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.