Community Party

Sunday was a busy day. We took the kids to the theater to get painted and dressed for the final Cats production. Then we went out to a party for the Colonia (community). Ana works with this Colonia, studying the trees and other vegetation, and helping to preserve the area. It was a wonderful party! I was so pleased that the people were all so friendly, so many of them saying hello (actually, buenos dias) and so friendly and accepting of us. There was good food and drink. While we were eating, we had a good conversation with a family who were patient with my poor Spanish. Then there was a sharing of gifts. They call them "bolos." We brought little gifts. The youngest one in the group begins, giving her/his gift to someone whose name was drawn. The gift is given with a hug (an abrazo). Then that person gives his/her gift to the next person, and so on until the end. It was so much fun! You can see tifany in the picture, to the right, with the little moose that I had given her. After giving the gifts, there was a pinata to be given. All the names were in a hat. But instead of taking the first name drawn, the one who wins is the 10th name drawn. They have a child draw a name. Then everybody shouts fuera! (out!) and the person looks disappointed. Then the second name is drawn. Fuera! They have so much fun! Finally, number 10 comes up and wins the prize.