Bad Birthday Party

Rocio Mike and I went to a birthday party for one of Rocio's friend's one year old girl. It started out very nice really. We were in her house with lots of other parents and their children. Also our friend Flor was there. She is a blind lady who sells candles and sweets and other things outside the cathedral here in Huancayo. There were lots of sweets and biscuits to eat and lots of talking and Michael was crawling round the room visiting everyone. He's such a charmer.

Then the clown arrived with a huge sound system and set up and put on LOUD dance music and shouted though his microphone to get the kids organised for his show. At one point Michael was crawling on the floor and the clown walked backwards and nearly trod on Mike's hands. I rescued him in time of course but I didn't appreciate the clown telling me to "Watch out watch out watch out!" Rather I guess he ought to be aware of little children in his job.
Michael was quite interested in what the clown was doing but got completely ignored by him. The games and talking were all to the older boys and girls.



The clowns show consisted mostly of getting the children to dance to the music one after another so they could be judged and then getting them to fetch items he called out from their mothers, ear rings, hand bags, high heeled shoes etc. These he refused to give back until the mothers danced to him to fetch them. He of course chose the sexy music for them to dance to.
Here he is...




Then he held a sexy dance contest for the mothers after checking which of them were single and saved he favourite mother till last for a special dance with him. The children were by this time forgotten and
wandered off (Luckily as it turned out).

The boring show and pounding music were putting Rocio and Mike and I to sleep so we snoozed on the settee as the show went on with some magic that involved children, flames and a plastic bottle of pure alcohol. I wasn't paying much attention until the child dropped the bottle and we suddenly had the whole of the floor in front of us on fire. The child's hands were briefly on fire as I remember and there was no way for Rocio, Michael, Flor or myself to get off the settee for the flames. There seemed to be moments when the floor was covered with flames and moments when it was just the bottle burning and I was panicking but thinking of throwing my coat over the bottle. That was when the stupid clown would kick the burning melting bottle of alcohol and the floor of flames would return. He did that several times, I don't know why. I found myself trying to keep between the flames and Rocio with Michael but I don't know what I was thinking I would do really, perhaps wave my arms at the flames until they went away.
Eventually they bottle went out and the clowns show went on! The music had never been turned off and he just continued singing along with silly songs. I couldn't believe that he made no comment about nearly burning us (My shoes are in fact a little burnt) and no-one stopped him, broke and bones or even threw him out.
We left then and my only regret about that is we didn't check that Flor was all right.
And what would have happened if the floor of the room had still had a group of children sitting on it as it had been just a few minutes before? I'm still in shock and I'm still very angry about this.
I am so sorry we bothered to go. My wife and my little boy deserve better. They should never be in such a dangerous place.