Christmas In Coca

This feels weird again, writing. I realize I haven't been very been very communicative this month so here is my attempt to make it up. 

I am in Coca right now, sitting on the balcony of the place we are staying at. Its night, about 75 degrees F (24 C) and as humid as anywhere I have ever been. There is a massive river flowing slowly behind me and the lights of factories on the other side cast golden glimmers onto the dark surface. 

Coca is in the eastern part of Ecuador, the Amazon. My family are partners in a Hotel here and my host Dad's construction company is based here. This is sort of a second home for m family but it is the first time I have been here. 

We left Quito on the 23rd pretty late at night, I think we got to the bus terminal at about 10 PM. The bus terminal is a really weird place, it has the feel of an airport, in that time seems to stand still for all the people waiting and there is a very anxious feeling in the air. But then again its different too, you have to walk with one hand on your luggage and the other on your wallet as the place is renowned to be full of thieves. We caught our bus just in time and got ready for the 8 hour journey ahead. 

Normally the time would have passed quickly because I would have slept the whole way, but by some unfortunate roll of the cosmic dice I ended up next to a large woman. She seemed to have perfected the art of overflowing and made my leg room, her leg room, my arm rest, her arm rest and part of my seat, part of her seat. This resulted in my passing a restless 8 hours, constantly waking up to find myself a bit too close for comfort to my seat-mate. Not fun.

We arrived in Coca at about 5:30 in morning on the 24th. The hotel my family has here is really cool, it has a sort of main courtyard with an office and then buildings with rooms and other offices around the courtyard. There is a big dining room with a balcony that looks over the river too. When we got there everyone went to the rooms they always stay in, which left me in sort of a tricky spot. Obviously I am no regular here so I had no idea where to go, anyway my host Mom just said, "Oh you can stay in the suite". Sweet! Its nice, big bed (but not very long, my feet hang over the end, like in most beds here haha), huge windows and a fridge, sadly an empty fridge though. 

I put my stuff in the room and despite the fact that it was 5:30 in the morning and my body was about to shut down from lack of sleep, i decided that I had to explore. I found the river pretty quickly, being about 500 meters across, it was kind of hard to miss. The sun was rising, pink and gold light danced on the slow moving water. I decided that it would make a nice picture so i took out my camera and starting figuring out the shot. I took one which turned out badly because I forgot to turn of the flash, then when I went to take the next, I looked through the viewfinder and saw nothing but mist. I turned my camera around to find the entire lens covered in fog, then it dawned on me that it was the humidity. Yes, thats how humid it is, when the sun isn't out, glass literally fogs.  So I kept exploring, half asleep. A little while later I found myself on the hotel roof, which was unexpected but really cool. Finally I could take it no longer and went to bed. 

I woke up at about 1, walked out of my room and was hit by a wave of heat. The difference between my air conditioned "suite" and the temperature outside was crazy. I was forced to retreat back to my room, and reasses my clothing choices. 

******************************************************************

Ok I am back in Quito and am going to finish this Christmas Eve / Christmas Post.

So Christmas Eve was pretty relaxed. We rode around town doing some last minute gift shopping. I didn't need to buy anything but I came along for the ride to see the town.

Coca has a strange feel to it. Its sort of a big town / small city. It looks like it was literally built in a month and then has just kept expanding from there. All the streets are arrow straight and laid out in a perfect grid. Most of the buildings are made out of cinder blocks and look like they were never properly finished. There are very few buses and small cars, which was certainly strange to see after being in Quito for 4 months. The majority of the people have pickup trucks or dirk bikes. Its hard to describe the feel of the town, but all these things come together to give it a sort of rustic / frontier persona. The best comparison I think I can make is to St. Kitts in the West Indies. I can't think many people other than my family know St. Kitts, so I guess that part is just for them. 

After my Mom and sister did some shopping we stopped to eat a place on the side of the road cooking whole chickens inside a 55 gallon drum that had been cut in half. We actually hadn't planned to eat there but when we passed by the smell was so amazing we had to stop and try it. It was so good. The guy who owned the place was really nice too, he sat down with us for a while a chatted, asking me tons of questions about where I am from etc. He left to attend to some other customers that had stopped in and when he returned our conversation changed course a little. I instantly saw my sister had changed, she was smiling at this guy a lot, complimenting the food and little things like that which were so obvious to me but I think the owner was oblivious to the fact that he was being buttered up. Then she asked how many suppliers he had for chicken, he seemed a little confused but replied by telling us he had three. Then she tilted her head a little, smiled big fake smile and asked if she could be the fourth. I hadn't really seen where this was going and I was a bit surprised, for I had no idea where my sister was going to get several hundred chickens every month, but sure enough she knew someone with a farm and details were exchanged. This is how a lot of business is done here,  no one wants to be in the office so you make the office wherever you happen to be at that time. My sister and her boyfriend are full of strange money making schemes that seem hardly legal at times but all I can do is laugh and then write about it. 

Here in Ecuador Christmas is either a huge event, or not much of a celebration. My family tended to make it more of the latter, but I know friends here who are celebrating every last religious detail, making it more than a 2 week event. We had our big Christmas dinner on the 24th. Dinner was quite strange. A big table was set up in the dining room and all down one side were the hotel employees and all down the other were the family and friends. A few toasts were made and we started eating, in silence. I thought this was just due to the fact that we were all pretty keen to dig into the food, but the silence continued. It was truly peculiar, I don't know if they were all busily thinking of the baby Jesus or what, but all I could think of was, "well this is dull...". The silence was broken when my host Dad's phone rang, he answered, mumbled a few words, then got up and excused himself from the head of the table. He never came back. He is kind of a strange guy, nice, but strange. 

After dinner my Mom, brothers, sister and I went into the office to exchange gifts. I got a really nice sweatshirt from my Mom and a set of cards from my brother. It has been a really low-key Christmas this year, but being able to have the opportunity to be here is the most amazing gift of all. 

That covers pretty much all of the Christmas celebrations we had here. Obviously we did lots more things in Coca, so I will continue to write about them this week. 

I don't have any picture of Christmas Eve, so I will leave with at least something to look at, I took it on Christmas Day. I did edit it a bit on the computer which is why it looks, well, edited. Anyway enjoy!

Oh Yeah I Have A Blog To Attend To

Let me begin by saying sorry, primarily for not posting anything here in a while, almost 3 weeks, and secondly because this will probably be a disappointingly short post. 

I was really sick last week, again. This time it was different, some respiratory virus, so I missed a bunch of school and was pretty much dead last weekend. Therefore I didn't really have anything to post that might interest you. 

However hopefully I will make this up to you all with my next post. I am going away with my family for Christmas which will be really fun. We are going to Coca which is in the amazon (east) part of Ecuador, about 5 hours from Columbia. My family are joint owners of a hotel there, it is also where my "Dad" lives.

 I don't think I have explained my family dynamics here before, its a bit complicated so I'l give you a brief outline. I have 2 brothers, Robert,  32 and Fernando, 29. They are both engineers and work in the family business along with my Dad. The business is based out of Coca because Dad lives there. I am not quite sure of all the details of my parents separation but I think its a touchy subject. Anyway, my brothers spend about half their time in Quito and the rest in Coca. My sister Carolina lives here in Quito with Mama.  So I will be meeting my host Dad for the first time tomorrow, I'v been told hes a really funny guy so I'm looking foreword to it. 

I was actually supposed to take the bus to Coca tonight with Robert but there was only one ticket left so I am going with rest of the family in the car tomorrow night. I will be sure to take tons of pictures (with my new tri-pod, thanks Mum and Dad!) and there will surely be a lengthy post to go with them. 

I am bringing my computer with me, only to talk with Mum and Dad on Christmas day. If anyone else wants to chat on Christmas I would love that. However the computer is really the only option, if you have Skype my username is: itsLadam, the same as the URL of this blog. So take a look sometime on Christmas to see if I am online and give me a call! I will be missing family and friends alot I know so I would love to hear from some of you.

I think thats it. I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas! 

Las Fiestas de Quito

As I mentioned in my previous post all last week was Las Fiestas de Quito, starting on the 28th of Nov. and ending on the 6th of Dec. The City was actually founded on the December 6th of 1534, but give an Ecuadorian any excuse to party and they will make a week (or 9 days!) of it. The city was founded by Sebastian Benalcazar, this is only significant because my school is named after him. Anyway enough history, to the festivities!

There are bullfights every day during Las Fiestas, many people go on several days if not all of them. I want to take a moment here to further explain my feelings about the bullfights.

