Four fiestas and a wedding

So I finally have a little time to write about some of the things I´ve done with the family that have made staying with them infintely better than my homestays in Guatemala. The first was a wedding, which wasn´t all that different from a US wedding. The service was a Catholic mass of course. I think it lasted about an hour, which is actually shorter than I had expected. At one point in about the middle we all clapped, at another point (not the end) everyone shook hands, and some people took communion, but other than that I don´t really know what happened. There was no "you may now kiss the bride" moment though. There were TONS of ring bearers and flower girls, but no visible best man/maid of honor or bridesmaids/groomsmen. The aisle at the church didn´t seem very wide and had wrought iron pedestals with lit candles on top (read: not study) and there was mumbling amongst my family about whether the bride, her father and her dress would fit down the aisle. I was doubtful and was staking out the nearest exit in case of a fire. There was also a woman working as "The Wedding Planner" who was maybe 400 pounds - not something you see every day in Ecuador. My host mother whispered to me "que impressionante, la gorda" which translated to English means something like "what do you think of the fatty?" Which I don´t think most people would say at home. But apparently here gordo/gorda isn´t really an insult - I heard my favorite cousin call her husnad "gordo." But as one teacher explained it is different to call someone you know that as a nickname as it is to use it about someone you don´t know.

Once the wedding was over we went to the party at the bride´s house. Before the meal there was a chocolate fountain with fruit, little chocolates, and cold cuts. A slightly odd combo of appetizers. And my mother and I were a little too slow getting up to get them and the tables were practically cleared out by the time we got there. There were 300 people at the wedding, and about 90% were family - I can´t imagine a family that big. They served us a lunch that wasn´t enough for me, and I almost asked the caterers for another piece of whatever the meat with stuffing was, but held back. It took a while for the dancing to start but once it did everyone danced - young and old, cousins with cousins etc.

There was one terrifying moment at the wedding where all the single people had to go on stage. Of the 300 people there only about 11 girls and 8 guys were up there! We had to stand in a row while the bride and groom offered up a garter. Then they picked a number between 1 and 20 and the lucky girl who guessed the right number had the garter slid up her leg by one of the guys who chose a number between 1 and 10. And it wasn´t just one garter. Or two, or three...he just kept pulling them out of his pocket. And then the groom took a garter off the bridge - one for each leg. I was terrified of being one of the ones who got the right number so I kept guessing low and finally it was over. While up there, I asked the girl next to me if the final garter was in fact the last one, and clearly in that one word I didn´t sound like Spanish was my native language, and she came over to me later with a glass of whisky to chat - she had spent some time in Arizona - and bring me to dance. In the end I left with my host parents about 7:30.

And the birthday parties. Apparently in Ecuador it is a tradition to surprise the person at midnight on their birthday. Now, if it is a tradition it doesn´t sound to me like it can be much of a surprise. But one night I headed out with my host mother, her brother and sister and Alzheimer-affected mother, who I barely understand but rivals me in her passion for eating - to a town 1/2 hour away, at around 10 pm. There we went to one house that had about 30 people and waited there until 11:15. Then we drove to another house and stood around outside in the cold for 2o minutes (not my favority part) while a singer and piano player set up speakers outside the house. People were walking around talking, laughing and sometimes shushing each other. Then around 11:40 music started blaring (the neighbors must have loved that) and the singer sang a song. Slowly we all filed in. The birthday girl was turning 40, and she, her parents and kids were all in their pyjamas. The singer then set up inside and sang more songs and every so often yelled "Que viva la compleanas!" and the rest would all clap and then yell "Que viva sus tios!" "Que viva sus primos!" The birthday girl and her father even got up to initiate some dancing (I give a lot of credit to a 60+ man who dances in his robe at midnight). So then everyone had to get up and dance. Some of the ladies decided to turn back up dancer to the singer and were dancing supremes-style in back of her. At one point someone passed around a bown of what looked to me like Rice Krispie treats but tasted like fried pork rind dipped in fish oil. Needless to say I didn´t have seconds but everyone else was eating them up. There was also canelezo, a hot drink of lemon, cinnamon (LBH I can picture you gagging right now) and a local alcohol , a sort of rum that costs about $2 for 750 ml called Zhumir. At around 1 am everyone left. That was Wednesday. Friday we went back to the house for dinner and cake, and there were more people there.

The next week there was another birthday like that, for one of the uncles who is very nice to me even though I clearly understand nada (ok that isn´t true but when everyone is talking to each other its 99% true). While my mother told me about it at dinner, I didn´t understand, and was in my room watching TV in my pjs when I heard a ton of noise from the street around 10 pm. And I was sitting there thinking "don´t people want to sleep?" And then there was lots of noise from downstairs, and my mother came up and said to come downstairs. So I go down in my pj pants and theres about 20 people in the house. We all left around 11:30 and didn´t go very far to the birthday man´s house, where he was clearly expecting people because everyone was awake and there were chips out. And then the next night we returned for a dinner...which was just a sort of canneloni. Not even cake! I went to bed a little hungry that night.

Tonight is a graduation from university of one of the nieces, who studies pyschology. If I understand my host mother correctly, she has a heart condition and could drop dead at any moment. So it will be something to celebrate.

Miss everyone like crazy!