Edit: I finally posted pictures from Tiputini, you can find them here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=627651&id=774675412&l=47111360e0
I had some problems when I uploaded them, so some might be missing.
Fun fact, I still don't have my Ecuadorian cellphone number memorized. Perhaps I should work on that?
Carnaval weekend did turn out pretty relaxing. I was slightly disappointed that I didn't have a more exciting weekend, however, I'm glad I got some time to rest and catch up on some homework. Some highlights:
Saturday I ate a delicious Ceviche lunch with my host family. Ceviche is a typical seafood dish served in Ecuador, especially on the coast. I had a kind with shrimp and fish. We ate it with popcorn and tostada which is similar to un-popped kernels of popcorn but more edible. In the afternoon I watched my host family play in a soccer game against another family. I managed to talk Genesis out of throwing flour on me, success! At night I went to Quito with some friends who also stayed local for Carnaval. We went to a club with live Ecuadorean folk music. It was much fun, and the staff there was really excited to have people from the States.
Monday we went to Ambato, a town nearby. Ambato is known for its wide varieties of fruits and flowers. Instead of playing with water, people in Ambato supposedly play Carnaval with fruit and flower. The bus ride to Amabato was 2 and 1/2 hours, for only $2.70. A bus ride like that in the States would be over $20. Anyway, we didn't see anything too exciting. We went to a Carnaval fair, they had a lot of different stands, and a best cow competition. We visited Ambato's indoor market to eat some delicious (greasy and questionably clean) llapingachos, typical dish with fried mashed potatoes and cheese. Then we sat in the park and watched people play Carnaval with foam. We only got sprayed with the foam once while waiting for the bus. The major parades in Ambato happened on Sunday and would happen later Monday night, to my disappointment. The journey back to Lumbisi was long, but we did see people covered in flour (and extremely drunk). On our bus ride back to Quito from Ambato they showed the movie Speed. A comforting bus movie for sure.
That was about as exciting as things got. I do have 2 Genesis stories:
On Thursday morning Genesis broke off the bud of one of the flowers sitting in a glass vase on the coffee table. Rosa was very upset about this. The next afternoon I looked at the flowers to see that only the green stems were left, still in the vase. Apparently Genesis had beheaded and taken all of them so that she could play Carnaval with the flower petals. Pobres flores.
Yesterday, Genesis was dancing with her newly bought child-sized umbrella. [Tangent, I don't see many people using umbrellas here, even though it has been raining a lot] The dance was completely crazy style, twirling, stomping, twitching... everything. There was no music, except for whatever she was hearing in her head. Rosa looked over at her daughter and told her, "Not like that! That's so ugly. Be careful, you're going to blind la Joy!" Then Rosa took the umbrella from Genesis and did a little dance of her own to show Genesis how she should dance. I could not stop laughing.
The next post may be from a guest writer if I can convince her to write one... :)
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