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
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