Celebrations

Thanksgiving was a success! Though I couldn’t be with my family, I really did enjoy sharing the tradition with my Ecua family here. Aubrey and I spent the day in the kitchen, and I loved finally learning how to make my favorite holiday dishes. I made the apples pies, a broccoli casserole, and helped a bit with other things here and there. Aubrey was the real brains of the operation, with a strict schedule of what went in the oven when, and which ingredients went with which dish. Thanksgiving wouldn’t have happened without all her amazing organizational skills. We prepared most of the food at Aubrey’s house (with her host mom’s help), while the turkey cooked in Eden’s house under the strict supervision of Eden, David, and Eden’s host dad. One of the highlights of the day was transporting the uncooked turkey, with about 8 other dishes, in a taxi to Eden’s house. I had never before ridden in a car with a dead bird on my lap, but I assure you it was an interesting experience.

Finally around 7pm we showed up at Eden’s host sister’s restaurant, where all the food had been transported. Her host sister was kind enough to let us use the restaurant and kitchen all to ourselves for the night! They even had a long table put together for us, with candles and everything. Aubrey gave a really nice Thanksgiving toast before we dug in. We had brie and crackers, turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce (imported care of David), sweet potato casserole, broccoli casserole, cooked carrots with honey sauce, green beans with almonds, and of course stuffing as well. We even had pecan, apple, and pumpkin pies with whipped cream and ice cream for dessert (we made everyone have a sliver of each). So we certainly ate a ton, and had enough left over to give each family a goodie bag. Though, we learned the hard way that sweet potatoes are different in Ecuador than they are in the States…they are bright PURPLE! I have been saying that it looked like some weird alien food, especially with the marshmallows on top. So sadly, that was not the biggest hit at the table, and we decided just to leave it out of the goodie bags as well. But besides the florescent sweet potato casserole, everything else tasted just like home, well almost. And it was wonderful to see the Ecuadorians get excited about the different foods, especially the tastes of which they were unaccustomed. They seemed to love the cranberry sauce (it doesn’t exist here), the broccoli casserole, and the pumpkin pie the most. They also had a fun time eating family style with all the plates on the table, because that is never done here in Ecuador. I got a bit teary-eyed as I watched everyone laughing and talking over the Thanksgiving food…talk about a cross-cultural experience! Then we ended up staying until midnight washing all the millions of plates and such from the feast, and we passed the time by singing Christmas carols in true post-Thanksgiving fashion. So as far as we know, this was probably the first Thanksgiving Ambato has ever seen, and at least from my perspective it seemed to be a really special and memorable night.

On Friday night I went with Aubrey to her student’s capoeira show. Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art that is a mixture of break dancing and fighting. Once we arrived to the club, we realized that the show was a part of the Miss/Mr. University pageant of sorts of the university where Aubrey teaches. I felt like I was back at Homecoming in high school again! There were 4 girls and 4 guys competing for the title- and they came out in different outfits, had their bios read aloud to everyone, and even each had their own screaming fan base, with signs and all! So while the pageant itself was quite entertaining, it didn’t compare to the capoeira. The capoeira was amazing to watch- it was basically choreographed fighting, where no one ever touches, yet the movements are very fast. Much of it seemed very Matrix-like. They even had one “fight” with knives and fire!

Saturday morning I woke up early for some bonding time with the men in my life- my host dad and brother. Every Saturday my host dad plays basketball with some of his students. He teaches physics at an all-girls school, and he believes that sports are important to release stress and to help clear the mind for studies (quite progressive for an Ecuadorian man, and he gives his students bonus points for participating). This was the first Saturday morning since I’ve been in Ambato that I’ve been free, so I finally was able to go. Marcelo and I played on the same team and it was so cute to have our brother-sister duo…with high fives and all. I also have a new respect for my host dad. While he is usually a timid, rather reserved man, he turns into a monster on the court! So it was a great way to start the morning, and I really enjoyed being “one of the guys” for a change. Then the day just kept getting better!

