Ecuador 7/22/2023 |
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Saturday, July 22, 2023 - The Day Before the PartyBy the time we woke up, Sisa and Shina had already gone to Ibarra for Sisa's English class. My stomach wasn't feeling well, so Aida made me some special tea from a locally grown plant. We had hot dogs, bread, eggs, and fries for breakfast (I just ate the hot dogs and bread since my stomach was feeling delicate). Nena listened to "Baby Shark" and "Los Pollitos Dicen Pio Pio Pio" on Aida's phone.We found that we suddenly had no running water, since they were working on the water pipes in the community. Sometimes this goes on for several days, and we wondered what would happen if there was no water for the big party tomorrow. Craig and I went for a walk in the back yard. The fields were VERY dry and dusty. It is obvious that they have not had substantial rain in a long time. For lunch we had soup, steak, carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli. Aida had picked up Sisa's dress (it was a rental), and she showed it to us. I asked Nena if she liked it, and she said no. She was jealous and wanted the dress, and cried for a long time. We hung out in the room for a while and I applied to a job. We got our clothes ready for tomorrow, as we would need to get dressed first thing in the morning to go to 11 o'clock Mass in Cotacachi. I used Craig's Leatherman tool to fix my "walca" (gold beaded multi-strand necklace), which had come apart the last time I wore it. Sisa and Shina came home from Ibarra. Soon afterwards, a truck came to get Antonio's musical instruments and speakers. Antonio, Yupanki, and Sisa would be playing a musical gig tonight. Talk about a busy weekend! They left, and Craig and I stayed outside for a while with Kuri until he went down for a nap. We went back to the casita while Aida, Abuelita, and Rosa's cousin peeled potatoes for the party. There was still no running water, and we hadn't showered since Wednesday. Uh-oh. This didn't bode well for the party tomorrow. I did some more job hunting online. With today's technology, I can job hunt from anywhere, using sites like LinkedIn and Indeed. However, I wouldn't be eligible for unemployment for my time abroad. You must be in the USA for the entire week in order to apply for benefits for that week. But that's ok, I'm more concerned with getting a job than I am in getting my unemployment money, so I will continue to job hunt while on vacation. Aida came to the door around 8 o'clock to say that since there was no water, she couldn't cook dinner. We asked if there was bread, cheese, and yogurt. Shina went to get bread and we had a small snack. Craig had tea and I had the special tea for my tummy. We played with Kuri and Nena. We went back to our casita and were about to go to bed when there was a knock at the door. It was Sisa, who had just gotten home at 10 p.m. Antonio and Yupanki were still at the gig and would be all night. But they had thoughtfully allowed Sisa to come home and get some rest before her big day tomorrow. |
 Craig in the dry corn field  Achi Mama and Nena  Kuri See all photos from July 22 |
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