Carlos, son of Roberto (owner of the restaurant across from Mitch's place and where we spend a lot of time) is sixteen years old and plans to become a marine biologist. He is on his way to fullfilling his dream with this project that takes up so much of his time every morning noon and night. What a lot of responsibility he has taken on and he doesn't get anything for having taken on this massive task. He cannot miss a day of caring for the little tortugas, even before they're hatched. Everything from scouring the playa (beach) early in the morning to find where the mamas have laid their eggs to replanting them in safe areas, marking them with the number of eggs buried and the date they will hatch. From there he has to dig them up, take care of them for a few days and then release them to the ocean once they're ready. And when you consider that this happens most every day....on top of going to school and helping at the restaurant and just being 16.....he is a busy boy. Other interesting tortuga (turtle) facts are: the eggs take 45 days to hatch, when they're planted in the sun they're more likely to be boys versus when they're planted in the shade they're likely to be born females. The babies, upon hatching go into a container with sand in the bottom for a day or so. From there they progress to a container with some sand and some water as they're strong enough to swim. From there they go into mainly water that is deeper and finally, they're sent off to the ocean at sunset where they fight the waves to get out to their new home.
Okay....things are pretty special here all around. There is a gorgeous little girl named Flower sitting beside me while I type this note. She has a bonito (beautiful) smile and likes to touch my hair and look at my eyes as they are blue, an anomoly for this part of the world. Flower is ten and in grade five. She speaks very little english - well almost none which is a bit of a surprise as there are some adults who speak a little and one would think that the kids would be better at it but not in this case.
Roberto has just explained why today is a national holiday. November 20th is the day that the country celebrates their Revolution. It is recent history, Roberto's grandfather told him stories about when the revolution was underway (it lasted for 10 years) in the early 1900's. All the farmers were involved in the fighting and so only the women and small children were left to tend the fields. It was a huge job and the entire country had very little food to sustain them for a long time. Roberto's grandfather talks about surviving on bananas often. Roberto explained that Revolution Day is not to be confused with Independence Day, which took place about 800 years ago, when Mexico gained independence from Spain.
Yikes!! I just looked at the clock on the computer and it is noon!! How did that happen. We left the house at around 8:00 and it seems that only an hour or two has passed. The time is flying by too quickly today! In fact, last night I heard myself say (with some panic in my voice) that one of my ten weeks is already gone!!! It's easy to see why Lynda didn't even notice that five months had passed by when it was time for her to come home last winter.
We've just ordered some breakfast. Something I haven't tried yet. It is called Chilaquiles con pollo and I saw the cook making one and it looks really good. It is some kind of little strips of tortilla that have been baked or fried and then they're topped with chicken and some kind of red sauce. Yum yum...I really like the red sauce that is often one of the options on dishes here. I don't know what the blend of spices are that are in it but boy oh boy would I like to. I'm hoping to learn a little about how to make some Mexican food so when I get home, I'll be able to share some of the tastes :)
We're hoping to catch a plane tomorrow so may not be adding to the blog for a few days.....will catch up when I'm back online again.
Breakfast just arrived (well.....maybe its lunch) so I must sign off.
Adios,
L
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