14 - Santo Domingo

Last weekend was a long holiday weekend, so I went with my friend Karina to visit her family in Santo Domingo. We took an overnight bus, which is the easiest and cheapest, and consequently most dangerous way to travel around Ecuador. We left the terminal terrestre around midnight, and arrived in Santo Domingo around 4:30 AM. The ride was easy for me because I slept the entire way. Karina, on the other hand, couldn’t sleep because of a little kitten that didn’t want to stay in her box.


Here I am with that little kitten. Karina’s family’s cat had a couple kittens, and we brought one of them to Karina’s family in Santo Domingo.


To transport the kitten they put her in a cardboard box, but she was not happy. Karina spent almost the whole bus ride holding the kitten in her arms making sure she didn’t escape.

Karina’s family in Santo Domingo was awesome. She has so many aunts, uncles and cousins living there. It seemed like she was related to everyone in the city. We stayed at her aunt Lidia’s house. Lidia has three children: Ronny (15), William (10), and Juliana (9). I had a great time losing in chess to Ronny, playing ping pong with William, and getting huge hugs from Juliana. Karina’s cousin Karla (18) also stayed in the house while we there. Karina’s mom, Gloria, came the next day. In total there were 8 of us staying in the house and only 4 beds. Good thing Ecuadorians are great at sharing.


Here’s a video of Juliana showing us her house. Gloria (Karina’s mom) is the flustered woman at the end.

Saturday morning I went with Karina and her cousin Karla (K and K) to a fish market to buy crabs and shrimp to cook for lunch. The market was a narrow cobblestone alley filled with hundreds of vendors yelling out the foods and prices. There were giant buckets of shrimp, clams galore, carts selling crabs, dead fish chopped into filets on newspaper on the ground, and all the fishy smells that go along with it.

When we got back from the fish market we started getting lunch ready. The whole family was coming over, and we had a lot of work to do. First I helped with the crabs.


When we bought the crabs they were tied tightly together holding their claws down. The crabs were still very alive, so second the strings were cut the crabs went crazy running all over with their huge claws out ready to pinch anything in site.


My job was to use a butcher knife to push the crabs toward the middle of the table to keep them from falling off the edge.


Meanwhile, a bucket on the floor was also filled with pinching crabs, and I had to keep two curious dogs away from the bucket.


While I was busy herding crabs and saving dogs from losing their noses Karina’s aunt was ripping out the crab’s intestines and cleaning the crabs.

When my fun with crabs was done I helped with the shrimp. I got the job of removing the poop track from over 200 shrimp.



Cooking this meal was a lot of work, but so worth it when we finally got to sit down and eat.


The food was soooo delicious. We had this soup with plaintain matza-ball like things with two big crabs. We also had breaded fried shrimp, patacones, and a heaping scoop of rice. Que rico!


Saturday night was pretty crazy. The night started in the house drinking some Pilseners. All the woman got dressed up in nice clothes and makeup. Tía Lidia even had sparkly hats and masks for us. We were decked out and ready for a full night of fun.
First we went to a free concert. The place was packed, and again I felt like a canned sardine. Only this time the canned sardines were dancing. Normally I like dancing canned sardines, but being in the middle of this sweaty clumpy mess was hard to handle. Everyone around me enjoyed the concert and sang and danced along, but I was happy to get out of there.
Our next stop was a bar. At this point I was with K and K, and lots of aunts and uncles. We ordered a bottle of whiskey to share. The waitress came back with the bottle, a bunch of glasses, ice, and a pitcher of water. I thought water was a strange chaser for whiskey, but I figured things were different in Ecuador. Turns out the water wasn’t a chaser. One of the uncles made drinks for everyone with whiskey, one ice cube, and lots of water. Guacala! I didn’t even pretend to enjoy it.
K and K and I didn’t stay at this bar too long. We left around 12:00 AM to meet one of Karina’s amigos at a discoteca. The disco was packed, the music pumping, and the strobe lights, lasers, and fog machines really set the mood. I shook my little booty all night with a nice Ecuadorian boy named Andre.
After the disco K,K, some amigos, and I went to an area called La Pampa. It’s an area where young people go and drink by their cars in a parking lot after a long night of dancing. After La Pampa we went back to the first bar where Karina’s aunts and uncles were still drinking. We all headed back to the house in taxis around 5 in the morning! I was exhausted and went to sleep, but when I woke up at 9 am some of the aunts and uncles were still drinking!



Sunday was Dia de los Difuntos, also known as Day of the Dead. On this day everybody goes to the cemetery to visit their dead loved ones. They put flowers and candles on the grave. It was amazing because there were so many people at the cemetery, and none of them were crying. It’s a nice holiday because it’s a day to remember the dead, and not to lament their loss.




It was really beautiful because all the family was together sitting around the grave talking and laughing.


Sunday night we celebrated Tía Lidia’s birthday with cake and of course lots of dancing. Top row: Gloria, Ronny, Tía Lidia, Karina, Karla, Me
Bottom: Jiuliana, William


Here’s a collection of some of the songs we danced to. I’m the awkward white girl dancing in the back. And yes, William is dancing with a tiny dog in a dress at the end.


I bought the game Scrabble for the family as a thank you gift.


Here I am with two of Karina’s friends. Latin twins!