I am a MAN

Yes, that is true...I´ve been doing some manly things down here in Ecuador recently...lets delve into my newest batch of stories shall we?

So a couple weeks ago, my host mother turned I-have-no-idea-how-old-its-just-as-rude-to-ask-here-as-it-is-in-the-US-which-I-found-out-in-a-very-awkward-way, and I decided to do something special to celebrate: cook dinner, especially since my host father told me that we were going to get a grill. So I told the family that I would grill out. Which was nice, considering I had the thought of cooking a flank steak for the 6 of us and using Uncle Frank´s recepie which I have already done a couple times back home.

It´s amazing how quickly plans change here, and how unneccesary it is to let everyone in on the changes until a couple minutes before... Needless to say, the small dinner party turned into me cooking over 20 pounds of 6 different types of meat, with 4 different marinades, for over 25 people. I was the gringo grillmaster....and it turned out pretty damn well... I´ve also decided that Italian dressing is the most underrated marinade for chicken....absolutely amazing. Then the younger generation stayed up until 7 again....the family Serrano Lazo knows how to throw parties...

Then this past weekend I went with Arlene and her class on another field trip. We went to Ambato first, where we went on a tour of a quinta of Juan Leon Mera....A quinta is another word for a house of some kind with a garden, and Juan Leon Mera was an Ecuadorian....who wrote a song...Clearly, I was still a little tired from our 9 hour night bus ride....We then ate chicken, and slept a little, and then met up with the WT volunteers there for some pizza and went back to the hotel and watched movies. The next day we left for Baños, which is named for it´s natural baths...to which we did not go. Instead, we took a Chiva, which is spanish for large truck which flies around hairpin turns while the drivers are drinking beer, on a waterfall tour, where we saw beautiful landscapes and about 7 waterfalls that were very impressive. On this tour we also stopped at a place where two bridges crossed a large gourge some 20 meters below. If someone knows how much that is in American, please tell me, because I haven´t done the math yet...It was here that I was strapped in, climbed up on the railing, and dove into the void to complete one of the goals I had in life: go bungee jumping... It was awesome.... And I´m definitely going to do it again.

After the first Chiva ride and a little rest, we took a second Chiva ride at night up to the top of a volcano, which was ridiculous. Here we could see the whole city of Baños, we drank canelazo, and there is absolutely no way that´s spelled correctly, and saw people swinging flaming balls around their heads and bodies in some creepy ritualistic display.

The next day we went to Riobamba, where we walked around a little bit, ate some chicken, and then stayed in the Hotel all day because people were tired. I also bought some movies.

Finally, we went to Chimborrazo, one of the tallest volcanoes in Ecuador and I finally got to see snow! It´s the end of November here and I am sweating here right now, at 1230 at night, in shorts and a tshirt in my living room, so seeing and playing with snow was a nice change. Then we took a long long bus ride back to Machala, a half hour into which my body decided to attempt to reject the 50th piece of chicken I had eaten on the trip. Fortunately, I am more powerful than my body suggests, and I was able to wait until we stopped at a rest stop to disperse of the foul poultry.

Wow, I just realized it´s Thanksgiving now, so for all of you who read this today, happy thanksgiving and here´s to the cowboys losing to the seahawks. I also told my host family that I´d cook a turkey for them, and my plans were to get a whole one, cook it with gravy and stuffing and all that jazz... So of course, now I´ve got 6 filets of turkey breast and some spices...tomorrow should be interesting...