January 9, 2011

“Donde esta Vanessa?”


That’s how my 6 year old cousin, Rodrigo, stormed into the house this morning with his 2 friends. My mom and dad were changing into bathing suits to go out on the jet ski for the first time and I had run into the bathroom. I heard the kids run into the house asking for me and gave a loud shout that I would be out in a minute.

Unfortunately, Rodrigo didn’t take the hint.

When I met him for the first time two days ago, it was obvious he was a character. He is the son of my tio Jose and the kid just talks…and talks…and talks. What’s funny is that he sort of has the vocabulary of an old man. I think he spent a lot of time with his grandparents the first few years of his life while his parents were at work for the day and he picked up some of their phrases and delivery techniques. For example, before his dad came home the first evening I was here, I met him, his brother (who might be the cutest kid on the planet) and Ursula, his mom. I was speaking with Ursula for a while and was admitting that I didn’t even remember Jose’s face after 15 years. In all honesty, I remembered a tan, skinny guy with a black goatee and that was about it. Rodrigo piped up then.

“You don’t remember my Dad?” He asked with a very serious tone.

“I remember him, but not his face!” I replied, laughing.

“Well, you might notice some changes…he has gained some weight.” Rodrigo clucked his tongue and then apparently felt the need to clarify further, “His body has changed.”

My jaw dropped for a second while I looked at Ursula, wanting to make sure that if a hysterical laugh slipped out I wouldn’t feel guilty for “encouraging” him. When she only rolled her eyes and snorted, I couldn’t help myself and soon enough the three of us were laughing together, Rodrigo himself obviously amused by his sincerity.

Cute kid, but don’t be fooled…sometimes he talks like an adult, but is still totally 6 years old.

As he barreled through the hallways, the leader of the pre-10 years old kid gang of Colán, I made a quick dive for the lock on the door. Five seconds later I heard the shove.

“Vanessa?”

“Un momento, ya vengo.” I said, trying to buy a couple more minutes of privacy.

“Vanessa, estas calata??”

“No, I’m not naked.” I muttered, as I finished washing my hands.

In a nutshell, that is the beauty of being surrounded by family. I love being in a little rustic house on the beach, right next door to people with my blood and down the street from even more people with my blood. But having all that family around means they’ll be in and out of the house whenever they want. And they will bring their other 6 year old friends. :)

I’m only pretending to complain. I love having family around, especially when I get to experience this so little. It’s amazing to be able to share memories with them and be a part of my smaller cousins’ lives as they grow up. I want to keep coming down enough so they remember who I am as they get older.

I woke up at 7AM again this morning. By body is on its own clock and while I slept better last night than the night before, I still woke up a few times and climbed out of bed once I felt like the sun was high enough. Had a bowl of Müsli with leche sin lactosa for breakfast and then had a second breakfast once Dad bought some avocados from one of the vendors on the beach. The vendors in the morning are numerous and today was no exception. In fact, Sunday turned out to be a really popular day at the beach and by noon, the sand and water were flooded with activity. Every 5 to 10 minutes or so, you’ll hear a man on the beach call out “meringues!” or “langostino!” Dad or Alyssa usually goes running out in that moment to scope out the goods, even if Dad had already claimed he didn’t want more fish 10 minutes earlier. Mom bought me a couple of really pretty sundresses from one of the vendors on Saturday and I’ve been wearing them over my bathing suits since they’re light and airy.

My parents came off the jet ski on a high and eventually went on it again an hour later. My other great uncle, tio Gordo (his real name is Antonio…or Ernesto actually…I think Chino’s real name is Antonio…I’m already getting confused) came over with one of his daughters and her daughter, both of whom I had never met. Gordo is also quite the character (something else I’ll reserve for those who inquire) but was nice. He must be 70 something and is only 11 months younger than his brother Chino. Needless to say their Mom didn’t have much time in between to recuperate.

I spent a better part of the morning inside to give my skin some time to recuperate. Did some reading on the hammock and ate some tasty mango. Around 2pm we took Lucho’s truck and ATV over to Chino’s place on the other side of Colan (about a 5-10 minute drive) for a late lunch.

