So, I made it through my first ''week'' of classes, which wasn't really a week.
We had orientation on tuesday, that I talked about in my last post, and then on Wednesday, classes started. I had Art History, Latin Am. History, and Spanish Grammer. We had our first ''exam'' in Sp. Grammer already to test how much each of us know about grammer...let's just say I had a brain fart... =\
Then Thursday Nikki, Haley and I were supposed to have our Quichua class (the indigenous language in Ecuador). Well they didn't have a classroom listed online so we went to the language department and they gave us a room number. We found the room and so did the rest of the class, but the professor apparently got lost...cuz he never showed up. haha. That was my only class of the day, so I really went for no reason. Oh well.
Yesterday I only had Art History and L.A. History. I also went and bought my books for those two classes, and guess how much I spent on one book and one reader.....?!
$44
Yes. Thats right. $44. The Art History book was pretty new and cost $32 and my L.A. History reader (meaning the teacher copied readings from multiple books and put them together) only cost $10. I think this will be the cheapest semester of my life. =] haha
Tomorrow I'm going to church with Fernando and then going to Pan de Vida to see what it's like. I'm super excited and I'll let you all know how it goes when I get back!
Adios!
World Traveler
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Orientation
***CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: More Time by Needtobreathe***
Today was orientation day at USFQ for all of the inernational students. I stayed over at nikki's house last night, so we left around 7 am so we could arrive on-time to campus at 8. We ''signed in'' and got our orientation handbooks and then went into a pretty big room with all the other international students. We had multiple speakers who talked about stuff that we'd already heard about, but I guess it was good to be there any way.
We got to see all of the other international students, too. There are kids from Japan, Korea, Singapore, Germany, Polland, Holland, and most of us are from the US. What I found humerous was that most of them have been here for less than 5 days. I don't know if I could land in a foreign country and start classes at a big University within the next couple of days. I felt like the cool 6th graders who already knew everything with all the little 1st graders coming in fresh and ignorant. =]
But classes tomorrow and I have 3 of my 4 classes. =\ I have Art History, History of the Latin Am. Republic and Advanced Spanish Grammer.... Kill me now. haha. Nikki, Meghan and I are all together though, so we can suffer together. We have these classes on Mondays and Wednesdays and then on Friday we don't have Adv. Grammer. On Tuesdays and Thursdays Nikki and I have Basic Quichua, which is the indigenous language of Ecuador. It shall be interesting. =]
I got introduced to a friend of Daniel's on facebook who lives in Quito. His name is Fernando and I had seen in his pictures that he was wearing Christain t-shirts, so I asked him about them and he said that he is Christian and he goes to a church called ''English Fellowship Church'' and invited me to come next Sunday. Then he started plugging the organization he volunteers for that's called ''Pan de Vida'' which, coincidentally, is right next door to the church. He was saying that he helps out with the worship service and I told him about how I had helped out at my home church with the worship and all he said was ''Great! you can help me, then!''
So, next Sunday, I plan on going to EFC at 9 and then going to Pan de Vida after at 1030. I am really excited to go and really really excited that the church is obviously in English. =] I am not taking any classes in English, so it will be a nice break. =]
Wish me luck!
World Traveler
Today was orientation day at USFQ for all of the inernational students. I stayed over at nikki's house last night, so we left around 7 am so we could arrive on-time to campus at 8. We ''signed in'' and got our orientation handbooks and then went into a pretty big room with all the other international students. We had multiple speakers who talked about stuff that we'd already heard about, but I guess it was good to be there any way.
We got to see all of the other international students, too. There are kids from Japan, Korea, Singapore, Germany, Polland, Holland, and most of us are from the US. What I found humerous was that most of them have been here for less than 5 days. I don't know if I could land in a foreign country and start classes at a big University within the next couple of days. I felt like the cool 6th graders who already knew everything with all the little 1st graders coming in fresh and ignorant. =]
But classes tomorrow and I have 3 of my 4 classes. =\ I have Art History, History of the Latin Am. Republic and Advanced Spanish Grammer.... Kill me now. haha. Nikki, Meghan and I are all together though, so we can suffer together. We have these classes on Mondays and Wednesdays and then on Friday we don't have Adv. Grammer. On Tuesdays and Thursdays Nikki and I have Basic Quichua, which is the indigenous language of Ecuador. It shall be interesting. =]
I got introduced to a friend of Daniel's on facebook who lives in Quito. His name is Fernando and I had seen in his pictures that he was wearing Christain t-shirts, so I asked him about them and he said that he is Christian and he goes to a church called ''English Fellowship Church'' and invited me to come next Sunday. Then he started plugging the organization he volunteers for that's called ''Pan de Vida'' which, coincidentally, is right next door to the church. He was saying that he helps out with the worship service and I told him about how I had helped out at my home church with the worship and all he said was ''Great! you can help me, then!''
So, next Sunday, I plan on going to EFC at 9 and then going to Pan de Vida after at 1030. I am really excited to go and really really excited that the church is obviously in English. =] I am not taking any classes in English, so it will be a nice break. =]
Wish me luck!
