A few weeks later

I'm slowly adjusting back to life in the US, reclaiming my clothes and c.d.s that have wandered out of my room over the past four months and listening to as much Latin Pop music as possible (which Amy and Laurie aren't too happy with). I went to the mall for the first time yesterday and really was disappointed by the general lack of warmth (and rudeness) with which my fellow Christmas shoppers greated me. My comments about the materialism and commercialism of this culture were apparently too frequent for my family, but that is one huge difference between here and Ecuador, at least for most of the people I was spending time with in Ecuador and the Americans I have been observing here. I especially like the Burger King commercial where they pretend to take the Whopper away and people react with shock and disbelief. My comment is that at least they have food to eat and it probably shouldn't be a whopper anyway. I will admit that I had my first McDonald's cheeseburger a few days ago and it was delicious, but I wouldn't be heartbroken if it was discontinued and I'm thankful that it filled my belly for quite a while.

I went down to Kenyon with Jennie last weekend. It was nice to return but I'm really glad that I will still be gone next semester. I still really like Kenyon and I'm (usually) glad that I chose to attend this college, but the student body becomes more and more, I don't really know how to say it, cold maybe every year. Plus it was finals week so the campus was dead and Jennie and I felt like we were intruding pretty much wherever we went. It was nice to see Riley again and the three of us will be abroad next semester (Jennie in Ghana, Riley in Russia and myself in Uganda) so it was good-bye for a while. Plus it snowed so campus was beautiful, although it stranded us there for an extra day.

My plans for Uganda are still on but there is an ebola outbreak that has killed at least 30 people since August, most of them health workers who didn't know what they were facing because it is a new strain. I still really want to go but I'm a little worried about this. Kampala, the city where I would be spending a lot of time, is under high alert for the disease. I'm not sure if SIT would cancel the program there due to health concerns but I'll keep this updated with whatever news I hear. Meanwhile, I will continue to read my books and hope that I will be able to study there beginning in a little over a month.

And now, as Shakira begins singing, I will sign off. I think I'm supposed to write our Christmas card this year and it will be late (as usual) but I should probably work on that tonight. Chao chao!

Homesick for Ecuador

So on Saturday, I spent the morning packing up. Surprisingly, everything fit well into my bags and I even had a little room to buy a little more, but I didn't. I walked around the Mariscal a bit and then went to the Centro Historico to eat lunch with some friends. However Akiko and I didn't meet up with Amanda and Cara until after we had eaten. Then back to the Mariscal for more hanging out. Then we headed off to the airport early and said some final goodbyes to the ADs who really were amazing and incredible throughout the entire trip. It's really because of them and because the group was so great that the entire trip was awesome. I feel so fortunate to have met them all and gotten to hang out with them for the past four months. So, the flight had to go from Quito to Guayaquil because a flight from Spain had run off of one of the runways a few weeks ago and they still haven't opened all of the runways and don't fuel up the planes in Quito, so we had another hour in Guayaquil until we headed off to Miami, where we got in around 12:15 a.m. Passport control took a little while because the lines were long but customs was really quick-we just had to give our customs declarations sheets to the agents and that was it. The seven of us who had taken the group flight back got to the hotel around 2 and slept for a bit. Amanda and I had flights out of Miami at 8:00 so we headed off to check in at 6:00. Security lines were a little long but we got through pretty quickly. Then off to my gate. The plane from Miami to Chicago was a little late to takeoff so we got to Chicago a little late. However, we were also made to sit in the remote parking lot for close to an hour because the plane taking off from our gate had to be de-iced. So we got in a little late and my two-hour layover turned into a 30-minute layover so I had to rush to get to my other flight, but I had ten minutes before boarding. The flight from Chicago to Cleveland was on time as well but we also had to be de-iced before taking off so we were a little late getting into Cleveland. Once there, I met my mom by luggage pick-up and we found that one of my check-ins was missing. This is the second time that American has lost my luggage from a flight from Miami, and I've only flown on them a few times. However, I got my luggage last night at 10:30 so all ended up ok. So we took the luggage I did have and drove back home but we stopped first at Laurie's Christmas band concert which was nice. Then home at last.

It's really strange being back in the US. I have been thinking and speaking in Spanish sometimes without realizing it. I still throw out the toilet paper instead of flushing it. I drank my first glass of tap water at the hotel in Miami and it was really good. I have had two salads since I got back. People are much better drivers here. I went to the library and got a ton of books out to read (most of them about Uganda-I'm sending in my VISA application tomorrow). It's really great to be back but I miss Ecuador. I miss seeing mountains every day. It's really cold here (for me, 50 degrees was cold last week) and I miss the nice temperate weather. I'm sure I'll return someday and when I do, I already have a list of things to do and people to visit. So I arrived home safely and all in all it's good to be back. Oh, and here's a link to an article that I wrote for my school paper: http://media.www.kenyoncollegian.com/media/storage/paper821/news/2007/12/06/Features/Notes.From.Abroad-3137440.shtml

Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy. I can't believe Christmas is coming up so soon. It really feels to me like it's time for summer vacation or something like that, but not Christmas.

Last night (morning) in Ecuador

So the end has finally come. I'm chilling out in Hotel Alston for one last night. We went to a desfile last night on Amazonas which was quite cool although we couldn't find a nice place to watch it from. Then today I mainly bought some last gifts and packed. I think everything is fitting in my bags, though they're pretty stuffed. Then we went to Guapulo, this really nice section of Quito that I wish I had explored during the day. We went to this cafe/bar and most of the group was there, drinking canelazo (not my favorite, but a nice hot drink) and talking. It was good to hang out with the group again. I feel really fortunate to be part of a really great group and I know I'm going to miss everyone when I'm back in the US. It's just so weird to me that tomorrow, I'm meeting at the airport at 3:30 and seven of us are flying back. And a little over 30 hours or so I will see my family again. It hasn't really hit me yet, but I'm sure it will soon. I don't really know what else to write so chao chao.

Crazy Times in Quito

It's fiestas for the founding of Quito this week and tonight's the craziest night. To add to this, Liga, Quito's football (soccer) team is the champion of the country so things are even more wild. I'm sitting only a block from my hotel and one of the party busses passes every few minutes or so with lots of people on board. Things are going to be loud tonight. I plan to finish watching a movie, Cinema Paradiso, and then just hanging out in the hotel becuase I'm still exhausted from everything that's been going on in the past month.

Riobamba continuned to be interesting, working in the hospital and hanging out with my family. I think I like the family in Riobamba the best out of all of them. For my birthday they took me to Volcán Chimborazo, the highest mountain in Ecuador. We drove up to the first refuge and were going to hike to the second but the altitude was getting to me-it was about 5500 m above sea level. But I did get to play in snow with my host neice for my birthday which was great. I can't wait to get home and see snow. They took me out for lunch later and that night, they surprised me with a really good ice cream cake. It was a pretty good birthday.

Tungurahua really started erupting the last week of my time there and I learned a few days ago that the majority of the ash goes to Riobamba. It was cool seeing it smoking but not so cool breathing in more ash.

The last day with my family was another day with an interesting meal. They made me something special that everyone kept telling me how rico it was. It turns out that it was this soup made out of broth and the blood of what I later learned was a sheep with three different parts of sheep intestines in it and optional blood on the side. It was not that great-the intestines are really chewy, they don't have a great taste, and they smell pretty gross, but I managed to eat it all once again. It didn't make me ill so all was fine.

I successfully finished my project. I have a 33-page paper about Andean medicine and the public health system in Ecuador which is an accomplishment, not to mention that it's all in spanish and I used almost all primary sources like observation and interviews. I turned it in and did my presentation right away so that I could finish with everything as soon as possible. Now all I have left is my ACTFL test tomorrow to see how much I have improved with my spanish. We are back in Quito for the last four days and I can't believe the program has come to an end. I have enjoyed all of my time here and the group has been really great. I know I'm going to miss everyone when I leave and I hope we have a reunion sometime soon. I also know that I'm going to miss this country, the mountains especially. It has been nice seeing them everyday. Well, it's getting really dark out and the people continue to be crazy so I should probably get back to the hotel. More reactions on the trip in general later.

Temblores y terremotos

So, things in Riobamba continue to be interesting. I´ve been working at the hospital every day and this past week they let me take vital signs of the new patients, which involves sticking thermometers under their armpits, taking their pulse and blood pressure, and weighing them and measuring their height. I don´t really know how my project is going to become a 25-page paper in the next two weeks, but I guess I'll just have to wait and see. I haven't really had much time for anything else so I'm staying really busy.

More exciting news, there was an earthquake on Thursday night. I was flossing my teeth and noticed that the blinds on my window were moving and felt that the ground was shaking a little. I assumed it was the wind, until I looked into my closet and saw that all of the hangers were shaking. I thought I was just really tired until my family knocked on my door and told me that it was an earthquake. They were all slightly worried and told me to stand under the door frame but it was pretty much over by then. Some people slept in the streets that night but I wasn't too worried about it, though I didn't sleep particularly well. The next morning we found out that it was a 6.7, which I guess is pretty high. There isn't too much damage here. I guess there are just a bunch of earthquakes going on throughout Latin America and other places.

And, I found out why I'm so congested all of the time. There's a volcano near here, Tungurahua, which is in a state of continuous eruption. When it's not cloudy, I can see the smoke coming out of the top of it. Every morning there is ash on my sister's car. It's good to know that I'm breathing in this lovely material.

I'm also continuing to eat interesting food. Today it was hornado, a pig roasted on a spit until it's crunchy and brown, and delicious. A few days ago it was some kind of animal intestine which really didn't taste very great but I managed to eat all of it anyway. We'll see what they serve me next week.

