Exploring More Of Ecuador!

My experience in Quito would not be what it has been were it not for the people that have come into my life.  First and foremost, Sra. Laura and Sr. Segundo have been awesome host parents!!  They've been wonderful in every aspect of things.  They have 3 sons, all of whom are married, and 2 of which have children of their own.  I've met all three of them.  Diego is the one that comes over almost every day.  He and his family are…well, they're great too!  Luis is the youngest; however, I don't see very much of him and his wife.  Juan, the eldest of three, has been over a few times with his adorable family, and they've even brought their dog (named Doggie) over as well!  We got to conversing about a lot of things, and I ended up going through almost all of my albums on iPhoto.  We even took pictures on photobooth, which they were all so very enthralled with!! 

The people I've met on my program have all been great.  The 4 of us that are here through LanguageCorps have gotten along especially well.  We were just discussing this last night: we are so lucky that we all get along as well as we do!  Becca, Mark, Emily, and I all came for the one week of Spanish prior to the TESOL certification program, and we pretty much got along very well from the get-go.  I've done a bit of traveling with them, and we all applied to the same jobs in Ambato (city 2.5 hours south of Quito) in hopes of being placed in the same city so that we may be able to live together (or at least in close vicinity) once we're out on our own.  There are two other guys in our program, but they kind of do their own thing.  They've both been to Ecuador before and they each have Ecuadorian girlfriends.  Anywho, the dynamic that the four of us has been not only lots of fun, but it's also been quite convenient with taxi's, traveling, booking rooms, and such.  Here's a picture of the group of four!

We just got back from a trip to Otavalo this weekend.  Otavalo is known for its mercado artesanal (textile and other arts and crafts market).  

Before going to this market, we went to an animal market.  Prior to getting to the animal market, I was excited about it!  I'm not really sure what I was expecting, but it was SO. FREAKING. SAD.  All of the animals seemed miserable.  And I couldn't help but deduce that most, if not all, of those animals were going to end up dead very soon.  Chickens, roosters, and ducks were all tied up by their legs.  Guinea pigs (which they eat here) were stuffed in bags.  Pigs were squealing miserably.  I was offered three dogs for ONE DOLLAR!!  They were adorable poodle-look-a-likes, and I wanted to buy them!  But I made the logical decision and said no.  

The day got MUCH better after that.  As I mentioned, we went to the mercado artesanal after the animal market.  I bought a couple of really cool looking things.  Later we just hung out at the hostel's roof for a bit, and then went out for a little.  We were back in the hostel by like 10 or 11 though because we were going to go on a tour the next morning.  Our tour through Otavalo and Otavalo's indigenous outskirts started at 9.  A tour guide named David took us to a whole bunch of different places.  Tejido is an art which consists of making various baskets, pads, and figurines out of water reeds.  We visited a family who specialized in this craft.

After this we went to Cuicocha, a lake which is actually a VOLCANO!  Otavalo is actually surrounded by 6 different volcanoes, but this one is different.  Hundreds of years ago, a volcanic mountain basically collapsed in on itself and a cone-shaped crater was created.  That crater is now filled with crystal clear blue water.  Because the volcano is active, it releases various gasses that, in turn, purify the water, so it's drinkable.  No sea creatures live in Lake Cuicocha because of its temperature and because of the gasses that are emitted.  It was such as beautiful lake!  I just wanted to jump into it! (Side note: I'm not completely positive that all of what I just said is 100% true).

Before going to the lake, we visited another family's home.  The father of this family is dedicated in making various instruments, all of which originate in either Ecuador, Chile, or Peru.  He demonstrated the making of one of the instruments right in front of us, which was amazing!!  He then had a little one-man-band session for us which was amazing.  Becca, Emily, and I bought an instrument that looks like a little turtle figurine.  I named them all Señor Tortuga!  

We had lunch in a little city outside of Otavalo.  They're famous for leather products, so we walked around and looked at some of the stores.  They had some pretty cool jackets and purses that cost a lot less than a 100% leather product would cost in the US, but it was still kinda pricey.  After walking around a little more and getting coffee, we went back to the hostel to check out.  The guy that runs the hostel we stayed is named Roberto.  He was so funny!  He cracks up at almost everything he says (and rightly so).  It was quite a fun-filled weekend!

Love love.

Stephanie

Ambato, Baños, La Mitad del Mundo y Pichincha

Between having no internet access at home and having a lot of school work, I haven't updated this blog in a while.  My apologies.

School has been great…well, as great as school can be.  Aside from school, I have been doing just a little bit of traveling on weekends.  Ambato is a city about two or three hours south of Quito.  It is home to CEBI, the school where I will potentially be working for the next year.  Odd thing is, it's a very nice private school with an IB program…not exactly the place I would have imagined myself working while abroad, but, hey, a job is a job!  Well, I probably shouldn't get too ahead of myself; it's not exactly confirmed as of yet.  We went to a market in Ambato, and that was a cool experience!

Our main objective in going to Ambato was to visit CEBI.  We (three of my classmates and I) figured that since we were going to be in Ambato, we would make our way to Baños, a touristy small town.  Man alive, Baños was gorgeous!!  We didn't do much of the touristy things -- we didn't go to any of the waterfalls, or any of the baños (hot springs), we didn't even go on any of the hikes.  But we DID walk around town a lot and familiarized ourselves with the town: we will DEFINITELY be going back there at some point.  The following picture is one that I took while on one of our walks through the town:

We decided to stay in Quito last weekend.  We went to La Mitad del Mundo (middle of the world) on Saturday, and that was such a great experience!!  This is the place that was thought to be the "middle of the world," but, with the invention of GPS, it was discovered that the real center of the world was actually just north of there.  Regardless, I can still say that I've been to the middle of the world and as such, I have been in multiple hemispheres at once!