The focus of the lunch was the caja china (Chinese box). Earlier in the day they had loaded two whole chickens, two pork roasts, camote (sweet potato) and plantains into this iron box and then placed another iron lid on top. By the time we came over, there were hot coals on top of the lid and the food had been cooking for hours. Our arrival was welcomed by some familiar and not so familiar faces. Mom reunited with her tia Iliana (Gordo and Chino’s younger sister by 10 years) and we met a few more family members we didn’t know well. Everyone was really nice and later on that afternoon, Jose and Lucho went back to the house to get my new guitar so I could play for the family after lunch. Lunch consisted of some delicious ceviche and then the chicken came out while the pork continued to cook. The chicken was delicious and practically melted in my mouth. We ate that with some rice, frijoles and ají sauce. Jenny, Chino’s wife, also made some delicious Pisco sours (yum!). I sang a couple songs and Alyssa and I even tried to remember an old one that we used to sing together. Unfortunately my lack of practice and fading memory didn’t help our cause and I ended up playing another song solo. After I sang, I got fed a yummy brownie but missed out on the lucuma ice cream.

The terrace on the ocean side of Chino’s house is on stilts, much like the rest of the houses in Colán. The difference with his house and those within proximity is that there is no longer a beach to climb down to. They have since dropped huge stones in front all the houses there to protect them from further eroding beach damage. Despite that major change in topography though, coming to that side of town definitely brought back other memories I thought were long gone. We passed by the door to my abuelita Maria’s house and I recognized the brick walls and little dirt paths that used to lead to the beach (now they lead to rock and water only). We also passed the club with its tennis courts and swimming pool, which unfortunately looked sort of abandoned. The little store almost across the street from abuelita’s house was still there too… I think I used to walk with my various family members to buy a bottle of Inca Kola there.

All in all, great day. It was all capped off by my first video chat with Doug since I’ve been down here! I have to admit, I got a little emotional about it. Only 12 days left now until he gets down here. Phew!

Another lazy day at the beach tomorrow. I’m going to be spending a lot more time in the sun and hopefully will get into the somewhat frigid waters in the afternoon when high tide is up.


January 10, 2011

My face sunburn is much better but I made the dumb mistake of not putting sunscreen on my chest today. So now the skin near my collar bone is almost purple (ick) and will probably itch like crazy tomorrow. *Sigh*.

We spent another easy summer day at the house. I went for a long walk with Mom and Dad around 10:30AM and we stopped for some “gas” (beers) at the local hotel, Sunset Bay, near the end of the beach. Dad and I met the owners the other day when we took the ATV to visit Gringo and we were happy to see Juan when we got there. He was having breakfast while his daughter and grand kids worked on school work. His grandkids worked out a lesson and homework schedule with their school in California so they could be away for 3 months in Peru while classes are still in session. We sat down and chatted with him for a half hour, said chau and walked back.

I spent the rest of the afternoon sunning and reading. In the evening, the whole family, Jose, Ursula and kids included, went back to the same hotel to watch the sunset. The hotel is really beautiful, with lots of white stucco, a pretty pool in the middle and palm trees right before a long stretch of beach. Seeing the orange, red and yellow colors of the setting sun behind it all was a fantastic way to end the day.

Six of us (me, Mom, Dad, Alyssa, Travis and Lucho) are taking Ursula’s van to Mancora tomorrow to check out that area of Peru. We are leaving here at 6AM to do the 2 hour drive, stay for the day and then leave in time to get back to Colán in time for sunset. It's no fun to drive on the highway around here at night.

I found a fan and am going to try closing the window tonight and see if that allows me to sleep better. It’s been a little better sleeping here, but I still get startled awake every time a big wave comes through. It sounds like a train is coming each time one of them crashes next to the house in the middle of the night. I’m at the point now though where my reactions to the noises have regressed to a dog on the beach head lift thing instead of the full on sit-up.

Hope everyone back home is enjoying the snow. :) I'm glad I'm on the beach!