Birthday Wrap Up

In the events industry, we live by two things. The Run Schedule and the Wrap Up. Despite being out of my job for almost 8 months now, I cant help but think that sometimes these two tools are vital to most activities and events.

I turned 32 the other day and have to say, despite being as old as the hills, I had the best birthday I think of my life and experienced a feeling of contentment and inner peace that I havent felt in a long time.

It started on the eve of my birthday. The girls were tired and went to bed early so I sat at the bar in the hostel drinking a tequila sunrise and writing in my journal. It was a quiet night at Los Amigos with only a few people chilling out in conversation, some nice laid back tunes and just a generally cool vibe. I spent a couple of hours writing and reflecting then sat and talked with Tops for a couple of hours about his own journey to Antigua. Before opening the bar and restaurant in the hostel, he had been going through a tough time - his girlfriend of 6 years had broken up with him so he hit the booze and drugs and did his darndest to self destruct when, coming home from a party in Guatemala City one night off chops, he was mugged and assaulted to within an inch of his life. He lost his job, looked like the Elephant Man from his injuries and realised that when he needed his friends, there were none to be found..So he packed his backpack and jumped on the chicken bus to Antigua. It was there he found Macanace, the Rasta Chef extraordinaire, who had nothing but a bag and a broken guitar found in some rubbish. Together 2 lost souls came together and created one of the best bars and restaurants in Antigua. So the night before my birthday I realised I had made yet another great and special friend....what a gift!

The day of my birthday started with a bowl of cornflakes with my two girls, a visit from Luis and Stewart, and lots of love sent to me from Beautiful People Worldwide! So much love, it was amazing to think that only 3 months ago I didnt know half these people...I was then given instructions to get lost for a while so the girls could construct the party. So I went frock shopping and bought myself a bright blue dress the colour of the Guatemalan flag!

And so, the fiesta.

The party started with a huge table of party snacks. One thing they dont do here is snack platters. No dips and chips, cheese and biccies or anything like it. But, Jodie found a deli and went nuts on the food, even finding brie! Unheard of! So Nikki, Jodie, Johnny, Ari, Nina, Tops and Macanace joined us for great food and pink champagne, beautiful gift giving and generally spreading the love. I was given beautiful earrings, a necklace made of Jade, a GUATEMALA bracelet, a bottle of Argentinean red wine, a joint and condom, of which both went missing by the end of the night! HA!

After snack platters we hit the cubre libres and got the tunes going until my new crew from Livingstone turned up. This is the band I wrote about in a previous post, who quickly became my new friends despite my bad spanish. Luis, Stewart, Steven, Jessica and Juan rocked up and within minutes had the bongos and maraccas out to sing me Happy Birthday and a bunch of other tunes. It was such a beautiful gesture and I felt honoured to have these guys at the party in my life, even if only briefly. We jammed some more, drank some more, then hit the club for some Salsa and Reggaton. It was an awesome night and one of my most memorable on my trip!

So 32 and here I am in one of the most beautiful countries I have seen so far on my travels. The rest of my life seems to be just one big question mark at the moment but nothing about that scares me...its just another sign of opportunity...