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What can people do to have fun when they
don't even have electricity?
PLENTY!!
The people of Las Calabasas are farmers, primarily involved in the cultivation of coffee beans. The coffee, which they roast in the campo, is heavenly. The weekend that we visited was dreary, so farm work was essentially suspended. What did the residents do? Many of the things our parents and grandparents did! After dinner Friday night, by the light of a candle, little brother Angelou sat in his mom's lap and played with her, then taught me the finer points of dominoes (& beat me mercilessly, laughing all the time). The next morning, before the whole family was up, he was outside playing marbles with his pals. Other kids were running around the campo pushing hoops, old bicycle wheel rims, anything that would roll, with sticks. They were having a blast.
Saturday morning we went up to Tara's family's house, 'way at the very top of the campo, and played stickball with the younger kids. The stick was about 2" in diameter; the ball was an old stuffed sock. That's Jon striking out again. Fair territory was about 10 feet wide. Future ump in the left corner. Angelou is catching.
The campo's resident kook hamming it up with Angelou. I think he proposed to all the women in the group. Everyone in the campo says he is definitely "loco". He has six fingers on one hand, which he loves to show off. The boom box is connected to a car battery.
The community had a dance on Saturday afternoon. The boom box and car battery were hauled from Gladys' to this building, about half a mile away. They only had two cassette tapes to play, but nobody minded. The residents kept us all dancing the whole time. The kids made a special point of dancing with each of us. To the left are Pat and Kelly's sister, and Tara and Gladys' husband; in the center, Mary & Lindsey taking a rare break.
After the party, we crossed the river to play baseball, Dominicans against Americans. Need I tell you who won? We were slaughtered! The coconut tree serves as the foul pole. We had a real aluminum bat, but the ball was not quite a regulation baseball. Benito watches the game from his mule.
Okay, I have to have a dog picture. This is Toby, my family's one-eyed dog. He's very sweet. Whoever in the campo sees Toby automatically says in a high-pitched voice, "TobyTobyTobyToby". It makes him all wiggly. He does have a bit of an attitude with other male dogs, though -- probably how he lost that eye. He even started growling at another dog during Mass. But he got over it and went to sleep under a pew.