Ecuadorian Breakfast Club

So, as everyone well knows, the longstanding Breakfast Club tradition held on game-day Saturdays at Purdue University is a favorite pasttime of mine...one could even go so far as to say it is a cherished passion in my heart. Dressing up in homemade costumes, waking up at 6 in the morning to stand in line, getting all messy dancing around in Where Else? and then bar hopping until getting kicked out of Jakes when "normal" customers begin arriving around 11am., I have very fond fond memories of those Saturday mornings.  So, when walking to work on various Saturday and Sunday mornings at 7a.m., I noticed that a local little tienda called Viveres Lorena hosted some sort of crab breakfast, and there were often people visibly drinking outside on the sidewalk. I thought, "bingo!", there is my Breakfast Club location. I had already brought beer pong to Ecuador, or at least to José, and thought it was time to move on to a bigger challenge. Unfortunately I have a very small pool of people to inform here in good ol' Quito Sur, so I ended up only peaking the interest of four other people. That did not stop my dream!

We arrived at Viveres Lorena at 7:15 in the morning (without los disfraces, or costumes), and promptly had a bowl of crab broth with a crab sitting on top, set in front of us. I ordered the one 24 oz. beer, which we all split. Unbeknownst to me, everyone who came with me actually had other plans for that Saturday which they had to attend to after our breakfast, and could therefore not partake in some friendly chupando, or a slang term for drinking (it really means sucking, but in certain context it is used to say drink some beers).  I was sadly disappointed by the amount of meat in the crab, because their wasn't much, but it was my first time eating a crab and therefore my first time whacking the crab with the little mallet, which is super fun and a totally redeeming quality of eating a crab! The crab boil that Viveres Lorena has every weekend is called "una cangrejada", el cangrejo is spanish for crab. I could probably have done without the "caldo de cangrejo", or crab broth, because it was filled with conchas, or mussels (I think), and I am not very fond of those.  All in all my "Ecuadorian Breakfast Club"only met one of several requirements to actually be considered Breakfast Club. That is, I taught my fellow BClubbers to play a card game called Screw The Dealer, which is an extremely easy game that can be played with large groups of people and in loud settings, which makes it perfect for bar scenes. Costumes, no. 5 a.m. wakeup call, no. Drinking, no. Loud, noisy bar scene with 80s music and crazy dancing, no. Laughing, yes. Card game, yes. Good times with friends, yes. I guess it met more than one requirement afterall! See photos below:

Outside of Vivires Lorena.  Lorena, the store owner, is sitting on a stool just inside the door, like always. I have chatted with Lorena a couple of times. She told me the weekend before there had been a Gringo (white male) at the cangrejada. Unfortunately, she had no other details to share with me, so he is now "mystery Gringo".  I think the lady serving crabs is her sister, and the little boy in the green sweatshirt is that lady's son.

Poor Mister Cangrejo...about to be devoured.

All smiles on this Saturday morning!

Lupita and I, with our cangrejo friends.

Marco, aka the Spanish version of Papa Joe.

Fuimos a la Playa!!

View of the beach and city of Manta, capital city of Atun (tuna)

Other side of Manta beach, the fish market

José and I on the bus! Only almost 9 hours to the beach.

View looking North on Crucita Beach

The hostal we stayed at directly across the street from the beach, $15 a night...which was actually really expensive because it was the holiday (New Years)

Proof that I went to Crucita

Yay, a sunset!! I don't see sunsets in Quito, the mountains block it and normally it's cloudy or raining at that time of day!

If it has wheels, you can ride in it

Not even a great photo, but just one of thousands of examples

There are no transit laws in Ecuador - or there are laws, but are NEVER enforced. Every single truck that I saw in the costal region (and often times in Quito) had a truckbed full of people! Sometimes they had plastic chairs in the back, and like a moving tailgate the people were just hanging out in the back while the truck was going 40mph.  I also saw a multitude of little motorbikes with the guy driving wearing a helmet, and his wife/girlfriend sitting behind without a helmet, and in between them one or more children under the age of 6 also without helmets.  Extremely unsafe, it kept scaring me everytime I saw it! Basically what I concluded in Ecuador is that if it has wheels, you can ride in it. 

Christmas Work Party...Ecuador style

So I went to a Christmas work party on December 23rd, held at one of the nurse's house (photos below).  I definitely left my "amigo secreto" present at the house without opening it, still don't know what Dr. Luje got for me!! Amigo Secreto is Secret Santa. At the Christmas party we had chancho meat, which is basically a pig roast; choclo, or corn on the cob; roasted potatoes, avocado, a variety of salsas, and my apple pie with vanilla ice cream for dessert! I was shocked we did not have any rice nor soup, it was a Christmas miracle!! After dinner we moved the tables out of the way and danced for a good hour. We also exchanged our gifts at that point. I bought my secret amigo two music DVDs.  Who knows if he will like them, but I really didn't know what to get him! Also from the hospital every employee got an exercise outfit and a giant box from Super Maxi that was filled with all sorts of goods to make food for the holidays with (they call it a canasta, and it contained rice, hot cocoa powder, ketchup and mayonaise, cookies, a bottle of red wine, a bottle of vegetable oil, sugar, lentils, salt, and some other random items).  I'm assuming that after the holidays Super Maxi no longer can sell these boxes, so they donated them to the hospital for a cheap rate and the hospital gifted them, which is awesome! The exercise outfit is soooooo entertaining, and I will be sure to take a foto sometime in my lovely light blue on blue on blue outfit.  Also, I wear a size Large here, no doubt about it.

