In our Spanish class, one of the people said she overheard two women talking excitedly about papa.  It was papa this, and papa that.  She knew just enough Spanish to know that ‘papa’ is Spanish for potato, and she couldn’t figure out why these women were so excited about potatoes?

Only later did she realize that the Pope is also called Papa in Ecuador. The Pope is in Guayaquil giving mass to over 1 million people today, and will give mass tomorrow in Quito. This is such a Big Deal in this country that the president has declared today and tomorrow as holidays.

Today, Evelyn was walking near Parque Calderon (the park in the center of town, about 4 blocks from our apartment) when she saw what she thought was a cardboard image of the Pope… until he started walking!  Sure enough, a man was in a Pope costume, complete with cardboard image of the Pope’s face on top.