CARNAVAL!

Ah! It's been soooo crazy lately that I haven't been able to finish writing this. Since the last time I wrote in here, there has just mostly been classes and homework so nothing too exciting until about the past week. Two weeks ago on Friday at dance class, we had a sort of competition to see who could learn this whole new dance and do it the best. It took only about 10 minutes of watching before the dance instructor chose me and two other girls from my group. We, along with four other girls from another group, were chosen to dance with the instructor in a parade for Carnaval in the streets of Cuenca! We would perform the next Thursday (or this past Thursday) and only had until then to learn the dance and practice. Saturday, we had a full day of canyoning! If you don't know what that is, it is basically hiking up a mountain and then hiking back down a river...in a wetsuit. Not my best-looking outfit. We left at 10 a.m. And didn't get back until about 4! It was so much fun but also a lot of work and exercise. We had been split into two groups and the first group had left an hour before us, but within out first hour or so in the river, we caught up to them. We were cruising! We had to jump off rocks that were ten to fifteen feet up in the air, but if we didn't jump in the right spot, we would get hurt because of the rocks that were underwater. We also got to slide down a few rocks that were just as high, if not higher. To make it even more interesting, we had to propel down small waterfalls because it was too shallow to do anything else. There were so many cool things we did that I would totally do it again! It's too sad that there's not many places to do it in the U.S. When we got back, we went to go grab a snack at a restaurant since we never really had dinner and then I came home and took a nap. Later on, some girls were going to go out and dance, but I was too tired so I just met up with them at another girl's house before they left.

On Monday at our group meeting, a girl got sick and was sent to the hospital. She had been one of the girls going out Saturday and she had gotten drunk and acted a little crazy but was taken home and taken care of for a while. Sunday, she had woken up with a rash and went to the doctor only to get medicine for an allergic reaction to something she had eaten. She was fine that day, however, on Monday she became really confused and sick. Throughout that day and the next, she became worse to the point that she didn't know who she was and didn't even know she was in Ecuador.
Fast forward to Thursday and it was the day of the parade! We had never actually practiced but it didn't matter because he ended up changing the dance that morning. I woke up at 6 to take a shower and my mom did my hair-which was curls. That only took about an hour so I had a little time before I had to leave. All of us in the parade met at school at 8 a.m. before leaving for our sister school where we would change, get all prettied-up, and practice. I was given my dress, which was a yellow and green layered skirt and top....and it was a belly dress. Oh gosh, I had no idea what I was getting into! Well, I had to wear that and get glitter painted on my face and neck before practicing in front of that school and then drive another 45 to find our starting spot in the parade. The parade lasted about an hour or so and we danced thru about a mile of Cuenca. I showed my belly to half of the city! Crazy...strangely I would do that again because I had so much fun. Not only did we just dance through the streets, but we were sprayed with water and spray foam-which I ended up accidentally eating some and inhaling some through my nose and I don't suggest doing either one. I did not have any classes this day; thank goodness because I was so tired after dancing for so long.
When I came home, my host mom was in shock at what I looked like. First of all, the curls she had put in early that morning were still there and actually looked good, and secondly, because I was all sparkley! My mom spent a good ten minutes at least and about 10 make-up remover pads before she gave up...but all it looked like she did was smear everything around a little bit more. I've taken showers since Thursday and I'm still finding glitter on me!
