A little of this, a little of that

Roosters crow at 5 am, until about 6:30 or so. One large, macho climbs into a tree not far from our second story window, and each morning I almost jump right out of our mosquito-netted bed. When he finally settles down, the neighborhood is awake. The birds sing and sing and sing. Someone is just outside washing laundry and I can hear the slap of wet clothes on the cement and the scrub brush rhythmically swooshing back and forth. Rattles of pots and pans come from Martha's kitchen just down stairs as she heats up water and milk. The bathroom door slams shut and water is poured from the bucket, splashing and echoing up to our window. Soon Ronny, Kiara, Helen and Milena will be up, and someone will be crying.

The soft simmer of oil frying comes from the kitchen: fried fish for breakfast. I hope that it will be accompanied by bolones - balls of plantain and cheese that are my new favorite treat. Early is the best time to get out and buy any fish dishes, and so even though its only 7 am, Nando is already dragging me out the door to go get Encebollado, the fish soup he was talking about for months before we came and now talks about almost daily. But this won't be our breakfast. After our fish soup, full of yucca and potato in a tasty reddish broth, we'll be back for fried fish and bolones (I hope!) breakfast. And one of the kids (maybe a different one) will probably be crying.