Back in the US

I made it. Saying my goodbyes was a bit tough at the orphanage and with my host family. But I am home sweet home in a house filled with Christmas cheer. A lot of exchange students from my classes were on the same flight as me which was a great way to end the experience. We all were able to be together until the very end.

Thanks for keeping up with my blog for the past 4 months. I have learned some Spanish, lived in a huge city, made some great friends, learned a little about the Ecuadorian culture, scuba dove with manta rays, rafted through the Amazon, jumped of waterfalls and bridges, zip-lined through cloud forests, saw monkeys, blue-footed boobies, tried ceviche and guinea pig, took salsa lessons, went to a world cup elimination soccer game, attended a bullfight during las fiestas de Quito, and had a blast lovin’ on little babies at Para Sus Ninos.

Although this wasn’t easy, here are my top five favorite trips (#1 being the bomb-diggity:

5. Whale watching off the coast of Puerto Lopez
4. Horseback riding to a waterfall in Baños
3. All-day Whitewater rafting trip in Tena
2. Bike riding along the mountainside in Baños
1. Scuba diving in Puerto Lopez with giant manta rays

Top five experiences in Quito:

5. Exploring Centro Historico, admiring all of the colonial architecture
4. Taking a month-long salsa class at a studio in the city
3. Being one of 45,000 people in the national stadium to see the Ecuador vs. Uruguay futbol game
2. All the coffee dates with Kristen and Mateo
1. Spending my last few weeks at Para Sus Niños

Thanks for tuning in. But now I am signing out. Who knows, maybe this won’t be the last of my Ecua-adventures. Till next time

Merry Christmas,
Carrie

Last week in Ecuador

Hola!

So the blogs haven’t been coming quite so quick these days. Probably because I stopped traveling and taking pictures. Classes are over. Kristen flew away. I’ve only got 4 days left in this foreign land. It feels like the end. I think I could be ready to go home in 4 days; the thought of la navidad gets me really excited, and Sean coming to visit for New Years. Since last post, what have I been up to? Studying hard for exams, went to a bull fight during Quito’s independence week, been volunteering at Para Sus Niños (an orphanage).

The bull fight was “a cultural experience.” The second we walked through the gates, we could tell that there was a lot of tradition tied to bull fighting in Ecuador. Why is everyone wearing panama hats? Why is everyone drinking wine out of leather satchels? It’s just…tradition. The event reminded me in one way of Elon football games; everyone was dressed up. Take away the Lily Pulitzer and add stiletto leather boots.

Kristen, Lauren, and I were lucky enough to sit by a group of older men who were bull fighting aficionados that were thrilled to enlighten us on the ends and outs of bull fighting. During the whole event, I got a full play-by-play, which I didn’t mind at all. Watching the first bull, out of six, get killed was the hardest, because he was so gosh-darn-cute. You could see that he was panicked and breathing hard. The others were huge, black, muscular, angry bulls, so it wasn’t so bad. The scoring in bullfighting is as follows: one ear means you did alright, two ears means you were great, two ears and a tail is unbelievable, and if you receive nothing it basically means get out of the ring. The day we went was particularly eventful because the revered “Juli” (supposedly one of the best in the world) got nothing both times. And Sebastian Castela performed so well in one of the fights that the he received the highest honor, two fake ears and a tail, and the bulls got to live to see another day. The group of old men had never seen this happen before so it must have been a big deal. Who knows. The bull fighters, toreros, are funny looking to me. Their stance is so erect that they are actually leaning backwards and they were gold jackets and pink spandex.

Que mas? Ever since classes ended I have been spending my days at an orphanage, Para Sus Ninos (PSN). I don’t have much experience with babies or with special needs children so the learning curve has been steep, and wonderful all the same. The orphanage started 20 something years ago by a young married couple from California who went to Ecuador on a church trip, and decided to dedicate the rest of their lives to abandoned Ecuadorian children. Pretty sweet huh? I am very impressed with the facilities: lots of land, beautiful houses, a pool (you never see those in Ecuador), and they even have a pet llama! I was sweeping the sidewalk the other day and right in front of me a llama head popped up out of the bushes, scarred the ba-geezes out of me, but now we’re friends.

PSN is a well-oiled machine that is doing incredible things but the “Tias” (all the women that take care of the kids, means aunt in Spanish) deserve the most credit for all the love, time, and energy they pour into each kid, whilst cleaning, cooking, doing endless loads of laundry.

