La fiesta - Nech and Jesse do the Quilotoa Loop

Traveling as we are with little Spanish skills and even fewer plans, sometimes we just have to hope that excitement falls into our laps.

En route to the beautiful crater lake inside Volcano Quilotoa, we stopped for a night in Zumbahua, a small village nestled into the picturesque Andean countryside. As we were checking into our hostel, the owner mentioned something about a fiesta that night. Sweet. We happenned to arrive on the final day of a weeklong festival for Corpus Christie complete with bullfighting, a dozen-man band, and even foosball tables for the kids. Receiving many suspicious looks as two of maybe four foreigners in the village, I decided it was time to act, "We have to start drinking with the old men. They´ll be into it." Sure enough, as soon as we caught the eyes of a few old drunk guys toasting with some unnamed alcohol, they called us over and practically forced us to drink with them. "Salud!"

After a brief foosball match with a few of the kids, we ended up in a small circle with a few local men and I tried practicing my Spanish with one who claimed to be studying Milton (in English) despite being only able to say "Please" and "Excuse me" (to his credit, though, he was able to repeat those phrases many times).

I realized quickly that drunk people may not be the best Spanish partners - I don´t think even they understood what they were saying half the time. Jesse, fortunately, was able to communicate more effectively with a different man through the use of gestures. Unfortunately, however, the man´s gestures indicated that he was trying to proposition Jesse (or get him to hire a prostitute - gestures only go so far). Or maybe he was just another Milton fan and trying to mime Paradise Lost. Either way we decided it was time to hit the dance floor taking up half the main square.

As I´m writing this, I´m chilling on a beautiful beach in Mancora, Peru. Last night the guys dressed in bikinis and dresses for "Ladies Night." Who knew dancing on the bar was so fun?

Check back soon for Taking on the Peruvian mafia - Nech, Eli, Jesse, and Roz do Trujillo.