At 5:30 yesterday morning, I woke out of a sound sleep to the sound of (what I assume is) Spanish opera. At full volume. After somewhere between 10 and 15 minutes of hoping I was mistaken, I dragged my sorry self out of bed and stumbled out of my room to find the source of the noise. Finally, I tracked it down - a radio in the window of the house across the street. Yes, someone was playing opera full blast before six on a Thursday morning.
At breakfast, our host mother (who we call "abuelita", meaning "little grandma") explained that it's tradition on the street for this particular gentleman, Juan, to wake everyone up on the birthdays of the residents on the street. Fair enough, although warning would have been great.
After school, I returned home to learn that it was actually ABUELITA's birthday! The house was filled with old, smiling Guatemalan folks, and I was ushered to the table to have a birthday drink. Yep, I finally take a day off from the pub only to drink rum at lunchtime.
It was quite the fiesta - Daniel, Abuelita's grandson, and I tracked down a cake at the pastelaria (cake shop), we had a traditional holiday salad for lunch, and everyone had a grand time. It was Abuelita's sister's birthday, too (they were born exactly three years apart), so we relit the candles and sang a second time. While I couldn't really talk to anyone (besides Daniel), it was definitely a great and welcoming atmosphere and an interesting window into Guatemalan society.
Also, the cake was delicious.
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