Mis Amigos de los Estados Unidos!

Had my first visitors last weekend! My two good friends Pat and Ken stopped by Durán for a day and a half at the end of their two week adventure in Peru. After some sort of rebel blockade delayed their 8 hour bus ride by another 4 hours (luckily they were able to email me ahead of time so I wasn't waiting too long), I met them at the McDonalds in the Terminal Terrestre (Guayaquil's main bus station) a little after 9pm on Friday 8/27. Our Director let me use the Rostro van to pick them up, and when we got back to Durán (the bus station and airport are both a quick 20 minute drive from our house), my roommates had an awesome meal of rice, lentils, fried plantains, pineapples, water melon, and fried mashed potato balls with cheese in the middle (an Ecuadorian treat... I forget the name haha).

We took our time Saturday morning, walked around the neighborhood, bought some bread, eggs, and veggies for breakfast, hit the cyber (internet cafe) for a bit, and then around noon we stopped by my neighbor Gabriel's to say hi. I hadn't formally met Gabriel yet, but he's been friends with the Rostro volunteers all 16 years we've been in the AJS neighborhood, so I had been meaning to stop by. Gabriel immediately invited us all in and offered us coke and crackers. This happens at almost every house I visit, and I'm still not totally used to it, but no matter how little they have, everyone here always offers us at least a drink and/or snack (if not a whole meal). Most of them know our stomachs can't handle the same food and drink, which is why they'll often offer cola or something prepackaged. It's already awkward accepting a glass of coke knowing how much it costs and how little they have, but on top of that, the Ecuadorians rarely eat or drink any of the food they offer their guests. It is what it is, and they wouldn't have it any other way, but it's definitely an awkward and kind of guilty feeling sitting in these humble homes eating crackers and drinking coke when our hosts aren't having any for themselves.

Gabriel is a character though, and we were there for about an hour and a half just talking about life and taking in his pearls of wisdom--everything from mosquitos and the weather to the changes in Durán over the past 30 years to internet dating. He's just one of those awesome old guys who loves to drop knowledge on young whippersnappers. Especially gringos. Here's a picture of everyone in Gabriel's living room with his wife Teresa.

Gabriel, Pat, Teresa, me, Tasha, & Ken

Gabriel makes a living by doing leather work, so he also showed us around his workshop, where he makes belts, keychains, leather journals, etc (we often take retreat groups by his place to meet him and they like to buy souveniers to take home to the states). He let me try my hand at some engravings... I was terrible.

leather working with Gabriel... sleeves optional in the workshop

After Gabriel's, we stopped back home for a few minutes, then had to run out again to a birthday party at the Palma's. Javier and Nancy Palma have three daughters, Marta, Maria, and Rosita, and their family is another one that has been friends with Rostro volunteers for many years. I know Maria and Rosita from Valdevia, and Saturday was Rosita's 7th birthday. I had planned on stopping by the party for an hour or so then taking Pat and Ken to see Arbolito (the other neighborhood where Rostro volunteers live and work), but little miss Rosita had different plans. No more than 10 minutes after we got there, Rosita and her 7 year old girlfriends dragged all the gringos into the center of the room to dance. They let us take a couple breaks for food and cake, but we pretty much danced for 2 hours straight. There were several sing-along dance songs in Spanish that we learned, but by far their favorite song was Waka Waka by Shakira. We probably played it at least 6 times, and by the end of the party even I knew the choreograhed dance moves. Oh, and it was well into the 90s all afternoon, so I was DRIPPING with sweat the entrire time. It was great though, and I'm glad I got to share that experience with Pat and Ken. We also had some DELICIOUS chicken, rice, and potato salad that Nancy made, washed it down with some BIG COLA (aka the pride of Ecuador... it's officially my favorite drink here), and of course a birthday cake.

Here's a few pics Ken took at the party:

me and the birthday girl!

BAILAMOS!!

Rosita and the gringos!

We finally got out of there around 4:30, then we had to stop by Freddy's to play some checkers. Freddy is another neighbor, and he is the KING of Ecuadorian rules checkers. I like to think I'm good at games of skill, but Freddy basically pantsed me and stole my lunch money. I'm new to Ecuadorian rules though, so I think with some practice I can probably take him.

That was a long post, so I'll keep my daily dose of Ecuadorian reality short and sweet. My name is Mark Perlite, and I am addicted to Big Cola. I can't describe how good this stuff is. I've had it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack time, late night, and it's delicious any time of day with any meal. I've always been a coke man, but I think BC wins this contest hands down, pants off.