Happy Independence Day!

Happy 4th of July

We had a very laid-back holiday at our house with a nice
visit from Leslie and our friend, Valerie. Instead of the typical
hamburger and hot dog meal on the grill, we had Green Chile
that Valerie brought which with the beans that Lynn cooked,
made great wet burritos. Combined with the Tamales we
buy from the Helping Hands Kitchen at Child & Migrant Services,
we celebrated with a Southwest flair. In the evening, we walked
over to 12th Street and the Mesa State College campus, where
we watched the fireworks in Lincoln Park. A nice ending to a
fun day.

Feliz 4 de Julio?

Every July 4th in my life I have spent the holiday either
in America or at least "with" 100+ Americans in a remote
place. This year, Lynn and I are spending the day with
several million people who know the day as...Saturday.
Yes, a bit underwhelming and definitely nothing to get
excited about. At least in Ecuador. All throughout Quito
you see streets named after important days in Ecuador's
history. Avenida 6 de Diciembre (The city of Quito is founded by
Spanish settlers led by Sebastián de Belalcázar) or Avenida
10 de Agosto ( Quito declares independence from Spain).
These are obviously red letter dates here in Ecuador. You
can even find a Avenida Kennedy here, referring to President
Kennedy. But...no Avenida 4 de Julio. Maybe I should just
be here in Quito with all the revelers on December 6th or
on August 10th. On a bright note however, someone was
launching fireworks in the Parque de Carolina after 10pm.
Either some expat Americans were taking matters into their
own hands to celebrate, or it was just Ecuadorans getting the
early jump on the the August 10th holiday. I'll start looking
in the stores for all of the holiday sales.

Jenga

One of the highlights of each Independence Day Celebration
here on the Ice are the number of booths that people set up
to test one's skills, make people laugh and generally have
fun. Probably the highlight of this year's offerings was
the Human Jenga. In this version, sponsored by the SAR
(Search And Rescue) Team, the participant was placed in a
safety harness used for rock climbing and would stand on a
wooden box. They were then handed an additional box and
had to stand on that box as well, going all the way up to
10 boxes. Several people made it that far. If they fell
off, they were safely held by the climbing rope. It looked
pretty nerve racking and no, I wasn't stupid enough to try
it, but I had great admiration for those that did. Pretty
impressive!

Happy Independence Day!

I've heard from several people today that they don't
celebrate the 4th of July. They celebrate Independence
Day. Independence from our rule by Britain. To be
honest, I didn't think most people gave it that much
thought. Apparently some do. We went to the 4th of
July...I mean Independence Day, party at the MEC and
generally had a good time. I was a chili cook-off
judge and there were some pretty good entries and one
that tasted somewhere in between excrement and excrement
on one's shoe. Not a good choice. After watching many
younger and braver (or dumber) than I, stand on up to
ten crates at a time while harnessed to the ceiling,
we watched Moose and Barb conduct the annual auction of
stuff (mostly crap). Although Lynn entered a couple of
knitted hats and they fetched $20 and $25. The money
then went to a big pot where tickets were randomly drawn
for cash prizes. Alas, we were not big winners, but it
was fun to watch. The highlight of the evening though for
me was celebrating my Independence from being Corn-Dog-Free.
The cooks made homemade corn dogs for the event and after
many months of jonesing for a corn dog...I left satisfied.
Now if they can somehow find a way to replicate a Taco Bell
Bean Burrito!

Happy Independence Day!