Hope everyone is doing well. Chao Chao!

Limpiando

So, I'm still here in Riobamba. I'm living with a great family-I have four older sisters, three of whom live at home, a baby cousin, and a mom and a dad. I'm working (more like observing and helping wherever I can) at Hospital Andino Alternativo de Chimborazo, the first hospital in Ecuador that combines 'química' medicine with alternative and Andean medicines. Although the three sections are separate, I think they overlap, which is kind of cool. I'm only working in the Andean section and the yachaks are cool. I pretty much just watch limpias all day which is super awkward but interesting. It's nothing like the medicine we're all used to in the U.S. I hope to study how this medicine is regulated and how the government of Ecuador approaches it. Apparently my advisor for this project has been very active in fighting for the right to practice indigenous medicine here in Ecuador.

Well, that's pretty much all that has been going on. I don't have too much easy access to the internet so I probably won't be updating for a while. Hope everyone is doing well.

Catching up...

This entry is massive so maybe try to pace yourself.

Continuing from before, the next morning in Quito I needed clean clothes pretty badly because everything from the Oriente was damp and smelled somewhat gross so I took my laundry to a place where they wash it for you. Then I went and walked around the Mariscal a bit, ate at the Magic Bean, bought some flowers for my homestay family, and called my family from a 5-cent a minute place. Then I picked up my laundry and my new host family picked me up from the Hotel Alston and we headed to their place.
My new family included a mom, a dad, and two brothers, one older (27) and one younger (19). We lived in a somewhat run down house in a run down neighborhood, but I felt more comfortable in their house at first than in the fancier one of my other family. It was cluttered and had tons of knick-knacks lying around, so it felt a little more like home than Los Chillos did. I really liked my host dad-we talked a lot about politics, literature, movies, economics, the environment, and so many other things. He was definitely an intellectual and he works at one of the universities in Quito as a professor of something physics and engineering related. He’s also very sarcastic and funny which is a nice change. We also got the newspaper everyday, so that was a nice change-I wasn’t only hearing about entertainment news. The only unfortunate thing is that he often traveled, at least once a week, to Guayaquil so he wasn’t around all of the time. My younger brother was friendly and funny but a little immature. My older brother also traveled to Guayaquil a lot for work so I didn’t see him too much. The family has a dog named Bop that they don’t walk very much-only on the weekends. He’s a really beautiful golden retriever and I feel so sorry for him, locked up in his pen pretty much all of the time, only taking walks once a week.
We lived in the barrio de Las Casas which was pretty close to the school, compared with many of the other students. It only took me twenty minutes to walk to the school and thirty minutes to walk back, uphill the whole way. I found my way around really well, using the Trole mainly to get into the Mariscal where there were the cheapest phone calls and internet. I also went into Old Town quite a few times.
The first day with my homestay family we all had tickets for the soccer game so I headed up north to the stadium to watch Liga play Olmedo, which was a good experience though no one scored any goals and we were sitting in the sedate section. I hope I get to more games. We started classes on Monday. Our normal days involved a lecture from 9 to 10:30 and then a half-hour break, and then another lecture until 1:00. On Monday I headed down to the Dirección Nacional de Migración to get my censo card, which took about an hour and a half. The filing system they use is pretty interesting-they just throw the folders we give them into the back and keep them there in piles. I don’t know how they’re going to find me if they want to kick me out of the country. I also went down to Parque la Carolina and walked around a little with Anna and Rachel. We sat around in this café for a while and read some of our articles for class.
On Tuesday, Guillermo Robalino, who is somehow associated with the government, came and talked about development. Then we had three members of the Plazeros movement come and talk about what they’re doing in Quito. After class, I headed over to Old Town with some friends and we went to the Presidential Palace for a tour. It was pretty nice-we got to see all of the gifts that Correa has received from other heads of state (the gift from the US was pretty lame though). We also saw this pretty cool mosaic of the discovery of the Amazon by Guayasamin that we had read about. I wrote in Quichua in the guest book, but I doubt the president will read it. Anyway, it was only something really rudimentary telling him my name and where I was from. I forgot my camera though so I didn’t take any pictures.
Tuesday, Faba gave a few lectures. Wednesday, Kintto Lucas, a journalist and author, came to talk about Plan Colombia, which was pretty interesting. Then Catherine Chala talked about the Afroecuatoriano movement. Friday was Dia de la Raza (Columbus Day) and while most of the country had the day off, we still had class. Faba just debriefed us on the coastal excursion. I went home after class thinking that my family was taking me to Esmeraldas (coastal city where they have an apartment) for the weekend, but we didn’t really end up doing much. On Saturday we watched part of the movie version of Hamlet with Mel Gibson but the power went out partway through so we finished it, after watching the beginning again, the next day. I thought it was pretty bad but my dad seemed to really like it. Saturday night my family took me into Old Town to see the churches at night, which were pretty. They’re all lit up nicely. My favorite was the Basilica, which was quite lovely at night, as during the day. We were stopped in traffic for a while because there was a military graduation ceremony at one of the churches that had the road partially blocked off. We were stopped right by a church where there was a wedding though and while we were there the couple came out and their guests were throwing rice at them.
Monday we had more classes. We had María Cuvi talk to us about feminism and Pablo de la Vega talk about migration, which was a really interesting talk. That night I watched A Beautiful Mind with my family. I missed part of the middle from it but I liked what I saw. On Tuesday some embassy workers came and talked about economics, politics, migration, Plan Colombia, and US-Ecuador relations. It was a very interesting talk. It did sound somewhat rehearsed, which was interesting and they dodged some of our questions. That night I did some work and packed for the trip to the coast.

On Wednesday we headed off o the coast. Security in the airport wasn’t bad at all-they didn’t really check anything, not even to see if we all had id. We headed off to Manta. I had a window seat, which was nice, though the flight was only about half an hour long. We ate when we got to Manta and I had shrimp apanado, which was actually very good. It was shrimp that was breaded and then fried. Then we all got on a bus and headed off to our village homestay. We were split into groups of two or three in which we would live in separate villages for five days. I went to Agua Blanca with Anna where we were living with the Ventura family. Our time there was pretty interesting. First of although we took a motorized rickshaw to get to the village which was about five km away from the coast. We broke into the town because the driver of the “touk-touk” (I’m still not sure what exactly the name of it is) didn’t stop and pay the fee to enter the town. Our host father met us in the center of town and we walked about fifteen minutes to get to his compound. We had a cabin and a bathroom (with a running toilet and hose for a shower-luxurious for the coastal homestay) separate from the rest of the family. We also had mosquito nets, but they had holes all over them and since I was pretty paranoid about malaria, I used my duct tape to patch them up. It probably didn’t matter because there was no water and because I didn’t see any mosquitoes, but I still really didn’t want to get malaria. We sat down to have dinner and talk, mainly with Isidro but a little with his wife, Ángela. We also played with their granddaughter, Melinda, who was super cute. During the next few days we ate a lot of plantains, in many different forms (cooked, fried into patacones which are amazing, more ways I can’t remember) and had leche pura, unpasteurized milk which I was a little sketched out by, but I was fine.
On our first full day we worked on the farm, which involved tilling the ground, digging holes, and planting banana trees, yucca, and peanuts. We also picked up and unpeeled the skin from some seeds we later used to make jewelry. We also picked papayas and lemons. On the way back to the house for lunch we met a Spaniard and a gringa who were both anthropologists. The Spaniard didn’t really have a great relationship with the community, partially probably because he often comes and goes between Agua Blanca and Spain. The woman went to college in Oberlin and graduated last year and now she’s working with the school in Agua Blanca and an organic farm in another community. Isidro kept saying things about how he thought the Spaniard was crazy, but yet he was really friendly with him. I wonder if he’s just trying to butter him up in order to sound good in his research. After lunch we made tagua and jaboncillo seed jewelry, so I now have two necklaces to remind me of the wonderful time I spent on the coast. There were lots of animals wandering around-dogs, pigs, goats, chickens, turkeys. There was also this poor little goat tied up to a tree who was continuously bleeting and I felt really sorry for him, but we later found out that he was tied up for two months as punishment for eating something he shouldn’t have eaten, though I don’t know if this type of punishment will work. That night, something very interesting happened. Isidro told us that he would do a limpia with us, which I had seen and heard of before, but this way was a little different. It involved us passing a lemon covered in alcohol over ourselves and then having plants rubbed on us until our skin (on my face and arms particularly) was green.
The next day we went to the museum in town and then walked around the archaeological site that pretty much involved the whole town. There were lots of ruins of houses and temples, as well as ceramics, tools, and asientos de poder just sitting everywhere. They only have some of the areas roped off-the rest are left free for the animals, and humans, to wander around in. We crossed into one of the sites to go see a ceibo tree, this giant green thing that just seems to rise up on the horizon. They’re everywhere here. And while I’m talking landscape, everything here is so incredibly dry. There is one sulphuric lake where there is some water, but there is a very dry riverbed from which the farmers in the past had watered their crops, but now the government has declared a state of water emergency for the town. Some of the landscapes on the coast appeared to me like how I would picture Africa. That night after dinner we found a ceibo where we did the second limpia. This time though we used an egg covered in alcohol to “remove the bad energy.” Then at the end we buried the egg. At least this time I wasn’t green. That night we watched this very dawn out movie about the life of Ecuadorian singer Julio Jaramillo. We learned all about how he was quite a womanizer and didn’t die early into his life. We kept waiting for him to just drop, like when there was a car accident, but it didn’t happen so we left before the end.
The next day, Anna and I really wanted to go to the beach, more specifically Los Frailes beach, which was once one of National Geographic’s top beaches in the world. It was quite nice. However, we walked most of the way there, which involved a four to five mile hike out of the community to the main road and then a two mile walk through the national park just to reach the main beach. Our host father insisted on accompanying us, which we didn’t really want, but we left him soon after getting to the beach when we met some of our companeros there. The ocean was at the perfect temperature and it was really nice to go swimming. We took a “touk-touk” back to Agua Blanca and Anna and I both collapsed because we were exhausted by everything. That night, we watched this strange music video like thing with these two really weird singers and dancing girls in the background. I don’t really know what it was but we couldn’t stand watching too much of it.
The next morning was our last. I got up early to write in my work journal and then we had breakfast. After eating we headed out for a walk and just wandered around through the village. When we got back we offered to help the women with lunch which finally got us into the kitchen. My job was to cut up the shrimp and then marinate them in soy sauce and after that to make the orange juice by squeezing the oranges. It was a really good meal. It was also nice to finally talk to the women without Isisdro’s presence because he had gone off to a meeting that morning. However, right after lunch we had another appointment with the rickshaw contraption and we rode it into Puerto Lopez where we caught a bus to Alandaluz, this really nice ecologically-friendly hostal. Anna and I were the first ones there, which was cool because we got the best room with a real toilet, hot water, and a fireplace (and mosquito nets with no holes). I went and walked along the beach for a bit. We later had a debriefing session and ate dinner, where we had salad!! I’m always excited when we can eat raw vegetables without worrying about getting sick. It was quite nice.
The next day, we had most of the day off. In the morning I went to the only bamboo church in Ecuador with some friends. For lunch we ate ceviche, mine with octopus, fish, and shrimp, and this really great dish of vegetables in a peanut sauce served in a bamboo stalk. I still don’t understand if ceviche is made with raw fish or not, but it was pretty good. Later I sat by the ocean and did some work and then I went swimming again. There was a really strong current that pulled you out, but it was again really nice to swim. We just all hung out that night playing games like Scrabble, Monopoly, and Quarenta.
The next day we left on a bus for Guyaquil, the largest city, population-wise, in Ecuador. When we got to the city, I just explored for a bit, mainly on the Malecón 2000, this really nice boardwalk with restaurants, shops, a museum, and such. We ended up eating dinner there and then we walked up Las Penas, this hill-neighborhood just off the end of the boardwalk. We went up to the very top where there was this lighthouse you could climb into for a great view of Guayaquil, but I forgot my camera so I took mental pictures. I really liked Guayaquil-it was really clean, well taken care of (at least the section we were in) and I really wish we had more time to explore it. However, we just had the next day.
I got up early to eat breakfast with the first group, but the waitress didn’t serve us first and we didn’t end up having enough time to explore more. After breakfast we went to Parque Histórico Guayaquil, which was a mix between a zoo and a colonial village. I really think we could have spent our morning doing something a bit more interesting. However, after lunch we went to the Museo Antropológico y de Arte Contemporáneo, which was a surprisingly cool museum. I usually don’t enjoy contemporary art but this museum had some really cool art. Unfortunately I don’t remember the names of the art or the artists. The anthropological part was pretty cool too. They even had some artifacts from Agua Blanca. After passing some on the street by the Malecón, we got on the bus and headed to the airport to catch our flight back to Quito. I had the window seat again and it was also another short lfight-only about 45 minutes.