World Traveler
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Río Muchacho
This past week, the BCA group took a trip to an organic farm.
We had our last session of our Pre-semester course on monday and then 1AM monday night we left on a bus for Río Muchacho. I fell asleep right away and slept until I realized we were stopped. Our trusty bus had broken down. Perfect. We were about half and hour away from our destination of Canoa and the bus wasn't working. We waited about an hour for another bus to come and take us to Canoa. While we were waiting, we ate our packed ''lunches'' even though it was like 6:30 in the morning.
Our bus finally came and we transfered all of our luggage and were on our way again. We got to Canoa, which is a little beach town very similar to Montanita. We had about 4 hours or so to be on the beach and get something to eat for lunch. We laid on the beach for a while and met a very interesting guy named Juan. He was offering us free surf lessons and speaking pretty poor english, but at least he was trying. haha. He seemed like he was drunk or something because he couldn't seem to remember any of our names or where we were from because he asked us all multiple times. After we finally escaped Juan, we went and found some lunch. I got a cheese sandwich and some french fries which was probably the most american meal on the menu. =]
Then we were finally on our way to Río Muchacho. Río Muchacho is an organic farm and everyone there is vegitarian. So, needless to day I ate mostly rice and fruit the whole time. I politely shared my vegetables with everyone else. =] Also, they have animals (like most farms) but they don't use them for what you think. Like I said, they're vegetarians, so they don't eat their animals, they use them for their poop. That's right. They use thier poop for compost. They have horses, one donkey, cows, pigs, chickens, cuy (guinea pigs), goats and worms. Yes, they use the worm poop too. Also, their toilets are compost toilets as well, so they use human feces to fertilize the fields that grow the food for the animals. Yummy, huh? =] Along with the organic food, we weren't allowed to use our own shampoo. It had to be organic as well. I don't think I could have lived like this for more than a few days...
We got there around 5 PM and moved all of our things into our cabanas and hung around until dinner at 6. After dinner we had a meeting with the couple who started the farm. The husband, Dario, is Ecuadorian and his wife is from New Zealand. They just told us how things work and gave us the layout of how the rest of the week was going to go. They also split us up into three groups that would work each morning with the animals and things. After our meeting we headed up to the kitchen and they showed us how to roast coffee beans to make coffee. Unfortunately, I don't like coffee so I couldn't enjoy it. But everyone else got a small cup and they said it was pretty good. We all went our separate ways and headed back to our cabanas for the night.
They next day we got up and had fruit and granola for breakfast and then we went on a tour of the entire farm, including the school that is also on the land, and is also organic. It was interesting but very long and in spanish so I tuned out quite a lot. We all got to make our own rings out of the seeds from this one really tall palm tree. They're like wooden and pretty sweet. We got back from our tour and had lunch. And I can't really remember what we did after lunch until dinner, but it was probably really cool. =] After dinner we got to roast cacao and make some chocolate sauce that we poured over some delicious pinnapple. It was sooo good. =]
On thursday, it was my teams turn to work with the animals. Well everyone else got assigned a job and I was supposed to work with the cuys, but the people I was supposed to work with never showed up so I got to help out with breakfast. I cut up most of the watermelon, the bananas, and some other fruit. After breakfast we went into the fields and some guy with a machete cut all 23 of us down a banana leaf for our lunch. I was really confused why we all needed one, but I quickly understood once we got back. We laid our leaves over the fire one by one and let the heat turn them a nice dark green and then we stripped the leaf part off the stem and filled the leaf with our lunch. It was a pretty nice little lunch carrier. =]
After we all had our lunches ''packed'', we were ready to head to the monkey forest! I got to go on horseback! My horses name was ''Tornado'' (spanish, not english) because he was jet black just like Zorro's horse. =] It was so flippin' sweet and now I wish I had a horse of my own so I could ride whenever I wanted. I was really sore afterward, but I'm sure if I rode more, that wouldn't happen. But it was about an hour and a half ride up to Mamá Jovíta's house. Once we got there, the group who had walked there had already eaten their lunches, so we stopped and did the same.
Once we were all full, we headed into Mamá Jovíta's house. She is a 97 year old woman who, I believe, is taken care of by the people at Río Muchacho. She just talked to us for a few minutes and showed us the things that she weaves by hand. Her kids tell her to quit weaving because she's so old and it's not good for her but she obviously doesn't listen to them. =]
After the last two people arrived at the house, we went on our hike up to the monkey forrest that is right behind Mamá Jovíta's house. Hike is a really relative word...it was more like a legit climb. I was using my hands because it was so steep. Some parts were soo muddy and reeeeaaally hard to climb and I about fell down the entire mountain, bringing everyone behind me along with me. We finally made it to the point where we could see monkeys and I was huffing and puffing. Soo exhausted and the monkeys were mad at the dog who had followed us all the way from the farm so they started peeing and throwing poop at us... =\ We didn't stay up there too long and we decided to start making our decent. This was equally as difficult as the climb up there. We were slipping all over the place but we all made it down safely. =]
Then it was time to visit the ''waterfall''. We rode our horses while the rest of them rode in the truck, which got stuck twice in the first few rivers that we crossed. =] It was quite humerous. But while we were waiting for the truck to get out of the second river it got stuck in, Kelsey's horse passed out. It was eating the grass and plants and the harness around it's neck was too tight so it couldn't breath so it just legit passed out while kelsey was on it. She fell into the river with our guide Ginson who was trying to rescue her. She was fine and so was the horse but it was pretty scary to watch a horse just fall over.
