Let the Good Times Roll

It has been over a week since we came to Otavalo and six days since we started working at La Luna. The owners are quite nice and the work is not hard. We take orders in the morning for breakfast and bring food out from the kitchen. We keep track of guests' tabs and deal with payment when they check out. We do a little cleaning up at the end of the night, feed the dogs and close the resturant. I have done some repainting of the rooms and some prep work on the walls before applying new plaster. Everyday I move the horse, Lulu, to a new stop in the yard and bring her water.

We were taking special care of Lulu early in the week becuase she was very pregnant. No one knew exactly how far along she was but they knew it was close to a year, which is a horse's gestation period. A few days ago we awoke to find that Lulu had given birth during the night and tragicly the colt was not alive. Lulu was standing next to it and looked extremely sad. I helped dig a grave and we buried the colt; it was a sad morning.

I have been playing soccer almost daily with the local kids and adults; everyone is included in the game. They play with a small ball which I am not used to and the altitude here, 10,000 feet, has severely limited my endurance, but I still enjoy the games a great deal. No one gets angry during the games and smiles are abundant. The people here are some the happiest I have seen in all my travels. They are not rich, but not overly poor. They have maintained their traditions and have pride in their heritage. Family bonds are close and it has been fasicnating to learn how everyone is interconnected. The people here have not abondoned their culture in search of western style materialism. I believe this pride in who they are and who their ancestors were is the source of their happiness.

Work is not hard and most the time there is nothing to do, so we read lots of book and go on walks into town or around the hills surrounding the hostel. The locals are exeedingly friendly and I have had the privledge of several conversations ranging from soil conditions and the need for rain, to lessons in Quechua, the first language of many here. In fact a conversation in spanish can be slow at times as it is possible that both of us are conversing in our second language. We are looking forward to another wonderful week here. See you later.