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The next morning when we woke up at 7:30 a.m., Antonio had already left for Quito, Sisa was already at school, and Rosa had gone to Cotacachi. When we went outside, Yupanqui and Tayanta were playing together. Yupanqui is much more verbal than on previous visits. When I said "Buenos dias," He responded with "Buenos dias, Achi Mama!" The weather was beautiful. In the daylight, we got our first glimpse of the gardens. There was a gorgeous orange butterfly alighting on a flower.
Aida made us a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs with deli ham, croissants, fresh tea, and orange juice. Yupanqui carried our steaming plates over to the table, with both hands. We enjoyed eating with Aida and the two youngest kids. The cat sat next to Yupanqui on the bench, eyeing his plate hungrily. We were really pleased that the cat was still healthy and happy. It is a difficult life for domesticated animals in this environment, and they have lost many pets in the past. After that we walked Yupanqui and Tayanta to preschool, up near the community center. The family calls it going "arriba" or "Up", when traveling toward the center of the village. Max accompanied us. Tayanta likes to go for walks and she didn't insist on being carried. The sky was blue mottled with white puffy clouds. Once again we noticed that the roads had been repaired during the past few months, with washouts filled in with gravel. We walked the familiar route down the hill, around a corner, and up another hill towards Sisa's school and the community center. Yupanqui had an armload of little toys. We passed a donkey tied up on the side of the road, some sheep, and piglets. We passed eucalyptus trees, cornfields and the roads were lined with huge agave plants. The surrounding Andes mountains were visible. We were a bit early for preschool, so we hung out on the grounds of the community center for a while. Aida chatted wth a young woman who was working there. Yupanqui and Tayanta ran around and played with the little cars Yuypanqui had carried. Beans and corn were drying on the concrete patio. At one point, the girl who worked there, Aida, and the two kids marched around in a cirlce on the drying beans. We noticed a new playground behind the community center, with slides, a jungle gym, etc. The direct sun was very hot, and we sat in whatever shade we could find. Men were working in the road, building something with logs. We thought it might be a fence, but we weren't sure. But it probably had something to do with the fiesta that starts tomorrow. A man came over to us and handed us a nice program outlining the order of events. The community of Morochos was turning 76 years old, and there were three days of festivities. We looked at the professionally printed program, and noticed that there was a photo of Rosa on the back, grinding corn with her traditional stone grinder. We thanked the man for the brochure and he said he looked forward to seeing us at the festivities. When it was time to take the kids to preschool, we left the community center and walked a little bit further up the road. We came upon a traditionally dressed woman, a large group of toddlers, and a gringo who towered over them. We introduced ourselves. He was a college student named Chris from Saskatchewan who was volunteering for 8 weeks at the preschool. He was 2 weeks in, and we had a nice conversation about adjusting to the area, culture, etc. Although his girlfriend is also volunteering, she is in the nearby community of Santa Barbara, so they only get to meet occasionally in Cotacachi. I'm sure that the preschool teacher appreciates his help, as there were quite a few little ones in the class. We left Yupanqui and Tayanta in the care of Chris and the preschool teacher, and walked down the hill. We stopped outside of Sisa's school. It was recess time, and Sisa said an enthusiastic hello to us through the chain link fence. She introduced us to her amigas. She even managed to escape out the gate to give us big hugs. She is such a sweetheart! She has matured so much in the past couple of years, and seeing her with her group of friends at school made us proud. We went back to the house via a shortcut through people's yards, down one side of a ravine and up another, as Aida was now a little late to prepare lunch. When we got back, we took a short rest. The morning's walk had been a little bit far for Craig, and of course it always takes a day or two to acclimate to the high altitude. Before we knew it, Sisa was home from school. She immediately did her homework, which was "sumas", or addition. The family