I have been catching a bit of grief about my post and pictures from animal lovers and normal friends alike. This took me by surprise because I thought I was pretty clear about my stance on the issue in my last post, maybe not? So here is my official statement: I loved the atmosphere of the event, I loved the cultural aspect, and as an experience, it was thoroughly enjoyable. I did not care for seeing the bulls die, the suffering is definitely cruelty towards the animal. This being said, those people who came at me saying how it was all animal torture and morally unforgivable to kill bulls, I want to you to take note that hamburgers and steaks do not grow on trees. This is not meant to attack anyone's beliefs, I know that killing animals is a touchy subject, but I just don't want to hear any more comments on the issue. There are protest groups that will gladly listen, and I encourage you to take action to support your beliefs.

Beside the bullfights, there were other things going on pretty much every day. Parades were common, usually shutting down some of the main avenues in the city. This made for horrendous traffic and many of the bus routes were altered to accommodate the available streets. Also there were tons of things going on in the Historic Center of the city. I passed through on several days and saw outdoor plays, protests, and live music. I also managed to buy my self a pair of awesome shoes for $5, which is completely irrelevant to this post but the frugal Scotsman in me felt like sharing.

Another big part of Las fiestas are chivas. A chiva is basically a party bus that drives around the city until the wee hours of the morning while tons of people climb on board and sing. They look quite different from your normal bus though. Imagine a flat bed truck with benches on the bed, then build a cover for the benches and put railings onto of the cover so people can stand up there too. Finally make a platform on the back with more railings. They are usually painted cool colors and many have names like "the spirit of Quito" or "The Quiteño Chiva". They start their rounds at about mid-day and finish at about 3 or 4 in the morning. They have set routes which they drive on at about 10 mph, its actually a pretty good way to see some of the city. Some families rent their own chivas and make it a safer, more family oriented experince. I say "safer" only because I think any bus packed full of mostly intoxicated people singing at the top of their lungs could be deemed somewhat a hazard. I rode a chiva briefly with Alex and some friends one night after a party, it wasn't really anything special, but I can now say that I have been on one.

I can't really figure out how to string all these aspects of the celebrations together so I am just listing them I guess. The next thing is a card game called "Cuarenta". Cuarenta means 40 in spanish and as you may be able to guess the aim is to get forty points. I wont go through all the rules, because there are a lot and because I still havnt quite got all the little ones worker out. It is played in two teams, so it cn either be a 2, 4, or 8, person game. I learned to play earlier in my first few months mainly by watching people play at the house and occasionally giving it a go myself. The learning was so difficult because at the time my Spanish was still only so so and when 4 people are trying to explain a rule at the same time, things get confusing. I pretty much have it now and Mami and I got 2nd place in a family and friends tournament on Sunday. There are much bigger competitions in the city with prizes getting as big as cars and vacations, for this reason you can always see people playing in the street, practicing for next year.

And then of course there are the parties. The first weekend was pretty quiet, but the second was crazy like no other. There are tons of private parties which you have to buy a ticket to get into, these range from $15 parties in bars, $30 parties in closed down malls, and then there are one which cost into the hundreds, I don't even know where they are held but they are for the super rich youth. I didn't go to any of these private gatherings, the usual nightclubs were packed with people like myself who don't want / need to pay to have fun. I can't exactly give you a normal account of these nights, due to the fact that I have no idea / control of who reads my blog. If you really are desperate to know, ask me sometime, a real teaser huh?

I can't think of any other things involved with Las Fiestas but if I remember I will update this post.

Sorry, no photos.

Ok so heres a 3 minute later update:

Today was my 100th day in Ecuador, kind of a crazy thought for me. That means I only have 200 more days!

Futball and Bullfight

Sunday found me cheering on Liga de Quito in their match against Deportiva Quito. The whole thing was kind of a disaster, ending with a 2-0 loss but the experience of going to the games is always fun. There is lots of singing, mostly about how homosexual the other team is or alternatively how truly amazing Liga de Quito is. I always feel bad for the referees at sporting events here. When most of you readers get angry at a referee on t.v. or whatever usually words like idiot, moron, and maybe even jackass come to mind, but here its different. The things they get called would be enough to permanently destroy any normal person's self esteem, maybe they wear earplugs?

So like I said, the whole game was pretty disappointing for Liga. However during the game spirits remained high for last season Liga were the champions of all of South America, nothing could take that away from the dedicated fans. The guy I was sitting next to had the teams logo tattooed on his bicep, it looked to be pretty new, most likley he had it done following last season's victory.

Probably the most exciting part of the game, actually happened afterward. I was kind of expecting huge brawls inside the stadium, but the police, who were out in force and dressed in full riot gear, seemed to have things under control. I got on the bus, which was almost empty, leaned back and closed my eyes to rest, glad to be away from all those sweaty, screaming men. All of a sudden my peaceful moment was rudely interrupted by shouting outside the bus window. Annoyed at the disturbance, I opened my eyes and looked out to see what was going on. Two guys, one wearing a Liga jersey, the other wearing a Deportiva Quito jersey, were shouting at each other in a parking lot. The two andvanced and shouts quickly turned to blows. After about a minute the Liga fan was on the ground getting pummeled by his opponent and someone tried to pull them apart, unfortunately for him, he only succeeded in getting punched in the face. So, pissed off, he grabbed a few of his buddies and jumped into the fight as well, within seconds the two man scuffle in the lot turned into a full out brawl of about 30 people. I was pretty thankful to be on the bus, it looked pretty nasty. It all ended when one side fled for cover inside a fast food restaurant.

On monday Alex and I went to one of the bullfights that take place every day this week. We knew practically nothing about what we were doing. Only that the first of December was going to be the best day and that we should get to the Plaza de Torros at about 10. We sort of had a choice, buy cheap tickets and go on the best day, or buy better seats to a not so good day. So we figured best day + cheap seats to be the better decision.

We got there at about 9:30 thinking we would have to look for our tickets a bit, but no there were literally scalpers everywhere. They are sneaky too, I think they must all meet and agree on prices because no one would bargain or anything. So we paid about 110% mark-up for our tickets but whatever, they were still pretty cheap.

The plaza was pretty empty when we went in, so we walked around for while. The bullfights are obviously hugely endorsed because everything was covered in logos of phone companies, beer companies and the likes. There were a bunch of stages being set up, presumably for dance parties after the bullfight.

We went inside the ring after a little while to secure our seats. It wasn't until we were inside that we saw that our seats were actually pretty far apart, obviously this wasn't going to stand so we just ignored the numbers on our tickets. We met up with another exchange student from Alex's program and his friend so we all sat together. They told us how the had bought their tickets in September, at retail price. This made me feel a little dumb, but we were there so nothing really mattered. In fact, Alex's friend was had been to the two fights previously and was also going on Tuesday. I can't say that I would want to go 4 days in a row, but thats just me.

It seemed like every 15 minutes or so a group of people would come walking down the row, stick their tickets in our faces, and ask that we vacate their seats. As the ring filed with people, finding 4 seats together every time we moved proved to be more and more difficult. Eventually we just ended up sitting on the stairs, packed like sardines along side people who were probably kicked out of their seats too.

As soon as the first bull came out everyone forgot the discomfort were instantly captivated. Actually beforehand, all the matadors, picadors, horsemen and everyone else who was to play a role in the fights marched into the ring and presented themselves to the president of the event.

Like I said before I really had no idea what to expect, seeing the bull inside the ring for the first time was strange, definitely seemed out of place. Anyway, Il give you a breakdown of how each fight goes.

So first, obviously, they let the bull into the ring. It usually runs in, stops, looks around very confused and then charges and one or more men waving bright pink capes. These guy wave he capes and then jump behind wooden barricades on the side of the ring. Sometime the bulls rams into the barricade and the crowd gasps, but usually it stop just short and looks confused as to where the cape went. Then someone on the other side of the ring will do the same thing. All the initial running tires the bull out a bit hence making the whole process easier.

Next a man enters on a horse, he carries a long spear with a very sharp blade on the end. One side of the horse is protected by a large, elaborately decorated sheet of armor, as is the horseman's leg. Upon seeing the horse the bulls usually attacks, but doesn't get very far due to the armor. The job of the rider is to plunge the spear into the back of the bulls neck, this cuts some of the muscles and tendons and starts the bleeding. The muscles are cut so that the bull cannot raise its head easily and gore the matador, or anyone else for that matter. If the horseman spend too much time with his spear in the bull's neck, the crowd whistles and jeers, signaling that they think it is unfair. The bull is right up against the horse this whole time and thrashing around violently, several times the bull nearly toppled the horse which would have been bad news. It is kind of disturbing to see the bull bleed for the first time. After the spear is removed, you can literally see blood gushing rhythmically out of the wound in time with the bull's heartbeats.

