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!