¡GOOOOOOOOLLLLLL!

Back by popular demand. Third World internet isn't the most reliable. Here are some pictures from Baños a few weeks ago..I realized I haven't put many up of Quito itself, I don't bring my camera out much. Part laziness and part chance it will get stolen. Use your imaginations?

That's me in the helmet, thinking about how logical it would be to jump off that bridge



I haven't been jumping off any more high objects lately, but I've been living an Ecua-lifestyle. Last weekend I went to a house party with my cousins Jose, Daniel and Daniel's girlfriend Ingrid. It was a lot of fun hanging out with locals, even though they're all obsessed with Metallica and think I have bad taste in music. Everyone was really friendly and funny. I think they're mostly all bilingual to an extent, and I got so confused switching languages I would just answer everyone in Spanish. It was hilarious to hear them dropping English swears and slang, I'm still not sure where they picked some of it up. Daniel told everyone I was from Conocoto because Connecticut has no Spanish pronunciation whatsoever, kind of like BRIGHID. I got home at 6 a.m. and slept a few hours until they picked me up to go watch the Ecuador national game versus Colombia (futbol, duh.) After the game we went to Daniel's apartment for another party for someone's birthday. I had a lot of fun again, they tried to teach me to dance salsa but I'm too white and uncoordinated.

I knew Latin America was obsessed with soccer but I guess I didn't realize the extent of nationalism. Heading to the bar Saturday, nearly everyone in the street (including this gringa) was wearing a yellow jersey, or had flags on their cars. All the bars and restaurants were packed with people yelling and going nuts over the game. It made me wish we had something like that in the U.S. It was kind of like when UConn bball dominates in the NCAA tourney, a Sox or Yankees game or the Superbowl, except literally the entire country gets into it - because it's not just any team playing, it's ECUADOR. There are other leagues that I haven't quite figured out, kind of like regional rivalries. All I know is that Jose tells me I like one team and Ibis tells me I like a different one...I'm sticking with neutrality for now. I was bummed when we lost 2-0! Luckily there was another game on Wednesday versus Bolivia and we rocked them, putting Ecuador in the World Cup (South Africa 2010). There's a home game in October at the stadium in Quito, I'm so pumped.

I can't get myself used to the whole Latino time thing. It was the same in Spain, everyone is always late because time is sort of subjective. I'm always the first one to my Ecuadorian classes even when I'm 5 or 10 minutes late. Yesterday my professor was half an hour late, so we got started at 9:30, then people started packing up to leave at 10:35 when the class is supposed to go to 11. I'm not saying I mind cutting the class in half, it's just so strange, UConn professors would never let that fly. The Universidad Catolica where I have one class reminds me more of high school than college. It's small and everyone is divided into their majors, so they basically have all their classes together starting freshman year. Each major has all the classes on a specific floor so everyone knows each other and hangs out before and after class in the halls. Also, apparently in Ecuador there aren't copyright laws so instead of textbooks you have to buy a stack of copies. The two I bought came to a total of $24.50 USD. Proof for the "textbooks are overpriced" argument.

I actually have a lot of homework to get done this weekend (taking a grad school class was a brilliant idea) so adventures will be minimal. Maybe.