Ecuador 4/23/2016 - 5/15/2016 |
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Sunday, 4/24/2016 - Aida's 27th Birthday PartyWe got up around 8 a.m. after a short night's sleep.Since we had arrived in the dark, this was our first opportunity to look around the property to notice any changes since our prior visit. The concrete patio had been expanded in front of the casita, and a bit of land behind the outdoor sink had been cut back. They had extracted some wood from this area and had created a hand-crafted bench on the patio. This morning, we spent some time with the new puppy Peluchin and met the family's two new piglets. A black female belonging to Rosa is named Juanita, and a small orange male with black spots belongs to Abuelita. Nobody seems to know if he has a name or not. They had gotten Juanita as a tiny piglet in February...they grow up quickly! We played with the kids, who were watching Peppa Pig, 3 Little Pigs, and The Boy Who Cried Wolf on the nice phone that Uncle Juan Pedro had found in the trash with a broken screen, and had given to Rosa. Antonio replaced the screen and now it works great! We showed the kids some photos from home on my laptop. Yupanqui asked if it gets dark where we live, because all of our Facebook photos are in the daylight. I love the way kids' minds work! We gave the kids an English/Spanish picture dictionary. Lately Sisa and Yupanqui have been very interested in learning English words, and even Mi Nena (Shina Tayanta) is a little sponge, soaking up knowledge everywhere she can. While we were eating a breakfast of fried eggs, papas fritas, coffee, and juice with the kids, the adults were engaged in a flurry of activity. Rosa and her sister from next door caught, killed, and cleaned some chickens. Antonio came home with a fully cooked whole pig. We are not used to seeing roast pigs in the community except on very special occasions, such as a baptism. It certainly wasn't something that we would just see on a normal, run-of-the-mill Sunday. What was the occasion? Then several other women from the community showed up and peeled potatoes and made soup. They then got Sisa and Shina dressed up in their traditional clothing, something that they normally don't do when they are just hanging around the house on a normal weekend. What was going on? It turned out that tomorrow would be Aida's 27th birthday, and they were throwing her a big party here at the house today. Aida's godparents came with their family from Ibarra to celebrate. Aida's compadres are very sweet, and we enjoyed chatting with them. One of the adult daughters, Paola, speaks English well and we were able to converse with her. We enjoyed fresh chicken soup, made from the chickens which were dispatched this morning. The women of the family then served roasted pig (pulled apart by hand) for a delicious pulled pork lunch, which was augmented by mote (hominy), potatoes, and Coca Cola. Outside, community members gathered to join in the celebration, including Uncle Juan Pedro. There was plenty of pork, mote, and potatoes for everyone. One of Antonio's bands was here at the house practicing, so we also had live Andean music to add to the celebration. Two birthday cakes were cut and served. It was a lovely party! We all sat outside listening to the music, and Aida's compadres returned to Ibarra at 4:30 p.m. We had two very heavy rain showers today, one which caused us to lose power briefly. The rain dripped through the roof onto my bed (luckily, landing atop a pile of towels). We would have to have Antonio take a look at the casita roof, but in the short term, we rearranged the room. It wasn't the most convenient configuration, but it got my bed out of harm's way! Now the water would just drip onto a towel on the tile floor. We didn't require dinner since we had eaten so much at lunch. The guys from the band stayed into the evening, and they were drinking beer and canelazo, an alcoholic drink served hot. We imbibed a little bit as well, splashing the obligatory amount on the ground for Pachamama (mother Earth). One of the men grabbed me to dance to the music he was playing on his phone. Nobody else was dancing, but this guy wanted to! We had many laughs. We went to our casita at 8:15, tired, and went to bed early. It had been a fun day, spending time with the family and celebrating Aida's birthday. Tomorrow, the kids will be at school during the day, and I will be working remotely. |
 Craig sneaks a bite of pork  Aida and her compadres  Sisa, Achi Taita, Shina Tayanta, Achi Mama, and Yupanqui See all photos from this day |
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