Another hearty breakfast for another busy day. The food here was delicious and prepared by several tall white hat wearing chefs!
After scarfing down a quick meal, the cousins quickly found other things to do.
The grounds had peacocks walking around and Estephan found a feather! He had lots of fun pretending to be a peacock!
It sure is hard to get little ones to stop and look at the camera. They are always so busy and involved! :)
Here is Rodolfo with his grandmother.
Here he is laughing with his mom and grandmother.
On the road again! Here you can see some volcanos in the background. Yes, volcanos! Isn't that fascinating!
On the way back to the city, we stopped for lunch in Antigua. Rodolfo's cousin, Suzanne, and her husband, Eric have started a restaurant there called Como como. Isn't that a clever name? It means "how I eat". Eric is a chef from Belgium and it has been their dream to open a restaurant. I love it when people are bold enough to pursue their dreams! You guys rock! Their restaurant is in the photos below. Isn't it beautiful?
Here is Rodolfo's Tio Carlos and Tio Carlos's mother.
Here we are at the entrance of the restaurant. And below is Eric leaving with his dogs. One is on the belly of the moped, and do you see where the other one is? Yep, the backpack.
We also paid a short visit to Rodolfo's Tia and cousin.
For dinner we met 4 of Rodolfo's other cousins, his brother and everyone's kids at Pizza Hut. Gigi had so much fun on the jungle gym at this place that she screamed her head off when we left at close to midnight. This was one crazy long day.
Fiorella and myself.
Alejandra, Cessira and Manlio.
Tio Carlos, Tia Beatriz, Rodolfo's dad and mom, Rodolfo & Orietta.
And all the cousins, finally united! Beatriz, Sophia, Hector, Cessira & Gigi. There were many other cousins playing, but this was the biggest group of them that I could get to stand still together.
We had a hearty breakfast this morning to prepare us for a round of visits in Reu. When visiting Rodolfo's home after a year to two year long absence, there are a lot of people to see! Rodolfo has so many wonderful friends and family. The first time I went on this string of visits I was overwhelmed. If my memory serves me correctly, it seems that we had 3-4 solid days of new faces. They all streamed into us and we went out to their homes. I had a hard time keeping up with the Spanish let alone knowing what was the polite and correct way to respond. I remember feeling like I was on stage and everyone I met was waiting for me to do or say something marvelously interesting. I guess that is what most people feel like when they are the newest member of any family. Fortunately, everyone was very nice to me and very forgiving of my mistakes. Needless to say, I was exhausted by the end of the introdutions! I can't believe it has been 9 years since those first introductions took place! And now, this time around, it was Georgia's turn to be the new person in the family. She did pretty well meeting and greeting all the new faces, although I could tell she was wiped out after this day. We didn't quite make the rounds like the past-- the dynamics and timing were slightly different because we had a toddler and we were not staying in Reu proper. But we still did visit a few familiar faces. The first of which was Tio Whyo. And I have to say, nobody has worn these past 9 years better than him. We visited him in his pharmacy as we have on every visit. I could have easily been reliving a visit from 9 years ago. Not much has changed in his welcoming, busy store. Below is a photo of the 3 of us visiting him.
Here is the mermaid fountain that Rodolfo remembers from his childhood. He would eat ice cream here after school and this is where he and his brother chaperoned his sister on many of her dates. :)
A photo of Rodolfo's all-time favorite car next to the home where his mother lives.
Here is a picture of the church Rodolfo was baptized in as a child. He did his first communion here too. In front of the church is a "took took". This is the easiest means of transportation in the bustling and expanding town of Reu. Supposedly these little carts were imported from India.
The evening before we headed back to la ciudad to catch an airplane home, Norma hosted a "pinata" for us. It was Gigi's first time to play this game. She wasn't sure why she was supposed to hit the colorful object but was pleasantly surprised to find it contained all sorts of candy!
Ready, aim, fire!!!
Needless to say, the pinata broke open with a little help from Yiu Yiu.
Orietta and Andrea.
Ti Ti and Yiu Yiu, they have grown up! I can't believe how quickly time flies.
Norma made this copy of the Lord's Supper. I'm so impressed with her talent!
And, to add to the fun, after dinner the cousins got to play with sparklers! (las estrellitas)!!!!! How fun is that!?!
Georgia and her cousins Beatriz and Hector about to go swimming and ready for action!
Papi and Gigi having fun!
I've seen these plants in containers as houseplants, but never as a bush in the ground. Like every plant here, this bush exceeded my expectations for the plant in its natural habitat. It was gigantic!
Tio Rodolfo being choked with love.
Ladies of leisure enjoying the sun and a copy of Vanity magazine.
Abuelita Tenchi shys away from my picture-taking. Here I caught her by surprise. I love her dress!
Meanwhile Cynthia was preparing some delicious paella for the hungry crew.
A master at work.
Bon appetit!
Later that day more and more visitors showed up. I think the guards at the front began to wonder what sort of party we were planning on throwing.This is only half of all who came.
