Maya Mopan Visit

The other night I wne to go visit my Maya Mopan family. I was a little nervous as the visit was without warning. I wondered how awkward it would be, but at least I had a picture to give Miss Santa of the both of us in Belize City. While walking towards the house, one of the neighbor boys that always played cards with us said, "Chepe is waiting for you." (Chepe is what they call Jose', Jr.) How funny! Then, he turned around on his bike to go tell everyone I was coming. I went into the house, gave a round of hugs, and handed Miss Santa the pictures. I told the kids I came to play cards so we did. While playing, Shirley ran across the street to give me a hug, so great to see her, too. She kept going back into the house, coming out to ask me questions for Miss Santa. "How long are you staying?" "Are you staying the night?" "Why aren't you staying the night?" "When are you coming back?" After playing cards for awhile I was fed some eggs, cheese, and of course, corn tortillas. Plus, I had a coke! I got a K'ekchi lesson, being quized with vocabulary by little Jose' and Carolina was telling Miss Santa I lived in Santa Teresa, which has no electricity and that I bathed in the river. I was asked what I had been eating and tried my hardest to use my K'ekchi. "Cua, arin, aros, kenk, chilan, cuiy, wech, tul, papai, ramen, calaloo, mulb..." (corn tortilla, flour tortilla, rice, beans, chicken, pork, armadillo, plantain, papaya, Ramen noodles, calaloo, eggs..." They also asked about my phone number because they had tried calling. Awww. How sweet. I told them I didn't have cell phone service and wrote down the community phone number. I guess this really surprised me. I almost didn't go becasue I thought it would be uncomfortable, thinking I would wait for more time to pass. But they were already wanting to see how I was doing. The connections was deeper than I realized. When I had to leave I gave another round of hugs, stating I would be back in a month. Carolina even walked me back to the resource center where I was meeting Greg and Kevina to catch a cab back to Belmopan. What a beautiful night!