After this two or three men, picadors, enter the ring each with nothing but brightly colored bandilleras. These are barbed stakes, about 2 and a half feet long, that the picadors stab into the neck of the bull. In my opinion this is the most interesting part of the fight. You have to think about the situation first, the picador, being Latin American is generally a pretty short guy, and the bulls, usually selected for their size and power are pretty big. So in order to get the bandilleras in the bulls neck the picadors must jump really high and have perfect aim, all while dodging the charging bull and his horns. If it is done right, both bandilleras enter the bull at the exact same point and at the exact same time, if the picador fails to get both in he is usually whistled at by the crowd and does not get another try. Again, this process weakens the neck muscles of the bull and makes it bleed more.

After the picadors are finished the matador, or torreo, enters. He has the well known red cape and a sword. For about 10 minutes, he manipulates the bull to do his biding. Charging at the cape, running in circles or simply standing there, slowly dying, the bull is at the mercy of the matador at this point. The better matadors show off during this time as well, they kneel on the ground and get the bull to charge, dodging the animal by inches, other times they touch the bulls head while it is standing still, one even put his head in between the bulls horns and stayed like that for a few seconds. The crowd love these kinds of things and cheers loudly. Every time the matador makes a successful pass with the bull the crowd shouts "Ole!", I always thought that was just some kind of western perversion of bullfighting, but no. It is slightly different though, the accent is on the "o" not the "e" so its more like "Ole", not "oLE", I hope that made sense.

When the bull is obviously tired to the point where it is not longer a fight, the matador draws his sword. He stands in front of the bull, who is panting, bleeding and generally looking miserable. Sword extended fully, the matador takes careful aim. The idea is to go through the bulls neck and into it's heart, ensuring a quick(er) death. When he feels he is as ready as he will ever be, the matador begins to run at the bull, who also starts to charge, at the last second the matadors steps aside and plunges the sword into the bull. When done correclty all that is visible of the sword is the handle. If the matador misses, the sword hits the bulls shoulder blade and sticks out about half way. Instantly two more men, the same ones from the very beginning, enter the ring to distract the bull. They wave the brightly colored capes in front of the bull. The bull cannot decide which to charge at and pretty much remains in the same spot, waving it head back and forth. I have to say I didn't find this part much to my liking. Such a powerful, elegant animal is reduced to a staggering, confused mess in its final moments of life, soon it stumbles and hits the ground, not dead, but seconds away. A man with a short, wide knife carefully approaches the bull and finishes it by stabbing it just behind the skull. One final shudder and it finally dies, rolling over on its side, legs out stretched.

At this point the president of the Plaza makes the decision of how well the matador performed. In theory he can award up to two ears and a tail, but that is only for a truly historic show. 5 of the 6 matadors we saw on Monday received one ear, which is cut from the bull and presented to the matador. The bull is then harnessed to two huge horses and dragged out of the ring. If the bull put up an amazing fight, the horses drag it all the way around the arena, if not a small circle is made and then it is brought out. The matador then walks around the edge of the arena with the picadors and the horseman. If he did well, bouquets of flowers, and hats are thrown at hit. He and the other men try and throw the hats back to those who threw them, the crowd is really good about passing them back to their rightful owners.

So that is a brief description of a bullfight. On Monday we saw 3 matadors and 6 bulls. I was told that apart from some in Spain, Quito's bullfights are regarded as some of the best in the world. The main matador of the day was called Fandi, he is Spanish and is currently ranked the best matador in Spain.

The whole experience was really amazing. I do have mixed feelings about the morality of it all, it really all depends on the skill of the matador. For instance, Fandi killed the final bull perfectly, the sword went straight in, the men with the capes didn't even enter, the bull just collapsed. They didn't even need to the knife for its neck or anything. However another time, the bull refused to go down, it literally took minutes of just standing there for it to fall and die.

There is a big movement against bullfighting, but I doubt they will be able to do away with such a deeply rooted tradition.

I don't have school on Thursday which is nice, and we only have class until 10 on Friday. Yay Fiestas de Quito.





This is the ring before the first bull.





Here the horseman is cutting the neck muscles of the bull who is trying to gore the horse.





This is the picador putting the bandilleras in the bull's neck.





The bull's final moment, look carefully and you can see the matadors sword.





A job well done.

Concert

I realize I am long overdue for a new post. I sat down to write this one a few times this week, but each time it just sounded horrible, so I deleted it. If you are reading this then that means I have finally produced something that is half decent.

First off I want to say that the concert I went to on Saturday, the one I was talking about in earlier posts, was probably the best show I have ever been to. Now I guess I'll describe the whole night in detail, here goes.

I finished making my Che t-shirt the day before, I was really pleased with how it came out, I even added "Viva la Revolucion" on the back for good socialist measure. My friend and I took the trolley to the concert which was about an hour ride. It was being held in the car-park of a futball stadium in the south of Quito. The south of Quito is generally the poor part of the city, this means it is much more dangerous, and overall the atmosphere is pretty dismal. At almost every trolley stop more people got on who were obviously going to the concert as well, this meant that they were either wearing black or had dreadlocks, or both.

We all got off at the last stop, in the heart of south Quito and walked a few blocks in the rain to the futball stadium where there were hundreds of people queuing outside the gate. The line moved really slowly as they were letting people in literally 2 at a time so they could pat them down for knives and things. I can't say I minded waiting the extra time in line, it put my mind a little more at ease to know that no one was armed. The whole time while we waited vendors walked up and down the line selling everything from umbrellas to $1 bags of peach wine. Somehow, the concert which was "free" cost a dollar to get into, but whatever, this is Ecuador.

Inside the gate there was a sort of part grass, part mud, part asphalt field with a huge stage at one end and a crowd of thousands in the middle. The concert had been going on since about noon I think but the best two bands, the ones we came to see, were going to be playing last, so we had some time to wait. We watched a reggae band who were really good and then a crazy metal band who were, well, not so good. Their singer was dressed in indigenous Ecuadorian clothing, but not much of it, and played the guitar and a set of pipes at the same time which ultimately just resulted in an awful racket.

Finally the metal band ended and the final band was getting their stuff ready to come out. Either side of the stage were huge T.V. screens with various messages being displayed. These included information about anti-bullfighting activists, anti-neo nazi groups and anti-racism campaigns. I thought it was really cool how the people are so into eliminating neo nazis and racism. It seems to be much more of a problem here than in the States or the U.K. but there is a huge resistance. The anti-bullfighting stuff was pretty interesting too, although it was obviously really biased in the images and statistics it showed.

After not too long the final band came on and all anti-whatever campaigns were forgotten. The band was called Ska-P, and as the name implies, they are a ska band. They come from Spain and are 100% crazy. By this time the whole field was pretty much full, if I had to make a rough guess as to how many people were there I would say around 4000.

I would say that the energy level was through the roof but we were outdoors, so no roof, yeah you see what I am saying. It was truly crazy. Ska is really fast music and I think it can only be described as happy. 4000 people all jumping, pushing, dancing and shouting at once, in the rain is really a sight to see.

Ska-P obviously put alot of time and effort into their shows. They were constantly changing into costumes and putting on mini skits during the show. One song they played was very critical of the United States, calling them the "world police" and things like that, so while no one was looking the guitarist slipped off stage and into a huge Uncle Sam costume complete with stilts and top hat. Then the singer jumped off stage and reappeared in a bright orange prison outfit from Guantanamo Bay, Uncle Sam proceeded to point his long finger at the prisoner and then put him into a fake electric chair which had been placed on stage. The singer jumped all over the place shouting and shaking, pretending to get electrocuted while a roar of boos came from the crowd. Describing it now, the whole scene seems very dark and negative but in reality it was satirical and funny.

Later they played a song criticizing Catholics in which a figure on stilts came on stage wearing a long purple robe and carrying a big staff with a cross on the top. He had a long crooked nose and an evil grin, the whole costume was very well thought out. I didn't know what kind of reaction this would get from a crowd in a predominantly Catholic country, but for the most part everyone took it light heartedly and danced on.

At some point during the concert I was running around pushing, shouting and generally not caring when I bumped into Claudio. This came as a huge surprise for he hadn't said that he was coming. So there were some excited shouts of "What are you doing here!?" and the likes and then we went back to having a great time.

