This is an URGENT U.S. Embassy Warden Message

In the aftermath of the madness that was Thursday we were told not to leave our houses for our safety. Since I live 10 miles away from Quito and the situation here in Cumbaya was never dangerous I didn’t follow this advice, sorry US Embassy, but I did stay in town. On Friday we didn’t have classes so Danielle and I decided to meet up at the Juan Valdez coffee shop at the Esquina mall. I asked Guadalupe to drop me off on her way to the Supermaxi but she told me that we were going together to the store, then coming back home to eat lunch and then she would drop me off. It all seemed too complicated to me but I just said sure.

So we went to the store and it was awkward as always. She made me get a bunch of sweets which I don’t mind but it seemed like she thought that’s all I eat. We were at the store all together way too long. She doesn’t bring a list, she just wanders around looking at everything- it takes forever. Finally we made our way home and had lunch right away. Miria made chicken nuggets and they were delicious. Right after lunch I got Guadalupe to take me to meet Danielle. I was amazed she got out of the house so fast! Of course she asked me if I wanted to rest a while before I went out but by this time it was after 3 so I said no.

By the time I got to Juan Valdez it was already getting cloudy and colder- like just about every day so far. When Danielle showed up we bought some kinda expensive but tasty coffee drinks and chatted for a while. After we finished up- and when the high school hooligans who seem to flock there showed up- we went to find the movie store on my walk to the Women’s Center where I volunteer. When I had passed it earlier with Guadalupe it wasn’t open but when we went there it was. It must have weird hours. Danielle found a lot of movies she wanted but didn’t have much money. She asked the guy where the nearest ATM was and it was at the mall so we walked right back again.

When we finally found the ATM it wouldn’t give Danielle any money so she had to scrape together $5 for the first three Harry Potter movies. While she was buying them the cashier/owner guy told her that there were actually 6 of these movies. Haha, as if someone buying 3 at a time didn’t know that! Then we decided to go on a quest for an ice cream sandwich. I see these cute commercials for them all the time and I really wanted one. We went into a couple little stores with ice cream freezers but none of them had sandwiches so we headed towards the park in the middle of town.

Finally we found a little mall type place that had a Pinguino store- Pinguino makes like all of the ice cream novelties in Ecuador- so we got ourselves some sandwiches and we were happy. We continued walking around Cumbaya for a while looking for a different ATM for Danielle but we never did find one- and we covered quite a bit of ground. From there we went to Danielle’s house to watch her new movies.

Danielle’s parents weren’t home so we watched the movies on the tv, which is in their bedroom for some reason. I forgot how unintentionally funny the first movie is! They are just so little, haha. During one of the movies we fixed ourselves some leftovers that Salome had left in the oven for Danielle. It was some chicken in this tasty sauce but when Danielle cut into hers she found it was a plantain! So she got rid of the plantain and got herself some chicken.

We watched the first two movies but by the time we started the third one I was starting to fall asleep. As Danielle was trying to call a cab for me her parents came home. Cumbaya Taxi, the company we always call, wasn’t answering so Salome called someone else for me. Salome was very concerned that I wasn't wearing shoes in the house and was afraid I was going to catch a cold or something. When I got home the taxi driver charged me $1.50 because it was ‘late.’ What a rip off!

Saturday I slept in, made myself some breakfast and then did some catching up on my virtual life- uploading pics to facebook, updating this monstrosity. Later I went out with Guadalupe to get some lunch. Since Miria doesn’t work on Saturdays we had to go out. We went to this really busy ‘fast food’ place and of course Guadalupe ordered a ton of food. We got a ‘fritado completo’- which is roast pork, two types of corn, potato pancake things and cheese- a giant bowl of soup- which Guadalupe explained to me is potato and cow stomach- as well as two empanadas and two quimbolitos. The soup freaked me out way too much for me to eat it so I just had some potatoes out of it and stopped eating it. Guadalupe was loving it. She even added all the condiments that came with it, like avocado, tomato and fried cow’s blood! The fritado plate was pretty good but the meat was really dry. The empanadas with aji were really good. I didn’t ask what was in them because I’m sure I didn’t want to know.

As we were leaving Guadalupe asked for two bags- one for the quimbolitos which were for me and Danielle, and one for leftovers for Pancho her dog. Then she dropped me off at the Esquina to meet Danielle again. We basically repeated the day before. She went to the ATM which didn’t work again so we took the less steep way to the bank so she could feed her movie habit. We walked back to the store that Guadalupe told me had $1 movies but they charged Danielle $2 anyway.  Then we went to the first store from Friday and she bought some more. She spent about $30 on movies and got 18! I really need to jump on this bandwagon. If there’s any movies you want- any at all- let me know, they have everything!

While we were walking around Guadalupe called me and wanted to see if Danielle and I wanted to go with Pato and his friends to his friend’s ‘tienda’ which means store. I was really confused because that makes no sense so said I’d ask Danielle and I hung up. When I called back I realized she was saying ‘hacienda’ which made more sense. Apparently there was a party going on that night and we were invited- most likely by Guadalupe. I said sure we’d go but later I realized that Danielle didn’t want to. I basically forced her to go because I didn’t want to go alone, knowing it would be awkward.

So we walked back to my house- where apparently everyone was ‘waiting for us’ according to Guadalupe- but there was no one there. Well, Guadalupe was there and she told us that they had left so that Lauren could change but I was thinking that that was code for they left already- just like last time. So Danielle and I waited around and sure enough they came back. We went downstairs and waited to leave- not sure why we were waiting- so Guadalupe brought us some coffee and bread while we talked and watched Balto 2. Then we went and met everyone at the Supermaxi. We followed them about 25 minutes out of Cumbaya to this ‘hacienda’ that was gated but the gate was locked. I think someone called the guy who was inside to unlock the gate but we also saw someone jump the wall. It wouldn’t be the first time I broke in somewhere with Pato…

So we finally got in, parked and walked around the dark grounds. There was a sweet pool that was covered up and we parked it in this tiny room right off the pool that had a foosball table and some weird decorations. There were those melted beer bottle things on the wall and one of them had a picture of Carlos Gardel on it. Also there was a mug that said Pirate Pub or something on it. Strange.

Eventually we found out that most of them were staying the night even though Guadalupe said we’d be back that night. Danielle and I didn’t want to stay the night- especially if we had maybe broken in, lol- so we figured we’d bum a ride with some of the people who were leaving early. Then we moved into a bigger room which was empty except for a bar. They brought in some chairs and we sat around and Danielle and I shared a glass of watermelon Zhumir because there weren’t enough glasses for everyone.

We talked and drank for a while, then just before we left people started dancing. I made Danielle come dance with me but then we saw some people leaving so we asked for a ride. We got a ride with Pato’s friend Francisco who was driving his little sports/classic car (I couldn't tell, it was dark) but we had to squeeze into the back because his girlfriend Ana Maria- the one who came with to the fútbol game so long ago- was there too. I had to sit with my knees on either side of his seat, haha. When we got in the car Hoobastank was playing and I’m slightly embarrassed to say I knew all the words to the song. (I went through a phase but this was before the atrocity that is The Reason, *shudder*) I started falling asleep on the ride home even though it was early.

When we got back I called a cab for Danielle and she went home. Guadalupe was kind of sad because she was going to drive her home, but she was too late. Sunday I literally never left the house, you're welcome US Embassy.

Hasta luego,

Caitlin