The sinnin´ is over, ladies and gents

After a month of pure sin and craziness, Yantzaza has finally calmed down. I am very sad to see the fiestas, Carnival, and wackiness all come to an end. It was awesome to be a part of all the activities and be able to participate like one of the locals. My neighbor Rosario absolutely drenched me on the last day of Carnival. I was washing my clothes and she comes out with a bucket and pours water all over me, then takes my laundry soap and begins scrubbing me! It was so funny, I totally retaliated with like 6 water balloons and a pot full of water.

Thursday was the last hoorah for fiestas. They just built a new bus terminal and hosted a dance and concert at its inauguration. It´s really pretty and had a great ¨arena¨ for dancing. All day Thursday it absolutely poured, so I was happy to see Dios was looking out for the people of Yantzaza and there wasn´t any rain.

I went with my friends from Zamora, from the Ministry of Health, and danced like crazy with Rumi and Nelson, a Kichwa doctor and little Shuar man. It was a blast and they were very patient with me, as I am still trying to get the kinks out of my Ecua-dancing. I even busted out my tacos, or high heels, which aren´t really high but I could see over the whole crowd. We danced to this Colombian band until 4 am and then went on a late night run for pinchos aka street meat on a stick, with one of my admirers, Panelita, on his moto. Great way to end the fiestas.

Yesterday the Ministry of Health hosted a health fair because the Minister of Health was coming to Yantzaza with the President of Ecuador. Hung out in the sun all day and then went to La Bombonera, the province´s only artificial turf soccer field, owned by one of the dentists we work with. That was cool to watch all the guys play soccer. They all seem fat and slow, drink a lot of beer and smoke a lot of cigarrettes, but once they put on their beat up Reeboks, man those boys can play. Some better than others of course, but it definitely helped prove my theory that all Latinos are born knowing how to play soccer.

Then this morning I got a call from Chris, asking me whether or not President Correa was in Yantzaza. So I went down to the park, and sure enough, he was in one of the schools, having one of his open forums. I got to see the president of Ecuador! And I haven´t even seen an American president yet. But it was cool; he basically answered questions and talked about new policies while it was broadcasted on television. He travels to different parts of the country once a month to do these open forums but it was really cool to see Zamora Chinchipe finally getting some props. Chris and I agreed that a lot of people forget us all the way down here. Correa is a very dynamic speaker and great to see him en vivo. The people really love him down here (the majority at least) and its really exciting to see people get so involved with politics and their patria.