I cannot believe I am back in Quito already after spending a month in Loja doing my ISP. I literally am in SHOCK. I seems like these past 3 1/2 months have gone by in a flash. I remember sitting in the Atlanta airport with Jenny saying how weird it was that we were leaving.
I am super sad to have left Loja. I didn´t realize how much of a home it felt to me until we landed in Quito (blah). Loja is so much prettier, so much cleaner, is actually safe, is small enough that you can walk places or take a $1 cab (instead of $5), and has men that respect women a tad bit more than normal Ecuadorian men do. In Quito, after we grabbed a taxi, the cabbee tried to jip us on the price. Then we went to breakfast and everything cost a lot more. Pretty much, I miss Loja.
It might also be because I loved the family I lived with in Loja. Well, the grandma Haydee definitely liked to make fun of my spanish and that pissed me off, but other than her, I loved the people. I don´t think I´ve informed you exactly who I lived with or where. I lived with Haydee, an 70-ish year old woman who just retired a few months ago from teaching Castallano (which apparently is VERY different than Spanish) in Catamayo. Her daughter, Verónica, lives below her with her husband, Julio, and their 2 1/2 year old son, Bryan. (Her daughter is the same Verónica that I worked with). Vero pretty much acted like an older sister to me and I´m going to miss her SOO much. In general, I spent a ton of time with Veronica´s family. She is a sibling of 6 in total. Her sister Paulina has two kids who came over a lot. Another sister has two sons, Juan (23 yrs. old) and Christian (10 yrs. old), who came over a lot too. I hung out with Juan and his friends quite a few times. Having friends definitely made the experience much more fun.
Everyone in the family keeps asking when I´m coming back and obviously I have NO IDEA whatsoever. Apparently festival occurs in february here and I´m supposed to come for that. For some reason, the people here in Ecuador think it´s really easy to just hop on a plane and come to Ecuador for a few days... I wish.
Anyways, I´m practically done with my ISP, but I still have to go through it again to make gramatical changes (my grammar SUCKS a lot) and to write my personal reflections. It´s currently 28 pages (without the personal reflections), but three or four of those pages are made up of photos I took during the project. I also have to figure out what I´m going to present to the group for 15-ish minutes (fyi I have NO IDEA what I´m going to do for this). We start presentations on Sunday afternoon, so I have until then (well I can push it til Monday or Tuesday morning if I really want, but I don´t so I need to finish it earlier). I´m definitely a little stressed out but mostly just have a ton of stuff running through my head.
Tonight about 11 of us from the group are meeting up to have thanksgiving dinner at Leonore´s house. I´m soo glad that we are doing this because it´s definitely weird not to be home today. Sadly, we are having chicken instead of turkey because we have no idea whatsoever where to find turkey haha. It should be interesting.
GREAT NEWS (since I know all of you care): we found a house in Denver for Stacey, Sagan, Becca and me to live in!!! YAY! It´s a five bedroom house (apparently the 5th room is for when mom visits haha) and looks nice with a definite feel of a college house. I´m SOOOO excited to decorate it. yay! It´s on Lafayette about 1/2 mile away (not as bad as GILLIAN´s house haha jk) which is a good exercise (and a GREAT EXCUSE for new hats, coats and boots, not that I would ever be so materialistic). I saw snow today on some of the mountains we flew by and it made me so excited to get back to denver to ski and to see my friends.
I hope Pat is having a great time in Hawaii and I hope Mom and Dad arrive safely and then have a great time as well. Thanks to uncle larry and fam for taking care of my precious Al (I saw the video... SO CUTE!). Miss you all soo much and can´t wait to see you! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
ISP Goodness....
Hey guys
long time no talk
i´m in Loja right now doing my ISP. Well actually I´m doing my ISP in Catamayo and commuting there everyday. It´s not that bad and DEFINITELY worth it. My host mom, Haydee, is nice, but I don´t spend that much time with her. Veronica is awesome and I love their entire family so much! Yay! Today is Loja´s independence day but everyone celebrated last night with a concert at Plaza San Sebastian. IT WAS JAM PACKED and AWESOME! It was so embarassing though because I went with Juan and María (Juan is Veronica´s cousin and María is his friend) and we met his friends there and they were like "don´t you know how to dance all these spanish dances like salsa marangue and blah blah blah" and the answer is NO i don´t. I only know how to dance to bad american music (which i LOVE) and I´m perfectly fine with staying that way. But, they wanted to try to teach me. Let´s just say I failed haha.
Anyways to try to fill you in on my ISP, here´s how it goes: The first week (well half week) was warm-up. I went around with Veronica and Olmedo to inform families about meetings, to meet some families and then Friday I went with them to the promotor´s meeting.
Last week, Monday and Tuesday I was sick as a DOG. I went to the family "finca" (that literally translates to farm, but it was definitely a country club with a beach-house type feel). On the way we stopped in Malacatas (I think that´s the name) to get lunch. I didn´t eat much because I had already been stuffed from breakfast, but I did eat FRITADO. EVIL EVIL EVIL FRITADA (fried pork). YUCK. At these kinds of restaurants you don´t really have a choice of what you eat because the menu is set and because I was with the family, I did what they did. Anyways, Sunday night I felt a little sick but not bad. Sunday night around midnight, I wanted to yank my stomach out with a wrench, LITERALLY. The only way I didn´t scream in pain was my lying on my side with my legs curled up. It was the worst thing ever. I was sick all night long and the next day had a horrible fever and felt as weak as ever. I was in bed all day and around 2pm I came out and Veronica´s sister, Paulina, was over. I guess Haydee sells PURE alcohol from her home (she has bins of it and then people bring empty bottles... i have no idea...) so she put alcohol, disgusting horrid smelling alcohol, all over my head in my hair. and then I wasn´t allowed to shower because apparently showering is bad for you when you are sick and have a fever. Haydee was worried about me so she called her nephew who´s a doctor, and he came to the rescue. Apparently I had a 102 degree fever (as he said, if I had waited any longer, I might have started convulsing. WHO SAYS THAT TO A PATIENT?? EVER HEARD OF BEDSIDE-MANNERS???) and my stomach sounded like a waterfall, so he gave me antibiotics to fix the stomach infection and some other medicine to cut the fever. Yesterday (Monday) i finally finished the antibiotics! As jack told me before I came, Ecuador is the only place you will get that sick and be throwing up and pooing at the same time lol from food poisoning.
Anyways I did a 180 degree turn from feeling HORRID to feeling pretty good on tuesday. The doc said I couldn´t go to my ISP so i stayed home and hung out with Haydee ALL DAY LONG. It was um a long day lol. Wednesday I went for the first time with a promotor. It was crazy! For example: I saw two boys of similar ages and both had paralysis but one had a family who cared and he could walk on his own and talk a little. The other boys family didn´t care at all. He couldn´t even sit up on his own and couldn´t talk at all. It was SO SAD. Thursday was the first day in awhile I went running and actually felt safe. In quito I was scared to run around my house because the guys would whistle and then in Catamayo the guys would chase me in their big construction trucks. here i go to a track at a high school near by. I have it all to myself, can listen to my ipod without being scared, and can sing as loud as I want (i have a feeling people might be able to hear me and probably laugh histerically but that´s okay). I´ve decided I need to get back in shape before I go back to the states or I´m going to get my but whipped by Tyler.
This weekend I just hung out at home and Sunday randomly got my hair cut. It wasn´t anything drastic and cost a whole $3 ( YESS!! SCOREE!!!) and it was definitely needed. Yesterday I went to Catamayo and spent the day with one of the promotors, Charlito. I had a two hour break for lunch (can i just say WASTE OF TIME lol) and spent most of it in the shade but the 20 minutes I stood in the sun waiting for Charlito as also spent BURNING MY SKIN. Therefore I have a nice tan line of my tank top and its gonna be there for a long time. Just think beautiful farmers tan yaya. Last night was awesome and I had a great time celebrating independence day here. It was a make-up for all the years I´ve been out of the country for the 4th of july (I think its been 3 or 4 times ahh). Anyways, I need to head home to start working on my actual ISP. Apparently this weekend I´m going to Haydee´s farm and we are going to sell tickets to people so they can watch cock fights. Why they are not illegal here, i do not know. I told her i´m not watching though. We´ll see how this goes. The bus ride is 5 hours and I´m praying to god that I don´t see any more donkeys being pushed off cliffs. MISS YOU ALL. And let me just add that "Low" by lo Rida is on ALL the time! (In case you don´t know what I´m talking about, I´ll jog your memory: "Shawty had them apple bottom jeans, boots with the fur" etc...)
