Real Chicken Soup

Real Chicken Noodle Soup

I'm going to apologize a head of time. This entry is going to be short and I feel bad because it's been awhile since I updated. Life here is busy and I have limited time left so I've been devoting it to my Ecuadorian friends and family.

 Baños

I'm going to miss constant fresh fruit

 This past weekend we all went to Baños. Brooke and I had previously gone to Baños so this past trip wasn't such a huge deal to me. I was, however, glad to return. I love that little city and the people are all so calm and enjoy talking to new people. It's nice to get away from the busy streets of Quito and relax.

 

We spent most of our time hiking to see the rivers and waterfalls of this beautiful area. During the night we would go to the night clubs and dance until our feet couldn't take it anymore. I had a lot of really fun conversations with a lot of really random people. It's nice here because they talk slower so their Spanish is pretty easy to understand. They also don't have strong accents so it's even easier to understand them. We went to the Coast (Adacames) and the people from Esmeraldas have such a strong accent that it's nearly impossible to understand sometimes. They like to combine all their words. 

 

I've been climbing at one of the local climbing gyms, Mono Dedo, a ton. I don't know why, but I've been really motivated to get back into shape. Maybe it's because I'm out of school for good at the end of next week and realize that I can actually devote time to climbing now without having to take large breaks for school. Either way I'm very excited. My friend Pedro invited me to go climbing outside with him this weekend. I'm really excited to be able to experience real rock. It's going to be ropes...we'll see how that goes. I've only been bouldering since I've been here so I'm a little nervous, but really excited all the same. Hopefully the rock is of really good quality so I can add that to my list of reasons why I will be returning to this country!

Ciclo Numbero Dos

28 de julio

So today began ciclo 2 where Brooke, Katie, and I get the 10:30am classes and the other girls have the 8am classes. Score. I love the new term already. Today I woke up at 8:30am and had breakfast and coffee with my madre. I love having extra time to talk with her. Before we were always so rushed and it was so early in the morning that we missed out on valuable conversation time. Today we discussed TV in our cultures. We also talked about how when we were kids we spent our free time outside in parks instead of on the internet or watching TV I believe this was the first time that we’ve had a real conversation of significance. Having a language barrier really makes meaningful conversations scarce and difficult.

29 de julio

I can’t believe today is the 29^th. Where has my summer gone? I’m dreading August. I have no want to return to los estados unidos. I feel completely comfortable with Spanish and love pretty much everything about this country. For example, today we all went to a piercing shop after school and pretty much everyone got their nose pierced. The normal studs were $10, but mine was $15 because it was a spiral. Talk about cheap, it’s way more in the US. Maybe I should get another tattoo or something while I’m here and it’s cheap. (just kidding mom and dad) They were super clean and very nice. I got a little shafted though. The lady put the wrong stud in my nose on accident so she had to do mine twice-that sucked. But nose piercings don’t really hurt, they just make your eyes water. 

Los Galapagos

(I’m going to combine all my entries from this trip-get ready for a mini novel)

6:00am-wake up

6:45am-leave for the airport

7:00am-meet everyone at the airport

8:30am-board airplane to Guayiquyl

9:30am-leave Guayiquyl for the Galapagos!

11:45am- arrive in the Galapagos

12:00pm-take boat taxi thing across the channel to Santa Cruz

12:15pm-take an hour long bus ride across Santa Cruz to our hotel Verde Azuel

1:00pm-Pile everyone into 3 taxis and drive to Tortuga Bay

These creatures are absolutely magnificent. They literally make you slow down and enjoy life. These massive Tortugas move at such a slow pace, and yet you are completely captivated by them. It’s hard to believe that these turtles are years upon years older than me. Being here is completely surreal. This place + one man created so much doubt and controversy in the world and I actually get to experience this place for an entire week. My life is good.

23 de julio

Today was pretty exciting. We went on some cruise to some island. (When I remember it’s name I’ll add it in here) Our tour guide was super hott. I wish I could have understood more of what he said about the animals. Next time-English speaking tour guide. We got to see all sorts of cool birds, sea lions, crabs, iguanas, and other various creatures. After that island tour we headed over to some other island where we got to go swimming and snorkeling. That place was fantastic. White beaches, emerald water, and bright South American sun. Gorgeous! The sand was made up of tiny pieces of shells. I was super excited about the snorkeling part. I miss water sports. There’s no feeling like getting to breathe underwater. I feel like you get a completely new and better look at life. I feel like nature is letting me look at a side of it that not everyone gets to experience.

            I think I could totally be a beach bum. Maybe someday I’ll live close to a beach. What I’d really like to do is marry our tour guide and be able to live here for the rest of my life. He was hott and I could understand most of what he said in Spanish. That’s a good sign right? We did have like an hour-long conversation on our ride back to the main island. He did say he’s come out dancing with us tonight…do I hear wedding bells? Is it wrong to want to marry someone because you want to live on the Galapagos? He would get a green card in return. I think it’s a fair trade.

