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...