Long Weekend

An eventful weekend to say the least. 

 On friday we had a flag ceremony at school. That entailed dressing up in our monday uniforms (jacket and tie) and then standing outside in arrow-straight lines for about an hour and a half while we listened to speeches, sang songs, and acted like soldiers. Some of it is quite ridiculous, we have different stances that we have to snap into upon command and a marching band in traditional military dress. Oh and at some point we raised some flags, but it wasn't really the main attraction.

 Claudio and I left school early on Friday because all the other students had to watch some video. The whole thing was rather strange but the inspector (yes, there is a woman called La Inspectora) told us we didn't have to stay, I thought it best not to ask questions and was grateful for the free time. 

Later on friday we went with some girls from school into the really touristy part of Quito, (gringo-landia) to go to this games / dance club. It was kind of a strange place, we paid $1.50 and were given a bottle of water each, then ushered through an iron gate and upstairs to a smokey room with a dance-floor and a bar. A bunch of other people from school were there, I guess it is a popular place to hang out!? Anyway, we had a good time. You never really know how bad of a dancer you actually are until you are in front of a mirror the size of the wall, or maybe its just me. I'l just have to practice more haha. 

The plan for the next morning was to go paint-balling with one of the other exchange students, his host sister and a few friends form school. I got a call from Claudio in the morning saying that he was really ill and couldn't go, so I headed off by myself. I had no idea where the place was, only that we were meeting at school and then going from there. I arrived at school to find it deserted, just my luck, after about 20 minutes one of my friends showed up and she said we had to take the bus and that the others were waiting. I assumed "take the bus" meant a 10 minute ride somewhere in the city, but 2 buses and an hour and a half later we met the rest of the group way south of Quito. From there we crammed into a car and drove to the paintball field. 

For about $20 my friend Alex and I played for roughly 4 hours. The others got tired quickly and went back to Alex's house, about a 5 minute walk. The people were so friendly, sharing food, water and even paintballs so we could keep playing. Try and pull that off in the good ol' U.S. of A. 

Afterwards we walked back to the house and had a huge lunch, climbed on the roof in the rain, watched the lightning in the mountains and the hummingbirds in the bushes next-door. Ecuador is awesome. Sorry, I am writing as I think and that just kind of came out, but its so true. We were both still hungry so we walked into the center of the town that he lives in and paid a dollar for quite literally the biggest pieces of pizza I have ever seen. I' serious, these things required two hands. So good.

 His family was going to a party back in Quito that evening, so I just stayed at their house for the afternoon then caught a ride back into the city with them.  It was a really log day, I got home and went straight to sleep. 

Sunday was the big day, time to vote. We got up in reasonable time because Mama wanted to go to her old high school to vote instead of Benalcazar. So we drove to the south of Quito, which is kind of the sketchy part, but every thing is fine in the day time. There were people everywhere, the fact that they were all going to different places to vote and that it was beautiful day so everyone was out and about anyway meant that traffic was gridlocked. At the school there were guards everywhere, the whole thing was actually really quick. Both Mama and my sister voted "Yes", their choice of course. 

Uncle Mario was having a big family party at his house so we went there and had a feast. Homemade empanadas, crazy ecuadorian drinks, and more grilled food than you can imagine, all equally delicious. The feast was followed by more family photos than I think it is physically possible to take. I mean slide show after slide show, most dating back 4, 5, or 6 years. Quite dull for someone who wasn't there for any of it. We got the results over the TV, the new constitution passed with approx. a 75% approval rating. I think we all knew it would pass but still the house was filled with mixed feelings.

I had today off school. Don't think I did anything productive. My sister, her boyfriend and I went for a crazy ride around Quito earlier tonight, they showed where a plane had crashed into the city a few weeks back and some other things. Thats what happens when you put the airport in the middle of the city.

School tomorrow. Ughhh. But at least my mornings area little brighter these days as a result of the box of cereal I bought on friday. I really don't know how I lasted a month without it. 

here are some pictures I took yesterday. nothing in particular.         

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=162504&l=7ab39&id=732860388