Finados

First off let me say that my host family is back (yay!), and they went to Orlando without going to Disney World. The kids didn't want to go. They're possibly the only kids I know who would opt out of Disney World. But they're actually planning on a return trip in the future and my host dad and I are already making half-joking plans for them to visit me in St. Louis.

November 2nd is Dia de los Difuntos (Day of the Dead), but here it's called Finados. It mostly involves a big fair, colada morada, and guaguas de pan. Colada morada roughly translates to "purple drink," but there's no codeine involved. Actually I think the "colada" part comes from the fact that it has to be put through a strainer. It's like a stew of corn flour and fruit juice, and it's pretty good. Guaguas de pan is a bread shaped like a baby. Nobody seemed to know why this is the tradition. 

My celebrations began Thursday evening. At the university where I'm in art classes (for free!) there's some sort of indigenous advocacy group that was having a little party and gave us the traditional snack along with this traditional dish I can't remember the name of:

Potato cake, fried egg, avocado, onions, tomatoes.

Also that night my host grandmother was starting on the colada by juicing some blackberries:

Note the strainer.

Friday was a short day of school and was free-dress. I'm pretty sure that in most uniformed Catholic schools in the U.S., when there's a free-dress day, most people opt for comfort. From my observances, the American Catholic schoolgirl's out-of-school uniform is essentially nike shorts and a t-shirt. But I'm totally serious when I say that about a fourth of the girls here showed up in heels. My personal favorite outfit was this guy's:

"Canvas IMPACT LOOKING AWAY where are the guys? 68 LONELY GUY" ...should we be worried?

School let out around 10:30 and we all got colada morada and guaguas de pan:

They like to take pictures sideways.

The school made their colada in a giant vat. Also I should mention that it's served hot enough to burn you. 

BIG VAT.

They're basically stirring it with an oar.

Here are some photos of friends and me to illustrate how I really haven't mastered the Ecuadorian style of posing. Also I'm attributing my food baby to the fact that I ate about 3 people's bread. I haven't gained that much weight. Yet.

Friday night my family got home I had some fun talking with them about 'Murica. They were amazed that people were so courteous in the lines for the rides. Walmart is huge. Outlet malls are awesome (American clothes are outrageously expensive here). They said the food is bad; I promised to prove them wrong if they visited me.

Some people go to cemeteries SAturday but we didn't. That night my family and I went to the fair. This is essentially a carnival+festival+massive flea market. It was absolutely packed. They all acted like it was lame, but I was really legitimately excited. Some observations:

• Things being sold: toys, candy, clothes, shoes, food, cooking utensils, universal remotes, posters, knickknacks, antiques including the coolest collection of vintage glasses you ever did see, jewelry, makeup, electronics, music, everything that has ever existed.
• I really wouldn't trust someone in a fair booth to pierce my tongue but apparently a lot of my classmates do.
• Who needs a line for bumper cars? How about we just don't put up a fence, and when someone wants to ride, they have to stand in the surrounding crowd and run as fast as they can to the car they want? Seems safe.
• If you want a dvd with 50 different Chinese movies on it, this is the place for you.
• I saw a sign with the Joker's face on it that said "Who is serious?" I do not have an answer for him.
• One of my classmates bought a pot-leaf necklace and phone charm. I thought this was odd, because I had previously heard her make a negative comment about someone's marijuana use. I asked her if she smoked and she laughed, "No, no, never. It's just pretty." I mean, alright...

Ricky and I rode one of the suspicious-looking carnival rides. It was not smooth, quite painful actually. But I had a great time hysterically laughing at his shouting. To close I will leave you with a photo of one of his new shirts from the trip. He's different.

100% unaware that they're song lyrics.