My friend Hilary from Riobamba came to spend the weekend with us Ambato ladies. She was such a good sport because I dragged her to two different birthday parties (on what happened to be my half birthday too!). Our family’s maid Maria and her son Gabriel live in the house with the rest of my family. Maria is one of my favorite people in Ecuador- so generous and loving, and she is such a good listener. Unlike my host mom who is super chatty and always has an opinion on everything (in the best of ways), Maria is content listening to me ramble and she is always so excited for me. Anyway, her son Gabriel turned 15 on Saturday, and we had a little celebration in the house. It’s a custom in Ecuador to smear a part of the cake onto the birthday boy/girl’s (cumpleañero/a) face- think wedding reception. Not a bad tradition if you ask me! Then later that night we had a surprise gathering for Aubrey’s host mom’s birthday. Aubrey made a delicious carrot cake for her, and the whole family came to celebrate. Hilary also got to eat the leftover Thanksgiving plate that we had made for her, as she hadn’t celebrated it yet! After the party we three ladies headed to Baños for the night to meet up with Dan and his friend Ryan who is visiting from the States. We proceeded to salsa the night away!

On Sunday, Aubrey, Hilary, Dan, Ryan, and I embarked on quite a great journey. We rented bikes (from the store where my student works) and made the 2-hour ride from Baños to the town of Rio Verde, traveling closer toward the jungle every pedal along the way. Sadly, though, Dan’s pedal kept falling off so he had to go back to Baños and met up with us in Rio Verde later. So without our fearless leader, we still trekked on. The scenery was amazing- lush green mountains and low-laying clouds the entire way. We even got to ride under a waterfall! We passed four of five huge waterfalls along the way, and at one we stopped and rode a “tarabita” across the river to get a better look. The tarabita is essentially a ski lift type thing, but it goes pretty fast! When we got to Rio Verde we met up with Dan to all go to El Pailon del Diablo together- it’s the biggest waterfall in all of Ecuador. We had to hike down a ways to see it, but what a sight it is! The waterfall itself is incredible, but what really got me was the tiny, rickety wooden bridge you have to cross in order to see the falls. It reminded me of that bridge in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It even mandated that only 5 people were allowed on it at a time. But the view from the bridge was breathtaking and well worth a bit of height freight.

It was also so refreshing for me to spend time with Ryan and to hear his outsider’s perspective on the country. I think after 3 months here I have already become accustomed to so much, so it was enjoyable to hear his reactions and comments about certain aspects of Ecuadorian life and cultural- things that I hadn’t given thought about for awhile. For example, he pointed out how weird it was to see stray dogs everywhere or how odd it is that cars honk whenever they come to an intersection. Yet for me, I just consider those things routine now. He also went on about how generous and loving Ecuadorians are, and that is one thing that I haven’t yet lost appreciation for, though it’s always good to be reminded. So it was nice to have a new perspective to listen to, and to remind myself of my first reactions living here and learning about the culture. I will have to make sure in the coming months to stop every once in awhile and to think back on these little things that become commonplace so quickly.

Lastly, and this is a big one, the volcano is spurting LAVA!!! Last night my students and I watched it exploding from our classroom window. It looked like red fireworks shooting from its mouth. Apparently it started on Monday night and the scientists think the biggest explosion will be tomorrow. We aren’t in any danger in Ambato, but some of my students are from Baños, and the countryside near them is definitely at risk. Ambato might get some ash falling, though, which I sort of hope happens because it’s supposed to look like snow (and I am trying to get into the Christmas spirit after all). Tomorrow I think we are all going to watch the volcano together from Aubrey’s roof! The last time Tungurahua erupted was August 16, 2006, so it’s been over a year. I’m glad I at least have been able to see her in action in my time here, yet I hope she doesn’t cause any real damage. Last year some houses in the country were destroyed, along with livestock, so fingers crossed that we can enjoy the beauty this year without the payment.

Therese, our director, is visiting this week for our respective site visits. Then we are all going out to a big dinner, care of WT, on Friday night. This coming weekend begins the independence festivals in Quito, and I might head up there for a night or two to check it out. There will be bull fights, concerts, markets, and of course lots of food…so I at least want to get a taste of it. More to come next week. Miss you all…the Christmas countdown has begun!

