How Much Time Do You Need to Train for a 10 Mile Run?

Well, after my week off for working, there was Carnival.  And after Carnival (which I will post about once I get photos from Carlos) I was a bit sick for a few days.  I am now ready to write more about the wedding - but in the next post.  Currently I have a more pressing issue.

Carnival in Ecuador

Carnival in Ecuador strangely reminded me of beach week at Duke. Back in collage, after the spring exams and before graduation, we would spend four or five days in Myrtle Beach, SC (actually North Myrtle Beach, but that doesn't matter too much). Those days were filled with dancing (and drinking) all night, sleeping all morning, and spending the afternoons at the beach getting sunburnt.

This past weekend was like that, sort of. Carlos and I spent from Saturday until Tuesday in the country with his parents at their weekend house. Almost all his siblings and their families were there as well. So it was basically one big party. We spent our days eating and drinking (including some shots of tequila with my future mother-in-law), playing cards, riding bikes, playing volleyball, singing karaoke, dancing, and of course, the main event of carnival, which is throwing water on one another.

Fortunately, there was sun everyday so I was never really cold. Unfortunately, the water kind of washed off my sunscreen, so my back and legs are totally burnt. Almost every afternoon the water pistols came out, as well as the water balloons, pitchers, and even the hose. The only people that were safe were Carlos's parents. No one wanted to get Mami wet.

Yesterday was the most brutal, when a few of my future brother-in-laws, thought that flour, banana, coffee grounds, vanilla extract, and eggs were all legitimate substances to smash into my hair and face. Carlos has already thanked me for taking his place, he was able to spend yesterday afternoon relatively dry and clean, while I ended up smelling like cake.

I did get a bit of revenge, for an esential ingredient of Ecuadorian cooking is achiote, a red spice that can be bought dissilved in oil. I left a nice handprint in achiote on the windsheild of one of my future brother-in-law's brand new, just cleaned car. It took him about half an hour to clean it off. But it took me about four hours this morning to do laundry from the weekend, including laundering some clothes twice, just to remove the vanilla.

Next year in Brazil?

Cooking for Carnival

Apparently we will spend all of Saturday making breads, but that's not what I want to write about now. There is the most amazing savory smell coming from the kitchen right now. I went downstairs to investigate. It turns out that my future mother-in-law is rendering lard (I think that's the right term, I may need to look it up). At lunch I saw some cubes of flesh on the stove, which looked like fish actually, so I didn't ask any questions. Now, about an hour and a half later, I realize that that was not fish, it was chunks of pork fat. And now they are melting into pure lard.

And it smells great.

Carnival

This year I spent carnival in Maastricht. Apparently, in the north of Holland are the reserved Protestants and in the south are the crazy Catholics. So if you want to celebrate carnival, you go south. We went as far south as one can get in Holland, to Maastricht, which is almost on both the Belgium and German borders. Being a Jew from the great white north (OK, I know that's more of a description of Canada than Chicago but with this weeks snow it can share the claim), I'm still getting used to this carnival thing. It's kind of a mix of Halloween and St. Patrick's Day.

Maastricht is two and a half hours away. So we left here early on Sunday morning (early being relative for a Sunday morning). We arrived in Maastricht around noon and headed straight to the center of town. Everyone was in costume. Everyone except for us. I had nice lei, and later on splurged on a wig, but it was too cold to wear anything but a down jacket, lined pants, and comfortable shoes.

There were two things about the Dutch carnival that surprised me (contrasts with last year in Venice). First, there were families in Maastricht. Most people were in groups of a dozen to 20 where everyone had matching costumes (Smurfs, the Chinese pingpong team, hippies, etc), but also there was just mom, dad, and kids all dressed alike. Considering my second observation, I really didn't expect carnival to be a family day. I don't recall seeing any children in Venice.

