Congresco Party on the Island
24 November 2011 | Isla Maquina
Denny/86 degrees, sunny
Yesterday we were invited to a celebration on the Island of Maquina. All the dancing and hair cutting that we came for was done in private. What we got to go to was the party the family threw, like a wedding reception or graduation. This party was held on the island in a big bamboo building. The chief had to invite us and no cameras were allowed. It only took a few minutes to see why no cameras, this was a frat party times two. The woman all dressed up and stayed on one side of the room. The men were in jeans, tee shirts, shorts. Some dressed up with collared shirts and one man had a tie. Dressed up or not they all came to get drunk and smoke. I sat next to three men in black shirts. They handled the bar. When the party started (about 3pm) one man started poring rum into a wood mixing sized bowl. The other two used shot glass sized cups to fill each person's personal or communal bowl. When one bottle was empty the next was opened. The goal was for approximately 100 people to drink the rum faster than the bar could poor it. We were told the party goes until 10pm. Along with the fast paced drinking was chain smoking, For one month we have not seen a Kuna with a cigarette, here they were being passed out like candy and everyone lit up. The combination of drinking and smoking was too much, by 4:30 woman were falling over themselves and men were getting out of control. The line in the middle of the room that divided the men and woman was getting fuzzy. Becky who I thought was having fun had had enough, women went from dancing to groping and it was time for the crew of Kokomo to go home. We stayed 10 minutes to long. Had we left when we went out for air the first time it would have been fun but during our ten minute break things got our of control. That was our first Kuna congreso, the next might be in Tacoma so our friends can see the fun were having.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Life is good on Kokomo
Denny