Life in Quito

So its been a while since I've updated this .... but there's been quite a lot going on. I haven't gone on any big trips lately, but life in Quito keeps me pretty busy. I came down with a pretty bad cold a couple weeks ago (in the middle of Student Affairs Internships Interviews and midterms here... fun week...), and got to experience a little of Ecuador's medical system... it was a little shady... you just walk up to the pharmacy and tell them whats wrong and they just hand you a few pills in a bag... thankfully the pills are still in their plastic packaging, but they aren't in the box that tells you what they are or what's in them... so that was a little frightening, until I found out one of them was just Sudafed. The other one - I still have no idea what it was. It also was an interesting twist on the Latin American culture of not planning ahead for anything. You only buy 2, 4, maybe 6, pills at a time... because that's all you need right then. In the US, we buy the whole box, and maybe two or three boxes, just to be prepared in case we get sick again.... I was slightly annoyed with that at the time, when I was miserably sick and had to walk back to the pharmacy two days later to get more pills (or wait for Daniela to go, which would take 5 hours Ecuadorian time)... but now its more interesting than annoying.

There's also this volcano, Tungurahua, thats erupting right now... its like 4 hours south of here, and apparently is spitting out lots of ash. Which ruined Prashant and my's plans to go to this cool little town called Banos next week... I can't say that my travel plans in the US have ever been cancelled due to erupting volcanoes....

We went to Otavalo a few weekends ago - its the most famous, biggest indigenous market in Ecuador, and therefore also the most touristy. It was pretty cool though - I got to buy lots of souvenirs and gifts, and I am getting a little better at bargaining, believe it or not. There was a lso a beautiful waterfall that we hiked up to, and took this boat ride around a lake.

There's this bike path that goes through Cumbaya, the town I live in, and I've been asking my host family about it since I got here, so we finally all went last week. It was one of the coolest things ever. Also one of the most histerical, because there were 4 of us (me, host mom Daniela, 10 year old Juan Francisco, and 12 year Ana Lu...) and 4 bikes... but one of the bikes was for, oh, a 3 year old. So we took turns on the chiquito, and it was a pretty histerical sight to see Daniela or I riding this little bitty thing around a trail. It was the most beautiful trail though, we left Cumbaya and went around this beautiful lush green canyon with a river in the bottom, and almost made it all the way to Tumbaco, the next town over. Then, on the way back, Daniela stops in the middle of the trail next to this big 5 foot tall post. And tells me to climb it, stand on it, and to steal the guanabanas (a fruit) from the tree thats hanging over the trail. So there was this big hilarious 20 minute scene of me trying to get up on this post, stand on it, and pick guanabanas out of this tree (with no one seeing). It was pretty hilarious. And I think after all that, they were green anyways, because she stuck them in the oven (thats where she stores things sometimes..?) and told me we had to wait, and I've yet to see them since.

I haven't really been homesick since the first week or so that I got here, but last week I was just a little bit... I guess being sick probably had something to do with that (you just want familiar things when you're sick, and those were pretty hard to find that week). There's also been so much going on at U of I thats required my attention lately, that I think it made me miss it a bit. I was really excited when I got the Turner Fellowship, but thats such a foreign concept to everyone here that they can't even begin to understand what it is ... so it was a little hard to share my excitement. But Prashant comes next week, so that's really exciting!

Off to write up a grammar paper before class.... Miss you all.

Carnivalito, Carnavalo!

So Carnaval just ended, which is this big celebration before Lent starts. It was so much fun! Except they get so excited for it, that they start the celebrations about a month before hand... well at least the throwing water and shaving cream on people parts. No one can really give me an explanation for what exactly it is or why, but they basically just have huge water fights with water and eggs and shaving cream and barley and salt and whatever they can find. And spray people walking by in the street with water and foam. After about a month, I was pretty happy for that part to be over though. Especially, being an American girl, I think we get attacked with it worse. But all of Quito also clears out for Carnaval and goes to the beach for the 4 day vacation, so we all took off to a beach called Atacames in the province of Esmeraldas for break. It was so much fun, so beautiful, and interesting because its the area where the large Afro'Ecuadorian population is, so it was kind of a different culture there. It was a touristy area, but it was Ecuadorian tourists - I really didn{t see other Americans there, so for better or worse, we got a whole lot of attention being there. We played volleyball on the beach, and went tubing, and swimming and it was such a wonderful vacation.

Then Ash Wednesday was Wednesday, and thats a huge deal here. So I went to Mass with my family and got the cross put on my head and the whole deal. I think the thing that struck me most was really how similar the whole thing was to Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur, the Jewish New Year - the stories and history are different obviously, but the message and point of the holiday was exactly the same: repent, cleanse yourself for a new year, focus on being a better person, etc...

