Baños is a small touristy town a 3.5-hour bus ride from the Southern bus terminal in Quito.
Spoiler Alert.
[Side Story: Yes, you are right. Your first grade Spanish has gotten you far. Baños does mean bathroom. But the town of Baños is technically named Baños de Agua Santa, or Baths of The Holy Water. Quote from some tourist website: "Banos draws its name from the 5 sets of thermal baths fashioned into concrete pools."]
Okay back to the story. So Baños is a small touristy town a 3.5-hour bus ride from the Southern bus terminal in Quito. Which is a hectic/tiring 2 hour bus ride through Quito from my house. Which we didn't really realize when we hopped on the Ecovia on Friday. Rebecca, Emory, and I had quite the time of trying to figure out where the bus terminal actually was and how we were supposed to get there. But we made it, met up with Megan (another girl who was going with us), bought our tickets, and were on our way. The Southern part of Quito felt like an entirely different country, and it wasn't even in a different city. I don't really know how to explain why, but it did. And the bus terminal was just as nice/legit as most airports. Super clean and big with all sorts of buses going everywhere.
And bathrooms. That you have to pay to use. This is actually not an uncommon thing here, and in my opinion it seems quite intelligent. Women have to pay 15 cents to use the toilet, and after paying they receive a small section of toilet paper. There is no toilet paper in the actual restroom. Men pay 10 cents to use the urinal and 15 cents to use the toilet. How embarrassing would that be. "Oh you gave me 5 extra cents sir." "Nope, I didn't." "Oh but yes you did, here's your 5 cents." "No, really, I don't need change. Can I just have my toilet paper?" "Ohhhhhh... [pained silence where both parties know that the man has to poop] Yeah, here you go sir, sorry about that." Anyways, I think this is a good thing because a) it helps out the economy which is always good b) it's less messy if you don't have extra toilet paper to get all over the floor and such and c) much of the time, and especially in less developed areas, you can't flush toilet paper down the toilet, you have to throw it away in the waste basket, but if you only have a little square, it can't get clogged and such!
Anyways...
I really love the introspection that long bus rides through a new place bring. I like road-tripping in a car as well, but when you're in a bus your mind is completely free to wander and wonder because there's nothing you can do to make the trip go any faster or slower, your plans are completely up to the bus driver. We left in the early evening so as we were driving the sun set on many sleepy nameless towns. We picked up local families and travelelers as we wound our way through the mountains. The sun set and as the lights passed I listened to music and let calm wash over me.
You know how people always say that they wish their life had a soundtrack? While when you're on a bus in the middle of the Ecuadorian countryside and you're listening to your iPod, your life does have a soundtrack and it is a completely soothing and existencial experience.
Anyways...
We arrived in Baños in the early evening and basically wandered around until we figured out where our hostel was. The streets of the town at night are not like Quito. In Quito when you walk around at night, even in a group of people, you feel like you must constantly be on the lookout for suspicious behavior. Cops hanging around and doing who knows what, other drunken tourists, people who look like ladrones (robbers), perritos, etc. In Baños the main street/area was super well lit and there were tons of people everywhere. I had been told by a girl I met who had already been there that it would feel a lot safer than Qutio but I was struck by how different it really did feel. Part of the reason for this is that the town functions because of tourism. They are used to tourists and they aim to please them. If your town is rumored to be unsafe, the tourists don't want to come. At least that's my idea.
We checked into our hostel, set up camp, and went out to find food.
[Side Story: Ecuador has a change/money problem. Don't know if I mentioned this before or not. But yeah, they do. If you pay with anything that is not a coin or a one dollar bill they will inspect it to see if it is counterfeit. If you try to pay for something with a 20-dollar-bill the cashier will give you a look of death. Unless your total is like $18. If it's not, be prepared to feel guilty for the rest of the day. Coins are like gold. And I mean, okay Sacas (Sacajewaya is just too hard to say or spell so we always just abbreviate it) are gold-colored, but you get my point. If your change is $3.50 you will be getting 3 Sacas and a 50-cent-piece. You want to have coins. You need them to pay for bus rides and taxi rides and just about everything else. And don't even go thinking you can pay for anything with a credit card. Unless it's at the grocery store and you want to pay a lot of tax.]
So we ate at a restaurant on the main street. Then we decided to wander around and check out some of the stuff they had around. We of course ended up at a little store with Ecuadorian goods. They had tons of scarves and shirts and purses, etc. etc. It was super cool because we all ended up getting things we wanted and we got to talk to the store owners for awhile. Again, everyone in Baños is super nice. They were playing Avril Lavigne so we talked about that for awhile and other American music and all the tourists who come into their store, etc. etc. It was great and a fun way to practice our Spanish.
The next morning we woke up bright and early to rainy and dreary weather. Not exciting. We got a good Ecuadorian breakfast for $2 then headed off to find the tourist information center to figure out the day's activities. We wanted to go horseback riding, mountain bike, and take a nighttime tour of the volcano.
[Side Story: There's a volcano in Baños. Tungurahua Volcano. It was too cloudy on Saturday to see it very well but on Sunday our taxi driver stopped on the way to the Aquarium and let us take some pics...my camera was dead of course...but still it was quite cool. Photo.]
Anyways, we only really ended up doing the horseback riding. We had a super amazing guide who took us up some streets and then up this path up through some mountains and then on this super trecherous path and then to some waterfalls. I had never been horseback riding before, thus I was a bit scared. So I got an old, slow, nice horse [Luchita] who the guide led down the trecherous part. Pics or it didn't happen... The very small portion of time where I had my camera out while on the horse and then immediately regretted it.
We got some AMAZING food at Café Hood, an extremely well known and well recommended restaurant, and then decided to go to the zoo.
