kellita the señorita the ibby dibby dow: Skin the Cat

So the bummer of New Year's was that Kristen and Steve's flight and vacation to Guatemala was cancelled. I was sad not to get to see them. But, that meant that I could join the PLQ posse back in Xela to ring in 2011. It's possible it was the best New Year's Eve ever.

We started the night with dinner at the Indian restaurant, returning home for a little after-dinner celebrating, complete with roasting marshmallows over candle sticks in the kitchen. Very NYE. We then spent much time sitting in the dark as one of the more interesting hostel-stayers has a "thing against florescent lights". Needless to say he ended up sitting in the dark kitchen by himself while we continued our party in the girls' room, which felt like being back in the dorms in college.

At 11 we headed outside to start the celebration in true Guatemalan style with some fireworks, firecrackers, sparklers, etc. With 15 minutes to go before the "ball drop" Tina and I passed out champagne, and Tania equipped everyone with sparklers, and we waited excitedly. At about 3 minutes to 12, more pirotecnics than I have ever seen in my life (including at Sky Concert or 4th of July) started going off in every direction. Explosions of color in the sky and frightening firecrackers like sonic booms that made your ears ring. It was amazing. We were just running up and down the street yelling and screaming and carrying on.

Once things settled down a bit, we brought out the music and had a 2-hour dance party in the street. we were joined by a drunken Guatemalan man who kept trying to freak with all the ladies in the middle of the street. It was like a game of tag, and we may have egged him on a bit, and when it got to be too much we went inside. At about 1:30 we headed out for the night to La Rumba, which was the funniest dance party I've ever had.

While there a gang-bang-looking Guatemalteco who was raised in California, but now lives here assumed that because he could communicate with me in English that I wanted to "get it on" as he put it. He hollered to his friends that he needed help with "these pretty white ladies that I just met", and as if his fate hadn't been sealed before that, that was it. Once back inside I used Ethan as my shield, and he in return taught me how to "skin the cat" on the dance floor. Basically it was me in hysterical laughter on the floor after he dropped me on the dip at the end of the sequence.

We finished the night at another reggae bar, and made it home before the sun came up. We've been hanging out today, and are having one last family dinner together before we all go our separate ways. It's been so nice coming back to Xela, a place I know, with a posse I love. I'm going to miss these faces.