Jess's 21st Bday Celebrations!

On Friday night, after the Pilsener stalking, we all went to Jessica's house for her first birthday dinner. We had dinner with all of Jess's family, including her hot host brother, Gustavo, and her host sister's fiance from New Zealand. They made tacos, or what to me, and to everyone not Ecuadorian at the table, were bean burritos. Although not my mom's Mexican food, which the best, of course, they were still good. We also had legit Sangria with fruit and bday cake.

After dinner we went to Plaza Foch and bar/club hopped all night. We went to a place called No Bar, which is the most tourist filled bar I've seen here, and danced to some great music, offset by horrible techno. We also went to Macondo's, which was more of a bougie lounge with even better music, and met Jess's US Embassy friends and then Huainas, our usual dancing place.

On Saturday, we went to get our nails done and read trashy magazines, for about 3 hours. It was cool, only ocho dolares for both a mani and a pedi, and I'm pretty sure they did a better job than anyone else I've ever been to. At the salon we met a lady that told us she used to be a host mom to international students. She asked us if we liked to go out, and we said yes, that we usually went to el Mariscal and la Plaza Foch. She told us to be careful there, because there were a lot of homosexuals in that part of town and they were super dangerous. She also proceeded to tell us that Americans fall in love with ugly Ecuadorians, and that we shouldn't do that. She told us that she once had a host daughter who fell in love with an ugly Otavaleño, and that she just didn't know how anyone could do that, afterall, he was Indigenous, and all indegenous people are soooo "horribles"...Hmm, she was definitely the most blunt racist/homophobic person I've heard here, I wonder why she's not a host mom anymore.

Afterwards, we went to El Bosque and bought lots of food at SuperMaxi to cook for Jess's second bday dinner. Emily and Jess cooked chicken parmesan, spaghetti, vegetables, garlic bread, and salad. I made the birthday cake. Out of a box, I might add, haha. We also had wine, and later on, for Jess, Pilseners and Piña Coladas. It was all so yummy! That night we went out again, this time to Pipas, where I tried hookah for the very first time, then back to Huainas, to dance all night. Good times!!!

Sunday, the girls went to Quicentro, what we think is the best mall here, and I stayed home, all day long, studying for my Econ and Marketing tests --I hadn't read for marketing since my last test, oops. It sucked, but luckily, they are both over and I think I did really well!

Pilsener Stalkers...

Jessica's 21st birthday was yesterday and on Friday after class Anina and I went to south Quito to look for a present for her. Specifically, we were looking for a Pilsener t-shirt, which Jess has been wanting for a while. After walking around the artisinal market for a while, and not finding anything, we asked around to see if anyone knew where we could find it. We were eventually told to try El Espiral. At El Espiral we found a t-shirt store that we knew was $ when the guy told us he did actually have a Pilsener t-shirt. Anina and I waited anxiously only to find out that it was a knock off PilsHener shirt. Disappointed we walked up the spiral, the mall literally goes around in spirals, and found a place where they made t-shirts. We were able to find a Pilsener logo online and had them make a sweet shirt for Jess. Somehow though, we weren't satisfied and decided that we wanted a Pilsener poster to go along with her shirt. (Note: Jess is kinda obsessed with Pilsener, la cerveza orgullosamente Ecuatoriana. Actually she's obsessed with all beer, but she's not an alcoholic, haha.)

The guy at the t-shirt shop told us that there was a Pilsener distribution place near by where they might be able to give us posters. Anina and I walked out of in search of the general direction that the guy had been pointing at only to be confused seeing as we had just walked down about 4 flights of spirals. We asked some waiters at Coffee Tree and after thinking we were weird for wanting to go to the distribution center, we were led down Amazonas, a major street in Quito, toward la Plaza Foch, en donde farreamos (where we party) all the time. After not finding anything, we went into a little boutique where a lady told us that the Pilsener truck was near by so we should ask those guys. Anina quickly found the truck, but when we got there, the Pilsner guys were not there. We asked a random guy just standing around and he told us that they were eating lunch at a place near by.

Anina and I decided that we were going to wait for them, at the restaurant across the street from where they were eating (creepy, I know). After getting some food, we realized that the guys were done eating. I pretty much ran after them, getting weird glances back at me from the guys as I approached them, ever so awkwardly. I told them that I was looking for Pilsener posters and asked them if they knew where I could get some. One of the guys was like "yeah, here," and handed me a bent poster. I must have looked disappointed because he asked me if it was fine then asked me if I wanted more. I said yes, of course, and he handed me about 6 others (that weren't bent), and told me that if anyone asked where I got them, it wasn't him. I laughed, thanked him, and walked back towards Anina who was waiting for me at the G-Spot Restaurant, needless to say, cracking up at me.

It was probably the best present hunting (and only stalking) I've ever done and I'm glad that Jess loved her present!