We got to the waterfall and a few people decided to swim in it, but we were only there for like 15 minutes. We then headed back to the farm. It was soo fun because I finally got my horse to trot but then he just decided to full out RUN! It was amazing. I need a horse.
After we got back we had free time until dinner so we played cards. We did this a lot here. =] Haley, Laura and I taught Daniel how to play euchre. I don't remember what was for dinner this night but i think it was like spaghetti kind of. It was real good. Then after dinner we had a campfire down by the river. Daniel told some rediculous story about ''pink potatoes'' that had no point at all, and I shared a few Red Herrings. =] All in all, i think this was my favorite day there.
In the morning, we had, you guessed it, fruit and granola for breakfast and then we gathered all of our stuff together and were on our way home. We stopped in canoa again to let some people off because they were gonna stay on the coast for a few more days. We got home around 8:30 and I was soo tired. It was a really fun week but I am NEVER going to be a vegetarian. I like meat too much. =]
We don't have another big trip until the Galapagoes at the end of October, so I dunno how much I will write on here, although I will try.
Orientation is Tuesday and classes start Wednesday. Let the semester begin! =]
Hasta Luego
World Traveler
We had our last session of our Pre-semester course on monday and then 1AM monday night we left on a bus for Río Muchacho. I fell asleep right away and slept until I realized we were stopped. Our trusty bus had broken down. Perfect. We were about half and hour away from our destination of Canoa and the bus wasn't working. We waited about an hour for another bus to come and take us to Canoa. While we were waiting, we ate our packed ''lunches'' even though it was like 6:30 in the morning.
Our bus finally came and we transfered all of our luggage and were on our way again. We got to Canoa, which is a little beach town very similar to Montanita. We had about 4 hours or so to be on the beach and get something to eat for lunch. We laid on the beach for a while and met a very interesting guy named Juan. He was offering us free surf lessons and speaking pretty poor english, but at least he was trying. haha. He seemed like he was drunk or something because he couldn't seem to remember any of our names or where we were from because he asked us all multiple times. After we finally escaped Juan, we went and found some lunch. I got a cheese sandwich and some french fries which was probably the most american meal on the menu. =]
Then we were finally on our way to Río Muchacho. Río Muchacho is an organic farm and everyone there is vegitarian. So, needless to day I ate mostly rice and fruit the whole time. I politely shared my vegetables with everyone else. =] Also, they have animals (like most farms) but they don't use them for what you think. Like I said, they're vegetarians, so they don't eat their animals, they use them for their poop. That's right. They use thier poop for compost. They have horses, one donkey, cows, pigs, chickens, cuy (guinea pigs), goats and worms. Yes, they use the worm poop too. Also, their toilets are compost toilets as well, so they use human feces to fertilize the fields that grow the food for the animals. Yummy, huh? =] Along with the organic food, we weren't allowed to use our own shampoo. It had to be organic as well. I don't think I could have lived like this for more than a few days...
We got there around 5 PM and moved all of our things into our cabanas and hung around until dinner at 6. After dinner we had a meeting with the couple who started the farm. The husband, Dario, is Ecuadorian and his wife is from New Zealand. They just told us how things work and gave us the layout of how the rest of the week was going to go. They also split us up into three groups that would work each morning with the animals and things. After our meeting we headed up to the kitchen and they showed us how to roast coffee beans to make coffee. Unfortunately, I don't like coffee so I couldn't enjoy it. But everyone else got a small cup and they said it was pretty good. We all went our separate ways and headed back to our cabanas for the night.
They next day we got up and had fruit and granola for breakfast and then we went on a tour of the entire farm, including the school that is also on the land, and is also organic. It was interesting but very long and in spanish so I tuned out quite a lot. We all got to make our own rings out of the seeds from this one really tall palm tree. They're like wooden and pretty sweet. We got back from our tour and had lunch. And I can't really remember what we did after lunch until dinner, but it was probably really cool. =] After dinner we got to roast cacao and make some chocolate sauce that we poured over some delicious pinnapple. It was sooo good. =]
On thursday, it was my teams turn to work with the animals. Well everyone else got assigned a job and I was supposed to work with the cuys, but the people I was supposed to work with never showed up so I got to help out with breakfast. I cut up most of the watermelon, the bananas, and some other fruit. After breakfast we went into the fields and some guy with a machete cut all 23 of us down a banana leaf for our lunch. I was really confused why we all needed one, but I quickly understood once we got back. We laid our leaves over the fire one by one and let the heat turn them a nice dark green and then we stripped the leaf part off the stem and filled the leaf with our lunch. It was a pretty nice little lunch carrier. =]
After we all had our lunches ''packed'', we were ready to head to the monkey forest! I got to go on horseback! My horses name was ''Tornado'' (spanish, not english) because he was jet black just like Zorro's horse. =] It was so flippin' sweet and now I wish I had a horse of my own so I could ride whenever I wanted. I was really sore afterward, but I'm sure if I rode more, that wouldn't happen. But it was about an hour and a half ride up to Mamá Jovíta's house. Once we got there, the group who had walked there had already eaten their lunches, so we stopped and did the same.
