El Picacho

This is Holy Week, aka Semana Santa, aka national vacation week.  Everyone, well almost everyone, does something.  I like to plan something for the Casa kids.  Not vacation, just a one day outing.  I had been thinking about this one for quite some time.  I thought going to El Picacho (the Jesus statue) would be fun.  Then I decided not to go and then I changed my mind again.  I told the kids on Saturday night.  No one was very excited.  I was a little disappointed.  The boys let out a big cheer when I said they would be riding in my car and the girls in the van.

Excitement did not build much over the next few days.  That all changed this morning.  Everyone was rushing through chores.  Sandwich making was earnestly happening in both houses.  I was packing coolers.  And, around here, I am sure something else was happening. 

My goal was to leave here at 10:00.  We were ready to do that except for one small problem: the car registration for the van was in Ojojona.  Eddy went to get that and we were ready.

Josue had an appointment this morning.  He and Seidy left at 5:30.  Seidy called as we were leaving and said they were through.  We decided she could get to Loarque and meet us.  After picking up Seidy and Josue, there were 11 in my X-terra and 14 in the van.

There were nine adults and 16 kids.  I liked those odds.

We arrived, parked, and unloaded the vehicles.  We had to take a few picture before we went any where.

Then we were on our way. Twenty five people and we had three coolers, two large pans of food, blankets, toilet paper, sunscreen, and, of course a soccer ball.

We played for a long time.  Everyone, adults and kids, had fun.

We stopped to eat.  We plowed through a mountain of sandwiches and a ton of coke.

We packed our things, which by now, were much lighter.  We walked through the house of mirrors.  This was a real riot.

There was one I especially liked.  I was tall and thin.

We walked into the plaza where the statue is.  We walked all around the place and found many photo-ops.

It is always endearing when we plan an outing and the employees go to the trouble to make an extra treat for the kids.  Before we headed back to the car, we had muscas.  That is sort of an ice cream treat, made with milk instead of cream and sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla.  It hit the spot before we started back to the cars.

It was a beautiful day.  The weather was just about perfect.  We laughed.  We sang.  We played.  We ate.  Some days I am so proud of these kids.  And, today was one of those days.

If everyone is as tired as I am, we will all sleep very well tonight.