Highlights:
-Photographed my little kindergardeners; pictures are up so check those out at http://picasaweb.google.com/alex.fussell
-Woke up at 4:30am on a Friday to not take a really cool train haha
-Jumped off a huge bridge
-Rappelled down 4 waterfalls
-Bought a jacket with llamas on it :)
-Cooked spaghetti :)
On Thursday, I had service learning and took my camera to recess. You would have thought that the kids had never seen their photo before, which I suppose could be true. I pretty much could take one picture at a time because they wanted to see every picture after I took it. I'm going to take some more this week of the rest of my kids and also of the classroom so you can see what those look like.
After school, Ali, Annie, Austin, Edan and I took the Ecovia to the Trolley to the south bus station, Quitumbre. We bought some tickets to head to Riobamba, a city of 125,000 and the capital of the Chimborazo Province which, it turns out, is really boring. We took a cab to our hostel and drove through most of the central district at 11 pm which consisted of zero people and closed up houses and businesses. Our room at the hostel was really cute and included a kitchen, which we couldn't use since our entire food supply consisted of a package of crackers I'd grabbed before leaving home, and since everything was closed, we couldn't buy food. We got up at 4:30am the next morning to go ride El Nariz del Diablo (The Devil's Nose), a (now) tourist train that goes up/down a really really steep hill by traversing lots of switchbacks, and passengers can ride on top of the train to enjoy the beautiful views of all the surrounding volcanoes. At least, that's what all the guidebooks say. It turns out that there is one small, 30-person, bus that has been retrofitted to go on train tracks, you can't ride on top, and tour companies buy out all the tickets so you have to buy them 8 days in advance. We arrived at the station at 5am (we wanted to make sure we got tickets) only to be told the were sold out. We waited a little to see if anyone didn't show up (they all did). The guidebooks lie.
We went back to the hostel, slept more, and then had breakfast and wandered around town for a while. The architecture is sort of similar to Quito's Old Town/Historic District, but there's less to do. Then we decided that we wanted to go to somewhere more exciting, so we chose Banos (the n should have the little squiggle over it, so it sounds like the n in the word canyon). Before heading out though, we decided to explore the countryside some, so we asked our hostel hosts how we could go about renting a car. They called a man who rented us his own personal car for 3 hours. The extent of the paperwork for this exchange was him holding onto Austin's passport copy. Welcome to Ecuador! We drove out away from Riobamba and visited several small towns which had possibly never had tourists before. Everyone we saw looked at us very strangely. Of course, I'm sure it's rare to see 5 white kids in a car anywhere in Ecuador. All the little pueblos seemed to be entirely agriculturally-based, and therefore were not so wealthy. All of the buildings were made of concrete, although sometimes there were painted really bright colors. It was a different look at the countryside than you get by riding a bus, so I enjoyed that a lot. We then went to the bus station in Riobamba and headed to Banos, which is one of the top tourist destinations in Ecuador. It's a pretty small town, but it's filled with all manner of outdoorsy tourist activities and also spa-type activities. The name comes from fact that the town has baths with incredibly hot water heated by the nearby volcano.
We found a nice comfortable hotel and enjoyed the nightlife activity, which was much more happening than Riobamba. We also went to the little carnival which had a Ferris wheel which went much faster than any American Ferris wheel I've been on.
The next morning, we had breakfast in the hostel ($10/ night, breakfast included, mostly hot water, mostly clean, pretty good deal). I'm glad I like scrambled eggs best because they understand that (huevos revueltos) but they do not understand sunny-side up, over medium, over hard, or anything like that. I've also discovered that the warm milk they give you for coffee is good and filled with protein so I'm not so hungry later. The milk here tastes sort of different and is not refrigerated until you open it and put it in the fridge yourself which seems a bit odd to me, but it's not bad.
We went to the main tourism agency street and rented buggy-things to drive (well, for Edan and Austin to drive, since they can drive a manual). We drove out to two bridges a little ways out of town where you can jump off them. It's not quite bungee jumping because you just swing, but there's definitely still an adrenaline rush. Edan, Annie and I decided this would be fun. We paid $15 dollars, put on harnesses and jumped from the railing on the side of the bridge. I was thinking: Oh, this is no problem; I'm not scared of heights! I found out that when you're standing on the guard rail above a canyon, though, you're scared of heights haha. It was SO fun, though; I really enjoyed it.
We rode back to town and because of that nice protein I had drunk that morning, I wasn't hungry. (I know, crazy!)Everyone else was and I watched slightly jealously as they ate creamy Italian pasta and Mexican burritos (from the same restaurant haha). I have to say that I miss food from home a lot.
Austin and Annie went off to give/receive a motorcycle riding lesson, respectively, and then head back to Quito, and Edan, Ali and I decided to rappel down waterfalls. We chose an office which said they had canyoning for $20. I had cash but they didn't so they went back to the hotel while I filled out a waiver. It sounds so legit! However I only knew my passport number, not theirs, and I wasn't going to sign for them, and by the time they got back, the company had forgotten about the paperwork so they never signed it haha. We got in a van with two tour guides, Angel and Javier, got wetsuits, jackets, and shoes, and drove up to a random little house up a random little road. We joined with three middle-aged American guys who had just done an intense 8-day jungle camping experience (think having guns to hunt and potentially protect yourself from unfriendly natives). One was a computer engineering professor, one was a professional adventure, and one was a firefighter. We were glad to have him along, just in case. Our tour guides told us we could put on our wetsuits inside of the little cabin. While we were changing, a GIANT rooster walked out from under the little bench in the corner and scared Ali half to death. Edan and I laughed pretty hard.
