J-rod and I spent our last day in Xela exploring some more of the city with Mishel and Wendi. Instead of walking, my cousin had J-rod drive my Tio's car since some of the spots we were going to visit were a bit far from the house.
Pictured above is the house my Dad was born in. Over the years it's been divided up and changed from the way it was when my Dad grew up there. As pictured, today the house extends from the turquoise wall on the left to the end of the pale peach wall on the right. The entrance in the middle leads to what now amounts to a parking "garage"where parking stalls are rented out on a monthly basis. When my dad was a kid that open area used to be the courtyard of the house. I remember him talking about the courtyard when he would tell us stories of his childhood.
After visiting my grandparents original house, we drove up the hillside of the city and enjoyed some of the views from there.
El Baul is one of the last remaining green areas in the city. It is a forested hill that sits on the south-eastern edge of the city. It was one of my Dad's favorite places in Xela. He would often tell stories of his adventures hiking El Baul as a kid. Once he moved to the United States, every opportunity to travel home El Baul was one of the first places he would go to.
We made an effort that morning to drive up to El Baul, but it just wasn't meant for us to visit it on this trip. As we were on the road, at the base of the hill a car passing us going in the opposite direction stopped, backed up to us and motioned for us to roll down the drivers side window. The driver was very pale and spoke with a shaky voice. He told us to turn around immediately and drive away as he and his family had just been assaulted at gun point at the top of the hill by a group of thieves. We thanked him for his warning and he proceeded on. We made a u-turn and drove away commenting on what scary a situation it must have been for this family and grateful that we were being watched over.
That afternoon my Tia Iliana took me and J-rod to visit my Tia Aura's, my dad's sister. At Tia Aura's house we were able to visit with her, one of her sons who happened to stop by, her daughter Z (that lives with her), and my cousin Z's kids. While we visited J-rod and I introduced our little family with them through pictures on our iPad (the device and its technology was SO interesting to them), we reminisced, laughed until we cried, and remembered my dad and all his siblings with joy. Before we knew it, we had been there for hours, night had fallen and it was time for us to go. We all wished we could have stayed longer. It did my heart such good to be with them even for the short time we were able to be there. Time with family is always wonderful and never lasts long enough.
On our walk home, my Tia Iliana knowing my LOVE for fried plantains rolled in sugar took us on a little detour for a late night snack from the cart of "Michel Platini". Mmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about them!
When we returned home, we stayed up late with Tia Iliana visiting and looking through pictures of my cousins, my uncle, and some that she had of my Dad. Then, it was suddenly time to pack-up and get some sleep before the next portion of our trip.
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