Went to sleep to the church music from next door, woke up to the same. Perhaps they pulled an all-nighter. Is it wrong to hope these people will become less enthusiastic about their faith, just a-few-services less enthusiastic.
Last night a cat or something must have done a flip off the wall, and stuck the landing on our roof. Then we heard it scamper on to our neighbor’s roof.
The girls created a yoga studio upstairs. Cali is also offering gymnastics classes and Madi is the resident masseuse. Madi and I signed up for yoga classes with yoga master Cali. She actually led us through real stretches, some poses like downward dog, something sunrise, one-legged flamingo bird. Ok, the names might not be totally accurate, but the poses were legit. We also had a gymnastics class. After our classes I got a massage at MassageMadi. Great little joint next door to the yoga place. You can play Scoops on the ipod while you get worked on.
Most Sundays you will see vans of people coming down to the lake from different churches in the countryside. Lake Atitlan is a popular baptismal site. Sometimes they’ll come in huge chicken buses, depending on the size of the church. There are baptisms happening in groups along the shore. Each church comes with their own music. Next time it happens I’ll discretely try to get some pictures. It’s tricky getting pictures since the indigenous people don’t appreciate random picture taking. You have to ask permission and often have to pay. I would love to take more pictures of the people here than I do. Course taking pictures of my kids is free game. They haven’t figured out that it would be culturally acceptable for them to demand money from me everytime I do so.
I went into town and bought the dvd player, while they still have them in stock. The handiman guy said the last time they were in stock they sold out quickly. While I was having a coffee I bought 2 dvds from a boy selling them out of his backpack. He was saying how they are original and they are also all in English. Of course I knew they weren’t original, and doubted they were all in English since there were four movies per disk. I told him if everything was ok with the ones I bought, I would buy more from him this week. Turns out there are four movies per disk, but they aren’t in English. On the one hand, that’s better because the girls learn more Spanish this way.
I bought more groceries for the week. It’s more managable to buy a few things every day than manage a huge shopping trip with multiple bags.
The traditional Mayan skirts the women wear are very sensible, as sensible as a skirt can be. They are a rectangular pieces of cloth secured with a strap of cloth belt at the top. Doesn’t matter if you gain weight, lose weight, are pregnant, it always fits. The women manage to ride bikes wearing them, even though the skirts are fairly fitted. They don’t lend themselves very well to straddling motorcycles. You will rarely see an indigenous woman driving a motorcycle. They sit side-saddle on the back. They only occassionally hold on and often have a child on their lap, or a large bin of something. They somehow balance the entire trip. I stare in amazement more often than I’d like to admit. The younger women will ride bicycles, and some of the women may drive a scooter, which is possible with a long fitted skirt that goes to one’s ankles. Madi says she would like a traditional outfit. We’ll try to get her one before we leave.
Church was supposed to start at 4pm. We got there at 4:20, and church started at 4:30… sharp. I think I’m getting the hang of this time thing, even though it drives me mental to be late to anything. I’m a bit OCD that way. On the walk there Cali kept complaining that I was walking way too fast, and what’s the difference between being 10 minutes late or 20 minutes late. Late is late, and could I please slow down. I did slow down and it turns out she was right.
Cali was impressed with this church because it had cookies. They were out not after the service as a reward, but before the service. They had coffee for me, I’m liking this church, too. Madi, had neither. There were about 20 of us. I enjoyed the singing. There was a guitar, drums, tamborine, and it all worked. Met some more people, a woman who moved her two years ago from California, a guy from Idaho was sitting next to me. Extremely nice group of people. Cali was looking forward to the cookies after the service, but they were gone. This did not impress her much.
The people who run Solomon’s Porch are amazing. They host work groups which come down and build houses. The woman was telling me about the two houses which they are building next, and the family situations connected with both projects. Here it’s no cliche, they are making a difference one family at a time.
Madi scoped out the movies at the Porch. They have twice as many as they had the last time we were here. She is amply impressed. I’m also glad we bought the dvd player. There are a few movies there I’d like to see, too.
Cali’s Frog Blog: Today I had lots and lots and lots of fun. I had an English muffin with peanut butter. Then I watched cartoons. I did my work. I didn’t have to get the family any water today because I got it yesterday. Today I made a yoga studio upstairs. I had a pillow and a mat. I made a sign, and you had to register for my classes. I also had a gymnastics classes, except no one could do any of th moves, so I just showed them what it should look like. When people were done with my classes they went to Madi’s massage to get their sore muscles worked on. We had lots of fun doing that. We talked to Daddy and Kier many times during the day. We also skyped my great aunt. We went to a good church today. It was a cookie church. It didn’t just have cookies after to go to Sunday school, it had them before you even sit through the whole service. But it would have been a better church if they kept the cookies out after the service. They had drums and guitar in their church, too. It was fun. After that we got ice cream and walked home. We walked over the bad tuk tuk bridge with the big holes in it. We had a yummy supper. The family didn’t come to visit today, but I had to go to bed anyway. P.S. I love you all.
Madi speaks: Today we got a dvd player. Mom bought two dvds with 4 movies on each of them. The guy said they would be in English, but they aren’t. That’s kinda how purchases on the street go, sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. Cali created an entire gymnastics and yoga arena upstairs. I gave massages. I did a lot of homework today, and we also skyped home at least four or maybe five times. We are watching the Scooby-Doo movie in Spanish and are about to check out the church here. We aren’t going to go right for four o-clock, since when they say 4 here, that usually means “way after four”. I can’t wait to go back to school tomorrow. I’ve been waiting for three whole days to go back. Tomorrow I get to set up my desk with the cloth and basket pencil holder. I also get to show my teacher that I get the pre-algebra problems she gave me. It’s going to be a good day. I have all my favorite foods for lunches this week, which are cucumbers, tomatoes, turkey sandwiches and pretzels for a snack. Can’t wait.