Best Friends, Cowboy Gatherings, & Pineapples

"Oracio es me mejor amigo"(orazi is my best friend) Ever (the boy's name) says, as he hugs my boy.Somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good. My motherly heart is overflowth. The rest of our day pales in comparison, it's just details compared to that. But, it's still worth sharing cuz it was amazing. We spent our day 100% with the locals of La Lucha celebrating a country fair!!!!


We woke up, excited to see Ever and pay for his admission to the fair which he was not going to attend because it was expensive.

Turns out his family, like ours, and yours make decisions as to how they wish to spend their money wisely. And like kobi and I opted out on all those expensive but wonderful kids' plays that came to town because we thought the price was so high; his family also opted out on the day's events.Oracio couldn't bare the thought of Ever not spending the day at the event with him, so he offered to buy his ticket for him. (This is HUGE for my loving son to offer to buy something for another. HUGE!)

So, we arrived before 10 at school where we said yesterday we'd meet Ever to take him with us to the event. He was not there and we were worried that maybe his parents said he couldn't go for some reason. So, we went walking up and down the streets in the area we saw him run off to three days before. We found his home, met his adorable mother, and ten minutes later, left with Ever and his sister Pomella for the event.

Much of the event was spent waiting in this line or that. (I'll marinating on a blog entry about 'waiting'. It's a fascinating concept here. A very calming thing actually. One that I believe it quite foreign to us in our busy, modern worlds.) The kids all came decked out in their jeans, cowboy/girl shirts, belts with buckles, hats, and boots. (Orazi spent the first half hour of the event begging me for us to all hike back home so he could change clothing.Of course i felt like such an awful mom that my kids were not dressed up like all the others. Who knew?)

We, and half the country folk of La Lucha,  had bought little foam horses on sticks made by school mothers. It was the cutest thing. All the little cowboys and cowgirls, including Oracio and Solay, Ever and Pomella, had their 'caballitos' (little horses) name pinned to the back of their shirts, and the stick between their legs as they all rode up and down dirt road slopes with their imaginary stallion.

We each ate our plate of fried rice and beans and salad, won a prize and spent the rest of the day at Ever's house meeting his adorable mom Dazy and her sweet boyfriend whom the kids call Papi (dad). They are the cutest little family you've ever seen, and I totally see it as an honor to not only call them friends, but to envision us keeping up with Ever in the years to come. I just see him and Oracio staying brothers for a long, long time. (I know i'm a hopeless romantic. probably some of the same sappy stuff that helped me get here in the first place.)

I'm sorry. I need to go. Orazi is about to fall asleep and he wants me to read our nightly greek mythology before he's out. so, goodnight friends. good night kind God who has allowed us this awesome adventure into the hearts of such beautiful people.

Oh ps: Today our neighbor Oscar came over with about 15 pineapples for us. You have to watch what you say around her. I just mentioned that we love pineapples and he's been delivering them to us every other day or so now. How did we ever get so lucky to deserve the love of such glorious souls on this earth?

Posted in: Discovering Cool Places, Discovering Humanity, Discovering Ourselves