Sunday, July 29th

Jack is sitting here telling me about his day.  He particularly liked the bananas that he had for breakfast!  They are a specific type of banana that the doctor recommends.  Not the usual bananas which Mary had for breakfast.  The name of the bananas translates into English as "the bananas from the island".  They are slightly orange in color.  Mary and Maria Isabelle mashed them and I photographed while they fed both boys:

Mary feeding Jack:


Maria Isabelle feeding Galileo:




Trying out the new bibs from Cirito:




Finished with breakfast:



Maria Isabella is from Venezuela.  She is not in Peru because that is where she wants to be.  Mary says that Venezuela is a mess.  The government is terrible and the people are moving anywhere that they can.  The explanation of why they emigrate is simple:  Maria Isabella says that she had a good job, but that the economy got so bad that her salary did not buy anything.  So her married daughter and husband moved to Columbia and she and her other daughter moved to Peru.  When Mary found Maria Isabella she was cleaning toilettes for very little money.  Mary could pay her the same amount to come and help out with the babies on the weekends when Esther had her time off.  Then it turned out that Maria Isabella had been an office manager and that Mary had work for her in the Market.  So Maria Isabella is working both places: here at the house with the babies on the weekend and at the Market during the week.    Her husband has stayed behind in Venezuela because he has a gym and he still has paying customers.  As long as that continues to be the case, he hopes to keep the gym going in case the government and economic climate improve and they can all move back.  Maria Isabelle told Mary that she was able to send about $40 home last week and that it was quite crazy how much Venezuelan currency her family was able to change that into.