Once we were all full, we headed into Mamá Jovíta's house. She is a 97 year old woman who, I believe, is taken care of by the people at Río Muchacho. She just talked to us for a few minutes and showed us the things that she weaves by hand. Her kids tell her to quit weaving because she's so old and it's not good for her but she obviously doesn't listen to them. =]
After the last two people arrived at the house, we went on our hike up to the monkey forrest that is right behind Mamá Jovíta's house. Hike is a really relative word...it was more like a legit climb. I was using my hands because it was so steep. Some parts were soo muddy and reeeeaaally hard to climb and I about fell down the entire mountain, bringing everyone behind me along with me. We finally made it to the point where we could see monkeys and I was huffing and puffing. Soo exhausted and the monkeys were mad at the dog who had followed us all the way from the farm so they started peeing and throwing poop at us... =\ We didn't stay up there too long and we decided to start making our decent. This was equally as difficult as the climb up there. We were slipping all over the place but we all made it down safely. =]
Then it was time to visit the ''waterfall''. We rode our horses while the rest of them rode in the truck, which got stuck twice in the first few rivers that we crossed. =] It was quite humerous. But while we were waiting for the truck to get out of the second river it got stuck in, Kelsey's horse passed out. It was eating the grass and plants and the harness around it's neck was too tight so it couldn't breath so it just legit passed out while kelsey was on it. She fell into the river with our guide Ginson who was trying to rescue her. She was fine and so was the horse but it was pretty scary to watch a horse just fall over.
We got to the waterfall and a few people decided to swim in it, but we were only there for like 15 minutes. We then headed back to the farm. It was soo fun because I finally got my horse to trot but then he just decided to full out RUN! It was amazing. I need a horse.
After we got back we had free time until dinner so we played cards. We did this a lot here. =] Haley, Laura and I taught Daniel how to play euchre. I don't remember what was for dinner this night but i think it was like spaghetti kind of. It was real good. Then after dinner we had a campfire down by the river. Daniel told some rediculous story about ''pink potatoes'' that had no point at all, and I shared a few Red Herrings. =] All in all, i think this was my favorite day there.
In the morning, we had, you guessed it, fruit and granola for breakfast and then we gathered all of our stuff together and were on our way home. We stopped in canoa again to let some people off because they were gonna stay on the coast for a few more days. We got home around 8:30 and I was soo tired. It was a really fun week but I am NEVER going to be a vegetarian. I like meat too much. =]
We don't have another big trip until the Galapagoes at the end of October, so I dunno how much I will write on here, although I will try.
Orientation is Tuesday and classes start Wednesday. Let the semester begin! =]
Hasta Luego
World Traveler
Friday, August 20, 2010
lazy...
So I've been too lazy to write but a lot has happened in the past couple weeks...
hmm...I don't know if I can remember it all, but I'll try.
Two weekends ago, 7 of us girls went to a town called Montanita for the weekend. We had Friday off of classes because it was a holiday...well everyone and there mother apparently travels on this weekend so it was really hectic, but it was a fun weekend nonetheless.
First off, the bus ride was an experience in itself. We left around 10 pm on thursday night on a bus. This bus took us to a place called Guayaquil, which was about 2/3's of the way there and this took us until around 645 am or so. If you do the math, that's around 9 hours. =\ Then in the bus terminal we had to buy our return tickets for sunday to go from Guayaquil to Quito and also buy our tickets to go to Santa Elena (or something like that...but also NOT montanita, yet). So we got both tickets and got on our bus to Santa Elena after asking like 10 people where our terminal was and being led to 5 different ones....but we finally found it. Two hours later, we got there and had to legit run to the next but that would take us to Montanita (finally)!! AND an hour and a half later we finally arrived around noon. We were exhauseted so we found a taxi and got to our hostel and put all of our stuff down and decided to go out to the beach.
We found out after we got home that it is ALWAYS overcast in Montanita...which would have been nice to know beforehand, but even with the cloudy skies, it wasn't all that cold. We spent a little time on the beach once we got there but then we decided to walk down to the little town and find something for dinner. We ended up eating at a little hippie place and then came back to the hostel pretty quickly. I don't really remember what all we did the rest of Friday, but I do believe we went to bed pretty quickly that night. We were all exhausted from our trip.
The next morning, we woke up to eat the continental breakfast that our hostal served. It was a breakfast burrito and pinapple. It was pretty good. Then we all walked into town to buy our bus tickest for the next morning to get back to Guayaquil. Thank goodness there was a bus that went strait there and we didn't have to worry about switching, but unfortunately, we had to leave at 515 from our hostel to leave around 545. =\ But once we bought them, we all felt so much more relieved that we had tickets to get all the way home.
