El domigo y lunes

Sorry I couldn´t come up with a more inventive title for this entry.

I´ll write a little of what I did on Sunday and Monday (today). On Sunday I went with Colleen, another girl from the US staying in our house to a Festival de música en a small town called Santiago Zamora. It took us about 30 minutes in the camionetta (called, not so kindly by tourists, the chicken bus, oh and I´ve yet to see a chicken on one of the buses) to arrive in a city called San Antonio Aguas Calientes. From there, we took a shuttle to the aldea Santiago Zamora which had a very small plaza with a stage set up next to the church. This little town is surrounded by big hills with cascading farms, crops of corn and other things that I couldn´t make out. These hills are really incredible, it is hard to capture them in photos. There were folding chairs facing the stage. And there were people selling textiles and food around the plaza.

The festival was a concurso de coros, a competition. 5 groups performs, all were young people ranging from 5 years to maybe 16 years old. It was very nice and the little kids were the cutest! Then, of all people, the Yale Alumni Chorus was there and sang 3 songs. I am actually going to a concert tonight that they are giving in the most beautiful hotel in Antigua.

I got a pretty bad sunburn, but let´s hope it is better soon. Later that day, I took Brenda and Maritza out for dessert and we talked a bit. They are the daughters of the family, both teenagers, and both so sweet and kind.

Today I went up to Pastores to talk with Carmen and to bring her a few things I brought for the project I worked with last summer. Carmen is the director and we talked for a while and I also talked some with her son Haroldo. It was nice to see them again.

Alright, I have to go now. Sorry for the short blog. Maybe I can write more tomorrow!