We walked up a small mountain which was a struggle, but we were less tired than the three guys which was satisfying since they had just also summited Chimborazo, which is the tallest mountain in Ecuador (a mere 20,565 feet). Then we rappelled down three waterfalls and slid down two more. I wished I had had gloves because I couldn't let the rope just slide through my hands since they would have burnt, but it was still really neat. I felt like Steve haha. I don't have any pictures of the waterfalls since we didn't have a dry bag, but there is one picture showing our very attractive outfits. The water was not warm, so as soon as we got back to town we headed over to the baths. There were several small-pool-sized hot tubs. And when I say hot, I don't mean 105 F, I mean at least 115 in the colder one. Ali and I suffered through about 15 minutes of that tub and Edan (for some reason which I cannot fathom) went to the even hotter one. Ali is a public health major and we discussed all of the diseases we were probably contracting by being in this water (which was not clear, I might add, since it just gets piped in from the ground), in the pool which became rapidly more and more crowded. It was entertaining, but I did enjoy my nice clean and hot-but-not-too-hot shower.
We got dinner and wandered around town for a while doing some shopping since we were all looking for some things. There are a ton of stores which are basically mini-Otavalos (that's the town with the HUGE indigenous market), so I bought a cool jacket with llamas on it. Ecuadorians are all small, but the jackets all seemed to be made for someone who has short arms but is very very fat. I probably visited 10 stores before I found a decently-fitting jacket, but I like it a lot (I'm wearing it right now, for example.) Ali and I also bought the super cheap (by that I mean inexpensive and pretty low quality) shoes that we had worn on the canyoning trip. I like them because the entire sole and toe is rubber, so your feet don't get wet from walking on a wet surface.
We were pooped so we called it a night and actually got a solid night's sleep.
The next morning we had breakfast, applied lots of sunblock and hiked partway up one of the mountains next to Banos, so a large statue of The Virgin and her baby. The hike was rather challenging, especially since we were all already sore from the day before, but the view was gorgeous. I was dumb and brought my camera but left the battery in the charger, but I took several pictures on Ali's camera so I'll get them and upload them soon. We caught our breaths, talked to another American who was studying in Quito, and headed back to the hotel to shower before checking out.
I got some food at the little cafe next to the hotel, which was somewhat disappointing; their humitas are not nearly as good as the ones my host mom buys, and then Ali and Edan ate at another restaurant where Ali ordered Nachos and Avocados and received a bowl of guacamole and Doritos, and Edan ordered a hamburger without fries and got one with fries. You never know if the food will be good or not here haha.
We walked over to the bus station and rode the 3.5ish hours back to Quito and another half an hour ish on the Trolley. I like the Trolley (except for the theft of my phone) because it stops a block and a half away from my house.
I was hungry but my host mom hasn't been to the store in a few days because there was NO milk and NO bread (It's probably the first time that has every happened in an Ecuadorian house; they eat bread like there's no tomorrow). So, I got to cook pasta (they had whole wheat pasta!!!) with tomatoes, onions, mozzarella cheese and a couple spices (their spice cabinet is not quite as comprehensive as yours is, Mom). That was a wonderful dinner :)
Well I've spent a solid 3.5 hours on the computer and I still haven't responding to any emails haha. I guess that's what no internet for three days does!
Love Alex
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
botanical garden adventure
Day one of no phone. I don't mind that much except that it's hard to meet someone at a random location. Tyler and I were going to meet at a cafe at 8 this morning, but he took a different bus and was running late, but couldn't call me since I no longer had a phone. We worked it out though. We went to the Botanical Garden in the park near my house. IT was surprisingly large; we spent about two hours walking around. They had all sorts of plants and flowers; there was a greenhouse full of Venus Fly Trap-like plants, lots of cacti, a greenhouse with a wide variety of orchids, and lots of other plants. We then explored the park for a while; most notably we walked around the real airplane that is in the middle of the park. Once upon a time it was functional, and sometime after that it was a playground (it has a ladder and slide build right next to it, and it has a face painted on the nose) but now it is fenced off and just looks kind of funny. We had lunch at my house and my host mom seemed excited to have a guest. She's a big fan of entertaining people at the house.
The rest of my day was very normal and consisted of going to school, talking in Spanish, walking home and doing homework.
Tomorrow after school I'm headed to Rio Bamba and Ambato for the weekend since we don't have school on Friday. We're going to ride on a train called The Devil's Nose (El Nariz del Diablo), which goes up and down a really steep mountain face. I probably won't have internet until I get home Saturday night or Sunday, so there won't be any more blog entries for a while. I'm sure you can find other ways to entertain yourselves though. Have a great weekend!
Love Alex
The rest of my day was very normal and consisted of going to school, talking in Spanish, walking home and doing homework.
Tomorrow after school I'm headed to Rio Bamba and Ambato for the weekend since we don't have school on Friday. We're going to ride on a train called The Devil's Nose (El Nariz del Diablo), which goes up and down a really steep mountain face. I probably won't have internet until I get home Saturday night or Sunday, so there won't be any more blog entries for a while. I'm sure you can find other ways to entertain yourselves though. Have a great weekend!
Love Alex
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
crazy day
This will be short since I have lots of homework...
Today I went to service learning, and had a good time. No one was too difficult and I felt helpful. After, I was able to go home for lunch since we didn't have normal classes; instead we went to a museum. to get there, Dan and I were going to meet the rest of the class at the Estadio Trolley stop since we live closer to the Trolley line than school. After a very complicated trip involving three fares instead of one and a varity of phone calls since our teachers decided to take the other trolley-type bus line (the Ecovia) instead of the Trolley, Dan and I got to the correct meeting location. We both reached for our phones to call the other group; he was successful, but I was not. Someone took my phone out of my front jeans pocket without me noticing at all on the third leg of the Trolley trip. That was a bummer. I'm not going to buy a new one because it's not worth the $70+ it would cost to get a cheap bar phone here, although if someone in my family happens to have an old phone, I'll see if I can use it for the next few weeks. We'll see. I'm glad it wasn't my normal US phone though; if I had lost that I'd be very disappointed. As far as phone theft goes, though, I was really lucky. Edan had her phone stolen when she was walking down the street near school after a soccer game talking on the phone; someone hit her head, grabbed her phone and ran off. Beto (Dan's Ecuadorian host brother) had his phone stolen at gunpoint when he walked out of his gate in front of his house. All of these happened during the day. Oh Ecuador...