The show went on like this for about an hour and a half, much longer than any of the other bands played and ended at about 11. From here things kind of took a turn for the unexpected. After we left our plan was to catch the trolley back North where my friend's dad was going to pick us up from the station. We had asked previously if he would pick us up from the concert but he laughed and said to us, "I'm not going down there, they'll steal my car". However, upon arriving at the trolley, we were greeted by locked doors and extinguished lights. Now we were in trouble. We can't take our phones out to make a call otherwise we will get mugged for them, and we don't have away back north. The only option we had was to take a taxi. In the day this would be fine, taxi rides are about $1.50-3 depending on where you are going, but in the night things change. The drivers shut off the meters and jack up the prices, making them up in their heads for each ride. The only taxi we could find was trying to charge us $10 to get back, so we sort of guilt tripped him by saying that if he didn't take us for cheaper we would be left on the streets for the night. Eventualyl we got a cheaper fair and climbed in.

The whole concert experience was amazing, I didn't even have to tell anyone that I was a socialist.

On a different note, Las Fiestas de Quito started on Saturday. Translated as "the parties/celebrations of Quito", this week celebrates the founding of Quito. There are parties every day of the week and tons of things going on in the city most notably are the bullfights. I think I am going on Monday which will be quite an experience.

Tomorrow we have the Ecuadorian futball championships and the team from Quito, Liga de Quito, are playing. So I am going to that.I will probably have another post mid-week about the game and the bullfight.

I was tired

So as someone pointed out to me yesterday, the link I included in my last post was to a different video. Sorry if this caused some confusion haha. Here is the one I mean to post:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-1Bcj9FFPk

again, click "watch in high quality" in the bottom right corner.

Sorry!

Pululagua

This weekend was kind of uneventful. We went out all night on Thursday to celebrate Sharone's birthday so school wasn't exactly going to happen on Friday. I slept all day and then woke up to be told that we were going to play bingo. The bingo started really late, 10:30 I think and went untill a little before 2 AM. I ended up winning the very first game which came as a huge surprise, my prize was a coffee machine, awesome! Finally I can insist that we have real coffee in the house and no more Nescafé! S I sat down and figured I'd play again seeing as each game only cost 50 cents. Well, somehow I won again. This time I got a set of colored glassware which I have no idea what I am going to do with. As I walked back to my seat, people literally got up to rub me, trying to "take some of my luck". I called it quits after my 2 for 2 wins.

On Sunday I went to the English church again, and the park, again. Later on I went back to the church to go to youth group. I don't think I would ever have found my way to where we met without the help of Zoe and Gabi, who are also in my exchange program and have been going to the church for a while. Youth group was different, bu fun. We played some ridiculous games to begin with, much like at UCC, but then we went upstairs and things got serious. It wasn't bible study but more of a lecture, I'm not saying that in a bad way, it was interesting, just not what I was expecting.

The talk finished early so we had half an hour to hang out. I met a bunch of the kids there, though I can't say that I remember all their names. They are all nice, but the group seems to be divided into smaller groups of friends. I found out that many of them go to a Christian private school in the city called Alliance Academy, and most are the sons and daughters of missionaries. They call themselves MKs, missionary kids haha. I look forward to going next Sunday.

My class didn't have school on Monday or yesterday, I don't know why, but I'm not going to argue.

This Saturday my friend and I are going to an all-day Reggae / Ska concert. We were talking about it last week and he said that its in a slightly dangerous part of the city, so we agreed on 2 guidelines for the day. 1. If anyone asks, I AM NOT AMERICAN, this is true so its not like I'm lying or anything but most people here asume I am from the States. 2. If anyone asks, I BELIEVE CAPITALISM IS BAD AND SOCIALISM IS THE WAY OF THE FUTURE. So, we figured the best way to show our socialist pride is to go and buy some t-shirts with Che Guevara's face printed as large as possible on the front.

We started our hunt for the shirts on Monday, but the only ones we found were extra extra large, just a wee bit big for me. So we abandoned the search and decided that pizza was much easier to find. We will continue later this week.

Tuesday was the real adventure for this week. The original plan was for Alex and I to go up the telelferico, which I wrote about wayyy back, and then form there hike about 3 hours up to the crater, which I didn't do when I went in September. We got up early, and loaded our bags with lots of extra clothes and enough fruit to keep scurvy at bay for years. We caught a taxi and were on our way, but then things came to a grinding halt. We arrived at the entrance of the teleferico and the guard told us that it is closed on Tuesdays. Closed. The one day we want to go, it just happens to be closed. I felt strange sitting there with all my stuff, knowing that we were'nt going to be able to go. But we could not waste a day off school, especially seeing as we were all set for a day of adventuring.

We returned to my house to make a new plan. Mama suggested that we go to a volcano crater about an hour outside of Quito. Before he came Alex had been told by a friend that this pace was a must see, we now had a plan. So we caught the bus in the direction of el Mitad del Mundo, which means the middle of the world, where the monument for the equator and all that is. Alex had visited the equator with his family in his first week so he knew a lot more about it that I did. The thing that surprised me the most was the fact that the line and a the monument aren't even on the actual equator. The real line is about 240 meters away, there is a really old, much smaller monument that the indigenous people built long ago, in the right place. After learning this I couldn't take the place seriously at all. The though of all the tourists who jump or straddle the line, oblivious to the fact that it has no more significance than the rocks its made of, makes me laugh.

We passed the equator and got off on the last stop. The driver told us that we just had to walk 15 minutes up the road and we would be at the crater. We passed a strange building made of stone with a spiraling ramp up the side. Obviously we had to check it out. It really dark inside and no one seemed to be there. There were things on display on the walls and floor, and a circular room in the middle with a big hole in the ceiling directly above. Alex figured out that it was a museum / sun temple, (at mid-day the sun shine perfectly through the ceiling and magical things happen? I had Indiana Jones on my mind the whole time.) As I was taking photos we heard noises from above and a man hurried down the stairs to ask what we were doing, he told us that we had to pay to enter and he would explain all the stuff to us. Alex talked with him while I took as many photos as I could before leaving hehe.

We took a break on these huge steps outside the museum to eat some fruit and rest for a while. A dog sat 2 steps above us the whole time, eying our food hungrily.

After eating we set off again to the edge of the crater. I saw the wooden fence from about 15 meters away and figured it would be much more breathtaking if I didn't look until I got right to the edge. So I studied my shoes and walked forward carefully, so as not to barrel through the thing and roll a looong way down. It was definitly worth it, when I got to the fence and looked up it was nothing short of incredible. Before me was a huge valley, surrounded by mountains. Although it is actually a crater, it looks much more like a normal valley because there are fields and several houses inside. It is one of two inhabited craters int he world! The clouds were spilling over the far edge of the crater at an incredibly speed, then seemed to disperse upward.

A local guide came over to us and talked with us for about half an hour about the volcano and lots of statistics. It was all interesting stuff, but time was precious seeing as we had got such a late start, therefore we sort of had to leave before he was finished sharing his wealth of knowledge. The trail was a really steep, rocky track that switch-backed down into the crater. It took about 20 minutes to get down to the bottom, with a few stops for photos.

At the bottom everything was really different. There was no wind, it was much warmer and all the plants were different. The majority of the land in the crater was planted fields, the ash in the soil makes it really fertile. There was one main road that ran roughly through the center of the crater, it was about the width of a car, and had grass in the middle like any other dirt road, but there didn't seem to be any cars in the crater. We walked for a while, our destination was one of the peaks on the other side, the guide had said it was about an hour and a half to climb it, as opposed to the 6 hour climb for the larger peak.

There was a runined house on the side of the road that the guide had told us was the first house built inside the crater. We explored it a bit, it was literally falling apart, and covered in graffiti. Th guide hadn't exactly been clear about where the trail was to climb the peak, so we just sort of kept walking until we knew we had gone too far, we were practically standing at the bottom of the mountain with a wall of thick shrubs in front of us. So Alex went and asked a man who was working in the fields while I fiddled with my camera and took photos. It turned out we had passed the trail about 100 meters back. By this point were were running short on time and we had to make the decision whether or not to climb the mountain and risk missing the bus back to Quito. I think you can probably guess what we decided. To hell with it, lets climb that mountain!

The climb was really tough. The path was nothing more than a strip of dirt about a foot wide covered by overgrown bushes and thorny things. At times it was pretty much rock climbing, but nothing was going to prevent us from getting to the top. Eventually we made it, and again the view was breathtaking. The clouds flew by so fast it seemed unnatural. WE put down our stuff, took out our food and proceeded to feast. After we ate I got up and looked around, the clouds had moved in and we could literaly see nothing but white in every direction. We sat there on the rounded top of the mountain looking out into what looked like an ocean of clouds. After a long moment deep in though we both said at the same time, "It feels like we are on the abck of a giant turtle, flying through the sky." It was kind of crazy that we had the exact same though at the exact same time, but literally I think thats the best way to describe that moment.