To Market, To Market

I am sorry this is a week late! This week I'm posting 2 entries because I never got around to putting this one online last week. I wrote this all last week though, so bare with me if it is a bit confusing. On Saturday morning my host dad dropped me off at the bus station at 5:30am so that I could catch a bus to Quito. I wanted to meet up with my friend Mark from the coast because he and his housemate were only going to be in the area for the weekend. They planned on taking a day trip to the market down of Otavalo on Saturday, and they were kind enough to let me tag along. Mark's friend Peter is from England and is studying in Ecuador for 5 months for his major in Spanish...then he will be off to study in France to complete his French requirements. Peter and Mark happen to live in the same house in Santa Elena, and they were a ton of fun to hang out with over the weekend. I love Eden and Aubrey to death, but I was beginning to miss some quality time with guy friends! So, I met the boys in La Marsical, our old stomping grounds in Quito, for a big American breakfast on Saturday morning before we headed to Mark's old Quito host family's house. Now, I had heard about this family for weeks during orientation and about how wonderful they are, so it was great to actually get to meet them! We took a tour of the house and the roof had the most amazing panoramic view of the entire city.

The family is just so incredibly generous and welcoming. They told me that their house is my house and that I am welcome there whenever I would like. I know I'll definitely take them up on their offer in the future. The family includes the parents Marci and Miguel, their children Miguelito, Vivi, and Javier (ages range from early 20ish to early 30s), Vivi's husband, and their beautiful 3-month-old baby girl, Estefania. We all pitched in to make lunch, and I finally learned how to make one of my favorite Ecua dishes- bolas de verde. The steps include mashing up green bananas (cousins of yellow bananas), cupping the mush in your hands to make a bowl, inserting ground beef, corn, onions, and eggs, and then closing up the ball with some more mush. The ball is then placed into the broth while it cooks...sooo tasty! We had a traditional Ecuadorian feast for lunch, before Mark, Peter, and Miguel (Mark's host dad) took us to Otavalo.

Miguel grew up in Otavalo and his parents still live there, so he goes there almost every week. It's about a 2-hour bus ride north from Quito, so we arrived around 4:30pm. Otavalo is famous for having the largest market in South America- the vendors practically take over all the streets and squares in the town. Behind Quito and the Galapagos islands, it is the most frequented tourist site in the country. I went to the Otavalo market last year and bought a painting of an indigenous little girl that I had hanging in my bedroom all this past year. Little did I know when I bought it that I would be back to the market so soon! But since we arrived so late, the market was beginning to shut down and people were packing up their goods. We did have enough time, though, for Peter to buy an original Panama Hat (if you thought they were just from Panama...think again! Ecuador is famous for them as well) and Mark bought a bunch of Christmas presents. I somehow restrained myself from buying anything because I am going to go Christmas shopping in the market town of Salasaca outside of Ambato during their festivals in December. One of the highlights of Saturday, though, was meeting up with our friend Anita! Anita is the Australian who was with Mark and I during our mountain incident in September. Since we last saw her, she has spent 4 weeks in the Galapagos and now has been in Otavalo for 2 weeks taking Spanish classes and volunteering. It was so great to see her and to catch up. It's amazing how Ecuador really does feel so small sometimes...and I guess in reality it is!

Miguel took us to his parents' house for bread and tea, and they were the cutest little old people I have ever seen. They were so sweet and caring, and they each looked like they were about 110 years old. They have 10 children, though, so that no doubt that has given them some extra wrinkles. Then we turned on the soccer game and watched the first half of the Ecuador-Paraguay game, which did not get off to a good start (we ended up losing). We left around 8pm to catch the bus back to Quito so that we could meet up with the other WT vols in the city that night. Sure enough, though, after about an hour on the bus, the bus stopped and we sat there for about 30 minutes. Finally we found out that there was a roadblock because the following day happened to be the Festival of the Virgin of Quinche (another name for Blessed Mary). That meant that hundreds of devotees were walking in the streets throughout the night to make a pilgrimage to this holy site where apparently many Ecuadorians have been cured of various ailments. And of course it had to be the same night I was traveling south to Quito...I am cursed with weird bus luck apparently. So we ended up having to turn the bus around and return to Otavalo and we stayed at Miguel's parents' house for the night. Always an adventure!
I really wouldn't have minded this change of plans at all if I didn't already have plans early Sunday morning in Ambato. I had planned on taking an early bus back so that I could meet up with Dan to go to our director's house in the country for the day. Sadly, I never made it back in time to go. I was really bummed to miss going to his house, but I know we will reschedule for another time.

