10 ways you know you're in Gualaceo

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Heel and Toe

As our time in this little town is coming to an end, we have been reminiscing the more quirky details and customs of our Gualaceo....

10 ways (or 11 or 13) to know you're in Gualaceo


*1) The local playland carnival has a Ferris Wheel (rueda moscobita) made from a car engine.

*2) Your next door neighbours invite you over to watch pig's innards stuffed into pig's intestines ('salchichas' i.e. sausages, yummy) and celebrate the momentus occasion by drinking coconut liquer and cerveza

*3) The garbage truck announces its arrival at 6am and all throughout the morning with a blaring minute-long ringtone that if I ever hear again I will strangle myself....same goes for car alarms that sound like that annoying person on the train who is going through all of their mobile ringtones to find just the right one!

*4) As a gringo/extranjero walking down the street you are followed by calls of "whassup" or "halloo" as the locals practise their English (we can speak a bit of Spanish, you know!)

*5) When entering a store you are encouraged to come in and look at the goods with a friendly

Siga no mas

or

Pasa no mas

. This literally translates to 'Follow/pass no more' but really means 'Go ahead' ??!

*6) At any time of day or night, reggaeton or cumbia can be heard pumping out into the street from a store / house / restaurant / car / bus.... at first this was really annoying, but now that we have been exposed to this type of music for so long, it's kind of likeable! (well at least I think so -carly)

*7) When sharing a beer with your mates, it is common for one person to serve out the pilsener from the longneck(large bottle) into 1 or 2 little plastic cups, which you gulp down while they wait to give it to the next person....great for drinking by the river or just outside Old Drunky's liquor store...they just love to share!

*8) For nearly any occasion, e.g. town celebration, end of school party, hike in the mountains(?) there is a 'Reina', the 'Queen of such-and-such'. This is essentially a beauty pageant, or who's-the-prettiest-girl-around competition. Greg and Kyle recently went on a group 'paseo' in the mountains with a bunch of schoolkids, and the organisers had a 'Reina de la Caminata' (Queen of the Hike). How obsessed can you be?

*9) At the head of the passenger section of every bus there is an array of Jesus figurines and 'We are Catholic, don't try to change us' signs....if your'e on a select few buses, the Sacred Heart actually lights up when the driver slams on the brakes. Practical! A car with a giant Jesus crown-of-thorns on the hood also frequents the main drag after dark, hooning around while the boys try and hit it with water bombs....see No13

*10) A squealing pig can often be heard early in the dawn, but later that day he will be blowtorched and sprawled out on a grill, his greasy nose facing the street, ready for a lady to scoop out a handful of 'chancho' for $1.25

*11) On any sunny day, especially Sunday, entire families wash their weekly load of clothes in the river, and the banks are lined with candy-coloured skirts, blankets and 'chompas'....and this is a river that Greg tried to catch fish in, good luck with all that detergent!

*12) Teams of cows and the occasional goat keep the public green spaces mowed, even dropping some fertilizer here and there. Lately the forest beside the river shows they haven't been doing their job - on Christmas holidays? (i.e. on the dinner table?)

*13) After dinner and a bit of Zhumir, Kyle and Greg can be found shooting plastic bullets and throwing water bombs at cars and buses from our balcony - every day is Carnaval in this town!


Now we must leave Kyle and our fabulous students to travel abroad yet again....and what an interesting and rewarding time we will remember. See you in Colombia for NYE!

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Photos

Kyle, carnaval style
Looking dapper with his Western Union shirt and new hat, ready to shoot some offending vehicles

Aventuras de las pirates
After floating down the river, we were drenched and pretty cold but alive

Chowing down at Comida Costeña
nice look Kyle

Best almuerzo in town
Comida Costeña, best food and even better afro-cuban salsa to listen to while you eat it

down, down, down....
sharing a cerveza while playing the card game 'spoons' at our despedida/Christmas party

Goodbyes
Greg with some of his students

Comments

[paul]

GUALACEO it"s awesome
i was in ecuador for the past five months i saw you guys you"re from cedei school well my sister have an store across street from cedei and it"s nice to know that you guys like my hometown as much as i do my uncle also live there he has an ice cream store you probably know him and my brother is one of those reggeaton guys that you mentioned before and he always said "wassup" or "halloo" btw my name is paul it"s really cool to said hi to you guys btw my name is paul i"m from gualaceo but i moved to the U.S few years ago my uncles" name is Florecio Vera