madrina

the sun had gone down and i was about to wrap up the evening doing a bucket of dishes but instead Pepe and Maria showed up and we went to my neighbors (Pepe´s sister) house so I coulde drop off a gift to Clara and Bolivar for the arrival of their new son.

we shared some chit-chat and chicha and then they asked if i wanted to hold the baby and be it´s madrina while they baptize it (sprinkle it´s forehead with water from the hose). i asked what it meant to be a `madrina´, which i found is somewhat like a god-mother where i show up to birthdays and holidays with gifts and give him a name.

nothing like being put on the spot, eh?
in this culture, babies are generally unnamed until a suggestion is made or compadres are elected, in which they give the name.

after catching up on this bit of cultural info, we tossed around some names (i´m not much a tosser of names). they had asked about the nickname `jordy´before the whole madrina request so the little fella got a name on his 8th day of life; Jordan Giovani Aguinda- ¡welcome to the journey hombrecito!