The museum was interesting; it was a history of Quito from the early indigenous people to the 1900s ish. The tourguide spoke in Spanish, but we were able to follow pretty much everything, which was nice. After, some of us got ice cream in the Old Town, and then I met up with Tyler, my friend from cons who's spending the year in Esmeraldas but is in Quito for the week. We had a successful conversation in Spanish and then switched to English since he never uses it haha. We had greek/arabic ish food, which was delicious and a very nice way to finish off the day (other than all the homework that I have.)
Overall today, I took two buses and 6 Trolleys, for a total of $2, which is less than one adult peak fare in Seattle haha. I also still have a really weird upper chest/throat pain which is no longer heartburn; it hurts when I eat large bites, take big drinks, or breathe deeply. If it still hurts tomorrow I'm going to go to a doctor. I still think I've been the healthiest out of my whole group though!
Today I went to service learning, and had a good time. No one was too difficult and I felt helpful. After, I was able to go home for lunch since we didn't have normal classes; instead we went to a museum. to get there, Dan and I were going to meet the rest of the class at the Estadio Trolley stop since we live closer to the Trolley line than school. After a very complicated trip involving three fares instead of one and a varity of phone calls since our teachers decided to take the other trolley-type bus line (the Ecovia) instead of the Trolley, Dan and I got to the correct meeting location. We both reached for our phones to call the other group; he was successful, but I was not. Someone took my phone out of my front jeans pocket without me noticing at all on the third leg of the Trolley trip. That was a bummer. I'm not going to buy a new one because it's not worth the $70+ it would cost to get a cheap bar phone here, although if someone in my family happens to have an old phone, I'll see if I can use it for the next few weeks. We'll see. I'm glad it wasn't my normal US phone though; if I had lost that I'd be very disappointed. As far as phone theft goes, though, I was really lucky. Edan had her phone stolen when she was walking down the street near school after a soccer game talking on the phone; someone hit her head, grabbed her phone and ran off. Beto (Dan's Ecuadorian host brother) had his phone stolen at gunpoint when he walked out of his gate in front of his house. All of these happened during the day. Oh Ecuador...
The museum was interesting; it was a history of Quito from the early indigenous people to the 1900s ish. The tourguide spoke in Spanish, but we were able to follow pretty much everything, which was nice. After, some of us got ice cream in the Old Town, and then I met up with Tyler, my friend from cons who's spending the year in Esmeraldas but is in Quito for the week. We had a successful conversation in Spanish and then switched to English since he never uses it haha. We had greek/arabic ish food, which was delicious and a very nice way to finish off the day (other than all the homework that I have.)
Overall today, I took two buses and 6 Trolleys, for a total of $2, which is less than one adult peak fare in Seattle haha. I also still have a really weird upper chest/throat pain which is no longer heartburn; it hurts when I eat large bites, take big drinks, or breathe deeply. If it still hurts tomorrow I'm going to go to a doctor. I still think I've been the healthiest out of my whole group though!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Futbol, Food, and Family
After a not-so-sufficient 4.5 hours of sleep (during which I spoke a little bit of Spanish to my host family in a dream!), I woke up to go to the futbol game. I met four other girls from my class and we walked over to the stadium, which is nice and close to to our school, which is generally the designated meeting place for group activities, even though it's closed on weekends. Outside the stadium there were what seemed like hundreds of people selling jerseys. I bought a white Barcelona jersey for $6, and after we went in the stadium, Edan bought one for $5. It turns out the the audience at futbol games is probably 90% male. We were a group of 5 white girls, so we sort of attracted some attention. A couple guys actually came up to us, asked to take a picture with us, and then ran off to get good seats. I can't blame them though, since we take pictures of/with people here all the time.
We sat in the Barcelona section. It turns out that they're from Guayaquil, not Spain, although they have almost the same jerseys. Yellow is their main color, so we were pretty much in a sea of yellow jerseys and flags.
There are all sorts of vendors selling beverages, food, gum, cigarettes, noisemakers, hats, and random things like bubble blowers for kids that pretty much consist of a cup, straw, and sponge so you don't spill soap on yourself. These vendors walk through the aisles throughout the entire game, passing everyone many times.
First we watched Nacional versus Universidad Catolica, which is one of the local univeristy teams, whereas Nacional is a pro team (I think. My knowledge of teams here is pretty limited). U Catolica won which was exciting. The second game was the important one: Independente del Valle played Barcelona, and they tied 1-1. We didn't really care that much who won, but everyone around us was super into the game. There are a bunch of songs for Barcelona (and a vendor selling a $1 CD and page of lyrics).
Near the end of this game, fans were not so happy with the ref, so they threw tons of water bottles and probably other trash as well toward him.
Four hours of soccer was a little much for me, and sitting on a concrete bench was definitely a little much for my back, but the game was a super interesting experience.
Random side-note: they use 'super' here as an intensifier, so, for example, if food is particularly delicious (rich), they say it's superrico!