They have four houses, one for little babies, one for 2-4year olds, one for the kids older than that, and one for special needs kids that are as old as teens. I have spent time in all the houses playing, dancing to Barney songs, feeding them, bathing them, etc. I have spent most of my time with the baby house which I love. All the babes have their own personalities, likes and dislikes, forms of communication and I am slowly learning all that. The littlest one Felipe, not quite crawling yet, has been hard for more because he cries and gives me looks of disgust whenever I got near him. BUT, today I made him giggle. What a great day.

Being in an orphanage can be tough. These kids are cute, reaaal cute. And somehow they got the bad end of the stick and are parentless. The little ones don’t understand, but the older ones do. It’s a tough reality to face as a little kid.

I am really appreciating being at PSN, little tots are just so new to me. I not sure how I am going to be able to just pick up and leave on Sunday, after being there for only a couple weeks.

Oh hey blog?

Hello! I must have lost the blog fever for a bit. Gosh it's been a while. Let's see what has happened...

Had a Thanksgiving feast. Turkey, mash potatoes, caseroles, pumpkin pie....the works. Might have been my best meal all semester, no offense Ecuador. It was quite a quest finding all the ingredients, for example there is no such thing as canned pumpkin filling in Ecuador.

Katie came for a whirlwind tour of Ecua-life. We saw a bit of Quito, my school, my pals, the market, and spent a night in the beautiful pueblo of Mindo. I got to do another round of ziplining, waterfall jumping, and butterfly watching, which was just as awesome as the first. We even went to a "frog concert" where we were walked around a pond and forested areas led by a man with a flashlight and a recorder with all the different frog sounds. There was a constant hum of creatures of the night (owls, frogs, crickets..) and saw a handful of froggies during the walk, but the coolest thing we saw was glow-in-the-dark fungus decomposing a branch. very cool.

I had my first legal glass of wine last night. My closest friends and I went to a wonderful restaurant famous for its view for my birthday dinner. Mateo and Kristen made me a homemade strawberry cheesecake which was a real treat.

My time here is drawing to a close. One of my classes even ended today. The countdown is on but there is still more fun stuff to come in the next couple of weeks. Bull fight. Cotopaxi. Volunteering. It ain't over yet!

Tena

So I traveled west to Tena, the gateway to the Amazon, this past weekend. It was a brief but beautiful adventure. After a hilariously disgusting (odd adjective combo but it really is the perfect description) bus ride, we made to Tena, which was nothing like the grass huts that I had envisioned. Near the end of the long bus ride after alternating who gets the floor and who gets our one seat, Kristen and I discovered a mysterious goo all over our backpacks and my shoe and my thigh after putting my backpack on it. Our first thought was, is there really poo all over our stuff? But after laughing until our sides hurt, it was confirmed after the sniff check that it was in fact vomit. How wonderful right? After some cleaning up at the hostel we went to a great restaurant owned by a chipper old German where the rest of the bunch met up with us.

Bright and early on Saturday morning we began our whitewater rafting adventure, one of my greatest Ecua-experiences to date. River People, the rafting company, was run by two Irish brothers (not really what I was expecting in the Amazon) that had lived in Ecuador since they were kids. The all day trip was absolutely incredible, packed with class 4 rapids, lots of splashing and swimming, a homemade lunch made by their mom, and even a jungle hike. One of the rapids was too big to raft so we hiked up one of the steep sides of the river and then repelled back down once we got past the rapid. It was the jungliest of all jungle hikes for me. And no jungle experience is complete without tripping and falling on a poisonous plant from the Amazon. The stinging went away after a couple hours though, no worries. The untouched rainforest that surrounded us was out of this world: lots of little waterfalls, vines, green parrots, and tropical foliage. We didn’t get many pictures after Mateo’s camera got too cold from the water or something, but here’s a few!

Quito-ing

Hello all,

This has been one of my more academically challenging weeks, hence no new posts. I am coming down to the homestretch in my classes, so the professors are piling it on. I don’t mind too much, that’s what I am here for right?

Brief update on Ecua-life:

Blackouts

Lately we have been experiencing “rolling blackouts.” Ecuador mostly runs on hydro-power but unfortunately the rains just didn’t come this year. What does that mean? There isn’t enough power to go around. Fortunately they have started to give us warnings so we can be ready for the 4hr blackout in our homes. Aside from the hassle of complete darkness at times (my host fam does seem to want to invest in some candles) it has been kind of fun. I always liked power-outages when I was younger because that meant the normal routine was put on hold for a little while. And everything was so quiet. I went out to eat the other night and they had a fire in the fireplace and candles on all the tables, who wouldn’t love that?

