The Inevitable Awkward-ness of Beginnings

The beginning is awkward. Every exchange student, host parent, and host sibling knows this.

A couple of weeks ago, all of the AFSers in Ecuador participated in a short exchange to another city for a week. I got placed in Salcedo, a small mountain city about three hours from Guaranda. I was excited at the prospect of getting to spend a week in a new place, but I became a little less excited each time I asked anyone about Salcedo. I always asked what there was to do there and the only answer I got was "Nothing, but they have really good ice cream!" Well, I was determined to make the most of it, so I decided I try as many ice cream flavors as possible. 

I ended up getting really lucky. Not only did I land in the nicest family, but the volunteers in Salcedo had organized a couple of trips for us! We went to Quilotoa, a nearby volcano with a lake in it's crater, and to the amazon!

Quilotoa

Tena (in the Amazon!)

I also had a wonderful family. They were all incredibly caring and I got along well with them. My host mother willingly picked me up and dropped me off from wherever I need to go, even if it was the middle of the night (we got back from Tena around 1AM...). They took me to Quito and Ambato to see movies, to eat ice cream, and had me try all sorts of other things that I'd never had before. Of course they invited me back to visit any time I wanted and offered to take to to Cotopaxi (another volcano nearby) when I did. I cannot stress how caring and sweet they all were! 

And yet, no matter how great of a family they were, beginnings are inevitably awkward. Think about it: the concept of hosting/being hosted is that you go to live with people you've never met before, in a completely new place. Regardless of how weird that sounds, it's ultimately a wonderful experience. The thing that has to be understood, is that it's not going to be all rainbows and butterflies right away.

When you first move in with a family, you're treated more or less as a guest. Everyone is very polite with each other, and there's a lot of tiptoeing that goes on. This is especially true when it comes to exchange, because it's not just new people learning to interact with each other, it's different cultures as well. No one wants to  mess up and say/do something potentially offensive.  It's awkward, and no one really says anything about it, because admitting things are awkward feels like a strange thing to do. But that eventually goes away. You learn how to fit into your family, how you fit into the household and your new life. Sometimes, that's a hard adjustment for exchange students. We often gain more responsibilities and aren't treated like we're special anymore. But in the end, it's an important shift to make, because then you truly become part of the family, and that's where you learn the most.

I remembered all of this while I was with my short exchange family, because we were all very polite with each other and everyone kinda tiptoed around me. I remembered the first month that my family in the U.S. hosted Melissa and how I felt the need to constantly take care of her, because I knew that she was new to it all. I remembered the week that I spent with Tiril (the girl from Norway that my family is currently hosting) and all of the small talk we tried to make. Most of all I remembered my first weeks in Guaranda, when I was trying desperately to feel like part of my new family even though, most of the time, I wasn't sure what to do with myself. As much as I loved my family in Salcedo, my week with them made me miss my family in Guaranda and knowing where I fit in. 

Hasta luego,

Elisa

P.S. The ice cream really was fantastic!

Que Bonito es Carnaval!

There isn't much to do in Guaranda. It's a small city in the middle of the mountains, has very few tourist attractions, and it isn't particularly close to any other cities. All that being said, if you ask any Ecuadorian about Guaranda they will tell you one thing and one thing only: Guaranda has the best Carnaval celebration in all of Ecuador.

Carnaval usually falls on Valentines Day weekend, from February 13th to the 15th. In Guaranda, Carnaval is a month long affair that starts at the end of January and isn't over until mid-February. It starts in the schools. As first semester exams are taking place, school courtyards and the city's plazas turn into water war battle grounds. Kid throw water balloons and buckets of water at each other and even throw each other into the fountains. Do not think for a minute that it matters if you've got your uniform on, have a cell phone in your pocket, or you took the time to put makeup on that morning. Everyone is a target and no one is safe. Students start carrying their phones in plastic bags and make sure they have a full water bottle ready to retaliate when their friends attack. The first time I got soaked was when a classmate and I got a bucket of water thrown on us from a second story balcony. In the following weeks things escalated from getting pelted with water balloons as I left school to an an all out war in my school courtyard on one of the last days of classes.