After the game I walked for a while until I got to an area where there were actually empty taxis, which took a while. I went to the Pajonal, the restaurant owned by one of my host mom's brothers. The food was fabulous as always, but I also enjoyed seeing the family again, since Richard's party was a bit of a bonding experience. My host mom's sister (I think that's who she is anyway) has two ACLAS students that are staying with her; they are a couple from England who have done a ton of traveling and are here for three weeks to take 5 hours of Spanish classes ever day. I wish them the best of luck haha. Since my Spanish level is higher than theirs, I was able to follow their conversation with the family no problem. A couple of the relatives got out their laptops and hooked one up to a projector and we started watching music videos of Italian opera and then Mariachi orchestras and then Louise Armstrong and then the Beatles, etc. My host parents asked if I wanted to stay or leave at about 5:30, and I said I was enjoying being there so I stayed with another one of my host mom's brother (I think she has 8 siblings, and 3 half-siblings) and his wife, along with the English couple and 4 or 5 other family members. We were there until 9:30 pm haha. It was enjoyable although I probably would have left at 5:30 if I'd known what staying there entailed.
We took a taxi home, and it was so nice to have real Spanish speakers to converse with the taxi driver and to explain that we live on a one-way street so you have to circle around the block. It was also interesting to be in a taxi with people who aren't so concerned about how much the taxi-ride costs. I always ask how much it will cost before I even get in, but they didn't even ask until we got home, and they didn't bargain at all.
Since I went to the Amazon, where there could be malaria, I've been taking doxycycline, which you take every day for a month after. You're supposed to take it with dinner but I normally take it in the evening since I keep it by my toothbrush so I don't forget. I have had zero problems with it even though there's an extensive list of side effects. This time, however, I took it immediately before going to bed, several hours after eating and without any water since my bottle was empty and I don't drink the tap water. This was the biggest mistake I've made here; I woke up with terrible heartburn, which I've had all day, despite eating a number of Tums (here, they pronounce it like toooms haha). I am not a fan.
I've also been bizarrly sore on my upper calfs from walking on Saturday. I've never been sore here before and I don't know how to stretch that muscle haha.
This morning I ran to school for my service learning meeting with Monica, one of my teachers. I don't know why I have these meetings because I don't have any problems or need any help, but for those reasons the meetings go quickly. I went back home and socialized some with the family who was over, and then Carla, my aunt, dropped me off at the trolley stop. (The trolley is a bus in which people are literally packed like sardines.) I asked her what her opinion of Americans was since we were going to talk about it in class, and she said she really admired the promptness and the fact that if we start something, we finish it. She also commented that the incredible American influence here is sort of a bummer, but it's more the fault of Ecuadorians than of Americans. When I talked to another aunt today, she said she's been to Disneyworld 6 times, and a great-uncle said his grown daughter has been two or three times with her young kids. Disneyworld/Miami are the places to go for vacation for Ecuadorians.
10 days of class left and only 4 short weeks until I head home!
Love Alex
We sat in the Barcelona section. It turns out that they're from Guayaquil, not Spain, although they have almost the same jerseys. Yellow is their main color, so we were pretty much in a sea of yellow jerseys and flags.
There are all sorts of vendors selling beverages, food, gum, cigarettes, noisemakers, hats, and random things like bubble blowers for kids that pretty much consist of a cup, straw, and sponge so you don't spill soap on yourself. These vendors walk through the aisles throughout the entire game, passing everyone many times.
First we watched Nacional versus Universidad Catolica, which is one of the local univeristy teams, whereas Nacional is a pro team (I think. My knowledge of teams here is pretty limited). U Catolica won which was exciting. The second game was the important one: Independente del Valle played Barcelona, and they tied 1-1. We didn't really care that much who won, but everyone around us was super into the game. There are a bunch of songs for Barcelona (and a vendor selling a $1 CD and page of lyrics).
Near the end of this game, fans were not so happy with the ref, so they threw tons of water bottles and probably other trash as well toward him.
Four hours of soccer was a little much for me, and sitting on a concrete bench was definitely a little much for my back, but the game was a super interesting experience.
Random side-note: they use 'super' here as an intensifier, so, for example, if food is particularly delicious (rich), they say it's superrico!
After the game I walked for a while until I got to an area where there were actually empty taxis, which took a while. I went to the Pajonal, the restaurant owned by one of my host mom's brothers. The food was fabulous as always, but I also enjoyed seeing the family again, since Richard's party was a bit of a bonding experience. My host mom's sister (I think that's who she is anyway) has two ACLAS students that are staying with her; they are a couple from England who have done a ton of traveling and are here for three weeks to take 5 hours of Spanish classes ever day. I wish them the best of luck haha. Since my Spanish level is higher than theirs, I was able to follow their conversation with the family no problem. A couple of the relatives got out their laptops and hooked one up to a projector and we started watching music videos of Italian opera and then Mariachi orchestras and then Louise Armstrong and then the Beatles, etc. My host parents asked if I wanted to stay or leave at about 5:30, and I said I was enjoying being there so I stayed with another one of my host mom's brother (I think she has 8 siblings, and 3 half-siblings) and his wife, along with the English couple and 4 or 5 other family members. We were there until 9:30 pm haha. It was enjoyable although I probably would have left at 5:30 if I'd known what staying there entailed.
We took a taxi home, and it was so nice to have real Spanish speakers to converse with the taxi driver and to explain that we live on a one-way street so you have to circle around the block. It was also interesting to be in a taxi with people who aren't so concerned about how much the taxi-ride costs. I always ask how much it will cost before I even get in, but they didn't even ask until we got home, and they didn't bargain at all.
Since I went to the Amazon, where there could be malaria, I've been taking doxycycline, which you take every day for a month after. You're supposed to take it with dinner but I normally take it in the evening since I keep it by my toothbrush so I don't forget. I have had zero problems with it even though there's an extensive list of side effects. This time, however, I took it immediately before going to bed, several hours after eating and without any water since my bottle was empty and I don't drink the tap water. This was the biggest mistake I've made here; I woke up with terrible heartburn, which I've had all day, despite eating a number of Tums (here, they pronounce it like toooms haha). I am not a fan.