The zoo was just a short taxi ride away to the small town of San Martín, but apparently it was far enough away/small-town enough that gringas were an exciting sight to see. While inside the park, 2 different groups of Ecuadorians asked to take pictures with just me (the blond hair...) and then all of us. It made me feel famous. Anyways, this zoo literally cost us $2 a piece and we saw a jaguar, turtles from the Galapagos, pumas, condors, parrots that talked to us, other turtles, tonnnnnns of monkeys, and bears. WHAT? It was awesome. Here are some pics: Mono 1 Mono 2 Tortuga Puma Chica Paisaje
That night we went out for dinner at this fancy little Italian place. And by fancy I mean it had a bottle of wine on the table and tableclothes and candles but it was still like $8 a person total. Then we went to the thermal baths that the town is famous for. We suited up and headed out to the baths that we heard were a mix of super crowded and cool. Well first of all they were right next to a waterfall, so that was pretty cool. And they were also packed full of people. The water is known to have therapeutic/curative powers and there are 3 pools (too cold, just perfect, too hot) and so people like to come to just hang out in the just perfect pool and get cured of everything. Very fun and relaxing. And the walk back to the hostel wasn't as cold as we thought it was going to be! Although we did seeing a drunken man peeing against a wall.
The next morning we went to the aquarium that was in the same town/across the street from the zoo we were at the day before. After we ate some great pancakes with fresh fruit on them first of course. At first the aquarium was just kind of strange. All sorts of fish that creeped me out and literally FIFTEEN boa constricters that we're thinking they just went out to the jungle and caught. But then we discovered the exotic birds portion of the exhibit. Flamencos & Natalie Portman & Ostriches.
Heading back home on the bus to the South terminal was great. The rest of it not so much, although it did go quite more smoothly than the way there. :)
Anyways, I think that's all I have to say about Baños. Very good weekend.
Today I worked on a paper that's due tomorrow while sitting next to the school's lagoon in the sun and ate a blackberry popscicle. It was quite heavenly. Minus the paper-writing part. But I wrote it! It's done! And it's not even due until 14 hours from now. Now that's studiousness.
Also, MSU has a snow day for tomorrow already. WHAT? How am I not there for this epic-ness? Being away has been very much a learning experience. About Ecuador and life and Spanish and culture, etc. etc. but also a lot about myself. Introspective post to come. :)
It feels like I have an exorbitant amount of time to spend here at the same time that it feels like I'm already running out of time. Strange, no?
Anyways, I love you all. At least I assume I do because if you're reading my blog you probably like me a little tiny bit and if you're willing to do that then I'm pretty sure I love you. :)
-EM
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Cómo se dice "to complain"?
Quejarse. That is the verb, "to complain."
But see the thing is...here, they really don't complain. This was something I noticed after being here for about a week and a half. Maybe it's just my host family, but even the other individuals I've interacted with from Ecuador just don't really seem to want to complain. Maybe it's part of the culture. Maybe they have a feeling of felicidad (happiness) just because they're alive and relatively healthy. Maybe they have just been taught that complaining is a waste of time. I really don't know...
But the thing I do know is that I like how mostly kind words, words of happiness, peace, excitement, contentment, etc. are spoken in my house.
All food is rico (yummy) and all days are lindo (beautiful).
Taking afternoon naps is also commended as doing one of the awesomest things you can do. Por ejemplo (for example), this afternoon I woke up from a nap and came out of my room. My sister was in her room and she asked, "descansaste bien?" (did you rest well?). I said yep, definitely, and laughed a little bit at myself. To this she said (repeated here in my broken version of Spanish), "a descansar en la tarde es el mejor cosa, es rico, no?" "To nap in the afternoon is the best, isn't it?"
I hope that this is one of the things I can learn from the culture of Ecuador, because I think America would be a much happier place if everyone complained just a little bit less.
-EM
But see the thing is...here, they really don't complain. This was something I noticed after being here for about a week and a half. Maybe it's just my host family, but even the other individuals I've interacted with from Ecuador just don't really seem to want to complain. Maybe it's part of the culture. Maybe they have a feeling of felicidad (happiness) just because they're alive and relatively healthy. Maybe they have just been taught that complaining is a waste of time. I really don't know...
But the thing I do know is that I like how mostly kind words, words of happiness, peace, excitement, contentment, etc. are spoken in my house.
All food is rico (yummy) and all days are lindo (beautiful).
Taking afternoon naps is also commended as doing one of the awesomest things you can do. Por ejemplo (for example), this afternoon I woke up from a nap and came out of my room. My sister was in her room and she asked, "descansaste bien?" (did you rest well?). I said yep, definitely, and laughed a little bit at myself. To this she said (repeated here in my broken version of Spanish), "a descansar en la tarde es el mejor cosa, es rico, no?" "To nap in the afternoon is the best, isn't it?"
I hope that this is one of the things I can learn from the culture of Ecuador, because I think America would be a much happier place if everyone complained just a little bit less.
-EM
Saturday, January 22, 2011
A Week in the Life
Hola mundo!
I know I haven't written anything in like a week, bad Emily, but really it just consisted of school, just like every normal week at MSU.
A normal day consists of: I wake up, get ready, cross the terrifying street, hop on a bus, go to class, hang out outside/do homework, go home, do homework, hang out with my host family, watch some TV online, and go to bed by 11:00.
Not necessarily normal, but not quite exciting enough to blog about daily. But now I have a whole week and weekend's worth of observations and conversations and events that I need to write about. Aye.
Exciting school thing of the week! I actually raised my hand and asked a question in class. Yes, I rehearsed it in my head before raising my hand, and it wasn't a complicated question, but I still asked a question in class. Not something you'd think I'd congratulate myself on, but being in a non-Spanish-studying class that all speaks Spanish and is taught in Spanish means that asking a question for the first time is cause for a little celebration. :)
Non-exciting school thing of the week. One of my classes apparently has pop quizzes. I'm not really loving on this. First quiz wasn't so bad, I understood what she was asking and had read the material BUT I mixed some things up in my head and probably only got half right. Second quiz was bad. I didn't understand exactly what she was asking for all the parts of the quiz. I also thought we were supposed to read the second chapter before coming to class, so I had spent a good two hours the night before reading the second chapter. Apparently not. Apparently we were supposed to read the third chapter. Hence, I did not do so well and am not excited about future pop quizzes.
