Parties and a Hitchiker - Day 151

Down to my last month of my trip. Feels kinda funny saying that, I've made it through 5 months of travelling around down here. I am feeling too, about ready to come home. I got what I came for, what I came for is not actually clear, but I got it anyway. It's all good.

This has been a week for party and celebrations, big, small, drunk, sober, wild and more subdued. Catching up with last Wednesday. I got back to Las Tunas in just as Antonio's graduation ceremony was getting underway, He's just graduated from Grade 2, and Miriam is thrilled. There was a sizable crowd there for the ceremony, I thought I was one other foreigner in the group. I sat, watched, and took photos. Some of the older children made short speeches, impressive for 12-year-olds. It is customary at the end to eat and too toast with champagne, which was handed out in small plastic shot cups. This however, as I learned very quickly, was Ecuadorian made wine, which, true to what my Lonely Planet guide noted, should not be experimented with, it was perhaps the most vile liquid I've ever had to drink. Rinsed the taste out with water.

Unfortunately, that evening, I was doomed to have to drink some more of the stuff, this time for Robertson's grad ceremony (elementary school graduation, Grade 7). Right before it I was bitten by a little terrier-esque dog on my way to Fernando's house (no blood, but boy did that little dog piss me off), and have a vendetta with it now. I was official family photographer, but for the ceremony, they'd hung incandescent bulbs from every available ceiling space, which blurred my digital camera, and I only got a couple of clear photos. Then the dreaded wine, however, someone, perhaps thinking a foreigner would come, had put out a bottle of good quality Dewar scotch, which was much more enjoyable, I taught Aurelio how to mix it with Pepsi, of which there was also a good supply. Dinner and cake were eaten, then the music started. I'm already tired from all the celebrating that day, and the sound system they had was horrendous, and made my ears numb, so I left a little early after dancing a bit. Overall though, it was a brilliant day. I went to sleep full, happy, and without the taste of the bad champagne.

Thursday. There were no parties (I assume people need time to recover from each one), and it was cloudy and dreary out, so I went to Lopez, and achieved one of my big to-do's, and hitchiked to town. I was to go in and pick up some nails for Miriam (for the cabaña construction); she'd been busy around the house all day and didn't have time to go herself. So I caught a lift in the back of a pickup to Lopez. Surprisingly, the dirver didn't ask for money, usual for most South American lift-giving. I found the "ferreteria" or hardware store where I was sent to get the nails. The guy at the counter Ignacio, who also happens to be the husband of Rosa, one of my other Las Tunas friends, was helpful, and gave me a door knob as well, he told me Miriam needed it. I had lunch down on the beach (some of the hottest hot sauce I've ever tried, and caught a water tanker truck back to Las Tunas. Even more surprising, he didn't ask for money either. I just got to Lopez and back without paying. I tried surfing in the afternoon, it seems I've forgotten what I learned in Hawaii, although Fernando tried to teach me. All in all, this was my hitchiking day, and I accomplished one of the big things on my list for this trip. Awesome.

Friday, another day, another party. Fernando's grad ceremony. This is the big one, he's done Grade 12, and finished school. In the morning, I went with Edisons 1 and 2, Robertson and Ellsa to the river south at Ayampe. Ellsa did laundry, and Ed Senior washed his truck in the river, despite a sign on the other side of the river that explicitly forbid washing vehicles in the river. I ask Ed about this, he says it's fine on THIS side of the river. I ask if the police would share this sentiment if they saw him at it. Ed says he'll have the police deport me if I test the theory. We go up to Lopez after the cleaning for the grad ceremony. Apparently, the ceremony doesn't start for another hour, and I suddenly find that everyone's left me sitting on the sidewalk, and not knowing where to go, I go down to the beach and have a beer. I come back to find that everyone has gone back to Las Tunas to get ready for the party that evening, and that I basically missed the ceremony. Craaaaap! Everyone turns up again in the evening, and I'm requisitioned to move a large quantity of beer out of the house into a giant bucket out front. We go back into the school area for the party, I'm regalled by a an amazingly drunk man, who I was told was the school principal, who asks me repeatedly the same questions, each time more slurred than the last. He seemed convinced I was German, and knocks his beer into mine in an attempted cheers, but does so so hardhe pours my beer all over the gentleman sitting on my other side. I take his beer away from him, in the interests of public safety. Our group is sitting at the back of the several hundred people there for the ceremony, I can barely see the dance area up front. The dancing begins, but I'm not there for very long, because Antonio is really tired and they decide it's time to take him home. We drive back to L.T. the night is clear and starry as I fall asleep that night. Beautiful day.

Saturday was quiet, much like Thursday, and the electricity is out, so I go rock-hunting on the beach. David and Fernando give me a long surfing lesson in the afternoon; I think I'm finally getting the hang of this now. Sat and watched the other surfers on the beach as the sun went down, it's one of those times that makes me feel like I really am living in Paradise. I get into a sand and mud fight with David, this being the first day of Carnaval here, various fights would break out amongst the local populace over the next few days. I managed to lock myself out of my room, climb over the wall into my room, and unlock the door, and restore the chairs and buckets I'd moved around to achieve this right before Aurelio came in the door. No harm done, right? Fernando's mom was sick that day, they tell me she picked something up from the river, but assure me it isn't dengue. David keeps asking when I think I'll come back to Las Tunas, I kind of avoid the question, as I have no idea, and don't want to damage his hope with that it might be many years before I can come back. Things will be okay right? Life goes on...

Sunday. It's raining hard again today, and the electricty's back on, so I go to Lopez to upload photos (FYI I'm on Flickr now, search for Andres Paz). I don't leave until late, and have to hitch home, which costs me a whopping $3. Guess that's karma for you, but Miriam had made delicious calamari ceviche for dinner, so it balanced out in the end. Yesterday, I had issues with my fly net in the night, and ended up getting bitten lots during the night, as a result woke up very grumpy and sleep-deprived. Ugh! Had a woman up the road do my laundry (I still don't know how they make that squeaky sound with the soap). Lay in a hammock most of the afternoon. Had a couple of beers with Aurelio on the beach in the evening, where he asked me about the relative costs of a bottle of beer and what age people get married at in Canada. I reckoned that people tend to marry older in more developed countries because they have longer lives and having kids isn't so pressing. One of those good ol' discussions about living in a foreign land.

This brings us today. Electricity was out this morning, but came back on, so I was able to write this update.