Day two of the strike, nothing happened. So the kids went back to school, normal life settled in. Yesterday the girls did their play for the first time, it heard it was amazing. They were pumped about it, all came together like it usually does. I went to PanaRock with a big group of my friends for our usual Thursday night tradition. I will miss that.
Today the big news continues to be the volcano Picaya close to Antigua which is having a full-blown eruption. That’s only 2 1/2 hours from here. Quite a few people, family members of my friends, were flying in today to see the musical. But since Antigua is so close to Guatemala City, the volcanic ash closed the airport. The earliest they will consider opening it will be on Monday. I remember climbing Picaya a number of times the last time we visited here. You could see the lava flowing from the top, even then. The schools were closed in Antigua, ash everywhere. It was big news to everyone here, they were glued to the tv, buying more newspapers than usual.
Today we have lots and lots of rain. There is a tropical storm that missed Guatemala, but we are still expected to get rain from that. There were concerns that the roof would blow off the theater.
The people here are getting tired of the rain. Many of us don’t have cars, so it affects how we get around. Most people won’t ride their bikes in this weather because mud is splashed all over one’s clothes. You can only walk, which again is a very messy endeavor with all the mud, or take a tuk, which is still a bit messy with all the splashing water and mud. You just have to become immune to the wetness and mud. I went to hang out with a friend, then was going to help my other friend move, but Madi and Kier wanted to go out for breakfast. Cali has school, but they didn’t. After Madi ate her bagel she wanted to go home, but Kier wanted to stay and talk. We ended up staying there for lunch as well as breakfast. We kept waiting for a lull in the rain, but one never came. Heavy, heavy raining. We went home and the girls went straight to get ready for the play. I’m working the door tonight, taking tickets.
At around 6 pm, Cali and I went. The setting for the play is amazing. It’s a large building that is on a site that is to be a retirement home. They turned it into a theater for the evening, built a stage. There was a bar and food that you could buy. It had lots of beautiful twinkly lights, was positively magical. I took tickets.
The play surpassed all of my expectations. It was amazing. Madi had a couple of solos and a very big part (Toulouse if you know Moulin Rouge), Kier had a couple of solos, a song of her own, did trapeze, fabrics, amazing. She had a huge part also. I have to say I was so very very proud, they were both amazing. The costumes were amazing, they don’t mess around here. The moms are very serious about making the costumes look professional. I was simply blown away. During intermission I bought food for the girls and took it back stage. That’s what all the moms were doing.
The only thing was that the rain was pounding on the roof, which was tin. The actors had to really project. Something they don’t teach you often, how to project above a tropical storm. Cali and I were in the front row, so we could hear everything.
After the play people carpooled to get back into town, even though it wasn’t far. That was very nice. Kier and her friends rode into town with the parents of one of the kids, we caught a ride with my friend who owns a couple of vans. When we got home the girls were exhausted, but totally pumped up. Kier went out to celebrate. I was so incredibly impressed.