We climbed down, very carefully, yet still managing to get scratched by every thorn on the mountain. Back into the crater we went, along the road, past the ruined house, and up the other side where we started. (writing that reminded me of a book I used to read when I was little, We're Going On A Bear Hunt, if anyone has read the book they will know what I am talking about. Great memories.) The climb back up was a real pain, but we seemed to do it in record time, 30 minutes I think.

One thing I fogot to mention earlier was the feeling I got inside the crater. It was really weird, there were houses and people but it felt very alien, like I was looking through a display case at a way of life apart from the rest of the world. I almost felt like I was intruding, despite the fact that it is a tourist destination with a hostel and everything. The people smiled and said hello, but I couldnt help but feel like they wanted us out as soon as possible. I don't really know how to explain it, I guess you have to be there.

We caught the bus and everything in time and got back to Quito very tired, but satisfied wiht our adventure.

I took two videos from the peak of the mountain, one before the clouds moved in and one when all was white. They are pieced together here on youtube. In the bottom right hand corner there is a button for "watch in high quality" click that for better quality (duh!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-1Bcj9FFPk

Pictures are uploading right now so they should be up soon.



This is the route we took inside the crater. The smaller peak we climbed is on the left. The big one is for another day.




The fertile soil in the crater makes for lots of cool plants.




More Plants




Inside the abandoned house.




This is the road that goes through the crater.

Fun In The Park

Just a funny story about today.

So I got up a little early today, early for a Sunday at least, and went to a different church by myself. It was called the English Fellowship Church and guess what language they spoke! It was great to finally understand a sermon, the minister was really good, he had tons of energy and a lot of it seemed more like philosophy than religion. At the same time it was really strange to see all these people with pale skin and angular faces like my own. I wasn't exactly confident in my English skills, which I think I can take as a good sign, but I talked with the minister after the service and asked about the youth group Will had told me about (Will was the exchange student with my family here earlier this year, he gave me a bunch of good info about this church over the phone the other day, thanks man!) The group wasn't meeting today which I was kind of sad about but I talked with one of the kids who helps lead it and it sounds really good. I am looking forward to next Sunday.

After church I went back to the house to grab my skateboard then headed to the park. Alex had been practicing Caopoeira (a brasilian martial art) there in the morning so we met up. When I got there it was just him and one of the guys from his Caopoeira group. They had the slack line set up and were just messing around. If you havn't read the post where slack line is explained, I'l give you a brief idea now. Its a flat nylon chord, about 2 inches wide, that you tie between two trees really tighly and walk on. Its like a tight rope but it bends much more, hence slack line.

So we did that for a little while, practiced handstands, cartwheels and backflips then I went off to skate for a little bit. When I came back, about 30 mins later Alex and his friend had been joined by a bunch of the kids that juggle in the streets for money. They looked about 10 and they were really funny, but strangly grown up, I think you probably maure pretty fast when you are spending every day working at traffic lights in a busy capital city. We helped them use the slack line because they were a bit too short to be able to get on, some climbed one of the trees to get on which seemed like a pretty clever solution to me. They had all their juggling stuff with them so I asked if they could teach me how to juggle the bowling pins they had. I do alright with oranges and tennis balls, but these things were impossibl, all I could do was step back and watch in awe as these 10 year old did the craziest things in front of me.

So again I went back to use my skateboard for a little bit and came back when my legs were worn out. This time our group had been joined by several people who I can really only describe as hippies. They had long hair, some with breadlocks, colorful baggy clothing, and they all just looked incredibly laid back. They were really good at the lack line so we watched them for a bit and I got some tips. Some of them could juggle as well and they made a triangle with one of the kids and between the three of them were juggling 9 bowling pins, with mixed success.

So our group was attracting the attention of lots of passers by and people sitting in the park and we were all just having a really good time. I kind of stopped paying attention to who was showing up and doing what, so when I next took a good look around I was surprised at just how large this thing had grown. We now had people teaching others to ride unicylces, bartenders practicing spinning and throwing bottles, hippies lounging around in the sun, street kids playing on the slack line, Alex giving Caopoeira lessons to a girl who had been watching intently, people dancing with those long streaming ribbons and more jugglers than your average circus. Circus. I think that is the best word to describe what this gatehring of odd balls looked like. I had to step back and laugh, and to think, this all began with three people doing handstands and playing with a slack line.

Photos

So these are some photos from last weekend. There are posts about last weekend and this one below.




One of the many spiders we encountered on our walk at the farms.






The view from where we hiked to.




A view from the town we went to from the farm.




Alex putting our lunch in a bag.




Alex and I making empanadas.




The abandoned mine.




A flower from one of our night walks in Mindo.




Hummingbird in Mindo.




Another hummingbird in Mindo.

Sports Ceremony

If you are just logging on, there is another post I wrote tonight concluding last weekend's adventures below this one.

So last week we ordered class t-shirts for some sports day we were going to have, I didn't really know what this day was about, in fact I had no idea until the day of, but I was stoked to be getting my own shirt with "GRINGO" printed across the back (that was my choice, the people here aren't that mean.) I had kind of forgotten about the whole thing until it was brought up again yesterday.

So part of the sports day / ceremony thing is about selecting girls to represent each class and then the school. So at 11 on Friday someone came into class with a list of students names who would be allowed to watch the "selection" of the girls. I was not on the list, but a piece of paper wasn't going to stop me from joining my friends in watching Colegio Benalcazar's finest on stage. So I managed to leave class with others on the list and then we had to wait for ages outside the theatre becuase they wanted us all sitting perfectly accourding to our grade. While we were waiting a fight broke out between two guys in the 6th course, it was pretty poor excuse of a fight, but interesting nonetheless. Lots of insults and swears flew back and worth after it was broken up, I can proudly say that I knew almost all of them haha.

Finally we were ushered into the theatre and we sat up int he balcony. Over the course of the next hour and a bit all the girls "trying out" participated in what could probably be called a fshion show. When Pamela, the girl from our class, came out we went crazy, screaming, shouting, and waving posters with her name in huge letters. Unfortunaly, in the end she wasn't chosen, but it was still fun to miss class for a while and go wild.

After school I went to the costume shop which is right down the street from school to pick up my complete Tigger costume. Before you get too confused, let me explain myself. I was asked to be the mascot for my class so I said yes. I wanted to be like real mascot in a full costume with a huge head and everything, I figured if this thing is worth doing, its worth doing right. So I had chosen a Tigger costume earlier that week and picked it up on friday. The rental was pretty cheap. I didn't even know you could rent costume like that.

So today I came to school slightly early to get my cstume ready and meet with the class. After getting everything sorted we all went out onto the football pitch and sormed a huge cirlce on the track accourding to our classes. The stands were full of teachers, parents and other family members. The band played and marched around for a bit and then there were shows with cheerleaders and some other pretty boring stuff. All this time I am sitting there in a full Tigger costume in the hot sun dripping sweat. (I am proud of myself that I managed to resist using a colorful simile instead of just "dripping sweat", reader disgretion seems to have priority.) Eveytually I just had to take the top half off and ventilate. It was a good thing too, we were waiting for about an hour and a half before it was our turn to march past the stands of people.

When we finally did I gave it my all. Alex was the "Caballero", which mean that he had to wear his formal uniform and walk at the front of the procession with Pamela. Whereas I got to run ahead doing handstands and cartwheels and dancing for the crowd, in my sweet Tigger costume. The excitment was pretty short lived but lots of fun.

Afterwords Alex borrowed the costume of one of the other mascots and we ran around the school dancing and frequently stopping to take photos with small children. We did that for a while then decided that it would be much more fun to dance in the streets and at the traffic lights. So we grabbed our stuff and headed to one of the busiest streets in Quito, which is about 30 seconds fromt he school. We asked a kid from school to gurad our backpacks and take some photos while we danced at the traffic light. So when ever the light was ready Alex and I would run into the street and do cartwheels, handstands and riciculous dances, then we took off our hands and walked though the line of traffic at which point people stuck their hands out fot he windows to put change in out makeshift collection plates. After about 10 minutes we had $3 in change. We decided to stop because all we really wanted was to be able to say that we danced int he street and made money. So we told our new friend who was looking after our stuff that all the money was his and a big thanks. He took awesome pictures as well.

