three cakes. That is when it finally dawned on Craig and me that this was a surprise party for me. It wasn't just a family get-together to celebrate everyone's June birthdays, as Humberto had claimed. I was the guest of honor. Paola put a silk flower wreath lit with multicolored tiny LED lights on my head. I was absolutely floored. All of these people had come to celebrate my 50th birthday. There was a dj and the hall was decorated with balloons. The piñas locas stood as edible centerpieces on each of the tables. My immediate reaction was to thank people for coming, so Craig and I made the rounds to all of the tables, getting pictures of people and thanking them. We have been coming to Guatemala for over 20 years, and in that time have met a lot of the people in both Humberto and Paulina's extended families. As 20 years progressed, those families have grown exponentially, with kids growing up, marrying, and having kids of their own. Paulina's sister Estela was there with her kids and grandkids, including Laisa and her 4-year-old daughter Denora. Paulina's sister Olga was there with her daughter Odilia, Odilia's husband Wilson, and their little boy Bernardo. Pamela was with them as well. Humberto's cousin Sandra was there with her husband and their little daughter. Andrik was there and we got to meet his wife for the first time. They are expecting their first child together. Neli was there, as was Julisse with her husband Israel and two young daughters. Lety and her kids were there, and so were Soleyba and her kids. Heidi and Roxana were also there. Alison Margarita was there, 8 months pregnant, with her husband. And of course Humberto, Paulina, Vanesa, Danny, Emiliano, Paola, Yasmin, Yoselin, Aracely, Joel, Elsa, Eddy, and Ian were all present. There were countless others as well, whom we recognize by sight even if their names elude us. Humberto gave a toast to my birthday with rum and 7-Up. The catered dinner consisted of pepian, chicken, veggies, and rice with grape juice to drink. Everything was delicious! The pepian tasted wonderful, and the chicken was extremely tender. Little Denora was excited to talk to me, and she asked about a crown (some of the girls were wearing tiaras that said "Happy Birthday"). I had seen that some extra tiaras were laid out in a circle around the cakes, so I went to get her one. She was thrilled. Dessert was mole with bananas. Victor and Rosa arrived after they got out of work. As soon as they came in, they were given a plate of food. The staff were very attentive and kept track of new attendees, ensuring that everyone was fed. Then I was called up in front of everyone, next to the cakes. The cakes were beautiful - a summer beach theme. One of them had brown sugar on top looking like beach sand, with mermaid tail decorations and palm trees and shells. The other two were yellow, orange, and pink. There was a receiving line and people brought up small wrapped gifts. I was so humbled, not only had these people taken time out of their busy schedules to celebrate my birthday, they had brought presents?! Aracely came up to me and said "They're going to light off fireworks - I just didn't want you to be scared." It was so sweet of her to warn me. Sure enough, they lit the candle on the cake (which was really a sparkler) and detonated two devices behind me which sprayed sparks in the air. The pyrotechnics seemed to be a bit bigger than they had anticipated, and folks scurried to get presents and cakes out of the way of the sparks. While this was going on, they sang happy birthday to me. I didn't know whether they would smash my face into the cake as they usually do on people's birthdays. It turned out that they didn't, but Aracely came up to me and encouraged me to take a bite out of the cake. I appreciated that she was helping to translate for me and coaching me on what to do. So I approached the cake, took off my glasses and crown, and took a bite. I got frosting all over my face and people were quick to bring napkins for me to wipe it off. Then people lined up to pose with me for photos. It was so sweet. They were all there to celebrate me; I hadn't experienced something like this since my wedding 27 years ago! Everyone went back to their tables to have a piece of the cake (one layer was chocolate and one layer was vanilla). Then it was time for dancing. They dimmed the lights and had a disco ball, colored lights, and a fog machine. They played various music and videos played on TV screens. Craig and I danced, and soon Craig got tired and hot. He went to take a rest, but couldn't say no when Paulina then asked him onto the dance floor. I danced with little Elsa. Humberto kept giving us more rum and 7-Up, which kept Craig dancing. Then Alison Margarita asked Craig to dance. She has always been his buddy since she was a little baby. When she was a toddler, she would just sit in front of him, and he would speak to her in English. Though she didn't understand a word of what he was saying, she would look at him enthralled, nodding and just staring at him intently. It was hard to believe that now she is about to become a mom! Danny and Vanesa danced with the mylar 50 balloons. Ian took some LED lights and wrapped them around Craig's cane. I danced with Ian. The band handed out cowbells and other percussion instruments to the kids. They had me lead a party train. They handed out plastic party hats and long thin balloons. All of the kids loved the balloons, and several of them asked me if they could keep the mylar 50 balloons. Most of the music was in Spanish at first, but towards the end they played some English language songs. They played "Swing the Mood" by Jive Bunny and the Master Mixers (a pastiche of '50's and '60's rock and roll tunes that I had danced to in a jazz dance recital back in 1990) and "YMCA". It was fun to see everyone singing along and doing the motions to "YMCA". Victor filled some cups with rum and a cursory splash of 7-Up and handed them out to Craig, Paulina, and me. Salud! The last song of the night was a slow song, and we all joined hands and danced in a circle to cap off the night at 12:30 a.m. We wished Ian a happy birthday since it was after midnight and he was now 10 years old. We got home at 1 o'clock after an amazing night. The love in the room was palpable. I thank everyone who planned, arranged, and attended this lovely party. I will truly never forget it. |
 Steph's surprise 50th birthday party  Roxana, Joel, Aracely, Yasmin, and Yoselin  Ian, Vanesa, Paulina, Humberto, Eddy, and Paola  Fireworks!  Singing happy birthday  Elsa, Joel, Steph, Aracely, and Craig  Craig dancing with Alison Margarita  Joel dancing with Aracely  Vanesa and Danny  Humberto, Vanesa, and Danny  Paulina, Humberto, Steph, and Soleyba Photo Gallery June 21 |
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