Protests

College students across the nation that attend private universities are not happy. The president has recently passed a law making all universities public. It will surely change a few things. In a country that is becoming more and more socialistic, the government will have a much bigger role in the curriculum, manner of teaching, etc. They can even go as far as deciding how many students can have a certain majors. For example, if there are plenty of filmmakers or ecologists in the country then they will not allow more students to study those subjects. It seems like their freedom is slowly being taken away from them.

Correa

The friendship between President Correa and Chavez is making Ecuadorians a little uneasy. Chavez tells Correa to buy weapons from Russia; Correa buy weapons from Russia. Chavez doesn’t like Columbia; Correa doesn’t like Columbia. Chavez thinks the US is evil, Correa thinks the US is evil. Correa likes Chavez a little too much. 'Nuf said.

Update on my Ecua-happenings

The photos below are of my previous weekend around Quito. The last one is a view from my apartment. There is a HUGE statue of an angel in South Quito way up high that we made the trek to see. The stairs to get up to her were endless but the view of the city was great. I leave tomorrow for Tena, the closest I will get to the Amazon. Hopefully by next post I will have gone white-water rafting and spelunking.

Ciao,
Carrie

Rio Verde

Just got back from a beachy weekend in Rio Verde with some amigos. This weekend getaway was much more tranquilo than the others. We went to the beach, a whole 50 yrds from our room, spent time with the owners, which was Mateo’s host family, went on a short little boat ride up a river out to sea, ate some delicious ceviche, and not much else. I have had an immense craving for ceviche ever since the first bowl. Something about the combination of seafood, lime juice, cilantro, red onion, tomatoes, and salt just seem to work. Add some patacones (fried bananas) on the side and you’re in heaven.
Life in Rio Verde is much more simplified than what most of us are used to. Many live in huts along the river, fish for sustenance, play a lot of soccer, and pass the day with their families and neighbors. Most of the citizens are black and I think for some of the lit’uns, it was their first time seeing a blonde-haired, blue-eyed person. We only saw a couple other tourists throughout the four days, so needless to say we stuck out a little.
Our beach hardly had a soul on it. We spent hours swimming in the warm ocean (Mateo kayaking and Kristen and I bobbing around in child-sized inner tubes) and walking alone the shore with nothing around us but the vast Pacific and the wide sandy beach. It was a dream. I knew it would be last time at the beach in Ecuador so I tried to soak it in as much as I could.
Well this five day weekend has come to a close. Back to the books! 46 days left.

Baños

Hola once again,

I am just sitting here recuperating after a looong day with my wonderful host family. What started out as a quick hello at my 3 years old host-nephew’s birthday party this afternoon turned into an all day family bonding session. I met more relatives than my brain could really process; I ended up all over Quito in various houses of tios, abuelos, sobrinos; I even attended a Catholic Mass this evening….as if it wasn’t hard to follow already, try it in Spanish. The highlight(s) of the day would have to be Sophia (2yrs), Daniela (5yrs), and Valeria (8yrs). By the end of tonight they were using me as their personal jungle gym while their mom was trying to get them to go to bed. I think kids help break the ice in awkward situations with their crude honesty and silly antics, so I was thankful to have them around today while I was trying to survive a day full of strangers that don’t speak my language.

So what else is new? I decided to stay here this weekend and save some money after last weekend’s escapades. I went Baños; and no I didn’t go whitewater rafting or swimming in hot springs like I had intended…but I did have a remarkable weekend with Kristen and Mateo. We went on the greatest bike ride of my life on a road that ran along the tropical mountainside through tunnels, past waterfalls, across bridges. We thought it would be a good idea to jump off one of the bridges after some locals holding ropes asked us if we wanted to “saltar” (jump). You could compare what we did to bungee jumping, except the rope wasn’t stretchy. I had to swan dive out as far as I could and then it turned into a swinging motion. For $10 you too can cheat death and jump off a bridge in Baños. ¿Quieres saltar? The road also lead us to a grandisimo waterfall that would make even Yao Ming feel small. Later that afternoon I finally tried cuy (guinea pig). It was….ok. Kind of like gamey dark turkey meat.

The next morning we went horseback riding up to another waterfall with a local guide. I may have thought that I knew how to ride horses but I quickly found out that I had no clue what I was doing. That whole trot motion takes some practice! And at some points we were in full a gallop and I am sure I looked like a newb. But despite the steep learning curve, I was lovin it. A couple hours later we hopped on a bus back to Quito and my great weekend ended very abruptly….vomiting more than 25 times in a bag on a bus will do that to you. But why dwell on food poisoning when the demon seed is already gone?

