Yesterday Steph needed to collect some things in Cusco, and it worked out that Esmeralda could go along. Steph didn’t feel she needed help, really, but it’s been weeks since Esmeralda has been able to be at church, so it was good that they could spend a day together.
Steph said the girls were delighted. None of them get to Cusco often. They were thrilled with everything they saw. Anne and Abbey had lots of stories. The best thing was that they got ice cream!
I think their most exciting moment was when they boarded a bus to go across town in Cusco. After the bus took off, the door lady told them to put on their plastic face shields, of which they had none. Once that became clear, the door lady began frantically shouting for the driver to stop, and she shooed them promptly off the bus. No other busses or taxis asked for face shields.
The boys and I were at home, working in the garden. The oldest three were a big help with clearing out buckets of stones. Dane also helped me spread wood chips over the one seed bed.
In the afternoon, Percy helped break up ground for an hour or two. He had been repairing the upstairs porch railing in the morning by welding bolts and rebar together to make a device for maintaining tension on the rail. Welding is always the answer.
We planted broccoli, cauliflower, beets, lettuce, spinach, yellow squash, and okra. I also put in a small seed bed of rhubarb; I hope it grows. Besides veggies, I put in loads of flower seeds: forget-me-nots, zinnias, mums, marigolds, cockscomb, sedum, snapdragons, and three types of sunflowers.
We watched a thunderstorm cross the mountain and sweep across the valley while we worked. We got a little wet as we finished up the squash patch.
I’m hoping to get some more seeds in the ground later this week, but today we are headed to Curahuasi for Walter Gamarra’s birthday. We’re picking up Alicia along the way. This is the first long-ish trip we’ve taken as a family since we’ve been in Peru.
Juan David 