Can You Dig It?

What a day! Today was full of bad translating, physical exhaustion, and laughter....and no I haven't been watching Shaft! (Remember, that show's older than I am)

This mornings' task: Dig a foundation, you dig?. I was able to work hard this morning, but decided to leave it to the professionals in the afternoon. I never surrender, but sometimes I'll put things off until later. This was grueling work, and as to how Santos and Antonio do this on a regular basis, sometimes multiple foundations in a week...I just don't know. I do attribute my 1/2 day of work to several tactical mistakes on my part:

• Mistake 1: Not eating breakfast, thus depriving myself of energy


• Mistake 2: Accepting a Coca-Cola from the very nice family -- wasn't a good choice while I was working


• Mistake 3: The heat and Mexican sun, and;


• Mistake 4: I'm a suburban white kid who spends most days in an air-conditioned room, not digging through levels of earth and old concrete...

After breaking for lunch (thank God), I did some things around Casa Bugambilla that needed to get done, replacing screens on windows, organizing storage, and doing a few errands with Larry.

Today was also filled with laughter, not just physical exertion. Along with the daily conversations with Larry, and my inability to fully communicate in Spanish, I was once again awakend by Keyla coming into my roon and looking at me. This time I woke up when she cleared her throat loudly. When she saw that my eyes were opening, she asked, "Como estas? (How are you?)." To which I promptly sputtered out, "bien Keyla, adios" (well Keyla, goodbye). There's nothing like a personal alarm clock that cares...and can't be set.

The other couple of things that had me cracking up all afternoon, involved Jabez (the 2 year old at Casa Bugambilla). After I had returned from an errand with Frederico, I noticed that there was a fresh piece of...um...excrement at the bottom of a stairwell leading to the upstairs rooms. I assumed a dog, but when Diana walked near later with Jabez, she pointed and asked Jabez, "What happened here?" I was curious so I eavesdropped from the computer, only to see him tilt his head to the side and say, "Mato?", his version of Mateo. Diana didn't buy it, and then he tried to blame it on her, which was probably not a smart strategy. I was loudly laughing at the situation, which I'm sure helped whatever discipline efforts Diana tried, but let's face it, that little guy is funny. Jabez kept me laughing throughout the day, as I took a page from my grandfather's book and taught him to stick his toungue out as a means of salutation. We would greet each other this way, and his facial expression and obvious enjoyment was hillarious.

Until later; Paz,

Mateo