Alright so yesterday. Yesterday was Friday. I went to my 2 morning classes, chatted with Rebecca for awhile (I love just chatting one-on-one with Rebecca because it's calm so we can talk in Spanish and not feel like we're not able to get our whole point across and we help each other learn at the same time), then went and got some ice cream at my favorite ice cream place near campus, Kicos. As I was sitting there, enjoying my delicious $1 mango ice cream, who happens to walk by? Two guys in full camo military get-up with huuuuuge guns. Waltzing around like they own the place. Why? I have absolutely no idea. I was actually talking to someone about that today. The police here don't seem like they're here to protect you, same thing with these scary camo guys, they seem like they're there to shoot somebody if they do something wrong. Or like something is going wrong, someone's in the mafia, or running a secret drug operation, and they're there to catch it. I've been here like two weeks and I can't count the number of times I thought I was in a place where there was a secret drug operation going on.
So yesterday I took the bus home, right? And a guy hopped on selling DVDs (as has happened before). He hands out DVDs (usually really new ones, like some that are still in theatres) in plasticy covers and then comes back and picks them back up if you don't want to buy them. Usually I just ignore the guy and don't even take them when he hands them out, but I wanted to check out which ones he had. I ended up getting 3 of them for $2 (even though they're supposed to be $1 each). The Tourist, Gulliver's Travels, and Never Let Me Go. I've heard they're usually in English with Spanish subtitles and I'm hoping they work in my computer! (Because I've heard somewhere they don't. This seems incredibly sketchy and illegal, right? Well I mean it probably is, but here they really don't care. Like there are actual stores that sell these kinds of copies of DVDs. Interesante, no?
All of the children who go to school here have to wear uniforms so you'll be getting on the bus or walking around town and there will be tons of kids of all ages in uniforms, but something I noticed yesterday was that most of their uniforms don't seem to be weather appropriate. Like yesterday it had to be 70 degrees and most of the children I saw were wearing uniform gray sweatpants and sweatshirts. But they don't seem to find it out of the ordinary or uncomfortable.
In the afternoon I was supposed to meet up with some of the girls at a market near Plaza Foch. I got there and started walking South, because I was relatively sure I had seen a map and that was where the market was. I was wandering around for awhile, saw no market, and was realizing how sketchy I felt wandering around somewhere by myself and having no idea where I was. I ended up at this intersection where there was a mall and a CoffeeTree and some statues so I felt more comfortable there. Then I got a call that my friends had gotten robbed on the bus and so I should probably come back to Plaza Foch seeing as they didn't really want to go to the market anymore anyways. I went back and they explained to me what had happened. We were given all sorts of instructions on how to not get robbed, but even though they were following all of those instructions it still happened. They were on an incredibly crowded bus and even though they were holding their purses close to their bodies, a 20-something old girl and her 50-something old mom/older woman friend slit open their bags and stole their wallets and one girl's camera. They all felt incredibly violated and upset, because replacing ATM cards and Censos and change was going to be difficult. But we were all also very impressed with the skill of these robbers. How they did all of that on a crowded bus without hurting anyone and without ANYONE noticing was kind of incredible. Another thing that was interesting is that it was two women. Christina commented that that was probably the things that shocked her the most, was that it wasn't two able-bodied young sketchy men like you would expect, but it was an overweight older woman and a woman our own age. This was all very interesting to me, obviously, but I have yet to critically unpack the ideas this implicates. We needed a little American time so after this we went to Emory's host family's apartment and ate pizza and watched a movie. :)
Today we went to Centro Historical (the Old Town area of Quito) to wander around and sort of explore.
A photographic tour of our journeys will be updated shortly. :)
-EM
P.S. Photographic Tour
Las calles
Mas
Ecuadorian White House, but the president has elected to not actually live there.
Plaza Grande
Bonito
Chevere
Plaza San Fransisco
Basilica
I know I haven't written anything in like a week, bad Emily, but really it just consisted of school, just like every normal week at MSU.
A normal day consists of: I wake up, get ready, cross the terrifying street, hop on a bus, go to class, hang out outside/do homework, go home, do homework, hang out with my host family, watch some TV online, and go to bed by 11:00.
Not necessarily normal, but not quite exciting enough to blog about daily. But now I have a whole week and weekend's worth of observations and conversations and events that I need to write about. Aye.
Exciting school thing of the week! I actually raised my hand and asked a question in class. Yes, I rehearsed it in my head before raising my hand, and it wasn't a complicated question, but I still asked a question in class. Not something you'd think I'd congratulate myself on, but being in a non-Spanish-studying class that all speaks Spanish and is taught in Spanish means that asking a question for the first time is cause for a little celebration. :)
Non-exciting school thing of the week. One of my classes apparently has pop quizzes. I'm not really loving on this. First quiz wasn't so bad, I understood what she was asking and had read the material BUT I mixed some things up in my head and probably only got half right. Second quiz was bad. I didn't understand exactly what she was asking for all the parts of the quiz. I also thought we were supposed to read the second chapter before coming to class, so I had spent a good two hours the night before reading the second chapter. Apparently not. Apparently we were supposed to read the third chapter. Hence, I did not do so well and am not excited about future pop quizzes.
Alright so yesterday. Yesterday was Friday. I went to my 2 morning classes, chatted with Rebecca for awhile (I love just chatting one-on-one with Rebecca because it's calm so we can talk in Spanish and not feel like we're not able to get our whole point across and we help each other learn at the same time), then went and got some ice cream at my favorite ice cream place near campus, Kicos. As I was sitting there, enjoying my delicious $1 mango ice cream, who happens to walk by? Two guys in full camo military get-up with huuuuuge guns. Waltzing around like they own the place. Why? I have absolutely no idea. I was actually talking to someone about that today. The police here don't seem like they're here to protect you, same thing with these scary camo guys, they seem like they're there to shoot somebody if they do something wrong. Or like something is going wrong, someone's in the mafia, or running a secret drug operation, and they're there to catch it. I've been here like two weeks and I can't count the number of times I thought I was in a place where there was a secret drug operation going on.
