My first very good day

Alright, so certainly not to say that I have not been having good days, but you know, it can only be so good when I spend so much time studying Spanish everyday (not to say that I hate training, well...).

Anyhow, we had this weekend FREE! Oh, how I love a free day! So what did I want to do? Really, how well do you know me....I wanted to go SHOPPING!!! Me, my host mom, host sister and my PCT friend John loaded ourselves up in my mom´s car and headed to Otovalo. According to another PCT friend, Otovalo is a world famous artisan market. Based on the high numbers of gringos (non-Ecuadorians) that were there, I would tend to agree that it is a tourist destination.

Basically, Otovalo was like a small piece of my personal heaven. There were stands upon stands upon shops upon shops of neat little artisan crafts like blankets, table clothes, shawls, jewelery, nick-knacks, EVERYTHING. It was freaking awesome. Now, I must say that I was nervous because I am not every good at the whole bargaining game, on top of that I get the numbers ¨fifty,¨¨sixty,¨and ¨seventy¨ (cincuenta, seisenta and setenta) completely mixed up all of the time. And I am bad at math. Overall, I was not built for bargaining. Well, am I ever in luck because my host mom happens to be the queen of bargaining! Being a gringo means that you get the "special gringo price" which means that they try to sell stuff for way more than it needs to be sold for.

What I really wanted to buy was a shawl. Shawls and ponchos are all the rage in the Cayambe area seeing as how we are in the mountains and it is COLD! Its a great look to toss one over your clothes for the day, especially useful at night when it gets really chilly. My host mom has one, and its just so cute, I had to get one. She paid $10 for hers: it is super thick wool and solid black. Of course, I wanted something a little more fancy...so I found one that is two-tones of green with a little pattern at the bottom, basically is hot. The dealer started off at $13 (I think, or maybe he said $15, I wasnt really listening because I was distracted by shawls and finding a color I liked best). My host mom whispers to me immediately that we are not paying more than $10. She starts bartering, but he isnt budging. We had to go to the next booth over to find a different color, but the booth was owned by the same family. This lady offers it at $13 again, my host mom decides on $8. The lady is all, "Oh no, I cant go that low." My host mom responds by saying that the last guy told us $8, but the lady still wont budge. Then the lady offers $10, I figure thats cool, since that´s what my host mom started out at, I start reaching for my money. Wrong! My host mom says "$8 or we are not taking it," the lady says 11, my host mom replies with a firm "Ocho y no mas." The lady turns to help another gringo, who is also getting the gringo price of $13 for a sweater, my mom tells that dude not to pay more than $9. Finally, the lady turns to us and settles for $8, I pay up and we leave. Oh, and ps, the other gringo got his sweater for $9. Man, my host mom is good! She doesnt even barter, she just offers a price and waits them out. I need to learn that!

After a few more hours of fun in Otovalo, we returned to Cayambe for a family reunion at my host uncle´s house. Oh, let me rewind a minute and share with you that I awoke that morning to the sound of a pig dying. Have you ever heard a pig die? It sounds exactly like how you would think: the standard pig squeal sound tinged with intense pain. You see my family had a pig, and I knew that my host dad was going to slaughter it for the party on Saturday. I guess I just didnt think that I would hear it happening...which makes no sense at all since the pig lives (well, lived) pretty close to the door to my room. So anyhow, I basically just stayed in bed for forever, hiding under my covers and trying to gather up the courage to leave my room (I was afraid that I would see the pig and its blood and stuff). When I left my room, there was nothing to be seen. I told my host mom over breakfast that I was scared, she just laughed and said that it always scares her a bit, too.

So anyhow, we got back from Otovalo and went to my host uncle´s house for the party. There were about 6 of my host mom´s siblings and their families there, suffice to say that I was overwhelmed. I am always overwhelmed around large groups of new people, add the language in there, and WOW. I was scared. But it was fine, I busted out my cards and taught the gang Uno and a bunch of other card games. My friend John came over and taught some games, too. We ended up playing Uno, President, Spoons (Chucaras), Crazy 8s, and Mentira (which is Spanish for liar, my kid-friendly translation of Bulls**t, which by the way didnt matter because my host sister figured it out and told all the rest of the kids what the real word was and they all got a good giggle out of it). The family also taught us three games, one was called Burro (donkey or probably really A**hole) , one was called One, two, three, and one I dont remember the name but it was fun. Playing President was especially fun because the loser (who we called the Burro) had to do some humiliating thing that the President decided on. One of my cousins (who is about 13 years old and was very fashionable) had to kiss the pig´s head (which was skinless and no longer attached to the body)! Oh, it was FUNNY!

Anyhow, the pig was totally delicious and worth my fear from the morning. They cooked it over an open fire in a huge metal bowl with garlic and onions. Oh, it was delicious! Here, they also eat the raw pig skin (including the little black hairs) with salt. I tasted it, I did not enjoy it.

So, a day filled with shopping, integrating with my extended-host-family through cards, and delicious fresh pork. Saturday was a good day.

I dont really have a moral to the story for today. I will say this: When you get done reading this, go home and kiss your washer and dryer. The novelty of prescrubbing clothes (and my filthy shoes) on the rock has officially worn off. Clothes get crazy dirty here because the streets are super dusty, everything gets dirty dust on it. You go home and kiss your washer and dryer, and I will kiss my right bicep muscle which is bulging in size from diligent scrubbing!

Amor y besos,
theresa