Many people didn’t bother going to bed the last night of Semana Santa and partied straight through until morning. Some people on the streets weren’t feeling the pain just yet, while others were feeling plenty already. Reminded me of college, the morning after an off campus dance.
At breakfast the boy who we’ve bought lunch for a few times, appeared at our table with a big smile on his face. We told him we won’t be around for lunch today. Found out he is 8 years old and is from Santa Catarina, the next town over. He says he either comes by boat or pick up. His parents send him to Pana any day he doesn’t have school and that in one day he typically sells 30Q worth of stuff. No wonder he’s pretty pleased to get a 15Q lunch from us here and there. Typically I see the street kids eating a small 1.5Q bag of chips for lunch. Jose has a younger sister who is 3 years old. We wanted us to buy him a new pair of shoes, pay for his school, school books, and give him money for his family. We had to tell him no, which wasn’t easy to do.
What I will do next time I see him is put in contact with Solomon’s Porch. They have a system for paying for kid’s school. The parents have to bring in their monthly receipts for school and people from the U.S. sponsor individual kids. They have about 350-400 going to school on this program. Next time I see Jose, I’ll put him in contact with them. Jose is Cali’s age. I try to imagine putting Cali on a bus in the morning with a bunch of little purses, sending her off to another town to sell things, not giving her any money as an incentive to sell items to get enough money for lunch and the trip home. If she doesn’t make enough money she would just have to walk home. It’s all very sad.
At noon we walked down the street to an Easter potluck we were invited to. We don’t seem to have a shortage of invitations. Hosts are very friendly people originally from the U.S. Turned out to be a rather large gathering, perhaps 40 adults and 20 kids, exclusively gringo. I knew more than half of the people attending, so I didn’t have to start from scratch.
They had an Easter egg hunt in potted plants, which made Cali happy. She didn’t care what kind of hunt it was, and missed not dying eggs this year. I forgot to tell Paul to bring down the egg dying kits like I did last time. Ah well, it’s a Guate Easter and they simply don’t do any of that stuff here. The only Easter tradition for kids that I’ve witnessed is small girls buying Easter bonnets for 3Q, and nothing else.
My friend and I went around the table and choose our food carefully. We both have vivid memories of being sick following a friendly neighborhood potluck. We quietly weighed the pros and cons of a couple of questionably interesting looking dishes, like deep fried sausage balls with hard-boiled eggs in the middle. Decided to pass on that one.
I saw more people I hadn’t connected with since the last time I was here. One was a Japanese woman. Her son and Cali went to the public preschool together the last time we lived here. We talked to about Japanese chopstick customs for longer than I would have thought possible.
The kids were having a great time together. Only a couple of kids got hit with croquet mallets. Each of the girls had friends there. Cali is not a clingster and disappears as soon as we get to any party. Madi knew quite a few kids and had also been to that house for a sleepover a few time. Kier had a few friends there, but is at the point she enjoys talking with the adults as much a her friends.
Paul loves all things social, especially parties. He enjoys listening to all the life stories, played ping pong with a bunch of the guys, arranged a man hike up a nearby volcano. So far they have a small group who say they’re going. At least two of the guys aren’t making empty alcohol induced commitments, and will follow through. They are young guys from Australia and Florida who are ready to bring on the pain. I know Paul is serious about the volcano-man trek.
Many of the adults here were raised during the 60 and 70s. There was a sizable group of them (parents included) smoking weed, in front of the kids. This didn’t seem to be an issue with anyone. Kier said to me, “Don’t they know that’s a gateway drug? Nice example.” The younger two don’t realize what’s going on. We decided to leave a bit early from the party to go to church. We walked with someone else who was going. She said, “Was I the only one who was surprised that people were smoking at the party in front of kids?” She was a teacher and not impressed.
Decided to pass on the empanada’s one of the women was selling after church. Last time they gave me a fair bit of indigestion and I’d like to pass on that.
Semana Santa is officially over. Seems like much longer than a week of crazy Spring break related activities. Glad the girls are getting back to school tomorrow. Bring on the normal routine.