13th Day Adventures

We decided to do one roof a day, and today my family's roof was chosen. Nisty was getting sick too and I wasn't feeling any better so we stayed in bed. This roof was a lot steeper and bigger so Juan went up first. He began to paint the roof above where me and Nisty were resting when we heard a big crack of metal. Juan had a dented the roof all the way across. He gave the family the money necessary for the repairs. It was decided that we should abort the project because it was costing the family more than the good it was doing and because it was quite dangerous to have kids climbing on roofs with the risk of falling off. We were supposed to start the project that was to be finished by other kids this summer. The project was decided by the village president so Juan called a meeting with him and the other villagers tonight to explain why we are not going through with this and to ask them for suggestions for another project for the community.
Nisty and I were given a big thermos of muña tea to drink. It's awful. Santusa also boiled eucalyptus water for us to breath in the vapors. The vapor therapy really helped open us up and get a lot of the junk out of our sinuses.
After Nisty and I had laid in bed all day long, Santusa came into our room with a huge sack of clothes. There was a party going on tonight and we were all getting dressed up in the traditional clothes of Luquina Chico. Nisty was still pretty sick so she decided not to go. Santusa put 5 thick, wool skirts on me that were all neon colors. Then an embroidered black jacket and a handwoven belt the width of both my hands. She finished my outfit off with a white sash and a funny hat. All of the women in the village have their hair in 2 braids so that's how my host mother did mine. We all met at the school/recreation center and 6 of the elders from the village demonstrated the 3 dances we would do. It was so much fun but so tiring because you were constantly moving and at a very high altitude. After we finished dancing, a few of the local children showed us their moves.
I stayed after at the school with Juan and Kike for a town meeting. Juan told the community members that it wasn't feasible to paint the roofs because they were being damaged. It was decided that rustic pathways would instead plaster the outside of the adobe houses this summer.