10th of August

The actual day of the holiday, Anyel and I went to a beautiful sports complex with my host parents at about 10 in the morning, and enjoyed ourselves until about 4 in the afternoon. We played "Equavolley," a ridiculously harmful version of volleyball that is "endemic" to Ecuador. The ball is actually a large, hard soccer ball. The net is about 2 feet higher than the nets we play on in the states. There are three players on each side. Rarely do people pass, which we learned is because the ball is soooo hard. The sets are ALWAYS carries, and there's no hitting. Just setting and tipping to strategic places. Anyel and I were obviously not accustomed to these changes, so we played pretty much the same way we would have in the states... resulting in swollen forearms and thumbs, and real, honest-to-God bruises on my wrists. It was awesome. I actually had a blast, but I decided I need to re-learn how to play, or I will be walking around with sausage forearms for days after each outing.

Marcelo was proud of us.

After two excruciatingly-fantastic hours of Equavolley, we hit the swimming pool like a couple of gringas. I say that because we didn't read the rules and were quickly scolded for not wearing swim caps, not rinsing before we entered the pool, and not having flip flops to walk around in. If I had been alone, I might have died from embarrassment, but Anyel and I have a way of laughing everything away. We got swim caps, rinsed (even though we'd already jumped in the pool!), and ran around without flip flops anyway! It was a beautiful day, and there were quite a few people out enjoying the sunny holiday. We ate lunch there, and then frequented the saunas and hot tubs before heading home, exhausted.

Like the champs we are, we napped and showered and picked up Laura around 9 to go dancing! We had heard a great recommendation for a place called La Bodeguita de Cuba, but the place was virtually empty when we arrived. We found out it's packed on the nights when there is live music, and other than that it's just a little family-owned diner. SOOO, we ended up at a place called La Tequila. 'Nough said. We danced until about 1:30, caught a cab home, and I think I barely made it through a good teeth brushing before I collapsed in bed.

I woke up thoroughly pleased that there were still two days of weekend fun to be had.