After that we returned the costumes and went to eat. Alex said he knew a place not far where we could buy what he described and middle eastern sandwiches. That sounded good to me so we started walking. It turned out that what he was talking about where these thing you see fairly often on the street here. Its a whole bunch of chicken on a vertical roticery with a big blowtorch like flame behind it. The meat is carved off and put into these wraps with some veggies and other things. It was really good, the chicken had some kind of seasoning, I couldnt place the flavor, but it tasted like what I imagined Middle Easter food would taste like. Then I came home, sat down on my computer, absolutly exhausted, and proceeded to write for hours, all for you guys. So now here I am, and here are some photos.




So this is me dancing in the street.






Alex is in yellow.





Me again.

Finca

So last Sunday, after Alex, his sister, and I returned to Quito, we left to go to his grandparents farm.

The drive was really cool, but also incredibly scary. Winding roads on the mountainside, often times without any kind of barrier to stop cars from hurtling off the cliff, made up a good part of the journey. It seems like here, if there is a car in front of you, the goal is to pass it at all costs disregarding corners, oncoming traffic and just about anything else that would prevent a normal driver from overtaking. We had some very sketchy moments on that mountain road, we were hanging on for dear life in the backseat. I tried to concentrate on the beautiful view out of the windom, but all I could think was, "well, at least if I die here I have something nice to look at before we hit the ground." that thought was completly real and it seemed to come back every time we rounded another bend.

On the way we drove over this bridge which crossed a huge ravine, Mr. Flores said that there was bungy jumping there, so of course Alex and I insisted that we stop and do it. Much to our dissappointment no one was there but we promised ourselves that we would go back another time. Shortly after the bridge I spotted a huge hole in the side of the hillside, about 10 meters above the road. I pointed it out to Alex who said that he had seen it the last time they went to the farm. So we stopped and explored. It turned out to be an abandoned sand mine. All the local construction companies used to take their sand from there to make concrete. It was really cool how the light came through the entrance and worked its way into the different spaces, some of my pictures turned out well. The whole time I couldn't help but feel like Tom Sawyer when he got lost in the mine, thankfully this one was pretty small so getting lost would be virtually impossible.

We got to the farm in one piece, though a bit shaken I think. We were greeted my lots of family members, aunts, uncles, cousins and greandparents. A few minutes later we had lunch with all the farm workers and family packed into a relativly small dining room.

After lunch Alex, JoAnna (his sister) and I decided to walk around on the hill above the farm. There were 2 big fields, one with cows and the other with two llamas. So we decided to play with the bulls. We waved our hands, made weird noises, even took off our shirts any waved htem like matadors, but to no avail. The bulls would not move, how boring. So we moved on to the field with the llamas in it. Howver these were some different kind of llamas, called llamingos. The "ll" in spanish is pronounced like a "y" so its pronounced "yamingos". Alex and I couldn't stop laughing at his ridiculous name, nor could we work out what the difference is between a llamingo and a llama. This will forever remain a mystery. We chased them around the field trying to get them to spit, but again we failed.

It had been raining lightly the whole time we were out, so when we returned we were soaked. Alex's mum was very concerned the we were so wet, but we just laughed, told her we were and thats what we do. So we continued the day with damp clothes and no shoes, asi es la vida.

Soon after we got back one all the women at the farm started gathering at a building behind the main house. The building was made of mud and had a thached roof, we went inside and found them all about to start making empanadas. So we quickly washed our hands and asked if we could help. It was pretty simple, flatten out the dough into circles about 9 inches in diameter, put this mixture of cheese onons and herbs in the middle, then fold the dough over and seal it up. The women had this cool way of doing the edges so it looks like a big spiral, it took we a few tries to tries to figure it out but eventually I got it and was making empanadas like a pro, well, kind of. They were all layed out on metal sheets and put in the oven for about 10 minutes. You can probably guess that there was no stainless steel gas range in this mud hut, instead there was a really hot fire with bricks stacked around it, what looked like metal box was hung over the flames and served as the oven, above that there was a old metal grill. The smoke from the fire just sort of filled the room and eventually found it way out of the gap between the mud walls and the thatch roof. The empanadas were so good, I don't even rememebr how many I ate.

After we were stuffed with empanadas and tired of breathing smoke, Alex and I decided that our new goal was to catch one of the chickens, or better yet one of the two turkeys that wandered around the farm. We tried and tried, scattering grain eveywhere to lure the birds, but they were too quick.

By this time it was getting dark and we started figuring out the sleeping situation. As it turned out there were not enoug beds, we were one short. Alex and I had the exact same though as soon as we found this out, "I want to sleep in the hammock!". So we played rock, paper, scissors for the hammock, Alex one and spent a rather chilly night on the porch.

One thing I forgot to mention in my blog until now is the stars, or lack there of. I havn't seen them in 70 nights, its really getting me down. There are always clouds at night, and when there aren't, the lights of Quito pollute the sky so much none are visible. I really miss being able to lie in the grass and look at the stars at night, here I lack both a field and stars.

Back to the farm. In the morning, I have no idea what time exactly, but early, Alex woke me up and asked if I wanted to milk cows. I lay there thinking about what I wanted to do, and sitting hunched under a grunting, farting, 1400 lb animal, squeezing its udders, was not exactly topping the list. More sleep sounded like a much better option.

When I got up breakfast was on the table, yesterdays empanadas and real coffee! (the exclamation point is for the coffee, everyone here drinks NesCafé, so getting the real stuff is a treat.) After breakfast we went to one of the towns nearby to buy some food and visit the house where Mr. Flores grew up. Despite the clothes on the washing line and the things int he rooms, he insisted that no one lived there. We went into the backyard, which was actually a field with something or pther planted in neat rows, and ate blackberrys off hte bushes and mini coconuts from the tree. He had obviously spent a good amount of time under this tree, throwing rocks to bring the cocnuts down, because he was good. We broke them open on rocks, well Mr. Flores did most if it, we were terrible, and ate the insides.

When we got back Mr. Flores said that we were going to hike up into the hills to see a spring that provided water for the farm. While we waited for various parties to get ready Alex, his grandfather and I went down among the fruit trees to get some sugar cane. The suagr cane grows pretty well rooted into the ground and I was shocked when his 93 year old grandpa jumped in among the plants and ripped some out. We brought them back up to the house and took out the big kitchen knives to get at the sweet center of the plant. You can chew on the center and the juice that comes out is essentially sugar water, alot like the stuff you put in humingbird feeders, but I don't know how many of you are farmiliar with that taste. One of hte farm workers told us to strip the leaves of the tops of the sugar cane and give them to the cuy to eat. This didn't seem like a hard task at all, and really it wasn't, but what we were not told about were the fibers on the edges of the leaves. After taking all the leaves of I went to pick them up and a shot of pain went through my hand. I dropped the leaves and looked down to find my entire palm filled with tiny clear fibers. If you have ever had fiberglass splinters in your hand, I can tell you this was exactly the same. So I spent the next 15 or so minutes, scrpaing my hand with this rusty pair of scissors trying to get them out. At that point I was more worried about getting tetnus from the scissors, but it was the only way.

So once all the spines, well, most of them, were out of my hand we set off up the hill. We followed the water line up the hill which eventaully brought us to a small, but rapidly flowing stream. Up and up we went, climbing over the stream on dead trees, jumping from bank to bank and as always, dodging the spider webs. There were more spiders on this walk than I think I have seen in my entire life put together. They were note like the one I found in my bathroom last month, thank goodness, they were skinnier and more colorful. Every 10 steps or so we would have to duck under their webs or clear them with sticks, but they werent always so easy to see. I think I probably walked through about 10, my hair became sticky with spider webs, whos former inhabitants were probably crawling somewhere on my body.

After going about as far as the thick vegetation and steep incline would let us go, we turned around and went back to the farm where lunch was being prepared.

Along with the turkeys, chickens and other animals kept there, Alex's grnadparents had a whole hutch of guiney pigs. I'm sorry if this next part makes anyone sad or angry (PETA?), but here guiney pigs are not pets, they are tasty treats usually svaed for special-ish occasions. So we went into the hut and caught some guiney pigs, then handed them over to one of the farm workers.

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I just realized that we caught the guiney pigs int he mornign, before going to the town, but I can't really be bother to re-write two paragraphs, so this note will have to do.
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The guiney pigs, here they are called cuy, were all skinned and ready to be put in the oven, whole. We had lunch, soup as always, then the cuy. They were simplt cut in half, so you either got the butt or the head, I got the rear end becuase Mr. Flores said it was better and asked for Alex and I to get have the better part, thanks! It was pretty good, it tasted like chicken with a slight hint of fish, Alex agreed with me but everyone else said I was wrong. Howver, when asked what they thought the flavor was, there was a good amount of mumbling about turkey but no straigh answers, hmmm.

