I write to you with a new, entertaining story that happened to me about a week ago. I am hoping atleast you all will get a kick out of it because, I unfortunately did not. However, this experience that I am about to explain will probably go down as one of the weirdest, most uncomfortable, most bizarre occurances of my life thus far.
In order to fully explain, I will need to first brief you all on one of Ecuador's proudest traditions, beauty pagaents. Beauty pagaents in Ecuador seem to hold the interest of almost everyone. Whether it is Miss Ecuador, Miss Santo Domingo or Miss Universe, beauty pagaents are the talk of the town wherever you go. So much so that before Miss Ecuador was held here in Santo Domingo about two months ago, the government had people working up a storm in order to get the city ready. Parks were made, trees were planted, water pipes installed, roads paved, all for the hosting of the soon-to-be-pagaent. Pagaents are also held before all soccer games. Each time assigns a "queen" to represent them on game day, and a contest is held before each game to see which queen is the most beautiful.
Well...yes...here is where I come in. Lucky for me, I was nominated to be the "Queen of Sports" for the 2011 government-held soccer tournament. I knew, when they asked me to partake, what ridiculousness this would entail as I have witnessed many such events in my year here so far. But, unfortunately, after saying "NO GRACIAS" three times, I was forced into the role. The whole week leading up to the event I had random people I have never met whispering as I walked by "mira la reina de deportes! look its the queen of sports!" and "ah la famosa ha llegado! the famous girl has arrived." Flattering? Yes, a little.
Needless to say, this was only the beginning of it all. The day of the event arrived, and my coworker pulled me into the bathroom at 8am to try on a bagfull of dresses she brought for me to wear. I tried to keep a smile on my face as she pulled out the 1. skin-tight metallic purple dress with a gold belt 2. bright green 80s prom dress that went to right below my butt 3. corset and skirt. NO NO NO NO. allll wrong. As you all may know, I'm a bit picky about what I wear and I definately don't like getting too dressed up, so this experience was rather difficult for me. I politely said, "no...buscare mi propio vestido i will find my own dress!" and ran away. Thanks to my other Peace Corps friends who were laughing hysterically at my misery, I was able to put together an outfit that was somewhat appropriate for both parties. Meaning, I liked it and I hoped they would too.
That night is was time for the big event and more importantly, my Ecuadorian teammates time to do my makeup and hair! They dragged my to someones house, not sure who, sat me down on the bed and went to work. To start, bright blue, purple, red, and black eyeshadow all mixed together into one. Next, so much dark black eyeliner that when I looked in the mirror I scared myself. Bright red lipstick, bright pink blush, slicked back with gel hair, and I was ready to go. I tried my best to avoid mirrors because I literally felt like a clown.
We arrived to hundreds of people, all staring at the "reinas queens." I led my soccer team in an inauguration ceremony, and was introduced to the mayor, the leader of the indigenous tribe, and many other important officials. Scandal occured when people starting noticing that I was not Ecuadorian, and wanted to kick me out of the pagaent. My coworkers fought for me to stay in as I, secretly, prayed that they would kick me out so I could go put on my soccer uniform.
Thankfully enough I was eliminated rather early in the pagaent, due to the scandal, and was able to relax a bit. I tried to smile and congratulate the other teams queens but for the most part I recieved only deathly stares from the other girls. I guess I wasn't taking things seriously enough. Luckily enough, things ended rather quickly, and my 15 minutes of fame in Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas, Ecuador was a success!
Its been two weeks, and my roommates and volunteer friends are still laughing at me. Despite all of my sarcasm, it was a very loving event and I actually feel more connected to the people here than I have yet. Below is a photo from the newspaper. Hope you got a laugh out of this!
