When they say there are still nice people left in this world, that would describe this man. He takes good care of us. We will hear in his Mexican accent, "Mike" (very quick and forced) and he is outside our home waiting to talk to us. Usually it means he wants to invite us to something, either a trip outside of town or to a family celebration. Gumero speaks no English at all so you can imagine what our visits are like. Really, it can get quiet fun with all our hand-motioning and creative ways of communicating. When we had met him for the first time, I saw panic on his face. He new he was our official host. He ask his brother, " what am I going to do with these people if they can't speak Spanish and I can't speak English". Well, it's nothing less than an adventure.Gumero has a very gentle and kind spirit. He interacts with Madeline the most. She plays language games with him. He tells her a word in Spanish, lifting or pointing to an object, Maddy repeats it, then it is Gumero's turn to repeat it back to her in English. Maddy gets such a kick out of his meek English. He speaks each word in the form of a question. The both giggle and laugh at each other.
On Christmas day Gumero brought a half dozen coconuts to us and his machete. He dug a whole in each one, drained the aqua out (water) and then peeled each one harvesting the coconut meat. For as much work as it was, I wouldn't want him to know I poured the whole bowl out a week later. No one really liked it.
We appreciate Gumero's kindness to our family. He also gave each of us a pair of shoes from his shoe store. Gumero holds a government office here in La Haucana. It intrigues me how you can make friends with people and not even speak the same language.
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