And the Winner is...

First thing's first. We know that many of you are dying to know the answers to last week's questions about the words in the old Incan language of Quechua.  The correct answers are in bold.

1. Choose the correct meaning for wawa

a. one who is a baby
b. hungover
c. really cold 
d. none of the above
e. all of above
f. only a and c
g. only b and c       

2. Choose the correct meaning for achachay

a. one who is a baby

b. hungover

c. really cold 

d. none of the above

e. all of above

f. only a and c

g. only b and c       

3. Choose the correct meaning for chuchaki

a. one who is a baby

b. hungover

c. really cold 

d. none of the above

e. all of above

f. only a and c

g. only b and c       

Speaking of wawa's we could not escape them last weekend. Last weekend was the equivalent of the "Day of the Dead" here in Cuenca. People make bread in the shape of babies. Then they decorate, and eat them. We were bombarded by wawas. Friday featured wawas for the afternoon snack...

These guys were ecstatic about eating their wawas! Juan Carlos is in the front...he does not like to do his homework.

Last Friday we were thankful to experience our first symphony. It was incredible. Why was it incredible you ask? Well let me tell you why. First, it was free. Free is good. Second of all it featured fireworks and mariachis. How can you beat that? The piece featured was the 1812 Overture (if you follow the link you will recognize the part at minute 4 and other intermittent parts) by Tchaikovsky (I just looked his name up on the internet)...which we didn't know that we knew, but turns out we know...you know?

Awkwardly close and incredibly intense fireworks mid symphony!

Saturday we enjoyed the celebrations of Cuenca's independence day. Ecuador is not satisfied with just a one and done experience a la Fourth of July. No. They have independence days for nearly every major city. Imagine if we had a different independence day for New York, Philadelphia, and Boston? That is what it is like. So it was the perfect storm of celebrations. The "Day of the Dead" meets independence day. So big that Marc Anthony himself came down to sing a few songs to the good people of Cuenca (on a side note, the ineffable Bieber was in Quito last week...we so wanted to go but just could not justify the tickets...but who knows...maybe another time we will make it...never say never). During our wanderings of the celebrations we encountered some paintings by our salsa teacher Francisco (he teaches us the same steps every week and every week we promptly forget them...he is very patient) who as it turns out, is quite the artist.

Sunday we had a great day which featured many competitions and many "wawas de pan". We have been going to a small church here in Cuenca. The church features a few different families, some American and some Ecuadorian. After another englightening sermon in Spanish from pastor Michael, the competitions began. Which kid could memorize the 23rd Psalm the best? Which mother knew her family's love language the best? And lastly, and most importantly, which family could decorate the best "wawas" (the winners of each competition received gold medals). The last competition involved multiple counts and recounts...and unlike the good folks who do not live in swing states, our vote counted! 

Last place. Sorry guys. 

Suit and tie for the man and a dress for the woman. Second to last.

4th place.

A ninja "wawa de pan". 3rd place. Their children did not vote for them. Michael is the pastor of the church. 

2nd place.

These were the gold medal winners. 

Oh! One more thing. Last week we finally consumed cuy. Cuy is what we call guinea pig in the United States. 

Our cuy being prepared.

The conclusion of the matter? Cuy is good, not great. The legs taste better than the other parts. Brigitte sampled an ear, which was in her words, "crunchy." It was almost like the dark meat of chicken with a muskier taste. When it comes to Ecuadorian food, at this point, we still prefer salchipapas...

Translation...salchipapas without shame, or shameless salchipapas. This poster is hanging in the room of our teacher.

One last note. We are thinking and praying today for our three year old nephew Simon who today is having a "little surgery to remove a Thyroglossal duct cyst in his neck, "a common anomaly" according to my sister-in-law Ginelle.

Simon is just another one of the guys!