Tomorrow is our final night in Cenovia Aguilar so we are throwing a fiesta to celebrate. Our plan is to serve pop-corn, soda, and cookies. For entertainment we will put up a piñata and do a slide-show with pictures from the last week. Then we will do a drama to close out the night. I was nominated along with Joy and Jon to go to the bigger nearby town, Salto de Agua, to buy supplies. We were also on the mission to find gifts to give our host, Alfredo for his generosity. Adelena, a woman from the church, volunteered to go with us so she could show us around the town. The 35 minute taxi ride was highlighted by two stops to overlook the river and waterfalls.
Adelena took us first to a large warehouse type building that was set up with about 30 booths. Each booth had a stove or grill to make lunch and seats in front where people dined. There were also booths selling vegetables and fruit while some sold meat. Joy was disgusted by the booth selling a pasty pale pig head. Adelena assumed that we would be buying meat because we said we were throwing a fiesta. Unfortunately we do not know the norms of Mexican culture; apparently meat is a norm at fiestas. We do not have enough money to buy meat for so many people, so hopefully it is not too offensive to just serve a snack. The supermarket had all that we needed for the party so we stocked up and walked out with arms full of bags.
The next stop we made was the candy store for a piñata. Out of the piñatas shaped like cars, stars, Spiderman, and Chicken Little we picked a three foot Winnie the Pooh. We have seen tons of Winnie the Pooh shirts and notebooks, so we assume that Winnie is popular here. There was a crowd watching us the rest of the day as we walked throughout the city with Pooh.
Alfredo is a Mexican cowboy that is a bachelor, so he was a little difficult to buy gifts for. We ended up buying a bucket and filled it with a lighter for his stove, sunglasses, dish towels and soap, cologne, a picture frame with our picture, and a wall clock. It’s a very random assortment. We would ask Adelena what she thought Alfredo would like. If she said, “I don’t know,” we didn’t get it. If she shook her head a little bit we bought it.
Joy, Adelena and I were sitting near a vegetable stand waiting for Jon to return from buying ice cream. The ladies at the vegetable stand were getting quite a kick out of talking to us when Jon returned. He couldn’t find ice-cream so he bought a banana. He started eating the banana, then turned to me and said, “Have you ever seen a banana this color?” Then he turned to the women and said, “This is a banana, but it is orange.” The women bent over with hysterical laughter. Through their laughter and tears they told us that he was eating a plantain. Plantains are usually only eaten when they are fried. The women laughed for the next ten minutes and told everyone that passed what had taken place.
For the return ride home I asked Adelena if we could ride in the back of the truck that serves as a taxi. The taxi trucks have a tarp covering with benches for riders. She thought we were crazy but understood since we had never ridden in the back before. The open air was nice and it was fun to bounce around for the first ten minutes. Because we could only see out the back, Joy and I started to get sick. I’m pretty sure I turned green, but we made it back to Cenovia without losing our breakfast. I don’t need to ride in the back ever again.
This evening was our final service with the church. The kid’s service went well; we talked about loving others with actions and words. In order to show our love for them in words we handed out cards to each kid with sayings like, “I like your smile, I love you,” and, “You are fantastic.” As we read the cards to the kid’s smiles spread across their faces and some clutched the cards tightly to their chests. We have tried to teach the kids the Lord’s Prayer and they almost have it memorized. It is my prayer that the Lord worked through the communication barrier and the kids see the true reason why we are here. The adult’s service went well with a drama and testimony. The adults lingered to shake hands and talk.
One of the families of the lost boys invited us for dinner after church. We entered the house to find a little baby in a hammock with his grandpa. The baby was fussing and I could not resist so I got permission to hold the baby. I started walking around with the baby and within minutes he was sound asleep. The family served us tamales, which was a first for me. The delicious dish had spicy beef in the center of a corn mush and they were wrapped in banana leaves. They were excellent. We ate, visited, and then said goodnight. I can’t believe tomorrow is our last day here. I am going to miss Cenovia and its people and can’t imagine falling in love with a place as much as I have come to love Cenovia Aguilar.
