Today is Cali’s real birthday or as we sold it to her, the”Bonus Birthday.” She gets to open the presents Paul’s parents sent with him–the only present she really has other than the dress Paul bought her. We looked all around town for presents, but didn’t find anything worthy of taking up suitcase space for our return home. We told her we’ll go on a little shopping trip for birthday presents when we get home. Paul sold her on that idea saying her birthday will be extended for another 2 months that way. Today is also the day she and her friend are doing the pinata. I already checked with Cali’s friend’s mom about her coming home with half a pinata’s worth of candy. She said that’s fine, she’ll ration it and it’ll last until summer.
I couldn’t sleep past 4 a.m. Kier got up at 5 and made her breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the bus. Her ride came, who is her dance teacher. She said she’s going to tell her all the bus safety tricks she knows and that she’ll make sure she is all tucked in safely on the right bus. This is the only person I feel safe sending Kier in to the city with. This woman is great and offers lots of good advice on how to be a single woman traveling alone her. She’s like a big sister.
While Paul and I were drinking coffee we got calls from both the shuttle driver and K that she was on the bus, it was very comfy, it wasn’t overly full, and that she was going to sleep now. She also told me that I had the arrival time wrong. Turns out I was looking at the arrival time to Copan and not San Pedro Sula. That means my sister would be waiting for 2 hours for her. Paul and I walked to the travel agency that sold us the bus ticket to confirm. Sure enough I told my sister the wrong time.
First I called Kier on the bus (while our cell reception still worked) that she needs to be aware of her stop around 5pm. I’m worried that she may get off at the wrong stop at around 2:30. I’m sure she would have figured it out on her own, but I do not want her getting off at a random town in Honduras. Next I emailed Mia to tell her I’d given her the wrong arrival time. Then I tried to call her hotel from cell phone, but I couldn’t get through. I went to an internet cafe place that does international calls and I got through to the holel. Mia wasn’t in her room but I left a message at the front desk and hoped she got it. I tried her room a few more tmes, but never connected with her in person. Fingers and toes crossed.
Cali opened her Build-A-Bear presents from Paul’s parents. She was sooooo happy and she says thank you! Pinky has a more extensive wardrobe than mine.
Next Cali’s friend came over to do the pinata party. Her friend said she had never done a private pinata before. It’s true, that big pinata for 2 little girls does seem a bit decadent. Madi and Paul both took a whack at it, so it was more like a small group pinata. The funny thing about this pinata was that when all the candy cumped onto the floor, there wasn’t a mad greedy scramble to get as much as possible. Instead they were negotiating with each other. “What color purse did you want, the red one or the yellow one?” “Ok.” “I know you don’t like the strawberry ones of these, so I’ll take those and give you the lemon ones.” “Ok.” Then they sat in the hammock eating all their candy. It wasn’t until later that I remembered her mom was going to ration it. Oh well. They were swinging and giggling in the hammock repeating over and over, “We’re addicted to sugar. We may never recover.” Those two have that kind of friendship chemistry that you like to see. They love each other’s company, no refereeing needed, noncompetitive, they like to make the other person happy, make the other person laugh. So far wherever Cali seems to land, she manages to find a friend like this. I hate to say it, but I’m grateful for tight Mexican immigration standards and that her friend can’t move away for a few months.
Ended up having a bagel with one of my friends. Easy conversation. we’re on the same page in many ways. She was working in the bookstore.
Cali, her friend and Madi played upstairs for the entire afternoon. Madi has a way of organizing elaborate make-believe games for the girls. They soak up her undivided attention of an older girl, especially Cali’s friend who doesn’t have a sister.
Paul went for a crazy bike ride up a mountain and to another village. He is enjoying the fact that we have four channels on our tv that are entirely devoted to soccer, different leagues. He goes from one channel to the next, happy, happy, happy. Sometimes when a team scores the play by play announcers, instead of yelling “goal” will just roll their r’s for about a minute. I find it amusing and want to time them. A few days ago we lost all of our major U.S. networks. We were getting those from Atlanta, Georgia. When the channels returned, they were coming from Colorado. My neighbors said the cable that we pay for every month is pirated, and sometimes they have to reroute (re-steal, semantics).
Madi’s sleepover got post-poned. Bummer, we were so close to being kidless! Oh well. About six kids from her school were going to sleep on someone’s trampoline. In that scenario I’d want to be one of the lightest kid so I don’t end up on the bottom of that pile in the morning.
We took Cali to her friend’s house for the birthday sleepover. Having a sleepover with her favorite friend in Guatemala, with a blood sugar level twice the legal limit is a nice way to spend the last part of her Bonus Birthday. She was happy.
Madi’s been working on her braided essay. She is writing about an incident when man broke into grandma’s apartment when she lived in St. Louis. The robber didn’t leave with the tv like he’d intended but rather she sat him at the table and gave him cookies, listenning to him talk, prayed for him, and sent him away with more cookies and $35. Madi’s English teacher worked in New England for many years. She told Kier that of all the students she has ever taught, Madi is one of the top two gifted naturally writers she’s ever had. Three years ago another one of Madi’s teachers said the same thing. Nice compliment.
Lots of weather speculation about the weather as the guys try to reschedule their volcano mantrek. I told them they should take some drums.
We skyped with my sister and Kier from Honduras. She got there safely without any incident. She slept the entire way. It was a beautiful bus, they played movies. You had to buy headphones, which were sealed in that heavy plastic that you need an exacto knife or nuclear explosion to get it open. For breakfast they stopped at Burger King, got a bunch of bag breakfasts, and handed them out to everyone on the bus. That’s more than they give you on Spirit Airlines! No one bothered her. I’m so relieved. Mia said the hotel delivered the message I left, right to her room. Tomorrow they meet the rest of the medical team, about 30 medical students and doctors. Then they take pick-ups into the mountains to get to the clinic. It will be a good experience for Kier to hang out with some older students, and getting a chance to do volunteer work for a solid week.
After we knew Kier was safe and sound with my sister, we decided to take Madi out for supper. It’s Saturday, afterall, and she’s an only child for an evening. After we ordered our food, Paul and Madi went across the street and rented a Madi’s choice movie. It was a quiet Saturday night in Pana. It’s possible that people are still recovering from Semana Santa. When we tried to catch a tuk home, we waited for 15 minutes and then walked home. That’s never happened before, the streets are usually lousy with tuks on a Saturday night. I couldn’t figure out why I was so tired at 9:30, then I realized I was up at 4 this morning to send Kier off. We started to watch Madi’s movie with her, but Paul and I couldn’t stay awake. We all went to bed.