Cooking for the Family, Maxim, Mountain Biking, and Carnivales

We had a great week which included cooking a meal for our host family. It turned out to be very difficult due to the size of the kitchen, different cooking utensils, and the lack of ingredients. Our meal consisted of breaded and fried pork, along with steamed vegetables, rice, and bruschetta. The best part was the desert however, which was chocolate chip cookies that the family loved and even fought over.
The dinner was also a goodbye gesture for our friend Maxim who left to travel through Bolivia and Argentina before heading back to his home country, Belgium. The spanish teachers and the host family also threw a party for Maxim and partied late into the night.
Today we went mountain biking behind our home here. It is a quick ride since we get bused to the top of the mountain and only have to coast to the bottom. Today is also Carnivales day where you get sprayed with spuma or water which is the white foam on our faces in one of the pictures. They also have a weird tradition of chopping down a large tree in the mountains and then propping it up in the middle of a road covered with balloons and gifts. They then dance around it and hack at it with a macheti until it falls over. They alternate hacking at the tree and the person who makes the final chop receives the gifts and is responsible for hosting the party next year and supply drinks.