The longest day EVER

Sunday was our day to host the fair. I know I'm the PCV for all of my canton, but I think it's only natural to favor your neighbors. And I got a lot to like about them- we had the best day of the fair!

We started at 4am with an alborada. The alborada was like last year. We shot cohetes into the air and passed out plates of tamales y pan, with a cup of tepid sugar coffee. I got to see Job, of the Caminemos Con Job campaign. I was glad to see that he's doing much better, though still relying on crutches.

I picked up a plate with a lot of pan. It's Orbe's pan, and it's delicious! 

Auxi, a candidata, looking super cute at 4am. 

Old ladies are my preferred alborada companions. Especially these two!

 When things were starting to settle down, I got a big surprise when the band dedicated a song to me. I didn't know it at the time, but the song they played has words and it goes something along the lines of "I love you, but you just want to be friends." I thought this was awfully ironic coming just 4 hours after I left the discomovil dance floor...

Thanks for the song, bub.

I snatched a few more hours of sleep then started getting ready for the series of activities that were taking place in and around my house, starting with the celebration of seniors! I always love this part of the fair because old people are cute. We had a clown (of course), pupusas, a raffle for gifts (socks and tupperware) and we ended it all with a piñata. Speeches were given. I thanked them for sharing their community with me all this time, and I'll surely cry when I leave in September. A few shook my hand and thanked me back. It was all in all fun.

Glendi and the clown give out a gift.

The seniors pick up dulces as the kids look on from the road. 

Otinia and the clown! She makes friends with everyone. 

Just a few hours of downtime and it was time to shave the pig. I really didn't like the chancho encebado in the pueblo, and I was scared to see how kids would handle it. Luckily, the event went quick and a burly 10 year old carried the chanchito off in the third round.

You poor pig. 

Haven't you seen BABE!?!?!

But wait, there's more! Immediately after the chancho, we had a comelon de pupusas. Five contenders ate 15+ pupusas within 30 minutes. The winner ate 19. Just for reference- three pupusas makes me feel stuffed and I'm the girl who eats entire boxes of Mac'n'Cheese. Because it would be a crime to not, the pupusas were served with ample cortido y salsa de tomate. They were also given Pepsi's to wash it all down.

The crowd that left all their chip bags and soda bottles in my yard. Grrr. 

Eat! Eat! Eat!

"I hate to tell you this, but you're losing."

(....Son of a beech.)

My favorite event was the palo encebado. If you're paying attention, you know that encebado means greased. So yes, we find a very tall tree, sand off the bark, and grease it. The menfolk work in teams to strip off the grease (a universal strategy) and retrieve the $20-$40 nailed to the top of the palo. This would be a great team building exercise! A little messy though.

I could totally Mulan that. 

That top man strips the grease down to the bottom. 

Then they use dirt to add traction. 

They grab anything to climb up. I saw a lot of butt.

It was dark by the time they got the money, so this is the last pic I have that isn't blank. 

I watched the spectacle with my host mom and a gaggle of kids. It always surprises me how much the kids love me here. I love them right back!