We started off the day with a some beach time. While everyone else was swimming, Meghan and I went and walked out onto this big rock which is pretty much just a bunch of crab homes. It was crazy the amount of crabs we saw, but once we got to the end of it we got some sweet pictures of the water crashing on the rocks. Once we got back, everyone else was done swimming and had gotten showers, so Meghan and I went out into the ocean by ourselves for a while to do some wave jumping. When we got tired we came back and got our own showers.
Then it was time for the surfing lessons. I didn't bring enough money, so I didn't get to go, but Haley, Kelsey, and Sachiyo all had about an hour and a half surfing lesson. It was so funny to sit on the sand and watch them all attempt to surf. =] After a segnificant amount of wipe outs, we all were pretty much done with the beach. We didn't really go eat lunch, so we just snacked in the room (illegally, might I add...) and just hung around until dinner time. We went to another little restaurant and ate pizza for dinner. Then as we were walking around, we found a place that was playing music, so we payed the $1 entry fee and went in to dance for a while. It was really fun and a few of the girls got asked to dance. Nikki got a little uncomfortable when our friend Miguel started hitting on her so her and I left a little before the rest of them. We walked back to our hostel and then we very soon followed by the other girls. We stayed up for a while talking, telling stories and getting to know each other a little better. =]
In the morning we got up and gathered all of out things and headed to the bus station. The bus ride home was a little shorter because apparently our little side trip to Santa Elena added an extra, unneeded hour to our trip. =\ So, we got to Guayaquil around 9, I believe and then we had to wait until noon for our next bus to leave. We got some food and played plenty of card games until it was time to leave. We got on our bus and got back to Quito around 10 pm.
It was a reeeeally long but trip, but the weekend was a success. I'm glad we got to go and got to relax a bit.
I will post again in the next couple of days about our trip to Rio Muchacho that we just got back from because this post just took all of my energy. =]
Buenas Noches
World Traveler
hmm...I don't know if I can remember it all, but I'll try.
Two weekends ago, 7 of us girls went to a town called Montanita for the weekend. We had Friday off of classes because it was a holiday...well everyone and there mother apparently travels on this weekend so it was really hectic, but it was a fun weekend nonetheless.
First off, the bus ride was an experience in itself. We left around 10 pm on thursday night on a bus. This bus took us to a place called Guayaquil, which was about 2/3's of the way there and this took us until around 645 am or so. If you do the math, that's around 9 hours. =\ Then in the bus terminal we had to buy our return tickets for sunday to go from Guayaquil to Quito and also buy our tickets to go to Santa Elena (or something like that...but also NOT montanita, yet). So we got both tickets and got on our bus to Santa Elena after asking like 10 people where our terminal was and being led to 5 different ones....but we finally found it. Two hours later, we got there and had to legit run to the next but that would take us to Montanita (finally)!! AND an hour and a half later we finally arrived around noon. We were exhauseted so we found a taxi and got to our hostel and put all of our stuff down and decided to go out to the beach.
We found out after we got home that it is ALWAYS overcast in Montanita...which would have been nice to know beforehand, but even with the cloudy skies, it wasn't all that cold. We spent a little time on the beach once we got there but then we decided to walk down to the little town and find something for dinner. We ended up eating at a little hippie place and then came back to the hostel pretty quickly. I don't really remember what all we did the rest of Friday, but I do believe we went to bed pretty quickly that night. We were all exhausted from our trip.
The next morning, we woke up to eat the continental breakfast that our hostal served. It was a breakfast burrito and pinapple. It was pretty good. Then we all walked into town to buy our bus tickest for the next morning to get back to Guayaquil. Thank goodness there was a bus that went strait there and we didn't have to worry about switching, but unfortunately, we had to leave at 515 from our hostel to leave around 545. =\ But once we bought them, we all felt so much more relieved that we had tickets to get all the way home.
We started off the day with a some beach time. While everyone else was swimming, Meghan and I went and walked out onto this big rock which is pretty much just a bunch of crab homes. It was crazy the amount of crabs we saw, but once we got to the end of it we got some sweet pictures of the water crashing on the rocks. Once we got back, everyone else was done swimming and had gotten showers, so Meghan and I went out into the ocean by ourselves for a while to do some wave jumping. When we got tired we came back and got our own showers.
Then it was time for the surfing lessons. I didn't bring enough money, so I didn't get to go, but Haley, Kelsey, and Sachiyo all had about an hour and a half surfing lesson. It was so funny to sit on the sand and watch them all attempt to surf. =] After a segnificant amount of wipe outs, we all were pretty much done with the beach. We didn't really go eat lunch, so we just snacked in the room (illegally, might I add...) and just hung around until dinner time. We went to another little restaurant and ate pizza for dinner. Then as we were walking around, we found a place that was playing music, so we payed the $1 entry fee and went in to dance for a while. It was really fun and a few of the girls got asked to dance. Nikki got a little uncomfortable when our friend Miguel started hitting on her so her and I left a little before the rest of them. We walked back to our hostel and then we very soon followed by the other girls. We stayed up for a while talking, telling stories and getting to know each other a little better. =]
In the morning we got up and gathered all of out things and headed to the bus station. The bus ride home was a little shorter because apparently our little side trip to Santa Elena added an extra, unneeded hour to our trip. =\ So, we got to Guayaquil around 9, I believe and then we had to wait until noon for our next bus to leave. We got some food and played plenty of card games until it was time to leave. We got on our bus and got back to Quito around 10 pm.
