Today is Carnival. This is the big dress-up day for the kids, since they don’t celebrate Halloween. I had no idea how to make a costume for Cali out of nothing. Here I’m thinking, I don’t have a sewing machine, pattern, material, props, etc. I joked with her that she should go as a minority, maybe one of the few opportunities she has to do so. Kier laughed and says she does that everyday. Cali didn’t get it which was probably good. Politically incorrect jokes can wait.
She decided on an outfit with black pants, which was great. Then she could be dressed as a Canadian in winter.
Turns out, I wasn’t thinking as creatively as some parents, costume-wise. On the way to her school I saw one child with garbage taped all over him, strips of newspaper blowing in the wind, water bottles trailing behind. Another girl had a fairy costume made entirely out of the shiny side of chip bags and a bunch of tape. It was beautiful the way she sparkled in the sun. A boy at Cali’s school had a knight’s outfit made out of white paper, tape, a black marker.
They love their parades here, as I’ve mentioned before. The kids paraded out in front of the school and back through the school yard.
She didn’t care about her costumeless state, until one of the older kids tried to put her into the pretend jail they had set up, for various and random offenses. Hers was not being in costume. After one is thrown in jail your friends or parents have to pay 2Q for bail. Cali refused to go to jail for not having a costume, simply wouldn’t budge off the swing she was sitting on. I was watching this from about 20 feet away wondering what was happening. She was surrounded by big kids and kept shaking her head, no. Then she pointed at me and they all looked my way. I found out from her friend that she said, “If you are going to put anyone in jail, it should be my mom for not making me a costume.” That’s right. When in doubt, throw your mama under the bus. Worked this time for her. They decided to find a someone who would be a more cooperative inmate. I need to do better.
There was a lot of food you could buy. I enjoyed that part. We sampled quite a few on that list.
The carnival party at her school was fun for the kids. The kids really went crazy with the eggs. Cali seemed to be a favorite target for the boys in her class. They surrounded her a few times, trying to get an opportunity to smash eggs on her head. She kept yelling to me, “Mom, look at all the good luck I’m getting!!” One boy used 6 eggs on Cali’s head, one right after another. I was told that is quite a compliment, practically a public declaration of liking someone.
This was an opportunity for me to see Cali’s classroom, her desk, and her little shelf space. She was very happy to show me around.
This was the hallway after the event was done.
She showed me all the good luck she had in her hair.
On my way to pick up my computer from the older girls’ school, I saw a funeral procession. It was on foot, filling the street. The funeral was for a baby. There was a tiny white casket, covered with folds of satin, yellow flowers on the top. The procession was silent. People carried flower from gardens in their hands at the front of the group. If I had to guess, I’d guess the childhood mortality rate is high. It’s also not uncommon to hear of women dying in childbirth here. During our last visit we heard of 3 women who died in childbirth, leaving many children behind.
The older girls did water testing after school. Then we had an invitation for Shrove Tuesday, to eat pancakes at someone’s house. We tuk tuked it over there because we didn’t want to be covered with egg and flour. Good thing we did. At one point we saw a crowd of teenaged boys, maybe 80 of them. They were covered with flour, which shows up easily on everyone’s dark hair. They carry their eggs in small plastic bags. Seems like they had a system, one boy would do the eggs and the other would do the flour immediately following. One of the women who came to the pancake dinner showed up with egg in her hair.
I enjoyed the evening. There wre about 20 of us, all connected with the little church that meets at the Porch. I knew everyone except maybe 5 people. There was a couple from Texas who have just moved here. They are retired, wanted something different, sold their house, arrived here a couple of days ago. They are still finding their feet. Interesting how this litltle village attracts people from all over to live permanently. People visit, return, then return for good. I, for one, understand the attraction. I talked for a long time with a woman who have 5 grown children, and has lived here for a while. Another extremely interesting person. We stayed until 8pm, then Cali was getting tired. Kier stayed and hung out with some of her friends, and came home at 10.
Cali’s Frog Blog: Today I had lots and lots and lots of fun because it was Carnival! Everyone at my school dressed up, but we really didn’t have a costume for me, so I went at a gringo. We just hung out outside while all the teachers and parents got ready for the party. Then we ran around some more. The boys cracked eggs all over my head. That means good luck. One boy cracked 6 eggs on my head, one after another. That’s really a lot of good luck. We had a parade and walked around the school. Then we had a dance contest. After that they gave out awards for the best costume and the best dancer. Then we ate. Mom and I had all sorts of thngs we’ve never eaten before. My mom got some piece of meat, red stuff, green stuff. I had some kind of pudding and some tacos. I got some jello and wanted to get jello in a bag, but they ran out of that. Everyone was running around the school slamming eggs on each other’s heads. You could even slam eggs on the teacher’s heads if you could reach them. It was the most fun day I’ve ever had at any school. I told mom that she could leave me there and pick my up when it got dark, but she said no to that. So we walked back home because the school day was over. Then in the evening we went over to someone’s house and ate pancakes because it was some kind of pancake eating day. That’s okay with me because I happen to like pancakes, just like my dad. I haven’t had those for a while. They also If it was something I didn’t like, I would mind that. So that’s how my fun day went. P.S. I love you all very much.