So yesterday I took the bus home, right? And a guy hopped on selling DVDs (as has happened before). He hands out DVDs (usually really new ones, like some that are still in theatres) in plasticy covers and then comes back and picks them back up if you don't want to buy them. Usually I just ignore the guy and don't even take them when he hands them out, but I wanted to check out which ones he had. I ended up getting 3 of them for $2 (even though they're supposed to be $1 each). The Tourist, Gulliver's Travels, and Never Let Me Go. I've heard they're usually in English with Spanish subtitles and I'm hoping they work in my computer! (Because I've heard somewhere they don't. This seems incredibly sketchy and illegal, right? Well I mean it probably is, but here they really don't care. Like there are actual stores that sell these kinds of copies of DVDs. Interesante, no?
All of the children who go to school here have to wear uniforms so you'll be getting on the bus or walking around town and there will be tons of kids of all ages in uniforms, but something I noticed yesterday was that most of their uniforms don't seem to be weather appropriate. Like yesterday it had to be 70 degrees and most of the children I saw were wearing uniform gray sweatpants and sweatshirts. But they don't seem to find it out of the ordinary or uncomfortable.
In the afternoon I was supposed to meet up with some of the girls at a market near Plaza Foch. I got there and started walking South, because I was relatively sure I had seen a map and that was where the market was. I was wandering around for awhile, saw no market, and was realizing how sketchy I felt wandering around somewhere by myself and having no idea where I was. I ended up at this intersection where there was a mall and a CoffeeTree and some statues so I felt more comfortable there. Then I got a call that my friends had gotten robbed on the bus and so I should probably come back to Plaza Foch seeing as they didn't really want to go to the market anymore anyways. I went back and they explained to me what had happened. We were given all sorts of instructions on how to not get robbed, but even though they were following all of those instructions it still happened. They were on an incredibly crowded bus and even though they were holding their purses close to their bodies, a 20-something old girl and her 50-something old mom/older woman friend slit open their bags and stole their wallets and one girl's camera. They all felt incredibly violated and upset, because replacing ATM cards and Censos and change was going to be difficult. But we were all also very impressed with the skill of these robbers. How they did all of that on a crowded bus without hurting anyone and without ANYONE noticing was kind of incredible. Another thing that was interesting is that it was two women. Christina commented that that was probably the things that shocked her the most, was that it wasn't two able-bodied young sketchy men like you would expect, but it was an overweight older woman and a woman our own age. This was all very interesting to me, obviously, but I have yet to critically unpack the ideas this implicates. We needed a little American time so after this we went to Emory's host family's apartment and ate pizza and watched a movie. :)
Today we went to Centro Historical (the Old Town area of Quito) to wander around and sort of explore.
A photographic tour of our journeys will be updated shortly. :)
-EM
P.S. Photographic Tour
Las calles
Mas
Ecuadorian White House, but the president has elected to not actually live there.
Plaza Grande
Bonito
Chevere
Plaza San Fransisco
Basilica
Monday, January 17, 2011
Mindo es Lindo.
Lindo means beautiful in Spanish. If it also meant ridiculous, adventurous, dramatic, terrifying, extremely terrifying, janky, unreal, and crazy, then the phrase "Mindo es Lindo"would accurately describe this weekend. This weekend was en serio (seriously) one of the most adventurous and ridiculous weekends of my life.
Mindo is a very small touristy town in Ecuador about a 2-hour bus ride through the mountains from Quito. We left on Friday around 4:00 luckily making it to the correct bus station and correct bus in time for our bus's departure. We were thirteen MSU/USFQ students who had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. The bus ride was...frightful to say the least. Our bus wound through the Andes mountains and through the ventanas (windows) we could see the absolutely beautiful paisajes (landscapes) around us. We passed an orchard reserve and tiny farming houses and it was incredibly gorgeous. We could also see the extreme likelihood of our deaths if our bus driver made a tiny little mistake. The road didn't exactly have barriers to keep us from toppling over the edge of the mountain and into the abyss. I was a little nerve-wracked. But we made it to Mindo! Success. The owner of the hostel we had reservations at (thanks to Allison!) met us at the bus station and walked us over to our hostel. Ah to describe our hostel experience in one word: Chévere (really cool in Spanish, a colloquial word of Ecuador). Casa de Cecilia. We had a whole house to ourselves, with lots of rooms and bathrooms, outfitted with linens and towels and mosquito nets. We ate a $2.50 breakfast that she made us while looking out at the river and the hummingbirds that always fluttered around. For all of our activities we just paid her and she called taxis for us and/or told us where to go. For only $6/night! Words cannot describe the great experience we had there. There was a reggae bar down the road that was also super cool, with rocks suspended from the ceiling and tables made of what seemed like trees. The bar was actually a three-story, open air, bar/restaurant/house where the owner's family lived. The first night we walked into "town" (really just one street with restaurants and stores on it) and found a restaurant to eat at. The owner was this adorable old man and the food he served us was delicious. We would soon learn that what we ordered at this restaurant was basically what all the restaurants had in Mindo, Pilsener (a very popular Ecuadorian brand of beer), Coke, Rice, this tomato and onion "ensalada," papas fritas (french fries) and some variety of fried sea food (fins & head included of course :/). While it is annoying to have to go out to eat for every meal when we go on excursions, it is amazing how much cheaper food is here compared to the United States, and it especially helps that there is a service tax that includes tip, so you don't have to worry about that and it's often included in the price of your food. For example, over the whole weekend (2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 2 dinners) I spent a total of about $23 on food, something nearly impossible to do in the United States. Whenever we would go out to dinner or go out to bars (where liquor and beer is also much cheaper than in the U.S.), without fail someone would say, "I really don't want to go back..." :) We went out for a while Friday night, but we were all exhausted and wanted to have energy for the next day, so we went to bed at around midnight.
