Saturday 10 July

Saturday 10 July

Earnestina woke me up at around 6am because a day was going to come and do her hair and she treated me to getting my hair done. How could I resist. The lady curled my hair with a straightener. The curls were really big on the ends but at my root my hair was straight. It was really nice of her to let me get my hair done. I forgot to take a picture of myself though (sorry!). Then I went with Efren to the Red Cross. On the way we stopped by Oxxo to get some coffee. I had my cup ready for a vanilla cappuccino for which my mouth was already watering. But then I realized and had to settle for a cup of black coffee.

We got to the Red Cross and Efren showed me around and introduced me to several people. He has set up a school for parents to prevent the suicide of adolescents. I guess Puebla has the highest suicide rate so it really is great that the Red Cross wants to change that. Then we went to the patio where the party would be at 12. They were just working on setting up the tables. I had to just try and stay out of the way. Efren took me to one of the classes for parents. We sat in for a while. It was very interesting. The teacher was a doctor. The class was on what and how pain works in our life.

Then Efren’s assistant picked me up and we went downtown to buy some decorations for the party. She also bought me some candy. She gave me some peanuts like the one I had when we visited the church. We then made it back to the Red Cross.

When we got back, the room was beautiful. They set up tables and chairs for a Mass before the meal. Also they were celebrating Paramedics day, 100 year anniversary, opening of a room dedicated to veterans, and the donation of brand new computers for the nursing school. So we watched them cut the ribbon to the room with computers. Then there was mass. It was beautiful. After going to daily mass I kind of missed it J Jesus is beautiful. I was however very hungry. I had only ate an apple at 8am and I didn’t really eat until 4pm. Olga reminded me to take an apple but I forgot hehe. I had the peanuts but there was not a convenient time to eat a few. But I figured if I fainted it wouldn’t matter because I was surrounded by paramedics. So after the Mass we all went into the auditorium to honor the years everyone gave to help the Red Cross. The ceremony was very touching. I definitely got tears in my eyes. Efren was honored for working for the Red Cross for 41 years!

Then we went back to the patio where an orchestra was playing really exciting classical music. I really liked that part. I took a video so I will see if I can upload it. Then we finally got to EAT. Oh yum. I had beans, rice, and tinga (which I thought was chicken but Olga told me it was probably beef). After the meal, they had a raffle for the paramedics. They had so many gifts, enough that some paramedics got 2-3 gifts. Then they cut the ribbon to a room in honor of the veterans. So then I just had to wait for Efren to go to a party where we were going to meet Olga and Earnestina.

Finally we got to the party and now I can say I have experienced a “Bauzada” Bauza is the family of Pepe’s mom. So these are apparently infamous get togethers. When I got there, everyone was very curious because they were trying to figure out who I was since I was not family. There is was vastly similar to the part with the doñas , just add like 10 men with twice the volume (and a bit tipsy haha). We didn’t end up leaving until after 12. But we got home and I slept in one of the empty rooms on an air mattress. It was kind of strange sleeping in an empty house and an empty room but I was tired so I fell asleep pretty fast.