On Monday morning I took my third visit to my student Marco's school to work on English with the children there. This time 4 of the English teachers observed my classes so that they could learn techniques on teaching English. All I could think the whole time was how I felt so unqualified for such a role, but they all seemed to really like many of the "total language" techniques that WT teaches its volunteers. I try to never use Spanish in my classroom and I use a lot of pictures on the board and acting out in class, which they seemed to find helpful! So it was nice to be able to share some of my teaching experiences with them, and hopefully they will feel more confident teaching English in their own classrooms now.

The rest of this week has been busy with classes and Thanksgiving preparations. In class we learned about house vocabulary and place prepositions such as behind, across, under, to the left, etc. Today, though, we had a Thanksgiving celebration because I canceled classes for tomorrow for Thanksgiving Day. I prepared a worksheet with the history of Thanksgiving, current Thanksgiving Day customs, and of course a menu for the feast! I even brought in photos of Thanksgiving food and from my own family Thanksgivings of the past to share with my class, and they really seemed to enjoy them (especially the photos of American football!). I was really touched because the students in my night class surprised me with turkey sandwiches for the whole class, because they knew how much I love the holiday. The generosity of people in this country never fails to amaze me. Finally, this morning Aubrey and I finished getting the ingredients for our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow night...and we will be in the kitchen pretty much all day getting everything ready. I can't wait to see what all the Ecuadorians think about Thanksgiving, and especially of all the food. Full report to come on that next week.

I will certainly be missing all my family and friends back home tomorrow! Just know that I am thinking about you all and that I hope you all have a fabulous holiday. Gobble Gobble!

A Bit of This and That

Photos are up! I finally sat down at a "speedy" internet cafe for 5 hours last Friday to upload them all.  Sorry it's been so long since I have posted. Busy week I guess! I was also thrown off because I had a four-day weekend last weekend, so I didn't sit down to write my blog as usual last Sunday. Things have been good in classes the last two weeks. Last week we went over daily routines, and for an assignment my students emailed some friends back home to practice their new English skills. Thanks so much for those of you who helped me out with the project! I think my students really enjoyed it. And yes, they are STILL in the process of sending them...being timely isn't always one of their strong points. This past week we learned about emotions, personality adjectives, and physical descriptions. Yesterday in class they described the man or woman of their dreams, which was quite funny to hear. I am really excited about sharing Thanksgiving customs with them all next week. It's really touching how curious they are about the holiday, especially because I rave about it so much. I think I'm going to make them all apple pie too...mmmm.

So last weekend was really enjoyable, especially since it was so long. I met up with Eden, Aubrey, and some of their students for our second English Club gathering on Friday evening. I think it was a success yet again. Then Aubrey's students invited us to an invitation-only club opening just a block or two from my neighborhood. The club is called "Milk," in English, and all the staff members were wearing "got milk?" t-shirts. Talk about copyright violations (and that definitely wasn't the first I've seen around town...)! So we went there for a little bit, but I was pretty tired and headed home early.

