Cumpleaños feliz!

When it's your birthday, you can wait around for your friends to throw you a party, or you can simply throw one for yourself. Claudia's in the business of producing things - concerts, publicity campaigns, tours - and so when she wants to put on a party, it's all thought out. DJ duties split between her friend Luís (DJ Gros!: He comes with his own soundsystem) and her boyfriend Sebastian. A short set by Sindicato Sonoro, Sebastian's group that specializes in Colombian folk music. Ample space for dancing, lounging, drinking, smoking, both inside and out on the patio. The cost of snacks and hors d'oeuvres split between everyone. Rum, pisco and Chilean red wine flowing like, well, wine.

Parties work on a different time frame here than they do in Montreal. The very earliest guests arrive around 11pm, with a fashionably late entrance being around 1:30am or 2. We didn't get to bed until 6am - the sun was just starting to come up.

I just worked the room - as the only extranjera in a room full of Chilenos I had tons of obvious fodder for conversation. I talked to a ton of people. It's really interesting to see everyone's different take on your foreign-ness and where they want to take the discussion of it. As a North American, some people let their contempt for all things USA ( a.k.a Gringolandia) out on you. Some people try very diplomatically to show that they know there's a difference between Canada and the US. And some don't care about where you're from; they're more interested in your impressions and experiences in their country.

But like any good party, it wasn't all talk. Sindicato Sonoro , though missing a few of their musicians, were great. Tons of percussion, and a singer. They're doing a show this Thursday with the full band and complete with dancers. I can't wait.

There were several people at the party that I had met the last time I was here, including Mario, the guy that looks like Rick Mercer, and this guy Felipe, that apologized profusely for being so wasted when I'd met him in '05, and assured me that the only reason he declared his love for me and told me he wanted to accompany me on the plane back to Canada was because he was so drunk. ¡Que son frescos los chilenos!

I also got to put what I learned in the salsa and merengue classes I took this winter to work. Not quite the same experience as dancing in class, when you take into account that your partner's probably drunk, self-taught, and that the DJ may throw a cumbia or a cueca into the mix. And then there was this weird guy that kept asking me to dance. Picture Adam Sandler's Boy Scout character all grown up and wearing a poncho. Let's just say that my glass had to be refilled or I suddenly had to go to the bathroom halfway through the songs that he wanted to dance to.

We finished the cleanup a few hours ago, interspersing bouts of picking up cigarette butts from underneath the orange tree in the garden and mopping the floor with hearty helpings of Chinese food.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños!