Cú Pop

only a few weeks here in san cris are left. things are winding up...we will be having the end of the year fiestas for the women in the villages over the next two weeks.
i think one of the things brad and i have enjoyed the most living here is meals with our host family. there have been many evenings of sitting around the table talking and joking for a good long time. like last night - we sat eating our tomalitos and corn tortillas - talking about Doñ Conrado´s day of walking many hours and then killing pigs - that´s his job. He works on a finca (a big farm) somewhere and does alot of pig killing, walking, buying corn feed, and probably lots more we don´t quite understand. He is always calling to brad - ¡Brad mi Amigo! with a great big smile making his laughlines around his eyes shine. Doña Roselia has been busier than busy bees running a comedor, a restaurant down in the town square. And though she has owned this for 2 years - we didn´t even know she own it until about 2 weeks ago when school finished up for the year. she just retired from teaching after putting in 25 years. now it seems half the family is wrapped up in helping run the Cafe de la Casa. we´ve been going there to get some of our lunches now since it´s easier than her packing it up for us during the week.
Conradó Jr. is always saying something funny and everything is ´so very good´ - he is a teacher aid at private school here in town. Nicté is 14 and the youngest. She has been diligently helping mom at the restaurant over her vacation. Juan Pablo is the oldest. he works at an office all week and comes home thursday - sunday. it´s always nice to have him home for the weekend though he has to spend a good chuck of that time studying and going to school on saturdays. Marisol lives down near Antigua and is a university student - she is pure sunshine - though she has only been home for a visit one weekend since we have been here. and then there is bobby, the dog. he is the funniest dog i think i have ever met. i think you just have to see a pic sometime to understand.
The conversation swayed from the days events to the tomalitoes we were eating - if we liked them (brad hates them) and then we were launched into the 3 classes of tomalitoes. we learned all sorts of interesting things about tomalitoes. the ones were ate last night we made of corn meal mixed with just a tad of potato, usually all of them have a chunk of meat and a chili pepper somewhere inside...i don´t know what else is in them but they come wrapped in banana leaves. they are boiled in the banana leaves...we had these at Eva´s house before her wedding, we often receive the plainer type in the villages, and we have eaten the `potato only´ kind a few times served by different people.
but it doesn´t seem to matter what we are all talking about - our days, foods, Guatemalan riddles, music or whatever - it´s always animated and there is always laughing and joking. we feel blessed to be able to be a part of the Family Cú Pop - they are an absolute joy!