Meet Antonio

Yesterday, one of our neighbors, Antonio (a haircut victim) came by to show us his cerro (hill). It's part of the land his father owns, and he wanted us to see the views. He had asked during his haircut if we wanted to explore the hill, and when we said yes, he said he and another friend would be here in the morning at 7. After talking him into putting it off till 8, we were ready to go (I'm adventurous, but let's not get crazy here!) I quickly learned why he wanted to go at 7 AM. The sun was baking us in no time.

We drove the truck as far as we could (Thank God for 4x4) and then got out to walk. What magnificent views! We climbed high rocks and trapsed through what looked like jungle. He said they have monkeys, but we were making so much noise clammering through there, I think we scared away any wildlife for miles around. Somewhere in the climbing, Antonio's flip-flops broke. Don't ask me how he hiked another half-hour barefoot, but he didn't seem nearly as upset about the splinters and thorns as I did. The picture below is Ken standing on the edge of the first rock we climbed, which had a terrific overlook.
This is Antonio half-way up a rock. Some of these looked impossible to climb, but he and Ariel made it up every one we came to. We passed on a few, much to the protests of the girls.
In the course of conversation (you know I can't do ANYTHING without lots of conversation, including hiking that made me huff and puff with the exertion), I asked how old Antonio was. He laughed and said he turned 20 today. WHOA! I guess he never would have mentioned it was his birthday had we not stumbled onto that. So as soon as we got home, Ken hurried into town to get me some supplies for baking a cake, and for another pair of flip-flops as a gift.

After the evening soccer game, I had a line of guys wanting haircuts, and a few who wanted me to put decorative lines in the shape of lightening on the side of their heads, like guys did in the 80's. Okay, this barbershop thing is getting more complicated! So Ken pulled out the birthday cake while I was clipping away, and we all had a mini-party. (SIDENOTE: It was my first time EVER venturing into woman world by cooking a cake from scratch. I felt so domestic!)

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