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We woke up prior to our alarm. My stomach wasn't feeling very well this morning. We went over to breakfast at 8:30. Antonio was out helping a friend build a foundation for his house. Sisa already had her coloring book out. She sat between us at the kitchen table and colored. We had a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs with onions, green peppers, and tomato, served with rice, croissants, juice, and coffee.
After breakfast, we played with Sisa for a while and then started to help with chores. We swept the floors and patio. Sisa helped with a little hand whisk broom. Then we scrubbed the floors with a soapy broom, went over them with a mop, and then did one more pass with a clean mop. Then we changed the sheets on our bed and swept out our room. We sat on a mat with Sisa and Rosa and unraveled fabric scraps. She used a bottle cap to get it started and then just unraveled it easily into threads. Craig and I were quite inefficient at this. Mine kept getting stuck, It took us forever to get through one small piece each! It just goes to show how nothing goes to waste here; the resulting thread could be sold in nearby Imbabura. Next we had lunch, which was a hearty soup featuring yucca, corn on the cob, beans, meat, etc. It was delicious. Delia, Rosa's niece from next door, came over and had a bowl of soup. Craig and I unraveled more fabric while Rosa gave Sisa a bath. She then got her dressed. We walked over to the school behind the community center for Sisa's one hour a week nursery school class. We were late, but she still got to participate in the activity (fingerpainting a numeral 2) and they did some cute little games and songs. Sisa was an active participant and enjoyed playing and following directions. They teach a song where they clap hands and say "Bravo," so that's obviously where she learned that. The kids were given oranges as a parting snack. We walked back home. We went out back with Rosa and Abuelita. Abuelita took a big rat's nest of cornstalks out of a little shed made of cement blocks. Rosa asked me to sweep it out, and when I was done, we gathered a lot of firewood from around the property and stacked it in there. It was hard work and Craig and I got tired easily due to the high altitude. Rosa had a plan as to where each piece of wood should go acording to size and shape, but we couldn't fully understand her instructions. Craig and I joked about how useless we must appear; we can't unravel clothing and we can't even stack branches properly! Rosa wrestled one of the pigs and we played with Sisa, making up a clapping game for despacio (slowly) and rapido (quickly). She loved it and her little giggles evolved into hearty deep belly laughs. We were expecting Aida and Yupanqui to arrive home tonight, so when the 6:30 bus stopped out front, we had expected them to be on it. But they weren't. Sisa was apparently expecting it as well, and when they didn't show up, she became cranky. Rosa served us dinner: leftover soup from lunch, rice, lentils, enormous plantains, and cabbage. Sisa fell asleep at the table. We had thought that we had to have a meeting with the priest tonight. But Rosa took us next door to Antonio's brother Miguel's house for more "preparation". When we arrived, he told us to come back tomorrow when Aida could be with us. He also seemed to imply that he couldn't communicate to us without Antonio present as somewhat of a translator (even though Antonio's English skills are in the beginning stages and we talk to the family in simple Spanish anyway). We thanked him and said we would see him tomorrow. We went back to our casita and went to bed. |
 Sweeping the kitchen  Sisa helps Rosa to sweep the patio  Sisa and Max  Sisa helps to unravel fabric  Craig cuts some firewood See all photos from this day |
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