The gas station across the street has coin-operated vaccuum hoses, so I rounded up $4 worth of quarters and headed thataway. (Quarters here are called "pesetas", by the way. I wonder when that started to be the term - since the money here used to be the peseta, this being one of the very last of the Spanish colonies.) Cleaned out the inside and noticed some stains from kids' feet and from the various times we'd eaten in the car. I would need to clean the seats, which would require scrubbing with water and the use of a hair dryer, which we have on hand to use in blowing up Tess' air mattress. So I asked our building super if he could loan me an extension cord.
He's a very nice guy, and turns out to be from the Dominican Republic. He's been here 15 years and is going back after 3 more to retire. He says there's a lot less violent crime in the DR, and that the economy is more stable. I took this with a grain of salt the size of a pumpkin. Why, I thought, are you here, then? But enough about him. On with the day.
Cleaned out the car and brought it back, and they complimented me on how clean it was. No damage, no additional charges, security deposit credited back. What a load off our minds. Walked back to the house, rounded up the family and headed to our beach.
We cavorted in the waves until noon, then had lunch. And then back to the waves.
Today was the first day when the other members of the Johnstadt tribe shared my enthusiasm for castle-building. Particularly for the sort of castle that's designed simply to be a bulwark against waves, resisting them as long as possible. Not sure what happened, but Tess and Quinn, and eventually even Janneke, jumped in on the project. Quinn named it "Fortaleza Fuerza", which if you speak Spanish is kind of funny. In the end, the fort fell, but it was a valiant struggle against nature and time. Like life.
Home around 3:00, where Janneke made us all a pot of hummus as a snack; then we played Dominoes, which Janneke had bought in Cayey. They've got the Puerto Rican flag on the back. The kids got into it pretty well, though Quinn more than Tess, for obvious reasons. Settled in for an early supper of fish and rice, then a game Quinn initiated where we go around the room taking turns telling stories from our lives of something that was either "chevere" (cool) or "raro" (strange). Tess made all of hers up; they mostly involved walking through woods and meeting monsters. Quinn's were about odd plays he remembers from baseball games he's attended, or times when he thought he couldn't go under the water but then when he did by accident, it was OK. You kind of had to be there.
Kids to bed, adults to masked and caped crime-fighting.
It's really hitting us now that we're going home soon, but not in a panicky way at all. We're kind of ready to be done, but quite content to have a few more days left. It's winding down splendidly.
Pictures!
Fortaleza Fuerza.
High-stakes dominoes. The stakes:
These kids both cry when they lose.
Guess which kid just lost.
1 comment:
A nice and peaceful day, prelude to the next stage, with more lovely memories to add to my "Hobies" album. So happy to be able to share!
Abrazos de Granny y (uncle) Muffin.
Post a Comment