What’s white, pink, and brown…and melts in the sun? …Me!

 Last weekend got off to a great start Friday night when we tried to teach the seminary students how to play the infamous “Animal Game”. To make it more difficult,  we used animal motions and sounds…we quickly discovered that animals have different sounds in Spanish which made the game absolutely hilarious. 

THE BEACH:  The next day we took off for the beach.  The city we went to was about 7 hours away so we took an overnight bus trip.  They showed the movie “Meet the Spartans”, a parody of movie 300. I thought this was super funny because the whole point of the movie is to make U.S. cultural references, so I’m pretty sure we were the only ones who fully understood it even though it was in Spanish.  Although it was pitch black outside when we stepped off the bus, I immediately knew we were at the beach because it was about 20 degrees warmer.  I got on the bus wearing two shirts and a hoodie because Quito is in the mountains…yeah, that didn’t last long. I hadn't experienced that kind of humidity since I lived in KC!  

CARNAVAL: The beach was packed for Carnaval, which is a world-wide celebration that takes place before the start of Lent.  Different countries have different ways of celebrating Carnaval. Here in Ecuador, people spray each other with ‘foam’ (‘espuma’- their version of silly string) and throw water, eggs and flour. Basically, if you’re not willing get wet or dirty, then don’t leave your house.  Several random strangers on the street squirted me with water...apparently I’m an easy target. At one point, I noticed some ladies leaning out of the fifth story window of their apartment…buckets of water quickly followed…Another time we (that is our group of eight 20-somethings) got chased up a gigantic hill by four ten year olds who were trying to soak us. We also discovered that the ‘spray foam’ can dye your skin blue. If I thought being a gringa screamed ‘easy target’, looking like smurf is worse.  It was all tons fun and what better place to “play Carnaval” than at the beach?

And of course the beach was gorgeous! The water was like bath water. We spent most of our time playing the waves, laying out on the beach soaking up sun, and chowing down on the local food. There were venders walking all over the beach. We ate a lot of frozen yogurt, ice cream, and salchipapas (hot dogs mixed with French fries). There was also a Reggaeton concert and some indigenous dancing. But I think my two favorite parts of the trip were: 1) the sunsets 2) sitting around the campfire at night on the beach looking at the stars…it doesn’t get much better than that.  We had a little bit of trouble making it back home…and by that I mean, we almost missed our bus, it was literally pulling out of the parking lot when we arrived. I loved the beach, but wow, I got burnt! Mom, promise I reapplied my sunscreen like 10 times a day, but apparently it doesn’t really matter when you’re as white as I am.  I should have known when I saw a notice with directions to the nearest dermatologist posted inside the bus on the way to beach, whoops. My fingers even got burnt! I didn’t even know that was possible! Now, I look like a Neapolitan ice cream: I’m a little tan, really burnt, and somehow still kind of white…what?

MOUNTAIN CLIMBING: Last weekend I went to the beach and this weekend I climbed a mountain!  We woke up this morning, hopped on a bus, and picked a mountain. We ended up choosing a mountain that overlooks the monument that marks the equator. The monument looked huge when we walked passed it on the way to the mountain, but once we got to the top it looked like one of the tiny key chains we had seen in the gift shop.  I somehow managed to get stuck by a giant cactus several times while I was trying to "pretend" to touch it for a picture, whoops. Well, we’re already planning what mountain to climb next--preferably one without dangerous plants...

Week Seven: Indigenous Wedding and Learning How to Cook

ALMOST HALFWAY DONE! WHAT?!

My First Indigenous Wedding:

               A couple of Sundays ago the NILIs were invited to go an indigenous weddings. The wedding was two hours away so we had to wake up at 4:30AM to catch a bus. In Otavalo, they always have weddings on Sundays during church. The service was in both Spanish and Quichua (the indigenous language), so pastor would say something in one language and then translate it into the other (it was actually really cool even though I was really confused).  The ceremonies were simple but the parties afterwards were huge!

When we arrived at the party there were a number of people sitting on the ground next to large bed sheets piled high with gigantic mounds of beans, toasted corn, and rice. They mixed it by hand and then carried the sheets around the room to serve everyone the first course of food.  And oh my, was there a lot of food: soup, potatoes, corn on the cob, chicken, etc. Everyone was served at their seats; they don’t really do the buffet thing here, even with appetizers.  They only had about four cups for 150 people so several guys would walk around with bottles of coke, pour a drink and wait for the person to finish so they could serve the next person. I don’t know how many shots of pineapple coke I had, It tasted so good!...but it burnt so bad.  And what’s a wedding reception without a cake? They literally had the biggest cake I’ve ever seen! The whole thing was such a cool experience.  

The Basilica:   

Last Thursday we took a trip to the Basilica, the largest church in Quito. It was huge!! We got to climb through the ceiling of the building, and up (I don’t know how many) ladders in order to reach the top of the clock tower.  The whole time I was thinking, “man, I wish I would have attended this church…playing sardines in here would have been Intense!” Although, there’s a slight chance you’d never make it back out again.   We got an incredible view of Quito from the top of the clock tower. And of course we all had to see how far we could hang out of the openings in order to take pictures. 

           

My Ecuadorian Family:

This past weekend I lived with an Ecuadorian family. I didn't speak any English for a whole weekend! My family lives within walking distance of were I’m staying and they attend one of the local Nazarene churches. We spent most of the weekend cooking, which is totally different when you buy the food fresh and cook from scratch for every meal. In the States, I have trouble working the microwave, so I’m pretty sure I provided a lot of entertainment for my family. In the end everything was delicious. We made a couple of traditional Ecuadorian dishes “Caldo de Gallina” y “Llapingachos” yum! Monday morning in class we all got to taste everyone else’s dishes, I think my favorite was “Caca de Perro” If you don’t know what that means go ahead and Google translate that one…

            My family took me to a ‘Baby Shower’ (which is what it’s called in Spanish too, so at least I knew two words).  It was really fun and the food was amazing as always. However, we did get lost on the way there and some random person on the street sprayed me with water for Carnaval even though at that point it was still a week away…yeah, this weekend should be interesting…I’m going to the beach with a big group of gringos for Carnaval…I don’t think I’m coming back with any dry clothes.