Christmas and New Years

---

So Susan and I have celebrated another Christmas in Puyo, as well as, ushered in another New Year.

Just like last year, we invited friends down to Puyo to spend Christmas with us. Last year, there were 8 of us, this year we numbered 20. Somehow, Susan and I have become social chairs of our Omnibus, or so we have been told. People heard about the great Puyo Christmas of 2007 and thus, more wanted to come this year.

We invited people to come anytime from Christmas Eve until the 27th, when the real party would occur. Our friend Roger came on the 24th and we had a nice Christmas Eve dinner at our house with him and Casey (other Volunteer in Puyo). We stayed up chatting and then Casey just decided to sleep over instead of going to her house and waking up Christmas Day alone.

Christmas morning, Sue and I opened a few presents and then we made breakfast. The day before I bought some bacon (rare in Ecuador) and we had bacon and eggs - a wonderful Christmas breakfast that I liken to a can of Who hash from the Grinch. We played xmas music and relaxed. Later in the morning we decided to take a hike that leads to the dike/pool in Mera.

Along the hike, we found a nice natural pool in the river and decided to stop there to swim for a few minutes. It was cold, but refreshing. After nice dip in the water we continued the hike to the dike and stopped to have a beer. There were quite a few people there on Christmas Day enjoying vacation and family time.

Casey and I decided to swim some more and somehow I got roped into an underwater handstand competition with her - which I lost over and over and over again. Casey was a synchronized swimmer at one point in her life, I didn´t have a chance as my best knowledge of the sport is from Caddyshack when it was caddy day at the pool. Never-the-less, I humored Casey and gave it my best shot.

After the competition, Jay (Volunteer from our group) arrived. We continued to celebrate xmas with some beer and then decided to return to Puyo. Matt and his family were on their way to Puyo and we were all going to have dinner together at our house. Originally, the plan was for them to make us dinner, but they were running late and so we were asked to start dinner. In the end, it all worked out well and the food was great, chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, carrot cake, cookies, salad, corn casserole etc. etc. A fine feast. Our friend Kris came into town just before dinner so he reaped the benefits of perfect timing.

The next morning, Andrea and Akul came in, followed by Elliot, Susan, Jason, Mo, and Ryan. The party was picking up. We spent the afternoon playing basketball - we are all getting older and slower, then went to a small dike near us to swim. The dike was packed with people and most of the Ecuadorians were enjoying watching the crazy gringos jump into the water while trying to catch a weird round spinning toy - a Frisbee. By that point in time, three of Casey´s friends had shown up.

That evening, we went to Casey´s for cocktails, then the group split up for dinner. Some went to the pizza place across the road from Casey´s - I went there. While others chose to go to Nelson Burger - Sue went there. After that, we all met up at the Volcano Bar, had some more drinks and then went to a dance club in Puyo. The dance club was fun, especially when you are with a bunch of your friends and you don´t care much for what other people think of your dancing style.

Eventually, we returned to the apartment and everyone found a place to crash, more or less. I think we had 12 in our apartment. The next morning I made Pumpkin pancakes, thank you Chris and Sarah for the mix. After that, some in the group went to play basketball, while Roger, Mo and I chose to go into town to buy the food for tonight´s dinner and party.

What happened next was a true indicator of Peace Corps Volunteers ability to solve any logistical problem. We had 20 people who needed to go to FRATES, along with food and drink, and most people were going at different times. Both Susan and Casey had basketball games for their Puyo teams. Buses leave for FRATES at 1:00pm and 4:00pm. This is how it all went down:

Jeremy led Team 1 to the bus station at 1:00pm with the food and one case of beer. Total volunteers 10.
Susan led Team 2 to the bus station at 4:00pm with food items we forgot . Total Volunteers 2.

Casey led Team 3 in a hired taxi at 5:30pm with 9 cases of beer. Total Volunteers 7. Let´s just say she was in the support vehicle.

Matt led Team 4 aka his family in a rented car. Total Volunteers 1 Total Family 4. The rented car rode too low to the ground to clear the road so the ditched it halfway and hopped on the bus with Susan.

