Happiness is a Goat

Today we visited our family in San Antonio des Aguas Calientes. Getting there was an adventure, as neither we nor our driver had an address. Our family lives on a plot of land carved into the side of the mountains surrounding the village; they don't get mail, and there is no name to their "street," such as it is. But we drove into San Antonio with hope. As we circled the streets, we saw the bright blue house that we helped build shining from afar in the sun like a beacon. As we got as near to it as we could, we recognized the street that accesses the alleys leading up the mountain. There were two women who had just finished washing their clothes in the local well, and we asked them which alley led to Florinda and Blanca's house. In Spanish, they exclaimed - look! it is the family of Samantha! And so we found our way.

It was a joyous reunion, with many hugs and squeezes. We sat in the house that we built, the 9 member family on the bed and floor, and Mariel, Samy and I on plastic chairs reserved for special guests. We gave away clothing and books and toys, and then Blanca (the oldest sister) brought in a baby goat on a rope. With money we had given them on our last visit, they had bought cow and a goat which had just had a baby. So there is milk for everyone and the possibility of income if they sell the baby goat. There was much happiness.

They invited us to stay and make a meal together. It is not easy to sit in the little kitchen -- a separate cornstalk shack in which they make a fire. The smoke is unbearable. Blanca made tortillas, and she, her mom and Abuella had a good laugh watching Samy and me try to make tortillas. It's not as easy at you would think, to roll the dough into a ball and toss it from one hand to the other to flatten it out! Everyone in the family helped make the meal -- the men kept bringing more wood for the fire; the oldest son tended the flames; the younger girls picked limes from the family tree for the marinades; and the 13 year old watched the two little ones. We truly felt like part of the family.

They rolled out a straw mat for us to sit on, and we ate our meal on the floor in the blue house. Churasco, guacamole, tomato sauce, a cucumber salad, and of course, lots of tortillas! It was delicious, and they were very gracious about my foregoing the churasco -- more for everyone else. As we sat with them, I thought about how Mariel and Samy are having some interesting experiences of the world. They are seeing that happiness can be as simple as having a goat.