I heart Fridays

Welcome to my blog entitled "I heart Fridays." It is, in fact, Friday and I'm really jazzed because today in class we're taking a field trip. Instead of the meticulous *cough cough* lesson planning I usually do, today I'm just relaxing at home, drinking coffee and catching up on some internet. My students today will be doing a Scavenger Hunt around the touristy part of town called La Mariscal (aka - Gringolandia). They will have to find answers to such questions as: What is the name of the MLB team from Boston? Krispy Kreme is what type of chain store? and my personal favorite, What is a mullet?

Last weekend I traveled a bit south of Quito to a small town called Latacunga for their Mama Negra festival. Now, I have asked several people what the significance of this festival is and I have gotten several different answers. At first I thought it was religious (and maybe it is), but after viewing the parade and shananigans that is the festival, I would hesitate to attribute any religion to it. One story I heard is that the Mama Negra Festival celebrates the first time the image of the Virgin Mary was seen as a black woman. The story goes that a forlorne slave woman trekked up to the peak of Cotopaxi and there witnessed the divine incarnation of Mary as a black woman, giving hope to all the slaves of that time. Other Ecuadorians I asked had no idea what the significance is.
The festival is an all day event (reminded me a bit of May Day/Spring Fling from my college years). People rise early in the morning and head toward the parade route to claim their seats. The parade starts around 10am and lasts for about 4 hours. In the parade, there men wearing black face and dressed in drag, people carrying hollowed-out crucified pigs adorned with cuy (guinea pigs), bottles of liquor and cigarette boxes. There are about a million marching bands, traditional dancers, people in parrot costumes and men who come around to cleanse any onlooker. I, of course, jumped at the opportunity to be cleansed. In my mind, I was envisioning some sort of meditative, patchouli-like ritual. What REALLY happened was three men danced around me chanting things like "long live mama negra! Viva Latacunga" and then, much to my surprise, a different man came up and sprayed alcohol all over me. The alcohol, which came out of his mouth mind you, got in my eyes as I didn't know I should avert my face. It stung for a couple of seconds, but I laughed at my foreign ignorance and spent the rest of the morning smelling like booze.
After the parade, people linger in the streets to eat, drink and have impromtu dance parties. We all had a really great time that day, ending our adventure at a club called The Galaxy dancing until about 1am.

Well, that's about it for now! Cheers to all my readers!

(Cleansing pre alcohol in eyes)