Afternoon! I found myself a moment this afternoon to sit down and write about Ecuador. Here it goes...
Ummmm..... I don't know what I wrote about last time, but I will highlight some of the more impressive things (meaning they made an impression on me- can be both positive and negative).
I bought a phone. I even memorized the number. 09 282xxxx. Two days after I bought this phone that I really liked (it was the cheapest, but still $50), I was pick-pocketed. I'm just thankful nothing was violent and it happened to be the only thing in that particular pocket, so that is all he got from me. And I only shed one tear afterward! :) Quite the achievement for this easily bruised soul.
This pick-pocketing happened as I was coming back from getting my gear from an outdoor shop. I was loaded down with impermeable pants, gaiters, boots, crampons, ice pick, helmet, gloves, and more. The next day, I got up at 5:00 in the morning, left at dawn to meet the Andinismo Club, which is an outdoor club here on campus, and we headed off on a bus to the town of Cayambe. We were going to climb on the mountain Cayambe which is the only glacier on the equatorial line. Altogether it took a cab ride, a long bus ride, a cramped truck ride where I had the gear shift persistently knocked into my thigh, and a small hike in over-powering winds. We practiced climbing all day on Saturday in the snow and on the glaciers. I'll be honest, my knees are very bruised still. We learned braking and roping as a team and we had some fun sliding down and attempting to stop ourselves before we slid to our deaths.
That night we slept in el Refugio, or the Refuge, which had bunks, no heating, and ice-covered windows. It was delightfully movie-like. In the morning, the other brave souls, which did not include me, got up at 2 AM to climb more! They were on the hill by 3:00 and off by 9:00. And then we did the whole fun travel in reverse (although on the way back I got to sit in the BACK of the truck where we rode like cattle in a farmer's pickup). Yet again delightful.
I had oatmeal with peanut butter and raisins and panella for the first time. Mmmm.... That was good. And then I came back to Quito and told my host-mom about it and she thought I didn't have a stove, so when she fixed "oatmeal" for me, she did it without cooking the oats, just putting some other cereal in with it and pouring milk on top. She thought I was a little weird for wanting it that way and I thought she was a little weird for fixing it that way. When I asked her, a couple of days later, if I could make her oatmeal the way I eat it, she said sure and that was when we both realized that we ate oatmeal in the same way. Funny thing. But I now like it with milk as well. If you ever get to try that, I recommend it too. But mostly I just recommend the peanut butter. :)
I started my volunteering for real last week. I work at an after-school program up in the hills of Quito on Tuesdays. Wow, what an overwhelming task. Luckily, us American whities could handle the amount of loving that the kids needed. We gave out hugs the entire day and had kids crawling on our backs and up our legs and into our laps. Some people might say they were clingy, but it wasnt true... we are the clingy ones.
On Wednesdays I go to a park here in town called La Carolina. In La Carolina is a little institution called Opción de Vida, where young men from the ages of 6-18 go so they can take showers, eat, and do homework or learn. I go at 3:00 in the afternoon and wash dirty clothing. These boys are from the street and they have no place to live. Many of them perform tricks at intersections to make money. Even more of them use drugs. And I have no idea how high the number is for those that steal to live. Either way, it is a little dangerous for us to go; us ladies are not allowed to go alone and we definitely aren't allowed to go through the park at night. Hence why I have my body guard, my buddy David. P.S. as a side note, our group is plagued by Davids. My brother's name is David, my host-brother's name is David, we have two Davids in our group of Idaho, one of the girl's boyfriends name is David. We're just swimming in Davids. That was just interesting to note. Not at all pertinent to my stories.
Then there was this last weekend! I know, really impressive. Breathe in, now breathe out. Hard to grasp that a weekend would follow the week days, but it did! Did it there? I don't know.
Okay, stop you silly people. Back to the real stuff. This weekend we went to Baños, a local excursion town. We rode the bus there—it took like four and a half hours!—and then stayed in a hostel for $6.50/person/night. Quite swell. We went rafting in level 4-5 rapids where it was basically just like getting a firehouse pointed at your face. I was in the raft with my friend Caitlin and these three older gentlemen from Barcelona. They were beautiful people. I don't even mean that they were hot, they were just handsome and striking and they spoke beautiful Castilian Spanish and they were so NICE and incredibly enthusiastic. One of them even pulled me back into the raft when I went overboard during a rapid! Quite nice of him to save my life. And we jumped off cliffs into the water (our rear ends hit the rocks at the bottom, but it didn't hurt). We sat in the hot pools and visited the waterfall. We sat around this great fireplace in our hostel and drank tea and coffee. The second night three of the girls and one guy got rather wasted rather quickly, which ended up in a pair of broken glasses, a missing set of keys, and a long night for David and I. But all was well and David and I were grateful to not be the ones with hangovers the next morning.
And when I say they got wasted, I mean they had multiple Bob Marleys, which are red, yellow and green shots that are lit on fire and drunk with a straw. I had a couple the first night and they were way too much fun, but when my nasal cavities decided it was time for me to be sick again, I decided to pass on them for the second night.
Sunday morning before we left we had a breakfast that I can only describe as divine. REAL coffee (as opposed to instant—the only thing you can find in Ecuador), pancakes with fruit and yogurt, french toast with thick syrup, homemade bread with homemade mermelada and a muffin. Can't beat that with a stick, I tell you.
Ummmm..... I don't know what I wrote about last time, but I will highlight some of the more impressive things (meaning they made an impression on me- can be both positive and negative).
I bought a phone. I even memorized the number. 09 282xxxx. Two days after I bought this phone that I really liked (it was the cheapest, but still $50), I was pick-pocketed. I'm just thankful nothing was violent and it happened to be the only thing in that particular pocket, so that is all he got from me. And I only shed one tear afterward! :) Quite the achievement for this easily bruised soul.