Friday, the girl who was sick was at school. She had been released from the hospital Thursday and came to school Friday, but didn't have classes. On our break from our second class, she was sitting outside so we went and visited for a little bit. She did not remember names or who we were, she just recognized our faces. To understand what she was like, she basically could not remember anything from the past month. She does not remember anything from Ecuador clearly, she only has vague memories or recognizes things. Almost all of us in the group went out to eat lunch with her and got ice cream at one of our favorite places, however this did not help her memory. She had mentioned some house that was on a big hill but didn't have much more information than that, so I figured that was my house. We got the okay from our coordinator and we walked about a half hour to my house, taking the way we think she remembered. We got to the house and when she saw my room, she said that she recognized it so she did remember something about the few times she was at my house. She also recognized my brother from pictures and also the night she went out. We spent a while here, but then realized that she was getting some stories mixed up and they began contradicting each other, so we called our coordinator to come get her. She was brought to the hospital again where they changed her prescription. She then joined the group, and my family, at an Italian restaurant where we were eating last night. The coordinator had spoken to my host mother and myself last night both on the phone and while we were eating. We decided that since she felt safe at our house and recognized it a little, we would take her for the weekend. Currently, she is living with us and we are watching her to make sure she is getting the care she needs. Yesterday she seemed a lot better although the medicine does make her pretty drowsy. She was remembering people and face from Friday and she does not seem nearly as emotional as she was before. Today she was remembering more things from the past few weeks and walked around with me and the family at the store and she seems to be doing even better!
Although I might not get out much, it is Carnaval...which means lots of water being thrown or squirted everywhere! Carnaval is a celebration that takes place in Ecuador and I found out that it used to be the forty days before Easter, so basically celebrating Passover. People will throw water at you with water balloons, water guns, buckets of water, and of course silly string. When people used to get hit with water it would mean that their sins were washed away and the person was cleansed. Therefore, the more I get hit the more I am cleansed :) They also spray a lot of foam on you. It comes in a can like silly string except it's a bigger bottle and it's this soapy foam stuff that eventually goes away after a few minutes. That is what I was hit with a lot during the parade! I had it layered on my face and dress...it was nuts!
Well I don't have much else to say, so until next time, adios!

The Tsunami

No, we didn't really have a tsunami, that is just the choice word my mom uses for recent happenings. haha Believe me, it was a tsunami but there were also some good things that happened. To begin with, last week was just a normal week of classes. I am having some troubles in my environmental studies class but somehow the girls and I manage to keep it interesting-just maybe not about the material we learn. Spanish is a boring class for me this term because it is a lot of spanish that I learned/reviewed last semester at Ambrose. Next semester might kick me in the butt because of the pace we move at but I feel that I should be alright...afterall, I did two years of Spanish in high school and we are at the beginner level now. My Ecuador Experience class is usually boring too, but on Tuesday we watched a movie called In the Time of the Butterflies. I liked that movie a lot and I suggest people to watch it. It is more of a romantic drama movie and it tells the real story of a family fighting for the liberation of the Dominican Republic. It has Salma Hayek as the main character and Marc Anthony as a temporary minor character. Anyways, we also had a speaker last Thursday who taught us about an ancient (Mayan or Incan, I can't remember) ritual called Shamatism that honors the sun gods. Basically, this ritual-which we all took part in-releases the bad energy you have in your body. It uses only liquid made using natural medicinal plants (no, marijuana is not one of them), an egg, and yourself. It was really cool because you were supposed to feel the good energy you have in your hands at one point and then you share it with someone else and I actually felt a warm, almost ticklish feeling in my hands while they placed their ball of energy into my hands (of course, we did this all without actually touching hands).
