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We woke up at 8 a.m. and went to breakfast at 9. Aida cooked crepes with mora (blackberry) jelly inside. They were delicate and delicious. We also had papaya juice, bread, and coffee.
After breakfast, I did the dishes. We once again played blocks with Sisa and Yupanqui. Aida said to come, we're going to buy shoes for Sisa. We were taken aback and didn't have our things ready for a trip to town. She gestured toward the street, so we followed her, thinking we must be misunderstanding. There, parked in front of their driveway, was a pickup truck full of new shoes. Two guys were selling shoes and Aida picked out a pair of pink zippered high tops for Sisa and a pair of tiny "Reeboks" for Yupanqui. Neighbors came over to shop and Rosa called out to announce the arrival to the family across the ravine. It is very cool that in these rural neighborhoods, goods come to them. This includes shoes, clothing, fruit, fish, potatoes, and gas for their cooking stove. We then went back to playing blocks. We had a lunch of lemonade, cabbage soup, fried rice with hot dog and chicken bits, and fried plantains. We found a big bright green beetle on the floor. It was dead, but Aida used it to torment Sisa. She teased her with it, and Sisa jumped. Last Wednesday afternoon, Sisa had gone to nursery school (although she had arrived late). We asked if she was going to school again today, and they said yes, at 3 o'clock. Three o'clock came and went. Maybe we had misunderstood once again. Either way, we didn't want to impose our first world punctuality and time stress on them, so we didn't mention it further. Aida gave Sisa a bath in a plastic tub. She then dressed Sisa in a pink jumper and tights, and did her hair. Sisa's teacher teacher came by to speak to Rosa. I guess they hadn't realized the time and missed class entirely! They had been bathing Sisa in preparation for class! Craig and I just laughed about Sisa missing school, saying that they need some kind of device "and this thing which tells time". Maybe we'll give them a kitchen clock for Christmas. Rogue neighborhood cows invaded the yard several times and had to be chased off. Craig helped Antonio move the speakers inside. We went in when it started to get more chilly. Sisa sat next to us on the bench and we looked at a calendar that we had sent them for Christmas last year. It included photos of New England landscapes, and Aida asked us questions about it. Aida brought out the Curious George book and we read some to Sisa. She was listening to a radio station that played a weird mix of AC/DC, New Kids on the Block, and Chubby Checker. When Rosa was in charge of the radio, they tended to listen to traditional Andean music. Aida's station played America's "Horse with No Name." I started to sing along and Sisa was transfixed. She clapped and said bravo. During the ending "la la la" section, she sang along with me. It was very cute. I wished I had put that CD on my iPod so that I could play it for her again. We all had dinner together - more cabbage soup, fried rice, an omelette, and blueberry juice to drink. They squeezed lemons onto their meals to give it additional flavor. Aida gave Yupanqui a lemon wedge, and when he sucked on it he made the best scrunched-up face! We all laughed; Sisa most of all. Aida did it several more times with Yupanqui and then Sisa tried it. She was unaffected. Impressive. Antonio told us that we would go to Cotacachi on the 8 a.m. bus tomorrow morning see the children dance for Inti Raymi. We weren't sure, but we believe he said that Sisa's school would be dancing. He said that we would eat breakfast at 7:30. We wondered if that was enough time to make the bus. We'll see. We went to our room at 8:05 p.m. and packed a daypack to make sure that we were prepared prior to breakfast. Sisa was great all day today: no meltdowns and very friendly with us. In fact, all day she had joked with us by crossing her arms, sighing, and giving us the hairy eyeball like she does when mad. We would do the same back to her and she would crack up. She told us in Kichwa that she wants us to teach her English; we taught her to say hello. Clearly she was over whatever stress she had felt as part of the lead-up to the baptism (and the overtiredness that had immediately followed the all-night party), and was now back to her cheerful self. |
 Steph plays with Yupanqui  Sisa kisses Yupanqui  Sisa  Sisa carries Yupanqui in a rebozo  Sisa See more photos from this day |
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