Overall, I enjoyed the coast. Living with the family was really interesting. I really learned what subsistence living was like. It is a very different way of life than I am used to. I also learned more about how I’m going to conduct my research and all over the next month in Riobamba, but I still don’t know what to expect from that. Anyway, moving along.

The next day as a free day. In the morning I had Quichua class. Derek and I headed off to the map place, some military institute where they let you print off whatever map of Ecuador you need. Then I went into the Mariscal to type a paper and print it as well as use the internet. However, I went with my fellow Quichua classmates to the Plaza Grande because our teacher said we could attend a class with the bureaucrats and policemen (but not the president-he was giving a prize to some Argentine singer), but we never met up. So I went back to the Mariscal until later that night.
On Friday, we talked about the coastal excursion in class and that night I went to Anna’s house where we watched French Kiss and made pancakes with chocolate and banana. Then on Saturday I worked on my paper at my house and watched some movies and on Sunday I worked on the paper most of the day in the Mariscal with a lot of my fellow classmates who also needed to finish it. I wrote about migration, development, and women and how development causes more women to have to migrate.
On Monday we talked about the ISP and I had my last Quichua class. On Tuesday Luis Macas, the president of CONAIE (the largest organized indigenous organization in Ecuador) talked about the indigenous movement. He was pretty cool. The next day we talked more about ISP and the final. Then on Thursday we had our last class and our final exam. We received the rest of our ISP stuff (the money, mainly) and prepared to say good-bye for the month. That night a bunch of us went into the Mariscal to hang out. Amanda and I went to Papayanet for quite a while and watched four episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, which was kind of a waste of time, I know, but it was so nice to see something familiar after taking a long exam. My brain was tired so it was a nice break.
On Friday, I went into the Mariscal again to plan my trip to Peru with Anna. Later I met up with Amanda and we went to the Basilica, which was really cool. We climbed all the way to the top of the towers and the belfry, up some pretty sketchy steps into some pretty sketchy places. There’s a liability waiting to happen there. It was really nice though with some great views of the city. Later I went with her family to another church, La Compania, which is my favorite on the inside. A lot of the inside is covered in gold and it’s really beautiful. We joined up with a tour halfway through and found that it was a group of Germans. Their leader didn’t know a lot of Spanish but they knew English so Amanda and I translated for them from Spanish into English, which was kind of cool. I’ve been getting so many compliments on my English lately that I’m beginning to think that I really am improving. It started raining quite heavily (which isn’t abnormal in Quito, it normally rains every day) so they took me home and I stayed there for the rest of the night, mainly packing. I also watched The Sound of Music, which here is known as something like the Rebel Novice (La Novicia Rebelde).
The next day, I woke up and made sure everything was where it needed to be packed. I left the house around 10 to go drop some of my stuff off at the Hotel Alston and then head to the bus terminal in Old Town. I had gone down there earlier in the week, which was quite an overwhelming experience because there are so many companies and so many times. I didn’t know what company I was looking for and I went to buy a ticket and they told me I could only buy one on the day of the ride, so I waited until Saturday. I got there around 10:30 and bought a ticket for 10:45. I was expecting a direct ride to Riobamba but the bus kept picking up people from random places along the street. Also, we made side stops in Saquisilí, Ambato, and some other places. Some woman who was standing by my row passed out about an hour and a half into the ride which was slightly freaky, but she was okay. I was sitting by the window, which was really nice because there were these really great views the whole way. I saw Cotopaxi and Chimborazo, the volcano that overlooks Riobamba as well as all of the mountains in between. A few other things I saw was a man running with two sheep in his arms, both large and small farms with one undergoing a broccoli harvest, some evergreen trees that reminded me of home, and some llamas. Also, the corn is made into stouks, much like in Amish country in Ohio, which was kind of cool. I finally got into Riobamba at 3:30, a little earlier than I had planned, but I got to my hotel, which is really cute. It’s in this family’s home and I have a cute little room with a stained-glass doorway and window. I sat around for a little and then went off in search of some food because I was pretty hungry. I walked around the Saturday market a little, walked down the main street, sat in a park for a little while, and then headed back to my hotel. For dinner I had some Sprite, a vanilla snack pack, some Pringles, and some pan. Not a lot of the shops were open later on a Saturday but I managed to find enough for a few days. That night I watched Deadliest Catch in Spanish (which was known as “Pesca Mortal 3”) as well as some movie about soccer.
On Sunday, I watched Persuasion in the morning, from which I finally learned what a fortnight was-the Spanish translation is two weeks. I always wondered what it meant. I also watched some show on HBO about the royal family, Bridget Jones’ Diary, Scrubs, and What Not to Wear. I haven’t seen a lot of tv in a while so it’s been kind of nice to just have it on as background noise. For lunch I had some yogurt, a croissant, some chocolate, and tampico, an orange juice type of drink. I walked around a bit in the afternoon to some parks, one with a great view and one for kids right by the soccer stadium. There was a soccer game going on, but I didn’t have a ticket or know how the process worked so I just walked around outside. I went on the internet for a while and headed back to my hotel because I could see some rain coming in.

Today was pretty interesting. I started working at the Hospital Andino Alternativo de Chimborazo in the Andean medicine center. It's pretty interesting and very different than the medicine I'm used to. I wasn't quite expecting them to include me in seeing patients right away but about five minutes after being introduced to Tayta Antonio, I went to watch a limpia, which was slightly different than the one I experienced first-hand in Agua Blanca. I also watched the partera take care of a woman whose placenta was too low and the huesera take care of a woman's knees. Tomorrow they said there will be more patients so things could get even more interesting. They people I'm working with are all really nice and they include me in a lot, although they speak Quichwa a lot and since I barely know any I don't really understand anything they're saying. Oh well. And tomorrow I'll be moving out of the hotel into a family which should be nice. I met my fourth host mom today at the hospital (she works there) and she was really nice and helpful. And now I'm in a place with internet after walking home from the hospital, which took about an hour. I didn't think it was that far and I kept thinking I wanted to take a taxi but I also wanted to explore, so now I've seen even more of Riobamba, and I still like it a lot here. Although it just started raining and I'm still a block or two from the hotel. Oh well.

So now I’m finally caught up.

Finally

Well, I have a moment to breathe, but just for today. Tomorrow I start my research project and I have no idea what I'm doing but hopefully I will figure it out quickly. First, let me update.

