Well, here we are in 2008. I hope y´all had a great New Year´s Eve wherever you were. There were no dropping balls or midnight kisses down here, but it was still interesting. The festivities started a couple of days earlier with a group of guys walking around town wearing brightly colored clothes and human and animal masks. These payasos or clowns were supposed to be representing the muñecos or dolls that were to be burnt on NYE. It is an Ecuadorian tradition (I´m sure going back to at least Incan times) that on NYE everyone burns an effigy of someone, usually a family member. This is supposed to get rid of all the bad luck from the previous year. People take it pretty seriously (although it is all for fun). The family I live by made a life size doll representation of my neighbor (see the picture a the top of the post), Carlos, complete with his clothes and an Army hat.
Back to the payasos so these clown walked around town a couple of times every day scaring the kids and giving out booze to all the adults they met. The day before NYE I was visiting a family and a group pf payasos asked me to help them build a toll gate on the road into town. After it was done, they used it to stop traffic into town and force the drivers to pay them some small change. I stayed with them a bit to watch the drivers reactions. Most laughed it off, but a truck with some tourists came by and the climbers in the back didn´t know what to think when they got stopped on the road by a bunch of clowns and a white guy asking for spare change. I didn´t ask what the money went to, but I imagine it was more booze.
On NYE I was invited to a party that was supposed to start at 3:00. I got there at 3:45 thinking that I´d be a little early, but nothing was set up yet, so I helped get things started and then went home. It rained hard the rest of the day, so I stayed in and read. After dinner, my neighbor told me that we were leaving. I couldn´t understand where she said we were going until I asked again as we were driving away on the back of a truck. I was then pleased to learn that we were headed out of town to spend NYE at a wake for some lady I didn´t know. Normally these things don´t take too long, so I wasn´t concerned. Unfortunately, we stayed at the wake for a couple of hours just sitting in silence. I didn´t get home until after 11:00 and then walked into town. There was a DJ playing Ecua-Rap and the teenagers were dancing, so I walked home. I then met my neighbors and helped them bring the muñeco back to town to burn it. I looked at my watch as were were walking and saw that it was past midnight. I can say that I spent the first moments of 2008 dragging a life-sized doll up a dirt road. We got to the center of town and while trying not to pass out from the fumes off the flaming piles of nylon and denim, we burnt Carlos and the bad vibes of 2007.
Back to the payasos so these clown walked around town a couple of times every day scaring the kids and giving out booze to all the adults they met. The day before NYE I was visiting a family and a group pf payasos asked me to help them build a toll gate on the road into town. After it was done, they used it to stop traffic into town and force the drivers to pay them some small change. I stayed with them a bit to watch the drivers reactions. Most laughed it off, but a truck with some tourists came by and the climbers in the back didn´t know what to think when they got stopped on the road by a bunch of clowns and a white guy asking for spare change. I didn´t ask what the money went to, but I imagine it was more booze.
On NYE I was invited to a party that was supposed to start at 3:00. I got there at 3:45 thinking that I´d be a little early, but nothing was set up yet, so I helped get things started and then went home. It rained hard the rest of the day, so I stayed in and read. After dinner, my neighbor told me that we were leaving. I couldn´t understand where she said we were going until I asked again as we were driving away on the back of a truck. I was then pleased to learn that we were headed out of town to spend NYE at a wake for some lady I didn´t know. Normally these things don´t take too long, so I wasn´t concerned. Unfortunately, we stayed at the wake for a couple of hours just sitting in silence. I didn´t get home until after 11:00 and then walked into town. There was a DJ playing Ecua-Rap and the teenagers were dancing, so I walked home. I then met my neighbors and helped them bring the muñeco back to town to burn it. I looked at my watch as were were walking and saw that it was past midnight. I can say that I spent the first moments of 2008 dragging a life-sized doll up a dirt road. We got to the center of town and while trying not to pass out from the fumes off the flaming piles of nylon and denim, we burnt Carlos and the bad vibes of 2007.
The next dayI went to Latacunga and met some other PCVs. We then grabbed a bus to the town of Chugchilán. Chugchilán is a small town just south of me (about 20 miles as the crow flies, but around 4 hours by bus). It is starting to become a tourist destination for hikers doing the Quilotoa Loop and visiting Lake Quilotoa. I attached a picture of Roger (the old dude), his two kids who were visiting, and Jeremy and Susan (a married couple from my group). For some more good pictures of the lake go to http://www.ecuador-images.net/lake.quilotoa.htm . Another PCV lives in Chugchilán and we stayed at a hostal that is owned by his friends. We spent the first night hanging out and playing cards.
The next day, we took a truck to Lake Quilotoa, walked around checking out the view, and then hiked back. The five hour hike was beautiful and we only got a little lost. We got back to the hostal in the rain and after drying out and eating dinner, we spent our last night playing some more cards. Apparently the PCV who lives there is a good card player and never loses (some other PCVs even refuse to play with him). Even the owners of the hostal told me that he has never lost there. Anyway, I beat him head to head at Texas hold ém both nights (I won all of $10). With the lack of really juicy gossip and the way that things spread through all the PCVs down here, I´m sure that within a month I´ll be known as the greatest poker player around. I think I´ll have to go into retirement to keep my reputation, "I choose not to play!"
NOTES:
-I just finished reading War and Peace (Thanks Chacho!). For 1,455 pages, it really flew by. It was very interesting, although one wonders if it would have been as successful with it´s original title War, What is it Good For?
- For the first time in a month I had a free Saturday and could listen to the Saturday opera on Quito radio. They play an opera every Saturday at 1:30, and from December to April it is broadcast live from the Met in New York complete with commentary and plot explanations in English. Saddly, this is one of the highlights of my week. They actually broadcast the same program all over the US, so if you would like to listen along with me you can find a station near you at http://www.operainfo.org/stationfinder/northamerica.htm .
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