T minus 16 days til mama and papa come!
long time no talk
i´m in Loja right now doing my ISP. Well actually I´m doing my ISP in Catamayo and commuting there everyday. It´s not that bad and DEFINITELY worth it. My host mom, Haydee, is nice, but I don´t spend that much time with her. Veronica is awesome and I love their entire family so much! Yay! Today is Loja´s independence day but everyone celebrated last night with a concert at Plaza San Sebastian. IT WAS JAM PACKED and AWESOME! It was so embarassing though because I went with Juan and María (Juan is Veronica´s cousin and María is his friend) and we met his friends there and they were like "don´t you know how to dance all these spanish dances like salsa marangue and blah blah blah" and the answer is NO i don´t. I only know how to dance to bad american music (which i LOVE) and I´m perfectly fine with staying that way. But, they wanted to try to teach me. Let´s just say I failed haha.
Anyways to try to fill you in on my ISP, here´s how it goes: The first week (well half week) was warm-up. I went around with Veronica and Olmedo to inform families about meetings, to meet some families and then Friday I went with them to the promotor´s meeting.
Last week, Monday and Tuesday I was sick as a DOG. I went to the family "finca" (that literally translates to farm, but it was definitely a country club with a beach-house type feel). On the way we stopped in Malacatas (I think that´s the name) to get lunch. I didn´t eat much because I had already been stuffed from breakfast, but I did eat FRITADO. EVIL EVIL EVIL FRITADA (fried pork). YUCK. At these kinds of restaurants you don´t really have a choice of what you eat because the menu is set and because I was with the family, I did what they did. Anyways, Sunday night I felt a little sick but not bad. Sunday night around midnight, I wanted to yank my stomach out with a wrench, LITERALLY. The only way I didn´t scream in pain was my lying on my side with my legs curled up. It was the worst thing ever. I was sick all night long and the next day had a horrible fever and felt as weak as ever. I was in bed all day and around 2pm I came out and Veronica´s sister, Paulina, was over. I guess Haydee sells PURE alcohol from her home (she has bins of it and then people bring empty bottles... i have no idea...) so she put alcohol, disgusting horrid smelling alcohol, all over my head in my hair. and then I wasn´t allowed to shower because apparently showering is bad for you when you are sick and have a fever. Haydee was worried about me so she called her nephew who´s a doctor, and he came to the rescue. Apparently I had a 102 degree fever (as he said, if I had waited any longer, I might have started convulsing. WHO SAYS THAT TO A PATIENT?? EVER HEARD OF BEDSIDE-MANNERS???) and my stomach sounded like a waterfall, so he gave me antibiotics to fix the stomach infection and some other medicine to cut the fever. Yesterday (Monday) i finally finished the antibiotics! As jack told me before I came, Ecuador is the only place you will get that sick and be throwing up and pooing at the same time lol from food poisoning.
Anyways I did a 180 degree turn from feeling HORRID to feeling pretty good on tuesday. The doc said I couldn´t go to my ISP so i stayed home and hung out with Haydee ALL DAY LONG. It was um a long day lol. Wednesday I went for the first time with a promotor. It was crazy! For example: I saw two boys of similar ages and both had paralysis but one had a family who cared and he could walk on his own and talk a little. The other boys family didn´t care at all. He couldn´t even sit up on his own and couldn´t talk at all. It was SO SAD. Thursday was the first day in awhile I went running and actually felt safe. In quito I was scared to run around my house because the guys would whistle and then in Catamayo the guys would chase me in their big construction trucks. here i go to a track at a high school near by. I have it all to myself, can listen to my ipod without being scared, and can sing as loud as I want (i have a feeling people might be able to hear me and probably laugh histerically but that´s okay). I´ve decided I need to get back in shape before I go back to the states or I´m going to get my but whipped by Tyler.
This weekend I just hung out at home and Sunday randomly got my hair cut. It wasn´t anything drastic and cost a whole $3 ( YESS!! SCOREE!!!) and it was definitely needed. Yesterday I went to Catamayo and spent the day with one of the promotors, Charlito. I had a two hour break for lunch (can i just say WASTE OF TIME lol) and spent most of it in the shade but the 20 minutes I stood in the sun waiting for Charlito as also spent BURNING MY SKIN. Therefore I have a nice tan line of my tank top and its gonna be there for a long time. Just think beautiful farmers tan yaya. Last night was awesome and I had a great time celebrating independence day here. It was a make-up for all the years I´ve been out of the country for the 4th of july (I think its been 3 or 4 times ahh). Anyways, I need to head home to start working on my actual ISP. Apparently this weekend I´m going to Haydee´s farm and we are going to sell tickets to people so they can watch cock fights. Why they are not illegal here, i do not know. I told her i´m not watching though. We´ll see how this goes. The bus ride is 5 hours and I´m praying to god that I don´t see any more donkeys being pushed off cliffs. MISS YOU ALL. And let me just add that "Low" by lo Rida is on ALL the time! (In case you don´t know what I´m talking about, I´ll jog your memory: "Shawty had them apple bottom jeans, boots with the fur" etc...)
T minus 16 days til mama and papa come!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
All you can do is laugh and say "It´s Ecuador" haha
If you ever come to Ecuador, you will realize that to any question you have, the answer will become "it´s ecuador", or so it has for me. When you wonder why the poor donkey was pushed off the edge of the cliff, it´s because it´s ecuador. When my host family is an hour late, it´s ecuador. and when I get an awesome leaf-shaped piece of bread for breakfast, "it´s Ecuador".
Since I last wrote on my blog, things have changed a LOT and I am so glad. I decided on Friday morning that I was not going to stay at hotel La Reina Del Cisne but instead asked Veronica and Olmedo if I could find a host family or hostel to stay at in Loja. Immediately Veronica said I could stay at with her mom. Friday we had a meeting with all the promotors (which lasted a whole hour and a half and let´s just say it was much more casual and relaxed than any meeting y´all have EVER been to). It started at 9am but we didn´t get there until 10am and then we actually started at 10:15am (what can I say, we were on ecuadorian time. Just a forewarning, I think I have become accustomed to it... oops). They decided on secret santas for christmas and decided a few dates for other things and then we left (and yes all of that took 2 hours haha). I drove back with Veronica and Olmedo and as we were driving back we pulled onto a dirt road about 15 minutes outside of the center of Loja. I FREAKED out once again and continuously thought "what have I gotten myself into?!?!" (once again I am thinking this haha) but it turned out we just stopped by a random statue of jesus and mary that was being built in someone´s backyard. The statue of Jesus was probably a good 25 feet tall and still didn´t have arms and the statue of mary was gray and white and she was pregnant and was about 20 feet tall. It was very odd to be in someone´s backyard next to a farmhouse. WHO KNOWS what that was all about. Anyways, that ended up NOT being where I am living. I am actually living in the upstairs part of Veronica´s house with her Mom and the empleada (the maid) and Veronica lives downstairs with her hubby and 2 1/2 yr old son, Brian. He is so cute! I love love LOVE my living situation now! The food is good and they don´t stuff me, there are people around so I´m not lonely (and they are NICE and Friendly! Imagine that!), the shower supposedly has hot water (I haven´t tried it yet) I have my own room with a comfortable bed, and I don´t have a curfew (I even got keys to the house!) !!! So as of now life is great.
