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The bed was very comfortable and the room was plenty warm enough using 2 blankets. The rooster started to crow at around 3 o'clock but it didn't keep me awake. It had been a long but very satisfying day. Although We were happy in some respects to have our own room, we missed the idea of being underfoot as the girls awoke in the morning, and getting to say "Buenos dias!" to them immediately. We needn't have worried. We woke up around 7 and were chatting in bed when all of a sudden the tapestry on the door was pushed back and Yoselin came inside. She went straight to Craig and hugged him. She was very low-key and loving, obviously having just woken up and wanting to spend some time with us. She eventually climbed on the bed. "Zapatos!" we reminded her, and she repeated it with a smile and slipped off her shoes. She climbed into bed between the two of us, talking quietly and snuggling for about an hour.
Paola came into the room and asked if we wanted coffee, so we knew that the rest of the family was now awake. We all went into the house. Aracely was eating bread at the tiny kid-sized table in the corner of the kitchen. Yasmin and Vanesa were still sleeping. We had a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, cheese, and black beans with tortillas. After breakfast, we played with the kids in our room and took turns taking showers in the main bathroom. This is the girls' summer break, so nobody was rushing off to school. We were excited for the daily trip to the market, which is always a lot of fun and very interesting. It is so nice to eat fesh food, and to wander among the various vendors selling everything from clothes to toys to sunglasses to CD's to vegetables. It was always a colorful, lively scene. At 10:00 we walked to the market, but Vanesa stayed behind at the house. I carried Yoselin part of the way while Craig carried Yasmin and Paulina carried Aracely. Paola wandered between the three adults. We wandered around the bustling market. Paulina bought fruits and vegetables from various vendors, and the girls helped her pick out good pieces. Then we went to one of the butcher stalls, where large pieces of meat were hanging on hooks above the counter. Paulina bought some beef here. We saw a friend of Paulina's, the same woman whom we had met at the market in July. Her baby was now 15 months old and had grown so much he was barely recognizable! We chatted with her for a few moments, and then it was time to head back to the house. It was a warm day, and Paulina suggested granizadas, the yummy shaved ice and fruit concoctions we had first tried in July. The kids were excited and so were we. The man at the granizada cart took a large cylinder of ice and placed it on his metal grinder. He turned the wheel and a blade shaved the ice into little cups. When he was done, he poured syrup onto the top of each one, and put a dollop of fresh fruit on the top. It was so refreshing and delicious! We walked back to the house, enjoying our cold treats on the warm, sunny day. When we arrived back at the house, Vanesa was busy mopping the floor. She was such a good helper. We played with the girls in our room and ate bananas as a snack. Craig went to the corner store with some of the girls (they were always begging one or the other of us to go to the tienda with them) and came back wih cheese puffs. We played with a marble on the floor of our room, rolling it along the tile grout lines. Paulina cooked the beef on their makeshift grill, over smoldering wood charcoal. Before we knew it, lunch was ready: homemade guacamole, rice with vegetables, and steak. We had fresh melon juice to drink. Yum! After lunch, Paulina had an errand to do for Humberto's guide business, so we were left with the girls, as well as Neli and some of the boy cousins. Aracely sat on her tiny wooden chair and started to cry. We didn't know what was wrong until I went over and discovered she had pinched her finger under the seat of the chair. I helped her to get up and we ran her finger under some water and she calmed down. The construction of the new guest houses allowed for some unusual play opportunities for the kids. Paola and the boys went onto the roof of the new building and threw some pebbles down at the ground. The kids were in the process of building a small fort in a corner of the yard out of stacked concrete blocks as walls and a piece of corrugated metal for the roof. Aracely took the concrete float, sprinkled pebbles on it, and started to run it against the concrete wall. It was a fun afternoon with lots of bonding time. Yasmin started calling me "Steph" halfway through the day, whereas they had always called me "Stephanie" before this. Neli stuck like glue to Craig throughout the afternoon. We ate fresh mandarinas, and I gave Aracely a ride on my shoulders. She was so cute, cuddly, and sweet. As usual, the girls loved our sunglasses. "Lentes!" they would squeal, putting them on and posing for photos. Aracely still had a habit of putting them on upside down. She seemed to do it deliberately - maybe she preferred them that way. Humberto and Paulina returned together, and everyone got showered and dressed for the baptism rehearsal. We walked to church. Along the way Paola saw a pinata in a store window and remarked to me that her birthday is coming up at the beginning of January, and they would have a pinata. Aracely fell asleep on the walk and Humberto carried her the rest of the way to church. We arrived at San Francisco de Asis at 6:00 and a quincianera was just getting out. The church had been decorated with white decorations and flowers. We saw the girl celebrating her 15th birthday and she looked beautiful in an elaborate white dress.The event reminded me of a cross between a prom and a wedding. They lit off firecrackers. We joked with Humberto that he has a lot of these parties in his future. When the quincianera had dispersed, we entered the now-familiar church. Our large family took up an entire pew. The church had white walls and a dark wood ceiling. Stations of the cross hung on the walls and an ornate altar dominated the front of the church. The weeknight Mass was half an hour long. I sat with Yoselin. At 7 pm they started the baptismal "class". I had expected maybe a dry run of the service, but the deacon talked about baptism in general. It was in Spanish, but we could get the gist of it. Junior and his family were in the church as well, because his baby sister was going to be baptized along with Aracely. I said to him in Spanish "Your sister is being baptized?" He beamed. "Mi hermanita!" he proudly declared and pointed toward the baby in his mother's arms. The baby's name is Fatima. It seemed like there were a lot of baptismal candidates. A woman who seems to be an expert godmother was helping everyone out with the paperwork. Humberto was supposed to have brought Aracely's birth certificate, but he didn't have it with him. He was quite nervous, and hoped they would still let her be baptized tomorrow. We hoped so too! It turned out not to be a problem, and we were all relieved. As we left the church, I carried Aracely. We stopped at a small restaurant. Paulina brought us over to the proprietor and said in perfect English "This is my sister." This was the first time we had heard her speak English. Craig and I looked at each other like "Did she just speak English?" Humberto told us that she has been practicing. We are very proud of her. We met her sister Isabela, who runs the establishment. The girls went behind the counter and acted as if they were working. While walking back to the house we heard "Hi guys! It's me! Martin!" It was our German friend from the shuttle van. We introduced him to the family, and he said he would check out our web site. "I need to see a picture of Frankie!" We went back to the house and it was time for presents. We had been dying to give them to the girls, but this was the first time we had to sit down where all girls, Paulina, and Humberto were present. We gave the girls T-shirts, bags, notebooks, and small Indian dolls on a keychain. We had bought these especially for them on our drive from Agra to New Delhi in October. The girls would refer to the dolls as "India" for the duration of our stay. Today was Paulina's 30th birthday, and we gave her a pair of earrings. We gave Humberto a small flash drive and passed along some flashlights courtesy of our friend Francis. Last but not least were a Spanish English dictionary, some bilingual flashcards, and my Richard Scarry's "Best Word Book Ever" from my childhood, as Humberto said he had a hard time learning the names of household items. We showed our Bhutan and India photos and explained them. Humberto was quite interested and had a lot of questions. We had some Rosa Jamaica tea. Paulina made us alfredo pasta which had a nice garlicky flavor. Yoselin was in bed alseep before we even ate. Early to bed and early to rise, that one. We chatted with Humberto until 11:30 and then all went to our rooms. Humberto had another tour first thing in the morning. I wrote in the journal until 12:20 and then went to sleep. |
       
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