Whipped cream stories and pineapple deliveries

Sean's birthday celebration

            It's Wednesday night and we're sitting in the living room watching a movie about Richard Gere in China. I can't really take Richard Gere seriously, much less dubbed in Spanish.
            On Saturday we went to Canoa, a beach town known for its parties. It just seemed like Bahía but with more touristy things and a bigger beach with bigger waves. I rented a boogie board for a little bit, but was afraid to break it in half since it was made of something other than fiberglass. My favorite thing about this place was the number of speakers along the beach blasting salsa. We danced on the beach and played soccer to songs like Celia Cruz's "Guantanamera". We went to get drinks and tried this gross local one, so I tried washing it down with a so called 'mamey' milkshake which I was super excited for because I haven't had one in forever, but it tasted nothing like I thought it would... like bad virgin piña colada Yegh. Yuck. Fuchi.
            Later that night some of the girls and I walked down the street and encountered an older woman, Theresa, and her husband selling cakes. She had some of the best tiramisu I've ever had. We sat down and talked about Bahía, and how both of them have basically been here all their lives. I asked them if Bahía had changed much, and they said it did. I found that hard to believe since it seems stuck in the past. You don't find the fast-food chains you see in Quito and there are only two traffic lights. Their best story was their description of an earthquake that shook the city's foundations (I couldn't resist, hehe) about 14 years ago. Their house was fine because it was well built, while a 5-story building down the street crumbled to the ground because it was built out of concrete and SAND. What a no-no. The couple was really nice, and let us take pictures on some swings they have on their front porch that look like open cages. The next day I went for a walk and saw the couple enjoying their swings with just each other in the evening. It was a pretty picture....they looked so happy together.
            On Monday we held a birthday celebration for one of our instructors, Sean. We had cake and broke a piñata that looked like a paper lantern and had "El Chavo" on it, I'm guessing from El Chavo del Ocho. It was fun singing "Las Mañanitas", the Mexican b-day song. Also, we taunted him with a chant of "eat it, eat it!" after he blew out the candles. He actually took a big bite out of it!
            Yesterday the highlight was getting Pan tres leches with Keneshia after the taller (workshop). For one dollar you get this cake topped with all of this whipped cream I always give away. This time I plopped some of mine onto her cake, but decided I still had far too much. There were some small boys huddled around each other eating bread they bought at the bakery, and I quickly thought to offer them some whipped cream to put on their bread. At first I asked them if they wanted it, and they looked at eachother blankly. As soon as they realized I was offering it to them, they swarmed around the both of us going "me! me!". I'd never seen people so eager for whipped cream. In America, if you asked someone if they wanted it they would have backed away disgustedly. These kids were all over us. Then this boy wanted my strawberry. Maybe I was overreacting, but told him, no, as I shook my head in disbelief. This is the second time this happens when I offered my whipped cream from the same cake! Nelda also wanted my strawberry, but I'm sorry, it's the best part of anyone's cake. The scene of the boys swarming around us like bees on honey would have made a great picture.

Chio and I with our pineapple delivery

           Today I haven't been feeling well. I don't know what it is, but I don't have energy not have I been in the best mood. Maybe its the cloudiness. Usually I'm bugging to get out and jog or walk. The little things that happen during the day just make me smile, though. During our spanish class, we sit outside so we always listen to men driving buy yelling, advertising their products from fruit to water. The pineapple guy pulled up and sold us 2 for $1, while blasting bachata music. I love the fact that you can listen to such great music without playing it yourself...the cars play it for you! Some people from the city might be used to this but I sure am not. I know I'll miss it. During the workshop we went around the town and took pictures of potential places to film the kids' stories. They took pictures of what they would think a fisherman's house looked like while I danced to the bachata music blasting from the neighboring house. People don't have much, but they do love their high-quality music and that is more than fine with me. :)