Espuma, Big Buses and Small Roads

Today our group fully embraced Carnival.  Now since that is a great story and out of order from yesterday's frightening bus ride I'll continue in proper sequence and add some photos today.

Oh and a brief update on the mystery of the sudden onset illness that plagued the group.  The culprit:  phytohaemagglutinin, a toxin found on uncooked beans.  While we were out picking corn there were also beans growing in the field and Slav (UMDNJ), John (UMDNJ), Amy (New Mexico) and Trissa (Medical College of Wisconsin) decided to partake in feasting but rest easy they have all recovered completely.  Ok, now onward and upward - literally up into the mountains and above the clouds.  Sounds amazing right?  Well, the photo ops were amazing but the very big bus on the very small road on the very steep cliff was terrifying.  I'm talking dirt road and very tight corners.  At one point the back wheel slid a bit and well we definitely strategized to jump to the other side of the bus to put all the weight on the side opposite the huge cliff.  But hey we lived to tell about it.  So maybe you are wondering what the heck a bunch of Americans were doing on a bus up in the middle of nowhere.  The community where we went was Padre Chupa which only has about 50 people.

As we neared the school up in the mountains that we used for our clinic there was a family on the side of the road who were all showering together outside.  I'm not sure who was more surprised us to see them or the family to see a huge bus full of gringos in their rural community.  The one room schoolhouse became our new clinic and people poured out of the woodwork for a few hours as we saw patients at our miniature tables and chairs more appropriately sized for those 3-10 years old.  This clinic was less chaotic now that we have the routine down and I can now understand almost all of what someone says to me - now speaking that is a different story.  My brain and tongue can't seem to keep pace with each other. 

After our journey back down the mountain we went back to the El Mercado into Otovalo.  I bought a gorgeous piece of artwork made out of corn that will look beautiful in my living room, wherever that living room may be be over the next 5 years.  On the way home we spent the journey dodging children with water, espuma and corn starch died all variety of colors.  I was super annoyed by this situation considering I was still in clinic clothes and carrying a new piece of artwork that wouldn't agree with water. Anne and I made it back only getting espuma'd once - I think my look of death helped fend off most of the little devils. 

In the evening we went to see Nanda Manachi, a farely well known band from Ecuador who lives here in Peguche.  We watched the lead member make one of his small instruments out of reeds in about 5 minutes and it was amazing.  Afterwards he demonstrated all the instruments and let us play with them.  Let's just say I'm not musically gifted and the only thing I could get to work was a whistle and that was even a bit of a struggle.  I guess I'm not as full of hot air as some people claim, eh hem, family, you know who you are :).  Needless to say it was awesome except for the street fight we were in the middle of on the way there - hmm, sometimes espuma goes wrong when there are too many teenage boys with their high testosterone and unmyelinated frontal lobes running wild on the streets.

It's literally like a war zone here with children running rampid along the streets.  Today we decided to give up and partake in the festivities.  So armed with espuma, bombas and corn starch we hit the streets.  The pack of gringos held our own.  Since John gave me some of his powder and starch I was able to fight back when I got espuma'd in the face many a time.  It was actually a blast.  One teenage punk espuma'd all of us as he was driving by so I sailed a bomba right through his open car window, muahaha - he wasn't expecting us to fight back.  As we returned we were all covered in mud, very colorful powder and espuma juice.  We have some awesome photos, stay tuned.

We are getting ready to leave for Temescal now which is basically a three hour sweat followed by cookign traditional food in a stone pit.  More on that excitement tomorrow.

Now I'm going to look carefully out the window before bolting back to my room in an attempt to avoid the packs of children running through the streets with their "weapons".  Carnival was a blast while we were willing particpants but now we are back in avoidance mode.

Hasta luego amigos!

P.S.  If you are dying for more reading Linds writes a lot more often than I do:  portlandiatoecuador.blogspot.com