Friday we had dance class but before I walked there, my brother and I met up with another girl and went to this chocolate store. This lady has all types of chocolate and my mouth waters just walking into the store because it smells like fresh chocolate every time. After buying a few for myself and my brother, we stopped at an ice cream place to buy an ice cream cake for a girl's, Zoe's, birthday we were celebrating that night. So we eventually got to dance class and had an hour of intense dancing and our teacher invited us to dance with him in the streets during Carnival-which is a huge holiday celebrated here! Afterwards, we had the cake and went to a Mexican restaurant to eat. Then we went to an old cathedral and a few of us stayed to listen to the Cuenca orchestra playing inside and the rest left, but after a while we joined them once again. They had gone to another girl's house to wait until it was late
 enough to go dancing, so in the meantime they had bought a bottle of alcohol and were playing a card game (don't worry guys, I stayed completely sober the whole night). When it was late enough, we were going to go to a karaoke bar but instead saw another group from school at a different place so we joined them. It was dead when we walked in, but once again, leave it to our awesome gringa group to bring in a bunch of people and start the party! Long night in a single sentence, two girls ended up being really sick and we had to get them out of there. The girl who was in worse condition stayed at my house because my brother and I were both there and we agreed it would be better to have more than one person take care of her and since we live together, it just seemed a lot easier to have her stay with us. I ended up going to bed that night at about 4am and I had to get up at 5:45am. Somehow, I managed to accomplish that, get to the other girl's house so she could grab her stuff for the weekend, walk back to CEDEI, and still have time to sit around and wait.
It was a 3 hr. ride to Saraguro so most of us slept but it was too bumpy and curvy that I only fell half asleep. We arrived at our hostal and traveled off in a haytruck fixed with benches and a roof. We rode another 9km before we toured a museum and school in a little community outside Saraguro. We were told about the traditions they teach the students so they will survive through the generations and more about the living style of the older generation. We were going to go on a two hour hike up the side of the mountain, but it was too foggy and if someone slipped off this foot and a half wide path, they would fall down the mountain. So we went back to the hostal and most people took a nap before our trip later on. We went to a weaving workshop in Saraguro where an older man showed us how he weaves tableclothes, blankers, rugs, and scarfs made from a variety of materials-including alpaca. There was a woman who showed us some of the jewelry she had made out of tiny beads and we had the chance to buy something if we wanted, but we would
also have a chance to buy gifts the next day.  We left the workshop and ate our dinner of trout, yuka (almost like a potato), and salad with cheese in honey for dessert. First of all, this wasn't just a fish filet...it was a whole fish with the head and scales and bones! This was my first whole fish I've ever had and it was pretty good. I really liked the dessert of cheese and honey but I couldn't stand the texture of the cheese so I only ate the honey, which was very good. Afterwards, they played music for us-to which we danced to of course. I showed off my awesome line dancing skills to the group and taught them all one line dance. We left again for the hostal and we had a bonfire that night that consisted of talking mostly in Spanish, cookies, s'mores (Ecuador style), and almost catching on fire because someone added too much gasoline to the fire........what? It's ok, I'm still alive!
The next morning, we got up early again and were served breakfast. We then traveled to a village outside of Saraguro and took part in a full ceremonial Shamatism (the first one didn't count because he could only teach it, not perform it). Once again, we had to get the evil spirit out of us so we had to drink this really nasty liquid and also had something really strong poured on our hands that we had to sniff...this stuff burns your nose but yet you continue to sniff it until you no longer feel that burning. But they do say that it's good if you cough after smelling it because that releases your bad energy. We headed back to town for some serious shopping...if you know me, you know it is rare for me to say that I enjoyed the shopping but I really did! Almost everything in the market was handmade and was pretty cheap considering how much time and effort it would have taken. What I normally would have spent $200 or more on in the U.S., I only paid like $35 or $40 for! We had lunch at a different place for lunch, which is only made for special occasions like weddings.
 There was barley, bread, hard-boiled egg, corn, agi (a very common 'spicy' sauce here, but I know better dad), cheese, and chicken...oh let's not forget the first cuy (guinea pig) I've had! You mix it all together and eat it, and it was really good! I tried the cuy and it was very tough and tasteless, so I gave half to one of the leaders and ate the other half myself. We then had to come home to rest before classes today.
This week, there is nothing going on until Friday, so don't expect too much in the next entry haha. Tomorrow we go out for lunch because it is the Zoe's birthday but I'm not even sure where we are going. My mom invited me to go with her on Wednesday night to a therapy exercise class so I might go, depending on what homework I have to do that night-which probably won't be anything. So until next time, adios!