After lunch we went into what I think could best be described as an orchard to harvest fruit. There were tangerines, lemons, naranjillas, grandilla, and avacadoes. The most fun were definitly the avacadoes. They hang really high up in the tree and getting them is a multi person operation. It was usually Mr. Flores and I up in the tree, and Alex and the others on the ground. They would spot the avacadoes, we would get them either by hand or with a hook on a pole, then the people on the ground would either try and catch the falling fruit or prevent them from rolling down the hill. The problem was, there was a barbed wire fence about half way down the hill and much of the time the fuit would roll under it. With a little bit of practice Alex became an expert at chasing down the rolling fruit and every so often making a perfectly executed dive under the barbed wire fence. Though on one of the last divers he caught his shirt ever so slightly and ripped it.

We loaded up the car with lots of fruit, veggies and empandas, as well as our things and said our goodbyes adn thank-yous. We took a different route home, a dirt road that went on the other side of the valley that eventually brought us to the town on the equator, where the monument (tourist trap) is, and later to my end of Quito. They droped me off at my aunts house were the family was drinking (fake) coffee and playing cards. They were all a bit shocked when I walked in with bare feet, my filthy jeans rolled up to my knees, a mud spattered t-shirt and hair style that made me look like a mad scientist. I had to assure them that the only other change of clothes I had was much worse.


So this finally concludes my weekend post(s). Now to write about today, oh what fun! I will and add some photos to this post later. Please ignore all the spelling mistakes, there is no spell check for the blog and proof reading doesn't sound like fun right now.

Also, if you want to read about this weekend from another perspective, Alex has a blog as well so you can read his posts about it.

www.ecuadorexchange.blogspot.com

Epic Weekend

So on Thursday night my friend Alex, also an exchange student, though with a different program, called me and asked if I wanted to go to his family's farm for Sunday and Monday. Of course I jumped at the idea of seeing more of Ecuador and with permission from my family, I said I would love to go. A few minutes later my phone rang again, it was Alex, again, asking if I wanted to go with him and his sister to Mindo for Friday and Saturday. Now I had to think, I had been lucky and got to go to Mindo earlier that very same week, would twice in 5 days be too much....nahhh! So we had a plan, though many of the finer details, like where we would stay, were a mystery to me. But to me that just makes it all the more fun!

Friday was only a half day of school, this weekend Ecuador celebrated Dia de Los Difuntos, similar to to Mexico's Day of the Dead, but without all the parades and costumes. The most notable thing about this holiday is the traditional food, guaguas (pronounced Wah-wahs) de pan and colada morada. The first translates to "bread children" and it is essentially bread baked into the shape of a person, filled with fruit preserves and decorated with icing to resemble a child. They are about a foot long and really good. The second, colada morada, roughly translates to blackberry juice, but it actually much more than just that. It is a thick drink, made with blackberries, pineapple and cinnamon, and served hot with chunks of fruit floating around t surprise you. Some people use other fruits as well like strawberries and whatever else they can find. In school Alex's host mum and two others brought in homemade guaguas de pan and colada morada for us to have during the last hour. I loved the bread, but the colada just wasn't for me. Maybe it was the fact that if was hot and the consistency of really thick soup, I don't know, but either way I can only describe it as a meal in a cup, and a really fruity meal at that.

So after school I went back with Alex to his house which is in the Valley of San Rafael, which I mentioned in my last post, to get ready for our weekend adventure. I had a good amount of stuff with me and I carefully selected what I thought I would need for part one of the weekend, this included swim trunks, juggling balls, and a headlamp, all essential.

Alex's cousin met us at the house so he could show us which bus to take to Mindo, he works as a guide for photographers in the rainforest and therefore travels alot between Quito and Mindo. The bus terminal was huge, like a small village of vendors, travelers and ticket agents. We got everything sorted and climbed abourd our bus. The tickets cost $3 each, a deal.

Two hours later I stood on the side of the road, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, watching the bus grown smaller and smaller as it drove off into the distance, eventually disappearing around a corner. We walked up a dirt road into the forest, past a sign that said "Mindo Loma Lodge" and soon came upon several open planned wooden buildings at the top of the hill.

We went inside and were greeted by Alex's (host) aunt and unlce, who owned the lodge. They were really nice, they showed us where our room was and made big bowls of soup for us while we put our stuff away. The lodge was obviously built to be as close to nature as possible, except for the bedrooms, most of the space was open planned with lots of windows, with or without glass. Upstairs there was a space with benches to watch the wildlife from and tons of humminbird feeders.

Outside the window of the dining hall there was a tree with bananas hanging from it, put there by Alex´s uncle to feed the monkeys. So we waited and waited and none were coming so we left to explore some more. Alex´s cousin came and found us to say that the monkey was at the tree so we watched it for a while, hanging upside down by its tail eating the bananas. A pretty stereotypical monkey.

After we ate Alex and I said that we wanted to go and explore the forest, despite the darkness and the rain. His cousin said that we would most certainly get lost but that she would take us to a waterfall if we wanted. Obviously we wanted to go, so we got ready. We were about to leave when it dawned on us that is was raining pretty hard and that jeans and t shirts probably weren't the best clothing. Wellington boots and swim trunks seemed a much better idea so we quickly changed and set off armed with nothing more than my headlamp and Alex's small red LED light. There was actually a path through the forest, I reckon we would have been fine without the cousin showing us the way, but we certainly would not have seen all the wildlife without her. We found scropions in the tree trunks, phosphorescent bacteria, we even heard ocelots, but unfortunatly we didn't actually see them. I loved looking up with my headlamp, with the light I could just make out the canopy far above us, the rain drops fells through gaps in the leaves and looked like silver bullets falling to earth. After about 30 minutes we made it to the waterfall, it was freezing cold and created a steady wind which chilled me to my very bones. We all got thrown in at least once, I am feeling cold just writing about it. The strange thing was that the waterfall was huge, 39 meters, but the pool was only about 3 feet deep, very different from thhose in Mindo.

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Ok so now I am in the computer lab at school, in a class called Theory of Knowledge, but we don´t seem to have a teacher so I am going to continue writing about the weekend.

So, we left the waterfall, drenched, shivering, but in good spirits and returned to the lodge. All the lights were out except for a few on the side of the building, these were absolutly covered in moths. There were moths of all different sizes, shapes and colors, many of them camoflauged to look like leaves or poisonous insects. We found one which was literally the size of a small bird, we named it Mothra, in honor of the monster from the 1961 horror film of the same name.

The next morning we got up early becuase we were told that that is the best time to see all the hummingbirds. So we went up to where all the feeders were and sat down on the benches. I was amazed at the sheer number of them, practically smarming the feeders at times. There were more kinds of humming birds than I had ever seen before I think I counted 6 different hummingbirds and also three kinds of tanangers. You could just stand there and they would fly past your head like bullets.

Oh, periods over. More to come.

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After breakfast, empanadas and coffee, Alex's uncle asked if we wanted to go walk around and maybe look for some quetzals, which are a really cool bird, look them up online. So we got into his car and drove to the town neaby, about 15 minutes. Obviously we weren't going bird watching in the town, but Alex's uncle had some shopping to do so we helped him with that. Also there was a a sort of farmers market / nature aweness event going on in the town center. So we walked around for a while, looking at and trying foods and listening to people talk about strip mines in the Amazon.

After that we drove back into the hills and turned up a long dirt road (these dirt road adventures seem to be becoming a staple of my life here). We passed one house but lots of cool trees and flowers. We got out next to a big field and Alex's uncle said that he needed us to help him move the bulls from one side of the field to the other, it turns out that they won't voluntarily go to the drinking trough becuase the terrain is really rough and they are to lazy!? So we set of to the other side of the field and stopped about 15 yeards in front of the bulls, they didn't look the least bit pleased to see us, but from across the field came shouts of, "its not a problem, shout "SAL!" and they will move". So we did. Sal means salt and when you shout it the bulls think you are going to give them some, so they move. I felt bad tricking them like this but it seemd to bet he only way.

After we got all the bulls across the field the sun came out and we couldn't look for quetzals, becuase they are only out when its overcast so we went back to the house and got ready to go to the waterfalls.

