Carlos Peña – Latin American Idol

On October 1, 2007, Guatemala City greeted home a hero. Carlos Peña, recently named this year’s Latin American singing Idol, returned to his motherland, Guatemala. Crowds of excited Guatemalans lined the streets, bouquets of white and blue balloons clutched in their hands. It was as if Peña had saved Guatemala from a terrible fate the way people were signing, cheering, and demonstrating such profound patriotism in the midst of their singing and dancing hero. Guatemala was back on the map! Carlos Peña had saved it from being just another Central American country with a violent past to being the Central American country with the best singer/dancer in all of Latin America.

I imagined the crowds lining the streets were all proud that they had sent text messages in to support Peña while he shook his booty and sang his songs for all of Latin America to see. Their hard work paid off as they stood anxiously waiting for the parade to start. Overhead small planes whizzed through the sky with banners stating, “BIENVENIDOS CARLOS PEÑA! Welcome Carlos Peña!” On the streets below traffic slowed to a halt as the frantic excitement to welcome home the new Guatemalan hero filled the air. The traffic became worse than when Bush shuts down cities in the United States for his visit. The need for release was incredible. When would he come by?! Finally, that familiar pyramid hairdo came into view as his car drove slowly through the crowd. Carlos Peña, a hero for his international singing fame, had come home.