It was a reeeeally long but trip, but the weekend was a success. I'm glad we got to go and got to relax a bit.
I will post again in the next couple of days about our trip to Rio Muchacho that we just got back from because this post just took all of my energy. =]
Buenas Noches
World Traveler
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Barbacoa
When you hear the word ''Barbeque'', what do you think of?
-family/friends
-summer
-burgers and hot dogs
-pasta salad
-macaroni salad
-watermelon
-potato chips
-things covered in BBQ sauce...
-a GRILL!
well that's what I thought too... but I guess we were both wrong.
Today, we had a barbeque for a few of us BCA girls and our host families. There was about 20 of us all together, but by looking at the amount of food we brought, you would think there was like 40 of us. I've never been to a cookout where there is more meat than actual side dishes. Our side dishes were potatoes, salad and corn on the cob. Here let me start at the beginning...
I woke up this morning around 10 (thank goodness) and ate some fruit for breakfast and then my host mom, sister and I got into the car and went to meet up with everyone else who was going. We got all of our supplies and food packed into the three cars and then headed out to Tumbaco. It was about an hour long drive out to another BCA girl's host families land. We unpacked the cars into a small house and then walked around the property. There were two other houses on the land. One is still being built and finished and is completely made of adobe and the other is already being lived in. There were so many flowers and gorgeous views that I could hardly take it all in.
Then we all walked back to start making our food. I expected to find a grill of some sort behind the house because I had yet to discover it....but there was no grill. The got out the coals and wheeled over a wheel barrow, emptied the coals into it and put a grill top over it. Now I can say that I've cooked my food in a wheel barrow! Not many can...
The meat was divided into containers based on how many were in a ''family''. As I watched the meat that was to be my host mom's, sister's and mine....my eyes were just wide with shock. It kept GROWING! I'm sure that at home the amount that was in our container could completely satisfy my family of 5 and there would be leftovers....There was so much. We each had a pork chop, a huge slab of beef, three or four little sausages, a long, thin hot dog looking thing, corn, potatoes and salad...like really?!
Well, my family was the first to get to use the...wheel barrow. We had to cook our own food. My host sister is a chef so she was in charge of knowing when the meat was done. My job was to fan the coals so that the meat would actually cook. =] I did a good job. haha. It was all really good but soo filling I couldn't finish a third of it. After we all finished eating, Meghan, Kelly, Kelsey and I all walked around again, taking pictures and we sat on the balcony of the adobe house for a good while just talking and taking in the view.
Soon my host mom and sister had to leave to go to a baby shower (which, coincidentally, is ''baby shower'' in spanish....). I chose to stay and hang out with everyone else. We played a few Ecuadorian games that were pretty interesting. All of which consisted giving up one of your posessions every time you lost and to get it back you had to do something rediculous like sing or dance. Then the moms wanted to play an american game so we decided on ''Red Rover''. It was funny enough just hearing them try to say ''Red Rover, Red Rover, let ........ come over" and actually playing the game took quite a while. Only like 2 people actually broke through the other teams arms so it wasn't that exciting.
Tired and ready to get home we were on our way. 45 minutes later, here I am.
My neck is super sore because I think I slept on it wrong and my stomach hurts so tonight I get to stay in while everyone else goes out. Tonight there are a bunch of things going on in the historic center because it's Ecuador's Independence Day...I think. But they're celebrating something and I can't enjoy it. Blah. =\
I hope a few movies and lot of sleep will help.
Buenas Noches
World Traveler
-family/friends
-summer
-burgers and hot dogs
-pasta salad
-macaroni salad
-watermelon
-potato chips
-things covered in BBQ sauce...
-a GRILL!
well that's what I thought too... but I guess we were both wrong.
Today, we had a barbeque for a few of us BCA girls and our host families. There was about 20 of us all together, but by looking at the amount of food we brought, you would think there was like 40 of us. I've never been to a cookout where there is more meat than actual side dishes. Our side dishes were potatoes, salad and corn on the cob. Here let me start at the beginning...
I woke up this morning around 10 (thank goodness) and ate some fruit for breakfast and then my host mom, sister and I got into the car and went to meet up with everyone else who was going. We got all of our supplies and food packed into the three cars and then headed out to Tumbaco. It was about an hour long drive out to another BCA girl's host families land. We unpacked the cars into a small house and then walked around the property. There were two other houses on the land. One is still being built and finished and is completely made of adobe and the other is already being lived in. There were so many flowers and gorgeous views that I could hardly take it all in.
Then we all walked back to start making our food. I expected to find a grill of some sort behind the house because I had yet to discover it....but there was no grill. The got out the coals and wheeled over a wheel barrow, emptied the coals into it and put a grill top over it. Now I can say that I've cooked my food in a wheel barrow! Not many can...
