Happy New Year... a little late

Ano Viejos by the truck load
My family on New Years!

Me and a neighbors Ano Viejo
Ave and I in disguise
The fancy (and highly political) Ano Viejos in down town

I hope no one is holding their breath between my posts, I have really been getting behind!

For some reason it has been difficult to start a blog entry about New Years in Quito. I almost feel too guilty to write about the fact that the best and most memorable New Years of my life took place in a completely different country with a completely different family and friends. I have had some really good New Years in my time. Leona, Amanda and I used to ice skate until midnight in Wenatchee... Last year Mom and I walked the Labirynth at St. Mark´s and watched the fireworks going off in downtown Seattle... I have many good memories. New Years in Quito though, wow, it was like a combination of my favorite holidays and events. There are the fireworks of New Years, the masks and costumes of halloween, streets full of men in drag like pride fest, effigies burning like protests, and a huge turkey dinner at midnight... not that I am a huge fan of the ridiculous lies that mainstream Thanksgiving celebrations entail... but basically it was like a late Thanksgiving as well.

I started my day helping the neighbors make their Año Viejo, figures that represent the old year and are often political leaders or other people people might like to see burn that are set fire in the street around midnight. At first I stood around watching and asking some questions, just talking with the family. I was really happy to come in handy when they needed to know what color combinations make green or purple... The color wheel is second nature for me, I think my dad was teaching me how to mix paints before I could talk. I proved to be helpful, trustworthy and after I promised I knew how to paint I was handed a brush. Being involved in a group art project made me feel in my element. Sure, I can barely communicate in Spanish, but I am fluent in Paint.

I left with Ave to go have some sopa and buy my grapes (for the midnight wishes). Over lunch Ave explained more about the many different New Years traditions and we started to talk about New Years resolutions. He told me his resolutions for this year (including a resolution to be spending the next New Years in a different country and atleast a year abroad). He had fulfilled his resolutions from the year before, getting his degree and moving out of his parent´s home. and then asked if I had made any.

My mind was blank. Resolutions... um... and then I remembered all of the very specific goals that I had begun to formulate since my first morning in Ecuador when I decided I won´t be graduating until 2010, decisions about things I want to do, I am pumped and there is no way I will spill the beans on any of my big plans here :) So I snapped back to attention and told him all about my resolutions... all of which strangely enough have been made while I have been in Ecuador.

About the men in drag. It was explained to me that they represent the widows of the dead year, the year that is passing on. So they are in the streets blocking cars, dancing up to the drivers windows and begging for a charitable donation. The drivers give the ¨widow¨ 5 or 10 cents and are allowed to pass. Ave and I met up with some of his friends to see the big año viejo competition and other festivities on the closed busy streets of new town area. This is when I really started getting into the celebration, we bought our masks and treats and took pictures of the decorations people had spent countless hours working on. Afterwards his family took me for a drive to experience to ¨widows¨, they really get into character, and to show me how beautiful the historic center of town is at night. On the way home we bought fireworks and made several stops bargaining with people selling año viejos on the side of the road until a vendor agreed to 3 dollars, at which point the body was pulled in through the sliding van door and pushed over my head where it flopped to the ground in the back of the van. Fire work sales and use were supposed to be prohibited this year, but there was cleary no enforcement for this law. We started with the fireworks as soon as we had the año viejo propped up in a chair in front of the house. There were many widows and other people stopping cars on the street in front of Ave´s parents house, and although Ave´s brothers assured me this was calm compared to other neighborhoods, I could hardly take in everything that was going on. We went to go visit a friend´s house that lived near a park, prime firework location. On the walk over I saw a group of people trying to launch one of those tissue paper hot air balloons, we saw the beautiful lantern like paper bubble float high up in the sky soon after.

There was a fancier party going on at the house we visited, and I felt kind of on the awkward side going around and kissing all of the people seated in the living room and adjacent room. I had already told Ave and his family I didn´t want to tomar bebidas alcoholicas, and although they were a bit puzzled about this at first, Ave´s brothers came to my rescue letting the host know that I would prefer my soda without any holiday cheer. The fireworks we bought were shared with the young boys at this party and we stood in the park dodging sparks and watching the different tricks people did with the fireworks. At 11:45 it was time to run back home where the bigger fireworks were now being lit, along with some of the año viejo piles. A radio announcer recounted events of the year that was now passing and started the countdown. Cheers and hugs at midnight, I watched the large fireworks and the joyful celebrations going on around me as I ate my 12 very large grapes, with Ave´s family cheering me on and asking how many more I had left to eat in between greeting neighbors and setting off more fireworks.

There is one moment in particular that lingers in my memory, watching one large firework light up the sky trying to think of another wish and instead thinking of how incredibly lucky I am to experience that very moment, and with such luck what more could I be wishing for? I did think of 12 wishes, and since I do believe revealing my wishes will have any effect on them... here they are...

1. For the health of my family and myself

2. For more love in the lives of everyone I know (self included... actually I kind of wished for a better understanding of true love)

3. Good health and happiness for Ave and his family

4. That I exceed my expections for myself

5. That my friends all graduate

6. That I always make my family proud

7. That I become passionate about the world in new ways

8. That all that is lost is found

9. For bigger dreams for all

10. For safe travels

11. That this year outdoes 2007

12. That everyone can have the joy I´ve experienced this year, and none of the sorrow

When I finished my grapes Ave told me his mom had been saying how good it was to have me there, that she will have special memories of this New Years in particular and of my enthusiasm about everything that makes an Ecuadorian Año Nuevo an Año Nuevo. She and I shared another big hug, and walked inside the house together for the feast! I don´t remember if it was before we ate, I think it may have been, when Ave´s younger brothers took turns dancing with me and advicing my salsa techniques, this too brought a large smile to Ave´s parents. The meal was wonderful, Turkey, rice, fruit salad, a meat stuffing... Soooo Goooood. I decided to not go out with Ave that night, to stick around the house and have a chance to journal, watch movies and spend more time with the family. The following day (the first) had the perfect lazy holiday feel, eating left overs, relaxing, and not leaving the house until late that night when Ave and I went with one of his brothers and another friend to go play Hero Quest with Naco (another friend that is somewhat bedridden after recently re-breaking a leg, he broke both his legs falling down Peguche falls two years ago). This was my first experience playing a role-playing board game type thing, but I was the best Barbarian that game board has ever seen. It was a really fun experience, to my great surprise, especially when I was asked to explain what a Mage is, and a crag, and all the other magical english words used in the American board game.

Still so much to catch up on, im trying really, but its hard when I am doing so many other things. Oh and I am in Peru now!!!