Francisco's

Today we decided to visit Francisco's family. They live a two hours' walk up & down the road from us. You can see their property from the monastery--a high hill with a lone tree at the top. The walk there wasn't too bad, although we went the wrong direction at their turn off. Aparrently they could see us, so one of the boys came and found us and redirected us toward their house. When we first arrived, Santos Emilia served us some "leche con cornflakes"--hot fresh cow's milk, a bowl of cornflakes, and sugar of course. I was hungry, so I was thankful, even though it was hot! We spent a lot of time just watching her cook, as that's pretty much all she did while we were there (she does have at least 10 mouths to feed!). It was a little awkward to just be sitting around, not really knowing what to say or do--but there were children, chickens and pigs to be distracted by. By the late morning, we were feeling useless and perhaps in the way, so we asked if we should leave--but no! Santos had sent one of the boys to get some elote to send home with us, and didn't we want to wait for that? Well, of course! So we had a reason to stay. And she fed us lunch--what a lunch! Eggs, rice, beans with culantro, yame (which is kind of a mix between a potato and yucca), and fresh maseca tortillas. And to top it off, a cup of café con leche. It was all delicious. And besides the corn, she also gave us a couple pounds of beans and some cuajada (fresh cheese) to bring home! I am always amazed at how generous people, especially rural people, are.