Christmas Eve in Balgue

And a Merry Christmas Eve it was...

This morning was a late morning after the festivities of Yolanda’s mother’s birthday party and my decision to watch a movie when I got back to the lodge. While the party was lively and the multitude of relatives was impressive, both the Grandmother and I spent the night in each others company. With my mood, my comprehension was near nil. So the two of us sat in silence, she wishing that more of her family could have come to her party and I wishing I could have had some glimmer of Christmas back home.

My day was spent trying to complete chores. This included feeding the pigs, cleaning out their hut, watering, and more such mundane tasks. My afternoon was equally thrilling, I took a nap. However, I was feeling like perhaps I should spend the day alone and that I shouldn’t leave the farm for another night. So when Pablo and Yolanda arrived to take me into town, I said perhaps it was better for me to stay and watch the farm. They left looking sorry for me, and I went back to sleep hoping to pass the day.

The excitement of the day really happened when I found two of the guests from the lodge walking through the farm. The woman paused to tell me she saw water flowing out of our water line. Always a good thing to hear at 4:30pm and only one hour of daylight left. I went to investigate the damage and instead of freaking out, I remembered that just the day before a similar issue had happened and how Pablo dealt with it.

I walked up to the Lodge and asked the kitchen where the main key was for the water line so I could make the repairs. Luckily one of the workers still happened to be around and was able to show me where to turn off the water for the rest of the line, Lodge down. Then I returned down to the farm, grabbed the necessary tools I would need and the bag of miscellaneous pipes and connectors I would need to fix it. I threw the bag over my shoulder like a continental soldier (or Santa, given the timing) and trudged up to fix the water leak.

I was able to saw off the affected area, and put in a new connector for the pipe. Not without getting substantially wet. By the time I had corrected the issue I figured, I need to do something to life my spirits. So I went up to the Lodge to use the Internet and had high hopes to update this blog of mine. I turned back on the water and headed to the restaurant. While chatting to Eric, he told me Pablo and Yolanda were here.

In what seemed to be a sign I couldn’t ignore, I went to say hi to Pablo and he invited me once more to come for the Christmas festivities. At this point, I was more than happy to go see his family and just be in the presence of other humans. I had just enough time to pack up, feed Dukie, and meet up with them on the way into Balgue.

Yolanda made a quick stop inside a shop to purchase a new shirt for Church. Pablo and I stood in the entrance way, making jokes about the little girls outfits that Pablo should buy for us. I told him we needed to match.

Then I played with Andy once again while Pablo and crew prepared themselves for Church. Being rather unprepared, I only had my not-so-clean clean pants and my t-shirt. A great look for Church. But at least it was a good outfit for throwing a baseball with Andy. The best part of the entire night for me was watching Andy freak out when the baseball actually came within striking distance. By this I mean he would throw up his hands in the air and close his eyes, even turning away. Not exactly effective. But the overall look was just so hilarious that I was laughing hysterically. And had no words in Spanish or English to properly explain why it was so funny.

We headed out to watch as Mary and Joseph sought room. I kid you not, these two young Nicaraguans were dressed up as the Holy Parents themselves and wandered the streets of Balgue looking for a room. They went up to several different houses singing what Yolanda said was a traditional song. Then we followed the couple to the Church, where the Holy Parents finally found a “room”. When they did, about 12 other kids started shaking these balloon covered sticks and sang to Joseph and Mary. I still don’t understand what it was all about, but I enjoyed watching the young kids chase the balloons that went flying off!

While the mass itself was rather uneventful, mostly because I wasn’t able to follow it, there were some great moments. The first was when Mary was formally presented with a fake baby Jesus in frount of the whole congregation in the middle of mass. The second was when Andy had found a small orange balloon and was playing during the mass with one of his older cousins. The third, and my personal favourite part, was watching a one year old boy throwing his sweater at his sister and father with a ferocity that was both stunning and hilarious. Mostly because as soon as the sweater made impact, his one year old giggle melted my cynical heart in an instant. It wasn’t long until his infectious giggle had spread past his immediate family.

After the mass, we followed the procession of balloon sticks and Joseph and Mary. With a live band as well. We walked around listening to the music as some young men set off fireworks. This was the first time in Nicaragua I have seen the fun part of fireworks, the visual display. Not the loud bang that makes me think I’m in the middle of a battle re-enactment.

We headed back to the Lopez’s home early (meaning we didn’t go to the dance party), where I promptly fell asleep on Oneyda’s bed. They were very sweet and offered me the private room, while they share two mattresses for four people.

As close as I got to “white” Christmas music this year was seeing Harry Connick Jr. sing a song about children and christmas toys or something. I had a hearty laugh at seeing such a strangely familiar sight on anything but a typical Christmas for me.