Fiestas

Reading: East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Typical Ecuadorian fiesta

Well, this is the weekend of the fiestas of Milagro, so I figured that this would be a good time to elaborate a little on what exactly is involved with an Ecuadorian fiesta, specifically those that are hosted by a community/city. Warning: this may get a little graphic… if you’re particularly attached to roosters, you might want to skip this one.

Anyway, the best comparisons that I have for fiestas here is like a county fair… or for a bigger city like Milagro, think state fair. Anyway, the fiesta is held on the date the community was founded but the shenanigans usually start several weeks before that date, with the finally weekend of dancing, drinking and debauchery.

Have you tried this weird animal yet?

Reading; The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Good mornin' Mr. Iguana

I ate iguana. Enough said.

I guess a little back-story on this occurrence may be warranted, although I feel as if the statement alone is sufficient. Basically, people here, especially the guys love to play this game with me that should have the name “have you tried this weird animal yet?"

Most of the time, my answer is no, since animal in question is usually something like snake, zorro, squirrel, carbora, guinea pig, rabbit, iguana, etc. A few days ago, we were going through the motions of this game yet again and the point came up that I still have not had the pleasure of eating iguana. At the time, I really didn’t think much of the conversation. But last night when one of the little boys in Chimbo showed up at my door while a I was making dinner to tell me that his brother had gone out and shot me an iguana at the river and his mother was grilling it for me.

Vet Bills: Lesson Learned

Reading: Empire Falls by Richard Russo

What my $8 kitten is costing me these days:

A very pregnant Denali

• Sterilization shot from shoddy vet - $12
• Sonograph to determine the source of mystery lumps - $45
• Hysterectomy - $120 
• Oophorectomy - $40
• Antibiotics - $9

Total cost: $226

Lesson learned: Just get your cat spayed the normal way, BUT make sure that it's done by a legit vet... and stay away from sterilization shots - they result in swollen mammary glands and an infect uterus and ovaries. Bad story.

Side note: I'll be back in the states for a nice little vacay (and Miranda & Mitch's wedding) in 25 days. So excited.

Infección de Garganta

Reading: The Moral Equivalent of War by William James

So on Sunday I managed to come down with a nasty case of something that left me with a fever and some good old body aches. Normally this would not be all that worrisome, simply remedied with some self-prescribed Tylenol, water and sleep. However, we are not in normal, this is Ecuador, which means that fever and body aches could be a whole host of things, the most problematic being malaria and dengue.

Now, I personally ruled out the two worse extremes, mainly because I’m currently taking mephaquin for the malaria and I’m told that dengue feels like death itself, which my state of being could not be exaggerated to. On Monday, since I was still freezing even though it was clearly hot out, my neighbor, Marilyn, decided that we need to confirm my claims by rubbing me down from head to toe with a raw egg. The idea is that the egg will absorb whatever ailment is possessing you, so when it is cracked open in a glass of water, one can read the position of the yoke and albumen to determine what is actually wrong with the patient. My egg voodoo confirmed that I indeed had a fever, no thermometer needed.