The party with all of the families was okay. We ate this really weird-tasting turkey. It will not make up for the fact that I'm missing Thanksgiving this year. Oh well. A mariachi band came and played for us which was pretty cool and we all got together and danced, but you could tell the Ecuadorians thought our dancing was quite strange. The next day we had a huge crab dinner for my departure on Sunday. It was slightly awkward because my host sister had her friends over and they were all coupled up, but my younger cousin was hanging out with me so it was ok. They bought about 72 crabs for $45, I think that's a good deal. I don't really want to eat crab again after eating so much that night, but it was pretty good. Another funny thing: it was a dry weekend becuase of the elections, but that day I saw my host mom drink for the first time. I guess she wasn't worried about being arrested.
The next day was my last day in Los Chillos. I went to vote with my host mom which was a pretty interesting experience. We went into Quito to vote and my mom was voting at a school. I was allowed to go in with her and it was complete chaos inside. There were so many people and so many stations. I think the stations were divided by regions and then by sex, which I thought was kind of interesting. The ballot was huge and it was in color, which I thought was pretty cool. The process was really strange thought-you could vote for up to 38 people, but if you voted for more than one person you only gave them a fraction of a vote. On the way out my mom got her voting card laminated, I'm assuming becuase by law you have to vote. We later visited my host sister who was working the polls back in the valley and it was quite a family affair there. There were games, food, music, and other stuff going on around the polling places and everyone showed up for the party. It was pretty interesting.
We stopped at Supermaxi for some supplies and I noticed for the first time how expensive the clothing is there. I was expecting Wal-Mart prices, but I was pretty off. The shirts are around $20 and the shoes $50. The weird thing is that most people in Ecuador don't just have this type of money lying around to buy expensive clothing. I guess Supermaxi is just for the elite. We ate lunch in San Luis and then were off for me to catch the bus.
I returned to Quito and a bunch of us went DVD shopping, which was quite difficult becuase we couldn't choose just one movie to watch. We ended up watching "The Holiday" which is okay. Then the next day we were off to the Oriente, or the real rainforest.

Overall, the trip to the Oriente was amazing. We left on Monday and got a flat tire pretty much right away, but after that everything went fine. We first stopped at some hot springs in Papallacta which were pretty nice. The air was quite chilly though becuase we were pretty high up there. I think the highest place along the road to the Oriente was close to 4100 feet above sea level. We continued on the main road used by Colombian drug runners (although I don't think we saw any). Later on we stopped in Tena for a final ice cream. The weather was so different already. Then we made it to Alinhaui where we were spending the night. We split into two groups again and I was in the group leaving the next morning. My group went to the San Pedro community to work at their school. First we taught some classes in math and then we participated in a minga, a communal work project, during which we pained the kids school. Then we went for a short hike around the farm surrounding the school, during which I ate pure cacao (it's white, pulpy, and sticky) and came back to play soccer. Then we headed down the river in canoes to Arajuno Jungle Lodge, which was very cool. It's on a cliff overlooking the Rio Arajuno, which is safe to swim in so swim we did. The current was really strong though so I got wiped out just crossing the river. However, we had the rest of the day off so that wasn't too bad. There were hammocks everywhere and a swing that went out over the river that was pretty cool. The girls were all staying in tents under a shelter and right behind us were capybaras. I have been waiting quite a few years to see these so I was pretty excited to be sleeping twenty feet away from one. There were so many insects there, but not too many mosquitoes, which I guess is good on the malaria front. I soaked myself in bug spray though so I didn't really have any bugbites. There were also lots of leaf-cutting ants making this one path. Apparently they work 24-7, so there was a very visible path from one place to the next. It's amazing that something so small can make something as visible as a path.
The next day we made some pottery, coil method (I prefer wheel-I'm pretty bad at coil) and we walked around Tom's property with Miguel, who has been by far the most energetic guide. Then we went down the river again in a canoe, although it was a short ride becuase the bus was meeting us at a bridge. We rode back to Alinahui where we had a free afternoon, so I walked around with Andrea and Anna. We walked the driveway to the main road, stopping to walk into the forest a bit to this huge tree. We had our boots on so it was pretty easy to get to the tree. We saw some boys playing with tires in the road and we stopped to try to talk to them a little. We also saw the sign for the new airport they are trying to build in Tena, which is slightly controversial becuase it has something to do with Plan Colombia. Then we went back and had dinner. After supper was a shamanic talk which was pretty interesting. Then later that night we walked around the grounds for a night-walk. We saw lots of spiders in their huge 3-D webs, these huge conga ants that will really hurt you if they bite, and moths. On the way back we walked in a human chain in complete darkness, although there were a few lightning bugs to light the way. It was pretty cool.
The next day was busy. My group went on a three-hour hike thorugh the rainforest. Our guide Lennon-aka Lenny-made a swing for us which was pretty cool. We also got to eat lemon ants which I had been waiting to do. They really did taste like lemon. I even went back for seconds. We found more gigantic trees. Then we had solo exercises in the forest. I was all by myself in one spot for half an hour to think about things. It was pretty cool to just observe my surroundings as completely as I could in the silence. I saw a conga ant walking along on a log so I decided to stand up the whole time. We then headed back for lunch and then began the long trip down the Rio Napo, the river that would eventually join the Amazon (hence the name Amazon Basin for the area we were staying in). It was a great, relaxing ride. We went to Amazoonico, an animal rehabilitation center (not a zoo). They had lots of different animals. The monkeys were just hanging out outside of cages and one decided to lay in the tree right above me. We saw birds, capybaras, ocelots, and turtles. One monkey came right up to us and tried to eat Megan's bracelet. Then we headed back down the river. We met up with the other group for the first time in a while back at Alinahui and we had a lecture by Alejandro Suarez from Jatun Sacha Biological Research Center (or something like that) about rainforest conservation. After dinner, during which Akiko found a tarantula and I predicted we would find one in our room, we went to the Laboratorio, the bar that all of the scientists at the center frequent. It was pretty fun. Some Ecuadorian asked me to dance a few times which was pretty awkward but slightly flattering. Back at our room, Anna noticed that there was a giant tarantula right above my bed. It was probably about as big as my hand. I freaked out a bit and we went to get Lenny to take it out somehow. I don't think he believed us that it was a tarantula until he saw it. Then he told us that it was a poisonous one and proceeded to try to get it out of the room. The spider had climbed up the wall by then so Lenny climbed up to the celing to scare it out, which he did. He would have killed it for us, but we were in a humane mood and told him to just let it go off into the jungle. However, it's nest was still in the room so I was slightly worried that it would come back. I am surprised that I slept pretty soundly that night.
The next day we said good-bye to the Oriente. We left pretty early to make our way back over the mountains. We got back to Quito that evening and I went out with Anna and Rachel for Anna's birthday. We went to Seseribo, a great salsa club. It was pretty fun. We were sitting with a good view of the dance floor and it was great just watching the experts dance. Some buys sitting near us asked me to dance which was fun. I can't dance salsa very well but the second guy was trying to teach me through a few songs. We were all wiped out so we headed back to the hotel pretty early.

Overall, the Oreinte was really cool. I would love to spend more time there. The weather wasn't all that bad either. It didn't rain too much and there weren't really too many mosquitoes. I only got about two bugbites because I used quite a lot of bugspray. The flora and fauna in the area is also incredible. It's green pretty much where ever you look. The rivers winding through here are cool as well, except many of them are polluted from the oil companies drilling in the area.

I'll continue with the update, continuing on in Quito and the coast. Right now I'm in Riobamba for a month, all by myself, to study traditional medicine and the Ecuadorian public health system. Then I'll write a 35-page paper, head back to Quito for a week, hopefully make it to Machu Picchu, then home. Hope everything is going well for everyone. Chao!

After the coast

I survived the coast. Still don't really have a lot of time to update, but there will come a day. Only one more week of class and then I'm on my own which is a scary thought. I'm going to Riobamba for sure, so things are heading in the right direction. Otherwise, I don't know what I'm expecting for my project. Sorry to be boring but I have work to do. Chao.

Still alive and well

Hello all. I'm still here in Ecuador. I'm now living in Quito with a family of a mom, a dad, and two brothers, so things continue to be interesting. I had a great time in the Oriente, the jungle. I will fully update when I have more time. Right now, I'm getting ready to go to the coast so things are pretty crazy. I am also planning a trip to Machu Piccu after the program, so that's taking up some time. Overall, things are good. Again, I hope to update sometime probably next week. I'll be on the Pacific coast from tomorrow until next Wednesday so I won't have time then. Hope everyone is doing well.

Good tidings

I am happy to report that I took my first malaria pill on Monday and I have not experienced any side effects so far. I´m taking Lariam and a lot of people had been telling me that I would have nightmares and hallucinations, but I haven´t had any problems. I was a little worried too because I was going into Quito that night, but nothing happened. So things are looking good for my trip into the Oriente on Sunday. Time is flying by. I only have three more days with my family here in Los Chillos. Then Oriente, Quito, coast, Quito again, and Riobamba.

Not much else is going on. We taught at a school for one of our spanish classes yesterday. It was a lot of fun. My partner and I had first graders for culture and we tried to teach them about American holidays and have them compare our practices with their's, but it didn´t work out too well. They weren't very talkative and were instead focused on coloring the pictures we gave them. They were a bit more active during the next class, which was art, and I only helped out, but we had fun making marshmellow towers and drawing animals. Then I watched the fourth graders playing dodgeball, which they all loved. And the second class I was teaching was fourth grade geography. We gave them all maps and contries and did some comparisons with distances from Ecuador. We tried to have them read facts out loud about each country, but the kids wouldn't quiet down for that activity. They all didn't want to see us go and overall it was a great experience. It's fun to work with kids.