Today Megan and Jake and I went to Vilcabamba. Jake is staying in a jail cell of a hotel (literally. Lonely Planet describes it saying "For beat-up digs that barely do the trick". That is so true. The walls are cracking, there are no outlets to charge phones or ipods, there´s a shared bathroom that is gross, it looks like a whorehouse and it´s dirty, but it´s $4 a night so what can you say) and his phone wasn´t charged so around 9:30am this morning Megan and I went to his hotel to wake him up. Then we went on a search to find the $1.50 per person taxi to Vilcabamba. It took awhile so we didn´t get there til noon. We were planning on going horseback riding or hiking but we are cheap and the trail rides cost $20. We wanted food before we went hiking and by the time we finished, it was pouring so we decided to walk around for awhile and are going to return next weekend to do something. Anyways, I´m back in Loja now and am going to head home to relax until tonight and I think we are going dancing woot woot. Tomorrow I´m going running with Veronica (I don´t know if she actually normally runs or not... i´m thinking not so we shall see how that goes) and then to check out more of Loja. I love this city btw! It´s clean, small enough that I can go places without being scared, and there are still things to do. YAY! I´m commuting an hour to Catamayo every day next week but I definitely think it´s worth it. I´m counting down the days til Galapagos and then til I go to Denver. MISS YOU ALL! Madz
Since I last wrote on my blog, things have changed a LOT and I am so glad. I decided on Friday morning that I was not going to stay at hotel La Reina Del Cisne but instead asked Veronica and Olmedo if I could find a host family or hostel to stay at in Loja. Immediately Veronica said I could stay at with her mom. Friday we had a meeting with all the promotors (which lasted a whole hour and a half and let´s just say it was much more casual and relaxed than any meeting y´all have EVER been to). It started at 9am but we didn´t get there until 10am and then we actually started at 10:15am (what can I say, we were on ecuadorian time. Just a forewarning, I think I have become accustomed to it... oops). They decided on secret santas for christmas and decided a few dates for other things and then we left (and yes all of that took 2 hours haha). I drove back with Veronica and Olmedo and as we were driving back we pulled onto a dirt road about 15 minutes outside of the center of Loja. I FREAKED out once again and continuously thought "what have I gotten myself into?!?!" (once again I am thinking this haha) but it turned out we just stopped by a random statue of jesus and mary that was being built in someone´s backyard. The statue of Jesus was probably a good 25 feet tall and still didn´t have arms and the statue of mary was gray and white and she was pregnant and was about 20 feet tall. It was very odd to be in someone´s backyard next to a farmhouse. WHO KNOWS what that was all about. Anyways, that ended up NOT being where I am living. I am actually living in the upstairs part of Veronica´s house with her Mom and the empleada (the maid) and Veronica lives downstairs with her hubby and 2 1/2 yr old son, Brian. He is so cute! I love love LOVE my living situation now! The food is good and they don´t stuff me, there are people around so I´m not lonely (and they are NICE and Friendly! Imagine that!), the shower supposedly has hot water (I haven´t tried it yet) I have my own room with a comfortable bed, and I don´t have a curfew (I even got keys to the house!) !!! So as of now life is great.
Today Megan and Jake and I went to Vilcabamba. Jake is staying in a jail cell of a hotel (literally. Lonely Planet describes it saying "For beat-up digs that barely do the trick". That is so true. The walls are cracking, there are no outlets to charge phones or ipods, there´s a shared bathroom that is gross, it looks like a whorehouse and it´s dirty, but it´s $4 a night so what can you say) and his phone wasn´t charged so around 9:30am this morning Megan and I went to his hotel to wake him up. Then we went on a search to find the $1.50 per person taxi to Vilcabamba. It took awhile so we didn´t get there til noon. We were planning on going horseback riding or hiking but we are cheap and the trail rides cost $20. We wanted food before we went hiking and by the time we finished, it was pouring so we decided to walk around for awhile and are going to return next weekend to do something. Anyways, I´m back in Loja now and am going to head home to relax until tonight and I think we are going dancing woot woot. Tomorrow I´m going running with Veronica (I don´t know if she actually normally runs or not... i´m thinking not so we shall see how that goes) and then to check out more of Loja. I love this city btw! It´s clean, small enough that I can go places without being scared, and there are still things to do. YAY! I´m commuting an hour to Catamayo every day next week but I definitely think it´s worth it. I´m counting down the days til Galapagos and then til I go to Denver. MISS YOU ALL! Madz
Thursday, November 6, 2008
YES WE DID!
I have to say, yesterday I was EXTREMELY proud to be an American. I don´t know what everyone´s political stances are, but I am VERY VERY happy that Obama won. I watched the elections with two friends in Loja and we were all nervous about how America would actually vote... (don´t tell but I definitely doubted the US a little bit). Anywho, hopefully some actually change will come from President Obama ... we will just have to see! (January 20 seems so far away)
I am currently in Loja, Ecuador, in the southern part of the country. We went to dinner on Monday night at a cute tapas restaurant that had different food from all around the world. It was delicious... it definitely took like three hours (I´ve decided any time you eat out in foreign countries it takes much much longer... they aren´t on the eat-and-go schedule like we are) but it was great! Monday morning we had bfast and caught a cab to the bus station. The trip to Loja was super duper long. It was supposed to take five hours but took more than six. AND (this is horrible) near the end of the ride we were on the edge of a mountain and megan was sitting in the window seat and she saw people push a donkey off the edge of a cliff! We don´t know why but think they did it on accident but I looked back and the people didn´t look like they cared that much so who knows. It was freakin weird though. We asked locals if that was normal and even they said it wasn´t. so strange!
We got to Loja around 4:20pm on Tuesday night and went to a random hostal called Hostal La Riviera. For $27 for a 3 person room, we thought it was perfectly fine. We went to mexican food (the only mexican restaurant in Loja) for dinner, and then to an internet café so i could try to register. That´s when i realized, there´s a thing called daylight savings and we are now TWO hours ahead of Colorado... so we left. The elections are like sports. seriously. you watch and listen to the commentators talk and debate, but in reality nobody except the players have any effect on what happens. That´s what it felt like Tuesday night at least. We watched as CNN (such a biased channel btw) as they predicted who would win and then told us who did win. but YAY for OBAMA. yay yay yay. That night was fabuloous cuz I also registered for classes and got exactly what I wanted! YAY!
Anyways now I am doing my ISP. Olmedo picked me up on Wednesday morning around 8:30am and we went to Catamayo. I am doing community rehabilitation with disabled people in a tiny town about 40 minutes (by CAR, and hour by bus) outside of Loja. Olmedo is a great advisor and Verónica, the woman who along with him, is really nice too. The families we go to seem very interesting as well. The problem is that once I am by myself (after work) there is NOTHING to do in Catamayo. I am staying in El Hotel La Reina del Cisne which is a decent hotel (especially for $8 a night) but I am alone and when I walk outside people stare at me because I am a foreigner and NO foreigners go to Catamayo, Ecuador. I went running but some strange man in a huge construction truck started driving next to me whistling and creepily smiling at me so I got really really angry and started sprinting and he just sped up. Pretty much, I hate machista guys (ie almost all guys in Ecuador) and i am now very afraid to go running because everyone whistles and stares and i hate that. So, I am now thinking about staying in a hostel or with a homestay in Loja and commuting because I can´t stand staying in Catamayo. I will inform you all of my decision (hopefully it will be a great one). Whatever I do, it won´t take place until Sunday evening because this weekend I´m staying in Loja and going hiking in Podocarpus National Park with Megan and maybe Jake and I´m SOOO excited! Apparently it´s a mix of jungle and mountainous terrain so it should be gorgeous and great to exercise. I miss you all so much ( I feel like a lonely, emotional freshman lol... I know it will pass with a good movie or book or a great joke hint hint haha) chao chao for now!
btw PRAY FOR SNOW!
I am currently in Loja, Ecuador, in the southern part of the country. We went to dinner on Monday night at a cute tapas restaurant that had different food from all around the world. It was delicious... it definitely took like three hours (I´ve decided any time you eat out in foreign countries it takes much much longer... they aren´t on the eat-and-go schedule like we are) but it was great! Monday morning we had bfast and caught a cab to the bus station. The trip to Loja was super duper long. It was supposed to take five hours but took more than six. AND (this is horrible) near the end of the ride we were on the edge of a mountain and megan was sitting in the window seat and she saw people push a donkey off the edge of a cliff! We don´t know why but think they did it on accident but I looked back and the people didn´t look like they cared that much so who knows. It was freakin weird though. We asked locals if that was normal and even they said it wasn´t. so strange!