24 de julio

Gorge

Today has been awesome. We began out day with the Charles Darwin station. It actually sounds way cooler than it is. I thought it was going to be full of cool sciencey stuff, but it was actually pretty lame. We’ve basically saw more Tortugas. Although, we did get to see Lonely Gorge. I believe he is the last of his breed. Poor guy. That was pretty cool. Then we hopped on a boat to Isabella. Man that 3 hour boat ride was a disaster. Remember, this is South America we’re talking about. It’s not a luxurious tourist boat, it’s a dinky overly crowded with a small view shanty boat. Lucky for us no one in our program threw up, although we had some close calls. I actually felt pretty good the whole time. I even got a little nap in.  But man was that water choppy. I forgot how powerful the sea can be. It really makes you realize how insignificant you are. Good reality check.

            Once we arrived on the island I think we all agreed that the boat ride was completely worth it. The word paradise doesn’t even describe the emerald waters, black lava rocks, multitude of vibrantly colored creatures, or the sand consisting of minie shells and soft white crystals. I am in love. Not to mention this island has hardly any tourists. It feels so remote. Just the locals and us.

The Island of Isabella

            One day I think I will be a beach bum. I would love to surf and be barefoot. This life is wonderful and shoes are optional everywhere. The streets are actually just packed down sand most of the time. The first thing I did was walk out into the sea in my skirt and bathing suit. The water was warm and friendly. I had a hard time getting out for dinner. For dinner we ate fresh tuna with various delicious sides. Dinner was delicious and I am thoroughly excited for breakfast.

            After dinner Jade met one of the locals named David and invited him to play Apple to Apples with us. I can’t even imagine how it feels to play that game as a native speaker of Spanish. I was very impressed with how well he played/guessed. He seems to be a really fun guy and I hope he hangs out with us tomorrow. Meeting locals in the best way to discover a new place. And who knows-making a contact in the Galapagos could be good. I am looking for a Galapagoean husband.

25 de julio

This morning Katie and I woke up at the ungodly hour of 5:45am in hopes of catching the sunrise and then go running on the beach. Unfortunately it was super cloudy so we didn’t get a chance to see much. But the run was awesome. Running on the beach in the wee hours of the morning is pretty inspiring. We ran during low tide so we could see all the shells left over and laugh as the crabs scuttled away from us. Hard to beat the feeling of bare feet beating upon the sand while the waves crash around you.

26 de julio

Today we snorkeled with sea lions! Like literally interact with them. They came so close to us in the water that you could hear their noises. We were really lucky to have had that family so close. It was seriously one of my most favorite life experiences.

Life here reminds me a lot of life at Miguel’s. . . only less humidity, rednecks, and bugs. The culture is very similar to that of climbers only with surfers. Last night Steph, Maria, Naomi, Ashley, and I all went to a local beach bar called Casa Rosado and drank cervazas with the locals around a campfire only a couple feet from the ocean. I talked to a lot of new people. One girl, Raquel, is from a small town close to Banos, another was from Germany. I really enjoyed having the conversations solely in Spanish. I’m getting to be really proud of my speaking ability. I’m not super correct grammatically, but I can hold basic conversations. Raquel even told me that I spoke well-score.

            The surfer boys really reminded me of my climber boys back home in the courting of the gringas. A girl named Tally, who has been living here for the past month teaching ESL (lucky) and I had an in depth conversation about the boys here. At the red all the boys spit their game at the easy weekend warrior girls. Here they speak Spanish slower, learn Spanglish, and play American music for the gringas. Where there’s a nitch of all guys in a male dominated sport, you’ll find that they all have seasoned tactics on how to court the tourists into their beds. I love watching it happen and experiencing the different methods. 

            One of the best parts about last night was the ride to Jr’s house after they closed the bar. We were each assigned a guy who was on a bike and then rode on the metal frame. Talk about having a blast. My guy got out his blackberry and played musico romantica. I called him out and he said, “Anna, tranquilla tranquilla. Estoy un conductor de este taxi y este es la musica de este taxi.” (Anna, tranquil tranquil-which is like a nice version of chill out-. I am a taxi driver and this is the music of the taxi.) I love South American men, they have the biggest personalities.

27 de julio

Yesterday was an absolute blast. I’m super bummed to be sitting on an airplane on my way back to Quito. I’m going to miss the warm breezes and sandy feet.

Out day began with our delicious breakfast that consisted of bread complete with two types of jam, fresh juice, eggs and ham. We were giving the choice of going on the volcano tour or spending the day at the beach. Everyone except for Katie and Faulky opted for the beach day. I spent my morning doing yoga with Ashley, Alycia, and Maggie. Then I painted with watercolors for about an hour close to the ocean. There is nothing like sitting in the sun and painting. I am so happy that I am so near the end of my college career and can begin to actually think about things like painting again. Following my relaxing morning came lunch.

