April was a month of finding things to do to maintain my
sanity and keep my loneliness at bay. The
first week of April was Semana Santa,
or Holy Week. I was not completely aware
of this, or I at least didn’t notice anything different in Pedro, although in other
places there are festivities throughout the week. One tradition of Holy Week that I had heard
about was fanesca, a hearty
milk-based soup that is filled with 12 grains and fish. It was served on Thursday at the hospital; it
was very tasty and filling, although a bit too fishy for me. Everyone here who with whom I shared my fanesca experience told me “oh, you have
to try my mom’s/grandma’s!”
The hospital was closed on Good Friday—of which I was also
completely unaware, as I walked over in the morning only to find the doors
closed. So I followed the holy march
through the town for a bit, then quickly retreated to my room to avoid being
sunburned—it was a spectacular sunny day! One of the doctors who was still in town invited me to go swimming, which was a perfect thing to do on such a beautiful day.
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| Holy march |
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| One of the stops of the holy march |
On Easter Sunday, I went to the home of one
of the hospital cooks, Yoli. Although
they don’t celebrate Easter Sunday here like my family does in the States, it
was nice to be with Yoli’s family, knowing that my family was gathering
together on the same day. In Yoli’s
backyard, we picked yuca, a potato-like tuber that is the root of a small
tree. We made yuca tortillas for
breakfast. Later we went to the river
where we swam with two of Yoli’s kids (the third was teaching classes at the
church) while her husband fished. When
her husband came back, we all walked along the rocky shore of the river,
looking for centipedes for bait for tomorrow’s day of fishing. I didn’t find any, but it reminded me of
family farm work as a kid. Once back at
their home, I made a salad while Yoli cleaned then fried the fish…and we had
lunch. It was delicious!
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