We got to Loja around 4:20pm on Tuesday night and went to a random hostal called Hostal La Riviera. For $27 for a 3 person room, we thought it was perfectly fine. We went to mexican food (the only mexican restaurant in Loja) for dinner, and then to an internet café so i could try to register. That´s when i realized, there´s a thing called daylight savings and we are now TWO hours ahead of Colorado... so we left. The elections are like sports. seriously. you watch and listen to the commentators talk and debate, but in reality nobody except the players have any effect on what happens. That´s what it felt like Tuesday night at least. We watched as CNN (such a biased channel btw) as they predicted who would win and then told us who did win. but YAY for OBAMA. yay yay yay. That night was fabuloous cuz I also registered for classes and got exactly what I wanted! YAY!
Anyways now I am doing my ISP. Olmedo picked me up on Wednesday morning around 8:30am and we went to Catamayo. I am doing community rehabilitation with disabled people in a tiny town about 40 minutes (by CAR, and hour by bus) outside of Loja. Olmedo is a great advisor and Verónica, the woman who along with him, is really nice too. The families we go to seem very interesting as well. The problem is that once I am by myself (after work) there is NOTHING to do in Catamayo. I am staying in El Hotel La Reina del Cisne which is a decent hotel (especially for $8 a night) but I am alone and when I walk outside people stare at me because I am a foreigner and NO foreigners go to Catamayo, Ecuador. I went running but some strange man in a huge construction truck started driving next to me whistling and creepily smiling at me so I got really really angry and started sprinting and he just sped up. Pretty much, I hate machista guys (ie almost all guys in Ecuador) and i am now very afraid to go running because everyone whistles and stares and i hate that. So, I am now thinking about staying in a hostel or with a homestay in Loja and commuting because I can´t stand staying in Catamayo. I will inform you all of my decision (hopefully it will be a great one). Whatever I do, it won´t take place until Sunday evening because this weekend I´m staying in Loja and going hiking in Podocarpus National Park with Megan and maybe Jake and I´m SOOO excited! Apparently it´s a mix of jungle and mountainous terrain so it should be gorgeous and great to exercise. I miss you all so much ( I feel like a lonely, emotional freshman lol... I know it will pass with a good movie or book or a great joke hint hint haha) chao chao for now!
btw PRAY FOR SNOW!
Monday, November 3, 2008
Adios a Quito! Can you believe it, ISP is actually here!!!
When Faba and Leonore told us that once we left Sangolquì, everything would FLY by, I definitely did not believe them. THEY WERE 100% completely correct. The first month in Sangolquì was more of a relaxing, getting-to-know-ecuador month. We went to the jungle, had 10 days with our host families in Quito, went to the coast, had 10 more days with our host family and have now left to our perspective ISP locations.
This past week was crazy! Monday through Wednesday, we had our usual guest speakers in class, and had normal days. Then all of a sudden Thursday came, we had about two hours of class to go over final ISP touches, and the day was over. Let me just inform you a little of how unorganized the ISP project SEEMS:
The last two days on the coast we spent at Alandaluz, and ecoturism resort three hours south of Manta. Leo and Faba spent most of the time having interviews with us about what we wanted to study and where we wanted to do our ISP. Most people had no idea and I think only half of us left the coast with even a city in mind of where we would do our ISP. Anyways, we get back to Quito and Faba and Leo don`t really say anything to us about finding ISPs or advisors for our ISP. Apparently, the whole time they were making calls behind the scenes, finding advisors, organizations and places for us to live. But still, Thursday came around and some people didn´t know where they were doing their ISP. Sketchy, eh?
On Friday we had a 3 hour long open book final that consisted of two big essays. It was so weird because it did not even feel like we should have been having a final. I definitely learned a LOT in the culture and development seminar (I have many opinions about ecuador and people´s views of the USA that I definitely do NOT agree with), but it was not as intensive in terms of writing papers and taking tests as much as we were constantly living in the culture and having discussions (ie arguing a lot haha because everyone in my group loves to share their opinion... it´s much better than having a quiet group though) and being intensive in the sense of the experience as a whole. It´s difficult to explain. Anyways, the essays incorporated the whole month... i mean EVERYTHING we have learned, so it was sort of hard. Apparently past students have said they thought the final was fun, but I definitely don´t agree. As Jake said to Leo when she told us this, "are you sure there wasn´t some sort of communication problem, like saracasm or something" haha. I think there must have been.
Friday afternoon we went to a really cute hidden part of town called Guàpulo to a cafe called ChiQuito. It was SOOO cute! Reneé had explored this part of town and wanted to show us and I´m so glad she did! They had delicious sandwiches, and games to play (chess, pick-up-sticks, etc.) and great tea! We went into the cafè and it was overcast and we left and it was POURING. We took a bus to the Mariscal and found a place to rent costumes. They were EXPENSIVE for ecuador! I was an "Ecuadorian pirate" haha (I´ll explain). Marcello wanted to be a pirate and he found a great costume. Then Audry wanted to be a pirate to match and she found a pirate costume. Then Liz found a pirate costume. And I tried on a dress and apparently it was supposed to be a witches costume, but I wanted to be a pirate too, so I wore a pirate hat hahaha. It was great! That night we went to Audry´s because her host Mom set up a big costume party. Apparently, one of the cousins hosted it. There were probably 100 people total and they were all between 18 and 25 years old so it was really really fun! We danced a lot, took pics, and met a bunch of Ecuadorians. It seems in Ecuador girls don´t normally wear skirts or dress very risquè, but for this, let´s just say us Americans were very PRUDE and conservative haha. There were some amazing costumes though!
I went to be around 1:30 am because I was exhausted (I know, I´m lame, the party went until 4.. :( but I had an excuse becase I had to get up at 6:45am (or so i thought) to go to Mindo with my family. So I get up at 6:45 because my parents say they are going to pick me up at 7. I text them at 7:20 to ask when they will be there. Then I call at 7:30 and they say the won´t be there until EIGHT!!! AHHH! STUPID STUPID ECUADORIAN TIME! I could have gotten up at 7:50 EASILY... so annoyed. Anyways that´s okay. we drove for about 2 hours to ´cascadas verdes´and walked a very short was to some waterfalls. Lets just say my host mom wore platform sandals to go "hiking" so I knew we weren´t going very far at all. It was really fun though and I went swimming! We went up to where we parked and hung out with a lady who lived right there. She had a sugar cane juicing machine (old fashioned), so we helped her juice the sugarcane and got to have some. It was delicious!! It tasted a little like lemonade, but obviously different. The machine was sort of like a giant grinder that had a big log on top that you spun (it´s hard to explain, but I have pictures).
We left and went to Arashà (if you ever want to go to a semi-nice ecoturism resort near Mindo, GO THERE!!!). One of the dads who came with us knew the owner so we got in for free. We went swimming in the pool and went in the hot tub and it was fabulous! Then we had lunch and I had the most tasty salad ever! It was like a FULL PLATE of vegetables. You might think that is normal in the US but here, that is very very rare! I had to argue with my host mom to tell her I didn´t want to put dressing on the salad. She was so confused and kept telling me i HAD to put it on cuz that is what the dressing is meant for. Can I just say I´m excited for Mom to come here and go crazy seeing what people eat lol.
We made it back to Quito around 7:35pm and I rushed to call a cab and pick Audry up at her house because most of the group was meeting at Café Mosaico for a good-bye dinner. It was SOOO AMAZING! It had the best view ever of Quito!! We got there around 8:15pm and stayed until 11:30 pm. It was so nice to have closure with Quio and say goodbye to friends before we left. Audry and I shared a delicious Gyro and greek salad and everyone had delicious wine (don´t worry, I´m legal to drink it now. yay!) If you come to Quito, you HAVE to go to this restaurant. It´s more of a romantic date place, but I think you can definitely break the rules haha.
I got home around midnight and started freaking out becuase I wasn´t packed and thought I needed to bring a suitecase to Audry´s house to leave it there for the month. My host mom woke up and told me I could leave it at here house (even though they are moving??? I´m not sure what is going to happen when I actually need my stuff...)
