Happy Halloween, sorta

Ok, so Ross has called me out on my incorrect statement. Mauna Loa is in fact, the LARGEST volcano (in terms of area covered), not the highest, that belongs to Ojos de Salado in Chile. Cotopaxi, turns out, is the second highest volcano on earth. (Thank you Wikipedia) They still make the claim that it's the tallest, and that's still wrong.

Also, I did some weird blogging, but I have another post about my trip to the jungle a few weeks ago (Oct 18th) in case that was not-apparent. It has a cool picture of a frog.

This weekend is Halloween, and I'm kind of bummed that Ecuador doesn't do it like the US, but they've got parties going all weekend (starting today) for Dia de Los Muertos [Day of the Dead] so it's ok. Por ejemplo, At the moment I'm listening to a marching band that's at the school across the street. They also have awesome traditions like colada morada which is this warm thick fruity drink thing with pieces of fruit inside and it's delicious. They also have guaguas de pan [bread babies, yes, I know, I eat babies] which are sweet bread (sometimes filled with yumminess) in the shape of small children with colorful frosting decorations. They're delicious. Om nom nom.

The K program is taking a trip this weekend, and us ecology kids are headed to the coast, which should be awesome. We're bummed we can't have a Halloween party, so the 8 of us are going to have a party with ourselves. Hopefully dressing up in ridiculously resourceful costumes. I bought some chocolate coins, so at least we can be mildly festive.

I also made mochi on Wednesday, which was adventurous as I don't know how to bake well, and this was my first time in altitude and my oven is sketchy to say the least (my madre doesn't really know how to use it) but I managed it! It's not as good as usual, but it's a definite personal victory for me :)