La Navidad

This Christmas was the best Christmas I have ever had. Even better than that time all I got for Christmas was a giant tote full of books and bubble tape, and that was a damn good Christmas.  La Navidad this year brought my faja, but also so much more. This year on Christmas I watched two families meld into one, the language of mutual appreciation and the sharing of food and laughter outweighing the constrictions of language itself. My dad doesn’t really speak Spanish, though he did know a few things upon arriving they would serve him until approximately four seconds into a conversation at which point a solid “No habla Español” and smile would emerge. 

The day my dad and I got into site was Christmas Eve and we were pretty quickly thrown into the mix of purchasing fireworks, drinking “ponche” and eating midnight tamales. Slightly earlier on in the evening we went for a refreshing walk around the park, greeting everyone with happy wishes on Christmas, buying even still, more fireworks, taking an endless stream of photos and playing a few games of hid-and-seek and tag in the park. When we returned it was time for the lighting of the fireworks. I wish I could really explain what fireworks are like here. To be fair they are in the same packaging etc. it is more the difference of how they are lit that is important. Here it is not uncommon to see small children hsooting bottle rockets out of their hands, or roman candles towards other people. It is also not uncommon to have one of the big explosive guys go off so close to your head that the falling residue is still hot by the time it falls onto your skin. So. Much. Fun. On a completely unrelated note, I think I might be slightly afraid of fireworks now. While walking around we also saw the most busted Santa I have ever seen in my life. I was a little concerned; also his fake belly had shifted to the side so it looked like Santa had a bulbous tumor, instead of a jolly belly.

After the firework show at exactly midnight ended we decided it was time to bust out the presents! Before coming faja went to the store and scooped up toys and gifts for the fam. First the kids: for Meli a stuffed animal, a pink owl, it was so soft and fluffy it made me a little angry knowing that even though I have grown fluffy I will never be that soft. For Dani a giant TMNT stuffed animal/doll thing. This kid literally has not put that doll down, and that was over a week ago. For Selvin (age 9) a football. He was the only kid who seemed disheartened by his gift at the time. Host parents shirts and as it was also my host mom’s birthday a new radio! Seriously though, the best part of the presents was that Dad handed them out to each person saying “for you” in the most bizarre old Japanese man accent, still have no idea where that came from, but it was hilarious. 

A few minutes after gifting Selvin still looking disheartened sat on my bed, looking completely perplexed about his football. To be fair I have not seen one American football while here.  After I explained to Dad that people here didn’t play football he explained to Selvin that in the morning we would all go play football, and he would teach him how to throw the ball. He also said all of this in the elderly Japanese man accent.

On Christmas day we indeed played football, well flag football, and it was a blast. Girls vs.guys. Ladies obviously won, and most of them in corte. We also had a good time trying to explain the concept of not tackling as one random boy who decided to play tackled my host brother to the ground, luckily host brother got up swinging, literally. Tiny fists of fury flying everywhere.

The next day was our last in site. It was beautiful and slightly tragic. After many heartfelt goodbyes my family gave my dad baskets woven by their hands, and an adorable amount of hugs and well wishes, with the invitation of him being welcome whenever he would like. The most adorable thing was a toss-up between him being climbed on by tiny indigenous children and my host mom telling him that he would always be in their hearts and they would never forget them. That is a moment that I will definitely remember as long as I live.

Faja, thank you so much for the visit, and the family told me last night that they are counting down the days until next year when you get back

Other Faja related stories

-Walking around Pana Dad was offered drugs many times, to each of the first he responded with how long ago it was since had given up said drug. Hilarious.

-Boat trips across the lake, him cheesing like a fool.

-Getting drunk off of White Russians and learning for the first time in my life how my parents met on more than a surface level, and also hearing a ton of random, funny stories about my dad when he was a kid.

-Him making friends with random street vendors.

-Him making friends with literally everyone, everyone. This man has clearly never met a stranger in his life. I am not entirely sure how he and I area so different in that respect, but it was pretty awesome.

-Trivia on long trips and with Colleen, basically, we are all ready for Jeopardy

-Seeing my host mom kick his butt in soccer J

In all I had a really amazing time, with adventures I will never forget, and really felt like I developed a relationship that I never had with my dad, which was bitter sweet. On one hand it was beautiful and I wanted to continue spending time with him, and on the other he had to leave just a few days after. Fortunately I will be state side in June and will be able to continue where we left off. 

Dad playing with the host fam

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Dad torturing small Mayan children