10th of Agosto

This past weekend I celebrated the 10th of August (even though it's not for a couple of days) with a parrilla (barbecue)! What is the 10th of August you may ask--it is kinda of like Ecuador's Fourth of July--when a group of Quiteños (people from Quito) decided to revolt in 1810 after hearing that Napoleon had taken over Spain--who had been ruling Ecuador. The movement didn't do much immediately, but sparked the ideas of the revolution until it was gained 12 years later in 1822.

To celebrate, my mami and I went with four other student families from my program to the countryside outside of Quito for the day. The place we went to was a grandparents property/farm and it was the prettiest, perfect garden I had ever seen. (Thanks to Kelsey for the pictures!)

Here we are grilling--in the white is my mami! As you can see we grilled in a wheelbarrow with an old grill on top--quite interesting.


We all had soooo much meat--I thought I was back in America. The picture does NOT do my plate of meat justice. There are piles of slabs of meat that aren't seen. I barely finished half of it.


Here is one of the "barns" as we might call it. Tall plants that house roosters, goats, ducks, chickens, guinea pigs, and rabbits.


Guinea Pigs (cuy) to fry and eat later!






Some pictures of the house and gardens surrounding it.




















They were building an adobe house on the land.




Here you can see a far away view of Quito, there are two small mountains where in front of--is my university, and behind, the city of Quito and where I live. The picture does not do the view justice.