I've also been bizarrly sore on my upper calfs from walking on Saturday. I've never been sore here before and I don't know how to stretch that muscle haha.
This morning I ran to school for my service learning meeting with Monica, one of my teachers. I don't know why I have these meetings because I don't have any problems or need any help, but for those reasons the meetings go quickly. I went back home and socialized some with the family who was over, and then Carla, my aunt, dropped me off at the trolley stop. (The trolley is a bus in which people are literally packed like sardines.) I asked her what her opinion of Americans was since we were going to talk about it in class, and she said she really admired the promptness and the fact that if we start something, we finish it. She also commented that the incredible American influence here is sort of a bummer, but it's more the fault of Ecuadorians than of Americans. When I talked to another aunt today, she said she's been to Disneyworld 6 times, and a great-uncle said his grown daughter has been two or three times with her young kids. Disneyworld/Miami are the places to go for vacation for Ecuadorians.
10 days of class left and only 4 short weeks until I head home!
Love Alex
Sunday, February 21, 2010
parks and partying
On Saturday, I had breakfast with some of the guests that were here, which was nice. It was sort of strange to have breakfast be cooked for me, since I normally eat way before Carmen,our maid, comes, but not this time. I also made my own breakfast and thus had lots of good food (humitas, yucca/eggs, and papaya/granola). I ate a large breakfast so I could go adventuring without being hungry.
On this adventure, Ali, Shaunte, Edan and I decided to go to the Parque Metropolitano, which runs parallel to the east edge of Quito on top of the hill/small mountain that creates said edge. We figured it would be easy to get in, since it's huge and there are clearly trees right there. After climbing a nice steep hill, we reached a street which bordered the park but had no entrances. We followed this street and several other streets for about 20 minutes until we found a little street with a guardhouse. We walked up an even bigger and steeper hill (apparently most people drive to the park, and I see why) and at the top of the hill there was a soccer field and a random little town called Miraflores, I think. We watched the soccer game for a while (it was 6 people versus 10, and none of them were terribly good). None of us has ever received so many whistles in our life, courtesy of the two teams that were waiting on the sidelines to play next. We left. Shaunte flipped them off, and I was pretty darn tempted, but I would hate to exacerbate the problem haha. This town is a square, that's probably an eighth of a mile on each side. We walked down the street and found a little tienda (store), based out of someone's house like they normally are in towns such as these, that had fresh-squeezed orange juice, made with an extremely nice juicer. We continued on into more park-like territory. By park I don't mean swingsets, I mean many square kilometers of trees. We followed some paths which became increasingly smaller, and then we ended up at this cool viewpoint looking out over the city that's on the other side of the hill/mountain. We followed more paths, avoided being run over by mountain bikers (how they managed some parts of that path, I have no idea), and visited several more viewpoints. We also found a field full of llamas and a water treatment center. It's sort of a strange park.
On our way out, we passed a pavillion with a photography show and a field with inflatable bouncy toys advertizing for a new Nestle product. There were also some real playground toys, including a zipline in which you (or at least us, as adult-sized people) come extremely close to being sliced by a guidewire at the end of the zipline. It was quite entertaining haha.
We went to the Stadium near our school to buy tickets for a futbol (remember that's soccer here in Ecuador and the rest of the world). For $8, we got tickets to see the Sunday game, which ended up being a ticket for two games! more on that later...
We ate lunch at Mr. Bagel (I brought a sandwich. It was not as good as a bagel, but it was free). Then we got ice cream (which was more like sorbet) at a nearby cafe, which was very enjoyable.
Then we walked over to the parque Carolina (which is the huge park in between my house and my school). I walk next to it every day and I've run through it and played Ultimate in it, and I still hadn't visited any of what we went to this time. We found the paddleboating lake (I'm excited to do that!), watch some bikers and skateboards narrowly avoid dying in a skatepark, and discovered the location of the botanical garden. It costs $3.50 (that's a lot for a museum here) so we didn't go, but I want to before I leave. We were EXHAUSTED from walking so much, so we laid in the grass for a while and then headed home.
Saturday was my host parents' son's birthday. His name is Richard, and he is the Ecuadorian Labor Minister, so he's kind of a big deal. Everyone got semi-dressed up and I enjoyed having all the females in the house on the second floor landing getting ready by the big mirror.
We drove out to what they called "quinta". I was unfamiliar with this word (the dictionary translates it to ranch, I just found out). This turns out to mean mostly outside, which nobody told me so I was wearing a knee-length skirt, but I had my north face fleece so I was mostly warm enough.
There was a large house and deck, small cabin, patio, pool, and a field. There was also a big tent covering the patio, pool, and live band. There were about 100 people there, many of which were family so my parents, aunts and uncles knew them all, but I definitely did not. I don't know if it's a Quiteno thing or a my-family-thing, but I'm never introduced to people. Sometimes I'm presented, so they all know my name and who I am, but when I go around and give everyone a kiss (that's the standard greeting/goodbye here), they just say Hola, but not "nice to meet you" or "my name is ___". Hence, I know a lot of faces and not a lot of names or family relationships.
After greeting most of the people who were at the party when we got there, I hung out with a group of relatives who I like. I would say "chatted" with this group, because that's what they did, but I really contributed nothing to the conversation because I couldn't hear anything. I probably would have had a hard time hearing in English, and since I normally just listed to their conversations even if I can understand, I certainly didn't follow what they talked about this time. They made sure I always had a drink and then every time my grandpa would cheers me (I don't know the appropriate verb there, but you know what I mean), my uncles told me to say "bueno abuelito" (OK, grandpa) and kiss my fingers like I had just eaten something delicious (also not a good description but I think you know what I mean). They got an absolute kick out of this all night. I don't know why it was so funny; that's on my list of things to ask my teachers tomorrow at school haha.
