One month? No me digas

Back to Quito after a fun weekend in Baños! Baños is a small touristy town surrounded by mountains about 4 hours south (on bus that is, it would probably only be 2 hours by car) known for its waterfalls and adventure sports. 10 of us from IES went on Friday afternoon. We went out to the bars that night after hamburguesas for dinner.
Saturday morning we sadly woke up to rain. Our plan had been to rent bikes and spend the day visiting the waterfalls, but raincoats or not it would be a miserable cold ride. One of the tour companies offered an alternative - a chiva ride on the waterfall route. Chivas are big open trucks with bench seats for passengers. The ride cost 4 dollars and most importantly we would be dry. We drove along this road that winds in and out of the mountains and overlooks different rivers. It stopped at 6 waterfalls in all, some of which you could only see from across the valley and others we literally drove through. The waterfalls were really beautiful and kind of scary- churning brown water crashing into the river. The last fall we hiked down to the very bottom where we got soaked by the spray.

The highlight of our chiva ride was when we stopped at a bridge where people were standing and looking at the river below - and at the people jumping off the side! Our driver told us they would wait for whomever wanted to jump, so obviously I was game. Basically we put harnesses and helmets on, strapped some heavy duty ropes to the harnesses and jumped off the edge. It was more of a fall than a jump, a one-second free-fall before you started swinging over the river. It was AWESOME. I was so pumped watching other people do it, and a little scared but not as much as I though I would be. I have no sense of how many feet the bridge was but it was HIGH, such an adrenaline rush! The pouring rain only added to the fun. At the bottom, after swinging to a stop and getting back on land my legs were shaking like crazy. One of the guys that pulled me in asked if I was nervous..well, yea, I just jumped off a bridge dude. It was so worth waiting in the rain, I would do it again in an instant. I'll try to upload the video but third-world internet isn't the most efficient...[Mom/Dad, it's ok, I'm alive, aren't you glad I tell you things after I do them?=)]

When we finally got back from our waterfall visits the sun was coming out but we were too tired to sign up for a rafting trip or anything at all ambitious so we just walked around the town and watched people making taffy from sugar cane. That night after dinner we went on another chiva ride, this one to the top of a mountain where you can supposedly see the active volcano on a clear night. Unfortunately we were in the middle of a cloud and couldn't see very far so we just enjoyed the bonfire and this fire-juggling show.
Sunday morning after breakfast we headed back to Quito, I actually had a decent amount of homework and reading to do for today. Ready for Month #2!

Just your average fin de semana

My weekends around here technically start Wednesday...but I'll skip the details. Saturday morning a few of my friends and I took off to Mindo, a quiet little town about 2 hours north of Quito famous for fun outdoor adventures. We bought a tour package when we got there to go hiking and later tubing. First, we all climbed into the back of a pickup truck and SPED along this bumpy, windy dirt road, which was a sport in itself. It reminded me of riding in Tim's Jeep, only faster and standing up. After about a 15 minute drive we arrived at a little cable car that took us across the valley. The view was great, high above the trees as you can see in the pic above (that was a decent sized stream!)

From the other side we hiked to a few cascadas (waterfalls) and jumped in the freezing water. Mindo is technically rainforest, although it's not exactly tropical. A lot of the leaves are gigantic, and there are plenty of ferns, moss, and vines. We didn't see any wildlife aside from some big red ants. There are 7 waterfalls in total on the hike but some of the girls were catching a bus back to Quito later in the day so we didn't have time to see all of them. The ones we went to were small but very pretty and tranquil.

After hiking back to the cable car we hopped into the truck again and sped off to the river to go tubing. The river was about as wide as the Shetucket or Willimantic, shallow and fast. We were on a round raft that consisted of 8 big round black tubes tied together. Two guides came with us to maneuver around all the rocks in the river. It was SO much fun, I want to go again during rainy season when there's more water and more rapids! Much different from floating down the Shetucket on pool floats. =)

4 of the girls went back to Quito Saturday night so they could go on a trip with the hiking club at our universidad on Sunday, but my friend Kathy and I decided to stay. We got beds in a quiet little hostel in town right next to a small river. It was basically a roof and some walls, a few windows but mostly open and airy. The kitchen area (see picture) was outside and unenclosed. It was a huge difference from Quito with gates and high walls topped with glass to keep out "undesirables." [Bree, punctuation inside quotation marks? Juggling 2 languages is killing my grammar.]