            After lunch Ashley and I met up with Jr for some surfing lessons. I am in love with this new sport. Jr was a pretty crappy guide though. He supplied us with wetsuits, boards, and basic land lessons. As soon as we go in the water he pretty much only paid attention to Ashley. Then he eventually went out past the break where the bigger waves were and surfed with his friends. Apparently there was a huge swell that had come in that night. I really sucked at surfing at first…I’d like to blame it on the fact that our lesson was in Spanish and Jr mostly just flirted with Ashley. (just kidding) But I did stand up quite a few times, so at least I didn’t completely suck. I can defiantly see the lure of surfing now. Where I wasn’t covered with the wetsuit I’m super tan and my body is completely wrecked. I love any sort of sport that can be this painful the next day. I wish I lived closer to an ocean with waves. I’d love to get more into surfing.

            After we returned we ate dinner with everyone and then I took a nap. I was completely exhausted and totally deserved that nap. Then Ashley and I headed back to that local surfer bar. That place was so fun and chill. They locals kept saying that we were tranquilla. I guess that’s a good thing in Spanish surfer slang. We stayed there and  chatted with the locals until Jr closed down the place. Then we all headed over to Iguana Bar for some dancing. The guys here have a funny way of dancing. They don’t really salsa, they just kinda move their hips in a circular humping motion-gross. Boys in Quito are much better dancers for sure. (Although all of their intentions are the same) I ended up leaving the dance room because they were so dirty and hung out with my friends outside. At one point a guy named X, who is super sweet, started dancing and I looked in through the window. The guy next to the window scooted over and I crawled in next to him. He made some small talk and then asked, “Quieres bailar?” He was cute so I said yes. We spent the rest of the night dancing because he wasn’t dirty like the others. After the bar closed we spent some time talking and I found out that his name is Jackson, he’s 21, and has lived on the island of Isabella his whole life. I wonder what it feels like to have lived on such a small island all your life. I mean I felt like I knew a good chunk of the locals on the island and we’d only been there for 3 days. Gives a whole new meaning to small town. We eventually met up with the rest of our group for the after after party and had a really fun remainder of the night. I miss The Galapagos already. 

Control

I think that living her is a practice in control. And by that I mean lack of control. It’s amazing how much I don’t pay attention to words anymore. The ability to ease drop here is impossible and by not being able to comprehend my surroundings has resulted in my loss of control. I’ve always been pretty easy going with what’s going on around me; however, this has reached new heights of easy going. But I guess is it really easy going when I’m unable to have any choice in the matter? Hard to say.

Today I figured out that I can walk to the climbing gym from my school. It’s like a 15 minute walk. I’m pretty excited that I’m beginning to really know my way around this massive city. I’m not gonna lie, I’m pretty proud of myself. I’ve been climbing pretty often and am beginning to recognize a lot of faces. I’m hoping to not be completely out of shape when I return to the states and not to mention that I leave for the Galapagos soon.

21 de julio

Today I took my final. I can tell I feel at home here because my final felt normal-I didn’t care about it. I think they should have finals at the beginning of the term. We’re much more focused at the beginning of the term. When I’m a teacher I’ll try to remember that. 

Mitad del Mundo Part II and Bellavista

This is the second time I've visited Mitad del Mundo and both times have been completely worth it. This time we got to see the actual Mitad del Mundo that was discovered later with GPS. We did all sorts of activities with the equator. It was fascinating. We did the water experiment where the water literally fell straight down the drain on the equatorial line and to the right and left when we walked 5ft either direction North or South. Absolutely amazing to see this is real life. Who knew what I learned in school was true. I think if we took field trips to the equator when we learned about things like the Coriolis effect it would stick in our minds easier. We also did the egg balanced on a nail activity. I can't believe that we live in such a complex and cool world. I got a certificate for being able to balance the egg on the nail. I also got my passport stamped. Neat.


Afterward we all piled back into our bus and headed to Bellavista. This place is exactly a it's names literal definition, a beautiful view. This place is also known as 'the could forest'. The moment we all stepped out of our van we were all shocked at the mystical beauty of the place. The entire are is covered in clouds. This was by far the most magical place we have yet to visit. You just feel calmer here. The hustle and bustle of Quito drifts away. I think this was a well needed excursion for me. I really needed to connect back to nature, as hippie as that sounds, and this was just the place to do it. I forgot how much I have missed my home in the woods. Today was the first day I got homesick for the red. I'm not sure if it was me being in nature again or skyping in for Emily's baby shower and actually seeing all my girls. I was talking to Alycia while we stated off into the foggy abyss about how much my girls friends mean to me and how lucky I am to have such wonderful and dedicated friends. I don't know how I got so lucky. I found out the other day that Hayley will be living at the red for the fall. I can't express how happy this made me. I miss having my girls around so much.

