This event started and ended pretty
awkward but was awesome in between. My host dad’s sister was turning 15 so the
family had the huge, traditional birthday party. My host mom had told me about
it a week in advance and said that we would just go for a couple hours to be
polite but she didn’t want to stay for long. I was okay with this as I knew I
was going to stand out like a sore thumb. The night before, we went shopping
and made “bocaditos”, which are little candies that are handed out during the
party. We stayed up late Friday night working on them and then finished them on
Saturday morning. This was really fun and both Sonia and Javier and I made them
together.
On the day of the party, Sonia said we
would go around 4:00 so during the day, I wanted to find a payphone to finally
call home. We were making the bocaditos when 5 family members showed up at the
house and everything became hectic. So now Sonia had more errands to run for
the party and she was going to drop me off at the payphone place and come back
in 20 minutes. So I couldn’t make all the calls I wanted to and the calls I did
make were very expensive. We headed back home and got ready and then Javier’s
stepdad was picking us up, so we were leaving by 3:00 but Ayllen’s dress wasn’t
ready and neither was Sonia’s pair of pants, so we get to a church (which I
didn’t know was involved) and Sonia and Ayllen waited in the car for their
clothes and I was sent inside. So I participated in this whole Catholic mass by
myself when Javier comes in at the end and hands me the baby and a cell phone
and tells me how to use the cell phone if needed. He didn’t explain what was
happening, so when the mass was over, Sonia and Javier were gone and I had
their baby. Apparently they needed to go to the party venue to set up. So some
family member drove me there and the party commenced. For a split second, I
thought they were giving me their baby…forever.
The party was really fun, muy chevere
(very cool). We had a lot of food, really yummy cake, and everyone danced the
whole night. This party seemed more like a wedding reception, with various
traditions like choreographed dances and the birthday girl has a little group
of friends like a bridal party. They like to drink. A lot. So they get a bottle
and a cup and they walk around the party pouring a cup or a shot of whatever
they have and handing it to each person one-by-one. I was advised not to share
this communal cup (because if 1 person has diarrhea, the whole party will have
diarrhea, or more likely the only gringa at the party because she has a sensitive
stomach). So I had my own cup and a beer (the national beer is called Pilsener
and they make it in this huge factory near my house and sell it EVERYwhere). I
danced a little bit with my host parents and with this silly old man who danced
really crazy, but the most fun song was Gang Nam Style- everyone here knows the
dance too, and they played it twice.
We stayed until midnight and ended up
getting home close to 1am. Funny how a couple hours turned into 9, but I really
didn’t mind because it was a lot of fun. At the end, when Ayllen was asleep and
Sonia was really tired from serving all the food, we sat around from 11 to 12
looking for a way home. The plan was that one of the young men was going to
drive people home in his dad’s car, but all the young people got drunk and all
the old people got really drunk. So we were looking for sober people for so
long! And we ended up just calling a cab. Sonia and Javier apologized profusely
but I still really didn’t mind because at this point, people had started making
drunk speeches and walking around leaning on each other and being silly. Sonia
and Javier ask a lot about if things are the same at home and they asked about
the party. I was telling them that the style of the party is quite different
but the results are pretty much exactly the same. Partying is pretty universal.
Now it’s Sunday morning and we all got
to sleep in! Now I’m going to see if I can help with breakfast. I don’t know
what we’re doing today but I’m sure it will be awesome, as usual.
Thank you for reading and thank you for
partying.
Chels
A recuerdo de la fiesta
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