I was up until 2am packing and listening to horrid karaoke that the neighbors were loudly saranating me with (there was for sure some alcohol included in their activities that night). Of course (thankfully), I can sleep through ANYTHING. I got a whole two hours of sleep and woke up at 4:15am to shower. My host dad was home for the weekend and offered to drive me to the bus station, so Tito, Olga and I got in the car around 5:00am. Freak-out time: The gate would not open and we could not get out and I thought I HAD to be there at 5:30 am. Olga went inside to look for a key so we could unlock the gate and open it manually, but after 20 minutes of looking, Tito decided that was not going to happen so he broke the lock haha. It was sort of funny. We finally made it to the bus stop around 5:45am and of course, we being americans who get places on-time, were the first ones on the bus.
We left around 6am and spent 10 1/2 hours!!! on the bus to Cuenca. It was LONNNNG. Luckily, we went with a private company so the bus was pretty nice and because it was on the PanAmerican highway, the roads weren´t too bad. The drive was very pretty and green, so that was nice, but it was fabulous to finally get to our hostel. We are staying in El Cafecito, and it´s SOO CUTE! We walked around a little last night and went back to the hostel for dinner. It was delicious, there were a ton of people around and the music was good. Let´s just say I LOVED it and I love Cuenca. It´s so cute and reminds me of Spain and has lots of cute cafés, shops and restaurants and pretty churches. I am staying here today and tomorrow Megan, Jake and I are headed to Loja to meet our advisors and start our ISP. We are also getting together to watch the election... so nervous. I think everyone in our group (except for one girl who I feel really bad for because I know she is voting for McCain but because everyone else is for Obama she just sits back and doesn´t say much) is voting for Obama. I think it´s funny because a lot of people are saying they arent going home if McCain wins.. we´ll see. I don´t know who you all are voting for, but GO OBAMA!!!
I can´t believe I´m actually starting my ISP in two days!!! I haven´t spoken with my advisor (Olmedo) because he has been in Bolivia, but his wife, Maritza, seems SOOO nice!! I´m very excited and I think I can live in a hostel which i´m even MORe excited for!! I will try to keep y´all more up-to-date (sorry I´ve been slacking). Hope all is well at home. The pics of fall are GORGEOUS and I miss y´all a lot. Chau Chau for now!
This past week was crazy! Monday through Wednesday, we had our usual guest speakers in class, and had normal days. Then all of a sudden Thursday came, we had about two hours of class to go over final ISP touches, and the day was over. Let me just inform you a little of how unorganized the ISP project SEEMS:
The last two days on the coast we spent at Alandaluz, and ecoturism resort three hours south of Manta. Leo and Faba spent most of the time having interviews with us about what we wanted to study and where we wanted to do our ISP. Most people had no idea and I think only half of us left the coast with even a city in mind of where we would do our ISP. Anyways, we get back to Quito and Faba and Leo don`t really say anything to us about finding ISPs or advisors for our ISP. Apparently, the whole time they were making calls behind the scenes, finding advisors, organizations and places for us to live. But still, Thursday came around and some people didn´t know where they were doing their ISP. Sketchy, eh?
On Friday we had a 3 hour long open book final that consisted of two big essays. It was so weird because it did not even feel like we should have been having a final. I definitely learned a LOT in the culture and development seminar (I have many opinions about ecuador and people´s views of the USA that I definitely do NOT agree with), but it was not as intensive in terms of writing papers and taking tests as much as we were constantly living in the culture and having discussions (ie arguing a lot haha because everyone in my group loves to share their opinion... it´s much better than having a quiet group though) and being intensive in the sense of the experience as a whole. It´s difficult to explain. Anyways, the essays incorporated the whole month... i mean EVERYTHING we have learned, so it was sort of hard. Apparently past students have said they thought the final was fun, but I definitely don´t agree. As Jake said to Leo when she told us this, "are you sure there wasn´t some sort of communication problem, like saracasm or something" haha. I think there must have been.
Friday afternoon we went to a really cute hidden part of town called Guàpulo to a cafe called ChiQuito. It was SOOO cute! Reneé had explored this part of town and wanted to show us and I´m so glad she did! They had delicious sandwiches, and games to play (chess, pick-up-sticks, etc.) and great tea! We went into the cafè and it was overcast and we left and it was POURING. We took a bus to the Mariscal and found a place to rent costumes. They were EXPENSIVE for ecuador! I was an "Ecuadorian pirate" haha (I´ll explain). Marcello wanted to be a pirate and he found a great costume. Then Audry wanted to be a pirate to match and she found a pirate costume. Then Liz found a pirate costume. And I tried on a dress and apparently it was supposed to be a witches costume, but I wanted to be a pirate too, so I wore a pirate hat hahaha. It was great! That night we went to Audry´s because her host Mom set up a big costume party. Apparently, one of the cousins hosted it. There were probably 100 people total and they were all between 18 and 25 years old so it was really really fun! We danced a lot, took pics, and met a bunch of Ecuadorians. It seems in Ecuador girls don´t normally wear skirts or dress very risquè, but for this, let´s just say us Americans were very PRUDE and conservative haha. There were some amazing costumes though!
I went to be around 1:30 am because I was exhausted (I know, I´m lame, the party went until 4.. :( but I had an excuse becase I had to get up at 6:45am (or so i thought) to go to Mindo with my family. So I get up at 6:45 because my parents say they are going to pick me up at 7. I text them at 7:20 to ask when they will be there. Then I call at 7:30 and they say the won´t be there until EIGHT!!! AHHH! STUPID STUPID ECUADORIAN TIME! I could have gotten up at 7:50 EASILY... so annoyed. Anyways that´s okay. we drove for about 2 hours to ´cascadas verdes´and walked a very short was to some waterfalls. Lets just say my host mom wore platform sandals to go "hiking" so I knew we weren´t going very far at all. It was really fun though and I went swimming! We went up to where we parked and hung out with a lady who lived right there. She had a sugar cane juicing machine (old fashioned), so we helped her juice the sugarcane and got to have some. It was delicious!! It tasted a little like lemonade, but obviously different. The machine was sort of like a giant grinder that had a big log on top that you spun (it´s hard to explain, but I have pictures).
We left and went to Arashà (if you ever want to go to a semi-nice ecoturism resort near Mindo, GO THERE!!!). One of the dads who came with us knew the owner so we got in for free. We went swimming in the pool and went in the hot tub and it was fabulous! Then we had lunch and I had the most tasty salad ever! It was like a FULL PLATE of vegetables. You might think that is normal in the US but here, that is very very rare! I had to argue with my host mom to tell her I didn´t want to put dressing on the salad. She was so confused and kept telling me i HAD to put it on cuz that is what the dressing is meant for. Can I just say I´m excited for Mom to come here and go crazy seeing what people eat lol.
We made it back to Quito around 7:35pm and I rushed to call a cab and pick Audry up at her house because most of the group was meeting at Café Mosaico for a good-bye dinner. It was SOOO AMAZING! It had the best view ever of Quito!! We got there around 8:15pm and stayed until 11:30 pm. It was so nice to have closure with Quio and say goodbye to friends before we left. Audry and I shared a delicious Gyro and greek salad and everyone had delicious wine (don´t worry, I´m legal to drink it now. yay!) If you come to Quito, you HAVE to go to this restaurant. It´s more of a romantic date place, but I think you can definitely break the rules haha.
I got home around midnight and started freaking out becuase I wasn´t packed and thought I needed to bring a suitecase to Audry´s house to leave it there for the month. My host mom woke up and told me I could leave it at here house (even though they are moving??? I´m not sure what is going to happen when I actually need my stuff...)
I was up until 2am packing and listening to horrid karaoke that the neighbors were loudly saranating me with (there was for sure some alcohol included in their activities that night). Of course (thankfully), I can sleep through ANYTHING. I got a whole two hours of sleep and woke up at 4:15am to shower. My host dad was home for the weekend and offered to drive me to the bus station, so Tito, Olga and I got in the car around 5:00am. Freak-out time: The gate would not open and we could not get out and I thought I HAD to be there at 5:30 am. Olga went inside to look for a key so we could unlock the gate and open it manually, but after 20 minutes of looking, Tito decided that was not going to happen so he broke the lock haha. It was sort of funny. We finally made it to the bus stop around 5:45am and of course, we being americans who get places on-time, were the first ones on the bus.
