Don't eat the brownie batter...(pictures to come)

Adam and I decided that we were going to bake brownies and cookies. People aren't really into baking here...probably because there are so many bakeries in town, why would you make your own cake? Plus, I'm not sure how many people have ovens here, as they can get quite pricey. Right now our host mom has a ginormous oven, and we didn't want to see it go unused. So off we went in search for cookie sheets and cake pans. Inevitably, it led us to the TodoHogar (the ridiculously priced South American version of Bed Bath and Beyond), because that is pretty much the only place you can buy a cookie sheet.

After buying the cookie sheet, the cake mold, and the ingredients for baking, we started the preparations for making oatmeal cookies and brownies using recipes from our Peace Corps cookbook "Buen Provecho." The oatmeal cookies turned out ok, but our brownies had the texture of dry clay. They were crumbly and dry and cakey. They were not good. And to make matters worse, I had tasted the brownie batter beforehand and it tasted pretty good...but I failed to remember that I had poured unboiled water into the batter.

Before I knew it I was sick with a fever and terrible stomach cramps for three straight days. Our Peace Corps doctor told me to just wait it out...and that hopefully the diarrhea would come after a day or so. Isn't that lovely? I blame it on the brownie batter because I can't think of anything that Adam and I both didn't eat except for that. That is one good thing (out of many) about serving as a Peace Corps couple...you can easily point out what gives you stomach problems based on if your partner is symptom free!

But the upside of the story is that our host mom liked our brownies and so now the whole batch is pretty much gone. Thank goodness because I don't think I could've eaten them without drinking 10 gallons of milk to wash it down. It was that dry. Seriously.

Yes, that is Jason Mraz playing on the Ecua radio station in the background...

While I've been home sick in bed listening to the clucking chicken that sits right outside our bedroom window, Adam has been out visiting some different barrios. Today he is in a town where his organization, CASMUL, is offering free healthcare checkups by Cuban doctors.

Last night Adam talked to his dad on the phone and I realized that we didn't post much about the fiestas of San Pedro and the Inti Raymi that were happening in the Cayambe area while we were in training. Starting in June, there are fiestas almost every weekend where vendors walk around selling salchipapas (french fries with hot dogs chopped on top), roasted corn-nuts, and cotton candy, and where groups come out and dance. Every group sings to the same tune and would literally dance from afternoon til dawn (6am give or take). They shuffle along, pass around alcohol and chicha, whistle, dance, and sing. I think I posted a few pictures when we watched the fiestas in Tabacundo (people had bonfires in the streets, and group after group of dancers passed by). Our friend Tiffany actually danced a bunch of different times and came back sore and exhausted. That is probably one of the sounds that I will miss from living in Puruhantag, because if I woke up at 1am I would inevitably here a group singing in the distance. Here is a video of what each group looks and sounds like:



Tomorrow I hope to feel 100% because Adam and I are supposed to go out to Parque Jipiro and help out with the community fundraiser (selling traditional food). Hopefully as volunteers we will get bigger servings of pork and rice for $2.50 a plate than last weekend when we got teeny tiny portions.