A year and a half...today

I am not sure what to write this time... My days are more repetitive and don't seem blog worthy. But I know that my life here is interesting to those who still tune in...otherwise, I'm sure you would stop :)

So while you are all sweltering in the ridiculous heat of the midwest this summer...believe it or not, I miss it. Yes, the weather is beautiful here. But it feels like time has frozen because for a year and a half, it has not changed. No winter clothes/summer clothes. No storms. I like the changes that come with the seasons. But I am glad that I trained for a marathon here versus the US this summer. Yikes. I really can't wait to come back...I think I will super happy for a whole year of 'newish' experiences.

It is "summer" here. Which really just means "no rain", as I may have mentioned before a phrase frequently said, directly translates as "There is a lot of winter this week" really means "There has been a lot of rain this week". No rain means harvest season. Just like my lovely home state, my lovely host state grows a lot, A LOT, of corn...and wheat.

This photo is a minga working together to harvest wheat.

A couple weeks ago I went to the "Poor Man's Galapagos" or Isla de la Plata (which means Island of Money, Island of Silver, or Island of Booby Poop...the booby poop looks silver). On the way there, our boat passed through the migratory area of the humpback whales. We saw many of them jump, it was pretty cool. On the island you can find many of the bird species that live on the Galapagos. Blue footed boobies, red footed boobies, masked boobies, frigate birds (the ones with the red balloon on their throat), and tropic birds. Albatrosses and sea lions too, but I don't think we saw any. The island isn't volcanic like the Galapagos and doesn't have some of the coolest animals of the archipelago... Basically, if you can afford it, go to the real islands, otherwise the blue-footed booby dance is worth the $40 dollar, 2 hour boat ride.

The humpback dance....

The blue-footed booby dance...

Can you see the silver/poop?

So this last week was Ecuador’s Independence Day (Wednesday, August 10^th). This is also the birthday of my counterpart. I had agreed to teaching him use 'the internet' and how to use my laptop this day, because he wants it when I leave. I also bought some cake mix and some cream cheese and such to make frosting. (People in my town usually just buy cakes, because they don’t cook with ovens.) As I arrived at his house I found out his middle daughter was in labor and his granddaughter would be born on his birthday. Nyjah Rafaela (like Ni-ya). Cute. He was very excited and computer lessons were out of the question. So we talked about the politics of our two countries, why the US’s economy is so bad, and such. I made the cake with his youngest daughter and her friend. Rafael was so excited about the desert...and his granddaughter. I think he had a good day.

This weekend there were fiestas in town because of the holiday. Much was like the US…fireworks, bouncy castles, concerts, arcades, beer, and such. However, the fireworks here, unlike the states, are lit at a very close proximity to people. In fact, at times they are lit from a paper cow they have on their back (called Vaca Loca, or 'crazy cow') and people dance around with fireworks shooting off.

Castilla....

At these fiestas, we thought we were sitting at a safe distance from the fireworks. We were taking photos of the “castilla” or castle of fireworks, when I noticed this basket of fireworks about 15 feet in front of us. We were sitting on concrete steps and behind us was an 8 foot wall. Then during the finale (there were already a ton of fireworks going of about 100 feet in front of us) a guy ran up and lit this basket of fireworks and gave us no warning…Then there were sparks all around us, and loud bangs. And there was no where to go without getting closer to the basket of fire. We were sitting against a wall huddled in a corner until it ended. Terrifying.