Hostal
River behind our Hostal
Then we get to Saturday. The next morning we woke up, ate breakfast by the river and started our day in a flurry of bug spray and sun screen. Our plan was to go "tubing." Now there are different kinds of tubing, and as usually happens to us, we all expect a specific experience (and our ideas of what our activities will be like differ) and usually none of us are right. Now there's the kind of tubing done behind a boat (this one we weren't thinking of, because we knew we'd be going down a river), the kind of floating down a calm river tubing (affectionately called "floating down the river with beer"), and apparently there's the kind of tubing where you need 2 guides, you're in 6 tubes all attached to each other, and you need helmets and life jackets because there are a RIDICULOUS amount of rocks in the river that you're attempting to tube down. Yep, that was the kind of tubing that we did. On our way to tubing we were in a taxi (a.k.a. a pickup truck with room for 3 in the cab and the rest of us standing up in the bed of the truck) and I kept seeing a river to our right. It had a lot of rocks in it so I kept saying, "guys is that the river we're going down?" And everyone kept responding, "well, probably, but we're probably not going down that part because there are too many rocks." Oh how we were wrong. We got out of our taxi, put on our lifejackets and helmets and were introduced to our guides. Given quick instructions in Spanish about how to maneuver the tubes if we were to get stuck on rocks, we were ready. We split up in two groups, got into the icy water, and we were off. What exhilarating and crazy fun. "Cuidados" were heard loud and clear and Mateo's girlish screaming was quite humorous. The chill of the cold water was no longer our greatest concern. $6 can buy you quite a bit of fun in Mindo.
Tubing
El Grupo
We went back to our hostel and changed clothes, immediately ready for our next adventure, ziplining. $10 buys you a ziplining tour of the cloud forest with 2 trained guides over 12 different cables. Needless to say I was terrified. My fear of heights was not the greatest thing for zooming on cables hundreds of feet above the ground. But it was an experience I am so glad I did not miss out on. The first and last trips were the worst, the first because I was terrified and I didn't know exactly what it would be like, and the last because it was the highest, probably 1000 feet off the ground. There were fancy tricks you could do with the guides (Mariposa y Superhombre), but I elected to not do those. Simply ziplining was enough of a challenge for me already. :) While you were "zipping" you could see everything around you and it was absolutely incredible. We talked about how in the United States you couldn't do something like that. A) because there is nothing as cool as the cloud forest in the U.S. B) Because it would need to be incredibly regulated, and C) Because it would probably cost about $200 to do 2 cables instead of $10 for 12 cables.
Tengo miedo de alturas
Cuidado
Éxito
Mindo Ropes & Canopy
What a crazy day. On the way back to our hostel (in the back of a pickup truck of course) we were talking about how we had never done so many ridiculous things in one day.
That next morning we took a taxi to this thing called terabita which goes to the waterfalls. It is this little cart that goes along this cable and brings you to this other mountain so you can hike around and go to the waterfalls and swim in them and such. This was also terrifying, you'll understand when you see pictures. I kept saying, "this is the craziest, most dangerous, jankiest thing I have ever done in my life." But we made it. Little did we know that we had to hike on paths in the mountains that were covered in incredibly slippery mud to get to the waterfalls, but it was a great experience. Beautiful waterfalls, some janky stairs, even sketchier bridges, etc. It was incredible and also extremely tiring. We went back on the Terabita, got back to our hostel, ate some lunch, and then everyone slept on the bus back to Quito.
Terabita
Sketchy Bridge
Una Cascada
What a weekend full of craziness and fun, I'm glad to be back in Quito because this weekend was culture shock for me with so much adventurousness. This afternoon I'm ready for a nap for sure!
-EM
Mindo is a very small touristy town in Ecuador about a 2-hour bus ride through the mountains from Quito. We left on Friday around 4:00 luckily making it to the correct bus station and correct bus in time for our bus's departure. We were thirteen MSU/USFQ students who had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. The bus ride was...frightful to say the least. Our bus wound through the Andes mountains and through the ventanas (windows) we could see the absolutely beautiful paisajes (landscapes) around us. We passed an orchard reserve and tiny farming houses and it was incredibly gorgeous. We could also see the extreme likelihood of our deaths if our bus driver made a tiny little mistake. The road didn't exactly have barriers to keep us from toppling over the edge of the mountain and into the abyss. I was a little nerve-wracked. But we made it to Mindo! Success. The owner of the hostel we had reservations at (thanks to Allison!) met us at the bus station and walked us over to our hostel. Ah to describe our hostel experience in one word: Chévere (really cool in Spanish, a colloquial word of Ecuador). Casa de Cecilia. We had a whole house to ourselves, with lots of rooms and bathrooms, outfitted with linens and towels and mosquito nets. We ate a $2.50 breakfast that she made us while looking out at the river and the hummingbirds that always fluttered around. For all of our activities we just paid her and she called taxis for us and/or told us where to go. For only $6/night! Words cannot describe the great experience we had there. There was a reggae bar down the road that was also super cool, with rocks suspended from the ceiling and tables made of what seemed like trees. The bar was actually a three-story, open air, bar/restaurant/house where the owner's family lived. The first night we walked into "town" (really just one street with restaurants and stores on it) and found a restaurant to eat at. The owner was this adorable old man and the food he served us was delicious. We would soon learn that what we ordered at this restaurant was basically what all the restaurants had in Mindo, Pilsener (a very popular Ecuadorian brand of beer), Coke, Rice, this tomato and onion "ensalada," papas fritas (french fries) and some variety of fried sea food (fins & head included of course :/). While it is annoying to have to go out to eat for every meal when we go on excursions, it is amazing how much cheaper food is here compared to the United States, and it especially helps that there is a service tax that includes tip, so you don't have to worry about that and it's often included in the price of your food. For example, over the whole weekend (2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 2 dinners) I spent a total of about $23 on food, something nearly impossible to do in the United States. Whenever we would go out to dinner or go out to bars (where liquor and beer is also much cheaper than in the U.S.), without fail someone would say, "I really don't want to go back..." :) We went out for a while Friday night, but we were all exhausted and wanted to have energy for the next day, so we went to bed at around midnight.