Then on Saturday I took a "paseo" with Eden, Aubrey, and six of my students to a student's uncle's house outside of the town of Patate. His uncle has a farm house with a gorgeous view of the mountains, the river, and Volcán Tungurahua. We had such a great Saturday afternoon! My students brought TONS of food and they spent the morning in the kitchen preparing it all. Then we had a huge BBQ with steaks and sausages...it was incredible. So we just spent the day chit-chatting and listening to music, and of course indulging in the delicious food as well. The crazy weather added even more charm to the afternoon. It was very sunny when we arrived, but a huge rain storm moved in (thankfully right after we finished BBQing), and we were all trapped indoors while the rain was pouring outside. And then the rain let up right when it was time to return to Ambato! So it was definitely a fun afternoon, and I loved getting to know my students better in such a relaxed, informal setting. Saturday evening the ladies and I headed to Supermaxi to research Thanksgiving ingredients and to buy food for my American meal that I had planned for my host family on Sunday. After an entirely too-long stay in the store (we seem to always get sucked in there), the gals came back and we had a relaxing girls' night in my house just watching TV and hanging out.

I work up early on Sunday and starting preparing my American meal for my family right away. My host mom was so excited about the idea of me cooking for everyone. She and Maria helped me in the kitchen all morning, cutting fruits and vegetables and getting everything ready. I definitely am not much of a cook, but I must say I was pretty impressed with everything when lunch was ready! We had fruit salad, a veggie salad, French bread, chicken pot pie, and peanut butter cookies for dessert. It was so interesting being watched as I was preparing everything. First of all, baking barely exists here in Ecuador. It's impossible to find cookies or brownies in any bakeries in town, they only have tons of bread selections and cakes. So because of this, not only did I have to buy a cookie tray, but no one in my family really knew how to use the oven. They had also never before seen peanut butter (!!!!!) or croutons. Everyone was so fascinated with both at the table, I couldn't help but to chuckle to myself. They had also never before had raw broccoli! I chopped some up and put it in the salad, and they really liked it. I was very proud of them because they didn't think they could survive a meal without rice, and sure enough they did. I think they all really enjoyed the meal, and the cultural experience that accompanied it. And it was so fun for me to bring a little bit of the States to our dining room table. Wait till they see our Thanksgiving feast next week though...they don't know the amazing American food they have to look forward to!

On Monday I didn't have classes because of Ambato's Independence Day. Every city in Ecuador seems to have its own independence celebration, and Ecuadorians sure do know how to party. Ambato's independence festivities, though, aren't all that big though (they save their energy for the HUGE Ambato festival in February for Mardi Gras). So this past Monday they had a parade in the morning down one of the main streets downtown, and it's a big honor for high school kids to march in the parade. People stake out seats early in the morning, but in my opinion there really isn't that much to see. After watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV as a kid, watching high school kids marching in band uniforms isn't all that exhilarating. But it is nice that the entire city comes out to support the students, and it is so apparent that Ambateños really have such deep-seated pride in their city. I actually only saw the end of the parade and the students getting back on their school buses, but I must say I did enjoy the extra day off from class!

In other news this past week, Eden has fleas. Yes, fleas. I would have tried to spare her some pride by not publishing this fact, but she has such a good sense of humor that she encouraged me to note it in my blog. Poor thing, she has all these funny little red bumps all over her and it was our mission this past week to accurately diagnose her. Eden is now an expert on fleas after all her research. We thought it might have been scabies or some allergic reaction, but after intense studying, discussion, and analysis, we all agree that she does in fact have fleas. This could be a result of a few factors- we slept on the floor in Cuenca, the dog in her house just had puppies, or fleas possibly could have jumped onto her as she was walking past some of the many stray farel dogs who roam throughout Ambato. I guess we'll never know. But man, if I were a flea, I would not want to go up against Eden- she is one tough cookie. She immediately took on military-like defense tactics to protect herself. She washed all her clothes and sheets, bug sprayed everything in her room millions of times, and best yet, she sleeps in her "bug suit," complete with socks pulled over her pants, hood over her head, and her shirt tucked into her pants with a belt so that it doesn't come un-tucked over night. All her valiant efforts have seemed to pay off though, and she has been flea-free for a few days now. Congrats Eden!

