First bottle of hot sauce is gone

Saturday September 11th
There was a front page article in the Cuenca paper about mourners gathering at ground zero in New York today. It was well written and sympathetic from what I understood.
Later that day I met up with Clint, a PCV who lives an hour outside of Cuenca, to go with the Scouts to an orphanage. As it turns out there was a kink in the plan and we ended up not going to the orphanage. Instead we played a few games and helped brainstorm community service projects and fundraising ideas for the Scouts.
After the meeting Clint and I met up with two other PCVs, Jaime and Miguel(PC loves acronyms) at the Cuenca house. Some family apparently has extra space in their house and likes volunteers. So the deal is we get a bed, clean sheets, a key to the house all for the shockingly low price of $3.50. Most hostels cost at least $10 a night.
So the four of us went out to grab a few drinks a play some good old Texas hold’em. The buy in was a dollar, and Clint who has the least card experience of us all walked away with the big pot of $4. Later on in the night we stopped by a club to dance, but only stayed for a few minutes as we were all tired.
Sunday September 12, 2010
Ceviche for breakfast! For those readers who missed that blog I shall explain. Ceviche is a delicious seafood soup with a base of citrus juice (orange and lime), tomatoes and onions. Serve that up with a little hot sauce, of course rice, and some fried plantains all for a $1.50. Perfect PC breakfast.
Since I do not get much in the way of dairy products in my diet I treated myself to an Oreo milkshake for lunch. I am glad I did, it was perfect. I really dislike the feeling of having a craving for food, getting it, and then being disappointed because it is not up to par.
Today was our cluster picnic/meet and great. A cluster is the volunteers who live within 5 hours by bus from a major city, more or less. So in my cluster there is about 10 PCVs. Most of us met in Parque Calderon, which is in the center of Cuenca to catch a pick up to the park.
I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the park. It had multiple full sized futbol fields (do not call it soccer) volley ball courts, basketball courts, a surplus of benches, vendors, wild dogs, domesticated dogs, a few undomesticated PCVs, paddle boats, a pond for the paddle boats and a very long line for the boats and an even longer sentence to explain it.
We talked about our sites and hometowns and crazy stories. After awhile I was overcome by the urge to pass out and did just that. Not from a lack of interest in the conversations, but just because. There is something serene about sleeping in the grass on a warm day.
So after an all day event of snacking on homemade cookies, cheese, crackers and salami we were hungry for dinner. To me this was a good sign that I am still the same person I was in the US. So we walked west towards the city and stopped at the Mexican place I had been to the week prior.
After my burrito, guacamole and salsa I was ready to be in my bed to commence my food coma. However I had a thought, brief and fleeting as most of mine are. Are there buses to my site at this time of night on a Sunday? It is only 8pm, there should be. If I had an Iphone I would have know that there were not. But I do not own one, so hear is a quick story.
I get to the bus stop and see two women waiting which was a good sign so I thought. After about 20 minutes a beat up looking white station wagon rolls up stops and out comes an off duty mall Santa. This guy was a spitting image of Father Christmas. He asked the ladies “taxi?” He looked at me and asked the same. I wish my Spanish was better because I would have asked him what would he say if he was in my shoes. But alas my language ability is not there yet and I simply said “no gracias.”
Being a gringo sucks because you attract unwanted attention. Being me can be a pain because I have a bum magnet. They pick me out and talk to me, just me, even when I am in a crowd of people.
He then proceeded to tell me in broken English that my Spanish was very good. I thought to myself for a second. I said two words, one of which is an English word as well so I really only said one. And gracias might as well be English. Sir you need to work on flattery skills because as of now I am still not riding in your busted vehicle with you behind the wheel.
Shit. I paused too long. I was then told his life story. He lived all over the US, Chicago, New York and L.A. However provided little details, so I figured he was bull-shiting me. So I told him I lived in Tokyo for most of my life and practiced Kung Fu as child. At least it passed some time, about 40 minutes or so. I also figured if potential muggers saw me talking to this guy, they would not even bother with us and move on to look for people who might actually have something worth stealing.
At this point it was getting late and my poor diet was catching up with me and consuming my patience. So I went to hail a legit taxi. I felt rude, but when it comes to my safety I do not mind be a little bit of an asshole. He asked me why I do not let him take me. I told him it is illegal for me as an employee of my company to take an illegal cab. That answer was good enough and I hailed a cab and was in Baños and in my baño in no time. Worth the $4.
11:38pm, just fallen asleep. Nuclear sirens! What the fuck?! This was a scene straight out of an old war movie combined with a comedy. I jumped out of bed fumbled in the dark for my pants, shirt and started down the stairs trying to get dressed in one motion. My brothers saw this and just laughed at me. I am glad that clumsy is funny worldwide.
When we got outside most houses in my hood had people outside not looking overly concerned. I asked Pablo what all this was about. Apparently if there are thieves, riots or some kind of crime going on they “sound the alarm.”
After 10 minutes of nothing, everyone seems satisfied and head inside.
Sleep.
The rest of the week September something to today,
I realized my blog entries have become a bit repetitive and thought I would spice them up a little bit.
So here is a list of likes and dislikes and whatever else.
1. Rice, I am glad I like it. I know I have said it before, but it is a sanity saving factor.
2. Dislike that the V button on my keyboard is not functioning as well as before.
3. Dislike the lack of beer variety here, but like that I can get a G&T for $1.50 at the places I frequent on my weekend getaways.
4. I am not a big fan of the intimidating barking dogs on this one road in my town. But it is a good substitute for the instant coffee. (Rabies shots are up to date)
5. Glad I brought my guitar.
6. I like my town, but not the random fireworks at odd hours of the night.
7. I like that most of the veggies I eat are grown out back behind our house by Rosa (the grandmother)
8. I had cuy Tuesday and the experience was much more enjoyable this time around. Also, I was extremely hungry.
9. DVDs cost a dollar fifty! Not that I buy them… because that would be a violation of copyright laws.
10. The Coca Cola is way better here because it is made with real sugar!
11. Ice cream has made its way into my diet more so than back in the states and I am ok with that.
12. Dislike the way my jeans are too big. A problem some Americans pay to have.
13. Dislike that someone or group repainted the futbol field before I could.
14. Happy it got painted though!
15. I like that so many people read my blog and give me feedback and questions. Thanks everyone!
16. Like that my Spanish skills are improving and that my mistakes are still funny.
17. Like the updates Nanny and Pops!