Aside from the unlimited drinks, there were some little yummy appetizers and then delicious hamburgers and wings for dinner (which, I might add, was probably at 11 pm).
All of the drinks and appetizers were served by men in catering uniforms, and all the food was prepared by empleadas. There were a lot, maybe 8. They didn't wear anything special. My family is really white; there are a couple people that actually look fully Caucasian, a few others that look vaguely Asian, actually, and the majority of the others have very light skin. This contrasted strongly with the empleadas, who all appear more indigenous (shorter, darker skin, and different facial features). I actually felt somewhat out of place at the party; it was fancier than I'm accustomed to, and many of the people got more dressed up than I would at home.
There were also a lot of kids at the party, but all of the families with young kids (3 and under ish) brought their nannies with them, so there were at least 3 or 4 empleadas who just took care of their charge(s) all evening. Families are extremely important here but it surprises me how much parents rely on their nannies for young kids. different culture...
Everyone dances here (it's South America), and since most other people were actually taking advantage of the ultimate free drinks, people were having lots of fun. Ecuadorian are knowledgeable partiers, I think. Several of my grandpas/great uncles, or something along those lines (since I was never formally introduced and don't know who they are...) also got a kick out of dancing with me. Fortunately they were all excellent leads so I didn't struggle too much. My host mom then decided that I'd had enough dancing with them and she transferred me to the care of her daughters. When the band played, they mostly did American songs, which everyone at the party knew. They also played some Spanish songs, which everyone knew and sang along to (except me, since my Spanish song repertoire is pretty limited).
We (everyone living in my house), had come in two cars. I was in the first car to go back home, and we left at 2 am. The second car (with both my 60+ year old host parents) left at 3 or 3:30 haha). I went to bed at 3, and got up at 7:30 to go to the soccer game. Thus, I'm exhausted and going to bed, so I'll write about my Sunday adventures tomorrow!
Love Alex
On this adventure, Ali, Shaunte, Edan and I decided to go to the Parque Metropolitano, which runs parallel to the east edge of Quito on top of the hill/small mountain that creates said edge. We figured it would be easy to get in, since it's huge and there are clearly trees right there. After climbing a nice steep hill, we reached a street which bordered the park but had no entrances. We followed this street and several other streets for about 20 minutes until we found a little street with a guardhouse. We walked up an even bigger and steeper hill (apparently most people drive to the park, and I see why) and at the top of the hill there was a soccer field and a random little town called Miraflores, I think. We watched the soccer game for a while (it was 6 people versus 10, and none of them were terribly good). None of us has ever received so many whistles in our life, courtesy of the two teams that were waiting on the sidelines to play next. We left. Shaunte flipped them off, and I was pretty darn tempted, but I would hate to exacerbate the problem haha. This town is a square, that's probably an eighth of a mile on each side. We walked down the street and found a little tienda (store), based out of someone's house like they normally are in towns such as these, that had fresh-squeezed orange juice, made with an extremely nice juicer. We continued on into more park-like territory. By park I don't mean swingsets, I mean many square kilometers of trees. We followed some paths which became increasingly smaller, and then we ended up at this cool viewpoint looking out over the city that's on the other side of the hill/mountain. We followed more paths, avoided being run over by mountain bikers (how they managed some parts of that path, I have no idea), and visited several more viewpoints. We also found a field full of llamas and a water treatment center. It's sort of a strange park.
On our way out, we passed a pavillion with a photography show and a field with inflatable bouncy toys advertizing for a new Nestle product. There were also some real playground toys, including a zipline in which you (or at least us, as adult-sized people) come extremely close to being sliced by a guidewire at the end of the zipline. It was quite entertaining haha.
We went to the Stadium near our school to buy tickets for a futbol (remember that's soccer here in Ecuador and the rest of the world). For $8, we got tickets to see the Sunday game, which ended up being a ticket for two games! more on that later...
We ate lunch at Mr. Bagel (I brought a sandwich. It was not as good as a bagel, but it was free). Then we got ice cream (which was more like sorbet) at a nearby cafe, which was very enjoyable.
Then we walked over to the parque Carolina (which is the huge park in between my house and my school). I walk next to it every day and I've run through it and played Ultimate in it, and I still hadn't visited any of what we went to this time. We found the paddleboating lake (I'm excited to do that!), watch some bikers and skateboards narrowly avoid dying in a skatepark, and discovered the location of the botanical garden. It costs $3.50 (that's a lot for a museum here) so we didn't go, but I want to before I leave. We were EXHAUSTED from walking so much, so we laid in the grass for a while and then headed home.
Saturday was my host parents' son's birthday. His name is Richard, and he is the Ecuadorian Labor Minister, so he's kind of a big deal. Everyone got semi-dressed up and I enjoyed having all the females in the house on the second floor landing getting ready by the big mirror.
We drove out to what they called "quinta". I was unfamiliar with this word (the dictionary translates it to ranch, I just found out). This turns out to mean mostly outside, which nobody told me so I was wearing a knee-length skirt, but I had my north face fleece so I was mostly warm enough.
There was a large house and deck, small cabin, patio, pool, and a field. There was also a big tent covering the patio, pool, and live band. There were about 100 people there, many of which were family so my parents, aunts and uncles knew them all, but I definitely did not. I don't know if it's a Quiteno thing or a my-family-thing, but I'm never introduced to people. Sometimes I'm presented, so they all know my name and who I am, but when I go around and give everyone a kiss (that's the standard greeting/goodbye here), they just say Hola, but not "nice to meet you" or "my name is ___". Hence, I know a lot of faces and not a lot of names or family relationships.
