The Wedding Weekend

It's been almost a week since my last post. Life has been somewhat busy. I have Spanish classes from 8:30 - 12:30 Mon-Fri and then I come home and go with the family to lunch at about 1 or 2 pm. From 3-6 I try to work on my novel. The first draft is almost finished, thank God. I really want to start on my next idea. And then the rest of the evening I try to talk a little to friends, talk to the people here, eat dinner, and study Spanish. Oh, and read. Currently, I'm reading Stephen King's The Stand, Uncut Edition, which is about 1200 pages. And I try to workout every now and then. I'm usually passed out at about 11 pm since I have to get up early in the morning.

Anywho, this past weekend was really interesting. Jenny, the nice lady that owns this homestay where I am currently typing from, has friends from an indigenous community called Iluman that got married this past weekend (Sunday) and we were invited to tag along. Iluman is close to Otavalo, which is a city that is known for its huge market every Saturday. The plan was for us travelers (Jim, a guy from Arkansas, Laura, a gal from Germany, and Katlian, another gal from Germany that is interning with Jenny) to get up early and go by bus on Saturday morning to Otavalo so that we can experience the market and then meet up with Jenny in the town of Iluman later that day.

We were all for the plan. Four city people with the chance to attend a community brimming with culture and on top of that able to sit in on one of their wedding ceremonies. It was a no-brainer for us. BUT, we're still in our 20's so, naturally, we went out Friday night. To sum up the night in a few sentences (so that I can get to the interesting stuff...you can go out and get drunk in America, it's not that unique) we went to this big strip of clubs and bars where a lot of tourists go and I ordered something called 'seis shotas' plus some other words that I didn't understand. I ordered it because my German friend said that the seis was the size of the shot glass and regular shot glasses are dos (2) so this would be like a triple shot. She was hella hella dumb. And me too for believing it, I guess. It was actually 6 'shots' (who knew) and by shots I mean 6 long ass test tubes filled to the brim. And apparently (and they knew this but just didn't tell me) the 'other words' meant hallucinogen. At first I was tripping cus I thought I had accidentally ordered something really expensive and when I found it out was really just the 6 dollars I originally thought, I threw down. It tasted like cough syrup. I ended up drinking 4 I think and then gave the other 2 away. I didn't hallucinate but I was fairly tipsy but not drunk. It didn't help that the club we went to had some weird stuff playing on the big screen....those anime cartoons that even Adult Swim won't show. It was, all in all, a fun night.

So the next morning we were off. A little late, we left at about 9:30. We caught a bus that cost 2 dollars and took us on a 3 hour ride, last stop Otavalo. The place was great, to sum it up in one word, and just crawling with life and diversity You had the people who no doubt come there regularly, the tourists (and they stuck out like sore thumbs, just like I'm sure I did. A tall white guy with a Nationals jacket on...he's like a black guy at one of them klan rallies), and the vendors themselves.

I'd say that there was a good variety of things being sold. You had your jewelry, your hats, your paintings, carvings, blankets, hand woven this, hand woven that, pots, pans, food, you name it. I even saw (randomly) toy guns being sold. And another thing that I found interesting were the chess sets that they had. The funny thing is that all of the chess pieces are made up of Ecuadorians and white settlers. ALL OF THEM. I found that funny. Laura, who bout a chess set, wanted to find one that wasn't like that. She couldn't.

So, at the market, you're supposed to bargain. It's expected of you. So, I was told, they will always start with a high price. Well, my eye first fell on this table with many different spherical objects with writings and drawings covering every inch of the shell. She wanted 8 dollars for it and I got her to come down to 6. No biggie. Next I saw this notebook with a carving of a turtle in metal melded to the front. She wanted 18 dollars for it. I said 12 and she tried to explain to me all the cool and good things about the little book. I said 15 was my final offer and she didn't seem to budge then I said No Gracias and started to walk away and she caved. It didn't feel like that much of a victory until I went a little ways and saw the same notebook for sale at another vendor. I asked him the price and he said 25! I guess I did get a deal. I also bought a small dolphin statue (incense holder) and a pen. I'll let the pen speak for itself....I thought it was too unique to pass up. Next was the food.

We ate there. I was a little iffy about it at first. Even though I have my bottle of perscribed pills waiting here at the house for me when my stomach inevitably succumbs to the difference in food and lifestyle, I wasn't ready to take the plunge just yet. But everyone else was.

We stopped at a little stand that had a whole pig (like the one you see above...can I just take the time to draw your attention to the little plant sticking out the top...that's quality) and potatoes and other foods. I saw that the plates were prepared with barehands and this is what made me kind of reluctant. But, like I said, the rest of my group was gungho. I finally sat down and thought I might as well. I ate two plates. It was good. And only a dollar each plate. We talked to some of the people from there as we ate, practicing our little bit of Spanish.

Can I mention a little thing? It'll just take a second. But one thing I really love about Ecuador is their abundance of bootleg movies. Like, there's a store on every block. And I believe it's legal. It must be. I now have The Hulk 2, IronMan, Indiana Jones, Narnia 2, Hancock, and 10,000 B.C. in my possession. Total price: 9 dollars. Ok, told you it wouldn't take long.