Also, the classes all played a fun card game, Cuarenta, today. It's a team game and you basically have to go around and make pairs with cards in the middle. It's kind of hard to explain, but fun so I look forward to playing it more while I'm here. My partner and I won two games and then almost had the third with thirty-eight points, but we couldn't get a caida, when you make a pair with the card thrown directly before your turn, which you need to win the game and the other team came from way behind and won. Oh well. Maybe we'll start another tournament.

Well, the week will end with Quichua tomorrow evening, a party for all of the host families, us, our spanish teachers, and directors on Friday, and a crab feast with my family on Saturday. I doubt I'll get another chance to write until after the Oriente, but we'll see. Chao.

Quito

I finally got into and out of Quito on my own today. I rode the bus to the Marin, a big bus depot, and then found another bus that headed a little further into Old Town. Then I just walked to the Basilica and went to Quichua lessons. After class, I walked back by the Basilica (it´s so cool that I get to see this at least once a week now) and went to the second Marin. However, I took the buses going the wrong way, but I figured this out after two stops and turned myself around. I finally got to the first Marin, the one I needed, and found my bus back into Los Chillos for only $0.30. For me this was a big accomplishment.

This past weekend I went to el Parque Itchimbia and el Panecillo but I forgot my camera so hopefully I´ll get to return to both when I have my camera. I don´t know if I have written about this already, but my family never tells me where we´re going, just that we are going for a vuelta. It´s either ¨Vamos¨or ¨Ven, Chris¨and then we´re off to who knows where. This weekend we went to the park for a nice panoramic view of the city. Then we went to the Panecillo since I expressed an interest in going. I climbed up the Virgen statue and got some more great views of Quito. The we at at Cafe Mirador with more views of the city from the roof. I love the city. And since I´m finding it a lot easier to use the buses and I kind of know my way around, I am really looking forward to living there next month. And, I feel safer going places by myself, but only during the day. We´ll see how everything works out.

Punk and Jazz don't mix

To start off this post, I just want to write about some random thoughts on things I’ve noticed over the past month and things I may have forgotten to mention in the blog:

Mama porque soy fea
There’s this weird tv show on one of the Ecuadorian channels. It’s not really like a telenovela because it’s just on once a week on Sunday night. It’s about a bunch of spinsters living together but the catch is that the spinsters are actually men dressed as women. It’s also a period show and it takes place probably during the 1800s or early 1900s. I haven’t actually seen it but I see ads for it all of the time. Maybe I’ll watch it one of these days. It just looks so weird.

Maid
My family has a maid. That’s pretty common here I guess. She cleans the house, cooks the lunches, and does the laundry. I talk to her every day and she seems to like me. We talk about all kinds of stuff like religion, politics, the economy, things that she says I need to do while I’m in Ecuador. I feel bad because she’s doing my laundry and making food for me, but I guess she just feels lucky to have a job. She comes here from Quito every weekday morning and leaves later in the day. I don’t know exactly how things are on weeknights, but I have been told not to take the bus alone at night and she does this every night to reach her home. She has two daughters, one my age and one who is eighteen and she keeps telling me how she wants them to get an education and leave the country so that they can have better futures. She also hopes to leave the country and move to America or Spain some day to make a better life for herself. On the weekends when she doesn’t come, we usually eat out because my host mom doesn’t really like to cook.

Toilet paper and toilets
Here, it is unusual to find a toilet in which you can flush the toilet paper. Most septic systems would backup if you did this. I have gotten pretty used to this by now. I haven’t really had a problem with accidently flushing toilet paper and clogging a toilet, but I still feel tempted once in a while. It was so weird using the latrines at Intag and putting the toilet paper down the hole. It’s definitely going to be different going home and flushing the paper.

Brushing teeth
I miss brushing my teeth with tap water. I just miss drinking tap water period. I get these bursts of extreme thirst that sometimes are hard to quench because I don’t have access to unlimited water. I have enough water to meet my needs though and I drink a lot when I have access to clean water. However, I don’t brush my teeth at all with tap water. I don’t even rinse it off, just to be safe. Therefore, my toothbrush is full of toothpaste gunk. I’ll have to clean it off sometime. Drinking tap water and using it to brush my teeth is one thing I miss doing and look forward to upon returning to the U.S.

Self-medication
Everyone here is really into self-medication. My host mother takes a ton of pills and one morning, when her stomach was bothering her, she took a potato, squeezed the juice out of it while it was still raw, and drank it. I don’t think this sounds too appetizing. Also, oregano tea is a big one for feeling a bit under the weather. Also, it’s so easy to get any medication you need here. You don’t really need a prescription for things. I could go and buy more malaria medication if I really wanted to.

Tv-English programs
It still sometimes weirds me out when I see Simpsons or Spongebob in Spanish on tv. A lot of the television shows on Ecuadorian channels are from America and are just dubbed in Spanish. There is Futurama, Sex in the City, Dragonball-z, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Smallville, and lots of movies. I just watched Johnny English and there have been tons of ads for Juwana Man. Also, just starting now is Kull, the Conqueror (or Kull, el Conquistador). The same goes for movie theaters. Most of the movies are from the states and just have Spanish subtitles.

Coca cola zero
A lot of people here drink coca-cola zero. I had some at a family gathering. However, apparently the beverage here has an ingredient in it that is not permitted in the US. I’m not sure exactly what the reasons for this are, but I find this a little sketchy. Nevertheless, I haven’t had any bad affects from this.

Elections
There are elections coming up on 30 of September here in Ecuador. The president decided to throw out the old constitution and write a new one so there are elections for a constituent assembly. Apparently 3000 people are running for 140 seats. Everyone in the nation has to vote by law. I’m not sure what the penalties are for not voting, but the common practice of those who don’t want to vote is to write a bad word across the ballot. Also, the whole process of counting votes sounds so complicated. You can vote for a ton of candidates if you want, but they’ll only get a fraction of a vote depending on how many you choose. If you only vote for one person, they get a whole vote. There are so many ads for the elections. There are also tons of people handing out propaganda on the street. They even offer some to me for some reason though I can’t vote in the elections. Maybe I’m starting to look like an Ecuadorian?

Eggs and milk
Eggs and milk are not refrigerated here. At first I thought it would make me sick, but so far so good. The milk apparently has this super pasteurizing process that kills all of the bacteria and makes it safe to keep unrefrigerated for a month. I haven’t had any plain milk-I usually drink it in a milkshake with bananas or with Ensure (not sure why my family buys this, but ok). Also, the egg issue-most people here, I think, like to eat eggs “duro” which I guess means virtually uncooked. They go in the pan for less than a minute and then they’re ready to eat. I was worried about salmonella, but so far I’ve been fine. I try to get my host mom to cook mine a little longer, but they’re still a little on the raw side.

Back to my life:

After getting back to Los Chillos, we just had class on Thursday as usual. Then on Friday, all of the classes had their own trips into Quito. My group had a few problems. First, one of my classmates was ill. Then, another one didn’t remember where to meet that morning to catch the bus to Quito (only $0.40 for a 20 minute or so ride) so we were late meeting up with our professor at the Universidad Catolica. We got into Quito and saw the line of people outside of the US embassy building (one of the uglier buildings I’ve seen) waiting to get visas. Apparently they start lining up at 6:00 even though lining up early doesn’t give them a better chance of getting a visa. Then we were walking when another person from the group tripped over a concrete structure just sitting in the middle of the sidewalk, so we spent 20 minutes in a pharmacy getting stuff the clean it off with. We were supposed to go to the Basilica, but that involved a lot of climbing narrow staircases into the towers and that would have been difficult with a scraped knee, so we decided to go to the Museo del Banco Central. The museum was pretty nice. However, about 45 minutes into the first part of the tour, the pre-Colombian period part, I started to feel really light-headed and hot and I asked my teacher to find a seat where I could just sit, and we were on our way out when I couldn’t see or hear anything and I guess I just passed out, but a few other people were supporting me as well so I didn‘t fall or anything. We made it to the seats in the lobby and I woke up and someone gave me some gum and water. Later I ate an apple and talked to the guy sitting next to me. I felt much better after half an hour or so, but I was still a little shaky so I spent the remainder of the hour and a half in the lobby watching tourists and workers. I think I just didn’t eat enough breakfast because I didn’t eat as much as usual, but it was so weird. After everyone was done with the tour, we went to get lunch at Café Amazonas and I had the menu, which was a beef steak, some soup with barley, rice, chocolate ice cream, jugo de naranjilla, and some water all for $4.50. That was the end of walking around with the group.

I went off with Amanda to the centro historico to walk around and wait for my Quichua lesson. I waited in line to get into the presidential palace but I didn’t have too much time so I headed off for my lesson shortly before it was our turn to go in. I talked with one of the academic directors about my ISP project and I wanted to take Quichua and he agreed that it would possibly help me with my final project if I knew how to speak some Quichua. So, I had my first hour of Quichua in a man’s house near the Basilica, so I got to see the Basilica after all, but I hope to go back for a real tour. Quichua was very interesting and very overwhelming. It’s so different than Spanish and I’m learning rudimentary things again, like I am ____ and My name is _____. I enjoyed it though and I’m so happy I have this opportunity. Another cool thing is that my teacher is also the teacher of the president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, and apparently the president wants to meet other Quichua students, especially those of us from the U.S. The teacher asked if we wanted to meet him next Saturday, which would be really cool because that’s election day, but that’s also the last day with our homestay families so we really can’t do it. But he said another weekend would be fine and we can talk to each other in Quichua. Also while we were in the lesson, someone called the teacher and we asked him in Quichua if it was the president (because I can kind of ask that) but he responded that no, it was just the minister of something. After the lesson, I hung out with some of my companeros for a while in the centro historico and then in the Mariscal. We walked around and went to a bar and a Mongolian Barbeque. I was surprised that I didn’t see too many gringos in the bars, but I guess it was kind of early. It was probably around 7:00 and we were just killing some time. After that, we headed to this club that Siena recommended, El Pobre Diablo, to watch a band perform. We got there about an hour and a half early, but it was nice to just hang out. We split a bottle of wine between a big group and just talked and had some potatoes with cheese sauce. Then the band, Musica a la Carta, performed. It was actually a mixture of two bands, one jazz and one punk. It was interesting. The cool thing about this performance was that people from the audience got to choose which songs the band would play and while they were playing the songs, the audience member could take out players, speed things up, change the style, and do other things. However, it just wasn’t my thing. I was hoping for more jazz than punk so there was a little too much screaming into the microphone for me. I left around 11:30 with some people but it took forever to get out of there because they waited until people were leaving to make us pay the cover charge and the bill for our food. We finally got out and four of us got a taxi back to the valley. Originally the driver told us it would be $12 but he raised it to $15 when he found out that he had to make multiple stops. It wasn’t the most pleasant taxi ride because he went the wrong way and got a little angry with us for not telling him where to go, but I got home safely by 12:30. I went to bed because I was really tired.

