I thought I should write a little entry about how I spent my birthday here in Xela (Guatemala). Guatemalans seem to celebrate birthdays with more "rigour" than I typically would in England. My birthday party seemed to last 3 days - not that I was complaining...
Feb 13th
Even though it isn´t my birthday until the 15th, my mate Mario and I decide that it is appropriate to have a chuparassco (barbecue & drinks) in the afternoon. We budget for 1/2 pound of meat for each person. We each put together our invitee lists and in the end 24 people turn up which is more than we were expecting. We begin to worry that the bottle of Ron Zacapa (the best rum in the world, or so we reckon) won´t last very long with all these people. Our fears are quickly founded as the bottle of Zacapa lasts only 20mins once everyone has had a trago. Particularly gaulling for the conoseurs of Zacapa present is the person who mixes some coke with the Zacapa. Comments range from "how can you treat one of the seven wonders of the world with such disdain" to "she´ll have to go to church tomorrow to confess her sins".
After the obligatory happy birthday song (which I obviously detest but pretend to be grateful for) we settle down to eat the fruits of our labour. Mario dutifully eats the "zacates" (weeds) aka salad that Hannah has prepared and to everyone´s surprise goes for seconds.
Following a few seconds of pondering after lunch we decide it would imprudent not to invest in a second bottle of Ron Zacapa and a gordito of Barcelo. We ask for a contribution from the other invitees to make up the remainder of the 300Q to buy another bottle of Zacapa. Luckily some of the guests start to leave around 5pm which allows Mario, Billy and me to drink most of the second Zacapa. The merriment continues until the early hours of the next morning (I think) as according to Dona Esperanza she heard someone entering the house at around 2am.
Feb 14th
I need to get up at 7am to take the students to the students at the Spanish school on a hike to the Laguna Chicabal. This is obviously the last thing I need with my hangover but I dutifully fulfil my duty of hiking up to a lake at 2900m. I´m obviously not in the best of moods and am less than amused with the Korean guy who is constantly asking me "what´s the word for this, that and other in Spanish".
We return from the hike at around 3pm in the afternoon and I got back home to sleep for a few hours. I need to get up for 8pm as Juan and Mario are playing a gig in a bar in another part of town. I beg them not to play a rendition of happy birthday and restrict myself to a few beers for the evening. The concert is a disaster as Juan forgets a song halfway through and they have to abandon. Everyone seems to be looking at me as if I´m somehow responsible for the shambles.
Feb 15th
Well, it is actually my birthday today and Dona Esperanza prepares a nice lunch. There are 7 of us present for the lunch and Don Alvaro opens one of his better bottles of whisky. I´m not exactly sure why Dona Espe seems to be refilling my glass so regularly - anybody would think she doesn´t want her husband to get drunk. After we polish off the first bottle it is apparent that Don Alvaro is intent on continuing the fiesta. He suggests that we go licor store to buy a couple of bottles of rum. Dona Espe instructs Billy to go with him instead of me - she mutters something about "if these two cabrones go they´ll go to some Cantina and won´t come back".
Upon returning with the guaro, Don Alvaro gets out the guitar and starts sining old Guatemalan folk songs. Everyone comments that I´m a bit quieter than normal. I tell them it probably has something to do with the fact that I don´t know the words to the songs so it is a bit hard to join in...
The festivities are brought to a close at 10pm when Don Alvaro manages to break both the sugar and salt containers while attempting to get up from the table. Dona Espe unilterally decides that the party has probably gone on for long enough and for the good of her house it is probably better that everyone retires to their rooms.
