iremos a la playa!

We haven´t been very up to date on posting since we´ve been super busy conjugating and pluscuamperfecting and imperfecto subjuntivo-ing all over the place, but finally we made it!  Yesterday was our last day of spanish classes in Quito!  We were surprised to get certificates saying that we completed level intermediate 3, and now we could be considered...ADVANCED (whoa).  We´re both really glad that we took four weeks of classes, and we feel totally competent getting around and having little conversations now.  We are also able to read magazines in Spanish, and we are both getting into Arquitectura y Diseño, a magazine from Spain. The school had a bunch of activities, tours, and such that students could do for super cheap, so while enrolled we took part in some of the offerings.  We took a couple of classes where we learned how to make traditional Ecuadorian cocktails and cuisine, went on a city tour of Quito at night, went to the equatorial line, and to a couple of museums.  We met some pretty cool people who were also taking classes there.  Almost everyone at this school was either German or Norwegian so Zoe and the other Scandivanians got to talk about things i couldnt  understand in their secret languages.

School aside, things have been pretty wild in Pifo.  The last two weeks were spent in celebration of the patron saint of the town so the whole place has been in full-on fiesta mode.  I never thought I would see as many animals duking it out in the name of celebration as I have here in Pifo.

The festivities started off with a sort of drag race for horses.  On the outskirts of town, on someone´s farm, someone plowed a long, straight track, maybe a mile long.  Then came the racks of loudspeakers, piles of beer, every horse in town, tons of spectators in big cowboy hats and little women selling  tiny plastic toys and cevichochos (like a delicious lima bean and fried corn salad salsa bowl).  It seemed that there was no real order to how the races proceded, but it went something like this - two men with really nice hats (presumably the horse owners) would start conversing, then a bunch of other guys in hats would crowd around, the two men and a couple others would pull out a bunch of money, shake hands, and soon enough two little men would mount the horses and trot down to the far end of the track.  With no seats or designated viewing areas, the audience would just crowd around the finish line in the track, looking down towards the little guys on the horses.  Then, with no real indication that the race had started, the horses would begin galloping down the track in a full sprint toward the crowd.  Everyone stood excited as the horses approached, until the last second when the crowd would split and the horses would come hauling down the narrow alley formed by people.  Having never been to a horse race in the states, I can´t say this for sure, but I highly doubt that they are as exhilerating as this was.  One of the highlights was when one of the racing horses galloped over a dog, sending it hurdling, flipping and spinning for probably 30 feet down the track.  Miraculously, the dog didn´t seem injured as it immediately launched into a sprint and headed for the hills.  We could see it run for probably five minutes before it disappeared over the horizon, but I wouldn´t be surprised if it was still running as I write this.

Last weekend was another equally interesting experience of animal battles for entertainment.  It started with bullfights.  I´ve never really been into the idea of bullfights where you just kill the bulls at the end - I kind of feel like we´ve already asserted our dominance over cattle with things like the big mac and ultimate whopper or whatever and don´t have much more to prove by killing one with a sword in front of a bunch of people.  Cows are pretty stupid to begin with and it shouldn´t be that impressive that we can outsmart them with capes and tricks.  So it was a pretty fresh experience to see the Pifo take on bullfighting.  Essentially, they have a big  truck full of really pissed off bulls parked next to a big fenced off field.  All the people are either in a couple of grandstands or just sitting and standing on the fence, totally exposed to the field and whatever might happen in it.  Inside the field, boys and men of all ages stand around (either with capes or without) and wait for a raging bull to be released and charge at them all.  The whole goal is pretty much just to look couragous and get as close to the bull as you can without getting smashed.  There were no swords involved and not really any violence toward the bull at all - it was really just the bull charging at all the people while they ran away (or didn´t).  The best part about it though was just how many people were in the field with the bull, standing next to the fence all relaxed like there wasn´t a pissed off horned mammal the size of a truck charging around.  There were even guys walking around the inside of the field selling things like souvenir capes, mangoes with salt, and more chochos.  A couple of times this lacadaisical attitude resulted in some guys getting more than a little embarrassed as the bull ripped off his pants with his horns, or mashed him into the fence in front of all his friends.  All said though, no one seemed to really get hurt and it was super entertaining.

Later that same day, approximately 100 feet away from where we sleep, the town was holding cock-fighting championships in a school gymnasium.  This also proved to be super interesting and not quite as violent as we expected.  Apparently, since this was some sort of championship, the roosters were all worth a ton of money and none of their owners wanted to see them die so whenever the fights looked like one rooster was obviously going to win, the owners jumped in a pulled their prize cocks out of the ring before it was too late.  We got there really early so we had great seats and were right in the middle of the whole crowd betting with each other the whole time.  I guess the fights went on all night, but after such a long day of watching animals tussle, we were pretty exhausted and headed backhome to listen to the shouts and fireworks from the comfort of our own beds.

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As for now, we´re super excited to be done with our classes and ready to head to the coast for a little sun and beach for a couple (or three?) weeks.  We´re extremely thankful for the hospitality of Matt and his family for putting us up so generously in Pifo.  Matt has a lot of people stay with him on their trips through S.A., and all of the art in his house are gifts from previous visitors. In keeping with that theme and as a way to say thanks, we painted Matt a picture of his pets, which we will post below.

Since this has been a pretty animal-centric entry, we should keep with the theme and update you on the animal life here at Matt´s.  Argo finally gave birth to 8 puppies in the old pig pen, and she has been doing a great job being a mom, keeping them safe and fed for the last two weeks.  Since she´s pretty much a milk factory these days, she has lost a lot of weight so has been getting special food all to herself that she is allowed to eat in the kitchen, so she doesnt have to share.  The puppies finally opened their eyes yesterday, but we put them in the grass this morning and it became clear that they´re still not quite to fun puppy stage, as they just laid in the grass and cried for their mom.  We will probably come back here after the coast to play with the puppies in a while when they´re a bit more mature.

Alex also got a new puppy, and she has really been the star of the show here at casa Ford.  Her name is Leona and she is REALLY CUTE and loves to snuggle and play.  She´s part dauchshund, so we also call her the salchicha, which means hot dog.  Last weekend we hiked along an old railroad track that winds through some small towns, along a beautiful steep canyon, and through a bunch of tunnels.  We saw a bunch of kittens in front of some peoples house, and Matt asked if we could take one.  They said sure, so we carried the cat all the way back home.  In case you didnt know, cats arent crazy about being carried, especially by strangers, over long distances.  Anyways, after a few escapes and rescues, which involved a few kitten attacks and bandaids, she seems to be settling into living on the roof.  She isn´t very social, but she likes yogurt and leftover breakfast cereal, and hopefully she´ll kill off some of the mice and rats that live in the chicken coop.  Oh, and the baby chicks are totally not even babies anymore, they all are putting on their new big kid feathers and today they even got grownup chicken food! Hopefully most of them are girls, so fresh eggs are on the horizon.

I think that is about it! Just packing up for the beach and the start of our wanderings. Keep checking in to tell us what you´re all up to and to hear what we´ve been doing!  

-Scott

tough guy.

he was ok! don´t worry.

los gallos

boooooooooring.

the salchica, resting in the gutter.

santa luna