Things to “soak up”……

Walking to the market this morning, I made a conscious effort to notice as many things about my village as I could that I don’t want to forget.

The sticks meticulously pounded into the hard dirt to form a simple fence around a house or a tree. The fact that piglets are probably some of the cutest animals that will quickly turn into the ugliest grown ones.  The packs of half clothed criancas playing outside who turn to statues when I pass, but then break into a chorus of “tata azunngo!!” and that simply by flashing a thumbs up I deserve a round of applause.  The bags and buckets balanced on the women’s heads. The babies bouncing, sleeping, and sweating on their backs, just along for the ride.  Choosing which side of the dirt road I want to be standing on when a car passes depending on the way the wind is blowing. The girls sitting on the ground in silence having their hair braided by a woman, chatting with her neighbors and friend’s  charcoal burning on the ground – in the morning shade of a little house. Bicycles carrying two or three people.  Goats drinking the water that has sloshed onto the hard ground around the water pump and the women who are washing clothes and drying them on rocks and shrubs. The omnipresent sun that shines on the mountain in the distance. The constant beat of music that makes up the soundtrack to the market. The chatter of the women selling tomatoes and mangos that I don’t understand as they sit behind their piled goods. Seeing an old woman wearing the capulana that was offered to all the women in the village when the President came to visit…and knowing that I have the same one at home. The way the acacia trees grow twisted and knobby, each one completely different from the next.  The primary school kids in their blue uniforms, carrying a 5-liter oil container that has been repurposed as a water bottle that their moms handed them before heading out in the hot sun. Whistling when I’m still three houses away from home and seeing Stella’s ears pop up as she runs to greet me, even though I’ve only been gone for an hour.