I started volunteering at a daycare for low-income children, usually with single mothers so they have nowhere else to go. Its right here in Cumbaya, a couple blocks from my house, so really convenient. And I love playing with the kids, it was so much fun. And they really need the attention so badly. And on Monday I'm going to start helping to teach English classes at a local school in the mornings. I{m really excited about that. I also joined a volleyball team, theres kind of like a league that plays at school. Everyone on my team is Ecuadorian, so its been a fun way to meet some people.

Staying here in Quito this weekend, so it should be a more relaxing weekend with the family and friends!

Rainforest!

I went to the rainforest! It was amazing - we went tubing down a river and swimming underneath a waterfall. Hiking all around the (malaria-free area of the) rainforest (with some pretty cool huge rubber boots). We picked cacao from a cacao tree and made chocolate out of it. And made rings from these big seeds from a tree. And stayed in cabins in the middle of the jungle. It was pretty amazing. And hard to describe- I{m working on getting caught up on my picture posting.

Leaving Thursday night on an overnight bus to go to the beach for Carnaval. Apparently Quito clears out and everyone goes to the beach for a big party weekend, so I{m pretty excited! Off to lunch now....

Andinismo Trip

Last weekend, I went on a hiking-camping trip with my Andinismo (mountain climbing) class. It was quite the adventure, and absolutely incredible. We started out by renting 3 pickup trucks to take us partway up the mountain. But with 25 students and all of our heavy backpacking gear, tents, sleeping bags, etc., we were quite the load for a few old beatup trucks. So much so that the trucks all died about 10 or 15 minutes into the trip. So we all jump out and start pushing the truck up the mountain, until it can start again. Then it starts, and the driver doesn{t want to slow down, because it might die again, so we all take off running after the truck and jump back in the back as it gets going. So we go a little ways, and it happens again. and again. and again! And the last time, I was the last one to jump back in, and they were all a little too slow getting in, so the truck takes off, and I have to chase it up the mountain, until everyone can pull me back in.. The whole thing must have been one of the most comical things I{ve ever seen!

We finally got about 2/3 up the mountain, where the trucks left us and we hiked up to the place where we camped. Definitely no campsite or anything, we just picked a place and set up camp. We hung out for the afternoon, and it was a lot of fun to meet all the Ecuadorians in the class - much more down-to-Earth than most of the people at the university- It almost felt like the Allen Hall of USFQ or something. It was good. They went on a 10 PM hike, but I didn{t go, and probably good, because it sounds like they were basically rockclimbing in the dark by the light of the full moon and flashlights... didn{t sound fun to me. We had an awkward night in the tent, with 3 people in a 2 person tent... and a tent designed for camping at a much lower altitude - NOT on top of a mountain (at one point, it was raining inside our tent on us from the condensation, even though it wasn{t raining outside!) But the next morning we got up and hiked up to the top of the mountain, and it was so mch fun and absolutely beautiful! We could see all the famous volcanoes around (Cotopaxi - highest active volcano in the world!, Cayambe, El corazon, Las Illinizas, todos). It was amazing.

Life in Cumbaya{s still good. I went to my first futbol game in Quito the other night. Apparently the team from Guayaquil (big city on the coast) is called Barcelona (and they{re NOT the Barcelona rom Spain), so my host family had a good laugh at me when I told them I was confused as to why everyone was cheering for Spain. It was a fun atmosphere though, and lots of fun to watch. Including the fact that the vendors that walk up and down the aisles sell bottle rockets for people to set off from the stands... that would definitely never happen in the US!

Carnaval is hitting high season right now - the actual holiday isn{t for two more weeks, but the games of Carnaval have definitely begun. Basically, people randomly throw water and water balloons at random people passing by on the street. I think I got hit 3 times yesterday! I{ve yet to get a better explanation than "Its Carnaval!" for why people do that.

Off to eat lunch now. Then off to the rainforest and the cloud forest this weekend. Love to all.

Life in Quito

I guess I´ve gotten a little behind in updating this... sorry.

Its hard to believe I{ve been here a month already! The time´s going scarily fast. But I´m enjoying it, and I think I´m learning a lot. I came to the realization last night as I was talking to my cab driver about Ecuadorian politics that I was finally informed enough about what´s going on here right now to be able to carry on an intelligent conversation about it, and that I was finally getting to where I wasn´t always focusing so much on trying to get a grammatically correct sentence out that I was starting to be able to improve my terrible American accent some. And that I'm finally getting

Classes are good - very interesting, but definitely not jokes - i have quite a bit of work. I have a good mix of classes w/ all Americans, so I don't always feel like the dumb American, and classes with all Ecuadorians. Its not as easy to make Ecuadorian friends as one would hope, but I at least have quite a few acquaintances from classes and stuff, and have become good friends with lots of Americans.

I finally got my Censo card (my Ecuadorian ID) last week, so am officially allowed to be here now - it was nice to finally have all the paperwork done. This weekend, I{m going hiking and camping in the mountains with my andinismo class. Next weekend, we have a group excursion to the rainforest! And the next weekend is a 5 day weekend for Carnaval, and the whole city clears out and goes to the beach - so we´re going to the beach! It´s pretty amazing that you can do all three in one place!!

