Tuesday April 3, 2012 - Spending Time with the Family We woke up at 7 a.m. and headed over for breakfast at 8:30. We had a pancake made of choclo and milk and a fry bread made of corn served with jelly, fresh juice, and coffee made with hot milk instead of water. They went outside to feed the parrot some fry bread. He sat on the top fence rail. Chipi was on the next rail down. And Max was on the ground. Anything the parrot dropped was fair game. They reminded us of the four friends in Buddhist ideology. After breakfast, Sisa got out her blocks that we had given her last year and we played on an estera (tortora reed) mat outside. Yupanqui played with us too, and he also played with his new dump truck. We gave Sisa a coloring book and crayons, and we gave Yupanqui a wooden puzzle depicting cartoon farm animals. Sisa spontaneously said gracias and gave us hugs when we presented her with the gifts. Sisa and Rosa colored. Sisa is very good at staying within the lines and coloring very small areas. Yupanqui played with the puzzle. He colored on it but the crayons are washable and wiped right off. Sisa played with the puzzle too. Sisa took a bath in the bathroom guest house next door to ours. Yupanqui took a bath on the patio in a small bucket of water warmed by the sun. Antonio bathed both of them. Sisa's hair is usually pulled back in braids and wrapped with a woven hair tie, so when we saw it loose after her bath we were amazed by how long her hair actually is! Sisa got dressed up in her traditional clothes. Rosa styled Sisa's hair. After his bath, Yupanqui wore the ducky bathrobe that we had given them on a previous visit. He looked adorable. Aida styled Yupanqui's hair into small braids. We had lunch - choclo soup followed by chicken with potatoes and a huge floret of broccoli in lemon juice, and carrots. We once again had fresh juice to drink. Yupanqui fell asleep at lunch again. After lunch, Antonio went to Otavalo. We sat with Aida at the kitchen table and we helped her with English pronunciatons in one of her English books. Sisa asked Craig to draw a sun ("inti" in Kichwa) and house ("huasi") and a cat ("misi"). Then she had me draw them too. It started to rain so we ran outside to bring everything (laundry, tortora reed mat with blocks on it, other toys) inside. Yupanqui woke up and the sun came out. We all went back outside and played blocks on the mat. Rosa fed the parrot bananas. She said it likes chicken, sugar cane, bread, and all kinds of things. Aida put a towel over her head and chased the kids like a ghost. Then Sisa put it over her head and put her pink hat on as well. We walked with Rosa and the kids up the street to meet Abuelita as she brought the cow hone from its day of grazing. The cow knows its own way home and found its way to the driveway, but it tried to go into the patio as opposed to the side yard. Rosa wrangled it into its proper spot. Antonio came home and we had supper. It consisted of a very hearty chuchuca soup with potatoes and grains, and then lentils, beets, rice, and cabbage. We had fresh lemonade mixed with oats to drink. Craig asked Antonio about the scar above his eye. It was indeed from the Inti Raymi incident when we last visited. He had been hit by a rock and had to get stitches above his eye. He said he won't dance Inti Raymi in Cotatachi this year because people from Quito and Colombia come and cause trouble. He may dance in another village but he's not sure. Not knowing this, we were glad we hadn't planned our trip for Inti Raymi again this year. After supper Antonio got his flute out. Sisa came and took us by the hand to dance in the kitchen with her and Yupanqui. Sisa hadn't napped and needed to sleep, but she wouldn't go to bed with us there. So we said goodnight and retired to our room at 8:15. I wrote in the journal and then we went to bed early.

Sisa and Craig at breakfast Steph plays blocks with Sisa Bathtime for Yupanqui Aida, Antonio, and the rooster Sisa See all photos from this day