Monday Morning in the Park

Yesterday morning we walked down a few blocks from our hotel to a park. It is actually quite a large park for being in the downtown area. The scene for a Monday morning was something I don't think we would ever see in the States. People , mostly retirement age, were everywhere, and most were engaged in something active. At the entrance to the park were these ladies pictured below. They were quite a large group, and provided their own music with the drums around their necks and a cymbal player. Theirs was an intricately choreographed dance that was facinating to watch! Further into the park their were blooming trees everywhere. The park has a hill of sorts in the middle, with rock outcroppings and stone paths leading to little secluded areas and small caves. There is a lake in the middle of the park where we watched tadpoles swimming, and Caleb caught one in his hand. At one place towards the top of the hill there was an open area surrounded by small trees. In many many of the trees hung beautiful wooden square bird cages, each with a noisy and active bird inside. Each cage had two little blue and white ceramic dishes inside, presumably for the food and water for the bird. We moved closer to try to see the bird better, but a security guard waved us away. From our vantage point Seth thought the birds appeared to have silver glasses on, and their markings really did look that way. Along every path and in every clearing there were people exercising or doing tai chi. Many were in groups and had brought a speaker for music to move to. It was so interesting to watch! I can't imagine this scene in the U.S.! As we left the park the boys wanted to buy drinks from a small stand. They had their first experience with the reality of the language barrier... after much pointing and gesturing, we managed to convey our choices to the vendor!