It was about time to head over to Ilaman. We hoped on another bus and were there in about 10 minutes. It was a nice little simple town with a great view. Only thing was, our guide (Katlian the intern) didn't know where to go and couldn't really get in contact with Jenny. We asked around and soon were right where we needed to be: the house of the bride's family.
They welcomed us with open arms. Really nice people. They had a nice sized house which looked pretty bare, but I could appreciate the simplicity. The house was like a square, with the outside lines being the inside area and the middle being a small roofless encased space where they did their washing and cleaning and hanging of clothes. They had a huge plant in the middle that was really marvelous. On the other side were two rooms. One was where they kept the chickens and the guinea pigs (yes, I said guinea pigs, but I'll get to that later) and the other was where they skinned and prepared animals and other food like corn and potatoes.
I'm sure everyone has heard of a small world. Well, get this. When we got there was a guy in his mid thirties, with child, that is from Washington, DC and lives on my block! Ok, maybe he doesn't quite live on my block, but he is from DC. He had come to stay with Jenny 7 years ago and met the family threw her, fell in love with their culture and had ended up staying with them for 4-6 months and has been coming back for visits ever since. He was to be the equivalent of the best man in the wedding (Jenny the maid of honor). He told us how when he came in 2001 they were without electricity or anything and now they had electricity, running water, and even a TV with DVD Player. He wondered about the latter tho because we Americans are so used to the violence in media that we are more likely to censor our children's viewing (well, some of us) but that they just let their kids watch whatever on these new things because they don't know that they can be harmful. He also told us a little about the culture and how corn was a very big thing for them. Coincidentally, it was around then that someone brought us some kind of drink made from corn. It was good.

Jenny wasn't there yet but they knew who we were (or atleast who we were with) and took us in no questions asked. They gave us dinner and we helped them peel a bunchload of potatoes while chatting with them. From left to right that's me (of course), Jim, nice lady (sister of the bride I think), nice old lady (really funny, always cracking some sort of joke and the ones I understood I thought were good) and Laura. Don't blame me...I'm really bad with names. After this we pretty much retired and went to sleep cus it was: 1) cold as hell 2) good for us to go to bed early to get up early.

We all know that roosters are supposed to crow with the sunrise. Well, I knew that too. Or thought I knew. Let me say now: that is some BS. The sun rises in Ecuador at 6 am EVERYDAY. At 4:30 I was laying there with the sound of three (at least) roosters in my ear, one crowing and then the other two responding. On top of that there was a religious celebration going on that lasts for 8 days and every morning there is some sort of fiestas. So here I was, laying there at 4:30 in the morning with rooster crows and singing and fireworks going off. I didn't mind too much, especially since I had gone to sleep at around 9. I took out my booklight, opened my Stephen King book, and read.

The wedding was at 10 am. It was really nice and the church was really nice. Just everything was really nice. I didn't really catch all that was said, but I got the vibe, and it was good. I had met the bride and the groom the night before. They are 23 and 19, respectively. From what I got, there was a lot of talk about marriage being final and lifelong and that every marriage should bear lots and lots of children. Lots and lots. One very interesting guest at the wedding was a dog. Right in the church. I heard afterwards that he had been run out a few times but when I saw him he looked as at home as anyone else. All over Ecuador there are stray dogs EVERYWHERE. And this one was no different. At least he was quiet during the ceremony.

Afterward was, well, the afterparty, what else? It was at the groom's family's house. Lots and lots of people and lots and lots of food. One thing about this town is that it is very much a mixture of old and new. New like electricity, tv, dvd players, the girlie posters in one of the rooms I saw, the stereo system at the fiesta and this here cake. Old like the culture that they have preserved so well. The broom and bride are the ones in the picture above between the guy from DC (one with child) and Jenny (older woman). They served soup with some type of beef and, I'm pretty sure, all the different parts of a chicken that could possibly exist. Like, some of it looked like straight up brains mixed with heart. But I ate it. All. Family members would bring us the plates or walk around with a big bottle of Cola or alchohol and offer drinks. Every drank out of the same cup. They just poured a drink, passed it to someone and after they were done they'd take the cup back and refill, moving to the next person.

See all that food (and the stray dog lurking?)? They spread it out on this big blanket on the floor and then put a lot in a big basket and carried that around with a bowl. People used the bowl and their hands to scoop out a large serving. I had to try my hand. It was rice, different kinds of beans, and potatoes. It was a really large serving, as you can see. And it wasn't even the main course! I ate a good deal of it but then couldnt anymore. The crunchy corn was really good though. I ended up donating the food to someone's bag (guessing they would feed their stock with it). The main course was steak (I think), potatoes, and rice. It was good. But remember I mentioned the guinea pig? Well, I didn't mention that at 4:30 in the morning when I was hearing all kinds of sounds I also heard the squealing of some of them guinea pigs. I couldn't resist that thought that it was about to be on my plate.


Guinea pigs are eaten in this town during special occasions. And what is more special than a wedding? I didn't get to have any that day, but Jenny, bless her heart, brought some home and I had some last night. The smell is pretty bad and it takes like nothing and hardly has any meat. It would be bearable if it werent for the smell. I think I'll pass on guinea pig in the future.

Then, after eating, there was a few traditional dances that took place. One was were a couple at a time would go under a blanket held up by four people and do a little dance where they would clap hands and then go to each other and then back up, sometimes doing turns. I liked it. Simple and meaninful (I imagine). Then also some of the natives did a dance for the bride and groom. I must mention that I like the garb they all had on. It made me feel quite underdressed in my jacket and (dirty) air force 1's on.

All the time this was going on there was a man on the mic. He was like the MC, I guess. I couldn't figure if he was supposed to be the MC or if he had just a little too much to drink and took the job upon himself. He talked for an hour straight during the music, the dancing, the eating, etc, etc. Every few seconds he'd errupt in an interesting laugh. YE HE HE HEEEAAAWWW!!! He looked like he was really enjoying himself. His laugh was one of a kind, though. Real talk.

After the wedding we went home. I remember feeling like my stomach was doing a little too much at the wedding party but I am glad to announce that two days later I'm col. Not sick at all. Overall it was a great weekend.

And just to finish it off....we saw a great view when we got off the bus and were back in Quito.