parade from JAN 6th.

Yesterday was a big holiday called the dia de los inocentes!Every year on January 6th there is a big parade at night and a lot of people dress up in crazy costumes and floats go down the street. The holiday is overall very dark and there are lots of people dressed up like the devil, ghosts and dead things. haha. Its usually pretty political and a lot of the floats are themed to what the country is struggling with politically. In the parade there was a lot about the petroleum oil issues of the country and there were dressed up plants with signs " clean water is life!" There were dancing insects and plants dancing under an oil rig and screaming and crying when the oil spout would open. There were hundreds of people in the streets and fried plantains and potatoe chips. They love fried papas= papas fritas= french fries with ketchup and mayonnaise. This is basically Ecuador's Halloween.

 little family during the parade

                                                       The next day for class we headed to  museo de banco. museum. Itw  I learned about all the different cultures within Ecuador. The culture and customs of the people living on the coast, the mountains, etc. It is a gorgeouss museum. My professor only tells me everything in spanish so luckily there are a lot of visual aspects of the museum I can understand without knowing what she was saying..

different things here from the US..

    I've learned to walk in boots up hill and on cobblestone to and from school..(half and hour each way)
  with pepper spray

i've gotten used to the loud random fireworks that go off at all hours of the night and during the afternoon.

i've enjoyed the experience of taking taxi's to and from places.

good large lunch portion meals- only  $2.50

and every family utilizes the millions of bakeries that line every street corner.