It was nice to just sit in beauty and empty my brain. Nearly everyone in our group is a fan of hearing themselves talk, so it was nice to have a one on one conversation while everyone else went ziplining. Everything is so green and there are humming birds everywhere. I have seen humming birds before in Costa Rica, but not like this. They literally humm with their wings and it's actually a little scary when they fly close to your head.

Bellavista is one of those places that you feel like you should be whispering all the time. The place just feels magical. With the clouds, green, and moss covering everything you can't help by feel overwhelmed in the best way possible. I needed that before this very stressful upcoming week.

1 oral exam
1 final presentation
1 final exam




Proper relaxation was much needed.

Art and Harry Potter

14 de julio

Today we had another of our Thursday activities. The first one was that boring trip to Central Historical, last week was salsa lesson, and this week was to see this painter guy’s, Guarasamin, work. His art is super inspiring and exactly what I needed today. I especially loved his use of color. It’s hard to see exactly how talented he is unless you see his painting in real life.

            Life has been pretty stressful this past week for multiple reasons that I don’t think are appropriate to put up on a blog. But one that I can talk about is how hard school has gotten all the sudden. I just received a 66% on my last Spanish test. If you know me, then you know anything less than a B+ is absolutely unacceptable. At first school wasn’t so bad, but then we started moving so fast and I did horrible on that test. I feel so overwhelmed now. We’re trying to cram a 9 week coarse into 5 weeks. A language class? Crazy talk. I study on average probably 2-3hours every night. I have never studied that much for a class in my entire life. I have never tried so hard and done so bad. Hopefully I pulled off a C on my test that I took today. Wow. Did you hear that? I hope I get a C. That’s how hard school is for me at the moment. So sad. Funny thing is that I feel totally comfortable speaking Spanish. I can comprehend most people too, which is nice. At least I’ll be good at conversational Spanish when I return to the States.

            On a brighter note, I met a girl at the climbing gym today named Andra who is basically me in a year or two. She went to school for English and then moved to Argentina to teach ESL. Apparently there weren’t any jobs down there so now she’s in Quito because she landed a job here. It was awesome talking to her. Maybe everything happens for a reason? If Jordan and I were still together than this winter I would be moving to California with him while he went to school. Maybe now I have a hook up for an ESL job down here. I feel like I have the whole world open to me now. What to do after college? Grad school? Peace Core? ESL in South America?

15 de julio

Today began with our culture class. Andean Culture sounds like it would make for a really good class, but unfortunately some of the girls in the program had various reasons why they thought they needed to complaint to the authorities about the class and the teacher. Now she give us a lot of busy work for homework. I love the material-loathe going to the class. But on a brighter note, after class I argued with Mario (one of the teachers at our school who I will have for Spanish 250 in a few weeks) about a grade from that horrible previous test. Apparently I argued well and got 5 extra points! That grade went from a 66% to 71%. I couldn’t be more happy.

            Later we all piled onto a bus and headed over to the final Harry Potter movie. Words cannot even express how sad I am. There are no longer any books or movies to look forward to. I don’t know how to handle these feelings inside of me. Harry Potter has been such a key part of my life since 2^nd grade. I feel a little empty and am not sure what to look forward to now. I owe my major and love of reading to that book series. Without Harry Potter I would never have learned that books could be fun. If I had more time down here I would totally read the series over again. Who knew a book series could contain so much power and evoke so much emotion. I mean Jade bawled, like full on tears, at the end of the movie because it was the final Harry Potter everything. My life as I have known it for the past 22 years is over.

Catch up and Baños

Okay so I’m about to do a quick catch up of about three blogs because I’m way behind. The person that I was stealing internet from at home decided to get a password so I’ve only been able to access the internet at my school and bringing my computer on the bus isn’t always preferable. Luckily I’ve been keeping a travel journal with all my ticket stubs, receipts, and Polaroid pictures so you guys will still get my raw emotions and first reactions.

Our Hotel

Where we eat breakfast

Breakfast!

Without further adieu:

8 de julio-10 de julio Baños

So Brooke, Tucker, and I all decided to take the free weekend and travel to Baños. We left Friday around 5pm ish and arrived by bus around 10pm ish. That was 2 hours longer than it was supposed to take. Apparently it took so long because the driver kept stopping to pick up locals as if we were a public transit system that costs 25cents in the city. At one point we had the middle isle filled with people, and this was a regular tour bus mind you. So weird how the bus culture is in this country. Anyway, we got to the hostel safely and decided for an early morning hot spring sunrise experience.

