giving thanks and other things

yesterday was thanksgiving. happy thanksgiving!
the day before, we (anna, me, annas fam) went to cajas national park and took a nice walk around a lake 4100 meters up in the andes.
on the way there we took the bus going to guayaquil. that bus passes through cajas and we got off at the entrance. on the way back, we were to wait on the side of that same road for a bus to pass, flag it down, and then sit on it until it reached cuenca.
when we got to cajas, we noticed that a group of school kids were also using this day as a day to have a class trip. we saw which direction they were walking, heard them screaming and shrieking at whatever it is that teenagers find so important, and decided to take the hike in the other direction. we finished the hike at the same time and being a school trip, they had taken a school bus (really just a city bus rented out for the day). not wanting to go through the half-hitchiking scenario, we asked the teachers to let us ride back with them. they let us and we sat next to the teachers and talked to them during the trip home.
during that trip, the teacher asked me what thanksgiving was all about - how did it start, and why we still celebrate it. i told her. then, she said that her favorite singer was celine dion. i told her that thanksgiving is all about eating.

on thanksgiving day, i woke up and called my parents to wish them happy thanksgiving. then, met up with annas family and went over to the market to see what was going on there. i had thougt that thursday was the day where the medicine women came and beat their patients with medicinal flowers - thus curing them of everything from insomnia to cancer to boredom. it would have been nice to see. instead, they were not there, but while walking through the market we stopped at one of the roasted pig stands and andre and i had a good pig meal. the pig was fresh - a bit oversalted, but certainly fresh. i also found out that you can buy chunks of the market pig to bring home and have as the centerpiece for a meal at home. not bad.

we then walked around some more and shopped at various places and wound up eventually at a resturant. it was the zuckers final meal with us and anna wanted to do something thanksgivingy. there were no renowned turkey spots and there was a genreal consensus against eating cuy, so, we settled for eating at a typical ecuadorian food restaurant. by the way: one thing i realized while annas parents were here is that $.25 gets you a lot in cuenca. anna and i have been on travelers lunch budget, not wanting to spend more than $1.25 on any occasion - perhaps $1.50 if a dessert is inclluded. but, it turns out that if you pay $1.50 and sometimes $1.75, you get far more and better food. such was the case with our thanksgiving meal. yes, the meal came with rice - but - there were (for me) two good strips of chicken breast, mote-pillo (which is basically the regular mote, which is large white corn cournels without much flavor, cooked with egg and criollo spices), a salad(!), and llapingachos (which arepotatoes, mashed and then fried as little balls and topped with an organge sauce that is only orange but without flavor). the meal was good and really, just putting the egg in the mote made it a special occasion meal - atypical typical food.

all semester, the students of my teenage class have been asking me to take them to pizza hit (not to pay for them, but to spend class time there). ive been ardent about rejecting their offers if only to let them know that they cant tell me what to do. at one point i employed this tactic: i might take you there but if you keep asking me i wont. and they stopped. since then, the idea had stayed circulating in my mind and after a while i figured that i would take them not because they begged and i feel bad for them but because it would be one fewer day teaching if i did so. it would be fun and i like pizza. i told them that i would take them on thanksgiving day. i did so partly because it was thanksgiving and i wanted to do somethign special, and partly because i had been having fun with annas family during the week and had neglected to plan anything. it worked out great. we (me and four students) ordered two pizzas. both with pepperoni and one with a cheese filled crust. during the meal, one of my students mentioned to me that ehtere was a place in the center of town that served monkey steaks.

on the way back to my house i picked up 4 turkey sandwiches. anna took the day off of work and was sleeping a lot. usually sophia is home. i picked up 4 so that if she was and anna and i were to share with her, that we would still have enough to eat for ourselves. there is a place near my cedei location called pavo and pernil. accordingly, they serve turkey and pork sandwiches. they are pretty good. when i got home, i woke anna up and eventually we sat down to eat our sandwiches, with sophia, along with a can of cranberry sauce that was sent down by my parents. this was thanksgiving. i ate a lot, like usual.



by the way, we will have a new president tonight...