6 am.

It was another early 6:00 am morning. After getting dressed in the dark (my roommate was still sleeping), I washed my face and headed for the kitchen in search of COFFEE.

I found that, and curled up in my chair at the table, which is hard to do in a rigid kitchen chair by the way, but I managed, and then my host sister came out to make breakfast.

We listened to Christmas music on the radio as she brought out a huge loaf of sweet bread and cut it into thick slices. Benilde, my host sister, told me that Christmas music starts playing on the radio in September. “After August is over, Christmas starts here.”

Anyways, this is what I had for breakfast this morning: Pan dulce (sweet bread) with home-made guava jam, made of just pureed guava fruit and sugar cooked over low heat (I know this because I was the one stirring it for nearly an hour as it thickened) and traditional white cheese.

Simple, but really delicious.