Days 9 and 10

Day 9

6/15/2013

Yesterday morning began with some excitement over a mouse in the kitchen, which apparently is one of Angelica's worst nightmares. I'm the one who saw it best and tried to convince her that it was a cute little thing (daww, it was!), but she still insisted on calling Santi, and when he didn't answer, her boyfriend (ish) on the other side of town. We drove through thick construction traffic to meet him at the condado (shopping mall), and by the time we got back, it had been over an hour since we had seen the little creature, so after a bit of unfruitful searching, we just had brunch together. Then we all went to the hospital to visit Nataly, who's doing really well. Apparently they took out 20 centimeters (about 8 inches) of her colon, which included several large tumors, and the current prognosis is good. It was now 3 o'clock and we were being picked up for the quince around 5, but we still hadn't showered yet, as the hot water hadn't been working that morning. When we got back to the house, we still couldn't fix it, so we heated some water on the stove and did what we could. 

 Around 4:40, Petato learned that arriving early to pick up women is a bad idea-- he was waiting in the car for at least half an hour, poor guy, before we came out-- clean and in style, of course. After meeting some relatives at his house, we went to the fancy facility that was hosting the party. The things Andrea said in the car confirmed what was apparent by swankness of the party-- Petato's family enjoyed a pretty comfortable position in Ecuador's socioeconomic system. I wouldn't have guessed this either by his comments or his demeanour. The quince was a blast. As the brother of the princess, Petato gave a short welcoming speech at the beginning before handing the mic over to some other family members and then the pastor, who unfortunately had that uncomfortable cheesy demeanor that is most often seen in people who are selling something. He gave a long sermon with four pieces of advice for the blooming princess, things like “obey your parents” and “learn from the mistakes of others," which, while they may be true, weren't convincingly or sincerely offered, at least for my cynical mind. After this, we had a toast of yummy mostly-fruit-juice champagne, then dinner. During the meal, we sat with some of Petato's friends from his old church, a genial group of three young (our age-ish) guys. After a very modern dance half-hour that hurt my ears, during which I taught Petato and his friends to dance like gringos (Pointer fingers up, and rock it!) and Andrea and I took to the dance floor, where she tried to teach me to be smooth-- though it wasn't quite working, I'd be willing to give it another try sometime. The boys declined, apparently a little to Baptist or a little too awkward to dance with us. :) After that, the little 'couples' that had ceremonially accompanied the princess took part in a weird ritual for kids their age-- the guys took off the girl's garters (which were place just below their variously-altitudinous hemlines) after sexy-dancing up to them. Some of the 'little gentlemen' even strip-teased on their way up-- I know this culure's more comfortable with the human body, but even Petato and Andrea were exchanging uncomfortable looks. “They go a little crazy, don't they?” I chuckled to a groan-laughing Petato in Spanish, “Yes,” he laughed back. On the way home, I fell into the shallow end of sleep, following their converstions enough to know that they noticed I was asleep-- I didn't care, though, I was so wiped. It was a beautiful party and a beautiful day. :)

6/17/2013

Yesterday we went to pick up Angelica from her boyfriend's cousin's house, where she had stayed the night before in order not to be alone while we were out late at the quince. We went to 'breakfast' at a nearby little encebollada (type of soup) restaurant before going to church, where there were several special features for father's day. (I still struggle not to fall asleep during the sermons, and I wonder if I've been here too long to blame the altitude. More likely it's because though the days are slower, they seem to be a lot fuller, too, so I just get tired.) Santi's wife and then Santi each did a dramatic presentation of their own relationships with their fathers-- Santi's wife's was an abandonment story, Santi's, a rebellion and redemption story. After that, the kids with fathers in the congregation came forward to choose gifts for their fathers. By this point I had decided to email my dad a piece of photo art-- “Happy dad's day” spelled out with shapes found on the street or around town-- a swing with a cross bar might make an A, for example. I collected photos throughout the day for this. 

After church, we went to visit Mom again, though only one could go up at a time because it was outside of visiting hours. Andrea and I took some of her (Nathalie's) clothes to the grandmother's to wash, and came back with the young uncle and great-grandmother while the clothes were drying. Then, another trip back to grandma's to drop off Angelica to rest, as she was feeling sick in the stomach herself, to pick up the clothes, and to print out some things for Nathalie to do-- crosswords, sudokus, etc-- by the 5^th day in the hospital, you can imagine she was a little bored. By the time we arrived with the clothes and boredom relief, Nathalie's cousin Magaly (whose Mateo I tutor) had arrived with her mother and husband. It was almost six by this time, so we only had a few more minutes before visiting hours were closing. We decided to go to Magaly's hosue after dropping off Abuela and Jose (the uncle), where we had a little dinner of tea/coffee and chicken on bread rolls, sandwich style. I don't know how I got so tired (it must have been the excitement of the night before), but by the time we got home I was practically dead. I still had to put together my dad's card and find photos to project on the wall to trace for the church mural, though, so I got to bed around 11:30.

Today I was planning to wake up early and go work on the mural, but since Santi didn't end up coming before his class as planned (he told Andrea he'd come after, around 10, instead), I went to the orphanage to retrieve the kid's mom's number again-- to call about visiting tomorrow. I'm really excited about this, so I hope it works out. After severely missing my stop on the bus to the mall and having to get off and take another one back, I took a taxi to the church, where I waited from 9:40 til 10:50ish for Santi or anyone to come to church. I finally walked back home (in a roundabout way to avoid Creepster Guard), made an awkward smoothie of milk, boiled plantain, guava marmalade, and chocolate powder. It's now noon, and I still don't know if Santi's coming, and when he does, if I'll have time to do much on the mural before leaving around 2 to tutor Mateo. Ah well. We have Ecuadorian time. It lasts longer. :)