Heading home

I´m at the bus terminal in Guayaquil, Ecuador-- just got in after a few days at the beach. The fam comes tomorrow and I´m meeting them in Peru which just seems unreal and incredible to me. I will be in the U.S. in less than 2 weeks.... and I have very mixed feelings about it. I can´t wait to see my grandparents, friends and family, but there is a lot I´m going to miss about Ecuador. This is an amazing country, with an incredible amount of diversity. Time moves slower here- interactions oftentimes have more meaning and people value relationships more than anything else. I´ve learned to just live in the moment (sorry if this is getting incredibly cliche) and stop planning my future so much. People live with more passion for life here, and I´ve learned a lot from this culture. I don´t have a lot of time to write more, but I´ll definitely keep posting after I get back. This has been an incredible experience, and I´m really disappointed to see it end. But, I´m super excited to see all of you!!!! I head to Peru tomorrow, and home on the 25th. See you then!!!

love from chels

Read post below for explanation

Chicken foot anyone???

I'm back in Quito!!! What a different world than Tocachi. This is the week of presentations, and time to turn in our thesis papers. Recap of the last couple weeks in Tocachi:

1. I finally ate Guinea Pig!! We went to a baptism party WAAAAAAAAYYY up in the mountains on my last Saturday in Tocachi, where I finally got my chance. I couldn't eat the skin (although everyone else does) because it was really tough. The meat was...chewy...had a charred, grilled flavor... All in all, not great, not horrible. (No mayonaisse, for the record). At least I can say I tried it!

2. There was a chicken foot in my soup. At the same baptism party, we ate chicken soup (soup is ALWAYS the first course here). I discovered an odd looking thing in my soup.... so I asked Hirma, my host mom. She laughed and said it was the foot of the chicken. Indeed, it was. Exactly as you would imagine the foot of a chicken to look like, toes (do they call them toes?) and all. I didn't want to be rude, but my brain could not justify eating it. Franklin, my host dad, laughed at me and showed me that the head of the chicken was in his soup. AHHH. Luckily Hirma let me put the foot in her bowl, so I was saved..... but OH MY GOSH THE FOOT OF A CHICKEN???

3. The next day we killed a pig to eat. It was Hirma's birthday, so we went to Tabacundo to kill the chancho (the pig). Pictures included. I think it's honestly the first time I've watched the killing of an animal. So... they hung up the pig in Hirma's mom's one-room house, and cut it apart. The head remained.... so as we were eating the body of this pig, it's head was hanging above us watching. OH my. It was tasty though, I have to say. :)