Heads or tails?

Today was a big food day. As in big day of lots of new food, and big food.

My family told me we were going to eat "chochlo", pig, and told me I was going to eat the whole thing and asked me if I preferred the head or the tail. We took a long drive out to this little town in the "burbs" of Quito to get Hornados, a tradition especially popular on Sundays. On the way to the restaurant, we saw more similar establishments displaying entire pigs, head to tail.

I was excited to try this new food, but I wasn't exactly sure what I was getting myself into. I could tell that my family was kidding with me, but I wasn't sure how much (if you know me, you know I'm extremely gullible and have absolutely no "joke radar"). In the car, they kept on telling me I was going to have to choose which head I wanted once we arrived. "Yeah, okay, uh-huh..."

We pulled up to a pretty large building filled with picnic tables and people eating parts of the pigs that were displayed out front. As we walked up to the counter, Said asked me if I had spotted the head that I wanted. I didn't know how to respond to that...haha. I chose the same (enormous) plate as my family:

- Potatoes (mashed, but nothing like our mashed potatoes)
- A whole platano maduro (score!)
- Half an avocado (double score!)
- Corn (but not the small yellow kind, the large white kind - it's good)
- Maize tostado (like large, not quite popped popcorn kernels that are pretty dry and salted - not one of my favorites, but a popular Ecuadorian snack), and...
- An entire pig's head. yiiiiikes.

Just kidding. I didn't have to eat a pig's head or tail. It was more like the part they use for pulled pork, but not yet pulled. Just a couple of chunks of pork on my plate, plus a piece of fried pig skin, which I thought was an ear at first and slightly freaked out by. I tried the skin, but I didn't like it a whole lot, so Miriam ate it. The pork was pretty good. I actually think the best parts of the meal were the avacado, potatoes and the APPLE SODA that we got to drink. It was soooo good. I wish we had it in the U.S. If you've ever had Jones Soda, it was similar in potency of taste. And if you haven't had Jones Soda, I highly recommend you try it, starting with Fufu Berry.

I finally learned that avacados are ripe when they're slightly squishy. Pretty much common sense, but somehow I always manage to end up with brown avacados when I want to make guacamole.

When we got back to the house, Yolanda accompanied me to the supermarket to buy food for la cena. Unfortunately, there were no jalapeños (who would've thought?), so I had to substitute ají (the extremely popular pepper here that is used to make the aji sauce served everywhere). Back at the house, making dinner, I didn't know how much ají to put in the veggie mix, and neither did Yolanda, so I decided to take a bite. Yolanda told me not to but I didn't listen to her. She was so scared for me that she couldn't watch, kept on saying "no!", and making disgusted faces...hahaha. It was definitely picante, but I enjoy spicy things, so it wasn't half as bad for me as it may have been for Yoli. After I finally took a big enough bite, I could taste the hotness. I decided to throw two Ají peppers into my mix, and a few more bites into my mouth. Unfortunately, my eyes are burning a little bit right now, after taking out my contact lenses, because of the ají that remained on my hands after multiple washes.

I make pasta for myself allllll the time at school in my apartment, which usually takes about 20 minutes and minimal amounts of ingredients. So, I had a little trouble determining how and how much to cook for 7 people. I guestimated correctly with everything except for the pasta. I made about 3 times too much! Hence, I'm going to make some pasta salad tomorrow. After an hour and a half of making dinner with Yolanda (who wanted to learn how to cook "my food"), dinner was finally served:

- Penne Noodles
- Tomato Sauce
- Fresh Sautéd: Tomatoes, Mushrooms, Ají, Yellow and Red Bell Peppers, Onions, Garlic
- Salchica (sausage, which I boiled with onions and ají)
- Shredded Parmasan
- A baguette of fresh bread with butter

Said loved it, and Miriam really liked it because she likes pasta a lot and is half Italian. I made brownies for dessert, and this time I did not forget about them in the oven, so they didn't burn. However, they ended up really soft and squishy - but still very chocolaty and tasty. It's a lot harder to bake things like that here because the of the altitude. Maybe I'll figure it out sometime in the next 4 months.

On a semi-related note, I highly recommend Aquafresh Ultimate Whitening toothpaste. I bought it before my trip, not having high expectations nor even caring enough to monitor my teeth and their color. But the other day, I happened to get a glimpse of my teeth in the mirror and noticed that they were whiter! Nice!


And to end, here's a pic of me and the fam before we went out last night. Carlos (cousin, 18) is far left, Gabriel (20, brother) is middle left, Amy (21, gringita) middle right, Freddie (23, cousin) far right. We went to Hotel Quito's Casino. It's the first casino I've been in since my 21st birthday last September, so I figured I might as well play some games. I played a little (and I mean a little) Blackjack. I won once, lost twice, and then I decided to be done. I lost four dollars :( I don't think anybody won.

