Gettin'Out a Bit

The last few day, we have continued with spanish lessons.  A few of us have decided to go walking every day to overcome the blimpyness that we feel like we are attaining just sitting and studying.
The first day Shari, Renee, Jerry and I went out for a loop around the neighborhood.  The first hill out of the wisdom's house is at the end of their driveway.  It is very, very steep and quite a good length.  We feel our quads twang on that one quite well.  The rest of the walk was around several "blocks" which wind through several neighborhoods.  It is quite interesting because you never know who you will meet and greet.  All of the houses are cinderblock with a concrete finish.  They are painted many more beautiful colors than in the US where the grey, tan, white and brown reign.  I have seen many bright orange, florescent green, bright blue etc. houses here.
The next day Jerry and I went on our own.  We started out kind of avoiding folks first out of shyness at not speaking the language well.  Finally we got braver and at least greeted everyone. As we kept going, we felt ourselves relaxing more and laughing about getting lost.  We don't even know how to ask anyone for directions. 
We encounterd 2 ladies and a man out by a front gate talking.  When we said "good day" they asked a question in poor english so we stopped and chatted with them.  Between my poor spanish and their poor english, we actually had quite a good time.  We each learned a lot about each other and went away feeling like we were beginning to launch out a bit. 
We passed many interesting things like an above ground cemetary.  All of the crypts are family burial places many the size of a car with highly decorated marble and tiles.  There are angel statues all around and of course Mary and Jesus.
We walked through coffee fields and kept going, we hoped, in a circle.  Some places looked familiar so we had hope.  We probably went 5 miles or so when we saw the cell tower close to the Wisdom's off in the distance.  After that we felt like we were going the right way again.  We were never truely lost, but were not sure exactly where we were.  By the time we got home we were getting a little tired in the legs. This area is fairly hilly.
Today Renee, Shari, Jerry and I also walked again.  We went off through a coffee field and back through some neighborhoods.  We went to the home of Kati, the Wisdom's former housekeeper whom many know and said hello then heard a band and went to find it. 
We found a tiny parade of school children playing drums and other percussion instruments followed by majorettes and oxen carts thay were colorfully decorated. Renee didn't know the exact occasion.  One of the signs the kids was holding said something about protecting the earth, an another was patriotic.  This was a very tiny, but very charming parade.  In fact we were the only audience they had.
The lesson I learned was to never forget to carry my camera.  I am going to get some of Shari's pics to share with you.
The quads are still screaming, but I think the breathing is easier on the hill.
Back to studying.


The cemetary




oxcart in the parade




cowboys in the parade




oxcart close-up