To Cusco…

I was up at 3:15 this morning to milk the cow. Estrella seemed groggy and didn’t want to get up. She did and stood zombie-like while I milked in silence.

There was a thick cloud cover, which made the morning cozily warm. I was thankful for that. After filtering the milk, I had twenty minutes until I was supposed to meet Rafael at the road. I assumed that meant I had a good bit more time, so I had decided to make buttermilk biscuits.

At the appointed time, I messaged Rafael, who replied that he hadn’t left yet. I sent him a picture of the biscuits in the oven. He said he was on the way.

I changed out of my chores things, gathered my things for the town trip, and cleaned up the kitchen. I poured two small thermoses of coffee and put the biscuits into a bag. Then Rafael messaged that he was on the way. I’d timed it perfectly.

I met Rafael out at the road. He said Elisabet had still been asleep, so we’d need to go pick her up. This was no surprise.

I went to Cusco with them at Rafael’s request. He has a pass that allows him into Cusco and allowed for me to go along. And he wanted to go shopping with me to see what I bought. I found that interesting.

We ate biscuits and drank coffee while we waited outside for Elisabet. He said he planned to visit his mom and wanted me to meet his brother. We would go there for breakfast.

With Elisabet in tow, we were on our way. We were stopped by police in Poroy. Rafael said they were trying to get money out of him, a bribe. Rafael had sufficient paperwork, but the fellow was still making trouble. Rafael made up a story about why Elisabet needed to be along because the police was unhappy about her.

They let us through, but with the promise that we’d set up a pass for me, which we were able to easily do easily. For the occupation, Rafael put “ayudante,” which meant I needed to help.

They tried to get me to stay in the truck rather than loading stuff because they were afraid I’d catch the virus. They said it was just a little mentira, a little lie. I told them I don’t lie, and I must help. I didn’t need to point out that they had already lied for themselves, but it did give us a talking point.

We made it to our first stop for picking up supplies for the store around 5:30. That was really just the beginning of a long day.

To be continued…