            Around 5:30 am we were dressed in our bathing suits and ready to the find the legendary hot springs. Well apparently Tucker’s guide book sucks--or he didn’t know how to read a map—and we wandered around Banos in the wee hours for a good 45 minutes before a local in a white pick-up truck noticed that we obviously had no idea where we were going. He asked us if we needed a ride/taxi. We graciously accepted the stranger’s offer. He drove us to the hot springs and we paid him $1. There is absolutely no way we would have found that place on our own. Unfortunately the hot springs came no where near my expectations. Firstly, they cost $3 a person (the guide book said they were $1.50), they made my buy a shower cap (which I understand, but I was still a little peeved), and thirdly they were basically like a naturally heated public pool. Like they were cemented in and there were TONS of other people there. It wasn’t the naturalistic experience I was hoping for. Totally not worth the effort and funds out into getting there. But hey, it was an adventure and Brooke and I ended up seeing that ‘taxi driver’ later again that next day.

            Following the disappointing hot springs experience we ate an early breakfast at an adorable little French place. I love breakfast here in Ecuador. It normally consists of fresh juice, coffee or tea, fruit, bread, and maybe an egg something or another. It’s a light perfect way to start the day. After eating we had a break in the rain (which by the way it pretty much rained the entire time we were in Baños) so we all decided to go bike riding because other people had previously said it was neat. Lies. The bikes sucked, the biking road was actually the only car shared entrance into Baños (which we got a lot of honks because we were taking up their space and being slow), and they told us that it was all down hill. There were totally some points where we were going only up hill. Brook wasn’t really feeling the bike ride and was kinda sick. We told Tucker to go on and that we’d figure out how to get back. Well apparently we were supposed to take a bus, bike and all. One that that I haven’t really mentioned is that places down here really hate big bills, and by big bills I mean they consider $5 big bills. Well Brooke and I only had $20s and the bus probably would have cost around $1. Fat chance that we were going to be able to take a bus back. (Yes, they actually refuse your money here)Well long story short people in Baños are much nicer than people in Quito. We ended up talking a nice family into letting us chill in the back of their pick-up truck on their way back into the town. Luckily for us they were going to see Rio Verde, which was where we were biking to, anyway. So we got to cop out of the manual labor and see the sights anyway. Score. The family loved us. They thought we were totally hilarious. They kept wanting Brooke and I to be in their family pictures. Kinda awkward, but hey we’ll do it if you give us a ride back.

            The next day Brooke and I signed up to go canyoning. What is that you say? Well it’s like extreme repelling down waterfalls. I know, repelling sounds really lame-but everything in Ecuador is pretty extreme. We got really lucky and had a really awesome guide. He reminded my a lot of my friends from the red. He’s nuts, but completely safe and you trust him upon meeting him. We didn’t know this at the time, but apparently he also owned the company. He’s a really good guy. He got really upset at another guide that arrived right as we were leaving for bringing 8 people and only 1 guide. That’s how you know he’s legit. Also, the taxi driver in the white pick-up truck from the previous day was our driver to the canoyning location. We got a kick out of that. Small town.

            Anyway, canoyning was really fun. We got a full vegetation tour as we hiked up the mountainside to reach the cascadas (waterfalls). He pointed out all the plants and fruits that were editable and made us taste them. At first we were hesitant because we’ve been told since we signed up for this trip that we’d probably get sick from the food. Knock on wood I haven’t yet and still haven’t eating the random plants. The actual annoying was fun. It was neat to use all the equipment that I’m used to using. Made me feel at home to be using Black Diamond and Petzl. The cascadas were beautiful and it was fun to be able to be part of the raging water rather than just looking at it from a distance from a trail. I like things that are tangible. All in all Baños was a really fun time and it was nice to be able to get out of the hustle and bustle of Quito and the girl fest. Not to mention Jordan and I had just broken up. A nice relaxing weekend was the escape I needed.

Excursions in Ecuador: Otavalo

So through my program we'll be going on multiple excursions-aka field trips- though various parts of Ecuador. Our first stop was Otavalo. Otavalo is a home to the Quechua people. The town has about 50,000 inhabitants and is surrounded by the peaks of Imbabura 4,630m and Cotacachi 4,995m. Both of those mountains are extremely important to the Quechua people and are main components in their folklore and culture. In our Andean culture class we were assigned two stories and one was about the love affair of the two mountains. I loved reading a little about the history of these people and then getting to experience it first hand. 

       

 

 Our first day in Otavalo we actually visited a little market called in the city of Cotacachi. Cotacachi is known for it's leather goods. The artisans are absolutely fantastic at what they do. We all had a wonderful time practicing bartering for the next day. Later that night we observed some sort of festival in the town. I love being a minority.

What? Do we stand out or something?