We left around 6am and spent 10 1/2 hours!!! on the bus to Cuenca. It was LONNNNG. Luckily, we went with a private company so the bus was pretty nice and because it was on the PanAmerican highway, the roads weren´t too bad. The drive was very pretty and green, so that was nice, but it was fabulous to finally get to our hostel. We are staying in El Cafecito, and it´s SOO CUTE! We walked around a little last night and went back to the hostel for dinner. It was delicious, there were a ton of people around and the music was good. Let´s just say I LOVED it and I love Cuenca. It´s so cute and reminds me of Spain and has lots of cute cafés, shops and restaurants and pretty churches. I am staying here today and tomorrow Megan, Jake and I are headed to Loja to meet our advisors and start our ISP. We are also getting together to watch the election... so nervous. I think everyone in our group (except for one girl who I feel really bad for because I know she is voting for McCain but because everyone else is for Obama she just sits back and doesn´t say much) is voting for Obama. I think it´s funny because a lot of people are saying they arent going home if McCain wins.. we´ll see. I don´t know who you all are voting for, but GO OBAMA!!!
I can´t believe I´m actually starting my ISP in two days!!! I haven´t spoken with my advisor (Olmedo) because he has been in Bolivia, but his wife, Maritza, seems SOOO nice!! I´m very excited and I think I can live in a hostel which i´m even MORe excited for!! I will try to keep y´all more up-to-date (sorry I´ve been slacking). Hope all is well at home. The pics of fall are GORGEOUS and I miss y´all a lot. Chau Chau for now!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Quito, the Coast, and ISP
Its been FOREVER since I have written and I apologize! Ive been all over Ecuador so I have a lot of stories.
Life with my new family has been a little dull, so Ive had to attept to spice it up by exploring Quito, though I definitely still dont feel like I know it very well. I have been doing some pilates (our teacher is the only woman Ive seen who wears cute workout clothes... seriously. they need some lulu lemon here for sure). October 8th was Audrys birthday so we had a delicious cake at school and learned the "Ecuadorian way" to cute cake. You make a circle in the middle (thats the part the birthday girl/boy gets) and then cut the rest in pieces. Then there are no points so the cake cant fall over. I still found it to be very difficult on my birthday. Anyways, that night her family have a really cute party for her. It was just Audrys fam, Eva, Liz, Marcello and me and we had dinner and cake and then talked for awhile. Thursday night we actually went out to celebrate and went to a really cool restaurant called "La Boca de Lobo" ie the mouth of the wolf. It was really funky and I definitely want to bring Mom and Dad there. We went out dancing afterwards and it was super fun but it definitely catered to gringos. They played the YMCA song haha. it was GREAT. The only problem to that night is for the first time since senior year of high school, I had a CURFEW. A CURFEW! Do you hear these words? I hope not because they are terrible. Olga first told me to be home at midnight (let me just remind you we didnt even have school on friday) and I pushed it back to one. (I know Im such a rebel haha). Anyways the dancing was still fun even though I had a curfew.
Saturday night of that weekend I wanted to go out but it seemed like nobody was so when Olga told me the "primos" were coming, I was down. Now lets just imagine what we think of when people say the "cousins" are coming. I think of people my age coming to hang out. NO! I WAS TRICKED. My 18 year old sister went out with her boyfriend and I stayed home with Olga and her friends/family to play 31, a card game and I had to put in money. It wasnt very MUCH money, but thats not the point at all! Ugh i was so angry. tricky lady. anyways, the Sunday before we left for the coast, we went to a soccer game (Ecuador vs. Chile-- it was for the eliminary round to go to south africa for the world cup) and that made up for it. It was a DAY LONG event but it was fun. We got there around noon and I bought a THREE DOLAR jersey. so cheap LOVE IT! We went into the stadium and hung around cheering and chanting with all the locals all afternoon long. Faba got us the tickets and I definitely think he purposely put us in the section with the rowdy fans. It was great! The game started at 4:50pm. It had rained the whole time we were waiting so we were all cold and wet, but it was still awesome! Ecuador won (i forget the score... woops) and afterwards I met up with my old host family. I miss them so much!
Monday was my birthday and my awesome directors brought cake for the group. It was delicious! We had class all day, went over ISP topics, and had a test... lovely birthday present NOT lol). Everyone said happy birthday to me yay and that afternoon, for the fourth time, I went to get my cense and ACTUALLY got it (thats the national ID card... its just like in the US going to get your license. A ROYAL PAIN IN THE BUTT) Anyways for my birthday, someone wanted to be nice to me and let me get it. That night, my family and I celebrated my sister and my birthday. She got a really cute rabbit from her boyfriend (Olga wasnt so keen on the idea but thats okay) and they gave me a cute bag! It was very useful for my trip to the coast too! We had pizza and cake and Eva came over too. Not the 21st birthday most people are used to but thats okay. Ive decided Im recelebrating when I get home. :)
We left for the coast Tuesday morning on a 10 am flight to Guayaquil. It was only 35 minutes which was MUCH better than taking a 10 hour bus ride. We went to lunch and to a museum and then to a talk on recycling that lasted almost 3 hours. I think we all learned the information from that talk in the third grade, but thats okay. We went to dinner in some neighborhood and then went back to the hotel to hang out. Little did we know that after the bus dropped us off for dinner, our directors headed to Leonores daugthers birthday dinner. They took an unmarked cab and were held up at gunpoint and the robbers stole $1000 (think about that value in American and multiply in by ten... thats the worth here because the economy is much lower). Anyways, we found out the next morning and Faba had a shiner and it was not a fun situation.
Wednesday afternoon we headed up the coast and were dropped off at our villages. Eva and I went to Cadeate. Our family was amazing and I think we had one of the wealthier families. Our 28 year old mom, Nancy, had her own perfumeria, and our 32 year old dad, Jugo, worked in a panaderia. Cadeate is known for bread so we (well Eva mostly) ate a LOT of bread. She didnt like a lot fo the food, so I was forced to eat some of it because leaving food on your plate while staying in a poor town isnt really acceptable. anyways we went running there, went to the beach a lot, talked to the town people and watched a lot of soccer. We had three younger sisters and they were so cute. It was a little weird though to see Nancy looking through my youngest sisters hair, FOR LICE. She acted like nothing was wrong. I told Eva and we both FREAKED OUT. I forgot to mention this: Thursday afternoon we went swimming and I was the only one in the water. I dove under a wave because I thought it was huge, but it definitely was NOT. I pretty much got in a fight with the sand. It was sad and a broke my face... or rather skinned my nose and forehead and my sisters and eva were afraid to look at me for a day. I think im better now though haha.
We left on Sunday afternoon and took a bus an hour and a half north to Alandaluz, and ecological resort that was on the beach and gorgeous! We hung out there while each one of use had ISP interviews trying to decide what we would do. I think I am headed south to Loja for the month to do community outreach with disabled people. I guess I would work with a therapist and go to peoples houses (they dont have transportation to get to a clinic so we go to them) to work with them. It should be interesting and hopefully help me decide about physical therapy or nursing. Well see.
Anywho, we made it back after a very carsick bus ride to Manta airport and then a bumpy flight back to Quito. I have the day off to write two essays and do whatever else I want. Its nice to be back in a city where I can eat as little as I want and have a real place to stay (without roosters and trucks blaring in my ears in the morning) but I definitely miss the coast. Hopefully I didnt forget to mention too many things. I now have SKYPE at my HOUSE YESSS!!! So people should skype me. its much much cheaper than calling. my sn is mecua13. miss you all!
maddie
Life with my new family has been a little dull, so Ive had to attept to spice it up by exploring Quito, though I definitely still dont feel like I know it very well. I have been doing some pilates (our teacher is the only woman Ive seen who wears cute workout clothes... seriously. they need some lulu lemon here for sure). October 8th was Audrys birthday so we had a delicious cake at school and learned the "Ecuadorian way" to cute cake. You make a circle in the middle (thats the part the birthday girl/boy gets) and then cut the rest in pieces. Then there are no points so the cake cant fall over. I still found it to be very difficult on my birthday. Anyways, that night her family have a really cute party for her. It was just Audrys fam, Eva, Liz, Marcello and me and we had dinner and cake and then talked for awhile. Thursday night we actually went out to celebrate and went to a really cool restaurant called "La Boca de Lobo" ie the mouth of the wolf. It was really funky and I definitely want to bring Mom and Dad there. We went out dancing afterwards and it was super fun but it definitely catered to gringos. They played the YMCA song haha. it was GREAT. The only problem to that night is for the first time since senior year of high school, I had a CURFEW. A CURFEW! Do you hear these words? I hope not because they are terrible. Olga first told me to be home at midnight (let me just remind you we didnt even have school on friday) and I pushed it back to one. (I know Im such a rebel haha). Anyways the dancing was still fun even though I had a curfew.
