Later ... the Same Sunday ... Part Dos

After my entry earlier today, I strolled down to the beach to find it crowded and lively. A first since I've been here! It's been warmer the last few days and many Mexican families decided to go to the beach. I strolled the shoreline and every few steps brought a new story. Here's some young guys playing a game of soccer.

Kids were building sand castles and the little ones were especially cute to watch as they dodged in and out of the waves. They loved it and were just a little bit afraid at the same time. But madre and padre were always close by keeping their eye on them. Witnessing these images for some reason brought an overwhelming wave of emotion to my heart and I found myself wiping away a little tear now and then as I walked the shoreline. It was a very cool day all around and I am just so very happy to be here. That beach is a very special place. I can't stand to be away from it for very long. Here's a little nino enjoying her day at the beach. Ahhhhhh.

I see all kinds of beautiful children at the beach playing but I hesitate to take a picture because I think their parents would like me to ask permission first. For some reason, I just took these ones and right after, I saw a very proud padre standing there looking at me questionably. I walked over to him and said "bonito nino" and that I hope he didn't mind that I took the picture. He seemed to understand but didn't smile back his approval until I repeated "bonito nino" several times.

Trying to capture this beautiful day, I was snapping pictures everywhere and suddenly realized that the camera wasn't responding. I had a closer look and it seemed that the card on my camera is full ... no wonder. I thought this might happen. I have been emailing my son about it and trying to find a safe place where I can save all my pictures and delete them from the camera. I sat on some rocks at the end of the beach and started deleting doubles or bad shots I had taken. This freed up a little space until I could get home and figure out what to do.

When I got back to the casa, I started to get ready to go meet Larry and Carly. The tamale truck was passing by and I was waiting for them to show up ever since Allan told me about them. "Tamales Pollo" could be heard over the loudspeaker from the truck over and over again. I flagged the guy down and approached the truck. I have seen how you make tamales and have had them only once. The care the goes into these little creations is incredible. I bought 5 tamales from the truck for 16 pesos each. A madre and her sweet little girl sat in the back of the truck and when the madre opened the cooler to retrieve my tamales, the aroma was overwhelmingly ... bueno! I said aloud "Mmmmmmm" and madre smiled. The little girl who was about 2 and just learning to talk repeated every word I said. It was really funny! Here's the tamale truck and the madre and nino ....

Victor came knocking at my door shortly after wanting to use the microwave to heat up his meal. I let him come in and we talked for a while and I asked what it was he was eating. It was a kind of a stew with chicken and some kind of grits mixed with a nice spicy sauce, which he invited me to try. I asked Victor why there wasn't anyone at church today and he told me that they usually only have services on Thursdays if there's a special occasion in town. There's no regular service on Sundays because they don't have a big enough congregation in Chacala. If I went to Las Varas there would be a regular service on Sundays. Ok ... mystery solved. Chacala is a very small place with only about 300 people.

Ok so these little tamales are truly a work of culinary art. I had two while they were warm. Oh my, they were scrumptious. Here's what they look like.

Inside of the corn husk which are wrapped so carefully is a mixture of chicken and vegetables, kind of like a spring roll. What a delight! I put the remaining 4 into the freezer for another day.

I went to meet Larry and Carly and they weren't at Las Brisas. I could only guess that Carly is still not feeling well. It's not like we can call each other.

I walked back to the casa and recharged the batteries on my camera, deleted some pictures, and I'm good to go with the picture taking until it's full again. Then I don't know what I'm going to do. I listened to Simon and Garfunkle, Joni Mitchell, Cat Stevens and Serena Ryder very loudly on my ipod speakers and drank some Chilean wine. I want to say that I hope I didn't wake the neighbours, but I don't believe that's a problem around here.

There's a freedom here that becomes evident the longer I am here. There's so many rules that we live under at home. We just play the game without questioning the reasons behind the rules. I guess it is mostly for safety's sake. Living around here is like living when we were kids in the '60's. It reminds me a lot of that time.

On my way back to the casa, I took this shot of some dogs. These guys (and many more!) are lying around on every street corner and they never bark at me. I saw a woman washing down one of them the other day with a hose. She poured copious amounts of detergent on his back, lathered it up with the hose water and then rinsed him off. It was hilarious to watch.

So here's ... The Three Amigos. :)

It's almost 11 pm now and I'm getting sleepy. It's a late night for me! Manana, I have to make a trip to Las Varas for banco, pollo (chicken) and toilet paper ...

What a wonderful day in Chacala! I am so lucky. I still feel a pang of emotion from the day. It's all good ...

Buenas noches and sweet dreams to all ...

Charmalita