Fiestas de Quito...and my other national holidays

Felices fiestas!

This has been a year of national/municipal holidays for me. First, I started the national holiday glory by being home for the 4th of July, which was great. I got to celebrate with lots of family and friends, and I ate (veg) BBQ food, coleslaw, and gourmet picnic food thanks to my almost-chef friends while drinking American beer- an American success!

In September, I returned to Chile just in time for their national holiday, el 18 de septiembre. The dieciocho is really like a week-long celebration. Alvaro and I celebrated by going to Yom Kippur services (nothing to do with dieciocho, but it happend to coincide) with his family, and by making falafels as our contribution to the break-the-fast/18sept. feast. Not very Chilean, but later in the evening, we went to the ramada del alejo barrio, an enormous fair with booths where you could eat, drink, watch traditional dances, and in general just festejar. I ate empanadas, flew kites (typical holiday activity with the family), and drank a pisco sour- a Chilean success!

Now, here I missed the NATIONAL independence day (10 de agosto), but I think I made up for it by participating in the municipal independence celebrations in Cuenca AND Quito. Cuenca's celebrations were at the beginning of November, and the official day of indepdence is 6 de diciembre here- it's a national holiday and no one has to work. In Cuenca I celebrated by eating locro de papas (a delicious, creamy potato soup served with avocado and cheese slices) and drinking canelazos (a drink with naranjilla- a orange-like fruit juice, cinnamon, and aguardiente)- a Cuencano success!

The fiestas de Quito started Friday in the afternoon for a lot of people. I went out to lunch with some classmates, but we had to return to the University in the evening to finish our last class before the festivities could begin. The University hosted several events, including the election of el Quiteño Buenote, kind of like a "Mr. Quito" competition mostly poking fun at the female beauty pagents in Quito around this time of year. I ate lots of yucca, green bananas (starchy and not at all sweet), hearts of palm (no meat for me), and I drank Pilsner beer- the national Ecuadorian beer.

Yesterday I was not very patriotic and spent the day in my apartment, working on an essay. But in the evening, I met with more friends and classmates and we went to the south of Quito (Quito is seriously enormous- the south is at least 1.5 hours from the north of the city) for a big concert. We went to see Calle 13! Calle 13 is a Puerto Rican hip-hop/reggaeton/latin influenced band that has alternative/satirical/political lyrics. They're composed of step-brothers and their sister, and it was awesome, or as they say here, suuuuuuper chevere! The concert was free, and there were lots of tents with food and other goodies. I ate llapingachos, which are possibly my favorite "typical" Ecuadorian food- potato patties. The plate also came with salad, tomatoes, onions, a fried egg, an avocado slice, and some beets. I wish I had something to drink there- I left the concert really dehydrated! So I guess that was not so much of a Quiteño success, but Calle 13 was worth it!

So that's the (not so) brief history of my national holiday celebrations. Three countries (and four celebrations) in one year is pretty impressive!

Today there are bullfights, more parades, and plenty of typical food and drink to be consumed, but I'll be studying something not Ecuadorian at all- the conflict in Northern Uganda and the democratic relations between Uganda and Sudan as a result! But I've got to finish this essay soon...Alvaro comes tomorrow evening to stay until April, and I don't want to be working on essays all the time! (even though I definitely will be- there are so many essays to be written)

If you have a moment, eat a banana today and think of Ecuador!