San Lucas Visit

One night I asked Petrona, my host mom's sister if she would like to walk with me in the morning since it was her week off - she works at the Health clinic every other week. She was happy to walk with me then remembered she wanted to visit her aunt in San Lucas so invited me to go along. Of course! We planned to leave at 9:00 am which ended up being... 9:10, very good. It seems to me that people in Santa Teresa usually show up when they say they will. We decided to take our bikes which I was very happy we did because our travel time was cut in half at least. It ended up taking about an hour to bike the 4 miles or so to San Lucas. When we reached Petrona's aunt's house we rested and had our coffee. We then walked down to the creek to see the raxiru ha' (clear blue water). It was so beautiful and peaceful to put our feet in to cool off. While sitting beside the creek Petrona mentioned wanting to imporve her English and asked if I would help her. She wanted to be able to understand "big words" and felt even just talking with me would be beneficial as it has been a long time since she was in school and she doesn't have the chance to practice while at home because they always speak Ke'kchi. I told her I would want to learn more Ke'kchi. We both like to hear the other speak their home language and hope spending time together we'll improve our secondary ones by exchanging what we know and simply having conversation. Petrona thought we should start son and she would come over every evening she can around 7:00. I'll teach her English one night and she'll teach me Ke'kchi the next. What a great idea! I hope it works out as well as I think it should. Yippee! After our rest by the creek we went back to her aunt's house where I got to see someone using the grinding stone for the first time. The masa was so easy to flatten after being passed through the stone and I was happy to bake in San Lucas. We ate our chya (like kalaloo)(like spinach) with corn tortilla, rested again in the hammocks this time, then were on our way back to Santa Teresa. I wasn't sure how long the visit would be when I agreed to go along, but the timing was perfect, a total of four hours, including the two hours to get there and back. Petrona told me she would ask me again when she goes to visit. We both agree it's better to ride alongside someone else. Loves and Hugs!