Pedro (a slightly not right child) showing his plane that we brought for him.

Today was a bit of a depressing day really. First Mark and I went out at 7.15 am to the study up the mountain and that always brings home to me how fortunate we are - dirt floors, no windows etc etc. The kids that piled out of the house really looked they needed a good bath and maybe a good dinner too. While we were there we had a phone call from Doug give us the news that Blanca (our neighbour from the first house we rented) - her Mum had died, so we needed to go visit her.After that very sad situation, Michele and I had an arrangement to go to study with Luz - that's her with 2 of her boys at the top. She looks very happy in the picture but the reality was she was very troubled today. Awhile ago she had taken in her nephew and his 15 year old girlfriend and they had all been selling fish to make some money over the Easter period (Catholics eat a lot of fish during that time and no meat, so it was a lucrative deal for her). Well the little brat had taken off with all the money so Luz is in dire straights. Poor lady was crying most of the time we were there.
Young Patricio, who you can see in the video showing us his dance moves, was getting ready to go dancing, something he loves doing. Nice that he has a bit of an outlet because he seems to be the man of the house. He is the only one able to go to school but when he has a vacation from classes, he has to spend the time selling CDs at the market (from 8 am till 8 pm, everyday). When we arrived this morning, he was mopping the floor and doing a fine job too I might add. So I'm glad he can find some time to do something he loves - he deserves it

So tomorrow we will be attending another funeral - Mark is down at the Salon del Reino now (its 9pm) and has been most of the afternoon. I think I told you when Joanna died we learnt what they do when someone dies. The body is not embalmed so they need to bury them quickly but first they have the body at the KH for the what I would call a wake. People just file in, sit around for a bit then leave. The family stay there pretty much the whole time. Of course someone reasponsible needs to be there to look after the Hall and shake everyones hand as they come in and when they leave so Mark and Chad are filling that role today.

So a not so happy day all round - let's hope things pick up, if not tomorrow then the next day. Chao!