This pick-pocketing happened as I was coming back from getting my gear from an outdoor shop. I was loaded down with impermeable pants, gaiters, boots, crampons, ice pick, helmet, gloves, and more. The next day, I got up at 5:00 in the morning, left at dawn to meet the Andinismo Club, which is an outdoor club here on campus, and we headed off on a bus to the town of Cayambe. We were going to climb on the mountain Cayambe which is the only glacier on the equatorial line. Altogether it took a cab ride, a long bus ride, a cramped truck ride where I had the gear shift persistently knocked into my thigh, and a small hike in over-powering winds. We practiced climbing all day on Saturday in the snow and on the glaciers. I'll be honest, my knees are very bruised still. We learned braking and roping as a team and we had some fun sliding down and attempting to stop ourselves before we slid to our deaths.
That night we slept in el Refugio, or the Refuge, which had bunks, no heating, and ice-covered windows. It was delightfully movie-like. In the morning, the other brave souls, which did not include me, got up at 2 AM to climb more! They were on the hill by 3:00 and off by 9:00. And then we did the whole fun travel in reverse (although on the way back I got to sit in the BACK of the truck where we rode like cattle in a farmer's pickup). Yet again delightful.
I had oatmeal with peanut butter and raisins and panella for the first time. Mmmm.... That was good. And then I came back to Quito and told my host-mom about it and she thought I didn't have a stove, so when she fixed "oatmeal" for me, she did it without cooking the oats, just putting some other cereal in with it and pouring milk on top. She thought I was a little weird for wanting it that way and I thought she was a little weird for fixing it that way. When I asked her, a couple of days later, if I could make her oatmeal the way I eat it, she said sure and that was when we both realized that we ate oatmeal in the same way. Funny thing. But I now like it with milk as well. If you ever get to try that, I recommend it too. But mostly I just recommend the peanut butter. :)
I started my volunteering for real last week. I work at an after-school program up in the hills of Quito on Tuesdays. Wow, what an overwhelming task. Luckily, us American whities could handle the amount of loving that the kids needed. We gave out hugs the entire day and had kids crawling on our backs and up our legs and into our laps. Some people might say they were clingy, but it wasnt true... we are the clingy ones.
On Wednesdays I go to a park here in town called La Carolina. In La Carolina is a little institution called Opción de Vida, where young men from the ages of 6-18 go so they can take showers, eat, and do homework or learn. I go at 3:00 in the afternoon and wash dirty clothing. These boys are from the street and they have no place to live. Many of them perform tricks at intersections to make money. Even more of them use drugs. And I have no idea how high the number is for those that steal to live. Either way, it is a little dangerous for us to go; us ladies are not allowed to go alone and we definitely aren't allowed to go through the park at night. Hence why I have my body guard, my buddy David. P.S. as a side note, our group is plagued by Davids. My brother's name is David, my host-brother's name is David, we have two Davids in our group of Idaho, one of the girl's boyfriends name is David. We're just swimming in Davids. That was just interesting to note. Not at all pertinent to my stories.
Then there was this last weekend! I know, really impressive. Breathe in, now breathe out. Hard to grasp that a weekend would follow the week days, but it did! Did it there? I don't know.
Okay, stop you silly people. Back to the real stuff. This weekend we went to Baños, a local excursion town. We rode the bus there—it took like four and a half hours!—and then stayed in a hostel for $6.50/person/night. Quite swell. We went rafting in level 4-5 rapids where it was basically just like getting a firehouse pointed at your face. I was in the raft with my friend Caitlin and these three older gentlemen from Barcelona. They were beautiful people. I don't even mean that they were hot, they were just handsome and striking and they spoke beautiful Castilian Spanish and they were so NICE and incredibly enthusiastic. One of them even pulled me back into the raft when I went overboard during a rapid! Quite nice of him to save my life. And we jumped off cliffs into the water (our rear ends hit the rocks at the bottom, but it didn't hurt). We sat in the hot pools and visited the waterfall. We sat around this great fireplace in our hostel and drank tea and coffee. The second night three of the girls and one guy got rather wasted rather quickly, which ended up in a pair of broken glasses, a missing set of keys, and a long night for David and I. But all was well and David and I were grateful to not be the ones with hangovers the next morning.
And when I say they got wasted, I mean they had multiple Bob Marleys, which are red, yellow and green shots that are lit on fire and drunk with a straw. I had a couple the first night and they were way too much fun, but when my nasal cavities decided it was time for me to be sick again, I decided to pass on them for the second night.
Sunday morning before we left we had a breakfast that I can only describe as divine. REAL coffee (as opposed to instant—the only thing you can find in Ecuador), pancakes with fruit and yogurt, french toast with thick syrup, homemade bread with homemade mermelada and a muffin. Can't beat that with a stick, I tell you.
This week has been pretty swell so far. Had a very entertaining day with David yesterday at La Carolina. We laughed a lot. And tonight I have Club Andinismo meeting and then Tacos and Crepes with the Idaho group. PUMPED for that part.
Oh, and I took a test last Friday and got a 94%. How did I pull it off? I have no idea, ask someone else.
I am going to sign off with some photos. Enjoy and I hope everyone is well! Peace and Love.
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| Ready to hit rapids! |
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| Annnnd hitting the rapids |
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| Idaho in nerdy rafting gear |
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| This is my boat as well and that's me taking water to the face! |
2 comments:
sorry about your phone. we miss you here at UI but are glad you are having a great time in ecuador!!!
50 American dollars for your phone?? ouch! But I'm glad nothing worse happened. Take care of yourself, eh?
Man you have everything down there!
mountain climbing and hot pools and river rafting - how fun.
say hello to the Davids for me...
leah
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