Mascarilla--another excellent weekend and family time

This past weekend I went with Analuisa, who works at Cimas (the foundation that runs my program), to Mascarilla, her hometown. Mascarilla is in the Valle del Chota, an area that is predominantly Afro-Ecuadorian. It's actually about a half-hour north of Ibarra, the city closest to where I was interning last semester.

The funny part was that all of the kids I walked by would stop and stare because I was the first white person (well, they thought mestiza from Quito) they had seen in a while. Oh, being an outsider.

Most of what we did was hang out with her family, which was awesome because I needed a reminder of my amazing family (both sides) back home--huge, loud, and hilarious. I love my family in Quito, but sometimes you need a little ridiculousness :)

One particular highlight was dancing with her mom in the street on Saturday afternoon. Every single house has loudspeakers, so it was as if everyone in Mascarilla was competing to play the loudest music. Her mom and some aunts were dancing in the street, and Ana pretended to be embarassed, but I was not about to turn down an offer for mid-afternoon dancing.

On Sunday we washed Ana's clothes and cleaned house (Mascarilla is super dry/hot), and then we made humitas, which are kind of like tamales without filling. They turned out amazingly delicious...probably because we did everything, including the milling of the corn. We were proud.

All in all I had a great time, although I'm beating myself for the not taking pictures thing (especially since some of her nieces/nephews are like the cutest little kids ever).

Now it's back to work and life in Quito...I already have very little time left (4 weeks working in CONAMU, 1 week wrapping up my program, and 1 week to wrap up my time here--a little less than 6 weeks, really) and that's daunting because I want to make sure I see what I want to see and all of that. It's going to be good to go back but very hard to leave.

I hope you're all doing well!

Until next time,
Emily