Block Party Birthday Extravaganza

We had been planning this mounumental event for quite some time. The security guard on our street was turning 25 years old on May 29th. This was a perfect excuse to throw a huge block party and meet our neighbors. Other reasons to party included - my birthday on the 30th, a going away for the family that lives below us, and friends Keith and Ryan in town. We bought enough food to barbeque for 100 people! Pedro and Wilbert manned the BBQs. They started grilling around 6pm and the guests began to arrive around 7pm. Throughout the night I bet over 100 people made an appearance at the party. We had bought a ton of food, and by the end of the night - there were zero leftovers.
This night was an event I will never forget! We had invited some of our shoe shiner friends to be the band. A few of the guys we know play in a Bolivian folkloric music group. It was after 8pm and there was still no sign of the guys. I was still having a bunch of fun with everyone else at the party, but I was starting to get bummed that the band wasn't going to show up. Just a little while later they showed up! They went up stairs to practice for a couple minutes and then came down to give us a show. There were nine guys in the group. Instruments included: guitar, charango, cuatro, sampona, flute, drum, zapatillas de obeja, and clappers. The guys were great! They played their hearts out... and it was so cool to have live Bolivian music to celebrate my birthday! They put Jhonny and I in the middle and sang a birthday song for us! Some of the guests were able to show us some authentic Bolivian dances, so we danced to the awesome music. In the middle of the music, one of the shoe shiner guys, Alex, came up to me to talk. He told me that it is tradition to smash an egg over the head of the birthday girl. I immediately got suspicious... but soon forgot about the conversation and got lost in the music. A couple minutes later, Alex pulled out the egg, and smashed it over my head. His first attempt was unsuccessful so I ran away as fast as I could. He eventually caught me and smashed two eggs over my head... followed by a cup of flour! Gross. It was pretty nasty, and the concoction seemed to immediately harden in my hair. But what the heck, it's tradition and I wouldn't let that spoil my fun! The guys played a few more songs, and I felt so priviledged that they would play for our party! What a blessing!
The night continued on until about 11pm. I had a blast talking with friends, eating meat, and of course getting my face smashed into the cake! What a night!
This will be a 21st bday that I will never forget!