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Andrea in Ecuador |
On Saturday, Eve and Mike threw a party for Claudine and I to wish us a good trip home. We invited the Orozco family (Javier's family) and Emily (from Bellingham) with other people from the states she was working with near Otavalo. We had a big bbq feast with hamburgers, roasted vegetables with garlic, pasta salad, potato salad, guacamole and chips, pickles, onions, melon, and steamed broccoli with fresh lime. We made a ton of food and most of it was devoured, along with several bottles of pilsner, rum and cokes, and red wine. Pepe was unsure about a meal without rice, but he seemed to enjoy it and actually told me it was okay without rice after all. The Orozcos were fascinated with our gringo food...new things like pickles which they had never tried and I don't think they knew they could buy in Ecuador. Elva seemed to really like them. The hamburgers were also a big hit since the hamburger stands in Ecuador serve really flat frozen patties that approximate high school cafeteria food. Our burgers from the grill were a delicacy compared to that.
Javier had burned some cds for us of dance music and Elva and Pepe were instrumental in getting the dancing started. They also brought balloons for us with goodbye wishes written on them and some fireworks (of course). It was a good fiesta. At about 10 pm several of us went out to the discotec and danced into the morning. The Tentadero (the discotec we like) had a couple of special evening events...showdown of the djs and a mechanical bull set up outdoors. The music was really fun that night and I was the only one who watched the mechanical bull riders but I found it to be extremely entertaining...especially the woman with 4-inch pink pumps who rode the bull after much coercing from her friends. She was thrown off and when she stood up she staggered around on the air-matress that was used as a landing pad. It was pretty darn funny.
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