She’s beauty and she’s grace…

Of all of the things that I thought I would do in the Peace Corps, competing in a beauty pageant was most definitely not one of them…I have quickly learned to expect anything. The Peace Corps hosted a traditional Ecuadorian soccer tournament. Each community was a team (about 6 people per team and 13 teams). It is also customary for each team to elect a “Madrina” or a beauty queen as a representative. Through a highly selective process (paper, rock, scissors) I was elected as my teams beauty queen. Knowing very little about being a beauty contestant, my 8 year old host sister was eager to help. She helped me pick out my outfit and do my hair. I ended up winning 2^nd place and the title of Señorita Confraternidad.

After the beauty competition, I quickly changed into my team uniform. We were the Furios Duentes (a duente is basically a leprechaun that lives under the rainbow in the mountains of Santa Rosa. If you make him angry he will eat your fingers). We had jerseys made with rainbows down the sleeves and different colored socks—we also wore handlebar mustaches to complete the outfit. My team won 3rd place in the tournament (no thanks to me, the guy on our team had played soccer for his college team for 4 years and scored 14 of our 16 goals). It was a really fun day and a nice change from all of the classroom learning that we’d been doing all week.

Saturday was another great day. Santa Rosa was having the Rama de Gallos festival. My host family and I got dressed up in the traditional outfits of the area (my host grandma lent me her extra one). We climbed to the top of a gigantic mud covered hill (it’s been raining every single day and the roads are not paved). At the top, there were two Diablo Humos (a traditional dancing man) carrying the Rama de Gallos (a giant stick with 12 roosters tied to it—each rooster represents one day of the year). We start to dance down the hill with the Rama, followed by a pickup truck loaded with speakers and a live band. The road was so slippery, however, that the truck starts to slide down the hill and we all had to get out of the way fast. All of the guys had to walk the truck down the hill so that it didn’t kill us all. When we finally got to the bottom, we all danced in a giant circle (dancing here is pretty much just marching). My friend Michelle (another PC volunteer) was also there with her family. We danced in this circle for hours. By about 4 o’clock we needed a break from all the dancing, so we escaped to Ayora (the nearest town) to get some ice cream. We didn’t change our clothes though. We were such a sight! Two gringas dressed up in traditional clothes walking down the street eating ice cream. People were literally stopping us on the street to take pictures with us then laughing out loud at us. It was pretty funny.

When we got back to Santa Rosa, I continued to dance with my host family and Michelle’s family for another several hours. It was a really fun night—I have no idea what they eventually did with the roosters because by 10 pm I was so exhausted that I just went to bed. The party continued for the next 2 days.

Michelle and I were definitely the stars of the party (she was about 2 feet taller than everyone and I practically glow in the dark). Everyone was watching us, and now EVERYONE in Santa Rosa knows me by name. My host mother keeps telling me that community members are asking about me. Sometimes people say that they saw me on the bus talking to someone (I always make friends on the bus) and other times they see me in Cayambe (the nearest city). When I walk through the streets people run out of their houses and address me by name and offer me things (since it’s party time it’s usually a shot of corn alcohol). I especially love it when a hoard of children runs up to me to give me a hug (even though I have no idea who they are).

Class has been really interesting this past week. We’ve been learning more technical skills for when we get to our sites. I am also in a group called Tequenico (which is basically just agriculture/farm training). So far I’ve learned how to start an organic garden and to make cheese and yogurt. Next week we are learning how to make marmalade. Next Friday I will find out what my site is for the next 2 years then spend a week visiting my new home getting to know people and talking to the NGO’s and host organizations I will be working with. I’m a little nervous to find out where I’m going. Ideally, I would like to go to a rural town on the coast (I’m a little bit sick of the freezing cold of the Sierra). But I will be happy with whatever site they give me.