Today is Labour’s Day, no school for anyone. Cali was especially excited she didn’t have school. The older two girls don’t usually have school, so it was a normal Friday. Madi went into school for a while for math.
Kier and I went in for breakfast. When we were finishing up, Kier’s guitar teacher came in to the restaurant and we invited him to sit with us. Had an interesting conversation that ranged from the causes of World War II to what it’s like to be a busking musician in the States.
We saw the main parade of the day. The parade participatants are the same each parade, for the most part. You’ll see the same little groups, but we don’t mind. Parades make people happy, and so many proud parents follow in the parade’s wake. This parade had something different, a float. I saw them assembling it on our street. It consisted of a pick-up truck with a cut out car on the back. Then the princess of the parade was riding on the bacck and looked to be about 10 years old. She had two clown escorts with rainbow hair. I didn’t have my camera with me.
Kier and I also walked up by the church and saw lots of festivities up in front of the main Catholic church. There were men on stilts and a puppet show in the main square. In the afternoon the older girls went to play practice.
Later in the evening I went to the Sunset cafe with my girlfriends. It’s a restaurant right on the lake. I’d never been there before, it’s a beautiful spot. At night time you can see the little clusters of village lights all around the lake. One of the women who was with us owns a hotel in town. She was talking about the struggles of raising kids in this town. Specifically she was talking about the lack of employment opportunities for kids who grow up here. You either need to have a business they can take over or work within, or they will go to Guat City or to the U.S.
By now it was pouring rain. We crammed into a tuk and went up to The Porch to watch a movie. I went to Circus room to see a friend, then went back to her house for a while to talk. Her son’s invited me to play poker with them, but my friend said they are very good and would just want to take all my money. Since that didn’t sound like fun, I passed.