Aug 24 Friday Sick in Bed
I woke up feeling terrible so I decided to stay in bed. We were going to a glass factory but Don & I were the only ones going so Don decided to stay at school and work on more verbs with Juan. Hortensia came up and inquired on my health and later brought up a bowl of fresh fruit. In felt bad enough to stay in bed all day today. Don came home on the school break around 10 am to check on me. By evening I felt a great deal better – or so I thought – at any rate I got up and dressed for the Friday event of the Indigenous Queen pageant, the Umial Tinimit re Xelajuj Noj; Mayan Queen. I was soon miserable waiting for the start of the event. We stood in line with the family waiting for the doors to be opened and when they did the family saw to it that we had good seats in the middle of the theater. We then proceeded to wait, and wait, and wait for the thing to start. I was feeling bad all over, was generally miserable and soon had a whiz-bang headache that had me flinching. Each of the 5 candidates had their own cheering squad in a place designed to carry Sound! The little man with the hammer that was beating on my head nearly beat me to a pulp by the time the event finished. The whistles took off my head! I did not carry anything that would have helped to reduce the headache---dumb.
We had flags and balloons for Sandra. The balloons were “popped” when she entered the runway to the stage! Noise, Noise and more Noise. Mayans seldom get into a hurry & the walk down the runway was at a snails pace. Whiz-bang! The little man was busy!!! Each girl gave a short talk. Sandra’s incorporated the music of the marimba behind her talk and it was very effective. All the candidates and last years queen did a dance on the stage in slow motion. The judges finally left to make their decision.
While the judges were out the crowed was entertained by the Xelephone Municipal Band and several dance skits about Mayan life. The costuming was great and I would have enjoyed the whole thing more if I had felt better. After Sandra won we headed out for home. It was cold outside! My teeth starting chattering along working with the little man with the hammer, to make me totally miserable.. By the time we were nearly home I was nearly in tears. The after party was at grandfathers so Don took me home, loaded me with drugs and I was in PJ’s and in bed pronto.
Fortunately we had canceled the Saturday school activity. I laid low most of the day. I trailed behind Don trying to keep my stomach happy. We helped our fellow student, Stephanie get on her way on the next leg of her trip. Stephanie finished her Spanish lessons on Friday. She loaded her stuff into a monster back pack and we went with her to catch a chicken bus to Antigua. Once she was off we went to the Hyper Piaz, the large mall and got some dinner to balance out the bowl of fruit served for lunch at Grandpas. We bought a bath mat to help the process of bathing which is always an adventure. My vote after this was to go home and back to bed until supper.
Hortensia did not wash dishes under our room last night. I am sure she was exhausted. That meant we all had a full night’s sleep.
