domingo, 23 de octubre de 2011

Otavalo... Zoo?... LIGA... Pato's Parents Come to Town...


This post will be an accumulation of random thoughts and things that have happened in the past two weeks because I sometimes get lazy with blogging. I figure I will remember to write about only the things that truly are worth reading... I hope. 

Last Saturday we had a day trip to Otavalo Indigenous Market which is a HUGE outdoor market of everything you could ever imagine. On the way there Patrick Daly made us watch, Never Say Never, the Justin Beiber movie... and, while I gave him a lot of shit for it... I will admit it was a great movie. When we arrived at Otavalo I immediately went off on my own and shopped solo for the next three hours. It was quite relaxing and I got almost all of my Christmas gifts! I would love to write about everything that I bought but that would ruin Christmas morning for my family and friends. Let's just say that the best purchase of the day was an 18 dollar scarf that I bargained down to 8. Booyah. 



After the indigenous market we ate lunch at a traditional indigenous restaurant where we were shown the process of indigenous clothes making as well as given a tutorial on indigenous music. It is very common for indigenous people to make guitar heads out of armadillo shells which I thought was quite baller. After lunch everyone was in a food comma and was exhausted from shopping all day. The rain began to fall outside of the bus as we all drifted off until suddenly, the bus stops... and the journey continues. I will admit, I would have loved to stay on that bus but, in retrospect, the scenery was absolutely beautiful. We took a boat ride through these mountains (I wish I had pictures but it was raining) and it legit seemed like we were in Ireland or Scotland. The boat ride was absolutely freezing but it was all made worth it when I attempted to stand up at the end of the ride and after about 10 seconds of panic and confusion I realized that the boys had strapped my lifejacket to my seat. (You had to be there but it was hysterical). 



That night, Casey, Beth and I hung out with the Ecuaboys at Juan Jose's house. I mention this because we attempted to play never have I ever and Pato repeatedly started by saying, "In my life I have never"... followed by “felt fear” and “made a BJ (Diego)”. Apparently in Ecuador you make BJ’s… you don’t give them #ecuaboyproblems. That night also involved a giant shark costume... I couldn't tell you. The next day (Sunday) I was supposed to go to the zoo for a project with my class partner Jaime for Evolución Humana. I really do hate lying and I don't do it often but I REALLY didn't want to go to the zoo. If you have read my post about horse back riding you would know that I am not a huge fan of animals. Monkeys.. I love. Anything else, meh. So, I may or may not have lied to my parents... told them I was at the zoo... then lied to Jaime... told him I was in bed with a fever... and then proceeded to spend the day with Diego getting lunch, coffee, and then seeing a movie. Did I feel guilty when I had to tell my parents about the lovely time I had with the condors at the zoo? Yes. Or when Jaime asked me if I was feeling better? Yes. Do I regret it. Absolutely not. 

Pat's parents were in town this week, which was a lot fun. On Tuesday night Colleen, Tim, Kevin, Toryn, Pat, his parents, and I went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant and then went swimming in the pool and hot tub. The hotel was absolutely gorgeous and it honestly felt a little strange and out of place. I felt like I was back in the states.. that feeling scares me. On Wednesday we took his parents to The Macarena, the school where we volunteer and then to our favorite lunch spot where you can eat a 2 course meal with a drink for $1.50. I can only imagine the horror on my mother’s face if I ever brought her there.

Wednesday night I went to my first soccer game! LIGA was playing in Quito and Diego took me to his box, which was absolutely incredible! The fans at these games are unlike anything I have ever seen. La Muerte Blanca is the cheering section for LIGA and I am pretty confident that their uniform chants and songs did not stop once during the entire game. The section was also lighting fires, firecrackers, and fireworks from the stands… this would NEVER fly in the U.S. Apparently it is not uncommon for fan fights to result in casualties so perhaps it was good that we were in a private box although I definitely want to experience La Muerte Blanca before I leave! After we met up with Beth and Jose Miguel at Fresa y Cereza for a few drinks. I attempted to sing the song “Smell Yo Dick” on the karaoke stage but the song stopped like 15 seconds in and the scene got real uncomfortable and awkward…  jajajaja.

Friday night Pat’s parents took everyone in the group out for dinner and I ate salmon for the first time in ages… it was unbelievable… worthy of blogging about for that matter. Besides that the rest of the weekend was very chill and relaxing. Unfortunately I have a lot of work to do this weekend and upcoming week because vacation starts on Thursday afternoon! As of right now I am heading to Parque Carolina with Colleen to shoot some photos for a project. A famous chef has prepared vats upon vats of colada morada for a fundraiser and a different chef has prepared one of the largest guaguas of pan known to mankind… thus, I will not be missing out… Oh, and I almost forgot… 5 DAYS UNTIL PERU!!!!


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