Where are you gringos?

It's official: I miss hanging out with Americans! Not to the point where I want to move back, but it's definitely nice having a crew to hang out with. I love my nanny Ibet (Yvette) and she speaks English, so that is really nice. She's 30 with two boys of her own the exact same age as mine. She is definitely someone I would hang out with at home or anywhere. We are a lot alike, but "a world apart". As cheesy as that sounds, it couldn't be more accurate. Five days a week, she takes a bus from her small village, La Virgin(She laughed when I asked if everyone there was a virgin.), at about 6:45am to the entrance of our community. She will try to find a ride all the way to our house, but a lot of the time has to walk up these massive hills (to and from work). I'm talking 'lose your breath just by walking up' kind of hills. She will usually get to our house by 8am. She never complains, though. All she makes is $5 for 7 hours. Believe it or not, that's the going rate for about 10 hours of work here. Most people make around $150 per month total. Most of the people we've encountered are just happy to have work. Ibet's husband will be out of a job next week. This is also very common down here. People will get odd jobs and then hope and pray another one comes around before the last one's finished. They will go weeks eating just rice and beans until they can make more money. It's sad, but most people here are extremely happy. It shows you that we really don't need so much stuff in life to be pleasant. Like my hubby says, it's a lot nicer keeping up with the Ramirez's than the Jones's. Life is simpler and I like it! I guess we can't have it all anyway. (Like Americans to talk to all the time. :)) I will say that my Spanish has gotten pretty good ,though. I can now pretty much understand the gist of a conversation in Spanish. Ibet's been a big help. It's nice to know that we're both helping each other out. Hasta Luego!