And there they were, in Cali, South America, waiting for their two suitcases to come down the carrosel......waiting......waiting.......three other people left waiting for theirs.....two other people.....waiting....waiting....one other person.....and Mommy and Daddy could see Uncle Al and Charlie outside wondering what was going on! Finally....PLOP....down came one....then the other and out they could go! Into the sunshine and the waiting arms of the uncles, and Oscar, a college student relative who had offered to drive them to the airport...and Rubernay....an uncle who had driven a second car because they weren't sure they could get all the people and luggage into one car because the cars are really tiny and don't hold a lot, especially if there are "grande gringoes" involved, if you catch my drift. An hour and a half later, they were all sitting in the comfort....if you can call 90 very humid degrees comfort.....of the gazebo at Didier and Eytza's house. Noon. The day after the day before when the toilet on the airplane was not useable. Tired, stiff in the knees, but oh, so happy to be there. Sunshine, and laughter. What could be nicer?
Now, the little town they were in is call Riofrio....cold river. Didier, Eytza, and their seventeen year old twins, Jessica and Jennifer, live there. Eytza is Alberto's neice who runs a school from her home where she teaches computer literacy. Her husband, Didier, is an engineer and works at the local sugar mill. He drives into Cali two evenings a week to work on his masters degree. Jessica and Jennifer will graduate from a private high school in September, and the following Jan. go on to college, probably in Cali. They have a maid, Alaida, who comes early in the morning, gets breakfast, does the dishes, laundry, house cleaning and anything else that needs doing, goes home on her bicycle from 2-4 in the afternoon, comes back to get dinner and do dishes, and goes home at 7 PM. She earns $200 a month. Alaida is a single mother to 10 year old Jonathon and owns her own home. She is really a worker, and a wonderful young woman.
OK, so the house Eytza and her family lives in was built by her father, Alberto's brother, Jesus. That is pronounced Hay-soos in Spanish, but everyone either calls him Professor, as he is a retired teacher, or Chucho. Chucho can do anything. He is just one of those people who can make, or fix, or do anything. The duplex that he built, was all done by hand....one brick or bag of cement at a time. He and his wife, Rosalba, live up on their farm the majority of the time, but have to come to town once a month to pick up his retirement check and get supplies. When they do, they stay on one side of the duplex, and Eytza's family lives on the other side. Rosalba does not like it in town.....way too hot, and much too noisy. So they come, get done what needs to be done, and go home. Transportation is a 1952 Willys jeep, held together with a song and a prayer,and some bungie cords.
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