Ecuador 8/22/2025 |
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Friday, August 22, 2025 - Party PreparationsBreakfast was an omelet, bread, bologna, and coffee. I didn't have a meeting, so I was able to eat with the family. Craig and I took nice hot showers, and I worked.Today is a "summer Friday" at work, so I was done with work by noon local time. The family has 8 fluffy yellow baby chicks that stick by their mother hen. When they are cold, she roosts on top of them. Today I got a cute photo of one of the babies peeking out from under her feathers. For lunch, we had soup, chicken, tomato, carrots, and rice. Friends and family members were at the house processing chickens and peeling potatoes. Aida's friend Estela from Peguche was a big help getting everything organized. Aida and Estela asked to look at our traditional Kichwa clothing to ensure that everything was set for tomorrow. The family had bought Craig a new white collared shirt. They thought that his existing one wasn't white enough any more. They thought the same about his pants, and they thought that I needed new espadrilles. My shoes had seen better days (they date back to 2011), so they weren't wrong. A community woman took Craig's pants and my shoes and said that she would try to get replacements of the same size. It seemed a little last minute to us, since the party is tomorrow and we are larger than most indigenous people, so it would be difficult to find the right size. The first time we needed shoes, they had to be custom made for our grande gringo feet. But, culturally, that is how things are done here, at the last minute. We just hoped that if she couldn't find a replacement, she would remember to return the originals in time, so that we would have something to wear. Aida's friend Jaime was also helping out a lot with party preparations. Sisa pointed out to us that he is Kuri's father. We hadn't met him before (he is usually in Chile working), and were quite pleased to meet him. The tent people returned and brought stacks of white resin chairs. Kids whose parents were helping with the preparations were playing jumprope outside. The family fed everyone dinner. Craig and I just made sandwiches so that they didn't need to worry about preparing anything special for us. People had started to bring cases of soda in preparation for the party, and we broke open a Fanta. The family ate dinner, and we went to bed at 10 o'clock. There were still lots of preparations going on, but we needed to go to bed. Tomorrow would be a big day, and the party would go until the wee hours of the morning. As we wound down in the casita, women were still peeling potatoes outside. But as soon as we shut off our light to go to bed, they also wrapped things up. |
 Achi Taita and Kuri  Baby chick peeking out from beneath its mother Photo Gallery August 22 |
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