Baby Shower

About a week and a half ago, my parents-in-law hosted a baby shower for our soon-to-be new family member.  I had little idea of what to expect ahead of time, as I'd never been to a baby shower in Peru, but from the sounds of it gathered that it was going to be a bigger deal than most baby showers I'd been to.  That was definitely a true conclusion.


First of all, there isn't a Spanish word for "baby shower" so everyone talks about it with a heavy accent, making it sound like (if you can read Spanish phonetically) beibi cháuer.  Peru, being a machistic country, left plenty of opportunities to demonstrate those sentiments.  Despite the baby's gender being a surprise and there being decorations of both baby boys and girls, the boys were at the forefront and we recieved heartfelt wishes that our first child be a son. Unlike at home, where usually only women are present and they take place at reasonable hours, in Peru, baby showers are supposed to begin at about 8 pm, meaning they really get started a little after 9 pm.  Men and women are present, as well as catered food and clowns.  Since my in-laws know that I absolutely hate clowns, they had a girl dressed as a jester (perhaps?) to entertain the party guests.  We had to play numerous games, and I was pleased that I at least figured out what to do most of the time.  It was so confusing and so loud.  The party games were unusual for the States, but typical of games here ... recognizing the melody of a song and beginning to belt it out karaoke style (but without the words in front of you), acting out a skit in numerous ways--slowly, quickly, aggessively, lovingly, and modeling.

Exhausted at mid-night after cutting the 5-tier cake, giving gifts to the guests, dancing and playing the games, Igor, Ryan and I retired, but the party went on until 4 am.  Many of the men enjoyed rounds of beer, while the women danced and giggled and gossiped.




Despite being overwhelmed, we had a nice time with friends (and strangers).  We then celebrated our anniversary with small surprises: Igor got to come home from the hospital for an hour and brought me flowers and I gave him four liters of homemade granola.