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OK I have like fifteen minutes right now to catch up on the rest that´s been going on. So Saturday was the big futbol championship, so I got up and caught a ride up to the field with one of the dads here. It was a loooot of fun again, we went and picked corn stalks to eat and bought these delicious kabob type of things with different meats on them, a potato and a plantain and this delicious sauce. It´s my absolute favorite food here. The game didn´t go so well because the guy I caught a ride with plays for the team our town was playing against, because he doesn´t get along with our guys I guess? Specifically, he doesn´t get along with Daniel, who is probably my best friend here. Well, they got in a fight when Jorge elbowed Daniel in the face really hard, like it was still swollen later that night... and then on the sidelines some of the girls got in a fight with his daughters. It was pretty ridiculous and I was just like uhh let´s stay out of this. Well, we lost the game and then played another game and won, so we ended up in third place.
We headed back to Azama because there was a dance festival in the afternoon, and I got to be a judge. It was cool to watch because they were all indigenous groups and indigenous dances, but it was soooo long. Well, right after that we went back to the soccer field for the awards ceremony, and that´s when things just got ridiculous.
So I get up there and immediately two of the younger girls grab me and we´re walking in cirlces looking for people, but I´m sooo tired I want to hang out with people my age or adults because kids take too much energy. So I go with the adults and they´re all hanging out around the bolqueta. We´re all tired and just want the awards to be handed out so we can leave. Well, they announce that there will be a dance performance and then they will hand out awards. And we just spent all afternoon watching this, so we´re like crap but figure it´s just one. Well, they keep saying one more and one more and I swear it lasted like an hour. Well, in that time, everyone from Azama managed to get in more fistfights, girls with girls and then Jorge and Daniel again and then Jorge and his family against everyone else, and Jorge ended up hitting some of the women who were involved in the fight, so things got pretty bad. Don´t worry mom and dad, I was just staying out of the way with my friends Giovanni and his wife, Luz Maria. The worst part about all of this is that most people here are somehow related, like cousins and aunts and uncles, so this family is all just beating each other and screaming and crying and it was so bad.
Well, everyone was finally broken up and we headed back to Azama, and we were hanging out in the plaza in front of my house when Jorge decides to take a walk down through the plaza. Obviously, just causing trouble. Right around then Jessica´s husband had driven up. Jessica was one of the girls that Jorge hit, and she had a fat lip, so he came up and asked her who did it. When she said Jorge, he turned and charged at him so furiously I swear he would have killed him. They grabbed him before he could even hit Jorge, but he was sooo angry he was screaming and cursing and had to be held down while some others took Jorge home and locked him in.
Well, I soon decided it was time for bed because not too much was going on and everyone was just hanging out on the steps.
The next day I went into town and played with the kids, just hung out because I was tired from the day before, being in the sun and running around and being out late. Well, we finnnally got a new volunteer. She is a 24 year old from Spain named Paola, and she is a doctor which the village needs sooo badly. She´s a lot of fun and we´re already planning on doing some travelling this weekend and the weekend before I leave. She´s only here for three weeks so our last weekend coincides perfectly, and we are going to be going to Mindo.
Last night Luz Maria invited me to her house for Giovanni´s birthday dinner. It was really cool because not a lot of people were there so to be invited out of all their friends in Azama was cool. Her daughters really like me and they´re always really nice to me, and the night ended up being a lot of fun.
Other than that, the last couple of days have been pretty uneventful, but it´s been really cool to have someone here that I can hang out with. Even when I hang out with the guys I feel a little weird, like they´re all so close and pretty much speak their own language. So having Paola here has been great-it´s the only reason I´m in Otavalo this late and not at home watching bad TV or sitting on the steps trying to think of something fun to do.
I just uploaded pictures and it said it didn´t work, but a while ago it did the same thing and it actually did work, it just took a while for them to show up. So, I hope they did and I hope you guys can all see some of the fun things I´ve been up to.
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