Earlier on Saturday, I played soccer with Gabe and about 10 of his friends, who are all really great people and extremely fun. I got a few good headers and almost scored two goals...yeah, yeah, I know, almost doesn't count. I thought I was going to be completely winded after playing for a short time because of the altitude. But somehow, I was completely fine. There were a lot of teams who wanted to play, so our rule was to have the losing team rotate out after two goals. Of course, our team won probably ten times in a row (it was me, Gabe, Carlos, Freedie, and two of Gabriel's friends), so we didn't get a break. It felt so good to work out, though. I had been scared to go running because one of the girls in my program fainted on a public bus after she had gone running and had thought she was completely fine. But now I know I can handle it. I think we're going to play every Saturday afternoon, and I really hope so.

By now you probably know the names of my family members, but we have nicknames, too. Freedie's "Torta" (cake), Carlos is "Tortón" (a larger cake), Gabriel is "Tortín", Yolanda is "Tortilla" (I'm jealous), and they named me "Tortamy" :) Today on the way home from eating hornados, I came up with the verb "Tortear" which will loosely be used to refer to any instance in which we are all together doing anything at the same time. For example, "¿Vamos a tortear esta noche?" Haha. They loved it and started teasing around, asking what the pluscuamperfecto and gerund form of my new verb would be...haha.

So no big trips or big bugs this weekend...just a tranquil 72 hours in Quito.

¡Que bonita es Carnaval!

We left last Thursday night for Manta and returned to Quito around 9 last Tuesday. It's almost already the weekend...Nice!

Sigh...where to begin...

¡Me Encanta Manta!

After thinking I was the clever one who came up with this phrase, Miriam (my host mom) told me there's a t-shirt that says it. OOOOOOO well guess I'll just have to go back to Manta to buy it!

Manta was so great. I love the beach and the coast. Christine and I spent all of Friday on the beach and somehow only got burnt from our belly-buttons to our upper thighs...weeeeird. Anyway, the water was really warm. There were a lot of different beaches - we went to Playa Murcielago and Playa Santa Marieneta - two of the nicer ones. Both Friday and Saturday we went to clubs with my cousins, my brother, and their friends - they know how to have a good time. I'm getting pretty decent at the salsa by now...yeeeeeaaaaaaah (as my entire family likes to say). We also relaxed in the pool at their house a lot. We got a tour of the city in his friend's car and I took a pic of Carlos in the front seat. I also tried to take a picture of the city while we were driving and ended up with the picture below, which actually quite pleases me.
After being at the beach all day on Friday, my "Aunt Lydia" asked if we were hungry and (drumroll...) wanted some CEVICHE!!!!!! um....YES?! Amazing. Ceviche is especially popular and delicious on the coast. It's raw fish (or mariscos, or lobster, or shrimp, etc.) in any variation of lemon juice with fresh vegetables and spice to flavor (Ecuadorians love cilantro, and now, so do I). And SO tasty! Lydia made some of the best food I have eaten yet. I love all the fresh salads they have here, and I cannot wait to make this stuff next year in my apartment. Get ready roomies. Get. Ready.

Lydia her brother, and some of the littler members of her family took Christine and I on a long drive in their pickup truck on Saturday. We were heading to a river to go tubing, but when we arrived, there was a massive raincloud about to break loose. So we backtracked to Manta with and went to the beach instead. Throughout the ride, we threw water balloons at other trucks, people, and through the windows of tour buses. Why, you ask? Carnaval, of course! It's not like people get mad about this, it's expected. Another highlight of the trip was that my hair got ridiculously messed-up from all the wind. I took a pic to remember how awesome I looked. My little friend didn't have quite the same problem. Notable to these pictures is that I want an Ecuadorian child - probably the best souvenir I could bring back - minus the whole responsibility part.


En Route to Guaranda

We woke up early Sunday morning and got on our 3-hr bus from Manta to Guayaquil, because there is no bus that goes straight from Manta to Guaranda. The bus station in Guayaquil was overwhelming. There were so many people there, so many crowds, and so many buses! It also doubles as a three-story mall. Who decided THAT one? Both brilliant and painful. There were over 100 bus companies in vending windows, so we eventually found our tickets to Guaranda. They instructed us to go to the third floor, which confused us. But there, on the third floor of one of the largest buildings I've been in, was the bus we would sit in for the next 5 hours without air conditioning and minimal leg room. We bought a loaf of bread (which was incredibly sweet...no surprise) and some empanadas because we hadn't eaten breakfast nor lunch, and there was no time before boarding. Off to Guaranda!

