Update #3: Birthday stuff
I got back to Santiago just in time to celebrate my birthday on a Sunday (Oct. 18), and had fun experiencing some Bolivian birthday traditions. The celebrations started at midnight, when some of my students and a few others from Santiago woke me up with songs at my door. This “serenad” with guitar, 2 violins, and singing continued for several songs including “Happy Birthday” in English. Then in the morning, my two host sisters (Daniela and Diana), a visiting violin teacher (Eduardo- nicknamed Obispo), a visiting Swiss couple, and I hiked for about an hour to a place call Las Posas (the pools). We spent just about all day there swimming, hanging out, playing games, and exploring the area, and a few more of my students showed up later in the day. Sadly, somehow I lost all my pictures of this day, but I’ll have to put up some of Las Posas sometime, because, so far, it’s one of my favorite places to go in Santiago. After hiking back into town as darkness fell, we ate dinner at the escuelita. For desert we had some of the Whittaker’s ice cream with more serenading, and then Kathryn and the kids came over with a delicious chocolate cake. Like in the US, I had to blow out some candles while they sang me a birthday song, but after that, I was supposed to take a bit out of the cake. Luckily I had seen this happen at another birthday party and had an idea that when I went to bite the cake they would push my face into it. I think I would enjoy adopting this tradition into my friends future birthdays in the US :).
bolivian baroque 