Hostal
River behind our Hostal
Then we get to Saturday. The next morning we woke up, ate breakfast by the river and started our day in a flurry of bug spray and sun screen. Our plan was to go "tubing." Now there are different kinds of tubing, and as usually happens to us, we all expect a specific experience (and our ideas of what our activities will be like differ) and usually none of us are right. Now there's the kind of tubing done behind a boat (this one we weren't thinking of, because we knew we'd be going down a river), the kind of floating down a calm river tubing (affectionately called "floating down the river with beer"), and apparently there's the kind of tubing where you need 2 guides, you're in 6 tubes all attached to each other, and you need helmets and life jackets because there are a RIDICULOUS amount of rocks in the river that you're attempting to tube down. Yep, that was the kind of tubing that we did. On our way to tubing we were in a taxi (a.k.a. a pickup truck with room for 3 in the cab and the rest of us standing up in the bed of the truck) and I kept seeing a river to our right. It had a lot of rocks in it so I kept saying, "guys is that the river we're going down?" And everyone kept responding, "well, probably, but we're probably not going down that part because there are too many rocks." Oh how we were wrong. We got out of our taxi, put on our lifejackets and helmets and were introduced to our guides. Given quick instructions in Spanish about how to maneuver the tubes if we were to get stuck on rocks, we were ready. We split up in two groups, got into the icy water, and we were off. What exhilarating and crazy fun. "Cuidados" were heard loud and clear and Mateo's girlish screaming was quite humorous. The chill of the cold water was no longer our greatest concern. $6 can buy you quite a bit of fun in Mindo.
Tubing
El Grupo
We went back to our hostel and changed clothes, immediately ready for our next adventure, ziplining. $10 buys you a ziplining tour of the cloud forest with 2 trained guides over 12 different cables. Needless to say I was terrified. My fear of heights was not the greatest thing for zooming on cables hundreds of feet above the ground. But it was an experience I am so glad I did not miss out on. The first and last trips were the worst, the first because I was terrified and I didn't know exactly what it would be like, and the last because it was the highest, probably 1000 feet off the ground. There were fancy tricks you could do with the guides (Mariposa y Superhombre), but I elected to not do those. Simply ziplining was enough of a challenge for me already. :) While you were "zipping" you could see everything around you and it was absolutely incredible. We talked about how in the United States you couldn't do something like that. A) because there is nothing as cool as the cloud forest in the U.S. B) Because it would need to be incredibly regulated, and C) Because it would probably cost about $200 to do 2 cables instead of $10 for 12 cables.
Tengo miedo de alturas
Cuidado
Éxito
Mindo Ropes & Canopy
What a crazy day. On the way back to our hostel (in the back of a pickup truck of course) we were talking about how we had never done so many ridiculous things in one day.
That next morning we took a taxi to this thing called terabita which goes to the waterfalls. It is this little cart that goes along this cable and brings you to this other mountain so you can hike around and go to the waterfalls and swim in them and such. This was also terrifying, you'll understand when you see pictures. I kept saying, "this is the craziest, most dangerous, jankiest thing I have ever done in my life." But we made it. Little did we know that we had to hike on paths in the mountains that were covered in incredibly slippery mud to get to the waterfalls, but it was a great experience. Beautiful waterfalls, some janky stairs, even sketchier bridges, etc. It was incredible and also extremely tiring. We went back on the Terabita, got back to our hostel, ate some lunch, and then everyone slept on the bus back to Quito.
Terabita
Sketchy Bridge
Una Cascada
What a weekend full of craziness and fun, I'm glad to be back in Quito because this weekend was culture shock for me with so much adventurousness. This afternoon I'm ready for a nap for sure!
-EM
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Normality
It's strange to me when I think about how much everything feels normal. Nine days ago I had no idea what this place looked like or smelled like. How I would be getting around exactly, where my classes would be, what my host family was like, what the food would be like, etc. I would tell people that I was almost more excited for living in my house next year than for my study abroad semester because I could imagine what that would be like and I couldn't imagine what this semester was going to be like.
But this feels like normality.
Waking up and having it be sunny outside.
Walking around a campus that is a tenth the size of MSU and seeing all the MSU international students just about every day.
There being people on the buses in the tarde (afternoon) that try to sell me bootleg DVDs.
People getting angry when I hand them a ten dollar bill for anything.
The bookstore only accepting Diner's Club cards and cash, no Mastercard, no Visa.
It taking five minutes just to cross to the other side of the street because of the traffic.
Understanding (at best) 75% of what people say to me.
Only being able to communicate with my best friends and family online. Before arriving we were all told to prepare to not have internet in our homes or apartments, because wireless internet is not as common here as it is in the United States. I was very pleased to find out that we do have internet, and now I can almost not imagine not having internet. Silly, I know.
When I'm at home, just watching TV or doing homework or blogging or taking naps in my free time instead of hanging out with people. I love hanging out with the people here, but when we hang out it's not just chilling or watching TV or whatnot like when I'm at MSU, it's actually going out and doing something, taking a taxi or bus and going out and doing something.
Learning new words and phrases and things every day, all day. It's tiring, but worth it.
Sounding stupid most of the time.
Seeing mountains and valleys and palm trees every day.
I can almost not imagine life being any other way.
But this feels like normality.
Waking up and having it be sunny outside.
Walking around a campus that is a tenth the size of MSU and seeing all the MSU international students just about every day.
There being people on the buses in the tarde (afternoon) that try to sell me bootleg DVDs.
People getting angry when I hand them a ten dollar bill for anything.
The bookstore only accepting Diner's Club cards and cash, no Mastercard, no Visa.
It taking five minutes just to cross to the other side of the street because of the traffic.
Understanding (at best) 75% of what people say to me.
Only being able to communicate with my best friends and family online. Before arriving we were all told to prepare to not have internet in our homes or apartments, because wireless internet is not as common here as it is in the United States. I was very pleased to find out that we do have internet, and now I can almost not imagine not having internet. Silly, I know.
When I'm at home, just watching TV or doing homework or blogging or taking naps in my free time instead of hanging out with people. I love hanging out with the people here, but when we hang out it's not just chilling or watching TV or whatnot like when I'm at MSU, it's actually going out and doing something, taking a taxi or bus and going out and doing something.