Our Quechua sisters

 During our 2 day stay in Otavalo we were awarded the honor of getting to stay with Quechua families instead of a hotel or hostel. Each family got 2-3 of us. That alone was one of the most enjoyable parts for me. I can't even believe that we got to stay with the people we're reading about in our class. I feel like I'm at some sort of school that is involved in hands on learning. I wish that all the culture classes I've taken brought us directly to the groups we're learning about. These families all grew or raised their own food. My group got a tour of the garden and livestock. It was pretty neat to be able to see exactly where our food was coming from. I remember Katie seeing the avocado tree and saying "Oh man, our avocado this morning was super fresh." They eat so simply. Every night we had some sort of basic soup, potatoes, green leafy veggies of some sort, and another random item-that's it. I could (sorta) identify everything I ate. There were no mystery ingredients, no preservatives, no seasoning packets, just straight up food in it's most basic form. It was nice to be reminded that we don't need condiments or spices to make things taste good.

Steph and I looking like Quechua women

Our family that we stayed with was awesome. We had two little girls who we enjoyed interacting with. Normally I have no issues understanding kids because they're Spanish is pretty basic-much like mine. However, these sneaky little girls kept throwing in Quechua words which threw me off completely. Once we finally figured out that they weren't speaking Spanish half of the time we had a much easier time understanding them through the use of hand signals and body language.

The day before we left our Quechua mom asked if we wanted to dress up in the traditional dress. Of course we said yes. After we were properly dressed the little girls took us for a walk around their little village. Talk about awkward. I totally felt like that awkward tourist who is wearing the traditional clothes trying to fit into a culture that isn't your own. But it was a great experience and I'm glad I did it.

 All day Saturday we got to shop at the open market in Otavalo. I am absolutely in love with this form of shopping. (Pretty much) Everything is handmade and completely unique. The people expect you to barter-which is awesome. Bartering was an awesome way to practice my Spanish. My group had it down to a science. I feel like we robbed Otavalo.

Lake Cuicocha

On our way back to Quito we stopped by Lake Cuicocha. Someday when I'm rich I'm going to buy this Lake from the Ecuadorian government and build my house on one of the islands.

 Some fun facts about Cuicocha:

• Its name comes from the Kichwa (Quechua) Indigenous language and signifies: "Lago del Cuye" or Guinea Pig Laguna in English. 
• It was given this name due to the shape of the largest Island located in the middle of the Laguna is full of Guinea Pigs.
• Last Eruption-12th century BC
• Elevation-3,246 m (10,650 ft)

 

Oh and did I mention that 5 of us crazy Gringas decided to jump in Lake Cuicocha? I've swam in the Merced River in Yosemite National valley that is straight up mountain water-but that doesn't even compare to how cold this water was. I mean this Lake is over 10 thousand feet above sea level and I doubt it ever reaches above 65 degrees there. It was freezing. As soon as my body hit the cold water I immediately wanted out...I swam as fast as I could to the boat but by the time I got there I was so exhausted from the swim (that was about 5ft mind you) that I couldn't get back into the boat. Have you ever tried to swim in freezing water at 10,000ft? It's not easy-you feel like your lungs are going to explode. I mean just walking up a hill was hard, swimming was way worse. All in all it was a great experience. Would I do it again? Hell yes.  

"La Mitad Del Mundo"

     This past weekend has probably been one of the best in my entire 22 years of life. First my Friday began with the Andean culture class, which is the class I've been looking most forward to. My teacher seems super sweet earthy. I think this class will be a pleasure to go to each week, not to mention that it's with all the girls in my program. It's nice to be able to see everyone rather than just two people. ( Although I look forward to our political and life talks every morning Brooke and Katie)
      After class we all went exploring around our school in the Mariscal area. Mariscal is known by the locals as "Gringolandia" because it's where the tourists from all over the world gather. I guess it makes sense that my school is smack dab in the middle of it. It was nice to get to see the area in the day time because later on that night all of us gals ventured out looking to have a good time. Boy is that place different at night! By the time we get out of school (around 1pm) a lot of the shops are just opening for almuerzo. At night everything is alive and people swarm the streets.

    The night began with all of us meeting at La Plaza Foch. Half of the group went off the begin the night with some cervezas while the other half chilled and waited for everyone else to arrive. Once we were all together we traveled down the streets looking for discotecas-which are Ecuadorian night clubs. The first one we found was pretty lame, but hey it was free and we had a good time dancing anyway. *Note I highly doubt we'll ever have to pay to get into a discoteca here* The second one we went to was called Oceana. That place was awesome! For those of you know me, you know that I love dancing and never hesitate to be the first on the dance flood. Ecuadorian night clubs are awesome because here is a good mix of many types of dancing and music. Also Latin American men have absolutely no fear about dancing with you. Most of the night I danced with my girls, but at one point a guy named Andres came up and started dancing with me. I danced with him for a couple of minutes-salsa dancing-then after I knew he was interested I turned to him and said "Yo tengo un novio...pero you tengo MUCHOS Amigas!" Which translates to "I have a boyfriend...but I have a lot of friends that are girls!" He looked pleased and told me that he had a lot of guys friends there. So then I brought him over to where all my single girls were and then a mixture of the Ecuadorian boys and Ohio girls danced the night away. All in all I think everyone had a good time. 