On Sunday after breakfast we headed back up the hill for our next fun activity hundreds of meters above the trees. Ziplining was AMAZING. We went on 10 different lines zig-zagging over the canopy. I wasn't scared at all, to the point where I was thinking, Shouldn't I be scared? A little? Oh well!
That's me!!====>>>>
You could go by yourself just leaning backwards standard issue, or with a guide doing the "mariposa" (upside down) or "superman" (hanging from your back, self explanatory). The guides were very nice and told us about some of the flora and fauna, pointing out medicinal plants and a kind of palm tree that's endangered because people chop them down for Palm Sunday. Anyway, if and WHEN Tim and the Johnson kids visit we are definitely going ziplining! I can't wait to jump off bridges in Baños...just kidding Mom.

From ziplining we walked back to town and stoppped at a little organic coffee plantation. It was cool to see the coffee plants and how the beans look before they're roasted, plus a free sample at the end. We went to this great juice bar too with swings for chairs and 15 different frutas to choose from.

I finally got home to Quito around 8:30, exhausted and ready for dinner and bed. Instead I was greeted by a chaotic bilingual chatter from the dining room. Ibis's husband's brother, his wife, their son and his wife were all visiting from the U.S., and a few relatives from Quito were there as well. The brother has been living in Baltimore for about 20 years and speaks perfect English and his wife speaks minimal Spanish. The son was born in the states and understands some Spanish but hardly speaks it, and his wife doesn't either. Everyone was talking and translating from one language to another. A few times Vicente (the brother) would be in the middle of a story and say "Wait, am I speaking English or Spanish?/Hablaba inglés o español?" The funny thing is that I couldn't even remember. It was fun to talk to people from the U.S. and hear about their family. It just seemed strange to me that I could understand the older relatives but their son couldn't, and he's half Ecuadorian.

After a long, exciting weekend it's back to classes for the week! My life is tough. Here's a link to more pics! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2328613&id=9031237&l=8e98c4b96c


Oh yea...did I mention I spent less than $70 all weekend?

Más más más!

So apparently I'm not just in Ecuador, I'm studying in Ecuador..as in taking classes. I'm taking one class at the graduate school associated with IES on Human Rights. It's really interesting so far (despite being at 7 am) but will definitely be my hardest class. My other classes are with IES and the undergrad university, and shouldn't be too difficult. Some people were worried about having to study during all their free time here...study? If I wanted to study I would have stayed in Storrs!

This past week was really fun. We went to the Teleferiqo, which is a cable car that goes up 13,500 feet to Pichincha, one of the volcanoes outside Quito. We hiked and took pictures and rode horses (while wearing amazingly warm ponchos). The landscape is amazing with mountains and clouds framing the city.

My gringa friends and I are slowly getting used to going out around here. The main bar/club area is called La Mariscal but it's known as Gringolandia. It can be dangerous but you just have to watch your back (and your drunk friends' backs) and give fake phone numbers to the gringa hunters. I was actually relieved to find out that the bars here close at 2 am - staying out until 7 am in Spain was crazy but not the most sustainable lifestyle. 2 am leaves plenty of time to sleep and still enjoy daylight! Sometimes it can be annoying at the end of the night because cab drivers try to rip off Americans. You have to argue with them about the price, which should be around 5 dollars. I have more practice with Spanish so I tend get the lucky job, which is fine because I like a good fight.

On Sunday a few friends and I decided to return to the Teleferiqo to conquer Pichincha. It was about a 6 hour hike including some snack breaks, and really tough towards the end. It was actually scary at some points, with a narrow winding trail on the edge of huge cliffs and drop-offs. I REALLY wanted to make it to the top, but when we got to the first peak I was dizzy and lightheaded (not much oxygen at 15,500 feet) so I had to stop. The remaining 15-20 minute climb was almost vertical rocks and I didn't want to fall to my death 2 weeks into my trip. The view was still absolutely amazing. The best part was seeing planes taking off way below us in Quito and watching the clouds move in and out of the mountains.

