Earlier in the day, a friend in my class invited me to a party hosted by the University's Diversity Office. Some of my friends have conversation partners through the office, and it seemed like a good opportunity to mingle and perhaps get a conversation partner for myself. So after dinner, Lizzie, Eboni and I went off to Quito. At first we were the only non-Ecuadorians in the Tantra lounge and we got a lot of stares. Eboni smartly guessed that it was a gay bar. The rainbow banners, the signs that read "don't hide" and the women making out certainly supported her hypothesis. Later it was confirmed to be a Lesbian bar. Diversity means many things, I should know by now. Non-PC joke of the weekend: "An Asian, a redhead, and a black girl walk into a lesbian Ecuadorean bar. Who gets picked up first?"
Lizzie and Eboni's conversation partners and friends showed up soon after. We danced the whole night, a mixture of Salsa, Meringue (sp), and make-it-up as you go. I was exhausted, at one point Lizzie was concerned that I had potentially been drugged (haha not funny?). When we wanted to leave, Eboni's host dad (who is also a taxi driver) came to pick us up and dropped us off at each of our houses. Successful first night out!
Saturday
When I got out of bed both of my knees cracked. At breakfast, Rosa served some crackers instead of the usual bread. She told me that the baker had died so we didn't have bread. I was still tired so I'm sure my facial expression of shock was entertaining. Rosa was just kidding. This morbid joke continued for the rest of the weekend (i.e., Juan Carlos: "Do you eat a lot of bread in the States?" Me: "yeah, depends on the family though." Juan Carlos: "We eat a lot of bread, unless the baker dies" (jajaja). Later in discussing musicans coming to Ecuador, Carlos: "Michael Jackson!" Me: "He passed away." Carlos: "Elvis Prevsley!" Me: "Also..." Carlos: "I know, dead like the baker!")
In the evening we attended the Elecciones de la Reina, it's essentially a pageant show with 8 girls 13 to 16. There were many child performers as well as La Vaca Loca. La Vaca Loca is literally the Crazy Cow. I had no idea what that meant at first, I was pondering mad cow disease when the first Vaca Loca appeared. It was a hollow triangular structure that looks nothing like a cow except for the horns attached. On the structure there was a range of things like fruit, kitchen ware, and cheap flags. A swarm of small children attacked the two unfortunate adults carrying the cow. From a distance it looked like the crowd of children swallowed the cow and carriers too. Then the kids ran back to their parents carrying whatever they could grab. Crazy indeed.
Sunday
My legs were more sore than Saturday. After breakfast, the family and I sat on the roof/terrace for a bit when an impromptu "walk" was suggested. We took a taxi, and then a bus which dropped us off on the side of a highway. We ran across 4 lanes of traffic to buy food. Then we walked up to an area considered Lumbisi territory and enjoyed our picnic and the amazing view. The rest of the time we walked back down to the house. For most of it I felt like a failed mountain goat, carrying my camera and a Guaba didn't help either. I slipped a lot, just like I trip a lot on the flat side walks at U of I. My host family thought I was going to fall, so eventually Carlos (host brother) gave me a walking stick. Someone joked that it wasn't for me, but instead to protect the Guaba that I was carrying. Very funny family. More jokes followed- Rosa: "Can you continue?" Me: "Yes, I'm fine." Rosa: "If not, you can stay here with the wolves. jajaja"
We took several short cuts, which required extreme effort and concentration on my part. Moment of struggle and hilarity: we had to climb horizontally through a barbed wire fence (like last weekend except without the electric current). Right when I was in the middle of the fence, Carlos yelled something (joking again), at the same time I felt my right leg cramp up. Then my left leg got caught on the bottom part of the fence. I was laughing, half crawling and quite concerned about my camera. At the same time Rosa was angrily yelling at Carlos for scaring me and struggling to detach my jeans from the fence.
Overall a fun "walk," we were out of the house for 3 hours. I estimate that we walked (more like hiked downwards) for just over 2 hours. Everything is fine except for my legs. I'm really happy that my host family is joking around with me more, it makes me feel like part of the family. They joke around with each other a lot. For example, Josue and Carlos bicker about who is adopted. The parents join in too, "Genesis looks like your sister, Carlos looks like you, and well Josue... he's adopted." I enjoy laughing with the family. I bet we're not always laughing at the same things, what matters is that we're laughing together :)
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