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!