Learning new words and phrases and things every day, all day. It's tiring, but worth it.
Sounding stupid most of the time.
Seeing mountains and valleys and palm trees every day.
I can almost not imagine life being any other way.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Escuela y Mi Horario Final
Hola todos!
Yesterday was my first day of Ecua-School! Aye. It was overwhelming at the same time that it was exciting. Imagine walking into a place where you are one of the only people who looks like you (so everyone knows you obviously don't belong) and everyone already knows everybody else and you look ridiculous because you don't know where you're going or what you're doing. Yep, that was my first day. USFQ is way smaller than MSU and it doesn't have any residential living (dorms) so it feels similar to high school in a way. Everybody hangs out all over campus the whole day instead of going home because going home means taking a bus (or multiple buses) home to where they live with their parents. This is another aspect of USFQ that makes it feel like high school, although that is simply the custom in Ecuador, to live in the home of your parents until you get married. The MSU students have basically set up camp near the lagoon in the middle of campus. Whenever we don't have to be in class and are on campus we all hang out there. We make lunch plans or weekend plans and talk about our classes. The idea of making Ecuadorian friends is harrowing. First of all, I don't speak Spanish well enough to keep up with their chatter. Second, they all have their own friends and basically know everyone so it's not like everyone is wandering around thinking, oh hey, maybe they're cool and would be friends with me. Thirdly, I'm only going to be there for 5 months. If I were an Ecuadorian, I wouldn't want to be friends with the exchange students from America who are going to use up all their time and then leave again. I don't know, maybe that's just my messed up way of looking at it, but that's kind of how I see it. I would like to friends with them, get firsthand views of their culture and the differences between America and Ecuador, but right now it is just a little too intimidating. I love my host family though and have a great time asking them questions and talking to them about these things so that is a very good thing and a very good way for me to get a picture of Ecuadorian culture. Matt's host family is also great and his sisters hang out with us some times so that's another look into Ecuadorian culture. I have really enjoyed meeting the other international students at the university. Almost all of them are American, but they're from all over. They're interesting to meet because we all are similar in a way for choosing to study abroad at USFQ and live in Ecuador and take specific classes. Que chévere. (chévere=super cool).
After returning home from school at around 1:30 I went with Isabel to do censo stuff. I say "censo stuff" because I don't really understand it. The university gave us very specific instructions about how to register our visa and then get our censo (Ecuadorian ID card) and all this other nonsense. You needed specific papers and folders and receipts and on and on and on. Ugh. Anyways, we got there (janky building), got a number, and waited. And waited. And waited. There is just one guy who does the specific thing we were there for and of course there were lots of people waiting for this one thing.
This brings up an interesting part of the culture of Ecuador.
You wait.
A lot.
I had to deposit $10 to this specific governmental checking account at this specific bank. I was probably in line for an hour. Mind you I got up to the front and the lady told me I had to fill out a receipt thing and had to wait in line again, but still. An hour. At the bank. Banking is like a "thing" here, just like waiting. I would say most Ecuadorians probably spend about 2 hours a month at the bank. I have been with Isabel waiting at banks for probably half an hour already, and I've only been here a week. Why this is? I have no idea. ANYWAYS, back to waiting. You wait in line at the bank, you wait in line at the bookstore, you wait for the bus to pick you up, you wait to be able to safely cross the street to GET to the bus stop (for at least 5 minutes if you're a scaredy-cat like me), you wait at restaurants, you wait at the Registering your Visa office, etc. etc. etc. The Ecuadorians must have a superior amount of patience (paciencia) for all the waiting they have to do.
Another thing that's connected to this is the concept of time in Ecuador, which we were taught about both at orientation and in one of my classes today. While you actually have to be on time to things like classes and appointments and such, most Ecuadorians operate under a "there's always tomorrow" mentality. My professor said that this is because of the indigenous background of Ecuadorians (most are mestizas or of "mixed" descent). There is not really a reasoning behind it, but they see time as circular whereas Americans see time as linear. We always need to be doing something and if someone is late to meet you somewhere, it is considered rude and unfriendly. In Ecuador you might have plans to meet up with someone at 6 and they might not show up until 8:00. To Ecuadorians, 6 is around 6:00 or anytime thereafter and they expect you to operate under the same "ish" mentality.
Anyways, later that afternoon I took the bus to La Mariscal (Gringolandia, with tons of bars and other things that gringos love) for happy hour with some MSU amigos. Very fun times had by all. :)
Today was another day of school. My first class I don't have until next week because the professor is on vacation or something, so I didn't have class until 10:00! Perfect. I loved it. The class is specifically for international students and is about the culture of Ecuador. Super interesting. After this class I hung out with some people in the sun by the lagoon (pictures to come soon because seriously, you need to see this. there is a pirate ship in this pond in the middle of campus. it's legit.) then we went and got lunch at a place near campus. Delish. My politics class later in the afternoon I was not a fan of, so I decided to drop that one. I only can take 4 or 5 classes and I was enrolled in 6 so dropping one was my plan all along. I had difficulty understanding the professor and I think it would be difficult because I probably am not familiar with the vocabulary he is going to using anyways. After that class Rebecca and I went to the bookstore. I found 2 of the course guides I needed and a book I need, but you could only pay in cash or with the Diner's Club card. The book was only $10 and the coursepacks only $5.50ish each, but with the $20 I had I could only buy the book and one of the coursepacks. I guess I'll just have to go back tomorrow! The textbooks are supposed to be much cheaper here than we're used to in the U.S. but still, paying for textbooks with cash is a strange concept to me.
I returned home and now I'm blogging.
Obviously.
I should probably do this every day so that I don't bore you with the ridiculous amounts of things I have to say. :) Anyways, here is my final schedule.
My Final Schedule
This is the final schedule I decided on!
History 211 (Ecuadorian History) and History 234 (Contemporary History...so I'll finally know which war is which) are taught by the same teacher. He seems very nice and interesting and I can understand him almost all of the time so that's good. Also the courses are set up the exact same, quizzes on the same days, reports on readings with the exact same format, they're even in the same building one right after the other! About two thirds of my HIS 211 class is international students which is nice. It's nice to not always be different.
