Today, I ate guinea pig.

This is going to be a short entry because I leave for the Oriente at 7:30 tomorrow morning and I've barely packed anything! This weekend was really fun, Malte, the German host student that my family had before me, came back for the weekend, and it was really nice to have him around.

On Saturday morning we went to a soccer game that Carmita was playing in with some of the women she works with at the airport. The game was in a military base next to the airport, and the fields were right next to two of the runways, so planes were taking off and landing while we were watching soccer, which was pretty cool. There was also a plane graveyard next to the fields, so Emilia, Belen, Valeria, and I all went to take pictures with the airplanes. There was one that you could actually climb into, so naturally we all did that, even if we weren't supposed to. After the game we picked Rodrigo up from work and then went home to have a quick lunch before Carmita, Rodrigo, Malte, Emilia and I left to go to Molinuco, a reserve in the mountains where they have all sorts of cool waterfalls and stuff. We hiked around for about an hour before getting to the biggest waterfall, called Pita. It was sooo beautiful, and really really amazing. We all took pictures around it, and then decided that we had to go in the water, which was absolutely freezing! And even though we were far away from the actual waterfall, the spray was so powerful that we all ended up soaking wet, which made the hike back pretty uncomfortable. All in all, it was a very fun day.

Today we were having Rodrigo's family over for a special lunch because his cousin who lives in the U.S. was visiting. Because it was such a special occasion we were serving cuy, which is the Ecuadorian name for guinea pigs. We all helped with the preparations, Malte was the barbeque master who cooked the cuy and the chicken, and I helped wash some of the furniture with my sisters. The family started arriving around 1, and we all sat outside and chatted while lunch was being finished. I was sitting next to one of Rodrigo's sisters who was very nice, but also talked very quietly so it was really hard to understand her sometimes, especially when other people were being noisy. Lunch started with soup (naturally) and then the main course was served, which included potatoes, rice, lettuce, avocado, chicken, and cuy. The cuy had been cut up into various sections, and at first I had a chest portion, which Rodrigo said I couldn't eat because it wasn't good. Next I got a front leg, which is better but still not the best, so eventually I ended up with a hind leg. They told me to eat the muscle part, which was really hard for several reasons. First, the foot (complete with toes and toenails) was still attached, which made it a little grosser to eat. Second, the leg is so small it's hard to actually get the meat into your mouth, and third, the bones are so fragile that they break really easily, and if you bite in the wrong place (like I did one time) you get a mouthful of bone.

Even though cuy is a huge delicacy here (in a restaurant it costs $15, while filet mignon costs $10) most of my family members admitted to not liking it, which I found interesting. I didn't like it very much either, it tasted kind of like fish, but I'm glad that I tried it. After everyone ate we put on music and started dancing, which was very fun. Malte and I both told everyone that we knew how to salsa, so naturally they made us demonstrate our skills. We were also taught how to do the merengue, cumbia, and a traditional Ecuadorian dance that I forget the name of. It was really fun, and also very tiring because whenever a new song came on Rodrigo's father, brother, or cousin would ask me to dance and try to teach me some new steps.

After that everybody left, and we drove Malte to the bus station because he had to go back to the coast to teach his classes tomorrow. After that we went to pick up Camilo at a friend's house, and then stopped at KFC to get dinner. I almost never eat KFC at home, so it was really funny that I was going to eat it here. A little while after dinner my parents and I were having tea in the kitchen, and my mom had peanut butter, grape jelly, and bread on the table. She told me that she had never tried peanut butter with bread before, and that she really liked it. Then I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and explained to them that this was a really traditional lunch in the U.S. and everybody eats it. My mom tried it and liked it, and then I made Emilia try it too and she liked it as well. It was really fun to show my family something about my life at home, and my mom was really excited because now she has something to make for Emilia's lunch that isn't ham and cheese!

Now I have to go pack my backpack for tomorrow, but while I'm gone (I'll get back Monday October 5th) I'll leave you with some new pictures from my adventures on Saturday! (Sunday and Oriente pictures will be put up as soon as possible when I get back.) Here's the link for the pictures:

http://s934.photobucket.com/albums/ad189/cbarr520/Ecuador/?albumview=grid

Enjoy, and I'll update when I return from the Oriente!

Hasta luego,
Caroline