COUNTRY BIRTHDAY

We made a trip to visit our friend Uriel and his family out in the country last month. During our visit, he mentioned his birthday on July 27^th (he turned 27) and invited us to come and eat gallina (chicken) with them. Marta, Uriel’s wife, whispered to me excitedly, We are going to eat chicken next month! Her eyes glowed as she told me. Meat is a specialty for them, and they were going to slaughter a few of their chickens in celebration of Uriel’s birthday. So here are a few photos of our visit on Uriel’s birthday. Above, the sopa de gallina (chicken soup) is cooking on their stove. Notice the dirt floor and mud walls. When we arrived, Uriel’s mom was busy making the soup, while Marta “walked” their 10 month old daughter around the kitchen.

While there, we visited Uriel’s dad, who lives in the next farm over. Here are a few shots from the trail to his house. Uriel has a large plot of land devoted to growing peppers, which he sells in the market in the city. See the coffee growing (they look like small green beans on bushes). It will be ready to harvest by December, January (they turn red at harvest time). Here you can see some of the corn growing on his dad’s farm. Notice how steep the hillsides are. We visited a plot of land that his mother-in-law is selling. Here are a few shots from the plot of land. It is located high up above Uriel’s house. Her asking price is $2000 per manzana (unit of land here, equal to 1.6 acres), which we thought a bit high. You can see how steep the land is. They are currently growing maize (corn) and frijoles (beans) on the land.