the day of the ecuadorian elections: a most ironic birthday

just wanted to share: last weds i went to capoiera class in order to meet more ecuadorians and do something i just wouldn’t do in the u.s. it was hard, and like in most rhythmic activities, i was pretty terrible at it, but it was fun. and i am still pretty sore from it, haha. we did toooons of squats over the two hours. hopefully i’ll have the time and motivation to keep up with it. and then i can come back and do capoiera on the north lamar bridge on thurs. nights. sweet.

other things of note: my bro is going to visit me for a week!
on sunday i observed the voting process, but it was actually pretty uneventful. people generally seemed pretty unexcited to be there, and the whole process seemed less organized and less concerned with privacy than in the u.s. advancing to the “second turn,” because no one received 51% of the vote, are noboa (the richest man in the country, who owns 30something businesses) and correa (passionate, young, leftist guy who people are afraid of because he wants to get rid of the very problematic congress and form a presidentially-appointed constitutional assembly). my field research prof says that its going to be an election of the rich vs. the poor. i am really interested and a bit worried to see what is going to happen.
also, i think i celebrated the most ironic 21st bday known to man…this weekend, because of the elections on sun. which are obligatory for all citizens, there has been “dry law” in effect from midnight on fri morn to midnight on mon morning, which means no alcohol sold anywhere. sooo, we went out to mexican food and were not able to enjoy a single margarita. que chistoso! however, i had a very blessed and humbling birthday, as always, and i am incredibly grateful for friends and family (both blood-related and ecuadorian family). thanks to all!