August 4, 1972 Fri.
Dear Flowers:
I didn’t go to school because of my gross tooth. At a 11:30 I went to the dentist. We picked the color for my tooth to be it will be lighter than my other front tooth. Dr. Barrios put a temporarily new jacket on it. Its too big & a different color but only for a month. Went with Dave & Beck for tennis. I just watched. Simmon & I walked to Pats house. She moved to Missy’s house. Well we went for a walk & then to show Pat Simmons house. Mrs. Metz won't let Simmon walk in Los Robles & talked to Pats mom not to let her go. We’ll get raped she said.
BYE!
Note: It was a big ordeal getting my front tooth fixed - painful and ugly. One of the first days I had the temporary tooth it fell out and I had to return to the dentist to have it glued back. Fortunately, I found the tooth as I was outside when it happened.
I am not sure what triggered Mrs. Metz’s sudden fear of us getting raped. Los Robles, the local neighborhood where we lived was relatively safe but political tensions were rising.
August 5, 1972 Sat.
Dear Flowers:
Slept in. Got dressed. I worked a bit on outlining Science. Read on new National Geographic books. After lunch I finished Science homework. Learned all about Malaria. Read newspapers. Dads home!!! We’re all happy. We really missed him. Brought back comics & hair conditioner. Washed my hair. Watched T.V. Went outside with Karron & Sarah tonight which I should not have you see Mom & Dad went out so I asked Dave & Beck for permission. Oh well such is life.
BYE!!
Note: Malaria is a serious disease spread by mosquitos. We took a big, bitter tasting malaria pill every Sunday to prevent getting it.
Getting a new comic and hair conditioner - items we couldn't find in Nicaragua - was such a treat.
It was pretty stupid and dangerous of me to go out to see Karron & Sarah across the street. Someone told on me and I got into big trouble with my parents. Harsh words were shared and I probably said I hated them.
August 6, 1972 Sun.
Dear Flowers:
Went to church. Went to supermarket. Hingst are back. We went out to lunch to the Terraza. We had (Mom, Dad & me) pepper steak. Becky’s not feeling well. Watched T.V. Oh help me let Mom & Dad know that really love them. PLEASE!!! I read on “The Girl from the Sea.”
BYE!!
Note: I felt guilty and remorseful about disobeying my parents and then the ugly words shared. I apologized profusely but you can’t take back ugly words.
The book, The Girl from Over the Sea, was about a young girl and her twin siblings traveling from Australia to Cornwall to settle an inheritance.
I remember those malaria pulls. We also took them in Sunday night. The name Dr Barrios sounds familiar but don't have any dentistry memories. I took was bothered by the double standards that affected us girls as ore-teens and teenagers.
I remember those malaria pills every Sunday…yuk…eventually they got replaced with a single big pink coated pill that you didn’t have to swallow quite so quickly
RE: Personal safety...having first moved to C.R. we took it for granted, but then moving to Bogotá, we learned to become wary; civil unrest, curfews, a little less "pro-American" attitude, and still the existence of the "machismo/double standard" culture. My sisters were coming of age during this time, and for the above reasons, when we were in public, mom would say "Rich, stay with your sisters!"
RE: getting in trouble....If the folks came back to a mess, me being the oldest, it was usually "my fault", and I should "know better". The maids, knowing what side their bread's buttered on, would rat on us.
RE: Malaria pills....this wasn't a thing for us, I guess because of our temperate/cool climates....from your…
Susie - my goodness your dentist was Dr. Barrios! Was he very old? If memory serves (not sure it does) we had him for a while but then went to a German dentist - Statahgen, spelling? He had a huge - half of the wall glassed-in space with live birds for us to watch while he worked on our teeth. Cool!
Very ingenious of you to ask your brothers for permission to go out! Sorry someone ratted on you...
We had lots of snow/ice here - stay warm - Tootsie
Oh, our teenage selves and decisions we made . My bad decisions came when I went to college and then Guatemala where I was totally away from my Christian family and on my own. Praise God I did go to a religious based college and God was with me especially when I made stupid, naive decisions. I'm confident your parents realized your words were from a teenager's mouth !