Las Mañanitas

A little more than a week ago I had my 26th birthday, or I "completed" my 26th year, as you would say in Spanish.  This would make my fourth birthday I've had in Nicaragua, since my first was during training, and the other three during my three years of service.  Each one has been special, this year's included, but last year's birthday was especially memorable for me because of the surprise my Nica friends cooked up for me.

As in many places in Latin America, it is tradition to wake the birthday girl or boy up with a song called Las Mañanitas.  It can either be blasted through the house on a stereo, or sung in person, but it has to be freaking early in the morning, to be sure that it is the first thing they hear as they wake up.  Since people in the campo tend to wake up early, around 5am, to begin with, this means that you have to wake up really really freaking early here if you want to do Las Mañanitas right.  Which is why, last year, I was woken up at around 4am to the sound of singing and guitars outside my room.  

I had thought that I would be safe from Las Mañanitas, since my room was in my host family's backyard, and the logistics of going through their house to get outside my door would have been complicated.  I had underestimated the tenacity of the local Catholic youth group.  The day before, they had conspired with my host mom to let them in early, and then swore her to secrecy.  

Ronny playing the guitar.

After the Mañanitas, it is also tradition for the serenaded to then give the serenaders coffee and bread as a thank you.  Luckily, my host mom and sister had me covered on the coffee, and I cut up the cake everyone had brought me to share with the group.  All in all, a very nica birthday.