Now for the second observation. There was beer. Of course. But it was served in glasses. I guess the premise is that even when the Dutch drink, they are responsible enough not to throw the glasses on the ground (or at each other) but return them to the bar when they are done. At Duke when we had bonfires, the deans walked around handing out plastic cups, at Cubs games you get plastic cups, even at bars in the US you sometimes get plastic cups. But in Holland you get decent cheap beer from the tap in real glasses. And in the main square and on the streets we saw waiters walking around with trays to retrieve glasses that were left out. Usually the trays were almost empty.

We watched the parade in the afternoon and only stayed until dark, since none of us were really in the mood to stand outside drinking beer all night. The parade was nice, but very long and it didn't hold our attention for the hours that it went on. Except I really liked this troupe, the costumes were great, as was the music. For a moment I even believed that bikini and feather clad girls would suddenly samba on over. But they did not.



Maybe next year will be in Brazil. Or Cuenca.

Italy (Part II, Venice)

We all slept well on Friday night and slept in on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, we battled with cold showers, which wasn't unexpected when you have eight people in one flat trying to shower two at a time (separate showers, of course). But by 11AM Giorgia, Rosy, Elena, and I had left to go to the salon. While the other three girls got their hair blown out, I decided it was time for a chic Italian haircut. I felt that Rosy and I could almost pass for Italian at our post salon, midday coffee and juice at the outdoor cafe.

After a quick walk around the neighborhood we gathered the rest of the team from Giorgia's and started the half hour walk to the train station. Once we got into the station it turned into a sprint to the train, but of course, as we arrived at the track it had been delayed for a few minutes, so we had not missed out train to Venice. Once we finally got settled, the trip only took about 30 minutes. Suddenly we were there.

The layout of Venice is made to be appreciated from the second you step out of the station. I have never arrived by car or by boat, and once by bus, but as you exit the train terminal you are struck with the blinding beauty of the city. From the top of the stairs your eyes find the Ponte degli Scalzi straddling the Grand Canal, then you catch a gondola gliding by and follow it to a Neo-Classical church or a Byzantine palace. There are people everywhere, especially during Carnival there were hundreds of people painting faces outside the station. Apparently that is in this year. People were still in masks and costumes, but lots of people were hidden behind eyeliner and glitter.

The main celebrations take place in Piazza San Marco, which leads me to another comment about the layout of the city. Venice is made up of 177 islands and 150 canals. There are over 400 bridges, but only three that cross the Grand Canal. Also, Piazza San Marco is on the opposite side of the city from the train station. There are two ways to get there, by vaporetti (water taxi) which takes about 25 minutes and provides beautiful views of the facades along the Grand Canal, or by foot, which takes about 30 minutes on a good day. It took us about two hours with the crowds, the snacks, the turns down small alleys, and the shopping. Of course, you can always swim, but it's not recommended since the Grand Canal also doubles as an open sewer.

Our walk to the piazza was an adventure. We saw people in classical costumes as well as some more modern ones (who are those masked beauties with the 18th century debutantes?) . It was like Halloween, but with less sweets and better food. The piazza was packed. A stage was set up with musicians and dancers and the campanile (bell tower) was lit to look like Venetian glass. After our quick tour or the piazza we took an early dinner, since we had been on our feet for the past few hours. In Venice food is very expensive. Well, everything there is expensive, but we managed to find a small tratoria where we ate and drank through three courses for less than €25 each. The food, once again was divine. We had some grilled squid in it's own ink, fresh pasta with prawns, lasagna, and of course, the divine desserts of chocolate mouse, profiteroles, and Guillermo. Sorry, I meant Casanova. Once he was in costume, all the girls found him irresistible.

After dinner it was back to the piazza where we met with some of Giorgia's friends and drank and danced the night away. Though finding a drink was easy, finding a toilet was a bit of a problem. Therefore when one person needed to use one, it took about 30 minutes. Fortunately we live in the age of cell phones and were all able to meet up at the end of the night to take the long hike back to the train station. This time it only took an hour and a half to cross the city. As we were heading back we followed an informal parade, a few pied pipers with a stereo and speakers on a dolly, leading revellers dancing down the streets. Our best luck of the night was when two of Giorgia's friends offered to drive us back to her house from the train station in Padua. Our legs were like jelly at that point. It was a long, tiring, wonderful day.