The meat was divided into containers based on how many were in a ''family''. As I watched the meat that was to be my host mom's, sister's and mine....my eyes were just wide with shock. It kept GROWING! I'm sure that at home the amount that was in our container could completely satisfy my family of 5 and there would be leftovers....There was so much. We each had a pork chop, a huge slab of beef, three or four little sausages, a long, thin hot dog looking thing, corn, potatoes and salad...like really?!
Well, my family was the first to get to use the...wheel barrow. We had to cook our own food. My host sister is a chef so she was in charge of knowing when the meat was done. My job was to fan the coals so that the meat would actually cook. =] I did a good job. haha. It was all really good but soo filling I couldn't finish a third of it. After we all finished eating, Meghan, Kelly, Kelsey and I all walked around again, taking pictures and we sat on the balcony of the adobe house for a good while just talking and taking in the view.
Soon my host mom and sister had to leave to go to a baby shower (which, coincidentally, is ''baby shower'' in spanish....). I chose to stay and hang out with everyone else. We played a few Ecuadorian games that were pretty interesting. All of which consisted giving up one of your posessions every time you lost and to get it back you had to do something rediculous like sing or dance. Then the moms wanted to play an american game so we decided on ''Red Rover''. It was funny enough just hearing them try to say ''Red Rover, Red Rover, let ........ come over" and actually playing the game took quite a while. Only like 2 people actually broke through the other teams arms so it wasn't that exciting.
Tired and ready to get home we were on our way. 45 minutes later, here I am.
My neck is super sore because I think I slept on it wrong and my stomach hurts so tonight I get to stay in while everyone else goes out. Tonight there are a bunch of things going on in the historic center because it's Ecuador's Independence Day...I think. But they're celebrating something and I can't enjoy it. Blah. =\
I hope a few movies and lot of sleep will help.
Buenas Noches
World Traveler
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Otavalo
So this past weekend we had our first trip with the BCA group.
We left at 730 saturday morning from the Ecovia station (the 'red' bus) =]
Tired but ready for our adventures, we were off. Our first stop was the Pyramids of Cochasqui. But it's not what you think, really. If you look at my pictures, you wouldn't know they were pyramids if i didnt say so. They're really overgrown with grass and such and only a few spots, conserved by the park ''rangers'' , are actually still stone. But, here we got lots of background of the indigenous people who used to live here, tons of gorgeous views and LOTS of llamas to feed. =] We all got a handful of salt to feed to the llamas who were called over from pyramid 14, aka the fertility pyramid, by our guide.
After getting our fill of llamas, we headed to El Mitad del Mundo (or middle of the world, for all you gringos =] ). We got a little info on the ecuator and then we proceded to each take a picture straddling the ecuator. I mean, who doesn't want to be in two places at once? =]
After many more pictures, we headed off to our final destination for the day, Otavalo Market. It is this huge street market where vendors come and sell their things. I think it happens almost every day but Saturday is their biggest sale day and when most of the vendors are there. We walked around for a good 4 hours or so and I didn't buy much. Just a bag, a change purse and a scarf. Then we all met for dinner at this Pizzaria. It was different, but good. There was a live band there which consisted of two guitar players, a drummer and a flute player (like a wooden one where you blow air across an opening like a pop bottle). They all sang and were....very...loud to say the least. haha We had to yell to talk to each other during dinner. But they music was good.
We all went back to our BEAUTIFUL hostel (check the pictures) and talked for a little bit, but pretty much went right to sleep. The next morning, we went to the Cascada de Peguche (waterfall). I wasn't planning on getting wet, so I wore jeans and a t-shirt with tennis shoes. We walked to the first waterfall and it was incredible. So pretty. So then, most of us hiked up on top of/behind that waterfall. I wasn't going to, but I did anyway..haha. Daniel said it was pretty hard, but it wasn't to bad. It was mostly like legit climbing and I was expecting walking up steep hills. When we got on top of the waterfall there were two more smaller waterfalls which were equally as incredible. One of them was a little bit more accessable than the other, because you had to actually get in the water to see the second...which I ended up doing. =] I rolled up my pant legs and took off my shoes and socks and roughed it. =] I almost fell down a few times, but I managed to keep my jeans dry until I decided to climb up the one waterfall to take a picture and sat down on one of the rocks. I had brought shorts so I decided to get wet. =] It was really fun.
Next, all the girls went back to the bus and changed out of our wet clothes, and then we went to El Parque Condor, which is a bird ''park'' for like rescue birds until they are well enough (if they ever will be) to be let out into the wild. Here I got to meet Hedwig and Erol who played the owls from Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone! =] haha They didn't really do much, so it wasn't that exciting. For lunch, we went to this restaurant where a lot of people attempted cui (aka: guinea pig). I wasn't brave enough to try it yet, but I saw it, and apparently it tastes like chicken. =]
This is someone elses' dinner. Would you try it?
After lunch, our last stop was to the house of the cutest couple. They weave their own blankets, scarves and other things the traditional way, by hand. It was amazing to see their work and I actually bought one of the scarves. He said it takes 4 and a half hours to make a scarf it you have all of the materials already, and like a couple months to make a poncho. Incredible.
