What A Wonderful World

I just got back from the Easter celebration. The fanesca was excellent, and now I understand why they call it a meal. It literally had everything in it. I could barely finish a bowlful, while my dad had two bowls. I also met my mom´s brother Rodrigo, who actually knew where New Hampshire was! He even knew the capitol was Concord. It turns out he lived in Seattle for 33 years, so he speaks excellent English. He was so funny, I got asked if I wanted wine, and he repeated the question in English to me, as if I didn´t understand. I had white wine, which is my favorite, and when he found this out, he kept trying to give me the box (it was boxed wine). After eating the soup, I could barely finish off my big glass of wine. Afterwards, I talked to my mom´s family about Ecuador, my classes, the Easter traditions in the state, what I dislike about the US, and all that. I was talking so much that I didn´t realize how late it was. I walked home from my mom´s parents house, which is only about a mile and a half, but I wanted to do so before it got dark. That was my day! Tonight, my friends and I are going out to the bar to celebrate a late Saint Patricks Day. We don´t want to stay out too late because we have to get up early!

Happy early Easter to everyone! In Ecuador, Easter (Pascua) is very different compared to how we do it in the US. For starters, Easter to them isn´t on Sunday, but rather on Thursday and Friday, and depending on the region, even Saturday. That is the reason why here they say Felices Pasuas and not Feliz Pascua.
Anyway, the typical meal here is fanesca, which is a soup. It is very thick, so they count it as a meal. In the fanesca is bacalao (codfish), along with twelve different grains to represent each of the 12 apostles. They put fish as opposed to meat so they can eat it for Easter (because I forgot that during Lent, for whatever reason, you aren´t supposed to eat meat on Fridays). It varies from family to family, so I don´t really know what to expect in my soup. You can see a picture of it and read more about Fanesca here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanesca
For dessert, we have arroz con leche (rice pudding). I´ve never actually had rice pudding, but hopefully I´ll like it.
Since I don´t have school until Tuesday, my friends and I are going to Cotocachi and Ibarra, both are close to each other and about 2 and a half hours north of Quito. Cotocachi is known for its inexpensive high quality leather goods, so I am very excited. We are coming back on Sunday sometime, and then we are going to relax on Monday. The good news is that this upcoming week is our last day of classes in the first cycle. That means we get about a week off until the second one begins. However, the bad news is that once the second cycle ends, I have to leave.
I will tell you all about my trip to Cotocachi and Ibarra when I return on Monday. ¡Felices Pascuas a todos!