After greeting most of the people who were at the party when we got there, I hung out with a group of relatives who I like. I would say "chatted" with this group, because that's what they did, but I really contributed nothing to the conversation because I couldn't hear anything. I probably would have had a hard time hearing in English, and since I normally just listed to their conversations even if I can understand, I certainly didn't follow what they talked about this time. They made sure I always had a drink and then every time my grandpa would cheers me (I don't know the appropriate verb there, but you know what I mean), my uncles told me to say "bueno abuelito" (OK, grandpa) and kiss my fingers like I had just eaten something delicious (also not a good description but I think you know what I mean). They got an absolute kick out of this all night. I don't know why it was so funny; that's on my list of things to ask my teachers tomorrow at school haha.
Aside from the unlimited drinks, there were some little yummy appetizers and then delicious hamburgers and wings for dinner (which, I might add, was probably at 11 pm).
All of the drinks and appetizers were served by men in catering uniforms, and all the food was prepared by empleadas. There were a lot, maybe 8. They didn't wear anything special. My family is really white; there are a couple people that actually look fully Caucasian, a few others that look vaguely Asian, actually, and the majority of the others have very light skin. This contrasted strongly with the empleadas, who all appear more indigenous (shorter, darker skin, and different facial features). I actually felt somewhat out of place at the party; it was fancier than I'm accustomed to, and many of the people got more dressed up than I would at home.
There were also a lot of kids at the party, but all of the families with young kids (3 and under ish) brought their nannies with them, so there were at least 3 or 4 empleadas who just took care of their charge(s) all evening. Families are extremely important here but it surprises me how much parents rely on their nannies for young kids. different culture...
Everyone dances here (it's South America), and since most other people were actually taking advantage of the ultimate free drinks, people were having lots of fun. Ecuadorian are knowledgeable partiers, I think. Several of my grandpas/great uncles, or something along those lines (since I was never formally introduced and don't know who they are...) also got a kick out of dancing with me. Fortunately they were all excellent leads so I didn't struggle too much. My host mom then decided that I'd had enough dancing with them and she transferred me to the care of her daughters. When the band played, they mostly did American songs, which everyone at the party knew. They also played some Spanish songs, which everyone knew and sang along to (except me, since my Spanish song repertoire is pretty limited).
We (everyone living in my house), had come in two cars. I was in the first car to go back home, and we left at 2 am. The second car (with both my 60+ year old host parents) left at 3 or 3:30 haha). I went to bed at 3, and got up at 7:30 to go to the soccer game. Thus, I'm exhausted and going to bed, so I'll write about my Sunday adventures tomorrow!
Love Alex
Friday, February 19, 2010
a full house
This week has been pretty uneventful; I've had some service learning, which was normal, although I hadn't been in a while so the kids were very excited to see me. We also most notably did another project which involved cutting out preprinted rectangles in a photo and then reassembling them and gluing them down. Using scissors is extremely hard for a lot of the kids, and several of the kids who normally are good at doing their work without any help would ask me every thirty seconds if they were doing it correctly, which of course they were. Then others wouldn't ask but they would do something totally wrong, such as cutting out the people's heads instead of cutting on the nice printed lines.
In school we've continued reading Maria by Jorge Isaacs. It's very classic latinoamerican literature but it's very old and has far too much arbitrary description that has nothing to do with the plot. My host mom said she read it in 6th grade, but it still takes me forever to read it and then write a summary.
For the same class we also watched a movie, Amar Te Duele, which is basically Romeo and Juliet where she is part of Mexican upper class and he is part of, you guessed it, Mexican lower class. It was, of course, not a happy ending, but I liked this movie infintely more than the last one we watched. It was challenging to understand the conversation (no subtitles this time...) but the general plot would have been clear even if you didn't know Spanish, and the movie showed the emotions of all the characters nicely.
In my other class, we've been talking about a variety of topics every day, but the most interesting has been Cuba and the cold war. It's sort of a random class, but I've never studied the cold war since the only good history class I've ever had stopped after about World War 1. I'm enjoying reading Wikipedia and then sharing with the class what I read haha. Our teacher also told us to forget our homework and go out and experience Ecuador/Quito. Two weeks ago when we said we didn't have any weekend plans she was genuinely concerned and chastised us for not doing more things.
Today for lunch, there was bean soup, rice and shrimp with carrots. I not a fan of beans, shrimp, or carrots, but I ate everything and it was still much better than Galapagos food. It's nice to be home.
Tomorrow (Saturday) is the birthday of my host parent's son Richard, who is the Ecuadorian Labor Minister. This is sort of a big deal, so my host mom's brother, his wife, their two daughers, their husbands, and four kids flew in from Cuenca (another Ecuadorian city) last night. That is 10 people, plus me and my host parents, and today their empleada (maid) arrived. She mainly takes care of the kids, I think. I assume that she got here a day later because she took the bus instead of flying, but I don't know for sure. Since they're leaving on Sunday she'll have been here less than 2 days, but I guess it's nice to have a babysitter even for that length of time. It's fun to have so many people around the house. Miraculously all of them fit here and have beds since there are three normally empty bedrooms, a couple extra mattresses lying around and a borrowed inflatable mattress. There are only two showers but it doesn't seem to have been a problem. We also had a variety of family members drop in this evening to visit. I enjoyed listening to their conversations, although I never contribute because it always takes me a while to catch on to the new subject, since it changes so quickly. They talked about going to the Liga vs Barcelona soccer game on Sunday and I told my friends so I really hope that works out, since Barcelona is one of the two best teams in the world and Liga is the best in Ecuador and I think in South America.