The warfare continued all throughout Carnaval, but as the other celebrations started up it wasn't just kids who "played Carnaval" (that's what they call it here). Eventually the whole city was playing, and instead of just water people also threw flour, eggs, "pintura" (beer mixed with colored powder), and most of all "espuma". Espuma is essentially a foamier form of Silly String and ends up covering most Guarandeñans from head to toe at some point. While I thoroughly enjoyed playing Carnaval with my friends and family, after nearly a month of having to be on guard any time I left the house, I was happy to be able to come home dry at the end of the day. 

My cousin David and a little girl spraying each other with espuma in the park.

My friends and I covered in flour and "pintura" 

The second big part of Carnaval are the "comparsas" or parades. There are two or three different ones every day for about a week and a half. I'm pretty sure I watched 90% of them. The comparsas consist mainly of different dancing groups who all wear matching costumes and dance behind the truck carrying the speakers that blast their music. The majority of the groups are just regular people from schools, businesses, families, etc. who choreograph their own dance. I'd say the comparsas are 60% people dancing to reggeaton or salsa and dressed in what American's would consider tacky Halloween costumes and 40% people in traditional/indigenous clothing, dancing almost exclusively to the Carnaval song. There's not a lot of variety in the songs that people choose to dance to, so it's safe to say that I've had enough of Bailando, Fireball, and the Carnaval song for a lifetime. 

I participated in a few different comparsas. One was with my mother's school, in the comparsa of the elementary schools. The second was with my high school and the third was with a group of my family members. I absolutely loved the elementary school comparsa because hundreds of little kids dressed up together is basically the cutest thing in the world! 

Sunday, the day I participated with my school, is the biggest comparsa of them all. It's a four hour long ordeal that covers the entire city and is the most important event during all of Carnaval. No one believes in "The show must go on!" like Guarandeñans during Carnaval. How do I know this? Because mother nature decided to unleash the thunderstorm from hell during Sunday's comparsa. It was drizzling when we started, pouring a half an hour in, and by the time we got to the first big plaza hail was falling from the sky. I don't know about you, but I certainly thought that they would postpone the comparsa until the rain passed. That was not the case. My classmates and I, along with the rest of the parade, danced and smiled throughout the whole thing. It then rained on and off for the rest of the comparsa. Needless to say, I was completely soaked and frozen to the bone by the end. Nothing like four hours in the rain in an itsy-bitsy dress to give you a sore throat and the voice of a smoker for a week! Regardless of the rain, there were parts of the comparsa that I enjoyed, and if nothing else, I got a good story out of it.

Me and my wet classmates

The last big part of Carnaval are the fiestas in the city plazas. A big stage is set up at one end where various artists play sometimes good and sometimes crappy music, while the entire population fills up the rest of the plaza and dances. These fiestas are the main battlegrounds for espuma wars and there's no way to leave without flour-covered cheeks and wet clothes. This is also where the majority of the drinking goes on, although that happens during the comparsas too. I'm convinced that between pajaro azul, leche huevona, and pata de vaca (some of the special Carnaval drinks), half of Guaranda spends all of Carnaval in some state of drunkenness.

More Pictures! 

Most of these are from a professional dance exhibition in the central park.

I purposely waited a while to write about Carnaval, because I knew I needed to give myself time to process and appreciate it. Truth be told, I was excited for Carnaval to be over. I hadn't really known what to expect, but utter exhaustion wasn't part of my picture. I was tired of getting up early, standing and watching parades all morning, then dancing all afternoon/evening, every day for more than a week. I had expected more variety. 

I was also disappointed by how much pop culture was on display. I had thought Carnaval was more of a celebration of traditional, indigenous culture. That wasn't the case. What I've realized now is that Carnaval is just a celebration of Ecuador, all parts of it's culture included. You see everyone represented: indigenous groups from all regions of the country, groups who represent the more European traditions, and also just regular people dancing to popular music. I criticized how much popular culture was part of the show, because I didn't find the things I see in every day life  interesting. I see now that those things are just as much a part of Ecuadorian culture as anything else, and have every right to be celebrated as much as the rest, even if I don't personally find them as interesting.

Hasta luego,

Elisa