A Baby Shower, Jungle Style!

I did have one cultural event this week that I hadn't experienced yet in Peru, a baby shower. Yes,
I was invited to a baby shower for the daughter of one of our Brazilian friends from Brazil who is
now living here. I showed up on time and no one was there. I came an hour later and they
encouraged me to stay although I was the first to arrive. Finally, about two hours after the time
on the invitation, the party started.

We were MC'd by a lady who seemed to know all about baby showers and was educating the other ladies
about one as we went along. The first thing we did besides snack and drink juice and masato (potato
beer) was go around and give the expectant mother a small speech on how wonderful it is to be a
mother and what she can expect with her new baby. I was second to go. They were all gracious with
my Spanish and gave me the same applause as everyone else. Most of the women there were indigenous
and too embarrassed to get up and talk about being a mom even though some of them had brought 3 or 4
kids of their own. The MC lady was merciless, though, and put the pressure on BIG TIME to get these
ladies to stand and give their speech.

We then started the games of which I only got to play one because by this time it was getting dark
and I hadn't brought a flashlight. They passed around a big doll with bright pink hair. We were
supposed to kiss the doll on her body somewhere were we wanted to "bless" the new baby. That was
just weird, all of us passing this silly doll around and kissing it. Finally, the MC lady then told
us we were going to go around again and kiss the expectant mother in the same location as we had
kissed the doll. I had kissed the feet, so that was a little humbling to get down and kiss her
feet, but it was entertaining for the others too. There was lots of nervous laughter and jokes
about needing more masato to "loosen" everyone up. Thankfully, I was able to make my exit then.

So, I was glad to be included and hopefully the more we get out and do things like that, the more
people will feel like they know us. I still need to go up and talk to the doctor again. Our house
work has been pretty demanding, but I think we're at a point where we can at least go for walks in
the late afternoon. There is a huge plaza here made of cement. It's hilarious as there are so few
people, but they have their nice plaza. It will be a place where Koleman can take his bike or
scooter and ride.

-Rebecca