Party of the Year

It´s a rite of passage- a girl´s 15^th birthday. I´d warrant that it´s a bigger deal in one´s life than a wedding in Northern Peruvian culture. Have any of you ever seen the MTV show “My Sweet 16”? Yeah, kinds like that, but without the Hummers, belly dancers or chocolate fountains.

But in my town, there was a car, there were 300 people and 5 goats-worth of food. And a fountain- but instead of being able to dip slices of pineapple and strawberries, this one was coming out of the cake.

Prixi turned 15 on April 19^th. I remember when I first got to Tumbes and I remember asking her how old she was (13), her 15^th birthday seemed decades away. In reality, it was only a year and a half but still, it came and it was awesome.

I originally thought the family wasn’t going to do anything for a lack of money- I thought they were just going to have a few of her closest girlfriends form school over for a nice lunch. I was totally cool with that. But then one day back in March my host dad mentioned that he was thinking in something bigger.

“Like how much bigger, Milton? Maybe her teachers would come too”?

“ No, like a fiesta.”

Bingo.

For the next month and a half there were papers strewn around the house with lists of invites, and whispers of gossip around town saying that Milton (my host dad and one of the more economically-successful men in the town) was throwing Prixi a huge party, complete with a concert from my cousin’s band, Yenner Artur. These whispers did turn out to be true and by the time it came to send out invitations, 400 people were expected to attend.

So naturally, my host parent’s had been going crazy the last few weeks getting everything in order. Food had to be catered, chairs had to be rented, appetizers had to be made and dresses had to be bought. One of the main concerns was what to do about Prixi’s large foot size. She is easily a size ten and well, most Peruvians aren’t made that way. I’m a 9 and people gawk at my “club-feet.” So there aren’t a surfeit of extra-large high heels in the market. To my horror, Prixi and Yeni (my host mom) remembered that I had just attended Peace Corps’ 50^th anniversary and wore a beautiful pair of Stuart Weitzman heels that Emily had sent me (she’s the best) and asked me if Prixi could try them on. My blood ran cold as I watched Prixi’s size 10 WIDE-foot wedge itself into my shoes and felt my teeth clench as the leather straps bulged while she took a walk across the kitchen. That night when my mom called, I immediately explained the situation and we decided that my mom and dad would send Prixi her own pair of shoes as a 15^th birthday present. Some of you may be judging me at this point because I didn’t want to lend her my shoes but they are (other than my computer, Kindle and camera) the ONLY nice thing I own here. So naturally, I am protective.

Thanks to Em’s amazing shopping capabilities, a paIr of beautiful silver shoes came in the mail 3 weeks later for Prixi and fit perfectly.

So more about the party…

The day of the party was a blur. I actually woke up with a migraine but managed to get rid of it right a few hours before the party started. I modeled my dress for my host mom and aunt who immediately declared that it was not tight enough around the chest and took to sewing it to “ump” my assets. These Peruvian women work wonders with a needle and thread.

Perhaps the most interesting event of the afternoon was being nominated to pluck Aunt Isa’s eyebrows. Isa has a legitimate uni and has never touched her eyebrows in all of her life. Jenna, if you are reading this, think you at age 10 before going to Diana’s Nails. So there I was, straddling Isa with a pair of tweezers for 45 minutes just trying to make progress. People would walk by and all I could think to myself was “If I was in the States right now, I would be judged.” But here, TOTALLY normal. It was overwhelming at times because her daughter (and my cousin) Yojani kept wanting me to pluck more but I knew a) I’d be there all night if I tried to actually thin her eyebrows and oppose to just getting rid of badly-placed hair and b) her eyelids would look like tomato wedges form swelling. We finally settled on a good look for her and even today, a week later, she told me she liked them. Yeah!

So eventually the big night arrived. I showered, actually put mascara on and waited patiently as Prixi had two hours worth of hair styling done. As the rainy season has come super late we decided the day before that instead of having the party outside as planned on the street in front of my house, we would all fit into the communal center in the center of town. The inside looked as if hot pink had been thrown up everywhere. People waited patiently for Prixi to arrive Cinderella-style in a decorated station wagon (horses not included) and somehow squeeze out of the backseat with her dress that had a metal hoop at the bottom and everything.

From there the ceremony commenced which included a choreographed dance by four family members around Prixi as she twirled and swayed to the music (a little bizarre), my two 5-year old cousins walking up (kind of like ring bearers) with her makeup and shoes that were later put on by her godmother and godfather, lots of dancing and speeches and then finally, a toast. I was starving by the time the food came around that I was embarrassingly picking up plates that hadn’t been eaten and devouring the chicken tamales. Yummmmm.

After the food, everyone started to dance and drink. I had a 1 AM bus to catch to Piura so I had to leave early, but not too early so that I wasn’t able to dance to a few salsa songs, have a few glasses of beer and steal a few handfuls of appetizers (which ironically, are given out at the END of the night). I came back yesterday and Prixi showed me all of the 100 gifts she managed to rake in. Contents: - 12 photo albums, at least 10 picture frames, 13 bottles of body lotion/perfume things and countless massive, singing, light-up teddy bears. I promptly decided that I should celebrate my tenth 15^th birthday next year.