Hola para el todo mundo. Chloe’s right she did write alot but we did do a lot in Agualongo de Quinche. On Friday as Chloe told you we went up to a set of lakes. while she went for then more intense hike I went for a milder one with Cecila and both of the Megans. the below image is of the main lake, the weather was beautiful, not to hot but not to cold either. We walked for roughly an hour with a fifteen minute break at one point near the end. by the time we turned around we had passed a slightly smaller lake and a long field of cows in mist. I wish i had taken more pics on the walk but this and the next photo which looked to me like a sleeping grandmother who had fallen asleep and the hil had grow around her. After we got back together as a group and had returned to near Agualongo we started making food at Claudia’s. That woman knows how to cook and has the perfect kitchen for it. Most of the night began to blend into the usaul type of cooking mentality of hurry up and then wait, steal little bits of batter, create the dessert, and listen to your stomach try to digest your spine. But all of that was worth it in the end. All the waiting is what makes the food even more delicious.
On Saturday I was up and moving by 6 which had become the usual for most of us. My host mom was up and moving and dressed to go into Otavalo in her traditional clothing, while my host dad was already headed up to the center. I’m not sure if Chloe mentioned but in this town everyone has to participate in some way or pay a fine of 5 dollers. What the town was building was a better kitchen for the comunity center, but there was only so many people that could do that. Instead of too many cooks there would have been too many carpenters in the kitchen and most of them would be more of a hinderence than a help !! Instead most of the comunity was either weeding, or fixing the roof of the community center. Then the group that had gone down to Otavalo returned and they had things for use to do. The pots they were cooking things in were big enough for someone my age to take a somewhat cramped soak with the water up to their chin. I ended up helping with shelling a waist-high sack of ava (fava) beans. the food was good and I ended up trying some qui (guina pig) . It was ok but not something I’d vote bbest meat in the world, the taste was simular to chicken, but slighty different. Afterward our hoat moms can around and wrapped the girls hair in the traditional style as a gift and a reminder that we always had a family to come and live with there. after the dance party that it became I headed home with my family. My host mom and I talked and showed eachother pictures of other parts of our family.
On Sunday I woke up at 6 aqnd finished packing and then lugged all my stuff up to the road to wait for the truck. We arrived in Otavalo right at the time we had been shooting for which is amazing seeing we’ve been running on Ecua-time, which means that now can mean sometime today. We caught the 8 o’clock bus to Quito and arrived around 10. we then got three cabs to where we are staying which is called Central de Mucahos Trabajador. We dropped off our things in our rooms and then went to a local soccer game. It was quite cool we ended up sitting behind one of the goals and right next to a group of avid fans that I’m pretty sure didn’t stop singing except during half-time. the home team ended up winning and then we walked back to the center. Afterwards half the group went shopping for dinner which was great.
Yesterday we had our first spanish classes which is an hour bus ride from the center. Everyone but Cecila and Helen are having one on one teaching and that is working out great. In the afternoon we had a tour of the center and then had dinner at 8 ish. Today around 10:30 our Spanish teachers all took us to an Market Popular. It had rows of fruits and then vegetables that were stacked at least 7 feet tall. Up stairs was the meat portion of the market and they literally use everything here. This afternoon we went and visted some of the families that are part of the center.