Saturday night of that weekend I wanted to go out but it seemed like nobody was so when Olga told me the "primos" were coming, I was down. Now lets just imagine what we think of when people say the "cousins" are coming. I think of people my age coming to hang out. NO! I WAS TRICKED. My 18 year old sister went out with her boyfriend and I stayed home with Olga and her friends/family to play 31, a card game and I had to put in money. It wasnt very MUCH money, but thats not the point at all! Ugh i was so angry. tricky lady. anyways, the Sunday before we left for the coast, we went to a soccer game (Ecuador vs. Chile-- it was for the eliminary round to go to south africa for the world cup) and that made up for it. It was a DAY LONG event but it was fun. We got there around noon and I bought a THREE DOLAR jersey. so cheap LOVE IT! We went into the stadium and hung around cheering and chanting with all the locals all afternoon long. Faba got us the tickets and I definitely think he purposely put us in the section with the rowdy fans. It was great! The game started at 4:50pm. It had rained the whole time we were waiting so we were all cold and wet, but it was still awesome! Ecuador won (i forget the score... woops) and afterwards I met up with my old host family. I miss them so much!
Monday was my birthday and my awesome directors brought cake for the group. It was delicious! We had class all day, went over ISP topics, and had a test... lovely birthday present NOT lol). Everyone said happy birthday to me yay and that afternoon, for the fourth time, I went to get my cense and ACTUALLY got it (thats the national ID card... its just like in the US going to get your license. A ROYAL PAIN IN THE BUTT) Anyways for my birthday, someone wanted to be nice to me and let me get it. That night, my family and I celebrated my sister and my birthday. She got a really cute rabbit from her boyfriend (Olga wasnt so keen on the idea but thats okay) and they gave me a cute bag! It was very useful for my trip to the coast too! We had pizza and cake and Eva came over too. Not the 21st birthday most people are used to but thats okay. Ive decided Im recelebrating when I get home. :)
We left for the coast Tuesday morning on a 10 am flight to Guayaquil. It was only 35 minutes which was MUCH better than taking a 10 hour bus ride. We went to lunch and to a museum and then to a talk on recycling that lasted almost 3 hours. I think we all learned the information from that talk in the third grade, but thats okay. We went to dinner in some neighborhood and then went back to the hotel to hang out. Little did we know that after the bus dropped us off for dinner, our directors headed to Leonores daugthers birthday dinner. They took an unmarked cab and were held up at gunpoint and the robbers stole $1000 (think about that value in American and multiply in by ten... thats the worth here because the economy is much lower). Anyways, we found out the next morning and Faba had a shiner and it was not a fun situation.
Wednesday afternoon we headed up the coast and were dropped off at our villages. Eva and I went to Cadeate. Our family was amazing and I think we had one of the wealthier families. Our 28 year old mom, Nancy, had her own perfumeria, and our 32 year old dad, Jugo, worked in a panaderia. Cadeate is known for bread so we (well Eva mostly) ate a LOT of bread. She didnt like a lot fo the food, so I was forced to eat some of it because leaving food on your plate while staying in a poor town isnt really acceptable. anyways we went running there, went to the beach a lot, talked to the town people and watched a lot of soccer. We had three younger sisters and they were so cute. It was a little weird though to see Nancy looking through my youngest sisters hair, FOR LICE. She acted like nothing was wrong. I told Eva and we both FREAKED OUT. I forgot to mention this: Thursday afternoon we went swimming and I was the only one in the water. I dove under a wave because I thought it was huge, but it definitely was NOT. I pretty much got in a fight with the sand. It was sad and a broke my face... or rather skinned my nose and forehead and my sisters and eva were afraid to look at me for a day. I think im better now though haha.
We left on Sunday afternoon and took a bus an hour and a half north to Alandaluz, and ecological resort that was on the beach and gorgeous! We hung out there while each one of use had ISP interviews trying to decide what we would do. I think I am headed south to Loja for the month to do community outreach with disabled people. I guess I would work with a therapist and go to peoples houses (they dont have transportation to get to a clinic so we go to them) to work with them. It should be interesting and hopefully help me decide about physical therapy or nursing. Well see.
Anywho, we made it back after a very carsick bus ride to Manta airport and then a bumpy flight back to Quito. I have the day off to write two essays and do whatever else I want. Its nice to be back in a city where I can eat as little as I want and have a real place to stay (without roosters and trucks blaring in my ears in the morning) but I definitely miss the coast. Hopefully I didnt forget to mention too many things. I now have SKYPE at my HOUSE YESSS!!! So people should skype me. its much much cheaper than calling. my sn is mecua13. miss you all!
maddie
Sunday, October 5, 2008
jungle fun
The jungle was AWESOME! I felt like I was in a movie the whole time because the scenery was so beautiful. Now if I could just do something about the humidity and the bugs, I think it would be PERFECT. Here´s the scoop on what we did:
We left Monday morning from the Alston at 9am. We stopped at some hot springs on our long drive. I think I could have stayed there ALL day. Literally. They are heated naturally by volcanoes and Faba said the origin is 125 degrees F. INTENSE. Don´t worry, the pools weren´t that hot. Apparently some girl a few years back stayed in the hot pool too long and because these hotsprings are at 10,000 feet or so, they cause low blood pressure and she fainted! We were actually smart and followed directions, ie went in the freezing cold pool every ten minutes or so... I cheated a bit. I only stuck my feet in, but that counts, doesn´t it? We had DELICIOUS pb&j sandwhiches for lunch with apples and oranges... yum yum! and then headed back on the road.
The first night at Aliñahui (one of the lodges we stayed in) was the rainiest. It DOWNPOURED. It was sort of cool to have the thunder and lightning because we just sat around and chatted while lying in hammocks. Not too hard of a life. Plus the rain got rid of the millions of bugs... at least for a little while.
Tuesday morning rolled around and after... GETTING TO SERVE OURSELVES (this is big news because normally we don´t get to and they give us mounds of rice)... we headed to Arajuno Jungle Lodge via motorized canoes to drop our stuff. Then we went to a small community called Santa Bárbara to spend time with the community. I guess we were supposed to teach the kids math, but we were given colored pencils and packets with pictures of numbers so we all told the kids to color. They loved it though haha. Then, lets just imagine 85 degrees F and probably 90% humidity shall we, now lets spend three hours painting in it. AHH. We painted the outside of the school and the school desks and although it was one of the sweatiest and most dehydrated moments of my life, it was well well worth it. They school looked GREAT (what can I say, apparently we are amazing painters) and the desks will be in shape for at least a few years. The community had recently been given sets of plates, cups, bowls, and silverware, and Tom, the owner of the Arajuno Jungle Lodge, had recently given them a class on sanitizing things and how to serve food to tourists. We had Talapia (I think that´s how you spell it... it´s a kind of fish) some cabbage salad and yuca and it was DELICIOUS. And becuase there were full ribcages of bones in the fish, it forced me to slow down (mom...don´t try giving me fish with that many bones at home. it won´t work haha). Afterwards, we went on a walk to see the community. We were supposed to play the kiddos in soccer (they probably would have kicked our behinds MAJORLY) but we were all too exhausted so we went back to the Arajuno Jungle Lodge (Arajuno is the name of the river) and went swimming. Best feeling ever!
