Graduate

We were honored to be asked to attend the primary school graduation (I think grade 6) of our housekeeper’s daughter (shown here). Not having any idea of where it was to be held, her husband offered to come by at 8:30 to show us the way to the 9:00 ceremony. We are comfortable with “Mexican time” but when 9:20 passed without his arrival we figured something had come up and we changed back into shorts and flip flops. Not five minutes later he walks through the gate causing us to scramble back into our finery. Like most everything in Zihuatanejo the ceremony was held outside on the school’s basketball court. Mercifully it was covered from the sun, still we, and everyone else in the audience, was glowing with perspiration by the end. Both families quickly piled into our air conditioned vehicle because they had also asked us to join them for the lunch at their home. 


It was an experience that will long live in our memories. Their home is perched on the side of hill, reachable only by climbing up a steep 100 meter path. The sleeping area was enclosed, but everything else was open air, albeit covered by a fiberglass roof. Cooking of beans and carnitas was accomplished mostly on open fires, though they had a stove, and the rest of the feast was prepared on one big table by friends and relatives. We, being the patrons, were not allowed to do a single thing - only sit, be waited upon and marvel at the tremendous view. It is hard to believe such simple folk, who speak a different language, made us feel so welcome.