Rhianna Banana

Here´s Pierre at the racetrack hanging out with his friend Jerry and New York governor George Pataki. My boyfriend has only lived in New York for 10 months, and he is already hobnobbing with the elite!

posted by Unknown @ Thursday, August 24, 2006 0 comments

Here are pictures of the new male kitten that has adopted me. His name is Moota, which means eye booger in Tagalog or Vasayan. But his eye boogers aren´t as bad as Shnowy´s. He´s the neighbor´s cat, but he apparently likes hanging out in my house more, maybe because he prefers my cat food, or he enjoys playing with Lina. So now I have another white male cat! Moota is sweeter than Lina, but I am not really going to become his guardian, because I think I only want to have to take one cat back with me to the states!

posted by Unknown @ Thursday, August 24, 2006 0 comments

Before the parade in honor of the Virgin Mary, her statue was taken out of the church, wrapped in plastic, and loaded into the back of the pickup truck. Then a bunch of people and I rode with the Virgin statue out to the entrance to town. As usual, I didn´t really know what was going on, I assumed this was all some sort of preparation for Saturday´s parade.
They wrapped the Virgin statue in plastic to protect it from the rain.
Here´s me and my friend Belkis, after a long day of festivities. Belkis is in my 3rd and 4th grade English class.
This is Leonor, the mother of Belkis. Leonor has her own store and hair salon, and cuts my hair for $1!
As part of the Virgin fiestas, there was a big competition between some of the local families. The families had to prepare a dance, decorate their car for the parade, and nominate a girl for the beauty queen contest. I liked this dance and their costumes, but this family didn´t win the dance contest. The school won that competition.
When I got to La Asuncion for the fiestas, I was told that they needed judges for the competition. To make the contests more fair, they wanted people who did not live in La Asuncion to serve as judges. So I was one of three judges for the parade, dance, and beauty contest. Now I can add beauty pageant and dance judging experience to my CV!
All these pictures were not taken by me, as I was busy judging everything. I loaned my camera to my 15 year old friend Mentor. It was better for him to take photos, because he wasn´t shy about getting in people´s faces and taking pictures (and blinding people with the flash!), and I would have been more hesitant and reserved, and would have taken less photos.
After we picked the beauty pageant winner, the MC announced that Señorita Ariana was going to help with something! Once again, I was given no warning about my duties during the fiestas, so I was a little nervous when they called my name. I was worried they were going to tell me to do something in Spanish, and I wasn´t going to understand, and look like an idiot in front of the whole town. Luckily they just wanted me to crown the beauty queen with the sash, which I managed to do. I told her congratulations in Spanish and posed for pictures. I was obviously not dressed appropriately for the occasion, I will not make that mistake again next year!
Here are the 5 beauty pageant contestants.
Me sitting on the judging panel.
I thought the beauty pageant would involve a talent contest, or maybe an interview. But all the contestants did was parade around the volleyball court. I did the best I could, trying to select the best girl. But maybe they shouldn´t have picked me to be a judge, since I didn´t even know what criteria I was supposed to be using!
The winner of the beauty pageant.





The kids from the elementary school performed some traditional Ecuadorian dances. I think they deserved to win, because their dance was the best.
Last year´s beauty pageant winner, with some leaders from the community.
Car decorated for the parade.
Waiting for the festivities to start.
The DJ, Mentor´s brother.
Eddie, son of Amilcar Ortega. Amilcar is my counterpart, the person I am supposed to be working with for most of my projects in La Asuncion.



Mentor´s dad and sister, who also participated in the parade.
Beauty pageant contestant waiting for the parade to begin.
I love the colors in this picture, with the sunset in the back and the cool costumes of the dancers.
This kind lady from Guayaquil rescued me from the kids. She called me over, so I had an excuse to stop playing with them. She talked to me about religion, and didn´t seem to mind that I didn´t understand everything that she was saying. She wanted me to take her picture with the shoes she was selling.
Jennifer and her cousin Belkis, dancing in the park.

Jennifer and Belkis demonstrating how one of the local plants will leave a dusty imprint on your arm.
Belkis and Jennifer, during our vegetation tour. Belkis and I listened to Jennifer tell us about all the properties of the local plants. Jennifer was really knowledgeable; she knew when and where plants were discovered, and whether they had any medicinal uses.

Jennifer presssing a leaf on to her arm to create a cool outline.
Jennifer and Belkis playing on a bridge.
Jennifer, older cousin of Belkis.
Funky tree near the "ecological swimming hole" in La Asuncion.
Belkis, Jennifer, and Edmundo.
Jennifer, Belkis, and Jennifer´s parents (I think).
The Ortega family truck, decorated for the parade.
Mentor helping string up decorations.
Edmundo. I love this kid, he is cute even when he is picking his nose.
Catholic Church in La Asuncion.
The kids wanted me to take a picture of this donkey, I´m not sure why.

Mentor and another kid. Mentor loves taking pictures with my camera!

La Asuncion had a grand celebration last weekend in honor of their Virgin. I don´t really understand this tradition, but they were celebrating the Virgin Mary, and a statue of the Virgin Mary from their church was carried around town in a parade. First, there was a minga (community work party) to clean up the town and put up some decorations for the fiestas. I helped with some of the decorations, painting the church, and picking up trash. The festivities started the next day with a parade through town. Before the parade, the local kids and I entertained ourselves by taking photos and making videos with my new, snazzy camera.

posted by Unknown @ Monday, August 21, 2006 0 comments