We headed back home and got caught in the end of the weekend traffic. Everyone was heading home from their weekend travels so they could make it back for work on monday. We didn't get back home til around 9. It was a long weekend but oh so much fun.
This week is our last week of our salsa class. Yesterday we had class and we danced in couples, and seeing as we only have one guy, most of us danced girl girl. =] It was awkward, but fun. Tomorrow we have our last class, but it is for two hours. We would have class on friday, but our teacher is going to be in Cuba or something...so we're dancing for two hours tomorrow...I dunno if I can do it. =\ haha.
So, the how water in my house hasn't been working because of a broken circuit. My host dad has been working on it all week and supposedly it was fixed over the weekend. But when I went to take a shower yesterday morning, it was freezing still. So I hope that it is at least a little bit warm tomorrow. I really don't want to take another cold shower. =\
Pues,
Hasta Manana
Buenas Noches
World Travler
We left at 730 saturday morning from the Ecovia station (the 'red' bus) =]
Tired but ready for our adventures, we were off. Our first stop was the Pyramids of Cochasqui. But it's not what you think, really. If you look at my pictures, you wouldn't know they were pyramids if i didnt say so. They're really overgrown with grass and such and only a few spots, conserved by the park ''rangers'' , are actually still stone. But, here we got lots of background of the indigenous people who used to live here, tons of gorgeous views and LOTS of llamas to feed. =] We all got a handful of salt to feed to the llamas who were called over from pyramid 14, aka the fertility pyramid, by our guide.
After getting our fill of llamas, we headed to El Mitad del Mundo (or middle of the world, for all you gringos =] ). We got a little info on the ecuator and then we proceded to each take a picture straddling the ecuator. I mean, who doesn't want to be in two places at once? =]
After many more pictures, we headed off to our final destination for the day, Otavalo Market. It is this huge street market where vendors come and sell their things. I think it happens almost every day but Saturday is their biggest sale day and when most of the vendors are there. We walked around for a good 4 hours or so and I didn't buy much. Just a bag, a change purse and a scarf. Then we all met for dinner at this Pizzaria. It was different, but good. There was a live band there which consisted of two guitar players, a drummer and a flute player (like a wooden one where you blow air across an opening like a pop bottle). They all sang and were....very...loud to say the least. haha We had to yell to talk to each other during dinner. But they music was good.
We all went back to our BEAUTIFUL hostel (check the pictures) and talked for a little bit, but pretty much went right to sleep. The next morning, we went to the Cascada de Peguche (waterfall). I wasn't planning on getting wet, so I wore jeans and a t-shirt with tennis shoes. We walked to the first waterfall and it was incredible. So pretty. So then, most of us hiked up on top of/behind that waterfall. I wasn't going to, but I did anyway..haha. Daniel said it was pretty hard, but it wasn't to bad. It was mostly like legit climbing and I was expecting walking up steep hills. When we got on top of the waterfall there were two more smaller waterfalls which were equally as incredible. One of them was a little bit more accessable than the other, because you had to actually get in the water to see the second...which I ended up doing. =] I rolled up my pant legs and took off my shoes and socks and roughed it. =] I almost fell down a few times, but I managed to keep my jeans dry until I decided to climb up the one waterfall to take a picture and sat down on one of the rocks. I had brought shorts so I decided to get wet. =] It was really fun.
Next, all the girls went back to the bus and changed out of our wet clothes, and then we went to El Parque Condor, which is a bird ''park'' for like rescue birds until they are well enough (if they ever will be) to be let out into the wild. Here I got to meet Hedwig and Erol who played the owls from Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone! =] haha They didn't really do much, so it wasn't that exciting. For lunch, we went to this restaurant where a lot of people attempted cui (aka: guinea pig). I wasn't brave enough to try it yet, but I saw it, and apparently it tastes like chicken. =]
This is someone elses' dinner. Would you try it?After lunch, our last stop was to the house of the cutest couple. They weave their own blankets, scarves and other things the traditional way, by hand. It was amazing to see their work and I actually bought one of the scarves. He said it takes 4 and a half hours to make a scarf it you have all of the materials already, and like a couple months to make a poncho. Incredible.
We headed back home and got caught in the end of the weekend traffic. Everyone was heading home from their weekend travels so they could make it back for work on monday. We didn't get back home til around 9. It was a long weekend but oh so much fun.
This week is our last week of our salsa class. Yesterday we had class and we danced in couples, and seeing as we only have one guy, most of us danced girl girl. =] It was awkward, but fun. Tomorrow we have our last class, but it is for two hours. We would have class on friday, but our teacher is going to be in Cuba or something...so we're dancing for two hours tomorrow...I dunno if I can do it. =\ haha.
So, the how water in my house hasn't been working because of a broken circuit. My host dad has been working on it all week and supposedly it was fixed over the weekend. But when I went to take a shower yesterday morning, it was freezing still. So I hope that it is at least a little bit warm tomorrow. I really don't want to take another cold shower. =\
Pues,
Hasta Manana
Buenas Noches
World Travler
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