Piscina y Pipa

Diana and I left the family reunion together a little bit early because she'd been invited to a friends' house to swim that night. She invited me, too, so we hurried home to change and then drove to Cumbaya. The house was huge and in a gated neighborhood, and the pool was very warm. I suspect there's some money in the family. There were probably 20 of her friends, some from high school, some from the university, and some were significant others of those friends. Everybody was dressed like a billboard, smoking cigarettes, and very much involved with someone else. It felt kind of surreal, but I eventually found some people who would carry on a conversation. A bit later some more of her friend arrived, those that I have previously met and with whom she spends a lot more time, and I felt a lot more comfortable. They're very relaxed, friendly, quick to joke, and know a bit about me, too. We ate pizza, swam for a while in the pool, everybody smoked a lot of Hookah and cigarettes, and I think everybody was happy. People were definitely friendly enough to offer me cigarettes, and when I passed they'd say "That's good. It's much better not to," and then light right up. I don't think I'll ever understand that type of social activity, but I guess that's going to be one of those things about my generation.

I got out of the pool a bit earlier than the others and ended up talking to one of Diana's closer friends for a couple of hours. She hadn't wanted/been able to swim, so I think she was glad that I got out to accompany her. We talked about school, life goals, family, music, and she told me she'd just broken up with her boyfriend. That turned into a conversation about dating in Ecuador, because almost everybody has a serious partner, almost everybody identifies as heterosexual, and almost everybody is very publicly affectionate. She was very surprised to hear that I'd been happily single for so long, and we shared a very precious moment when I left, because she thanked me for talking about it. She said she was trying pretty hard to get over it and enjoy each day, and it helped a lot to talk to somebody who wasn't "madly in love" or "desperately searching." I told her that my best friends were single and we could all go out together--she laughed. I consider that a success.