Psychology 203 (SIC 203) is Psychology of Development. The teacher talks extremely fast, but if I concentrate very hard I can understand her most of the time. We have to do a blog in this class which should be fun! Also, some of our readings are in English. Hopefully these are the ones she tests us on the most. :)
EPE 307 is Advanced Spanish for "Foreigners." I haven't been to this class yet because our professor is on vacation or something, but that class starts next Thursday. I really like my other EPE class so hopefully this one is really good too!
EPE 302 is a class about Ecuadorian Culture for International Students. I love it. The professor speaks slower and more precisely than my other professors because she knows she's speaking to only international students. Everyone in the class is in pretty much the same boat so that's fun and a positive, I don't feel like such an outsider in this class as I do in my others. I think it will be a class where we really get to know each other and I'm so excited about the material! I'm thinking this will probably be my favorite class.
I would rather not have classes on Friday afternoons because of the trips we are going to take to different parts of Ecuador, but oh well. We're hopefully taking an awesome trip to Mindo this weekend! I'll give you the deets if we figure it out in time for this weekend. :)
-EM
¡Hasta luego!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
The Last Days of Pre-School Freedom
So much happens here everyday (at least for now) that it's sometimes hard to keep the days apart. Yesterday was Saturday. The plan was to go to Quicentro (a mall), find Becky, and explore. This sort of happened. And here is where the story begins. So there's this bus stop (parada) by my apartment. Red buses come by it and go to the bus station and at the bus station there is another red bus called Escovia that goes down the street 6 de diciembre which has a stop right by Quicentro. I was supposed to wait for the red bus, then take Escovia to Quicentro. I waited and waited. A blue bus came by that was probably going to the bus station but I wasn't sure so I didn't get on. I waited and waited. No bus. So I made an executive decision to walk to the bus station. I'd seen it the other day when we went to get groceries and it was the middle of the day so I felt safe enough to walk by myself next to the busy street. I was almost to the bus station (probably a half mile away) when I saw a red bus! It looked like it was heading the direction I was going so I asked the driver if he was going to Quicentro, he said yes, and I hopped on. No. The bus was not going to Quicentro. It was going to Cumbaya. An entirely different city. I was just laughing and laughing at myself the whole way there when I realized that I was definitely not on the correct bus. Luckily I knew how to get back and so I hopped on a bus and came back. Ha ha. That bus brought me to the bus station and I figured out the correct bus to take and I even got off at the right stop. I walked to what I thought was Quicentro and called Becky. No. It was not Quicentro. I then followed her directions and wandered around until I found Quicentro. I felt quite accomplished when I actually found it. Ha ha. Becky had to do something with her host family but Rebecca called and so she came and hung out with me! We wandered around Quicentro and we went to Parque La Carolina. Very cool way to just explore and soak up all the culture.
One thing I noticed in Quicentro was that most of the mannequins and models in photos are blonde and white. A lot of the guys are white as well, but some actually look Ecuadorian. Almost none of the women do. Very interesting. Almost the same as in the United States where women are constantly told they should be something there is no way they can be.
Today I didn't really have any plans seeing as tomorrow we start classes. Eek. Isabel asked me if I wanted to go to Quicentro with her after lunch, seeing as I didn't have plans of course I said yes! So we went back to Quicentro (ha ha) and walked around for awhile trying to find a gift for Javier. Javier is Joaquin's father and Isabel and him definitely went out on a date last night, but I can't really tell if they're in a relationship or if they're friends or what. Anyways, he ended up joining us to try the shoes on or something so I got to meet him. Very very nice guy. Then we all went in his car to the historical district of Quito. It was super cool, I'm excited to go again and walk around. He shared some of the history and other interesting tidbits about Quito with me. There are tons of churches in Old Town Quito because the Spanish conquered Ecuador and they were super religious so they built tons of churches. One of the churches my host mom (an architect) worked on the remodeling for. Very cool. Then we went out for dinner, Schawarma (sp?) which is Arabic. I would never have trusted the place on my own. There were like 4 guys outside, 5 tables with chairs inside, and a TV. Javier just ordered three schawarmas from the guys standing outside and we picked out drinks from the drinks cooler and then we waited. They brought the food in from outside, not even from the kitchen which was I think attached to the restauranty part. Strange but cool. The food was SO delicious. Great great great meal and great afternoon.
Photos!
-EM
One thing I noticed in Quicentro was that most of the mannequins and models in photos are blonde and white. A lot of the guys are white as well, but some actually look Ecuadorian. Almost none of the women do. Very interesting. Almost the same as in the United States where women are constantly told they should be something there is no way they can be.
Today I didn't really have any plans seeing as tomorrow we start classes. Eek. Isabel asked me if I wanted to go to Quicentro with her after lunch, seeing as I didn't have plans of course I said yes! So we went back to Quicentro (ha ha) and walked around for awhile trying to find a gift for Javier. Javier is Joaquin's father and Isabel and him definitely went out on a date last night, but I can't really tell if they're in a relationship or if they're friends or what. Anyways, he ended up joining us to try the shoes on or something so I got to meet him. Very very nice guy. Then we all went in his car to the historical district of Quito. It was super cool, I'm excited to go again and walk around. He shared some of the history and other interesting tidbits about Quito with me. There are tons of churches in Old Town Quito because the Spanish conquered Ecuador and they were super religious so they built tons of churches. One of the churches my host mom (an architect) worked on the remodeling for. Very cool. Then we went out for dinner, Schawarma (sp?) which is Arabic. I would never have trusted the place on my own. There were like 4 guys outside, 5 tables with chairs inside, and a TV. Javier just ordered three schawarmas from the guys standing outside and we picked out drinks from the drinks cooler and then we waited. They brought the food in from outside, not even from the kitchen which was I think attached to the restauranty part. Strange but cool. The food was SO delicious. Great great great meal and great afternoon.
Photos!
-EM
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