trick or (traditional) treat

Today at school, we had a small fiesta in the teachers' club where they served traditional refreshments for this time of year: colada morada and guaguas de pan. These treats are specific to this time of the year, coinciding with the Day of the Dead celebration here in Ecuador. (Day of the Dead is like a combination of All Saints' Day and Memorial Day.) Colada morada is a thick drink made primarily of blackberries, with other fruits such as pineapple and flavored with cinnamon. It is usually served room temperature or warm. Guaguas de pan are sweet loaves of bread shaped liked people and decorated with icing. It was a nice treat to have today, and a great way to experience another side of the culture.*I would post recipes for both, but I can only find them in Spanish, and some of the ingredients don't translate.

wilderness girl?

Those of you who know me know that I am not a real outdoorsy kind of girl--my idea of a good hike is through the streets of Manhattan. However, this weekend I'm going with some friends to the rainforest. We're going to have a 3 hour hike through the jungle, see monkeys and ancient petroglyphs, and hike into a cave where we'll swim in an underground river. And even though I'm going to be waaaay out of my comfort zone, I really want to go and have this experience. I'm determined not to be too Troop Beverly Hills on this trip, and so I just went out and bought outdoorsy gear so that I'm not the girl in the Ralph Lauren knit capris dodging the mud. I now own two pairs of hiking-friendly pants, and a new backpack. (I figured the enormous red leather purse probably wasn't appropriate for this trip.) So, watch out wilderness, here I come!

(Did I mention that I'm probably going to need a valium to do that cave hike?)

to market to market

Yesterday my friend Carrie and I ventured out to do a little shopping at the local markets. Our first stop was the arts and crafts market in Parque el Ejido. There I purchased one beautiful sash for $6.
Our next stop was the Mercado Santa Clara, which is an indoor market that sells a wide variety of things including produce, baskets, clay pots, and plants. Here I purchased 2 avocados for $.90
a bag of butternut squash cubes for $.50and 2 dozen beautiful roses for $2.00.
It was a fun (and cheap) shopping day!

sigh

If he ever steps foot in Ecuador, we are getting married.

tgit

Thank goodness it's Thursday (and tomorrow's Friday.) I'm tired, and I'm getting a little tired of dealing with spoiled brats who can't, rather, won't follow directions. Not all of them, but there are a select few in each class who have no qualms about questioning and even refusing to acknowledge my authority. I had my most difficult group today, and to give a little background, this group is so poorly behaved that I am no longer having them sing. They are working on group projects about the different time periods in music history, and so I had signed up to use the books section of the library for the second half of class today so that the students could do some research. (In our library, you can sign up for the books, the computers, or the novels.) Another teacher was signed up for the computers, but instead worked more with the books, and then another teacher brought in yet another class to work on the unused computers. Needless to say, it was total and utter chaos, and then I had a girl get very nasty with me when I told her for the third time to stay away from the other classes' tables. It was not worth the effort, and I almost told the students to return to the classroom, but I did not have the materials the students needed to continue to work on their projects. I left school feeling very frazzled and came home and ate two chocolates, and am now snuggling with my Tobey on the bed. Cats make everything better.

On the bright side, it hasn't rained for two days! Yay for sunshine!

birthday fun

I had a fantastic birthday yesterday! My roommate Jenny took me for a massage and lunch yesterday afternoon, and then last night my friends and I went for sushi and then to this club that plays 70s and 80s music. It was a great time, and I was so excited that I had good friends with whom to share my day. Here are a few pictures:

Jenny, Marjorie, Hannah, and me at the sushi restaurantHannah, Leah, and meBirthday ice cream en flambe!

Thanks to everyone for all the well-wishes and for making my day so great!

hail today, gone tomorrow?

We had a crazy hailstorm today on the bus ride home from school that completely woke me up (I tend to doze on the bus rides to and from school.) I think it hailed pea-size pellets for 15 minutes. I'm hoping for better weather tomorrow, as it is my birthday, and I'm really hoping to go to the historic center of town for a little tourist-type action. They say some of the streets down there look as though they could be in Italy. Plus, I hear there are a lot of cafes there where you can sit outside and drink wine all afternoon!

la playa

Well, I'm back from the beach and don't know quite where to begin. First of all, I love flying Ecuadorian airlines. My flight was only 30 minutes each way, but they still fed us coming and going. It was quality food, too: little sandwiches on fresh rolls on the way out, and empanadas and kebabs on the way back. We arrived in Guayaquil (which is kind of flat and boring, compared to Quito) and hired a taxi to take us to Montanita. We drove 2 1/2 hours to get to the little surfing village, and passed so much poverty on the way there. I saw so many homes with only three walls, or homes built out of sticks. The roads were extremely bad, and often times muddy, and we had to get out of the low-riding taxi several times so that our driver could make it over the speed bumps.

The town where we stayed was cute and funky. There were lots of street vendors selling everything from fresh juices to empanadas to jewelry to clothing. My favorite, however, were the men selling ceviche from carts on the beach. Ceviche is a cold seafood soup, and the man would break open a new oyster for each bowl of ceviche. It was really fun to watch.
The weather was cool and overcast for almost the entire weekend, but we did have 3 hours of sun Sunday morning, and of course I got scorched. Being so close to the equator, the sun is definitely more powerful. We found ways to amuse ourselves even without perfect beach weather, and I hiked around the cliffs and saw some really beautiful rocks and lots of tiny crabs. Saturday night we made a bonfire on the beach, with found materials, and we were pretty proud of ourselves. Sunday morning, as Hannah and I danced in the improved weather down to the beach, we were rather surprised to find not only the sunshine out on the beach but also a small herd of cows. Yes, cows.
So, even with the less-than-fantastic weather and too-low taxi, I had a great weekend. I have a little color (red) to show for it, and I got to stick my feet in the ocean. Definitely a success!

short week

Not much new here--spent almost the entire weekend in bed feeling icky and tired. We have this Friday off from school here in Ecuador due to Dia del independencia de Guayaquil. Don't ask me what the independence is from; I just know that I am school-free that day. My friends and I decided to use the long weekend to travel to the coast, so we booked our plane tickets and Friday we will be in Montanita! I am very excited to get to someplace warm, but now I have to actually buy some warm-weather clothing--all I brought with me was spring/fall stuff. Shopping here is not easy nor fun, because all the clothing is imported and therefore expensive and usually poor-quality. I just need to find a couple of tanks and maybe a sundress that won't fall apart on me or cost me a fortune. Where's an Old Navy when you need it?

more things i am learning

1. ricotta cheese in ecuador is better than ricotta cheese in the us.
2. head colds are not fun no matter where you are.
3. apple nectar=not so good. apple nectar+sprite=yummy.
4. when your cat cries incessantly at 4 in the morning, he's not trying to be obnoxious, he just has to poop and will do so on your rug if you don't let him out to the litter box.