Hasta luego,
Carolina

I'm not good at catchy titles

Hola Hola ¿Como les va?
65 days left? Ay dios mios.
I just finished up another week that went by at lighting speed. Today was a full day. Started at 6:30am and now midnight is just around the corner. The great thing about my early Tues/Thurs is the first thing I get to do is draw. There’s something wonderful about starting your day with a class to get your creative juices pumping. Academically, I am a little surprised at how well I am doing, knock on wood. I think the reason for all my stellar test grades is the unending amounts of free time that studying abroad has to offer. No job, no meetings, NO obligations. It’s a beautiful thing. It’s also not real life, but maybe that’s okay for a little while.
I had two highlights today
Numero uno:
I volunteered at an elementary school at their afterschool program. I am realizing that I tend to gravitate towards these kinds of programs (PAYC, Grace Place). Having Spanish not be my first language sure makes helping kid with their homework interesting. I will admit it; I was in over my head. The facility is crumbling, the school supplies are lacking, and there is zero classroom control but they still won me over. I can tell already tell, these kids are going to teach me way more than I could ever teach them.
Numero dos:
I had my fourth out of eight salsa lessons this evening. A few of my friends and I signed up for lessons at a dance studio and we are loving it. There are roughly fourteen of us, mostly Ecuadorians, which surprised me. I thought South Americans learned how to dance before they could walk…..but I guess not all. So, salsa isn’t quite as simple as I thought. We’ve learned all eight basic “pasos” and now we’ve moved on to dancing in “parejas” (pairs) Some nights we’ve fogged up the mirrors in the dance studio from working up such a sweat during the hour and half lesson. I can’t wait to go back to Seseribó (salsa club in Quito) and practice my new moves.
Tomorrow I am off to Baños. I have two goals: go white water rafting and swim in hot springs. I hope I make these dreams of mine come true in the next three days.
And I hope all is well with you. And that you don’t have the sense that time is slipping through your finger tips. It’s a terrible feeling that I am starting to get these days. My wish as that you are content with where you are at, not thinking about too much about the past or the future, just right here in the present where life happens.

-Les vaya bien
Carrie

ps: Christmas in Naples will be a great thing to go home to!

The Real Futbol

I had a first today; I went to a soccer game in a country (more like continent) where soccer=life. Ecuador’s colors are yellow, blue, and red therefore nearly every Ecuadorian was wearing their colors with pride today. I got to the stadium 5 hours in advance and it wasn’t a moment too soon; we barely got seats. Luckily, my friends that got there 6 hours in advance saved us seats. Those 5 hours were full of cheering for Ecuador/against Uruguay, doing the wave (yes all 45,000 of us), and eating all sorts of questionable foods that the vendors kept selling us. Ecuador doesn’t have a mascot but they do have a brand of beer that they LOVE, Pilsner, so there were dozens of people dressed as bottles of beer dancing around the field. It looked more like hopping because it’s hard to dance if you’re a beer bottle. There wasn’t an empty seat in the whole stadium; seeing the sea of yellow was incredible. Everyone wore Ecuador’s uniform and had noise makers, silly hats, and flags.

The moment the two teams finally appeared was wild. Cannons and fireworks went off, confetti and shredded newspapers were tossed, and the whole stadium went nuts. The game flew by, probably because once you’ve survived 5 hours of waiting, 90 minutes is a breeze. The game was very intense, and the two teams were equally matched. Ecuador had more possession but had a hard time finishing; it didn’t help that Uruguay’s defense was like a brick wall. During half time, I had a lapse in judgment and decided to join the thousands of others trying to use the restroom. It was the closest I had come to thinking I was going to get seriously hurt in a while. I got caught in a mob/mosh pit of people rushing to use the 4 toilet stalls before the second half started up. But I survived and I learned my lesson!

Ecuador scored the first goal in the second half and everyone went berserk. People started ripping their shirts off, throwing whatever they had to throw (my friend threw the food we were eating without even realizing it), dumping beer everywhere, and hugging everyone. It ended all ended far too quickly because the Uruguay scored one minute after….wamp wamp. Something very unfortunate happened to a man that had climbed up a 30ft fence in between the field and the stands in order to act as some sort of cheerleader, trying to get the crowd even more riled up. There is a 10ft trench that wraps all around the field with a barb-wired fence so that no one will rush the field. Well, this guy first fell on the barbwire from 30ft and then climbed back up to the top and fell again this time hitting the bottom of the trench, 40ft down. He was carried off in a stretcher; I don’t think he survived the fall.

In the very last minute of the game, Ecuador got a hand ball in the box and Uruguay got a penalty kick and scored, making the final score 1-2. 45,000 people were heartbroken. The chances of Ecuador going to the World Cup in South Africa are not looking good. But despite the man probably dying and the bathroom mosh pit, going to the game was an incredible experience. South Americans LOVE futbol, maybe, just maybe, even more than American’s love football.

