Lady in Waiting!

Well yesterday involved a lot of waiting.  But then that's the culture here. Marvin contacted me at 6.45 am to say we needed to catch an early bus as the electrician urgently needed the materials. I wasn't dressed or showered so I let him go alone. I know I can trust him now.  So my lift was due to arrive at 9.30, and I was ready with my crash helmet, my empty garafon ( 5 gallon water bottle), rucksack.  After a very long wait I got a message to say Allan had been stopped at a police road block and as he didn't have some paperwork he had been fined. He returned to Urbaite, I'm not sure why, but conversations ensued with both Allan and Marvin. Then I got a message saying Allan was coming via the beach to avoid the road block,  so I began to be hopeful. It was a very long wait, probably two hours by the time he arrived.  But then we had to negotiate the return, which involved me being dropped off before the road block, walking with crash helmet, garafon and rucksack through the road block whilst Allan did a detour by the beach. I did think this might look a bit suspicious and was ready with my answer that my friend has not arrived so I was walking to meet him! Any further questions and I would have pleaded ignorant and said I was a tourist.  So I  arrived at the Ojo de Agua where the next turn off was and waited a while then wondered if I had got the right place, so walked a bit further. Finally Allan reappeared by which time I had been in contact with Marvin! Plan B was being formulated!

When I arrived we decided to go to visit the little family and take the supplies we had purchased for them. They included rice, sugar, oil, eggs, baby milk, tins of fish, soap.  And soap was certainly needed for the children.   They are so thin and tiny too and looked exceedingly grubby.  Mind you So do I at times. I don't have to walknfar to have very dusty ankles and shoes, and my hair, well what with the wind and crash helmet I'm no fashion plate!  But they were so pleased and I was showered with all the usual blessings.

After lunch we prepared the bags, bins and light bulbs for the satellite schools to give to them at the uniform presentation in the afternoon.

 These were transported by cart to the school where a few parents had gathered. This was the second period of waiting as an appointed time means very little here!  Whilst we were waiting we checked out the electrician's work and he is making great progress. He has a young lad helping him.  In fact anyone around seems to help to make things achievable.

It's great to see the classrooms illuminated. I remember trying to do activities in the semi dark a couple of years ago. I had no idea at the time that I might be able to help resolve the issues.  But thanks to generous donors we have achieved so much!

By this time a few more parents had gathered but the head teacher wasn't here. I gathered he had been called to a meeting and had put another teacher in charge. So when we thought enough parents had arrived, about an hour after the time appointed, we started proceedings. There were a few hiccups, wrong names, children not present, a number awaiting uniforms whose names were not on the list! A few things to sort out tomorrow I think.  But there were many happy children and parents and we had a group photo with the volcanoe in the background but unfortunately you can't see It!

Later I had a call from the head, about the uniform confusion,  I will have to manage the differences. Hemer has his ideas and opinions and Marvin as a member of the Community has his and they aren't always in accord. But at least my Spanish is good enough now to pick my way through these things. 

So we organised for the head to visit later, but he was unable to get away and when he did Marvin wasn't there, so it was rearranged for the next day, for which i duly artived.  After waiting, we found another emergency had  prevented the head from attending the meeting. I'm just learning to live in a different culture, being patient and not planning ahead.

So at short notice I decided to go to Moyagalpa, to visit Alicia, the lady who rented me the scooter. It was lovely to see her again and she offered ideas of places to visit for a little break. We popped in to see Jefferson for some copies, and had another visit to Pali supermarket where I bought treats for the family as well as me. 

We then had a drink whilst waiting, yes again, this time for the bus which took ages to get back because of so many people were squeezed in which involved longish stops and even longer as they tried to exit!  But there were great views of the Concepcion volcanoe on the return journey!