The next morning my friend Stephanie, her Padre, and I all went on a minnie road trip to "El Mital Del Mundo" which is translated to "The middle or center of the world". Pretty awesome. I got to straddle the Equatorial line...well the wrong one. Apparently where the giant statue below is located is the wrong place, thanks to GPS we now know this. So there is the big fancy line and statue, which is not the actual line, and there is a little sign a few feet away where the actual line is. Unfortunately we didn't know this so we went to the fake line. Next time.

Then later on that day my friend Naomi called us and said that she and her family were going to a soccer game later that afternoon. Of course we said yes and hitched a ride to Naomi's house. From there we walked to the Estadio Olimpico Atahualpa which is only a couple of blocks away from Naomi's house. We spend the game test the local game food, drinking the local cervaza, and cheering for Ecuador.  Futbol games in South America don't even compare to that in the US. People go nuts! It's like being in Columbus on a OSU vs Michigan game day. People love it. Unfortunately Ecuador lost to Mexico 0-1, but we still had a blast. Apparently losing is not okay for Ecuadorian fans because at the end of the game the people were chanting for a new coach and throwing their plastic bottles at the players as they left the field. I was shocked at their actions because I throughout the game no one booed or showed mal-sportsmanship, but yet they threw bottles at their own players when they lost? That is a lot of pressure!

    Kind of a funny side note, our group got stopped twice at the stadium by people in the public media field. Once was for national television and the other was for a radio show. Apparently being a gringa gets you lots of attention.

Amo mi vida

Cami y Mi Padre

I am blessed to have been placed with such a wonderful family.  Before arriving in Quito I had heard that the people of South America are very welcoming and hospitality is one of the virtues they're known for. This could not be more true. The Murgueytio family is no exception. I have only been living in Quito for 6 days and yet they have completely taken me in as one of their own. Mi mama, Lupe, insists that I am her hija (daughter) and that she will treat me as such. Thus far she has kept true to her promise. She wakes up every morning at 6:30am to make me 2 eggs, bread with cheese or jam, and coffee. The first two days of school she and mi hermana (sister) helped me figure out the complicated bus systems of Ecuador. Before I go any further to how dedicated mi mama is about my well being, let me tell you about these Ecuadorian buses...

• It only costs 25cents to ride the bus
• Nearly every bus plays loud Latin American music
• There is no machine that takes your money, it's always a separate person than the driver
• The buses hardly ever actually stop completely--yes that means that you jump on and off the buses
• Street venders are permitted to come on the bus to sell things like gym, fruit, candy, shoe rubber, etc. if they give the driver/money collector a few bucks of their earnings from the bus riders
• The buses are super jerky, as in they stop abruptly and begin again very very quickly--it feels like an amusement park ride

Anyway, so for an older women, taking me to school on the bus is a big deal. So I go to school roughly from 8am-1pm--I'll go into further detail about my school in a future post--and then return home around 2pm ish for almuerzo. In Ecuador, and I'm pretty sure most of South America, lunch is the big deal meal. Mi Mama is an AMAZING cook. Everyday she makes a different kind of soup (I love soup for those of you who don't know), rice, beans, veggies, and some sort of meat. She always compliments the meal with a fresh squeezed juice from some exotic fruit. And yes, I actually mean exotic, not like starfruit or passion fruit. I'm talking things that we don't even have names for in the US. For example, mi familia made me try that yellow fruit in the picture on the right. It's called a taxo and is not that sweet of a fruit. It's pretty good, but I probably wouldn't be able to eat more than one at a time.

Andres

 So after almuerzo mi mama and I take naps--I know, I live a hard life here in Ecuador. Then around 5 or 6 we start to move around again. We eat a smaller more like snack meal. Normally we eat some bread with cheese and jelly and drink coffee. If there was a lot left over from almuerzo mi mama will sometimes heat it up and we'll eat that. But she normally will only do that for me. Score. Then we all hangout and around 8 everyone goes to their bedrooms to do bedroom things. This is normally when I do my homework.

Like I said, my life is good.

The other people in my family include this little guy to the left. He is my nephew named Andres. He's 1 year and 4 months and super adorable. He doesn't contain a shy bone in his body and will constantly want to hangout on your lap or in your arms. His older sister, Cami is pictured above with her abuelo--mi padre. Cami is so sweet. She is very patient with my broken Spanish and does her best to help me understand what is going on around me--which by the way, I've just gotten over never being able to fully understand what is happening. Mi padre knows English very well because he lived in New York for 3 years. Although I prefer that mi familia talk to me in Spanish, it is nice to get some English every once in awhile. Last night mi padre with mi hermana Paula showed my friends Maria and Stephanie and I around the old area of Quito. It was sweet to have our own personal tour guide and to see the city at night. Mi hermana Paula is the mother of Andres and Cami. I think he husband lives in Quito, but a different part. Or something like that <-- language barrier. She has been such a help getting around my neighborhood in Quito. The first day that I arrived she showed me the way to the mall Bosque and helped me buy a watch.