Lindo Mindo

So I am back in the concrete jungle of Quito after a blissful getaway to a nearby rural town called Mindo. It is located in a cloud forest and the fresh, moist air felt so good. Our hostel resembled a tree house tucked up in dense tropical vegetation right next to a river which I loved listening to just before I felt asleep. Like the Hostel in Puerto Lopez, this one had a great owner, lots of hammocks, and a baby kitten for entertainment. I’m going to start expecting these features! The locals in Mindo were friendly and I could tell it was another town where everyone knows each other. A local even told us that they all refer to each other as their neighbors, even if they are not. An observation I have after traveling for a few weekends is that when you travel, you end up meeting all kinds of people along the way. Whether it is other lodgers at the hostel, your guides for your various excursions, shop owners, or random encounters; it is easy to meet people from all ends of the Earth. It’s a little unusual, but there are a lot of Germans that travel, volunteer, work in Ecuador. They are everywhere, and I don’t really get the connection between Germany and Ecuador.
Our day activities included ziplining, hiking, jumping off 40ft waterfalls, and eating seriously good food. You know, just a normal day...Not! It was a blast. It’s one of the more beautiful places I have ever seen with all of the waterfalls, exotic flowers, and untouched forests. Today, we went to a butterfly sanctuary with little flutterbies flitting and fluttering all around us. Fun fact: Ecuador is in third place for having the largest diversity of butterflies in the world. You go Ecuador!
It would be a lie to say that my travel buddies and I survived the weekend sin problemas (problem free). The only ATM in town didn’t work which was most unfortunate for those of us light on cash, a guy friend of mine lost all of his money (which those of us with little cash were kind of depending on), and I have the biggest butt bruise of all time due to my not-so-graceful landing in the river from 40ft up. I think the whole world winced when they saw me hit the water. Aside from that, Mindo gave Puerto Lopez a run for its money and I hope to go back some time while I am here.



Top 5 of the weekend

5. Hangin with all 'dem flutterbies

4. Churrascos for lunch (steak, fried eggs, avocados, rice, french fries, salad....$4)

3. Joining in on the Saturday night dance party in the street for a little Macarena

2. The four of us riding in the back of a truck standing up, pretending it was a chariot

1. Ziplining upside-down!

Only 80 days left?

Hola a todos,
Yet another school week is coming to a close and I am sitting here wondering where September went? Time is flying here! The past three days have been fantásticos. I have had a real desire to put myself out there and speak Spanish, even if I look like a fool at times. I am enjoying most of my classes here, especially yoga and drawing. Every week, yoga gets more and more intense….this week I mastered the headstand. What will next class bring? Only my loco professor would know. I am constantly impressed by him; he doesn’t seem to think being 70 years olds should hold him back in any way.
My weekend was lackadaisical: checked out the Guayasamin museum, a couple cathedrals, went out dancing, indulged in an incredible slice of warm apple pie, oh and can’t forget about that Charismatic church I went to on Sunday with Kristen! Let’s just say I am glad I went and I will never go back. I think it was good to be reminded that God isn’t just an English-speaking Protestant like me, and there are so many other styles of worship…even if some can seem a poco loco to me.
Well that’s all I’ve got for now. I’m not sure where I will end up this weekend, but I am sure I’ll have something to share by Monday!

Things I love about Ecuador:
1. Ecuadorians love their families (a lot)….and foreigners like me who want to be a part of their family.
2. llapingachos (cheese and potato pancakes, fried eggs, sausage, and avocados….mmmm)
3. The weather (sunny-breezy-cool)
4. The world stops when there is a futbol game
5. The cost of living….cheap cheap cheap!

Things I am not so fond of here:
1. It’s a machismo society, and a lot of men fit the stereotype.
2. Ecuadorians cancel plans last minute, no matter how elaborate the plan was.
3. Seeing poverty in the streets and not knowing what the right thing to do is
4. Their lack of fresh squeezed orange juice, although jugo de tomate arbole makes up for it. (tastes like fruit punch heaven)
5. Telanovelas…Spanish soap operas are all the rage here…but they are awfully tacky….sometimes I still get sucked in.

Some photos from the weekend:

1. Looking at South Quito through a broken stained-glass window

2. La Basilica

3. Way up at the top of La Basilica

4. La Catedral Compania

5-7 Guayasamin art (Most famous artist in Ecuador)

8. El Arbol de Vida, Where Guayasamin's ashes are spread.