Are you guys hermanos...or are you married?

If there´s one thing Ecuadorians can´t get enough of, besides rain, it´s fiestas. This weekend was the start of fiestas for Chris´s site in Guaysimi (It is actually fiestas for the whole canton or county, of Nangaritza but they are held in the capital of Guyasimi). To get there, I have to take a 2 hour bus ride, which is absolutely gorgeous. It´s a wild jungle ride as you swerve through curvy mountain roads, vines hanging down and a whole gammet of people get on the bus (indigenous Saraguros and Shuar, the majority being Mestizos, however). In addition to a gammet of people, I musn´t forget to mention the gammet of smells…it´s definitely a funky smellin´bus ride.

So I got to Chris´s site and luckily enough, as I got off the bus the parade was just starting! The parade consisted of a whopping eight or nine carros alegóricos (floats). Each was themed for a school or neighborhood or Indigenous population in Nangaritza. Chris told me he helped with the school´s float, the giant tilapia—he painted the eyes since he was the only one who could reach that high. The other floats were cool though, they had Shuar re-enacting their hunting and even had a group of Saraguros (a tribe of Kichwa) demonstrate how they farm and kill cuys (which they did right there, by the way). It was really cool to see how proud these people are of their culture and the diversity that this canton and province has.

We went back to Chris´s AMAZING apartment …he is living with a family but they basically built Chris his own `wing` attached to their house. His shower is super tall too, they even built an extension for him so he doesn´t have to squat (wish I could say the same for my shower…)
His host mom taught us how to make humitas which are like tamales but sweeter. They shucked and de-kerneled (is that even a word??) the corn and then put it through a hand mill to make it into corn meal. She then mixed in eggs, salt, oil, and onions which we spooned into the corn leaves and folded up. The humas were baked over an open fire and served hot an hour later. Something new to check off the list…

That night was the Reina de Nangaritza competition. Chris basically knows everyone in his site; it´s a small town and he´s pretty hard to not notice…but he´s made a bunch of friends through soccer and the school he teaches at. Luckily, we bumped into the mayor´s wife, who loves us, and invited us to sit FRONT ROW for the competition. Sometimes, it´s great being a gringa…
The competition was quite interesting because they choose a Saraguro, Shuar and Mestiza Reina. (The Mestiza Reina is the one who really wins it all). There was a bathing suit competition for the Mestizas, but the Shuar and Saraguros wore their traditional outfits and danced. They were all asked questions too, and the indigenous girls had to speak in both Spanish and Shuar or Kichwa. We figured out the questions were planned when one girl stepped up to the mic and rattled off her answer in Kichwa without receiving a question. Chris and I both agreed that it made us feel good about our Spanish when we heard the indigenous languages because we couldn´t understand a word, but knew what they were talking about when they responded in Spanish.

The hottest girl won, in case you were wondering.

It took us over an hour to get home, however. Not because of traffic (ha ha ha...traffic…man, I don´t miss that at all) but because everyone wanted to talk to us! All the drunks wanted to share a drink with us; drinking down here is very social. Beer is sold in giant bottles and they take a small plastic cup, pour some in and pass it around. You are supposed to drink it in one gulp more or less and then flick the foam out…I have gotten this down with practice. So with the drinking, constant questions (are you two married? or are you brother and sister?) and the meandering, we finally got home at 2:30 in the morning.

Then they will party the rest of the week. Can´t WAIT for Yantzaza´s fiestas in February…

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE! I wish I was at home to celebrate it with all of you, yet I feel that I am very thankful for everything that has happened to me so far this year. With finishing up and graduating college, to surviving getting hit by a car, to being sent to Ecuador a mere 6 weeks later…I am very grateful for my life. I am also really grateful for all of my friends and family back home who have been rooting for me. You all have been amazing and I really appreciate the support. You have no idea how much it helps me through the hard days. I miss you all very much and hope that you have a great Thanksgiving. ¡GRACIAS!