Here are the pictures of my house! Note that this is not my house in it's entirety, only the rooms that I spend a lot of time in. 

The Kitchen

The Living Room and Dinning Room

The hallway on the 2nd floor where I like to read and look out the window at the beautiful mountains

My Room!

The view out my window

 Well it's about that time where I go and drink coffee and eat bread con mi familia, but before I do, watch this video of mi madre from El Día de los Padres (Father's Day). 

Buenos noches!

What's life without a little epic here and there?

 

      My travels began with a Megabus. For those of you who have never experienced the Megabus, you are missing out. Generally the Megabuses have wifi and are doubledecker. They are the better, safer, and nicer version of the Greyhound. They were originally designed for college students to reach home in an affordable manner. Recently Megabus opened up a route connecting the Midwest to the East coast--score!

     Anyway...way back in the beginning of the fall I was thinking about taking some time off school before I graduate. You know, the whole "I'm burnt out on school, I need some time off" story that nearly all college students go thought at least once during their career as a student. Well Emily, being the good friend that she is, bribed me to stay in school for the last two terms and finish up strong. What was this bribe? An all girls climbing trip, any place of my choice, with all the gals that I spent my first summer at Miguel's with--conveniently enough they are also my best friends. All winter we worked through our various busy schedules to set a place and a date--Vermont/New England June 12th-16th. (It originally was supposed to last 2 weeks)

     At some point during that time I decided that I also wanted to study abroad in Ecuador. For my last term I only need Spanish classes to graduate. Unfortunately none of my Spanish classes from Cincinnati State transferred to OSU. So instead of taking them again in a classroom and not really learning the language I decided that going to a foreign country is the best way to go about these final classes.  Remember when I mentioned that we needed to find time for girls trip amongst all of our busy schedules? Well I was one of the more difficult. As soon as I made the final decision and worked it out financially I bought the plane tickets departing from New York on June 16th.

My final weeks in the Sates went as so:

May 31st-June 9th: 

• Move out of my house
• Study and take my Final Exams
• Pack for Girls trip AND Ecuador

June 9th-12th:

• Drive to the Red to say goodbye to Jordan
• Drive back to Columbus June 11th to say goodbye to my family
• Make sure I have everything ready for the early morning Megabus departure to Philly to meet up with Nikkie

June 12th-17th:

• Megabus from Columbus to Philly June 12th
• Drive with Nikkie from Philly to Vermont June 13th
• Hangout and rock climb with my girls at Smugglers Notch and Rumney June 14-16
• Drive the 6hrs very very early in the morning (2am) with Nikkie from Vermont to JFK, NY June 17th

Which brings me to my multiple flights through North, Central, and South America:
*notice the start and end times-->Depart USA 9:17am Arrive in Quito 12:20am the next day

      My program through OSU required that we arrive on June 17th between the hours of 7-9pm...or something like that. Well my ticket was much cheaper if I arrived at the hour of 12:20am. And by cheaper, I mean the price was cut in half. So I figured that I would just arrive SUPER early and get a taxi to a hotel or hostel. After I gave my program director my itinerary, with an explanation as to why I was flying out of New York, she contacted my school in Quito and arranged for my family to come pick me up. (very nice of her considering I disregarded the rules with arrival times) Unfortunately when I arrived at the busy city of Quito in the wee hour of the morning there was no one in sight to pick me up...dun dun dun

     I waited for about an hour with many a creepy taxi driver saying "Tu necessitas una taxi?" to which I replied, "No, yo tengo una familia." (Apparently all of my eloquent Spanish has decided to escape me since I arrived in Ecuador. I now only use about 5 verbs and all of which I only use in present tense) About 1:30am I grudgingly decide to trust one of the Taxi drivers who had been stalking me for the past 20minutes and told him I needed a hotel. I began to follow him and immediately began to get sketched out because he was walking off the property of the airport. I politely told him that I was going back to the airport and would not be needing his "taxi". At the airport I attempted to get an internet connection but had little luck. Mentally I decided that I would just remain in the lobby and wait for the other girls to arrive in 16hours--at least the lobby with other people is safe right? Unfortunately a few moments later myself and the other people waiting were getting kicked out by the night crew who needed to clean. crap. So I wandered with the rest of the people back into the land of creepy taxi men and decided to trust the most ordinary looking taxi. Lucky for me he knew a little English and took me to a reliable Hotel. The drive was about 2 minutes away from the airport and it cost me $5--the first time, of what I am sure will be many, I got ripped off in Ecuador.

 

The view from outside my Hotel balcony