Tom, the owner, has a pet monkey named Mona. She is only one and a half years old and she is AWESOME. She definitely reminds me of a two year old spoiled brat sometimse, but, she was still a monkey that we got to hold and play with. I´ll put up pics so you can see her. Tom´s place was really nice. He has four cabins and they seem like swiss family robinson. its great. Anyway we hung around his place for the afternoon and played scattagories at night. I can´t believe it, but i´d never played before!
Wednesday we had an incredible speaker come take us on a nature hike. He spoke about ahh the word is blanking my mind, subsistent farming?? but pretty much that we should learn to grow our own food and stop feeding the large national companies that hurt the world. It was a great talk and mom and dad, I think we need to plant more food. Or maybe at least buy local. Now I just sound like a ecuadorian-turned-hippy haha. But you should have heard his talk. It makes total sense.
Wednesday afternoon we were back at Aliñahui and went on a nature hike with another guy and then had an hour to spend solo in the jungle. Now, y´all know me and you probably think of me as a fairly outdoorsy person. Well, at least I think of myself as a fairly outdoorsy person. But, when I sat down in the jungle and there were bugs crawling all around me, I decided that sitting was just not going to work because the bugs, even with my 36% DEET bug repellent on, loved me. So (Mom, you´ll love this) I did YOGA. haha. It was great. A little difficult in non-stretchy jungle pants and big boots, but it worked.
Finally, on Friday we came back to the big city. I LOVED the Jungle. Audry is thinking about doing her ISP there and helping Tom start a medicinal garden, but I don´t think I could stand being that sweaty and sticky and buggy all the time (my hands stuck to my face from the humidity... yuck). I wish I could spend another month there because it´s AMAZING. If you get a chance, go to Tena, or just somewhere in the jungle.
I am now with my new family. The last night in the jungle I caught the stomach virus that 6 or 7 other people in the group had, but I am now better! My mom´s name is Olga, and my sister´s name is Carolina. She is 17 but is turning 18 on, get this, OCTOBER 13th!!! How random is it that we have the SAME birthday! I like her a lot. Last night, Olga, Carolina, her boyfriend Daniel, and Daniel´s mom and I went to see a comedian but the tickets were sold out so instead we went to the cine and saw Mr. Woodcock. Billy Bob Thornton was a great actor but the plot was just sad. Mom would have walked out, no doubt. So now I´m at my host family´s. I guess my dad, Tito, works in Guayaquil and rarely comes home. I dunno what´s up with that but I like having an all-girl house.
Lastly, Aunt Jane: THANKS for the facebook happy birthday! I LOVED IT! And my friends think it´s great that you have facebook haha.
I miss you all and hope all is well at home, even with the horrible financial stuff going on. Yuck. Ooh to end on good news, Faba has lots of connections and he´s getting the group tickets to the Ecuador vs. Chile soccer game on October 12th. It´s a huge huge game. NOT A BAD BIRTHDAY PRESENT, EH?? SO STOKED!
We left Monday morning from the Alston at 9am. We stopped at some hot springs on our long drive. I think I could have stayed there ALL day. Literally. They are heated naturally by volcanoes and Faba said the origin is 125 degrees F. INTENSE. Don´t worry, the pools weren´t that hot. Apparently some girl a few years back stayed in the hot pool too long and because these hotsprings are at 10,000 feet or so, they cause low blood pressure and she fainted! We were actually smart and followed directions, ie went in the freezing cold pool every ten minutes or so... I cheated a bit. I only stuck my feet in, but that counts, doesn´t it? We had DELICIOUS pb&j sandwhiches for lunch with apples and oranges... yum yum! and then headed back on the road.
The first night at Aliñahui (one of the lodges we stayed in) was the rainiest. It DOWNPOURED. It was sort of cool to have the thunder and lightning because we just sat around and chatted while lying in hammocks. Not too hard of a life. Plus the rain got rid of the millions of bugs... at least for a little while.
Tuesday morning rolled around and after... GETTING TO SERVE OURSELVES (this is big news because normally we don´t get to and they give us mounds of rice)... we headed to Arajuno Jungle Lodge via motorized canoes to drop our stuff. Then we went to a small community called Santa Bárbara to spend time with the community. I guess we were supposed to teach the kids math, but we were given colored pencils and packets with pictures of numbers so we all told the kids to color. They loved it though haha. Then, lets just imagine 85 degrees F and probably 90% humidity shall we, now lets spend three hours painting in it. AHH. We painted the outside of the school and the school desks and although it was one of the sweatiest and most dehydrated moments of my life, it was well well worth it. They school looked GREAT (what can I say, apparently we are amazing painters) and the desks will be in shape for at least a few years. The community had recently been given sets of plates, cups, bowls, and silverware, and Tom, the owner of the Arajuno Jungle Lodge, had recently given them a class on sanitizing things and how to serve food to tourists. We had Talapia (I think that´s how you spell it... it´s a kind of fish) some cabbage salad and yuca and it was DELICIOUS. And becuase there were full ribcages of bones in the fish, it forced me to slow down (mom...don´t try giving me fish with that many bones at home. it won´t work haha). Afterwards, we went on a walk to see the community. We were supposed to play the kiddos in soccer (they probably would have kicked our behinds MAJORLY) but we were all too exhausted so we went back to the Arajuno Jungle Lodge (Arajuno is the name of the river) and went swimming. Best feeling ever!
Tom, the owner, has a pet monkey named Mona. She is only one and a half years old and she is AWESOME. She definitely reminds me of a two year old spoiled brat sometimse, but, she was still a monkey that we got to hold and play with. I´ll put up pics so you can see her. Tom´s place was really nice. He has four cabins and they seem like swiss family robinson. its great. Anyway we hung around his place for the afternoon and played scattagories at night. I can´t believe it, but i´d never played before!
Wednesday we had an incredible speaker come take us on a nature hike. He spoke about ahh the word is blanking my mind, subsistent farming?? but pretty much that we should learn to grow our own food and stop feeding the large national companies that hurt the world. It was a great talk and mom and dad, I think we need to plant more food. Or maybe at least buy local. Now I just sound like a ecuadorian-turned-hippy haha. But you should have heard his talk. It makes total sense.
Wednesday afternoon we were back at Aliñahui and went on a nature hike with another guy and then had an hour to spend solo in the jungle. Now, y´all know me and you probably think of me as a fairly outdoorsy person. Well, at least I think of myself as a fairly outdoorsy person. But, when I sat down in the jungle and there were bugs crawling all around me, I decided that sitting was just not going to work because the bugs, even with my 36% DEET bug repellent on, loved me. So (Mom, you´ll love this) I did YOGA. haha. It was great. A little difficult in non-stretchy jungle pants and big boots, but it worked.
Finally, on Friday we came back to the big city. I LOVED the Jungle. Audry is thinking about doing her ISP there and helping Tom start a medicinal garden, but I don´t think I could stand being that sweaty and sticky and buggy all the time (my hands stuck to my face from the humidity... yuck). I wish I could spend another month there because it´s AMAZING. If you get a chance, go to Tena, or just somewhere in the jungle.
I am now with my new family. The last night in the jungle I caught the stomach virus that 6 or 7 other people in the group had, but I am now better! My mom´s name is Olga, and my sister´s name is Carolina. She is 17 but is turning 18 on, get this, OCTOBER 13th!!! How random is it that we have the SAME birthday! I like her a lot. Last night, Olga, Carolina, her boyfriend Daniel, and Daniel´s mom and I went to see a comedian but the tickets were sold out so instead we went to the cine and saw Mr. Woodcock. Billy Bob Thornton was a great actor but the plot was just sad. Mom would have walked out, no doubt. So now I´m at my host family´s. I guess my dad, Tito, works in Guayaquil and rarely comes home. I dunno what´s up with that but I like having an all-girl house.
Lastly, Aunt Jane: THANKS for the facebook happy birthday! I LOVED IT! And my friends think it´s great that you have facebook haha.
I miss you all and hope all is well at home, even with the horrible financial stuff going on. Yuck. Ooh to end on good news, Faba has lots of connections and he´s getting the group tickets to the Ecuador vs. Chile soccer game on October 12th. It´s a huge huge game. NOT A BAD BIRTHDAY PRESENT, EH?? SO STOKED!
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