We hitched a ride in the back of a pretty big truck, i wouldnt reLly call it hitchhiking becuase there were a bunch of other people in the back and we all paid 50 cents. It was funny though, riding inthe back of a covered truck, I felt like we were sneaking across a border or something.

We did some different zip lines which were cool, but for the most part going to the falls was no different than the first time. (see previous posts)

However, returning was a whole different story. We had got ot hte falls kindof late in the afternoon, and therefore we left pretty late too. IN fact it was getting dark when we got back tot he road. The road to Mindo fromt the falls is 7km long and goes up the hill (towards the falls). The guy with the pick up truck who said he would be there when we were ready to leave, was not. The woman who manages the gate to the waterfall said that there were no more trucks going back to Mindo and there was nothing we can do. So we did the only thing there was to do. WE started walking. Now 7km is not a very long nor very difficult walk, comparativly. But when you add potholes, rocks and huge puddles and subtract light, 7km becomes a real pain in the ass. There was nothing else to do, so we had to walk. We told stories to pass the time and kept our eyes glues to the ground, trying our best to look out for rocks and holes despite the almost total darkness. After abuout 5km, things started getting rapidly brighter, and i becmae apparent that a pickup truck was coming downt the hill behind us. So we climbed in the truck and were greeted by no less than 14 other people and 2 dogs, all in one truck. We talked with them and found out that they were all the guides for the ziplines, the last ones to leave the hill every night.

Tired and hungry we eventually got back to the lodge and went straight to bed. Just like I am about to do now. Stories fromt he farm will be posted tomorrow.

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Science Fair and My Skateboard

So I meant to write this last week but I forgot, then I left Quito for the long weekend we had here and have been away from my computer until now.

So on Thursday of last week we had our first three subjects and then la Inspectora came into class and said we were going to a science fair at another high school outside of Quito. So the two IB classes packed into buses and we set off of for the Valley of San Rafael, about 30 mins from the the center of Quito.

The school was pretty normal, it was more spread out than ours and had lots of separate buildings, which I liked better than our prison block set up. Each of the buildings was a block of classrooms and they were all packed with students. We were obviously not the only high school invited because there with kids with all different kinds of uniforms wandering around. We (Alex and I) were ushered into one of the first rooms and told to ask questions about the science projects, which were all being displayed on desks and tables.

After about 15 minutes of looking around I came to the conclusion that Ecuadorian science fairs are a thousand times more interesting than what we do in the states. There were groups making smoke machines to be used in clubs, organic pesticides that not only worked, but also could be sold commercially, also there were several groups experimenting with homemade sugar substitutes that they made into candy for diabetics.

The thing that surprised me the most was the fact that some groups were distilling alcohol, and giving away tiny bottles of it, for a school project. I couldn't get my head around this. I imagined the reactions I would get at Norwell High School if I showed up the day of the science fair with a small distillery churning out pure alcohol, I think I would probably be kicked out of school hahaha.

But the funniest thing about this whole trip was the reactions the other students were having to Alex and I. Every two or three minutes groups of girls would come up to us and ask to take pictures, at first this wasn't that strange, we are gringo's, fascinating to many Ecuadorians, but after a while it stared getting ridiculous. People would wait outside the classrooms for us to leave so they could ask for a photo, or the less patient ones simply tried sneakily to take pictures with their cell phones. Eventually we figured out that most of the other schools have never had exchange students, this explained why we felt like we celebrities being followed by the papparazzi. The whole thing was really funny, I would be interested to know how many random people photos I am now in.

Earlier last week I finally got to pick up my skateboard, which Mum had sent some time ago (THANKS!), from one of the post offices here in Quito. It cost me an arm and a leg due to crazy regulations on sending packages to Ecuador, but i couldnt just leave it there.

Anyway, so after we got back formt the science fair I went back to the house to eat and pick up my board. Then I took the bus to the big park in the center of the city. I think I described it in an earlier post, but the its called La Carolina, and its huge, but the only part I really care about obviously is the skate park. It took some time to figure everything out including the people there, they are all nice and but they have a tight knit group so I skated mostly on my own. Its such a fun place, I know I will be spending a good chunk of my free time there. In fact, I would be there now but it raining, hence, time to write.

Yeah, so I still have to write about this weekend, I did so much. I am dreading writing about it all, a daunting task indeed, but I will. So it may be up later today or tomorrow or even the thursday. I guess it all depends on how long this rain keep up and how much tea I can get my hands on.

Mindo

So every month XPOLRER takes us on a day trip or to do something fun in the city. So today we got to skip school (WOOO!) and we went to a town called Mindo. Mindo is famous for its waterfalls and jungle hikes. The terreain there is not actually jungle, its cloud forrest, which I think sounds alot cooler.

We left at about 9:30 and drove north out of Quito. The roads twisted and turned the whole way there, going up and down mountainsides and through valleys. I didn't find the drive as captivating as the one to the hot springs becuase the land was all exactly the same, dense shrubbery and trees, and after a short while it got boring. So, Cluadio and I entertained ourselves for the rest of the 90 minute ride by singing songs of my iPod at the top of our lungs from the back of the van.

As we were getting close to Mindo I started seeing ful color signs and photos on the side of the road, obviously to lure gringos and thei money to the tourist sight. Upon arrival I was a little taken aback. Obviously one has to expect that the people are going to capitalize on the fact that the falls attract tourists, but the hotels and restuarants were a bit much, not distasteful, but certainly not fitting for a quaint Ecudorian town. It seemed like the place was in some kind of civil conflict, half of the buildings were modest dwellings and stores built and used by the locals, while the rest were cafes, hotels, and travel agencies to cater for gringos.

From the actual town, we all climbed into the back of a pickup truck and started driving on dirt roads up into the hills. It was an exceptionally bumpy ride and I think we all exited the truck with sore rear ends. From the place where the truck dropped us off we walked down a path into the forrest. The trail was muddy and covered in these crushed nut shells someone had spread to increase traction but all they seemed to do was annoy my feet (I was barefoot of course, who needs shoes?) The path snaked its way down the hill and we stoped at a small clearing on the edge of a cliff. There were a few posts in the ground and a wire than ran about 300 yards across to the other side of the gulley, a zip line! Two guys who manned the station got us all harnessed up and sent us all flying over a river about 500ft below and then back again. One of them showed me how to hang upside down on the wire, so of course I flew through the air with my arms spread out and my feet above my head, such an amazing feeling.

After the zip line we continued down the path to the river and the falls. The part of the river where we could swim was nice and calm, there was an old building on the bank and places to change. I love waterfalls, especailly jumping off them, so natuarlly I looked on the internet last night to see what the deal was with jumping in Mindo. There were plenty of videos and stories of tall plunges, so I was eager to find them. The obvious one was at the pool where we swam, there was a platform to jump from and a concrete slide, which hurt like hell but was good fun. But I knew there were more so I follwed the trails on each side of the banks until I found falls and the jump. We had a guide, of sorts, with us, a really old guy who seemed to know the place like the back of his hand, so I asked him if it was alright to jump. He tossed a few stones into the river, showing me where to jump and told me that it was fine. Just as my friend Brain and I were about to jump, Sofy, our leader form XPOLRER came up the trail witht he rest of the grop. She saw what we were about to do and told us there was no way. Luckily the guide sided with us, and after about 15 minutes of standing on the side of this small cliff, freezing our butts off, she gave in and said one jump each. It was quite a heigh, I'd say about 45 feet, give or take a bit, and the power of the waterfall kept us under for a bit, but it was still amazing. We swam downriver a short way and then climbed up a rotting wooden ladder lashed to the side of the cliff. I can't say I had much faith in the slippery rungs but we made it back up unscathed.

We walked back up the river to where we had left our bags, dried off and changed again. Then started the climb back up the path. Another pickup-truck ride brought us back to the town where we had a big lunch and got back on the bus. All of us were exhausted from the swimming and climbing and everyone slept most of the way back to Quito. Just outside of the city, Brian shook me awake and directed my sight out of the window to the other side of the freeway. A school bus had had an accident and was lying on its side completly blocking the traffic. About 40 young students, all dressed in their uniforms stood shivering on the side of the road. There were no ambulances so luckily I don't think anyone was hurt, just alot of broken glass and traumatized looking youngsters.

I took a picture of me in one of my 3 uniforms last week, so I will put that up. The rest are from Mindo. I will take pictures of the other uniforms when I next have to wear them.



Uniform, obviously.





Zip line





I was going for that cool milky effect that you get when you leave the shutter open longer and shoot moving water, it kind of worked, a tripod would have helped though.





Where we swam and the smaller of the two jumps.