At least we didn't have to eat the cat.

This Panamanian birthday party we went to was both a wonderful and terrible experience at the same time and here's why. We felt special to be invited so far in advance to an event, a little over a week notice. That a family in our community would think of us in their invites is pretty neat. Being a slight bit clever and increasingly culturally sensitive we showed up a casual 2 hours late, which seems to be very much the norm here. The event was at the other end of town so we had hiked pretty far, but we did our best to arrive clean and spiffy. La Señora looked a slight bit terrified to see us and while we were awfully late in our culture, we were quite early in hers. The house was a bustle of activity; a dance of cooking, rearranging, and doing what needs to be done in a household of 8 people. The Señor of the house, a four foot nothing strong man named Clemente, informed us his son went to collect a cake from the city, a good 3 hours travel time away, and his daughter, the cumpleanera or birthday girl, had gone to collect the image of the Virgin from the next town. We sat dutifully confined to the front room for a while, but felt restless in the heat. Lauren had to use the latrine so she ventured into the house. In a flurry of barking the household pack of ankle biting dogs did their duty and bit Lauren's foot. Luckily she had hiking boots on. As she passed the kitchen she couldn't help but notice the partially skinned animal that resembled a tiny pig that Senor Clemente was working on. This mystery would continue to develop so stay tuned. As we weren't really interacting with anyone directly we felt okay to duck outside and take advantage of the cell phone service that the outskirts of town enjoy and went out to call home. As we crossed the threshold we startled another of the ankle biting dogs and noticed a long black furry tail in his mouth. This deepened the mystery of just what kind of animal was being prepared for us in the kitchen. Just as I was engaging in a conversation with my dad, Clemente shuffled out to talk. Lauren asked him what the animal was in there to which he responded a gato del monte or mountain cat. And to our further duress he informed us that the meat is bien rico or pretty rich and they do eat it. As the minutes turned to hours we sat. Clemente wandered in and out and we managed to get him talking about the history of the school. He told the story in a quiet voice that was barely a match for the blasting tipico music in the background. At about five the image of the Virgin, which to our untrained eyes resembled an ultra tacky statue of the Virgin Mary, arrived and there was a ten minute labor to position it among the other Virgins that had been there all along. The cooking continued and we sat watching the sun move lower and lower quietly resigning ourselves to walking back in the dark, which is not overly fun and through snake country not overly safe either. Around about six thirty la Señora
came in and asked us if we had to go soon. As politely as we could we responded with a firm yes. As it turned out, we were the only guests invited so much hinged on us enjoying ourselves. To our great relief she brought us heaping plates of arroz con pollo or chicken and rice, the jungle cat was left smoking for another day. They watched us eat. As we finished up and made ready to say goodbye, Jose, the son who had gone some 4 hours earlier for the cake, returned with the cake. Being the only guests, we felt obligated to stay so sat again as lengthy cake preparations were made. As the family gathered around the cake we were prompted to sing the birthday song in English, then we sang in Spanish, then Jose put in a CD, which blared a 15 minute birthday ballad. Its chorus said roughly, "everyone at this meeting hopes your birthday is good." A match was stuck in the cake and blown out by the cumpleanera. They watched as we ate cake. As we finished up and once again made ready to say goodbye the birthday girl asked for some pictures with her family. All of the sudden a skinny guy we had never seen before emerged from the shadows and draped his arms over the 19 year old cumpleanera. After many photos were taken and retaken we were left guessing who this lucky suitor was and why he all of the sudden appeared to grope the cumpleanera for photos. We said our goodbyes, slightly shell-shocked by the whole event and left. It had been a long afternoon, but hey... at least we didn't have to eat the cat.