The people in front of us were extra nice and decided to recline their seats all the way back. We thought the whole no air conditioning situation wouldn't be that bad, because there was a nice breeze...until water balloons, hoses, and squirt guns attacked our windows. It was hilarious - we would get hit in the most desolate towns and have no idea who was launching things at us. Water balloons would come flying through the windows when we least expected it, hit the ceiling, and splash throughout the bus. I loved it! Christine, not as much.

After a good 4 hours, a man a few seats from me started getting antsy and yelling "Chauffeur, pon Carnaval! Pon Carnaval!" He wouldn't let up, so a man from the front of the bus stood up, grabbed the guitar he had stored overhead, and walked back to serenade us. He was cool with me taking a video of him :) Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to rotate it without having to pay for new software so...just lean your head toward your right shoulder for the next 30 seconds. This traditional song is specific to Guaranda, but everyone in Ecuador knows it. As far as I could tell, it's been passed down and everyone knows or makes up their own verses, because different people on the bus would shout out new verses and then everyone would join in. I only recorded a little bit of it - this probably went on for 10 minutes with everyone singing and clapping. The little girl next to us spraying foam throughout the back of the bus was a nice touch.



After he was done playing, the man came and sat by us and we talked with him for the remaining half-hour to Guaranda.

He invited us to his house in the orient (rain forest), but not in a creepy way - just in a really friendly way. A lot of people tend to be so welcoming and hospitable in Ecuador.


Guaranda

When we arrived in Guaranda, we got some dinner, settled in, and went dancing for a little bit. It was quite a sight. The people were borraCHIsimmo! (english translation: WASTED!). U-of-I-ers, picture Unofficial, but a lot more messy, a lot more happy, and a lot of Latin dance. People of all ages, but mostly middle-aged, were stumbling throughout the streets - beers still in hands after hours of drinking, being carried either home or to the next bar by people we hope they knew, and spraying foam at our taxi - but not in a riotous way; the environment was very friendly. The idea is that everyone celebrates because it is Carnaval. No one gets angry, no one means any harm, everyone throws things at everyone else - all in good fun.

Guaranda is a smallish city. It is surrounded by seven (beautiful) hills and has a lot of colonial architecture. It's population is about 20,000. Our hotel was only about a 5-minute walk from the central plaza, and we could walk almost everywhere. We were worried about getting robbed, because Quito is so dangerous and we're used to leaving our cameras at home, but when we asked our hostel staff about it their answer was "Guaranda is tranquila!".

We went to sleep early on Sunday after our long day of traveling, but enjoyed "playing Carnaval" (jugar Carnaval, as they say) on Monday, when we bought some spray-foam and got covered in foam, flour, and water (no eggs on Monday, but we hear on Sunday there were lots of eggs flying around). I was just as covered as Christine (left). There was a dance parade through the town square, and I really enjoyed it. I took a lot of videos and pictures...







Did I mention I want an Ecuadorian child?
















We ate salchipapas (salchi = sausage, papas = potatoes/french fries) that we bought for a dollar from a street vendor. French fries, hot dog, onions, mayo, ketchup, and...
grease. They were way better than you'd think! I love the "Art Attack" sign haha. I think it's pretty appropriate next to those salchipapas!




Here's a picture of the AMAZING lunch we had in Guaranda. Christine's a vegetarian, so she got the veg platter with noodles, oil and vinegar, mushrooms, olives, veggies, etc. I got lomo (meat) a la pimienta (pepper) served with a rice and gravy, a small salad, and french fries. You can also see our two cafe con leches and our mora-mango (two fruits) batido (like a milk-shake with fruit...realllly good).



Here's what we DIDN'T eat. It's "cui" - guinea pig - an Ecuadorian delicacy. Yes, I'm going to eat it eventually - but not in Guaranda, at this little shacky-looking restaurant where it is cooked outdoors...not the most sanitary conditions. And yes, it's served like this - with eyes and legs and head attached. Mmmm.



Monday night we went to a club in Guaranda. It was probably the best club I've been to yet here, probably because everyone had so much energy and excitement for carnaval. These two girls on the bar work there and the guy with the fire is a dance artist who we saw earlier in the night when we went to Los 7 Santos for chips, guac, and vino caliente - hot wine that tastes similar to sangria and can be cooked with cinnamon, usually served with an orange slice as a filter and sugar on the rim of the glass. It's my favorite drink I've had here.



Tuesday we lunched and then headed back to Quito on another cramped, long bus ride. Carnaval was amazing, but it feels good to be home.