Love Alex
In school we've continued reading Maria by Jorge Isaacs. It's very classic latinoamerican literature but it's very old and has far too much arbitrary description that has nothing to do with the plot. My host mom said she read it in 6th grade, but it still takes me forever to read it and then write a summary.
For the same class we also watched a movie, Amar Te Duele, which is basically Romeo and Juliet where she is part of Mexican upper class and he is part of, you guessed it, Mexican lower class. It was, of course, not a happy ending, but I liked this movie infintely more than the last one we watched. It was challenging to understand the conversation (no subtitles this time...) but the general plot would have been clear even if you didn't know Spanish, and the movie showed the emotions of all the characters nicely.
In my other class, we've been talking about a variety of topics every day, but the most interesting has been Cuba and the cold war. It's sort of a random class, but I've never studied the cold war since the only good history class I've ever had stopped after about World War 1. I'm enjoying reading Wikipedia and then sharing with the class what I read haha. Our teacher also told us to forget our homework and go out and experience Ecuador/Quito. Two weeks ago when we said we didn't have any weekend plans she was genuinely concerned and chastised us for not doing more things.
Today for lunch, there was bean soup, rice and shrimp with carrots. I not a fan of beans, shrimp, or carrots, but I ate everything and it was still much better than Galapagos food. It's nice to be home.
Tomorrow (Saturday) is the birthday of my host parent's son Richard, who is the Ecuadorian Labor Minister. This is sort of a big deal, so my host mom's brother, his wife, their two daughers, their husbands, and four kids flew in from Cuenca (another Ecuadorian city) last night. That is 10 people, plus me and my host parents, and today their empleada (maid) arrived. She mainly takes care of the kids, I think. I assume that she got here a day later because she took the bus instead of flying, but I don't know for sure. Since they're leaving on Sunday she'll have been here less than 2 days, but I guess it's nice to have a babysitter even for that length of time. It's fun to have so many people around the house. Miraculously all of them fit here and have beds since there are three normally empty bedrooms, a couple extra mattresses lying around and a borrowed inflatable mattress. There are only two showers but it doesn't seem to have been a problem. We also had a variety of family members drop in this evening to visit. I enjoyed listening to their conversations, although I never contribute because it always takes me a while to catch on to the new subject, since it changes so quickly. They talked about going to the Liga vs Barcelona soccer game on Sunday and I told my friends so I really hope that works out, since Barcelona is one of the two best teams in the world and Liga is the best in Ecuador and I think in South America.
Love Alex
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
returning to my lovely quito home
We packed up all our stuff, had runny scrambled eggs for breakfast (no fruit today) and walked into town to buy souvenier t-shirts.We said goodbye to our families. Linda's family has a house in Salinas, a beach near Guayaquil so when Ali and I do our coast tour we're going to stay with them. Jofrey offered to show us all the cool things in Guayaquil so that will be great. We boarded to the bus to head to the airport, which was actually very full of people, surprisingly. We had a (overpriced) lunch, saw the celebrity dancer/model couple and one of the singers from the night before and went through security. This was the most lax security I have every seen in my life. The guy unzipped the top of my backpack, glanced down for three seconds, and zipped it again. They didn't even run it through the x-ray machine. I can't blame him for not unpacking it, since it was absolutely stuffed and it would impossible to see what was in the bottom without taking everything out, but I was still surprised.
On the plane I was one row ahead of the exit row, but there was nobody behind me so I moved and had leg room and an extra seat :) We had a pretty good lunch of a turkey chicken sandwitch with a couple vegetables and the yummy mousse-ish desert that I had at my host-uncle's restaurant last week. Ali didn't like hers so I had that one and when Natalee woke up she didn't want hers either so I have on in the fridge downstairs for dessert later!
In Quito we said goodbye to the nice couple from Ambato, and they told us to call them when we come visit, so that will be fun. I took a bus home (yay for spending 25 cents!) and enjoyed my nice hot, clean shower.
A bunch of my host family was over last night so we all relaxed in my host parents bedroom (that's the normal place to relax here) and enjoyed watching the three little kids (ages 6, 2.5 and 1.5)run around. Their aunt said they looked like the three stooges. I remember the first few time the family was all together; I didn't understand anything. Now I don't understand everything, but I definitely catch a lot more :) I was also actually part of the conversation since I told them about my weekend, which was nice. We watched half of the movie The Majestic (dubbed in Spanish, of course) and I understood most of that too, except when my aunt or mom would talk on the phone (which happened alot haha).
I'm pretty sure that was everything exciting from my long weekend!
Love Alex
On the plane I was one row ahead of the exit row, but there was nobody behind me so I moved and had leg room and an extra seat :) We had a pretty good lunch of a turkey chicken sandwitch with a couple vegetables and the yummy mousse-ish desert that I had at my host-uncle's restaurant last week. Ali didn't like hers so I had that one and when Natalee woke up she didn't want hers either so I have on in the fridge downstairs for dessert later!
In Quito we said goodbye to the nice couple from Ambato, and they told us to call them when we come visit, so that will be fun. I took a bus home (yay for spending 25 cents!) and enjoyed my nice hot, clean shower.
A bunch of my host family was over last night so we all relaxed in my host parents bedroom (that's the normal place to relax here) and enjoyed watching the three little kids (ages 6, 2.5 and 1.5)run around. Their aunt said they looked like the three stooges. I remember the first few time the family was all together; I didn't understand anything. Now I don't understand everything, but I definitely catch a lot more :) I was also actually part of the conversation since I told them about my weekend, which was nice. We watched half of the movie The Majestic (dubbed in Spanish, of course) and I understood most of that too, except when my aunt or mom would talk on the phone (which happened alot haha).
I'm pretty sure that was everything exciting from my long weekend!
Love Alex
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