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.

Puerto Lopez

Hola faraway family and friends,
I woke up at the early hour of 6am to the sweet sounds of Frank Sinatra to partake in the most festive breakfast of my life. Today is my host mom’s birthday and her daughter and sister who live with us decorated the kitchen with pink EVERYTHING….balloons, strawberry shortcake plates, confetti, pink marshmallows, pink cotton balls, etc. There was a feast of fresh croissants, fruit, coffee, and chocolate cake, all the while mi mamacita was wearing her birthday crown, vest, and lei. What a hoot! I guess that’s what happens when you live with a bunch of women; they can get a little loco.
Backpedaling a couple days, I went Puerto Lopez, a small town on the coast, for the greatest weekend yet. Three friends and I boarded the night bus on Thursday night and before we knew it the ten hour trek was over and we could see coastline. Our hostel was a slice of tropical heaven with hammocks galore and papaya and banana trees for shade and even a kitten for entertainment. Gladis and Galo, the hostel owners, took us under their wing for the weekend and made sure we had the best Puerto Lopez experience possible. And you know what, I believe we did.
I will just give you the highlights of the trip to ensure that this blog entry is a reasonable length. Well first off, the fish market down at the beach was quite a cultural experience: locals everywhere, fresh fish getting tossed off the boats coming in, vendors and customers bartering over prices, women grilling fish right there on the beach (it was 7am…fish for breakfast?), stray dogs and chicken running all around. I definitely felt like I was in a foreign place that morning.
We went on a 2 mile hike along the cliffs of the Pacific and eventually made it to a remote beach and went for a swim. It was glorious! Growing up on the tranquil Gulf side of Florida makes me sometimes forget that REAL oceans are powerful forces that can mess you up! Let’s just say body surfing was pretty extreme that day.
Fast forwarding to Saturday morning, the four of us and six others boarded up a boat and went on a hour long ride to La Isla de Plata, which is sometimes referred to as “Poor man’s Galapagos,” due to its similar flora and fauna (Yes, I saw Blue-footed boobies). And on the way there, we saw humpback whales! One of them even breached, but of course no one had their cameras ready. But I don’t think I will be able to forget the mental picture I took. The whales hang out by the equator for a few weeks to mate before heading south to the bottom of Chile. Mateo and I, along with two other people, went SCUBA diving while the others toured the island. I was nervous about the diving at first, but those feeling subsided once we were all down on the bottom (about 60 ft) and encountered manta rays! What a sight! Manta rays are HUGE and so graceful, and these guys were curious about our bubbles. We also saw greens sea turtles, eels, and an array of fish species I had never seen before. In between dives, we all celebrated our sightings and changed tanks for the next dive, which was even better than the first. On the boat ride back to land we saw couple more whales; one was a rambunctious teenager who was splashing around and showing off and the other was BIG momma.
That night, after a much-needed nap in the hammocks, the four of us, and two girls from Germany, cooked the fish and vegetables that Mateo bought at the market for $2 that morning. I hope hostels that I stay at in the future have kitchens! On Sunday, we explored Agua Blanca, an archeological site, and went swimming in a sulfur pond. After seeing the locals cover themselves with mud, we decided to do the same. It was hilarious. And it was a great exfoliant…haha. After one last stroll on the beach that night, we boarded up the bus to Quito for another ten hour trek. Apparently I slept almost the whole way because when we stopped in Quito I didn’t believe it. Night buses are the way to travel!
Traveling with Kristen, Mateo, and Allison was so great. We lived to together, laughed together, explored together, and survived the weekend with no broken bones, stolen backpacks, or food poisoning. We cheated death yet again in Ecuador. Until next time!

Otavalo

Como estas?....or as the Ecuadorians say, Como vas? This weekend I went to a city two hours north of Quito that is known for its indigenous population. Otavalo was particularly festive this weekend because they were celebrating an indigenous holiday called “Fiesta del Yamor.” Friday, just after we got into town, there was a parade unlike any other. It lasted five hours (we only lasted two) and it consisted of a multitude of bands, dancers, floats, horses, and “Reinas” aka beauty contest winners from surrounding cities. Ecuadorians know how to put on a parade! After that we went out dancing and eventually made it back to our gem of a hostel that night. We sure lucked out for only $9 a day we stayed at a “Gilligan’s Island” themed hostel on the edge of the city. Saturday morning, Kristen and I went to her host father’s Hacienda in a rural part of Otavalo. Roberto checks on his farm and the farm workers about once a month and he just so happened to be in Otavalo at the same time as us. His property goes on forever with vacas (cows) roaming all over the hillside. It was truly picturesque. I have decided if I could choose any animal to be it would be those cows. They’ve got the life: lots of land, plenty of food, they get to hang out with their fellow cows gal pals all day, and their only obligation is to get milked twice a day. There is one bull (Todo Padre…father of them all) that has claimed the top of one of the hills as his turf. I chose not to go say hello to him but I did get to play with two other bulls. That may sound like a big deal until I tell you that they were only a week old! They were harmless. My one regret was that we didn't go to the farm during milking time. I was so close of fulfulling my lifelong dream of milking a cow.
Roberto has also begun raising trucha (trout), but it’s a work in progress. He has lots of ponds that separate the babies from the teenagers from the adults. And he’s started to sell them in the market in Otavalo. Speaking of the market, Otavalo has the largest market in South America. That was our next stop. If you need an alpaca sweater, a poncho, a colorful handmade scarf or purse, silver or beaded jewelry, then Otavalo is where you need to go! And if you like fresh meat there is the animal market in the mornings where you can buy cows, pigs, goats, etc.
The Ecuador vs. Columbia soccer game came on at 3pm and it was as if the whole town shut down to watch the game. People were standing in the streets peering into electronic shops with TVs and every bar was completely packed. Some of us gringos made the common mistake (only if you are a gringo) of cheering for Columbia on accident in the beginning. Oops! If you have ever looked at the two countries’ flags, they are almost identical. It was an away game for Ecuador so Columbia wore the red, yellow, blue while Ecuador wore navy blue. I thought the Ecuadorians in the café were going to kick us out after we cheered for Columbia when they scored on Ecuador. And to our dismay, Ecuador never made a comeback so we couldn’t prove that we were actually rooting for Ecuador.
The rest of the weekend was a bit of a blur for me because I got really sick. It was bound to happen to one of us considering all of the unsanitary situations. I headed back early on Sunday with a few others and unfortunately missed out on the bike ride to the waterfalls just outside of town. Maybe next time! When I got back to Quito I got on the wrong bus and ended up at a bus terminal far away from my house with no bus to get me there. My luck sure ran out that day. But one bus ride and one taxi ride later I got home safely. This weekend I spent a grand total of $35 including the stay at the hostel, traveling to and from Otavalo, all meals, etc. Not bad eh? Who knows where next weekend will take me.