Wednesday, November 5, 2008

day of the saints and bus adventures

This past weekend was the day of the dead/day of the saints. This year was different than usual because there were a lot less people. Usually the cemetary is packed for the mass, but it was pretty sparse this time around. The cemetary is right across from my house so I just hung out and watched the goings on. I took some pictures, but didn't bring them this time around (I'll post them next time). My host family had a bunch of relatives visit from the coast so the house was pretty packed. I ended up cleaning out my storage closet so some of them could stay in there. And of course we ate guinea pig (apparently that's one of the main reasons people come from the coast, to enjoy the guinea pig). The other traditional foods are colada morada (a drink made from blueberries) and this bread made in the shape of a kid. There was also a dance in the evening which I attended briefly (the dances here generally start way past my bedtime and I'm not much of a night person either).
My bus adventure happened yesterday. I needed to go into town to pick up some supplies for making shampoo, so I got up early to catch the 4 o'clock bus. I got to the main square at 5 till, but must have just missed it. So I go back home planning on taking the student bus that takes kids from my town to Sigchos where there is the high school. From there I can catch another bus into Latacunga. I get on this bus no problem but about halfway there we run into a bad patch of road (it's been raining a lot lately) that takes about 20 minutes to navigate around. By the time I get into Sigchos the other bus has already left and there isn't another one until the afternoon. I can't really wait for that one because I have to meet up with my host mom in Latacunga to give her a list of things she needs to buy in town. So I wander around for while trying to see if I can hitch a ride on a truck. I eventually find one which is good, but have to pay a lot more than the bus fare (not so good). But I do make it into town finally, hook up with my host mom and get my shopping done. Luckily this all went uneventfully!

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