I have been here in Ecuador for more than 8 months now...which is pretty hard to believe. I have been living in Nabon for more than 6 months, so by now I am feeling more like a part of the community...which shows in what I have been up to...

About 2 weeks ago I was asked to be the judge in the Reina competition for the colegio. If you are confused as to what this might be, think a beauty pageant where the whole town comes to watch. They had girls from each curso (grade) of the colegio (high school) competing in  formal wear, traditional dance, and a question and answer portion. I was one of five judges chosen to participate and choose the winners....and being Ecuador I did not know I was going to be a judge until about 5 minutes before the competition started. I was sitting in the stands minding my own business when I was asked to be a judge because the former judge was a little too chuchaqui (drunk--hungover) to actually judge anything. The competition was really long as well...about 4 hours of watching the girls dance and strut their stuff in their formal gowns. For me it was pretty crazy to see how into this everyone in the town got, and I definetely realized how much a part of the culture these reina competitions are. The girl who won is in her final year at the colegio, and she was crowned Reina del Colegio Nabon. The Reina´s job for the year is to represent the Colegio in the parades (Ecuadorians love parades--sometimes there will be a random parade that will appear when you least expect it). The big fiesta for my town is May 30th, which is a Catholic fiesta that celebrates the church and a saint, although I can´t remember which one. The next big fiesta is in June, when Nabon crowns the Reina de Nabon, who will be the Reina of the whole county...so get ready for a reina update sometime in June!