Ecuador 2/22/2022 - 3/8/2022 |
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Saturday, February 26, 2022 - Spending Saturday with the KidsToday was Saturday, so I didn't need to get up early for work, and the kids were home from school. Breakfast was crepes with marmalade, bread, bologna, juice, and coffee. We were really grateful for all that Aida had done to prepare for our arrival as well as cooking for us.The kitten was sitting at the dining table with his paws out in front of him...it was the same pose that their previous cat, El Señor Chipikins, had been photographed in years earlier. The Chipikins photo was part of the concentration game that we had made. I snapped a photo of the kitten as we all remembered Chipikins. We played a few rounds of concentration with the kids. Then the kids wanted to go for a walk. So Craig and I went with the four of them. Sisa and Yupanqui ran up the hill and sat down at a brand new bus stop (the roof hadn't even been installed yet) waiting for us to catch up. We walked up to the school and the community center, enjoying the scenery of cornfields, agave plants, and eucalyptus trees. The community center now has a nice roof over the courtyard, and a nice fence around it. We walked back to the house. It was a long walk for Adeliz Dashel. Aida had told us that she has never liked to be carried. She likes to walk herself. So I didn't try to pick her up. When we got back to the house, we had lunch (hot dogs, beans, rice, soup, a fried egg, and llapingachos.) This weekend is carnival, a pre-Lenten celebration which has not been able to take place for the past two years due to covid. The main thrust of the celebration in the communities seems to revolve around football (soccer). Antonio and the kids asked if we wanted to go up to the soccer field and watch a match. We had done this before (though not at carnival time), and there are usually vendors selling snacks while folks socialize and watch the game. We walked up to the field (we were feeling the altitude as we ascended a big hill) with Sisa, Yupanqui, and Shina. Craig and I wore masks. As outsiders, we wanted to be respectful to the community. As we got close to the field, vendors were set up selling food. People were drinking beer in the street. Street dogs were congregating, and one darted out from under a parked car and nipped Craig's ankle. His initial assessment was that the bite didn't break the skin. I gave him some hand sanitizer to clean the wound then and there. We ran into Antonio, who talked to a few people and found out that the football game wasn't taking place after all. There wasn't much else to do; we weren't hungry, as Aida had been feeding us so well. We were now quite wary of the dogs, and wanted to get home to inspect Craig's wound more closely. So we decided not to stick around. The kids each bought an ice cream and we headed back to the house. At least in this direction, the walk was downhill. When we got back to the house, we looked at Craig's wound and cleaned it one more time. It hadn't broken the skin. We played concentration with the kids, and Adeliz Dashel started to warm up to us a bit. In addition to the concentration game, we had also made a mug at Shutterfly with the kids' photos on it. Craig and I decided to have a cup of coffee, so we made my coffee in the mug but didn't say anything to the family. We waited for them to notice it. Their minds were blown that we were able to make all of these things with their photos. Aida was touched that we included Adeliz, even though we had never met her. That's the beauty of Facebook...we could use photos that Aida had shared with us. Antonio told me that Monday morning we would celebrate Pawkar Raymi. This was a local tradition that we had not known about. He had Sisa translate his words to English. She told me that we would gather early in the morning, before I went to work. As her godmother, I would shower Sisa with flowers. Antonio's brother and family would likely be there, and so would "the press." I didn't quite understand what all of this meant, but assumed that they would give us more information as the time grew closer. This was usually how things worked around here; we don't know what's going to happen until the time actually comes. Antonio left to go to Otavalo and Cotacachi to play music at a wedding. For dinner, the rest of us had asparagus soup, steak, cauliflower, potatoes, and peas. After dinner, the internet went out. The family was tired and went to bed at 8 o'clock. It was ironic that they turned in earlier on a weekend night than they did on weekdays, but the busy week had probably caught up with them. Craig and I went back to our casita and listened to some music until we were ready to go to sleep. There wasn't much to do without internet access. |
 Kitten and El Señor Chipikin  Yupanqui and Sisa at the new bus stop  Adeliz Dashel and Sisa going for a walk  Shina, Sisa, and Yupanqui playing concentration See all photos from February 26 |
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