By 6:30 pm Everyone had made the 1 hour trip from Puyo - we had food and drink and were merry. For me, getting people to the center was my biggest concern and we successfully accomplished the task.

My team arrived first, naturally, and we got Umberto´s house at the Center ready for everyone. I started a big pot of sloppy joes and then set up my new Yard Golf game. It was blazing hot so a group of us went to the river to swim. The problem was that the river was low, so we built a small rock dam to create a pool and then sat in the 1 foot deep water - refreshing.

After teaching everyone how to play yard golf, it became an instant hit. However, without adequate light, we had to suspend the game at 7:00pm and move to indoor activities, namely, cards, chess, beer pong, and flip-cup. I swore to myself that after making sloppy joes as our lunch/pre-dinner snack that my cooking duties were over. I had been cooking for everyone since the 24th and wanted to take a break. Andrea and Susan BC agreed to cook dinner which was pasta with homemade sauce.

The wonderful thing was that we purchased just enough food to keep everyone happy. Matt and his family were staying at the reserve just down the road, but they came for dinner and for some of the early festivities.

Susan and Roger were not much into the partying so they retired to one of the bunkrooms to watch a DVD and try to get some peace and quiet. Unfortunately for them, the walls are all paper thin and it was just as loud on their side of the wall as it was on our side.

Most everyone else partied until the wee hours of the morning. Myself, I made it to about 2:30 or 3:00 and then found myself wondering why I felt it necessary to party with the young ones who at that point could barely stand, let alone talk or play games. I did stay up long enough to revel in a PC Omnibus 97 tradition of making grilled cheese sandwiches late at night. After that, I retired to the bunkroom and within minutes everyone else went to bed as well.

The next morning, we had eggs for breakfast and then some of the group hiked to Hola Vida waterfall. Another group stuck around and played yard golf, while I cleaned up around the house. I have to admit, I was expecting the place to be a dump after a party with so many people, but it was amazingly clean. No spilled beer, no trash on the floor, it made for an easy clean up.

Eventually, our friend Jeff and his family came out and went to Hola Vida. When they returned to the Center, Jeff introduced us all and then we all caught the 2:45pm bus back to Puyo. Nothing like 20 gringos getting on a bus at the same time in the middle of nowhere to really make the Ecuadorians wonder WTF was going on.

It was Sunday afternoon, and it was our hope (Susan and I) that our friends would leave to go back to their sites or whatever. However, one by one, they all asked to stay another night and being the gracious hosts that we are we complied.

That night I made a Mexican dish to serve up in tortillas and it seemed to fill the stomachs of everyone. I then went to my office to get the LCD projector and we had movie night at our place. We watched Office Space and by the time the movie was over at 11:00pm about ¾ of the people were asleep.

The next morning, everyone left. Most were headed to the beach to party it up there for New Year´s. No way were Susan and I going to do that. Heck we needed a week just to recover from Christmas, plus I had to work between xmas and New Year´s.

I spent the 3 days before New Year´s at the office ¨working¨. I didn´t have much to do since the schools were closed and everyone else was on vacation, so I spent the time updating my resume, writing my Description of Service document for PC, and writing various cover letters for job applications.

Susan and I spent New Year´s Eve at home watching a movie and then ventured out into Puyo at 10:00pm to see what was going on in town. Last year, it was much more exciting, more to see, more people out and about. Don´t get me wrong, there were a lot of people out and three different bands playing on three different stages, however, it just didn´t seem as big or as good. By midnight, we were back in our neighborhood and ushered in the New Year among neighbors. The guy doing our neighborhood party announced that there were 3 minutes left and then forgot to announce the New Year. Only after we saw and heard fireworks from other parts of town did he finally say, ¨oops my bad - Happy New Year¨.

We then returned home and went to bed. So, there you have it, the condensed version of Christmas 2008 and New Year´s 2009. We would have rather spent it with family and friends in the States, however, we made it the best we could without all of you.

---