Saturday was a big day for los niños in the community around La Gran Vista. Activities, games, music, etc were planned. The children were originally supposed to come by the farm at 9am, riding their stick horses, to see the view. At 10:30 we could see many of the children playing on the football firld behind the school. (Have I mentioned that I have a great view from my room). Megan and I left for our cascada adventure and missed the children that did arrive shortly after we left. On our walk we passed a pavilion with music and the school and saw lots of children running around with their faces painted, playing and having a good time. Later, after we returned to the casa and were enjoying our hard earned cerveza, Donald decided to take us down to the pavilion to check things out.
The pavilion (I don't know what the locals call it) is a large covered area with a dirt floor. Set up inside was a sound system and chairs for entertainment and an area on the side for food and drinks that could be purchased. Donald explained that they were trying to raise money for the school. They were also doing a raffle where you could pay to enter your guess on how much a goat they had there weighed.
When we arrived the children wer very interested in us. They all ran outside and checked us out. Most were quickly distracted by 5 clowns that were running around the area. Inside there was a man singing Mexican music wearing a sombrero. We walked around and checked out the place. The kabobs that were being cooked on a grill looked awesome and I was bummed I wasn't hungry. We did decide to contribute to the escuela and purchased a snowcone. It was tasty but I have to admit I was leery when they were making it because they used dried milk along with the syrup. I was pleastly surprised and finished my entire snowcone.
Several of the little girls came up to us and said hello and told us their names. They were adorable and I was able to take some of their pictures. They were delighted when I showed them the shots, especially this one little girl that was with her Dad and was not looking happy at first.
After the singer finished and was leaving the building I said to him 'muy bueno!' which he replied 'thank you!' This also reminded me of a little boy we saw on our walk earlier. Megan had said 'hola' and he very proudly responded back 'hello!' Anyways, the clowns were up next and they got all the niños on the dance floor and started singing and dancing. The song basically was about a mite that first was in your hair, then your beard, then your belly button, etc. During the verses the clowns and children would dance in place pointing to where the mite was. During each chorus everyone would run around sorta tickling each other pretending to be the mite. It was all very cute and the clowns did a great job.
We left after the first clown song and went back to the casa but I was very pleased that we got to experience the show and see some of the locals and the children. The party continued on well into the night as I listened to the music from my bedroom before I fell asleep.
