There's excess and then there's excess

Ruby and the birthday girl

Cake table

Huge slide the kids loved

Confetti, clowns, balloons (imagine ear splitting dj music also)

Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  A lot has been going on so I will start where I left off.  First off I thought Americans had a strangle hold on overly extravagant birthday parties for children before coming here.  Boy, was I wrong.  Ruby was invited to a classmate’s birthday party so she and I went expecting juice and cake and fun times.  What we got was a 3 story slide rented and inflated in the backyard, which is the exact same model as the one at the local amusement park.  Also 3 cakes, a piñata, a dj, 3 clowns (1 on stilts), confetti, balloons (with the child’s picture on them), masks, ties, other balloons, noisemakers, food, drinks – basically a complete spectacle.

We arrived at this function about my usual 20-30 minutes late, according to the time on the invitation.  In the States, we customarily miss about half the party.  Here on Peru time, we were the first ones there…by far.  Some might find it awkward to sit around and make small talk in my ever-improving Spanish with people I had just met.  But I found it to be a huge bonus to be able to watch the entire production being put together.  We watched the elaborate cake table being set up.  We watched the 2 ton slide being unloaded by 10 men and blown up.  Plus the clown’s arrival and balloon blow-up project.  As people gradually arrived the numbers grew to 100 people, including probably 40 kids.  An incredible time was had by all and I enjoyed getting to know some of Ruby’s classmates parents better.  A few of them definitely took me under their wing and were gracious enough to speak slowly and repeat things several times to compensate for their blaring dj music, that confounds the fledgling Spanish speaker.   

After 4 hours we were completely spent, even though I could tell the party was going to go on well into the night.  "Oh wait - on your way out don't forget your bouncy ball and toys to go along with your balloons and other toys you'd been given"... what we came with and what we left with were kind of embarrassing.  Chalk that one up to learning the ropes.  We started to hail a motocarro when one of our new friends pulled up and offered us a ride, even though they were going in the completely opposite direction.  It was so generous and kind, it made all the struggles with the language worth it and speaks to the warmth of the Peruvians.