The rest of my Christmas went by nicely. On the 24th I didn't work; in the morning I listened to Christmas music on YouTube and tanned in my bathing suit...in the afternoon I Skyped with my family for quite some time which was fantastic. José and I went to church at 9pm, it was a nice service and the sermon was great. Interesting though that not many people dressed up, like what is custom for Christmas mass at home. What was fun was seeing the blessing of the "niño Jesús" - every family brought their own baby doll Jesus to be blessed by the priest at the end of mass. It was very funny to see the various sizes and colors and decorated baby Jesuses, as well as what a MAD HOUSE it was at the end of mass to get your baby Jesus blessed. Each family will keep their baby Jesus in their house to bless their home until the next Christmas comes around. I don't know if they throw out their baby Jesus or if they reuse their baby Jesus every year... The only time I cried (and SEVERELY missed my family and home and Christmas traditions) was during the sign of peace at mass, when everyone was exchanging peace.  If I didn't have José there, I would have been absolutely miserable. That was when my heart longed for home more than any other moment since I've been here. But, that moment passed and although I of course still miss my family, I continue on with my life here!

Recently I have determined that eating rice gives me sharp pains in my gallbladder, or "cólico". I have been trying to evade eating rice at all costs, and so far I've been doing okay.  Its almost like a game, how to avoid eating mountains upon mountains of rice here.    Rice is served almost every meal, even sometimes with breakfast (not kidding at all).

I have also started having moments where I say something, and have to think afterwards if I said it in Spanish or English. My Spanish is starting to flow a lot more naturally, which is such a relief! I know in a few months it will be even better. When I look back at my book of "new words" from when I got here, there are so many words that I cannot believe I didn't know how to use when I arrived because now I use those words all the time.  It is starting to become much easier to switch back and forth rapidly between English and Spanish also.  Yay!

Tonight I leave for the beach!! José and I are taking an 8+ hour bus ride to Crucita, and I absolutely cannot wait. I have been dreaming of this! I think I am going to start planning a beach vacation every month!

Next update will be allllll about the beach....pray for sun, 24/7 for me!

Me and my coworkers before our Christmas party, waiting to catch a taxi.




Dinner is served




Kissing the "chancho", pig. 




Waiting for food!




My four homemade delicious apple pies. I'm going to be a pro by the time I get back home to the states!!




The Christmas decorations at Monica's house where the party was held



El Pregón

El Pregón was a parade (one of many) of high school military bands and dance groups/baton twirlers. There were some groups with themes (for instance one school had costumes to represent el medio ambiente, or Environment) and other groups represented traditional Sierran customs/dances.  There were thousands of people in the streets all to watch the parade, which lasted several hours.  I couldn't get any pictures of good quality, but you get the idea!

Quito Love List!!

Long overdue my love list of Quiteño items thus far in my adventure here....First off, I love my "Quito family" that consists of Lupita, María, Elsa, Judith, Marco, José, Pablo, Yessenia, Elena, Darío, Felix and Mingo! I love my doggy, Mingo, that I have now started walking/running a few times a week. I love being surrounded by mountains, and weird unpredictable weather patterns. I love dancing to Banda y Cumbia, and listening to the endless love ballads. I also adore singing to these love ballads at karaoke! I love the returnable beer bottles, and Pilsener brand beer more than Club (even though both are Pilsener products).  I love cooking randomly, and that sliced chicken is called "jamón de pollo".  I love empanadas y morocho, my favorite and most unhealthy food here. I  love when I have a conversation and understand everything that is said. I love all of the beautiful parks in the city, and can't wait for a day off to go run around in all the parks! I love living in the tranquil ghetto of the city, in what I consider one of the best areas of town. I love the crazy bus system and that sometimes things just simply don't make much sense down here. I love reading books in Spanish and learning about the history of Quito and Ecuador. I love being included in a group down here, and having people to share my time with. I love keeping in touch with my family and friends back home, and that technology makes the distance so much more feasible...I hardly feel like I left! I truly love my time here and hope I'm not being missed in my abscensce too much!

Censo 2010 y Thanksgiving!

Today is eerily quiet and tranquil in Quito...no honking on the streets, no loud trucks/buses going by. This is because it is Census day here in Quito, and they have put an "immobility law" in place from 7am to 5pm. Everyone is to remain in their houses and wait for groups of high school students to come around and bring the census forms. There is no transportation available.  The only people in the streets besides the high school students are policemen and military personnel!! There are no masses at churches this morning however they will have mass later tonight, despues del censo.

Yesterday I hosted my very first Thanksgiving dinner!! It was my first time cooking most of the items on the menu, which consisted of cheeseburgers, mashed potatoes, stuffing and apple pie for dessert! Everything turned out well, except I knowingly used the wrong kind of butter in my apple pie because I was in a crunch for time and didn't want to return to the mall to find two sticks of unsalted butter! It didn't turn out horrible, just was a little off on the taste...next time I will use the correct kind of butter, and definitely add cinnamon and spices to the recipe. I had 11 people attend my first Thanksgiving, pictures below!!

I started grilling the first hamburger, and was having some difficulty, so I told Marco that in America, grilling is a man's job.  He took over after that : ) and grilled the rest of the hamburgers perfectly!

First attempt at stuffing! It was a little crispy, since it wasn't baked inside of a turkey. I also forgot to add some seasoning, so it was a little bland, but overall everyone like it!

Happy Thanksgiving! The table is set. The guests included Marisa, Elena, Lupita and her boyfriend Edwin, Marco and his son Felix, Darío, José, Pablo and his wife (can't remember her name this moment!)

This is the oven I get to use at the centro...There is no thermometer. You turn it on with a match, turning the knob at the bottom until the gas ignites. I don't like turning on the oven, so I make Marco or José do it.

My homemade apple pie...with the wrong type of butter. 

After dinner, we all drank hot canelazo and danced in the kitchen to cumbia music