Bats and Ferris Wheels...an Adrenaline Overload

Rosa! I'll miss her hearty laugh and scary stories :)

            Last Saturday was the MOST eventful day I've had in a long, long time. Nelda and I continued the interviews, first with Rosa. I love Rosa so much...she is so cool! She is 21 and worked on the cameras for the film. This is her second year and has such a hearty, fun personality. Her interview was to the point, but then after Vicente came we somehow started talking about scary Ecuadorian folk stories. They were legit scary. Vicente told us about how the grim reaper appeared late one night to his father and asked if him if he knew where someone was. I don't believe in these kinds of stories but the way in which they were telling them and taking on the personalities of the characters in their stories was incredibly unsettling and powerful. They included their family members in these stories, which made them feel more real. Nelda and I started tearing up because I'm going to admit it: we were SCARED! But then we just laughed at ourselves at the same time. Sometimes really early in the morning I do hear shrill screams, and Vicente told a story about a figure who wonders around the town screaming. Such CHILLS to start the day! Adrenaline overdose #1.
          For lunch Doña made us ceviche, which we haven't had in a while and I love it because it's a seafood/lime soup, basically. Then they blew us away with a dessert, which we don't usually have. Strawberry and banana crepes with vanilla ice cream have never been so appealing after eating jello on rare occasions. After lunch we headed over to the yacht club because Keneshia was teaching us a hip hop dance. We got there and there was some confusion regarding the dance space, so naturally I headed for the nearest chair and watched part of the Costa Rica vs. Colombia fútbol game, which the latter won. Watching soccer is so boring to me because it's such a game of defense. I miss playing it though. Anyway we got to our dance space which was right next to the ocean, and Keneshia asked us if we wanted to dance to 'Look at me now' or 'Move move shake shake'. I was the only one who would want  a Pitbull song so we ended up with the first one. It's amazing how quickly she came up with a dance in her head, and could adjust it to different songs. We learned it in an hour and a half just for fun, then recorded it to show her parents.
          At 5 we stopped by the surfer dudes' house and confirmed our surfing lesson was a go. I was a little hesitant to get in the ocean before dinner, but luckily we kept going with the spontaneous feelings of the day. We walked to the beach, which was completely covered because it was high tide and the waves crashed against the rocks. We looked at ourselves and thought "are we really doing this?" Yes. The were really nice and helped us into the water. We felt at ease as soon as we passed the rocks and walked into the water, which was pretty shallow. There were fish swimming around us, and something bit Meghan in the back but she was fine after that. The sunset was gorgeous, and all four of us each got 6 tries on the surf board. They let us use the bigger one because it floated more easily. I managed to stand up, which was a feat in itself for me but I could fell backward because I'm used to leaning back for water skiing. We went home and had rice for dinner. Rice, again.
        Then we took cabs to another part of Bahía where I thought there was going to be a church dance. That's what they told us. Nope! It was a full fledged carnival. No churches involved. We got onto a ferris wheel that sounded as if it were going to collapse any second with the screeching of the motor. We got onto it and got oil on our hands. The oil should have been on the motor, not my hands. It was fun but I have never been on a ferris wheel that went 300 miles per hour that had a motor that sounded like a car screeching to a halt. Adrenaline rush #2. Then we went to Alejandro's house to wash the oil off ourselves. Nelda and I went to the bathroom and we're the only bilingual students so the other girls were left with Alejandro's family AKA awkward silence. We also went through sketchy dark allies filled with dogs in order to get there. Adrenaline rush #3.
          We went to go dance and the speakers were blasting to reggaeton and latin pop with a huge screen playing J. Lo and Don Omar videos. The hosts of the dance party kept yelling stuff about the opposing soccer teams, Barcelona and Emelec. I got a Barcelona shirt because more people told me too, and I thought I'd try out a yellow shirt. Alejandro and his friends were very protective of us. Going out in Latin America is definitely as safe for a group of girls as it is in the U.S. It doesn't help that we are bigger than everyone and whiter so we stand out like a sore thumb. I have never felt exotic here because I've blended well in the U.S., Mexico, and Europe, but these people always stare at us when we walk by. We left at 12 45 and came home to our apartment.

This is what we look like when we DON'T have a bat in our apartment. 

          Jettie said she has never been so grateful to be in our apartment when suddenly, someone opens the door and screams "There's a BAT in the apartment!". ADRENALINE OVERLOAD! We were all screaming like crazy and I realized the door was open so as I was screaming/running towards it to close it, I tripped on the rug. The bat fell onto the floor and we were in the same room. I flipped out and opened the door, then Jettie and Crystal (the bat wranglers) told us to calm down and the trapped it. At the end of the night Jettie and I talked about this super eventful day that had to carry onto the next night with the grand finally involving a BAT. Oh, we also took cute pictures of ourselves on photobooth for the first time. This day just seemed like a huge day to check things off the list before leaving Ecuador next week. Check check check!