Off to dinner now... more later.

Huasalata

This weekend was such an amazing experience. We had our first group excursion (with all of the U of I kids - about 10 of us- and some of Maria's international volunteers from all over the world, about 10 of them) to a Salasaca indigenous community called Huasalata. Its one thing to hear about poverty and development issues, but it was such a completely eye-opening experience to be there and see it. They had absolutely no access to health care, and this girl's mother was incredibly sick and they had to take her to a town hours away to even find a doctor. Most of the kids were undernourished, didn't have toothbrushes, etc. And there was very little education. No technology really, so they farmed with cows and horses and burros plowing the fields. The women had to hike down a mountain twice a day, cut about 50-60 lbs. of grass for the cattle to eat, tie it up in a bundle, and carry it back up the mountain on their backs (they told us if they take the cows down there to graze they'll get stolen, and the burro can only make it about 1/4 the way down so they have to do most of it.) And this is just one of their many chores. As we're walking by, a couple of us asked if they needed help, and they said yes, so we helped them with cutting the grass (with a scythe) and bundling it up and carrying it up. We were terrible at it of course, really slow and weak - I put the bundle of grass on my back to carry it up, and literally couldn't move because it was so heavy. It was really sad how quickly these women aged from so much hard work, too. But at the same time, it was uplifting to see how much happiness there was in the community - Our advisor knew several of them pretty well, so we really got to talk to a lot of people a lot - they played traditional music for us and taught us some traditional dances. Some of the kids hiked with us, then all jumped in the river and had a huge waterfight. Most of the group spent hours playign with the kids (while we were carrying the grass up the mountain). We found out that they really don't get tour groups that often, and really would like more, because it brings much-needed money to their community while allowing them to keep their traditional lifestyle alive, so we offered to make them a brochure and put it in the Mariscal (the touristy part of Quito), and a webpage, and spread the word among the international students to get more volunteer/tour groups to go there, and maybe sell some more of their tapestries. A couple of them are coming to the University on Friday to bring the sick mother for some tests (which our program advisor's foundation is paying for), so hopefully we can get them done by then to see what they think of them.

Also, this community was in the most beautiful place I've ever seen in my entire life (my camera died, but I'll steal pictures from someone else). We hiked down this beautiful lush green mountain to a river, took off our shoes and crossed, then hiked back up the otherside barefoot (probably not a good idea?), and the whole thing was just the most beautiful lush green canyon ever. It was amazing.

And now I'm back at school. Which is fine too, but not nearly as exciting. :)

Classes start...

So I’ve been in classes for almost a week now, and I think I’m getting close to finally figuring out my schedule – its been such a mess. But now that its more set, I feel a lot better about everything: though I think it’ll be more work than I had hoped. My classes are mostly Americans, with a few Ecuadorians here and there, but I guess that’s ok, though its not what I was hoping for. My volleyball class is all Ecuadorian though, so that should be good.

I love exploring Ecuador, there’s always so many cool things going on, and the weather has been absolutely perfect every day here. The first weekend here, we rode this Teleferico (like a skilift) to the top of the mountain overlooking Quito, and there were beautiful views (I’ve got to figure out how to post my pictures!). Last weekend, we finally went out the La Mariscal, the touristy district where all the bars and discotecas are, and we made some Ecuadorian friends so that was fun. Then we went to La Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the Earth, the Ecuator), which was really cool: all those myths about water going down the drain in opposite ways on either side of the Ecuator is actually true – we saw it happen! It was really cool. Then all 10 of us jumped in the back of this pickup truck that our waitress called (For $.25 each) and he drove us up this mountain to the top of this volcanic crater. It was supposed to have really beautiful views, but it was late afternoon, so instead we were literally in the middle of a cloud. If you looked 10 feet out, it looked like you were staring into this blank white abyss. It was really cool. We walked partway down the trail into the crater, and you could hear the animals of the indigenous community that lived in the bottom of the crater – can you imagine living in that? That was a shocking realization.

My family’s great, though they still don’t understand why I don’t eat more and why I don’t eat meat. (The grandma talked extensively yesterday about how it was bad to be vegetarian, because God put all animals on Earth so that people could eat them…?) But the family’s very welcoming, and definitely want me to do everything with them, so that part is definitely a full immersion experience, and I’m learning a lot from them: about language and about culture. Sunday, I spent all day with them at my host brother’s futbol game, went to Mass in a fancy colonial church (still in our sweatpants from the futbol game?), went and played in the beautiful Parque Metropolitano all afternoon, and then played futbol in the park by their grandma’s house. It was a lot of fun.

Off to get ready for school now… PS: I have skype now too, so if you have it, find me on there! I think my name is sara.gibbs.