Then on Saturday, I slept in a little bit. I spent most of the morning working on my personal and national history paper due on Monday. I went out for lunch with my host mother and grandmother. We ate at Cebiche de Ruminahui and I had some grilled fish with a plaintain, rice, tostadas, cucumber salad and lemonade. It was pretty good. Then we drove my host grandmother back to Quito to her house and dropped her off and drove back to the valley. I worked on my paper some more and updated stuff on face book and on my blog. Then I just felt like organizing my stuff a little more and took everything out of my bags to figure out what I had and start getting stuff together for the rainforest next week.

As of today, I’ve been in Ecuador for a month. I can’t really believe it’s been that long. Time really has flown quite a lot here. Also, I only have five more Spanish classes, one of which is teaching at a school and another of which is taking the final exam. Then, only one day after that with my family and then back to Quito for the night, and then off to the Oriente. This means that tomorrow I have to start taking my malaria medication, which should be interesting. Apparently I have the medication that makes you have hallucinations and nightmares. We’ll see how that goes. As long as it keeps me from getting malaria. The hallucinations might be fun hen I'm trying to teach first-graders about culture and fourth-graders about geography the next day. Well, that’s it for now. I probably won’t update again until I’m back from the rainforest, although I may try to use the internet one last time right before I leave. We’ll see how things work out. Chao.

Long update

One of the many waterfalls at Intag

Walking through the forest

I haven't updated for a while, due to lack of free time or internet that works well. So hopefully this will work out.

Picking up from the Monday out, Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty normal, except that I finally talked to my parents on Tuesday night for the first time since I've been in the country. It just takes several tries to get through to my cellphone, probably because the lines here are always busy. The phone connection is kind of funny because there is a delay, which made conversation kind of challenging, but it was still really nice to talk to everyone.

Wednesday night, I didn't feel too hot, so I stayed home from school the next day because they were going to the market and I didn't think it would be great to go. I never actually was sick, I just felt really sick. Some bacteria finally penetrated my defenses. I watched a bunch of telenovelas that day, including 'Amor Real' which is one that I watched this past summer. It's different being sick here. I told my host mom that I wasn't feeling well and that I didn't want to go to class, so she called one of my groupmates and told him that I was tired and wanted to rest. He called me back to see what was going on so I told him that I was actually kind of sick. Then, for lunch, I didn't want to eat more than a bit of rice and some chicken, but everyone thought that the reason I didn't want to eat was because I was in love because I guess here the only reason for not eating is being in love. Also, the maid thinks that the reason I'm sick was because I didn't eat her cooking the day before, which might be it, but she claimed that if I didn't eat her cooking, I would be even more sick. Thursday night, I was feeling better so I went to the market in Sangolqui with my host family and they bought a huge amount of fruits and vegetables for under $40. They seriously had two large sacks and a large box full of everything from babaco to apples to mote to bananas. So I got my market experience in that day after all.

On Friday, the classes had a big food thing going on, but I still wasn't feeling great so I didn't eat too much. Later I had a pretty good discussion with the maid about religion and ethnicity. She was surprised to hear where my great-grandparents came from. Then we started talking about religion and she told me she was Jehovah's Witness, which surprised me because of the huge hold the Catholic Church has here. It was hard to describe to here what Lutheran meant, let alone Protestantism. Later that night I went out with some girls from the group to see a movie in English to kind of unwind. We saw Preguntandole el viento, or 'Asking the dust', a movie from a year ago starring Selma Hayek and Colin Farrell. It was ok, kind of depressing. It really reminded me of Moulin Rouge only without singing and dancing and actually being good. The funny thing was listening to the movie in English and then reading the Spanish subtitles because some of the translations were quite humorous.

On Saturday, we hopped on a bus and headed off to the bosque nublado (cloud forest) in Intag, north of where we've been. The trip took about 5 and a half hours, an hour and a half of which was on a bumpy, gravel road in the mountains and a half hour of which was hiking to the reserve, Intag Cloud Forest Reserve, where we were staying. The scenery from the bus was incredible, so many nice views of mountains. The road went right on the side of some mountains, so the drop off was kind of exciting/scary, but I really enjoyed the ride. We got to the reserve and ate lunch right away, which was incredible. We had vegetable lasagna, cookies, salad (the lettuce is okay to eat here because it's organically grown right on the farm), and lemonade. Later I explored a bit with some people and we hiked into the forest to one of the waterfalls and later up a hill to another waterfall where I slid down a natural water slide. It was pretty nice to play around in some water. We also saw some birds known in english as cocks of the rock, which are these very loud bright red birds that people come to Intag from all over the world to watch. Later on, the owner Carlos talked to us about his farm and his organization, DECOIN, which opposes mining in the area, especially in Junin, a town closes to where we were. He has an incredible story, including many death threats and one recent close call where people for the mining company came to the farm to kill Carlos, although he had left fifteen minutes or so before and was hiding out in the forest for a while afterwards. The organization and the community have been able to hold off the mining process so far, but who knows how long until other companies come in to exploit the copper reserves. There's a good video about this issue that we watched: http://www.ekostv.com/node/227. Carlos was just an incredible guy to talk to. Later that night, we had some more great food and then played cards.

The next day, we had some great pancakes with vanilla syrup for breakfast with some fresh coffee grown on the farm. Then, my group had a nice four hour nature hike with Roberto, a local who knows a ton about the cloud forest. It was a really nice hike, but before we knew it we were hiking up a mountain/hill. I'm still not sure whether what we hiked was a mountain, but it felt like it. To make matters worse, we were all wearing botas de caucho (rubber boots) because the trail was muddy in places and we had to cross some streams. We found some nice waterfalls and caves, as well as some nice views from the top of the mountain. Along the way we saw some huge beetles, strange spiders, butterflies, larvae, and some birds. We got back in time for another great lunch of salad, rice, lentils, and more. Then MaryEllen, an American who is now an Ecuadorian who knows her history of the country and is the editor of a local newspaper, lectured us on the history of Ecuador. Later that night, we just hung out while Faba told stories.

The next day was my group's turn for painting and drawing which was a nice relaxing activity. We drew leaves, flowers, and people without looking down at the paper and then we used watercolors to fill in the drawings a bit. Carlos's wife, Sandy, who used to live in the U.S., led the session and she was really nice. That night, we had really good quinoa burgers for dinner and some of the guys in our group organized a sweat lodge. I didn't do the sweat lodge but I stood by the fire and then watched the video about the copper industry and some taped footage of encounters between villagers and mining personnel. It would be great to do my Independent Study Project on this issue, but I think I'm already pretty set on doing traditional medicine and the public health system. Faba already things he has a good connection with a hospital in Riobamba where I can volunteer while doing my project. I'm glad things are working out while in that area. Most people don't know what they want to do yet and I'm already on my way to finding a place to go.

General reactions from the cloud forest: Everything is damp and once something is exposed to the air, it will not dry out until you leave. Even my bedsheets felt damp and my towel never dried. Our cabins, the place where we ate, and the pavillion didn't have electricity so we used a lot of candles to light the way, which was nice, especially eating by candlelight every night since the sun is down by 7:00. There were tons of dogs hanging around the farm. There was a really cute puppy that the family had just bought, but he liked to bite everything. I didn't really pet them too much because I was worried they all had fleas or some other type of disease, but I enjoyed seeing them. Also, we use latrines rather than real bathrooms, which is kind of cool because it really does help with the sustainable lifestyle of the farm. I had heard so often about sustainable living and finally getting to see it in action and working successfully was great. It's amazing what Carlos and his family are doing with their farm and their reserve. Also, the bugs there bit quite a lot and now, even several days after returning from the cloud forest, I have over twenty freakishly-large bugbites all over my lower legs and a few on my arms. It's a good thing the altitude is too high for the mosquitoes that carry malaria because I would probably have malaria by now if they did live there. And lastly, the food was great. It was so healthy and yet so tasty, and we didn't have any meat the whole time. Also, the lemon tea was amazing. I miss all the good, healthy food. Also, there were hammocks all over the place and they were so nice to relax in. I worked on trying to get a little further in 'Northanger Abbey' in them, but they made me want to nap. I'll have to buy one like them to take home. Overall, it was a great, beautiful, relaxing place to go and I'm so glad we spent a few days there. It would be nice to go back sometime.

