The family gathering was a success according to our family standards. I rented a large tarp which saved us from rain, we cooked two turkeys which had been frozen since Christmas, and everyone brought food and drinks to complement that.
The next day my sister hired a yoga teacher to give us a class in the park in front of our home. My dad, mom, sister and myself participated, as well as my brother who followed remotely through zoom. Then we had breakfast inside the house.
At lunchtime I sat with my mother and the helper who we hired for this event and we spoke about the food I'd prepare for the next family event, at my cousins' place. I said I'd go to the local market to get chicharrón (fried pork rinds) and we reminisced about the local sellers there. There's a chicken seller who sets up an easel and claims to paint on his free time and I asked my mother what she thought about him. She said he did this just for the show and to impress his female clients. "Once he invited Margaret and me to a private exhibition, but we didn't go", my mother said. I answered "do you mean an exhibition of his privates?" and my mother and the helper roared in laughter. Emboldened by this, I added an impersonation: "Yeah let's go to that dark corner and I'll show you my painting of an ugly cyclops" I said while hiding my hands under the table. They recoiled as they cracked up in both amusement and disgust.
The land behind the house seems to be in terrible shape, having been overgrown through two years of neglect. But upon closer inspection, it was just a matter of removing the ugliness to reveal the natural beauty of the land. I recorded myself doing the work:
I have many things to do before I leave Puebla: visit relatives and protect the house from further damage. I'll buy waterproofing paint for the roof and my sister will coordinate the work.