We got up, had breakfast, went to school, then went to bed. What more is there to say?
Patty kept me busy just as I had requested. We worked hard for most of the morning then joined Don and Juan on a field trip. Turned out that the museum they had planned to take us to we had already seen with Marlo one evening the week before. So we made new plans and took off for the Mercado near Parque Central. Don wanted some music CD’s and we had searched every place we thought would have the music with no success. The black market is alive and well in GUA. Don found music he wanted and then had the help of Juan to purchase them. When we were done with shopping we went to McDonalds for a coke. Both teachers broke out the Spanish lessons and we went back to work. We had Spanish-on-foot most of the morning.
After school we had enough time to have lunch and rest a bit before meeting Palmenia, another teacher, for our afternoon activity. We went to la democracia, a city block or more of little shops. They had small stalls set up with belts, hats, purses, back packs, fruits and vegetables, yard goods, shoes or just about anything you could think you might possibly need. I am not sure how you would find something specific but I bet it would be here. It was colorful and noisy which is pretty typical. We stopped at a Mennonite bakery where we bought some raisin bread, cheese, and a small apple loaf to share for mid-morning snack.
We are making plans to spend a weekend away from the family. It is about time we all had a break. There is an overnight trip to a finca. The finca is a plantation which is worker owned and operated cooperative in the mountains outside of Xela. There is a minivan that will hold 8 people necessary to make the trip a “go” and comes with an English speaking guide. We put down a deposit and then had to wait to see if they would pick up 4 more people by the weekend. Fingers and toes are crossed because I am ready for new scenery and a different menu and less noise. The Xicara family are nice people but all of them are addicted to sound. The house sounds hollow and sound travels and it is hard to study at the house.
No dinner at home. We worked upstairs until time to eat. I can last til 7:30pm but need to eat by then. There was only the older son at home when we went down and he was on his cell phone. He left just as we decided that we would have to go out and feed ourselves. We went to Cubatenago and shared a California style burrito. While we were there the owners put in a movie for his customers. It was about a revolution in San Salvador which from the little we watch while eating was not going to end well so we left after we were done eating. We returned to the house and the family was all seated around the table eating. They looked a little concerned when we said we did not need to eat. They are to provide three meals a day along with a room & hot water to be a host family. If I were to speculate I would have to thing that it is the end of the month and the Xela queen pageant turned out to be expensive. Food is getting rather simple and scarce.
