Party on, Nicaragua.

Nicaraguan parties fascinate me. No matter what event is being celebrated, be it birthday party, wedding reception, baby shower (known affectionately as "baby shower" here, not "ducha de bebe" as some of you might be thinking), or who knows what else, the party is almost exactly the same, with the only difference being that younger children's parties tend to have a piñata.

When you enter, dozens of white plastic chairs are pushed against the wall, music is blasting out of huge speakers, and after sitting in one of the chairs, you wait. The first time I went to a Nicaraguan party, I had no idea what we were waiting for, because no one was talking to each other, except for maybe awkwardly making conversation with the people they were sitting by. Well, after a little while, the host (or host's wife) and other women in the family come around with drinks on a tray for everyone in the room, which by this point may include some 40-60 people. After everyone's been served a drink, the host and family members then circle around with a plate of food for everyone. The first time this happened, I was completely amazed by the amount of preparation that goes into a party, between the guest list and the food and the decorations and the party favors.

Eventually, after the eating and the drinking, the music is turned up even louder (if possible; one of my friends has a theory that Nicaraguans are rather deaf) and the dancing/piñata bashing begins. I've always loved piñatas, and here I love them in a terrifying sort of way. The piñatas here are the largest I've ever seen in my life. For the 2-year-old's birthday in the family I've been living in, the Winnie-the-Pooh piñata was definitely much larger than he was, maybe explaining why he likes the ideas of piñatas more than the actual piñata itself. Piñatas are terrifying to me, probably because I've grown up in the US culture of lawsuits and more cautious parenting, and here, kids are whacking at piñatas very close to each other and little babies.

And the dancing. Man, can Nicaraguans dance. I'm not one of those people who claims that white people can't dance, but I have to say that dancing is ingrained in the culture here and is encouraged from day one. I tried to capture the 10-year-olds dancing in these pictures, but it's hard to capture in just a few images. "Hips don't lie," indeed. (Speaking of which, that song is a requisite in all parties, dance clubs, bars, you name it. Surprisingly, I still like the song).

One of my Nicaraguan friends came with me to a party at one of the volunteer houses a few weeks ago, a house which is comprised of mostly gringoes and Europeans, and was surprised at how little food there was and kept asking me when the dancing would get started or if the music was going to be turned up. It was one of those culture realization moments for me, because I had been thinking how "normal" the party felt, with some snack food and people mingling, but obviously my normal is another person's strange. The parties here are all about the preparation--the food, the drinks, the setting-up of speakers, the purchase of really nice party favors, etc. The party itself just flows by itself. No pre-ordained activities, no children's tables apart from the adult tables, just simply talking and dancing.