Ecuador 5/28/2024 |
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Tuesday, May 28, 2024 - Working RemotelyI woke up at 7:00 a.m. and started to work in the casita. I went upstairs to my "office" at 9 o'clock, and ate breakfast while in a meeting. Antonio had the day off today so he was able to join the family for a leisurely breakfast. We had watermelon, a fried egg, hot dogs, fries, bread, ham, yogurt, and coffee.Antonio trimmed the hedges, trees, and ivy. He climbed high up into the avocado tree and cut down any branches which were trying to regrow. This used to be a majestic tree, but they have had to trim it back so that it can no longer bear fruit, because, due to recent legislation, they could be taxed on the fruit, whether they sell it or use it for their own consumption. Craig swept the detritus off the patio, and Nena put it into a basket to dispose of. She was being a good little helper. Our goddaughter Aracely in Guatemala sent us photos of her and her fiance Joel. They specifically planned the wedding date to coincide with our visit next month! We are so grateful for that, as we wouldn't miss Aracely's wedding for the world. She never got to have her quinceañera like her sisters did, because her 15th birthday fell during Covid lockdown. Now we would get the chance to celebrate her! The wedding would be on June 29. Lunch was soup, chicken, rice, cauliflower, broccoli, and potatoes. Soup is always welcome in this cold climate, and becomes a comfort food. Aida always makes sure that we have plenty to eat and historically has filled our plates with way more than our stomachs can hold. But recently we have convinced her to give us smaller portions, so that we have a chance of actually finishing what is on our plates. Nena and Kuri remembered their game of shooting us from yesterday. We had secretly hoped that they might forget overnight, LOL. "Taita? Boom boom! Gah!" Kuri would say and giggle. We would roll our eyes back in our heads, slump down in our chair, and stick our tongues out. If we were otherwise engaged, they would keep repeating it until we played along. I had meetings in the afternoon. Antonio found an enormous yellow stick bug. He got it to climb onto one of Sisa's flip flops and showed it to Nena and Kuri. They were terrified, and he teased them with it. It reminded us of a time when Sisa was their age and Antonio pretended to put a beetle in her hair and she freaked out. Antonio brought the stick bug upstairs to show me while I was working. It was a fascinating insect. He brought it back downstairs and held the flip flop up to a tree. The bug climbed onto a leaf. He then tossed the flip flop towards the kids, who, thinking that the bug was still on it, screamed and ran away. The water shut off this afternoon, which happens occasionally and is always a challenge. Luckily, we have an electric tea kettle in our room, and we had already filled it with water, so we had some in reserve. You never know how long the lack of water will last; sometimes it is days. We hoped that this time would be relatively short. After I was done with work for the day, Craig and I had coffee and cocoa along with the cookies the family bought us yesterday (Bizcotelas). We played with Nena. When Sisa arrived home from school, she was exhausted and took a nap. She is always so busy with schoolwork, English classes, homework, and house work! When Sisa woke up, she helped Yupanki with his homework while we played with Kuri. I learned via Facebook that my good friend and former colleague Rick has stage 4 cancer and that his prognosis is not good.This really saddened me, as I have known Rick for over 20 years. When we both worked in Ipswich, we would go out to lunch together frequently, and he lives about 2 miles away from us. I would have to make plans to meet up with him when I get home. For dinner we had soup, an omelette, lentils, rice, and cauliflower. We weren't able to have the usual juice to accompany meals because there was no water. This trip, rather than making juice from scratch, they had been using frozen fruit concentrate that they had bought from an indigenous- owned company in Intag. There were various mixtures of fruit along with some spices which gave the juices unique flavors. We went back to the casita at 9:45 p.m. We had been thinking about what to get Aracely and Joel for a wedding gift. It wasn't very practical to bring kitchenware to Guatemala, and they would most likely receive those kinds of gifts from other friends and family. I went online to Shutterfly and perused their offerings. Now that we had photos of Aracely with Joel at their engagement party, we could use them to make something unique for them. We wanted something practical as well. We found the perfect item: a woven blanket. We uploaded a photo of the two of them and designed it with their names and the wedding date below the picture. We ordered it and would receive it in plenty of time for the wedding. |
 Nena and Kuri enjoying watermelon  Achi Taita and Nena helping with yard work  Achi Taita with Sisa Photo Gallery May 28 |
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