Remarkable

We are now here two weeks.

Until yesterday, nearly all the people in the village were polite towards us but definitely kept to themselves.
They seemed friendly with their “Dias” or “Tardes” or “Noches” – short for good day, good afternoon and good night. But this was as far as it went.

This was in spite of me working in the clinic, us not being the first gringos in the area and our aforementioned walks through the village.

Yesterday, as mentioned, we celebrated Hudson’s 6th birthday and were pleased to have close to two dozen people come over for the festivities.

Within 10 minutes of ending his party, 8 of the children showed up at our door to play.
Today, we were joined by 10 others in a pick-up soccer game – two prior attempts to include some local kids in this affair had failed.
And now we have two different children at our house playing with our soldiers and cars.

Remarkable.