Tuve un cumpleaños maravilloso :D

(I had a wonderful birthday) I experienced my birthday in another continent, for the first time this year! And thankfully, it was amazing :) Although I did miss my family and everyone a little extra on Sunday, God definitely showed me the family that I have here in Ecuador.

My birthday weekend started with Saturday, skyping my family and close friends from home. Then I went out for lunch with my host sister and then my host family took me out to Pizza for my birthday. Yuuummm :) Later that night, I went out with my sister to her friend's birthday party. I met lots of her friends and had a good time talking and dancing. It was extra special because my sister told everyone that my sister was the next day, so everyone was kind of counting down. When it turned midnight they were hugging me and wishing me happy birthday. Then about every 15 minutes one of the girls would come up and be like birthday girl, wanting me to dance or have a drink. It was so much fun to bring in my birthday that way, and meet more amigos cuencanos!

The next morning I woke up early for an excursion and, after 3 short hours of sleep, was ready for a trip through Gualaceo. Gualaceo is a smaller town about an hour away (most of my extended family lives there, it is the town that I went to the first sunday here in Cuenca). We went and saw different artisans, which was so interesting, and went to the market. I will add some pictures.

After our excursion, I came home and did homework and took a short nap. Then we had an early dinner (6pm) with my family and they had a birthday cake for me! Little did I know, that the tradition here is for the cumpleañero to just take a bit of the cake, before cutting and serving it. So my family is telling me to take a bite, and I thought maybe they were kidding at first, but no they really wanted me to put my face into the cake and take a bite. So eventually I did and had frosting all over my face and it was a fun time.

Later, I met up with my friends from NPU in the center. We planned to dress up and go out for a late dinner. Well, it was Sunday. So of course it and pretty much every other restaurant was closed. However, we did find a restaurant and had a nice light dinner/dessert. Then, my friends wanted to stop by cafe austria so we could say hi to our friends (the waiters) and they could wish me a happy birthday. On the way, mass was getting out so we stopped and got cotton candy!

When we walked into the cafe, our friends Darwin and Pablo had decorated a corner of the restaurant for me!! I was completely surprised. So we all sat down and they made us snacks and hung out. Then they brought out a big chocolate cake that said happy birthday abby on it. Darwin had made the cake, and it is the kind they serve by piece at the cafe. So ultra vez, they sang "cumpleaños feliz" (they don't sing it "cumpleaños a ti" here). This time I knew what to do and took a big bite and of course got my face smashed into the cake. Good times. We had a wonderful time just hanging out and it really felt like my birthday :) Later, I also got to make coffee on the expresso machine at the cafe and they asked me to help out when they are busy, hah!

The next day, I had my third birthday cake when everyone from our group, our professor, and the directors at CEDEI (our school) had a little birthday celebration for me after class, with chocolate cake (que rico!!) and ice cream. I also received a birthday card from my family this day :) thanks my loves!

I had a wonderful birthday and really felt like it was a special day!! 2 decades down :D

Sarah and I :)

All dressed up :D

Part of the group at the first restaurant.

Cotton Candy outside of the cathedral :)

The our friends who surprised me :)

La playa para el Carnaval!

Carnival is a huge deal here. Many people go to the coast or somewhere warmer for the weekend. We went to a small coastal town Montañita, which is very popular during carnival. It is a very hippie and crazy party beach. (It was way too loco for our group, but we still loved the experience and playing at the beach.) We left on Saturday morning (6am) and returned Tuesday evening; Monday and Tuesday were off of school for Carnival. 

Pictures from Montañita:

On our way, driving through Guayaquil, definitely not as pretty as Cuenca.  

Right outside of our hostel. We think they finally turned off the music 

from 6am-10am, the only time the town slept.

The beautiful sunsets, every night. Look at the cute family!!

He was really excited to get in this picture.

Such a beautiful beach! :D

The waves and so many people! 

Thumbs up for parasailing!! 

Strapped up, ready!!!

There went Becky!!

Video of my take off :)

Carnival: get ready to be foamed and hit with water!

Espuma! 

Toes at the beach. we need to go get those $3 pedicures.

Hangin' in the hammocks on the porch of our hostel :)

Porch, looking to more hostels and all the crazy people partying at Montañita.

Las chicas :)

Oh crowded playa.

Allison and I :)

Becky and I being marveled at God's beauty for us!!

Video of la playa.

We saw this man pain this mural, start to finish.

Sunset, praise the Lord for this beauty :)

Panama Hat Factory!

Every afternoon we have activities and this was our activity last Monday. Did you know that Panama Hats actually originated from Ecuador? They were shipped up to Panama and then from there shipped elsewhere  which is where they gained their name. They are very typical here. YAAAYY CUENCA!

So they showed us how it's done:

Panama Hat Factory, on Calle Larga.

Some of the many mechanisms used to make the hats.

Panama hat skirt, say what!?

Hall of Fame

Hats for days!

They still use this today to size the head of the hats!

Summer sun :)

Back to the 1920's

Witch? or 1950's?

Whole mix, favorite is Becky's visor, or maybe Allison's driving hat.

Southern woman going to church.

Some many different hats! and these are just a taste. :D

Saraguro weekend :)

Last weekend we went to Saraguro for the weekend. Saraguro is an indigenous community about 3 hours south of Cuenca. It is very rich in its culture and roots; known to have survived the spanish colonization. We arrived on saturday afternoon and spent time learning about their way of life. That night we went to a traditional dinner and danced to traditional music. The next morning we had a wonderful breakfast and then attended a ceremonial ritual. We then went to the market and later had a traditional lunch where, for the first time, I tried cuy (guinea pig!). Here are some of the pictures:

Stopped on the way to look at the beautiful scenery. You can see the "inca trail."

Saraguro!

Bus ride to the indigenous house museum.

Indigenous house museum, where we ate our box lunch.

Our janky bus :)

A family showed us their multiple different types of looms and beautiful textiles.  

Video of the son making an incredibly detailed table cloth.

The band playing traditional music, which we danced to and had a blast!

Listen to them play!

Reminded us of the proposal (shout out to my girl Lindsay!)...they are preparing for the ceremonial ritual.

After the ceremony was finished. They worship pacha mama (think Mother earth and more).

One of the offerings and center burnings for the ritual.

Our awesome guide! (This is where he grew up.) 

Our traditional lunch. That is pollo, the cuy is hiding (it was a small piece, and not too bad-for a pet). There is also barley, cheese, hard boiled egg and bread.

The younger boy was practicing and we asked him to play for us. Such a sweet family!

It's like Seattle, there really are mountains back there, but you would never know. Shout out to the beloved fog.

Only in Ecuador...

...would they ever start a fire in the stands, during half time, for warmth. A real fire! This was hilarious, I had to take a picture:

...would becky and I ever get so into a soccer game:

                                   would we see a flaming torch (?) running through the stands:

I never thought of fire and soccer games going so well together....but hey, they say "studying abroad broadens one's perspective." Este es la verdad. 

LOCATION: I went to a Cuenca game with my host sister, her boyfriend, and the NPU group. ¡¡¡¡¡GANAMOS!!!!