We left the cloud forest on Tuesday morning, expecting to get back to Los Chillos around 6:00 with a two hour stop in Otavalo to shop at the world-famous market there, but things took a different turn. There was a paro (strike of sorts) and local people were blocking the autopista with different materials to prevent people from getting through so we couldn't take that route home. The people were asking for an irrigation system that the government had promised them but the president was out of Quito until next Wednesday so we weren't sure how the problem would be resolved. Anyway, our two hour stay in Otavalo ended up lasting until the following morning, but I really liked the city and it was fun hanging out with the group for one more day. My time in Otavalo was well-spent. I bought a lot of stuff to take home. They have so many beautiful things like hammocks, sweaters, jewelry, tablecloths, and so much more. I hope to go back and buy more, but I don't know how I'm going to be able to carry it all with me for the rest of my time in Ecuador. I also explored and found the city hall and a really pretty brick church. Later on, a big group ate pizza at this nice and cheap restaurant and we had some cake and wine on the roof of the hotel, which had a really nice view of the city.

The next day, the strike was still on and there was no gas due to the road block, but we still had some gas and our leaders knew of an alternate route. Again, we took a cobblestone, bumpy one-lane road through the mountains for quite a while, getting slightly lose along the way, but the road was gorgeous. There were really nice views of mountains and even of Cotopaxi and Cotocachi volcanoes. We got home in about five hours and all was well. The strike ended the next day when the government promised to pay for a new irrigation system, so it's really cool that the people got what they wanted.

So this is updated until Wednesday morning and I'll try to get the rest of it updated sometime in the next week. I've been online forever today so I feel like I should give it a break now. Chao.

How cool is it that we are stranded in Otavalo because there is a strike and people have shut down the roads. The only really not so great part is that they have also shut down the water supply. The strike is going on because the state has not delivered on its promise for an irrigation system. It´s great how democracy works here: people actually try to change things for themselves.

Well, I just spent a lovely weekend in Intag at the cloud forest there. It was quite fantastic. We hiked, swam, listened to lectures, played games, ate amazing food, and overall had a great time. I will update more later when I get to a faster computer. Until then, we will probably spend the night here, which should be fun. We also get to skip classes tomorrow because we won´t be getting home until tomorrow morning. Chao.

Monday night out

Elections are coming up: People campaigning in the Plaza Grande

Looking up at the Basilica

Cool view of part of the ceiling in the Palacio de los Arzobispos

Known as "Calle de las Siete Cruces" because of the seven churches with seven distinct crosses on this street

One of the many cathedrals

View from Plaza de San Francisco

Another view from the Plaza

The actual Catedral de San Francisco

All of the birds hanging out on the church

Well, a lot has happened in the last three days. On Sunday, I went on a tour of the historical part of Quito with my family. My uncle was mainly the one who told me about things, but it was fun walking around with everyone. I saw so many churches and other things, it was pretty difficult to process everything. The churches that I went into were all gorgeous, although many are undergoing renovations. We went in during mass so it was a little awkward walking around while the service was going on, but my uncle insisted that I see everything and other people were doing it. I just didn't take any pictures of the inside. I also saw the Teatro Bolivar, the national ballet group dancing, and lots of people. There are always just people hanging out in the plazas and walking around everywhere. We also drove into Quito to a mall that made me feel just like I was walking back into America. Although many people in this nation are poor, the stores are just like those in the U.S., at least in the malls. The prices are also comparable, so I didn't go crazy and buy a lot of cheap stuff. I took lots of pictures of everything I saw, but I can't remember most of the names. I'll try to look them up later.

Then, last night was pretty interesting. First of all, in school yesterday, everyone was talking about how they went to the bull fights in Sangolqui this past weekend. This happens once a year during this festival, which is going on right now. I didn't go, though my mom tried to go but the police stopped us becuase it was too crowded, so we went into Quito instead. My sister told me she was going last night and, since I didn't have that much homework, I decided to go with her. Her boyfriend was driving us around and he had two friends with him. So we all piled in his car and drove around Sangolqui for an hour and a half. There were just so many people there. It was only five, but it gets darker here earlier, so by the time we left, it was getting dark. Then, we drove to this parking lot and just kind of hung out there for a few hours. I guess people my age here just like to socialize where they can. It was kind of fun. One of the friends tried to teach me salsa, but I'm not that great at dancing. I also met a racecar driver of some sort who was really funny. I was home by nine, so I just finished my homework and went to bed early because I was really tired. The whole language barrier was definately present the whole time. I couldn't really understand most of what was being said. And, some people were trying to talk in English with me, but it was so broken that I had some trouble understanding them. But overall, it was a fun night.

Well, I'm having some trouble with the computer so I'll try to completely update later. Chao.

Tiempo libre

I finally have some free time and the internet is working well (although it won't let me upload any pictures). So, now I can sit and think about everything that has happened in the past two weeks.

I have finished a week of classes, which consists of five hours of spanish a day. About two hours or so is grammar, half an hour for break, and then another hour and a half or so of tallers, about culture and history. Classes have been okay. I tested into upper intermediate, mainly because my conversation level isn't very high. I did great on the grammar though. This means that classes are going kind of slowly. We aren't really doing that much conversation so I already feel like I know everything we're going over grammar-wise. The culture classes have also been kind of slow. We kind of just do busy work, like reading a sheet on a person and then summarizing it for the rest of the class. I talked to the director about it, which was kind of frustrating because she told me that if I moved up, there would be seven people in the class which would be too much. The frustrating part was that she had just let someone else move up a level the day before. The good thing is that the class (minus the teachers) talked about how things were going and we all feel that the pace is kind of slow and that we need more conversation. We wrote this on our evaluations so things might change next week.

Class was kind of fun on Friday. We had an hour of games that people play in Ecuador. My group did a race with an egg on a spoon in your mouth. Another group did this thing with London Bridge mixed with tug-of-war. Yet another group had a four and three leg race. Another game was dancing with a tomato in between forheads. It was pretty fun and more bonding for the group.

Taking the bus to and from school has been pretty easy. I walk about fifteen minutes to reach my bus stop at the Triangulo in San Rafael, which is a nice walk every day. Then only $.20 will get me home. It's always pretty cloudly on my walk home, but a few days ago I got a really clear view of Cotopaxi, which is spectacular. The way I saw it, it was a giant snow peak coming up from the clouds. Usually clouds cover the entire mountain, but it's still cool to know that there is a volcano there, right under the clouds somewhat close to where I'm living. I just hope it doesn't blow because apparently, it would cover the whole valley.

I've also found out that t.v. programs kind of start on "Ecuador Time," which means that they don't quite start when they're scheduled, but normally a little after. Ecuador time means that when you're invited to a party, you show up about half an hour to an hour after the time you're told. I have yet to experience this as classes don't go by Ecaudor time; they start at 8:00 sharp, and I usually get there at 7:30 because my host mother drops me off on the way to work.

We did have a dinner party here for friend of my host family who are moving to the U.S. to be near their two children who had already moved there. They were really friendly. The dad knew English, and although I thought it was pretty good and could understand him, he kept insisting that I call his english "real hamburger" which I really don't understand, but I think it's supposed to mean that it was really bad. We ate some strange but pretty good food: a "pear" that was actually pear skin around potato and ham, a piece of what I thought was bread but was actually meat with vegetables and hard-boiled egg inside of it, chicken and bacon on toothpicks, and a flan that didn't really have any sugar in it.

I bought a cell phone. It tooks two failed attempts (they only sell phones a few hours a day) and today, the phone almost didn't work, but the woman assured me (I think) in spanish that it would work. It cost about $55 and I have to pay more for minutes, but it was one of the cheapest ones. We'll see if it works.

I'm so glad I'm not a vegetarian any more, not because I like meat (I still don't really like it) but because here, "vegetarian" just means that one doesn't eat beef and/or pork. I was served "vegetarian" vegetable soup on Friday that was definately chicken broth with big hunks of chicken in it. I'm also learning that it's just so hard to communicate in spanish at times. It takes so much concentration to hear what people are saying, especially if they are not talking loudly. This becomes more challenging as I'm trying to watch t.v. and keep up a conversation at the sametime. Things get pretty interesting. Well, it's getting late and I think I have an early morning tomorrow: off to visit the historic center with my host mom. It should be good. Until next time, Chao!

Jugo de pina and other things I love

I had the most amazing pineapple juice for lunch today. I can´t believe how good all of the juices are. And just the fresh fruit. And the rice. All of the food so far has been fantastic. I worry that every meal is going to make me sick, but amazingly, my stomach has been good to me. Hopefully this will continue.

I also have been watching loads of telenovelas. My host mother watches ¨Cobras y lagartos, a novela from Brazil, that seems pretty good. I have also seen a bit of Madre Luna and Dame chocolate. There are also some that I was watching at home from Mexico that I can continue to watch here. I know they´re really cheesy, but I love them. It´s a good way to learn conversational spanish too.

I still love the mountains and the site of Cotopaxi outside of my house everyday. It´s usually really cloudy, but yesterday and this morning I had a great view of it. I just hope it doesn´t erupt while I´m here. That wouldn´t be too fun.

