Carnaval celebrations and empanadas.

The last few days have been super busy. Thursday was a pretty average day, meaning we went to Spanish class and then came back for a community dinner, which included the guys. After we had all enjoyed some delicious taco salad, the guys disappeared for a minute and came back spraying us with giant cans of foam. Luckily we had all finished dinner, because the place was a mess! Everyone was covered in foam, as was our dining area. To Americans, this just sounds like a weird prank, but this is actually a very normal occurrence here in Ecuador during Carnaval. In the past, Ecuadorians used to launch water balloons at strangers in the streets and even poured buckets of water, gasoline, or urine on people at times. I've heard the country just goes crazy during this time. However, the city of Quito has really cracked down on some of the craziness, so stores here sell special foam (espuma) that is still fun but dries quicker. 

On Friday we had Spanish class at eight in the morning, which meant we had to leave the apartment at 7:15am--too early. After that we had a short break before Ecuador 250, which is our class about the history, culture, and politics of Ecuador. I'm auditing that class and am super excited for it. The class mostly consists of field trips and guest speakers. On our first day we discussed a bit of Ecuador's political history, which is very complicated and unstable. Ecuador has had about 86 changes of government and 17 new constitutions in the past 150 years. The military also has a habit of chasing presidents out of the country and at times declaring them mentally insane. Pretty exciting place to be!

That night we went to Old Quito for empanadas. I got squashed on the trole yet again--this time, I even have bruises on my back to prove it. Thankfully a nice Ecuadorian man noticed I was getting squashed against a metal bar and checked to see if I was okay, which led to us having a conversation throughout the entire ride. We eventually found out that we're both Christians, which made me enjoy his company even more.

Anyway, we stopped in one little restaurant for meat empanadas, which were delicious. You eat them with aji, Ecuadorian hot sauce. After that we headed to another restaurant for dessert empanadas. These tasted a bit like an elephant ear, although they were filled with cheese. This is not sweeter cheese, like we're used to in the U.S.--it's sour and salty. The Ecuadorians love their cheese! They even eat it in hot chocolate. Not sure how I felt about the cheese, but it was still a lot of fun. And the empanadas are huge! We enjoyed the live entertainment for awhile before taking taxis back to the apartment. It was great seeing the beautiful architecture and festive atmosphere of Old Quito, plus enjoying some great Ecuadorian food!