A working Sabbath

So last night there was no fiesta. When Peggy and I got back to the house, it was mostly dark. The volunteers were just playing cards. Dunia, the volunteer from Germany, didn’t stay long and left while everyone was napping in the afternoon. We speculated about why she left, not in record time as the two girls a week ago, but for much the same reasons: uncomfortable bed and too chilly for her sleeping bag, the pit toilet, cold showers, volunteers not speaking Spanish, everyone being sick, not wanting to work Sunday on her birthday…and the list goes on. She had farmed somewhere else, and she did work a day and a half, though she didn’t get much done. Ah well…one person she invited to our bonfire showed up, but he left with understanding. Who knows if anyone else got close and turned around when they saw the darkness? Peggy ended up making popcorn, and we ate a bit of Patch’s dessert. I was tired, so I didn’t mind going to bed before midnight on a Saturday. The funniest was when we asked for more papel higenico for the bathroom. Azucena said she just bought a four pack for us Saturday morning, but we never saw it. Paloma repeatedly affirmed that she brought it over to our house. About five minutes after they left, she came back in with her head down and set the toilet paper on the table and walked back out. Are you sure you brought it? It meant nobody had to use the paper flour bag, though there was creative alternatives to TP. Today is a work day, not a day of rest this week, though we did get to sleep in. And our wonderful foreman, as I am calling Patch, made papas fritas norteamericanas (when you dice the potatoes and fry them). The Canadians didn’t dice yesterday, but they did contribute their ketchup again today. What an aroma, but no eggs today. Can’t quite get the combination down! I went “to the mountains” with Sean, Myrna, Paloma, Patch, and Azucena to pick “tea”. I was excited we might have tea in the house again, but really they were just these wild yellow flowers along the side of a road perpendicular to the mountains. So I did get to see the mountains, but we didn’t go to them. It was so hot, too. Azucena asked me to build a fire when we returned. I was never a boy scout, and my brothers would probably say it’s a waste of time to even let me try, but try I did. I had great success, and then it went out. In the end I made a go of it and got the potatoes cut and boiled. We had boiled potatoes and sauces for lunch, plus the usual salad of bitter greens and olives and anything leftover from a past meal. Azucena is usually pretty good about reinventing leftovers, particularly turning something into a soup. There was a great dilemma because we had no oil. These guys put oil on everything, though I usually don’t care much. Patch biked to a kiosko with no luck. Alas…it was good to me anyway. We didn’t get much time to rest before going to work. The moon was in the right position for planting, so we planted tomatoes and tomatoes and tomatoes. We mostly replanted, didn’t even get into new rows. We planted until it was too dark and too cold to be in the rows with the water coming down. Dinner was tasty polenta soup, a recreation of the recreated leftover polenta from lunch – that was really tasty, too. We enjoyed cards and conversation about Thanksgiving. We talked about foods and traditions, Peggy constantly asking why and what because they don’t have Thanksgiving in France. I joked that they don’t say thanks in France. Azucena said we will have Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday here, which excites me, though I don’t know if I will be able to make mashed potato casserole or not. There will be a lot of people here, and we don’t have the proper dishes for trying to bake it. We’ll see… I had such great conversations with Katie tonight. She is heading to El Peregrino tomorrow afternoon, so we may not have a chance for another good chat. We talked for a long time. I wish her luck and am excited for her to continue her adventure – maybe here or maybe Chile. Peggy, Tatiana, and Katie leaving tomorrow…Sean and Myrna on Wednesday…solo Patch y mio…ciao