It literally feels like Christmas in July...

I never thought the weather would mess with my head down here, but it is kinda starting to...not like it´s a bad thing. It´s sort of like when I eat pancakes for dinner...the time of day is not right to eat pancakes at night and I feel off kilter. Anyway, all this heat is not making me feel like it´s Christmas time.

Sunday I went to my friend Betty´s house to help her arreglar la casa para Navidad. She is in her early 30s and pregnant with her first child, we get along really well. Her husband Felipe is this tall dentist from Cuenca, super funny and probably the biggest Ecuadorian I´ve seen to date. Anyway, I took the bus to Zamora in Sunday and they picked me up and took me to their house out in the campo. They have this little house but it´s so nice! Felipe is almost too tall for it, he hits his head on the beam in the kitchen all the time. Felipe watched Speed Racer while Betty and I took out the fake Christmas tree and decorated it. It was a lot of fun! I forgot how fun it is to decorate the tree....but only when it´s cold. I was sweating bullets the whole time....
But it´s tradition to put stuffed animals in the trees here, I was able to talk Betty out of it. But she puts up a nice tree...she´s practically an Ecuadorian Martha Stewart. Here is the final product:

Yesterday was the end of fiestas for Zamora. It was their Provincinalization day, aka they´ve been a province for 55 years now. There was a parade and the whole city marched, even the Health Ministry. I didn´t march, just watched. Which was actually more interesting...their parades here are very ceremonial, very somber. Nothing like the US where they peg candy at little kids and dance around. The school kids were all dressed up their hideous uniforms, and the bands all played...THE SAME SONG! There were about 5 colegios that participated and they all had drummers that played the same beat. A little too military...felt like I was watching some Korean army march...

Afterwards, everyone gathered at the Malecón or river side to drink beer. Awesome...it was only 10:30 in the morning. After some popcicles and beer Betty, Felipe and I grabbed some lunch and then went back to their house to make chocolate chip cookies. They were muy flaco as I didn´t put in enough baking powder but whatev...it was a good attempt considering I didn´t have a recipe and was eyeballing everything.

Then to top off the festivities, we went to this awesome live concert of Colombian Cumbia music. They hate the Colombians but LOVE their music....I was really not sure if I wanted to go but poco a poco I am learning that I need to not doubt myself and do stuff. You never know what will happen, who you will meet or how much fun you´ll have. The air was warm and smelled sweet of Ecua-perfume...so I knew it was going to be a good night. After dancing for a while, they lit this ¨tower¨ of fireworks....the remnants of the fireworks were dropping on our heads...all in all it was a good night.

PS: Check out Alea´s Blog (Alea in Ecuador) to the right, she has photos of Halloween and one with yours truly...