January 5.....Xmas day and New Years Festivities PC style!

New years in Ecuador. One word: awesome! I started my holidays in Ecuador with a dinner on Christmas at my house. I had the girls over my house. I decided I would make a dinner for them out of the buenProvecho book that peace corps gives to all its volunteers. Its filled with some really great recipes of breakfasts, lunches, vegetarian meals, tortillas, desserts….everything. So I decided to try a recipe of spinach cream and chicken pasta. Not the best idea. It was aweful and I felt bad for my friends who had to eat it. We followed that up with some wine, the best box wine you can get in Ecuador—Clos! My favorite!!! We save it for special occasions though, since its plata and costs 4 bucks. After this I went to my families house for mid-night dinner and stuffed my face with turkey, rice, salad, and this peanut sauce thing with meat. My grandmother and grandpa were there, along with my mom, dad, sister, and uncle. It was so great to be surrounded by them at Christmas and made up for not being able to see my family in the states. The people here are what make this experience so rewarding. My host family, my second Ecuadorian mother Jovita, my friends at the Pecos restaurant all make this experience worth missing Christmas in the states. Anytime I am feeling alone, frustrated, confused, or just irritable i hang out with them and everything works out fine. So yah, my Christmas was absolutely wonderful and we spent it drinking beer til about 1 am around the Christmas tree and talking about the states and Ecuador. The next day I spent it with the girls again, watching Waiting to Exhale and drinking clos wine, eating pancakes and cheese egg burritos--my personal favorite!!! They were special this time because i splurged on bought some orange cheese. Yes ORAAANGE cheese.....none of this Campo cheese* that smells like salty curdled milk! I try to like it ...i really do....but i cant do it!
So anyways....my Xmas was really awesome and my new years was even better. I went up North to one of the beaches in the province of Manabi, called Puerto Lopez. Its a short bus ride, about 5-6 hours, away from me. Yes....thats a short bus ride!! I met up there with about 20 other peace corps volunteers and we stayed in the awesome little hostel with HOT water! it was fantabulous!! Anyways puerto lopez itself is a small fishing village that attracts a lot of tourists, especially from europe, because of its quaint feeling, awesome shrimp, surfing, and whale watching! it actually isnt whale season right now, but we still rented a yacht and took it out to the middle of the ocean and went snorkeling, drank a few beers (or Jabas* of beers), and then got ready for the news years eve festivities.
At about 11:30 we decided to finally head out to the beach, where there were cabanas with bon fires, music, and dance floors....and of course burning puppets. This is one of the traditions here: you write down things you want to leave int he past from that year and put it into a puppet that you burn at midnight (in our case ours were barney and a lil mariachi se llama panchito). One thing i will say, is that i never realized how important a new years countdown is. i definitely dont take that for granted anymore, since we were all asking eachother is it time,.....is it time. Anywyas....we ended up spending the night dancing salsa and listening to music with local ecuadorian surfers. Me, kristin, darci, sam, and john were the only soldiers who stayed up until the sun came up and then jumped into the ocean, only to go back get our bathing suits and pass out on thebeach!! A very memorable new years, i must say. We spent the next two days surfing at one of the local beaches, called las tunas. the waves were surprisingly big, and we were able to rent a long baord. I am a fan!!! Its become my new passion and i am hoping to fiind a surfboard to buy out here. if any of you guys happen to see a used surfboard for sale out there in the states lemme know!!!! Anywho...surfing was awesome other than the fact that i came back with a huge bruise on my arm from where the surfboard hit me when my friend fell off.

we ended the new years festivities with a trip to guayaquil--the 2nd largest city other than the capitol quito. it is form here where i catch buses to anywhere in ecuador since it is only a three hour bus ride from my site. And of course, its always nice to stuff my face with mcdonals in the bus terminal! 4 cheeseburgers and2 medium frys! so goood. i know , i know what ur thinking....but i dont care! its was new years!

anywyas my loves....i hope u are all doing well....and ill see you in a few weeks!

PEace and LoVe,

Jess