Halloween Weekend

Like my host dad always says, “Somos más estadounidenses que ustedes” (We are more American than you Americans), referring to how pervasive U.S. culture is in Ecuador.

It may be true; most Ecuadorians know more about Hollywood movies/actors, current music, sports results, etc. than me. Whenever anything U.S.-related comes up in class, my professors always turn to me for clarification and I sit there dumbfounded at how little I actually know about the U.S.

In any case, needless to say Halloween is indeed celebrated in Ecuador, mostly by young adults who dress up and go out to party. Juanki also visited this weekend since there was an exciting concert “3 GIGANT3S” that featured Pitbull, Marc Anthony & Chayanne. And by exciting, I mean it was really amazing.

On Friday night we went to the concert and stood in line for a couple hours since we bought the cheapest tickets ($40) that weren’t pre-seated. It was held in the Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa where the Ecuador-Bolivia game was also held. The line was a lot of fun because we got to socialize and meet new people of all ages before entering the concert. And when we entered, we met more people (Ecuadorians are the friendliest)!

Juanki waiting in line with Kylie Zawada, IES

My new friend, Graciela, who came with her 12-year-old son

Pitbull: Mr. Worldwide

In the concert, first came Pitbull, then Marc Anthony, then Pitbull again (for their hit Rain Over Me), and then Chayanne. Honestly, I hadn’t heard of Chayanne beforehand but through Wikipedia and word-of-mouth I found out he’s a Puerto Rican singer who sings romantic songs. Luckily, he played last, and we gave him a chance but after three songs we weren’t impressed and left early. Later, Alli got publicly reprimanded in her IES Spanish class by profe Evelyn who evidently loves Chayanne (but second to Ricky Martin).

Juanki, Kylie & Alli Cole, IES

Me & Juanki

Marc Anthony!

The next day, I went with Juanki and some of his friends from the coast: Janine, Adrianna & Rommy (who I recently met) to an Indian restaurant “Shere Punjab” in Quito that actually has decent Indian food! The only other one I know of is called “Great India” and the name is extremely misleading when it comes to their food. Anyways, they were all excited to go and try Indian food for the first time so we had a great meal together and laughed a lot

We then tried on Halloween costumes and went to Mariscal which is where most of the nightlife is centered in Quito. We went to two clubs and danced a lot even though our legs were so tired from the concert the night before (lots of hip-hop and salsa)!