Finally, last night had some excitement of its own. My host brother Marcelo joined me for my evening class because he had off a few days this week from his university. It was so fun having him as a student for a few hours. He seemed to really enjoy the class, and though he has taken many English classes, he said he learned some new words and expressions. Then, later when we were home, we had a tremor! I was going to use the word "earthquake," but I know Eden, the quasi-geologist of the group, would greatly disapprove:) It had a magnitude of 6.7 and it was about 75 miles below the earth near the border of Ecuador and Peru. It lasted about 35 seconds. The whole house was shaking and the lamps were swinging, but it really wasn't all that strong. It just felt like I was sitting in one of those Brookstone vibrating chairs at the mall. But after the earthquake in Chile a few days ago, I was definitely a bit frightened. As far as the news goes, it doesn't seem like it caused much damage throughout the country and no injuries to be heard of thus far. But last night proved yet again that here in Ecuador you have to always be ready for the unexpected!

That's about all I have to report for now. I am off to meet my friend Mark from Santa Elena in Quito tomorrow, and we're going to take a trip with his old host family to Otavalo. I was in Otavalo and the indigenous villages surrounding it with my ASB trip last year, so I'm excited to go back! Eden's boyfriend David arrives tomorrow for his second visit, so it will be fun to have him here for Thanksgiving next week (he's also bringing us some American ingredients that don't exist here). Aubrey is heading up the Thanksgiving festivities here in Ambato, and by all her planning so far, I think we are in for a real treat. Lastly, this Sunday Dan and I might go to our director's house in the country, so we shall see! Have a great weekend everyone and and very happy Thanksgiving next week. Enjoy the time with your families and watch some football for me! xoxo

Days of the Dead

It's November! Boy do I miss the falling leaves, the smell of fires in fireplaces, pumpkins on doorsteps, and the beautiful autumn weather. Even though autumn doesn't exist here in any shape or form, a few times this week I did get the feeling that a little bit of the fall might have just found its way down here to Ecuador.

 

Last Monday I finally made myself go to one of Ambato's famous Monday markets. I don't know what took me so long to go! It was amazing to see all of the indigenous men and women in their beautiful clothing buying all their food for the week. It was really an incredible sight- people, fruits, vegetables, meats, rice, bread, and clothing in every direction in an amazing assortment of colors. Since I only went to the market in the center of town, I will have to work my way up to the HUGE market that's right across the street from my school. From what I've heard, this other market will put the one I visited to shame. We shall see!

On Halloween I convinced Eden, Dan, and Aubrey to go with me to one of my favorite Ambato spots that I've been to so far. We four now have a standing gringo lunch date on Wednesdays, so I took them to a place my host parents took me to in the barrio of Atoche. This little restaurant is outdoors with vines hanging above, and it's known for its empanadas cooked in a huge outdoor oven and the traditional drink of colada morada. This past week was the week of coloada morada in all of Ecuador because it's a custom to drink it on el Día de los Difuntos, or All Soul's Day, on November 2nd. I absolutely love colada morada- it's like a thick juice that is made with all sorts of berries and is served warm. So delicious! So I was happy that the other three seemed to enjoy the colada morada too...and little did we know how much we would have over the next few days!

In class on Wednesday I went all-out with Halloween. I dressed up as a bruja (a witch) all in black and I bought some black lipstick and a witch hat to go with it. My students chipped in some money so that I could get them all candy, and I must admit I went a bit overboard. I taught them all about trick-or-treating (and made them do it to get their candy) and we did Halloween puzzles and learned Halloween vocab, listened to the Monster Mash and a scary sounds CD, and even made mummies out of eachother with rolls of toilet paper! Many of my students wore orange and black to class, and some even had costumes. My night class had both a gypsy and a guy in a George Bush mask (see photo). Teacher Dan dressed up too, as a creepy old man no less, and came to join in on the fun as well. I really enjoyed sharing all the Halloween customs with my students, especially seeing them have so much fun with it. Though I really did miss seeing tons of little kids walking around in costumes all throughout the day. I saw one little kid downtown in a Batman costume in the morning, and it put a huge smile on my face!