My internet at home is somewhat slow so I'm not putting up pictures right now but here's a link to my Facebook album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2324317&id=9031237&l=ee556a0333. You can view them even if you don't have a account.

Pictures from the Pichincha hike to come!

Primera Semana=Sobrevivida!

Ecuador is crazy! I absolutely love it so far, though it's hard to note and describe what life is like down here. I've been mentally comparing everything to Spain more than to the U.S. because it's the only other foreign culture I know. Some things are similar, considering those darn Spanish conquistadors dominated for a few centuries but Ecuador has its own culture, flavor and style. People are very friendly here and easy to understand- no crazy accents for once.

I live with a family in a very nice house in the northern end of Quito. Right now it's Ibis, her 18 year old daughter Maria Elena and I. Ibis's husband, a lawyer, is working in the U.S. right now and her two adult sons live there with their American wives. Her brothers and a few other relatives live there too. Ibis speaks a little English from visiting the states and taking classes - sometimes she'll drop a random English word into conversation and I assume it's Spanish because of her accent, then have no idea what she's saying. I have a big bedroom to myself and for the first time ever my own bathroom! I could get used to this life.

Quito is a big city, set in the Andes at about 10,000 ft elevation. It's 70 and sunny every day, then chilly at night once the sun goes down but not too bad. I can walk a lot of places and there's an extensive bus system (25 cents a ride) or taxis for 2-3$. The buses are absolute chaos, you have to flag them down and yell when you want them to stop, all while being crammed in with a bunch of Ecuadorians, watching out for pickpockets and trying not to get thrown when the crazy drivers slam on their brakes (at random, because red lights are more or less "suggestions" here).

The past week I've been doing lots of rather boring orientation things within my IES group and taking a Spanish class, boring review for me right now. I'm excited to take classes at the Universidad here with Ecuatorianos, no more grammar or literature for this girl! Sadly there's only a men's rugby team, I definitely plan to befriend some guys on the team but I'll have to get my tackles in elsewhere.

Saturday we went on a group trip to Otavalo, a town about 2 hours north of Quito known for its huge indigenous market. The people sell everything from food to textiles and alpaca wool to souvenirs and live chickens. I haggled my way around and bought some awesome stuff for good prices. It's touristy but the people are friendly and genuine. I was in heaven with all the brilliant colors, jewelry and cool artwork, definitely going to return there before I go stateside.

On Sunday, Ibis and I went out to see the Bicentenario sights. There was a parade that lasted about 5 hours, including floats for each provence of Ecuador, president Rafael Correa, and other leaders from Latin America. Sometimes within Quito I'll suddenly remember that I'm in a third-world Latin American country - like seeing rows of security personnel with crowd shields and tear gas around the parade.

The Centro Historico was packed with people. We went to 3 or 4 museums, and I have to admit I was bored out of my mind. It was basically a series of portraits and statues of the saints, Mary, etc. which I definitely saw MORE than enough of in Europe (yes, I'm spoiled, but I think I've filled my life quota of Jesus paintings). People watching was fun though, and there's something really cool about witnessing patriotism as a foreigner.

After several hours of museums we went to my neighbor/relative's house to relax and eat. Everyone was really friendly and funny. I hung out with my "cousin" Jose who's 22. He works for American Airlines in between school so he's traveled to more cities in the U.S. than I have.

Today I went with Ibis, Maria Elena and some relatives to a town about half an hour away to eat and walk around. The restaurant we went to was basically a pig roast (I'll post pictures) with delicious Ecuadorian food. We got ice cream at this big mall then returned to Quito. Jose and I walked around the center for a while then saw G.I. Joe at the huge movie theater - $4.25 a ticket.

I'm absolute exhausted from two full days with no english. It's definitely easier than when I was first in Spain but it requires a lot of brain power. I've been kind of lame this first week, only out to the discoteca once so far! However I already feel more comfortable in the city, starting to figure this place out!