Weekend Ramblings

No pictures this time but hopefully still entertaining. This week has been a hurry up and wait type of week and there has been rain, rain, and more rain so work has been slightly postponed. This weekend a few of our group traveled to Saraguro for their Sunday market, a town named after the Saruguro people of Ecuador. Saraguros are mountain people and have a very unique style and culture which they still keep strong ties with. The typical attire for men is long black shorts with a collared shirt, and for women the attire is typically a white blouse with a very brightly colored skirt. All wear black poncho type shawls for the rain and have the same material for hats, and all have long black hair that is in a single braid. The market had just about every fruit and vegetable available in Ecuador and was quite the experience. Many pigs saw their last days and were roasting on spits scattered throughout the market. After taking our picture with a giant statue of a piece of corn we made our way back to Loja for the afternoon. The taxi ride back was also an experience as our one handed driver decided to give us random tours through random towns, stop and chat with people on the street, and try and put random strangers in our small cab when we were already full with 4 people. After returning from the market we made an authentic Ecuadorian soup with all of the goodies acquired from the market and it was AMAZING - and I also made my first pie which turned out to be a great success. Only about 3 weeks left here - time has gone by so fast!