We met some of our other house mates, Francis and Sonita from France. They are clients of Carlos and they buy and sell his hats very successfully at an 8-week Christmas market. They are both very friendly, kind and cheerful. Francis does not have much Spanish--French, German and a little English instead. Sonita was born on the island of Reunión in the Indian Ocean (near Madagascar, we looked it up). We looked up each other's home towns on Google Maps.
Sonita has two daughters going to school in France, the third daughter, the oldest is taking care of them--Sonita keeps up with them via Skype. One of her daughters is undergoing treatment for cancer, which is very worrisome for Sonita. I am finding it quite disconcerting to be chatting along in Spanish and have Francis or Sonita stop me and talk in English, French (of which I have not one word) or German. As I was beginning to learn Spanish, the German I learned in high school and college came to me more readily than Spanish, and now it is coming at me out of context. My brain gets stuck in "Spanish gear" and I can't think of an English or German word which I know perfectly well. It's like learning to drive a manual transmission--lurch to a halt, step on the gas, car dies. Press the starter and try again. Plus the French pronunciation throws me off. They are very patient and kind and full of humor, so we are getting along well despite the lack of a common language.
The home, living quarters and workshop are quite a lot bigger than we imagined. It seems Carlos and his mother, Zoila (SOY-la), live here with Carlos' two boys, Sebastián and Miguel. Carlos' wife died of cancer two years ago, and Zoila mothers them. Zoila's uncle started this business many, many years ago. They transported everything to market by burro! It was a very hard life. Zoila still works in the business, but Carlos is in charge. They sell to many different countries and have dozens of styles of hats they make in leather, wool and straw. They also offer hospitality to many visitors, including us. Tomorrow Carlos is going to Otavalo to ship an order to a customer in Canada. Carlos and his mother both are extremely energetic people--they run everywhere. They are very concerned that we get the proper food (I am lactose intolerant to a certain degree, and Vincent is a vegetarian). We told them they didn't have to trouble themselves, we would eat anything, but they have put together quite a menu of possibilities for us.
I spent some time on the phone and the internet today making sure our mortgage would be paid, as we haven't tried the mail service yet and don't know if we want to. It was a day of catching up with small things. We went out for a walk in the town plaza and looked for chirimoya. Unfortunately, I was remembering the wrong fruit and we got some (somewhat sour) maracuyá instead. It's an interesting fruit--to open it, you smash the rind on a wall or a table, it cracks open and you scoop out the jelly-covered seeds from the center. The taste is similar to tamarindo.
I'm thinking a lot today of family and friends back in the U.S. As we tool around the country meeting ever more new people, I am missing the old friends, the grandchildren, Elspeth. Vincent is also missing hearing English spoken. He signed up for Netflix because of it, then immediately cancelled. One thing we are NOT homesick for is snow! We are hopeful that when we return in April, we will see all of you, but no frozen water anywhere. Water is much more pleasant not frozen or boiling!
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