I need to write more when I can organize my thoughts. Every time the computer works well, I try to do a million things at once. I´m pretty tired because I´m not used to getting up early to go to class yet. Hopefully some sleep this weekend will help. I don´t know what I´m up to, but I think I´ll be going into Quito and maybe to a market in town. As long as I get some sleep, I´ll be just fine. I´ll try to update more tomorrow with some pictures, if the computer decides to work again. Chao (which is the spanish way to spell it; I´ve always spelled it Ciao which is the italian way)

En Valle de los Chillos

Los Andes

On the equator

Group on the equator

View of San Antonio de Pichincha (city in the middle of the world)

Independence Heroes Monument in the Plaza Grande in Quito's Old Town

Presidential Palace-Rafael Correa does business here

Ecuadorian Flag on top of the presidential palace

View from the plaza inside of the cathedral on the Plaza Grande

El Panecillo y la Virgen

Avocado tree in my backyard

View of Cotopaxi from my urbanizacion

Well, it's been a little over a week, but it still feels like I've been here for a while. I've gotten used to the ways of life, to an extent, and all is well. Here's a recap:

I adjusted pretty well to the altitude. After spending one night in Quito though, during which I slept very well and quite a lot, the group went to a hostel, Rancho Alegre, in San Antonio de Pichincha, which is known for being the city in the middle of the world. For tourists' sake, it's supposed to be on the equator, although it's off by about 8 seconds. But, I know I've crossed the real equator quite a few times because driving around the countryside takes you to more towns that are "on the equator" but really aren't, but the roads cross the equator quite a few times. The town we were in was pretty small and didn't really have much going for it, but people were nice. I was part of a smaller group that had to walk into a ferreteria (hardware store) and just talk to whoever was there about their business and so forth. The guy we were talking to was pretty friendly. We learned more about the city and what was going on. Apparently, the earthquake in Peru really frightened people into buying more tools and stuff to prepare for an earthquake here.

Orientation took about four days. The group seems to be getting along really well. The academic directors are also pretty nice. We talked about health (with great pictures of worms that people have grown in their digestive track-I can't wait to see mine!), safety, classes, and all of that kind of stuff. We had a very intensive introduction to salsa class that just reinforced my belief that I cannot dance. It was fun though and I hope to learn more, as well as Cambuche (sp?) and others. I learned how to play billiards correctly and also how to play mafia, which is fun with lots of people. We also watched an Ecuadorian movie, La Titan del Ring, which was pretty much the same as Nacho Libre, only in Spanish and slightly more depressing. I also walked right up to one of the mountains, just because I wanted to reach the Andes. The foothills probably start in the towns, but it was cool to just wander to the outskirts of San Antonio and start climbing a mountain. Also, one morning, I woke up at 4:00 to see the lunar eclipse and Mars, which was the closest it would have been to Earth for another 250 years, but I just missed it, by minutes, and could only see clouds.

I went to La Mitad del Mundo (the equator) with a pretty large group of people. It was pretty nice. The museum was definitely worth the $3.00 we paid. We even got a tour which really taught us a lot about the indigenous cultures here. However, it isn't the real equator, but just a wrong guess some Frenchman (I think) made many years before GPS came along to point to the real equator. Our last night at Rancho Alegre, we heard some Andean folk music, which was pretty neat. I bought a c.d. so if anyone wants to hear some, let me know. The next day, I went to a town, Calacali, for a project. Three others and I had to take a bus on our own to the town, walk around and talk to people there, and then find our way back to our hotel in Quito, all on our own. It was actually a pretty good time. We wandered around the fairly small town for several hours. It's known for being the home of the original monument of La Mitad del Mundo, but it also isn't on the equator but is very close. We talked to a guy for an hour and a half about his life, the town, and animals. He was really nice. His wife actually found us wandering around in the outskirts of town and invited us into their home. She left us with her husband who apparently just wanted to talk to us about how he used to be a guide in the jungle, be a farmer in the fields, own a hostel, and now own a salon. He also taught us all these words for different animals that I really don't remember. He had a daughter living with him and she had three kids and they were all really cute. They were fascinated by us and hung around, though when we tried talking to one girl, she kept saying "No entiendo" because our spanish must have been different than what she was used to. I can't help but notice the sensation that I cause pretty much wherever I go. I think it's going to take a while to get used to. Overall it was an interesting visit. Among other attributes, the town also has roosters tied up to trees in one of its public squares and people were cutting up a very recently alive pig right on the sidewalk where we were headed; we took a detour.

Back in Quito, I walked around the Mariscal (touristy part) where I ate a croissant with Nutella. Then I ventured into the colonial section with a group. Taking the bus is really easy and it only costs about a quarter to go to wherever you want, one way. The buses are kind of sketchy though-some are really dirty while others have televisions; none really follow driving rules. Old Town was swarming with people. We made it to a plaza and saw a monument and the presidential palace. We took a tour of a cathedral off the Plaza Grande which was nice, and also included a guided tour, and only cost $1.00. It was quite an extensive tour: we saw a tomb of an important figure (whose name I forgot, oops), some catacombs from above, a library, altars, clothing, lots of paintings, and much more. The tour took so long that we soon had to go back to the hotel for a group meeting. I want to explore some more when I'm back in Quito. A few observations from just walking around Quito (as well as San Antonio) is that there are stray dogs everywhere. Most of them are pretty mangy and likely have fleas, but I want to save them all. That won't happen, but I see them literally everywhere, even in my gated community. Also, lots of litter and closed stores. I guess the economy here isn't quite as good as it used to be-perhaps because of dollarization.

Right now, I am in los Chillos, a valley surrounded by the Andes. It's really nice and quiet where I am, but the place where the language school is is kind of noisy and polluted. I'm living in Sangolqui, the main city in Valle de los Chillos. It has a huge mall and a Mega-Maxi (superstore like Wal-Mart). I've travelled around here a lot and I have gone into Quito a few times with my host family, which is really a great family. I am living with a mom and a sister, and there's a dad who stops by all the time though the parents are "divorced" (don't really know what that means). I have been hanging out with my host sister and her boyfriend a lot. We played soccer, during which I scored three goals on Xavier who previously believed that women could not play soccer (I don't know where these skills are coming from) and we met these three kids who live in a huge house but are really poor. Their parents only work in the house and the kids kind of just hang out in the neighborhood during the day. They had two puppies, which they were treating pretty badly. I don't really know yet what to make of the situation. The next day was my host sister's 21st birthday, which was kind of awkward becuase I met more people: her dad, grandma, and cousin. But we didn't do much because she just had her wisdom teeth out and is allergic to most pain relievers so she was in a lot of pain. On Monday night, we drove into Quito to watch Disturbia, which was interesting. The boyfriend, Xavier, drives very, very fast and slightly carelessly, which was a little scary but kind of exciting. At least I was wearing my seatbelt, which a lot of people around here don't do. I also went with my family to visit extended family members (grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws) on Sunday and eat a big meal with them. It was pretty nice. We also watch a lot of the t.v., mostly from the smaller t.v. in the master bedroom while the whole family sits on the bed. It's fun watching t.v. in spanish because it's a challenge to figure out what's going on. I especially love telenovelas and look forwardto watching lots. There are a lot of American shows and movies on, though they are dubbed or have subtitles in Spanish. I watched Mary Poppins, Bruce Almighty, and a show about conspiracies about 9-11. Sometimes I'll hear music in english and feel right at home. We have also gone to San Luis, this huge mall. It has some stores that I recognize but lots that I don't. Everything is pretty much the same though. Clothing is pretty expensive, especially since many people in this nation live in poverty.

The house I'm living in is quite nice; it might even be bigger than my house at home. There is a bottom floor with a maid's quarters (yes, there is a maid, but she doesn't live here) and an entertainment room with a HUGE t.v., a bar, a game table, and a bathroom. Going up the stairs from there is the kitchen and dining room. There is also a room with a jacuzzi and another shower, but it only opens up from the backyard. I don't really understand this, but it's pretty nice. Up some more stairs is the study, a sitting room, another sitting room, and another bathroom. Then the next floor has my room and my sister's room as well as a full bathroom and a balcony. Then more stairs lead to the master bedroom with a large closet and full bathroom and another balcony. The tv in the master bedroom is as big as my tv at home. Then up more stairs to another balcony. All this in a very protected house with wired fence on top of an already large fence, as well as two garage doors and front fence that is locked at all times. There are fences around everyone's homes here and people really take their security really seriously, even though we are already in a gated community with guards and another fence. Some people even just put broken glass and rusty nails on top of their fences to keep intruders at bay. There is also a garden in the backyard, as well as lots of bird cages. My host mother likes to garden and she has aguacate (avacado) trees, lemon trees, and mandarin orange trees, as well as another fruit tree that I can't remember. Also, there are some really pretty tropical flowers. She told me it rains a lot here, but so far no rain. There are also some vegetables growing, like lettuce, carrots, and radishes (I think). The birds she has a tropical birds like parrots, cockatos, and others. They make quite a racket in the morning. My room faces the backyard as well as the forest and the soccer field outside the walls of the house. I feel locked in most of the time, mainly because I don't know how to open the doors, but I'm fine as long as I get out of the house once in a while.

The food has been pretty good. I've been eating some slightly questionable things (including a soup that is made with cow hooves, which is apparently somewhat common here), but so far all has been good. The tamales we ate as our first meal were fantastic. I love the soups and desserts. Here's an incomplete list of food and drink I have experienced: tomate de agua drink, lots of tea, tomato-cheese soup, spinach soup, lots of chicken prepared in various ways, lots of rice, lots of eggs (every morning), yucca bread and yucca french fries, yogurt in a cup, and many other culinary delights. They feed us a lot here. At Rancho Alegre, it was thre meals and two snacks. Lunch is huge-soup, then main part with rice, potatoes, and some kind of meat, and then dessert. I expected to lose weight while here, but that won't be likely if things continue going the way they are now. The first day with my family I didn't eat much just because I wasn't hungry. Most people don't eat dinner here unless it's for a dinner party. This means that people eat a snack much later in the day after a late (2:00-3:00) lunch. This is supposedly better for the digestion, especially at a high altitude. My mother told me that it was hurting her (not in a mean way, more of in a caring way) that I wasn't eating so I took a banana. The whole accepting and refusing food thing is going to be interesting.

Well, I'll probably get back on soon to write more and to fill in the gaps. I can't really remember everything because I've done so much, so I'll look back over stuff and update later. Ciao!