On Friday I went to the palacio real for the announcement of Rio as the host of the 2016 Olympic Games. There were giant yellow beach balls, there were giant hands, there was loud music and there was always the faint hope that things were going were to turn very ugly.
Above: At the palacio real with Vicki and Michael. Right: Vicki watches silently as the inevitable comes sailing toward her face.
This is Michael aka Mikey. Besides being a genuinely nice person, far nicer than normal people which makes me suspect he has an abnormal amount of serotonin in his brain, he is a ton of fun. Please use the expressions on his face as an indication of just happy this kid gets when he gets free stuff like a mano gigante, or waits in a giant line of mostly families with young children to get his hand painted.
These pictures are just what they appear to be: manos gigantes, and when the MC yelled "manos arriba!" we put our manos arriba. The afternoon ended when Rio was announced winner, the crowd peacefully (somewhat disappointingly) dispersed and my big toe was burned by a flaming ash discarded by someone's cigarette nearby. After the excitement, I was unable to attend my first day of Spanish class, something I had been looking forward to since my arrival in this god-forsaken land a month before. I was too tired but as I guiltily confessed to Jeff that I skipped my class and he judged me ruthlessly, as boyfriends tend to do, I merely held up my mano gigante triumphantly for him on Skype. Could you go to class after holding this thing up high, way arriba, for two hours?
A final note: I sent out the address to my blog in a mass email to friends and family including my father, Dennis Westlake, aka Sea Wolf. Sea Wolf's response, the most adorable email ever:
Hi Rebecky! Loved your blog. It's like a mass email, I think. Maybe this is my blog to you? Can't wait to visit. Love Dad
P.S. Do I need to go to blogspot.com for anything?
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