told us that she is doing very well in school, and that she has a very good teacher. Aida embroidered a blouse, and Rosa ground some corn at the grinding stone. Chipi the cat snuggled into Craig's locally made alpaca wool sweater. We ate lunch with Aida, Rosa, and Sisa. As usual, the meal began with a delicious home-made soup. Next came delicately fried chicken, rice, a salad of cucumbers, onions, and tomatoes, and a vegetable salad of green beans, peas, and carrots in mayonnaise. We had fresh pineapple juice to drink. It was delicious. After lunch, Aida left to go to a meeting at the preschool. We enjoyed playing with Sisa outside in the yard. We gave her a My Little Pony playset that included a little car, two ponies, and a bunch of tiny accessories. Sisa is very particular about putting things in their right place, and insisted on keeping the plastic bubble packaging and putting everything where it fit, like a puzzle. In fact she spent more time putting it away properly than she did playing with it. She went into the house and emerged with a teddy bear. She tied a string over its shoulder. "Yo soy reina deportes!" she shouted. "I am the sports queen!" It was obvious that this honor had really boosted her self-confidence, and we made sure to tell her how proud of her we are. Antonio's uncle, who is deaf and mute, was around for most of the day, He was very cheerful and friendly, and seemed to help with chores such as collecting firewood. We were also happy to see Antonio's mother, who spends most of her days caring for the family's cow and cooking over a fire in the outdoor shed. When Aida came home with Yupanqui and Tayanta, Yupanqui presented me with a heart pillow he had made at school, and a collage of a flower that said "Happy Mother's Day". He gave Craig a sunflower that he had made at school. It was very sweet, and we were really touched. Sisa showed Yupanqui her My Little Pony toys, and Yupanqui was very interested in the car. We went into the casita and got our gifts for Yupanqui and Tayanta. We presented Yupanqui with some plastic dinosaurs, and we gave Tayanta a Corduroy teddy bear. Yupanqui liked Sisa's car more, even though it was the girliest pink car covered with hearts and bows imaginable. He even seemed a bit afraid of the dinosaurs. Tayanta had really warmed up to us quite a bit since this morning, and was interacting with us quite often. A man showed up with two cardboard boxes balanced on his head. They contained fluffy yellow baby chicks. The family was down to its last hen, so they bought 11 chicks for a total of $12.50. The chicks were very cute. Tayanta was afraid of them at first, but I held one and convinced her to touch it. It freaked her out a bit, but she was soon as enamored with the chicks as the rest of us were. As it got dark, we had to gather them up and put them in a cardboard box lined with hay for the evening. We immediately thought of a song we had learned from our Guatemalan compadres: Los pollitos dicen "Pio pio pio!"We sang it in Spanish and the kids sang along. Being in the highlands of Ecuador, we were sure these particular chicks were probably peeping for both these reasons. We felt like Rocky trying to gather the chicks together...it is challenging! They spent the night in their box on the porch of our casita. Antonio returned home from Quito. We played with the kids on a new rug on the kitchen floor. They put on some traditional music and the kids asked us to dance with them. We danced around the kitchen, and I'm sure we were in Rosa and Aida's way as they prepared dinner. Antonio said that Yupanqui had been saying how much he was looking forward to dancing with Achi Taita at the village's anniversary celebration. I think the fact that Achi Taita had been too sick to dance at Yupanqui's baptism was something that Yupanqui wanted to rectify as soon as possible. Sisa is very cheerful and excited about everything. Her excitement was contagious. She was effusive in her thanks for the toys, and was just generally happy that we were around. She is a good role model for her younger siblings, and her leadership qualities are really starting to show. The younger ones take their cue from her and obviously look up to her. For dinner, we had soup made of habas beans, steak in an onion sauce, broccoli, rice, and potatoes. Everyone was very tired, and we went to bed at 9:30. |
 Breakfast: Chipi, Yupanqui, Tayanta, and Aida  Aida, Tayanta, and Yupanqui walking to the community center  Tayanta  Aida feeding Tayanta lunch  Door-to-door chick salesman  Sisa holds a new baby chick  Craig, Steph, and Sisa 
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