So Ecuadorians don't really celebrate Halloween, but they sure go all-out for el Día de los Difuntos on November 2nd. Since I don't have classes on Friday, my students decided to celebrate it in class on the 1st. They brought colada morada and guaguas de pan for everyone in the class. Now, guagua (pronounced wawa) is the Quichua word for baby...so we eat baby-shaped pieces of bread. The tradition started a few hundred years ago when a town to the South had a terrible epidemic that killed off hundreds of babies in the town. The town made bread in the shape the babies to honor them on All Soul's Day, and the tradition has continued ever since. So not only did I have bread babies in class, but a student gave me some to take home, and I had them in my own home on Friday! Needless to say, it was a carb-heavy few days. On Friday morning my family took Eden and I to a graveyard in Pelileo to visit my "great-grandmother," as is the tradition on el Día de los Difuntos. Pretty much everyone in Ecuador goes to the cemetery to visit deceased loved ones and they leave flowers and food at their graves. The indigenous men and women actually have a picnic at the grave site, with tons of food and liquor, to honor and remember their loved ones. I was expecting to walk into the cemetery into a very solumn atmosphere, and it was quite the opposite! There were tons of vendors outside of the cemetery selling food, flowers, kids' toys, you name it. As you can see below, not only were there tons of people inside, but they had people playing music, kids were running around- it was really quite a fun affair. Eden pointed out how comforting it must be for Ecuadorians to know that every year their friends and family will come visit them at their graves and have such a celebration. It's definitely a different perspective on death than many of us have in the States, and I was so thankful to be able to witness it all first-hand.

After some more colada morada at home that morning (every family makes a pot of their own), Aubrey, Eden, and I headed 7 hours south to Cuenca! Our friends Annie and Javier from Quito picked us up in Javier's Land Rover and we had quite the road trip together. Not only did we have the amazing scenery of the Andes Mountains for the entire trip, but we also saw the most gorgeous sunset. We even got a a point where we were so far above the clouds and they looked like the ocean below us. And Cuenca is such a breath-taking city. It definitely has a European feel with its cobblestone streets and old, Colonial buildings. The whole city, actually, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (shout out to the Rotunda at UVa!). We met up with about 25-30 of our fellow volunteers in Cuenca for it's independence day festivities, and I think everyone just fell in love with the city. I will definitely be going back a few times! It is just so clean and picturesque, with a beautiful river running through the city as well. We went to some artisan markets, watched a military parade, went to a concert on Saturday night, and just spent a lot of time walking around and taking in the city. It was especially great to spend time with the other volunteers and to share our experiences of teaching and and living in Ecuador thus far. On Sunday morning we all had a HUGE homemade American breakfast together...and I had forgotten how great breakfast can be! My time with the other volunteers in gorgeous Cuenca definitely recharged my batteries for the week ahead.

Now, probably the most entertaining part of the week (actually it wins hands down) was our trip back from Cuenca to Ambato. The five of us were supposed to leave around 11am so that we would get back to Ambato early in the evening. Well, the woman who owns the garage that Javier parked his car in decided to up and leave on Sunday morning with no warning. Apparently no one in Cuenca, including the hotel that uses the garage, has a copy of the garage key!! Oh Ecuador, you and your many surprises. Besides being really frustrated, we all couldn't help but laugh when considering our crazy luck. While the others decided to wait for the woman to return (6pm was their earliest guess), we Ambato ladies rushed to the bus terminal and caught a bus that was pulling out of the station as we arrived. Since the bus was full, though, we had to ride up front in a separate compartment with the driver and his attendant, and various other passengers along the way. I can't even begin to describe what a funny experience it was! We were playing salsa music and everyone was sharing food- it was like one great big bus party traveling through the Andes. We even had our own little jobs- I pressed some buttons on the dashboard, Aubrey got stuck with door duty a couple times, and Eden even got behind the wheel at one point (when the bus was stopped) and the driver let her honk the horn while we were driving. We even got a discount because the attendant said we were buena gente, or good people. So besides the terribly uncomfortable seating arrangments (my rear is still a bit soar), it was definitely a fun trip and an experience I won't soon forget.

It's time for me to head to class now, but I hope you all have a wonderful week! And a very very happy birthday to Kara on Wednesday...congrats on the big 23!! I'll hunt down a piece of cake

to have in your honor tomorrow. I hope it's a great birthday for you! Love you all and I'll be in touch soon again. xoxo