This past weekend we went on a hike up Pichincha, which is actually a volcano (don't worry, it's not in danger of erupting anytime soon).  I like hiking, and I've done it plenty of times before, but oh. my. goodness.  It has never been as difficult at it was this time.  The altitude is harsh, and although my body has done pretty well with adapting to it, climbing up mountains was a completely different circumstance.  Being up there was breathtaking -- figuratively and literally.  4100 meters wasn't the highest I got, but that's the only picture I have of me with a sign.

We're planning on going to Otavalo this weekend, which apparently has a huge market of artesanias.  And lakes.  And fun.  I'll let y'all know how that goes!!

Love you ALL!
Steph

¡LLEGUE AL ECUADOR!

          Even though I'm completely terrified of airports I was able to make my way through four of them (SAT, DFW, MIA, and Quito) with little to no complications – airplanes I'm fine with, it's just the actual airports that make my palms sweat. I had the aisle to myself on the flight from San Antonio to Dallas. A lovely couple from Oklahoma heading to the Grand Canyon flew next to me from Dallas to Miami. From Miami to Quito, a very quiet man (who strongly resembled Phil Barker – a professor at AC, for those of you who don't know – only this guy was in his mid to late twenties…not that you're old, Phil) sat next to me. Once we landed in Quito, however, five minutes before getting off the plane, he started talking to me, at which point I thought, “really, dude, we've been sitting next to each other on plane for four hours and you're starting a conversation now?” It was a good chat nonetheless for I learned that little Phil was from England and, as such, had an adorable English accent.  He attempted guessing my nationality, but was unable to do so correctly, so I told him that my parents are Mexican but that I was born in America, to which he responded: “brilliant.” I shared that I was in Ecuador for both study and work-purposes, which he also described as “brilliant.” He told me that this was his second visit to Ecuador and that it was a “brilliant” place. Currently, he's in Ecuador to commence a backpacking journey throughout South America, but I didn't quite catch where he was headed to next. We should have talked more during the flight, but, alas, shit happens.

          Once off the flight I went through migration (stamp #4, yay!), got my luggage, went through customs, and then I stepped out of the double doors into the great unknown – which, by the way, “the unknown” is one of my greatest fears. THAT was a bit overwhelming, especially because there were thousands – or so it seemed – of people and because I was not exactly sure of who I was looking for. Luckily I spotted a little sign that read “Stephanie Almanza” not too far in the distance, so I walked towards it and was happily greeted by my host mother, Laura. Upon walking out of the airport, I was immediately flabbergasted. The weather here is unimaginable…mostly because I just came from a land where a 100-degree day was a decent one. We grabbed a taxi and drove to what is my home for the next five weeks. Everywhere I looked, I saw mountains and GREEN! So I thought to myself, “holy shit, this is brilliant!

          My host family has been great so far. I went to mass on Sunday morning, which was a lot like mass at home because Catholicism is very set on traditions. Other than that it was a very a relaxed Sunday. One of Laura and Segundo's sons came over with his family, and everyone seems genuinely nice. It was great getting to meet one of their three sons; I'm sure that meeting the other two will be just as pleasant.

          On another note, I have absolutely no sense of time here...shoulda brought a watch! But seriously, I have to ask my host mother what time it is all the time. I do, however, have a good concept of N-S-W-E, which is weird, because I've never really had a great inner compass…the mountains probably help. This will probably become very handy for navigating through the city!

          There is a 3-story mall called El Jardín. On our way there we stopped at a phone booth – they called them locutorios in Argentina, but I'm not exactly sure if they have a special name here – and I got to talk to my daddy! My dad told me that Heights lost its first game by one point in triple overtime, at which point I felt my first surge of nostalgia; however, I'm convinced that this nostalgia stems from a longing to attend one of my brother's football games – which I know for a fact will not happen this season – rather than from outright homesickness. That happened on my first full day here, and I will not allow myself to be homesick this soon! Except my dad also told me that he was making fajitas and pico de gallo for dinner that night and that I was invited…

          Anywho. The mall. Woah! I did not feel like I was in South America at all, what with stores/restaurants like Baskin Robins, Kenneth Cole, DKNY, McDonald’s, Sunglass Hut, and Cinnabon, surrounding me?! Also, they use the US Dollar here, which also throws me off a bit, but it also makes my life a lot easier. Bottom line, El Jardín was nice! It was nicer than a lot of malls I've seen in the US (ahem, Midway Mall). It probably even rivals North Star in San Antonio, which is, in my opinion, a very nice mall.

          School has begun! For the week we're just working on our Spanish. There are two other girls in my class, both from the states – Michigan and Ohio. So far we have reviewed grammar (which is very much needed in my case) and read a short story. We have class from 8:30-12:30, and then after that we have orientation. Today is only the second day of classes, but everything has been awesome so far. I can already tell that I'm going to learn a lot while here in Ecuador. While I have no internet at my home stay, I'm going to try to keep you all updated by the means of this blog. I also plan on getting an Ecuadorian cell number and once I have that y'all can call me using Skype To Go!

¡Los quiero muchísimo a todos!

Stephanie